New Family Member, Pics to Come Soon.....

[FroggyFox]

Well that sounds like a good day!

[FishGeek]

Sounds like a GREAT day!! Awesome to hear!!!

[Lonewolfblue]

I might go there again tomorrow before her school, and let her run. She does better when she's been run.

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, today went pretty well. We went to where the min pin was yesterday, and didn't see the dog at all. But I got to let Betty run. We actually went 2 times, once in the morning, and once after her school. So right now she's sleeping, lol. As for her school, she did very well. We worked more on her heeling, and also jumping over the hurdles. Because it's a hard floor due to the back yard being knee-deep in snow, we are just having her jump the lowest setting, which I think is only 12 inches. Then once she get's good at jumping, and not going around, we will add a 2nd jump and begin training her to jump the one that I point at. So if I want her to jump over the left one, I'll point at the left one and she should jump over the left one.

[marvin]

good for you adopting her

[Lonewolfblue]

We had class again today. We worked on her Come for a while, then started more Rally stuff. Betty's Come has been pretty bad, so we've started using a shock collar, to see if we can get her to pay closer attention to us. For the first day, it went very well. The collar has settings from 1-10, and we had it only on 2.5, and she reacted well to it. Also, the trainers grand-daughter was there, and was a pretty good distraction for the class. Then the trainer asked if Betty acted the same with all other kids that she's come across, and I said yes. They got along great. And Betty had a lot of fun. The trainer has also let me borrow the collar, so I can work with Betty through the week. I may not need to use it much, as the class has made a pretty good impact, and she's listening a lot more.

As for the walks, Betty's been doing pretty well. When going by the poodles, she just goes around to my right side, and almost pays no attention to them at all now. But all 4 poodles haven't been coming out. Usually it's only 1 or 2. Will see when it warms up and we see all 4 coming out to the fence. Also, we've been going down to the ball park where it's fenced in, and we haven't seen that min pin at all. I was hoping that we would see him again. Other than that, all is going well.

I got some new pics of Betty today. Check them out......

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, I took Betty down to the park 2 times so far today, and she had a blast. The 2nd time we took a ball so if there were no other dogs, we would play fetch. We got there, and nobody was there, so I took out the ball. We played for quite a while, til she was about ready to drop dead, lol. Then we went back to the car, and there were several ducks nessled in the snow near the parking lot. So I decided to get closer to see what Betty would do. She saw them, and went to try and herd them up and they just flew away, lol.

Then, on the way home it was nice. Usually she would bark at anyone walking on the sidewalk, or trucks passing us. Well, she was so tired, she would see the people and trucks, with her toungue hanging out panting, would say, ok, you go that way, and you go that way, lol. Would just look at them and say, I'll be back, lol. It's nice having a tired out dog, lol. So quiet, lol. I might take her again tonight, so maybe she'll have a good nights sleep, lol. Then will do the same tomorrow before her school, lol.

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, I took Betty to the park today and worked on some of her commands. She's doing pretty well. We decided to work on her Stay, Wait, and Come commands. I wanted to see how far I could get from her, without her coming to me. It was about 25-30 yards. So we started there. We did this for an hour, and I got farther and farther, praising her lots and good treats. When I was further away, I started using the hand signal for Come instead of having to yell it. I got to about 75 long paces from her, and she was doing it almost every time. A couple times I did have to repeat the hand signal and yell Come, but for the most part, that's the line where we can start working on hand signal only. This is just over 50 yards away. When I mean long paces, I don't mean regular walking paces, but long strides. So I'm guessing anywhere between 50-60 yards, possibly a little farther. So that's a great sign.

After we were done, we started our slow walk back towards the car, as she was beat. Then we could see the people walking down by the river on the trail with their dogs, and Betty saw them, and started running towards them. Then I said, Betty, Come, she instantly turned around and came back to me. Another good sign. I think the Come training I've been working on for the last 2 weeks or so is starting to pay off. Before, when she started running like that, I would have to scream at her to come, and she would stop but not come back until I started walking towards her, then she would walk back like she did something wrong. And other times, she would go about 50 yards before turning back, with me calling and screaming, lol. So that's going pretty well.

Then, when we were getting closer to the car, I decided we would stay a little longer and just play around. Guess who showed up? The min pin that we haven't seen for a couple weeks came out in their yard, and Betty heard him, and raced to him. They sniffed, then began to play. Then the min pin would bark, and then race up the fenceline, and Betty would race along with him, then they would sniff again. Then he would play bow, and take off, and Betty would race along with him. They had a blast. I let this go for another 30 minutes or so, then when I needed to get back to the car, I called Betty, Betty, Come. And she instantly came, and we went to the car. I didn't have to leash her to get her away like I did the last time. So, I think it's beginning to pay off. She would have never done this before.

Well, tomorrow is school again. Will see what we are going to work on. She loves going there for class. Will let you know how things go, and what we work on.....

[Lonewolfblue]

Update, now that most of the snow is gone, we are seeing the min pin out more and more. We saw him the other day, and tonight, when I got home from work, I took Betty to the park again, and there he was. I think Betty tuckered him out today, as they ran up and down the 40 or so yards of fenceline. They had a blast. And Betty even perked up like she does whenever she sees him, lol. Then we walked across the park and back, and the min pin had already gone in the house. She really enjoys seeing him, and he really seems to get all happy when she shows up. It's totally a blast to watch.

[FishGeek]

AWESOME!! It sounds like tha Min Pin is going to help you and Betty a lot. Hes going to be a nice tool.