Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

Katrina--I'm sure if I could explain the concept to her she'd be excited to meet you, too.  She loves new people.  Every time I take the harness off she wants to visit the housekeeping staff here or the other instructors and students. She's quite the social butterfly ^.^

Web Master—yes, she does have a bit of the Pap look to her. Given your apparent knowledge of dogs I'm going to assume you know she doesn't resemble a typical shepherd, I've already been asked a couple of times if she was a collie mix--even by volunteers at TSE J

Grandma--congrats to Trevor! And have fun at the gardens!  Maybe sometime Prada and I will come with you!

This morning we ran the High School route un-occluded and I tell you--the difference in her work is AMAZING. Our playtime sessions and that grueling correction lesson/respect garnering run yesterday afternoon has transformed her into a new dog with the same quirky personality, awesome pace, and fantastic good looks.  She used to turn her head all the way around to look at the instructors behind us or get distracted easily but now the only head turns I notice are slight gestures to the right or left as she asks if I want to go into a driveway or doorway. Another major difference I notice is that when we come back and hang out in our room she doesn't go straight to the crate anymore, she sleeps right next to the desk where I'm working right now. I'm finally getting to see the results of the bond and they say it only gets better from here.

This afternoon we're going to try going to a courthouse (for Oregonian viewers, this is an actual courthouse, not the gym) to do building work and metal detectors like at airports. can't wait to see how she handles all that!

(As I reread these posts and rediscover ways to correct continuing behavior problems I recall conversations with other “Retrains”.  Apparently it’s perfectly normal to pick up bad habits focused on areas of weakness during initial training, and I’m no exception.  Getting to reread and annotate these entries, though, inspires me to pick up my game.  Probably should add more play time to our routine, as well.)