Bad News/Good News

Look what puppy Yardlea and I found! Self help books! 

I know she’s just going to chew them. 

And everyone says I’m the one with the problem behavior? 

Yesterday, during one of our many training sessions, my foster mom was working on some basic good manners stuff with me. You know the drill: heel, sit, come, sit, down, stand, down, stand, sit, stay, etc. Kind of boring for a clever and busy guy like me who would rather be jumping or learning weave poles or running up and down the A-frame, but I suppose I can see where that’s all necessary. Anyway, we were alone in the training school, I had her and the treats all to myself, and I'll admit I was having fun.

It was getting close to the time when other dogs would start arriving for classes, and my foster mom wanted to see if I had made any progress in how I react to them, so we kept working until the first student arrived.

The bad news is that when a quiet, mature, unsuspecting and good looking Cavalier came in the door, I still reacted badly - very badly. Yikes. Was I a jerk! Boing. Bark. Boing. Bark. Yap! Yap! Yap! That obviously refined gentleman of a dog (his name is Cooper, I was told) must have thought I was a total sheltie maniac. Double yikes!

The good news, however, is that my frantic and frenetic behavior, which we've established I just can't help yet, didn't last quite as long as it has in the past, and in between my outbursts I did tune into my foster mom and do some sits and some really bouncy, animated heeling. I even played with a toy briefly and responded to her call to come! Hallelujah! Also, my foster mom noticed that my initial aggressive-looking behavior quickly changed to excited "I have to meet you and play with you" behavior, even though I continued to jump four feet straight up in the air at the entrance gate. My foster mom, bless her heart, says that that’s progress - a little anyway - so I guess that’s good. One thing I know for sure is that behaving well is a LOT of work. I hope I get it soon!