Pitbull Mommy evolves into Training Blue Bear

In my last post I knew I had to get back to training, but I wasn't ready to sign up for dog school. Guess what? We took Blue Bear for an evaluation because things were not getting better using only positive training; I'm not saying it won't work for you, but as the Dog Whisperer teaches, we owners need to be trained ... and that was the case with us.

We are 9 weeks into the off-leash training program and I am seeing and believing things about Blue Bear that I never would have thought possible ten weeks ago. He does sit/stays and down stays between two other dogs and handlers. He walks with a pack of dogs. This morning as I was walking him, he saw a cat in a yard and all it took was an Aht from me and he turned his head away from the cat and kept moving.

Last night we took Blue Bear to a park with a pond and made him sit/stay for 7 minutes before walking him around the pond. Later BB went swimming for the first time in the pond --- I wish we had had the video camera --- it was pretty funny. He was standing on his hind legs in the water trying to get fish that were moving around him.

Things are going well; of course there are regressions, but I feel we now have or will have a dog that we can enjoy, and it has been worth every penny and hour of travel and work. I don't think we could have accomplished this on our own; we needed the expertise and advice of a trainer who has been training dogs (and police dogs) for over twenty years. Book knowledge only took me so far in the work of dog training.

Training Day ... and other musings

It's back to boot camp for us ... it was brought to my attention that I've been slack with training. I met some Newfie owners at the soccer field; they had a dog who used to be a lot like BB, pulling them across the parking lot to get to the field etc. But they made the commitment to train and travel about 1 hour every Saturday to dog school (after their dog learned the basics one on one). I was impressed with Newfie's behavior; BB was less so as he hysterically barked his high pitch bark through the fence. The woman kept asking me, "Is he in training?, Is he in training?" and that was my epiphany ... we've slacked, except for having BB sit before food and before going out.

I was tempted to sign BB up at the dog school --- but it is not positive training, it is more classical --- the Newfie owners used a small link prong collar. After some deliberation; oh do I want instant success; I realized that perhaps my positive training isn't working because I have not committed my fifteen minutes a day to training BB --- sans distractions. I've been making excuses: it's too hard with three dogs, I'm working more, yada yada.

The next week I wrote down goals --- to work on "Let Go and Give" of his toys, to work on getting in and out of the car (we practice not going anywhere), and a little bit of Recall. Amazing --- I see progress already on all three goals. We're still having mucho problems on loose leash walking, and that is where BB vs. the environment (he almost caught a cat this a.m., and dragged me ten feet in the chase. Sigh. Can't space out for a minute!)

BBs name in lights?

Thinking about Christmas cards, and this year being the Year of the Dog for us, I will try to get them to pose. It will be a major feat because Daisy is a techno-phobe and runs from the room if I bring out a camera. Blue Bear can't sit still, and Max, well I think he is a little ham. I would like to combine the vintage aluminum highway letters I sell on e-bay to add some quirkiness. Now I just need a photographer's assistant with a lot of patience. Patience seems to be the key to most things in life.

Looks (and acts) like Scooby Doo!

kamikaze cocker spaniel

Today one of my fears came upon me. I was walking Blue Bear and when we passed our neighbor's house, neighbor man was getting out of his car with his little black cocker spaniel (off leash) and the cocker spaniel noticed us near his territory (I guess) and made a beeline for Blue Bear. I screamed NOOOOOOOOOO and turned my head from what I thought would be the end of that dog. I think Blue Bear thought he was coming to play, so he didn't go into fight mode at once, and when the cocker spaniel figured out what type of dog he was messing with he retreated and was scooped up by his owner. I just yelled at the man "This is a pitbull," and the man answered, "I know!" I was shaken up and had to pull Blue Bear by walking backwards a few doors down to our home. I saw the cocker spaniel later, and he was fine. I hope this never happens again, but there are so many dogs in our small city, that meeting an unleashed one is almost inevitable. I'll just pray it is not another pitbull.

BB looks like a convict here ...

Speak to me you handsome pup