First Week of October

Just under 5 months old

Bodie has been really good this past week.  He has really improved, not only in his obedience but with things like nipping and jumping.  The training collar and spray bottle have been getting his attention.

After last week's puppy class disaster, we decided to do Bodie's obedience training in public places (in front of the house, at a park, along a bike trail) in order for him to get used to distractions.  It worked!  I wasn't in class because I wasn't feeling well but this week's puppy class went great!  He was the best in class with "Stay".  Even puppy play time was good!

Oh, I forgot to mention something last week.  The pitbull puppy that wasn't supposed to be back in puppy class was there.  We were confused but figured that she also did detention and was allowed back in.  Then at the end of class, the trainer had us exit the room one puppy at a time.  The pitbull puppy went first, then Bodie, and then the other German Shepherd puppy.  No one else.  I was a bit suspicious that something was going on but I was more concerned about Bodie.

Last night after class, the trainer started the same thing.  The pitbull puppy left then as RB was getting Bodie to ready to leave, the trainer stopped her and invited both German Shepherd puppies to join the rest of the class in an additional play period.  Hurray!  It felt like a graduation of sorts.

It's All Good

I don’t know how many obedience classes I have attended but between my own dogs and my sister's dogs, it has been quite a few.  Bodie’s first puppy class was this past Thursday.  I was looking forward to the play session but I thought that I would be rather bored with the class part.  Was I wrong!  I guess because Bodie is a bit more, hmm, how shall I say it?  Bodie is more challenging than my previous dogs, there were some techniques discussed in class that I never had to use before.  Bodie pays very little attention to “No” and a yank on the leash is an invitation to a play session, but a squirt of water definitely gets his attention!  We have made more progress with the puppy nipping in the last two days than we have in the last two weeks with a squirt from a spray bottle.  Yay!

This week we are supposed to use ten times more “Good’s” than “No’s”.  Whenever Bodie does any behavior that we like, we are supposed to “Good” him.  For example, he sits while we are watching : “Good sit!”  He lies down while we are : “Good down!”  So far it seems to be working well, especially for the “Give” command.  Bodie really wants to chase his toy but he won’t drop it so we can throw it again.  So lately when he shoves his giraffe in my lap, I ignore him.  As soon as he drops it, I say “Good give!” and I can see a look in his eyes that tells me he is starting to get it.

It was so nice to see Bodie playing with other puppies his same age!  There was another German Shepherd puppy, a Lab, an American Staffordshire Terrier, an Australian Kelpie and a Boston Terrier.  He was so excited to play with something that plays back.  (We dogsat my sisters two Shelties a few weeks back and they refused to play with him.)  We are trying to make sure that Bodie is well-socialized.  I did find it interesting that the trainer (she owns GSDs) was reassuring all the other puppy owners that the German Shepherd puppies were not being aggressive.  I guess their barking and posturing was a bit intimidating.