Chase Mays – July 2020 Dayschool

7/31 Get to Know

Chase is the sweetest, fluffiest little boy! He was very sweet and was a little cautious with the new environment at first, but he got much more confident as the day went by. Our first session was just getting him comfortable in the classroom and with me, along with some touch desensitization. Chase did a wonderful job being a good boy. -Maria

7/31 Proper Play

I kept it light for our second session by doing some play. In the video, I explain the importance of him learning the difference between playing with a human versus a dog. Also when he does bite you with his shark teeth, yelping and removing yourself from play seems to do the trick to stop him from biting. He’ll learn more bite inhibition as he plays with other dogs, which did today with two other puppies (one rough and tumble while the other more sensitive, he did great with both). -Maria

Shelby Toole 7/31/20 – 8/1/20

7/31 Tricks

Since Shelby has been so good and is practically great at everything, I decided to have a little fun and teach her some tricks. Unfortunately, little miss decided that she didn’t want to be taught shake or spin, instead just wanted cuddles and belly rubs. -Maria

7/31 Lobby Focus

Shelby was doing great at the beginning of the session, however as Suze and Liv started doing more interesting stuff, she kept inching her way from me to get a better look. I had her food as the treat, but it wasn’t high value enough to keep her interested in me. 😦 -Maria

Shelby made friends with Deiago!!

Leo Olive 7/31/20 – 8/27/20

7/31 Get to Know — Clicker Introduction

Leo has the most expressive face and I enjoyed our first session together. We did a clicker introduction and worked on different behaviors like sit, no jumping, and down. Leo picks up on training very quickly and I look forward to working with him in the future. Good boy, Leo! –Gloria

7/31 Touch Desensitization

Leo is a little chocolate ball of fun and I am totally in love with him! I wanted to get him a little more comfortable with being handled so we sat down to get pets and treats at the same time. He did a wonderful job standing still for me but his paws are a bit sensitive to the touch. We’ll keep working on it in the future! -Maria

8/1 Focus with Leo Jones

We had both Leo puppies in the room together so they could work on focus with a trainer while there is another puppy they might be able to play with distracting them. Leo was not distracted while our other Leo was at a distance. He was more interested by the floor. We spent our session working on him giving his focus when asked, using Look. And on recall. He is really great about giving you his eye contact when he is focused on you. He is young so of course his attention span is short, which is why you do lots of repetitions and expect his attention to wander in between.

8/1 Leash Manners

Leo is amazing at giving eye contact for such a little guy!! I had Anna and a toy out to be distractions for him and he did a good job of coming back to me from pulling on his leash. Towards the end, he was able to walk by the toy without pulling and his full attention on me! -Maria

8/2 Stay

Leo made some really great progress with stays today. We started with duration stays; I asked him to sit then stay and I waited to release him for varying amounts of time (short spurts like 5-20 seconds). He did good with duration stays so I moved onto distance stays. I asked him to stay and then backed away to varying distances. Leo was a little confused about distance stays and tried to follow me most of the time. He needs more practice with stays, but is very motivated and excited! He is such a sweetie and I love working with him! -Miryam

8/2 Basics

Today was the first time I’ve worked with Leo and I just wanted to assess him on his basics and see what he knows. He is an attentive little guy and has a nice sit and response to his name. He has a bit of recall and loose leash walking that can be built on. He does need to learn a down though! – Whitney

8/3 Crate Training

Today I worked with Leo and a large airline crate that we have to work on his ability to be comfortable with a crate. He seems a bit nervous about the crate so I worked on just slowly getting him comfortable with going in halfway. He seemed worried about going all the way in and having me shut the door on him so he needs to be slowly desensitized to it. I highly recommend the Patricia McConnell book “I’ll Be Home Soon” about separation anxiety and working with a dog who is nervous about being left alone in a crate. It is not a very long book and gives detailed information for working through that anxiety – Whitney

8/3 Down Intro

Today I worked with Leo to teach him a down, we started off using a food lure pulled under my leg so that Leo would have to plop down on the floor to wiggle under my leg, and the second he hit the floor I clicked the clicker and fed him. I was able to slowly fade the use of my leg, by the end of the session I was able to point to the ground (with a treat in my hand) and get him to lie down. He still needs work on this but in this session alone he made great progress! – Abby

8/4 Stay

Leo and I worked on stay today. He is doing so well with duration stays. He has great focus and keeps his eyes on me while we are working. After he was nailing all of the duration stays, I moved onto distance stays. Leo had a bit more trouble with distance stays, but made some great progress over the course of our session. Leo needs more practice with no jumping, but is listening to the “off” command much faster now. He is already making so much progress! Great work today! -Miryam

8/4 Down/Place

Today I worked with Leo on a down and learning to settle into a stay on a mat or bed as well. I had thought that he didn’t know down yet, but I hadn’t realized that Abby worked on it with him yesterday! So I had thought I was going to teach him but that explains why he already knew what he was doing so well. We quickly moved on to extending the down into a stay on the mat and having him hold that position until being released. He made a lot of progress with this today! – Whitney

8/5 Crate Training

Leo did so good this session!! He was able to get all the way into the crate and sit for me while he got peanut butter. Leo even went inside the crate a couple times without me asking!! We’ll continue working on this so that he gets more confident with the crate. -Maria

8/6 Recalls/No Jump

Leo did a really fantastic job with recalls today! He wasn’t super jumpy, and the few times he did get excited enough to jump, he quickly corrected himself to a sit. He had a really wonderful response to his recalls, and near the end of the session to mix things up I brought out a red rubber ball that I threw for Leo and then would recall him away from. He did absolutely fantastic still despite the ball distraction! He’s such a smart puppy, great job Leo! – Abby

8/6 Stay

Leo did fantastic with stay! Definitely needs more practice before we move onto distance. ~Christina

8/8 Leave It

Leo is such a sweetie! I love working with him and watching him wriggle and jump around. So cute. We worked on leave its in the small kennel area because the classrooms were being used by other trainers. It is a pretty loud environment so the video might be hard to hear, but it was great for working on Leo’s focus. Leo needs a little more practice with leave its. He seems to understand the command because he will back away from the treats, but sometimes he gets determined to take it out of my fingers. We can practice some impulse control with him while he is here to help with that. Over the course of the session though, he was listening more often to the command and he was willing to wait for the treat. Great work today! – Miryam

8/8 Place

I know he’s worked on this before but little puppies have small brains so I don’t blame him for forgetting. Regardless, Leo figured out what we were doing towards the end of the session and actually laid down on the mat I asked him to be on. He spreads his back legs out like a frog and I love it!! -Maria

8/9 Place

I guess Maria’s work with Leo yesterday on place really solidified over night because Leo did absolutely AMAZING today in our session. Leo has completely paired place and down, I didn’t have to ask him to lay down once. He is also willing to stay on the mat with duration, distance, and distraction! I was able to walk over to one of the tables in the training room and mime some kitchen work/shuffle some things around on the table and he still waited patiently for me to come back. I am blown away! The last step for place is to add in distance. This way, you can ask him to go to his place without being right next to the mat. He has come so far so quickly. Leo is such a smart pup! -Miryam

8/9 Loose Leash Walking

Today I worked with Leo on his loose leash walking in the classroom using some cones as obstacles to walk around and practice our turns. I used a long plastic spoon with squeeze cheese to reward him, as this makes it easier and keeps you from having to bend down and continually reward while walking. He responded pretty well to this but he still has moments of getting distracted by things on the floor so he needs a bit more practice inside before working outside with this – Whitney

8/10 Focus with another dog

I worked on Leo’s ability to focus his attention when there is some distraction in the room, another dog. I think Leo wants to meet and play with every dog he sees, big and small, and Henry was no exception. But Leo did a great job of ignoring Henry and keeping his attention on me. We glanced around the barrier a few times so that Leo could see Henry and he most of the time checked right back in with me. He is doing great. – Anna

8/11 Basics

Leo and I reviewed some basic skills today. We worked on sits, stays, spins, and down. Leo has it all covered. He is doing really well with all the basics. He is having a little trouble differentiating between sit and down, but that is something that a few corrections here and there will fix. Great work today! -Miryam

8/11 Leave it

Leo is doing really well with leave its. He is listening right away almost every time. I had to repeat the command here and there, but he is really good about backing away from the treat when I ask him to. He is such a cutie! I love how he flops down when he lays on the ground. -Miryam

8/12 Loose Leash Walking

Leo and I practiced loose leash walking today and he did really well! At first he may have been feeling a little lazy because he laid down a few times, but when I tried getting him more excited, he walked attentively. He gets a tiny bit distracted with treats and smells on the floor, but when I called his attention back to me he came running. He did really great though, I was very pleased with him! -Jenn

8/12 Recalls

Leo and I played fetch for his recalls today so he could have some time to run around before we did our stays. He’s awesome at coming back with the toy and dropping it for me when he saw I had a treat for him! -Maria

8/12 Stay

Leo was able to give me his focus in the first half of the session, he did a pretty good job but he needs some work on distance with my back to him. He got the zoomies after he saw a dog pass the room, which was stinkin’ cute. -Maria

8/13 Leave It

Great job, worked with milk bones as his treat to leave. Whenever I’d ask Leo to leave it he’d instantly go into a down and stare up at me with those cute eyes. ~Christina

8/14 Recall out of Play with Fozzy

Leo and Fozzy played so well together today. It was adorable. They have similar coats, so they looked like brothers. Leo was really distracted by playing with Fozzy. I was able to get his attention a few times, but he definitely needs practice with recalls out of play. It was adorable nonetheless, though! -Miryam

8/14 Leash manners with Ziggy

Today, Leo and Ziggy worked in the same room on their leash manners. Leo is such a sweet boy, so he wanted to look at and play with Ziggy. However, his recalls are good, so when I called him back to me, he would respond really excitedly! He seems to really enjoy training. We can work a little more on his attention and not getting distracted, but overall he did really well today! -Jenn

8/15 Place with Sage

Leo was understandably distracted by his friend but he did a good job with this one! We worked on getting Leo used to going to his place from a distance instead of me moving to it with him. He was starting to get the idea but more practice is needed! -Maria

8/15 Dog focus with Ziggy

Leo is such a sweetheart and loves to be around other dogs but as a result he gets easily distracted! He sits well when asked, but has a hard time focusing when his friends are around! He did good work today though, perhaps more work with recalls and Leo will be fantastic! -Jenn

8/15 Create training

Leo did very well with crate training he took some building up to go into to it and he was a little unsure but I helped with placing treats to help him want to go in to the crate he as we worked on it he did really well with going in and out. great job Leo~Jacquie

8/15

Leo and I worked on stay with Duration, we started of with only five second and was able to build up to an 11 second stay with out getting up he did very will with this exercise hes a great boy. ~Jacquie

8/16 Loose Leash Walking

Leo did absolutely amazing with loose leash walking today. We were doing figure 8’s! He had no issues with form or focus whatsoever. I am very impressed! -Miryam

8/16 No Jumping

Leo had a lot of attention today because I had some extra time to get him caught up on the sessions he missed while he was at the vet. He wasn’t jumpy at all (which I think the double sessions may have contributed to). I tried being at different levels and even a squeaky toy, but Leo is so good; I couldn’t trick him. Great work today! -Miryam

8/16 Recall Out Of Play With Fozzy

Fozzy and Leo are the best of friends, so they were playing really well today. Leo had a hard time drawing his attention away from Fozzy, even with a hotdog under his nose. Leo needs more practice with focus around other dogs, he is just too friendly (lol)! I think his unresponsiveness was a combination of not being interested in stopping and also being the smaller dog of the two and was simply tangled up in Fozzy’s legs. Either way, it was adorable. -Miryam

8/16 Confidence Building / Agility

I set up a few causal agility toys for Leo today and he had so much fun. Being able to navigate agility situations can really help with a dog’s confidence so I had a few things out for him to interact with. We started with a very low jump (more of a step really) and Leo had no issue at all. He was a little bit more hesitant about the hula hoop, but he stepped through that as well. It think he had the most fun with the tunnel. I started out with it scrunched up a bit so it would be less intimidating. It took Leo a minute to go through the first time, but after he saw that it wasn’t scary, he went through like a pro! I extended the tunnel and it made no difference to Leo at all. He is so smart and curious! Such a sweet pup! -Miryam

8/17 Place

Leo has been making such great progress with this skill. He has paired Place to include down and stay. He needed a little body language cue from me to figure out where exactly the place was. If I move towards the mat as I say Place, he is so cute as he runs and plops down on the mat. Its especially cute that he will lay all the way down, chin to the ground. He can stay without an extra cue, for at least several seconds, or a couple steps away. We need to keep building that ability to stay even as you walk away, but he is getting the hang of this so well! – Anna

8/17 Lobby Focus

Leo did a lovely job today working on his focus with a lot of distraction in the lobby area. We worked on some loose leash walking as well and walking through doorways, but the people behind the desk and walking by were a big challenge for him! He is such a friendly guy and wants to meet everyone. He did a fantastic job of looking back to me when I said his name though. – Whitney

8/19 Recalls with Distractions

Today I brought Leo outside to work with him on recalls with distractions. He did a really good job, despite all of the good smells outside had to offer. He struggled a bit here and there, but it wasn’t too hard getting his focus back on me. ~Christina

8/19 – stay with distractions

Leo and I had a great session with the distraction of another dog on the other side of the room. We worked on the duration of his stays which he did very well at – we got all the way to 10 seconds at a time. With another dog in the room Leo was very excited so we also had an opportunity to work on his focus, recall and no jumping. ~Suze

8/19 – focus w/distractions

Leo and I had an excellent late afternoon session of focus in the lobby area. It’s a very distracting area especially when there are other puppies walking through to their lessons. It was a lot, but Leo did an excellent job of coming back to me when called and settling down in to focus games. I really like the eye contact that Leo has when you play these games. ~Suze

8/19 Stay

Leo and I worked on his “Down – Stay” in a quiet classroom today. Since he was able to hold the position for a reasonable amount of time, I wanted to start adding in the distance element of “Stay.” By the conclusion of our session, I was able to take approximately five steps away from Leo and return while he remained in a “Stay.” We will want to continue working on this element but great progress for today! –Gloria

8/20 Crate training

Leo did a good job working on me with crate training! Its very helpful for Leo if he has something in his crate that’s going to motivate him to enter the crate. If he has any bones or treats, any type of enrichment he absolutely loves I encourage you to leave one of those things in there, or use that to motivate him into his crate. ~Christina

8/20 Stay

Today I was working with Leo on his stay, and I noticed he could use some work discriminating between a sit and a down. Now that I look at the blogs, I realize he has been doing a lot of place training and that focuses on the down stay. I did do a little bit of sit stay with him, but he could use more work with understanding the difference between these – Whitney

8/21 Leash Manners/Focus

We used a fake dog today during our session as an added distraction for little Leo. He was SUPER excited by this new friend but he was able to refocus himself nicely after some time. We’ll just have to keep at it in our upcoming sessions! -Maria

8/21 Stay with distance

I wanted to give Leo a good challenge. I know that when we work with him alone in a room, he is really focused and does great. When there is another dog around, its really, really tough for him. I took him outside in our play area, where there weren’t any other dogs, but the scent of the dogs who had been in there earlier in the day was enough to really, really pull his focus. I tried to get him to work with me, but I only had a couple of good moments with him. Otherwise he was back to sniffing as soon as I got his attention. – Anna

8/22 Leave It

Leo really tried to be a sneak and get the biscuit away from me, but he wasn’t subtle at all. As we worked in the classroom, he got the hang of it and definitely can work on it some more in the future. It was funny when Leo grabbed the tennis ball that was out to tell me he was done for the day. -Maria

8/22 Leash manners focus

Today, Leo and I worked on his leash manners outside for an added challenge. He actually really impressed me! The last time I worked with Leo on leash manners, I remember he got distracted pretty easily, but this time even though we were outside, his attention was great. He kept looking at me and responded well to recalls. Awesome job! -Jenn

8/23 Recalls/No Jumping

Today we work with Leo on recalls. He is such a cute little ball of fluff! He did a great job with his recalls and did not jump up. Well done. Liz

8/23 Leash Manners / No Pull

As always, Leo did really well today. He is always such a treasure and I love working with him. He absolutely nailed the loose leash walking form. I tried to make it harder by opening the door and walking through the door way with him, but Leo had no trouble using his loose leash walking skills. He stayed by my side and stayed very focused for the whole session. I think he would really benefit from a life skills walk (which just practices loose leash walking and focus outside like you would on a real walk). He seems to always listen really well when we are in the classroom, but looses his manners a bit when we go outside. Overall, he did really great today and I am going to be sad to see him go in a few days! -Miryam

8/24 Recalls

Leo and I worked on his recall outside today at the overlook area. I kept him on a long line and he did a wonderful job of coming back to me! There was only one time he was a little distracted but eventually got back to me when I said his name. He even checked back in with me and offered attention on his own too! Nice job today – Whitney

8/24 Place

Today Leo and I worked on his Place. We worked back in our kennel area because I know being around other dogs is a great challenge for Leo. He knows Place well, and was willing to stay in a down position on the mat until I released him with an okay, even as I wandered around and turned my back on him. He did such a great job maintaining his focus. He still needed some body language cues throughout to figure out where he was supposed to go. We’ll keep working on phasing those out. – Anna

8/25 Recalls and No Jump

Leo and I worked on his recalls and not jumping today and he did excellent! He barely jumped the whole time and had good attention. When I tested out bending down or getting on my knees to greet him, he got extra excited and tried to jump then, but by the end of the session he had understood and learned not to do that. Nice work! -Jenn

8/25 Stay

Leo and I worked on his sit/stay today. He needed some help working on understanding the difference between sit and down so we worked through that some. He was adding a good bit of duration to the sit stay though! – Whitney

8/26 Leash Manners/Focus

Leo did a great job today in the classroom! He only pulled a bit and checked in with me a lot as we walked past distractions. -Maria

8/26 Leave It

Leo did so well today! We reviewed “Leave It” in one of our quiet classrooms and then moved outside as he quickly was showing a +90% success rate inside for the cue. I noticed that Leo was very interested in our mulch, so I think that might be the next item to practice his “Leave It” cue on. Good job, Leo! –Gloria

Leo Jones 7/31/20 – 8/6/20

7/31 Get to Know — Clicker Introduction

Leo and I spent our first session getting to know each other by doing a clicker introduction and working on different behaviors like sit and down. Leo was so excited and very eager throughout training, which is our ultimate goal in this first stay session. Good boy, Leo! –Gloria

7/31 No Jump & Patience

Leo is such a smart little pup, he was very happy to be working during our session! We were able to get 10 straight seconds of sitting before being rewarded, which is fantastic for a little guy, and we worked more on not jumping up when he wants my attention. -Maria

8/1 Polite Greetings

In polite greetings we teach dogs to sit when approached by a human. It will counteract their urge to jump up on people by giving them another response. Leo was very calm and polite while we were working together. I had him tethered so that I would be the person approaching him. I think he didn’t like that much, so I tried to keep us working well away from the end of his leash. He never jumped, no matter how animated and excited I got. He was ready to give me a sit each time I asked. He is such a sweet lovely boy. I look forward to working with him again (and to more cuddling!). – Anna

8/1 Dog Focus with Leo O.

We had a fun one today in the classroom with both of the Leos! Mr. Jones was able to give me all of his attention because he’s very passionate about food, especially the frozen cheese. We worked on getting him to look at my eyes instead of my treat hand, which he was a pro at the end of the session. Next time we’ll have to have a more excitable dog in the room or sit a bit closer to have more of a challenge. -Maria

8/2 Stay

I worked with Leo on distance and duration stays today. Leo did great with duration stays; he was a little impatient, but stayed still the whole time. He did great with distance stays as well and only followed me once or twice while I started to back away. He needs a little more practice with distance stays. However, we made great progress today! I think next time he will be ready to try stays with distraction! -Miryam

8/2 Recalls

Today I did a few short distance recalls since he is limping some today and I didn’t want to stress that injury further. I kept him on the long line and just called him back to me and took a few steps back. He is doing well with this so far! – Whitney

8/3 Place

Leo and I worked on his place cue today. He had a little trouble going into a down but after a little work he was getting it! He settled nicely into a down stay on the mat – Whitney

8/3 Leave It

To continue to keep Leo’s sessions lowkey, we worked on “leave its” for his second session. For the leave its I used a milk bone as the object for Leo to “leave it”, I held the milk bone in my left hand with a closed fist, in my right hand I had the clicker and a higher value treat (cheese). I held out my left hand with the enclosed milk bone, told Leo to “leave it”, and waited for him to disengage from the milk bone (move away/look away from it) and then clicked and treated him with the higher value treat.We also did a little bit of work with the milkbone under my shoe. He did really well all in all with this session! He stills needs work, but that doesn’t mean he’s not making progress! – Abby

Deiago Ramurez 7/29/20 – 8/3/20

7/30 Lobby Focus

I worked with Deiago today in the lobby with his focus. He loves to sniff around and it was a challenge to get him focused, but I used a tennis ball and that captured his attention! He needs some practice with leash manners and focus. Great progress today though! -Miryam

7/30 Basics Review

Welcome back, Deiago! it was wonderful to see him again and he did seem to remember me. I worked with him in the classroom to see where he was with his basics, and he remembers sit and down fairly well but I noticed he could use some work with his loose leash walking, focus and stay. He is such a sweet guy! – Whitney

7/31 Leash Manners & Focus

This was my first time meeting Dieago and he’s such a sweet guy! I tried my best with his Spanish cues (which he was very forgiving and listened to me when asked) as we worked on walking nicely in the classroom. I threw out a toy to distract him and he did a wonderful job leaving it alone when I asked him to as well as returning to me to continue walking by my side. -Maria

8/1 Recalls and focus

Deiago is a lovely dog. I worked on recalls with him. This was our first time meeting, so we needed to build a little rapport. As he got comfortable with listening to me he responded more to me. He could sometimes hear other dogs in the building and that is a big distraction for him. As with lots of working breed dogs he loves the tennis balls. Next session we will try using peanut butter as a reinforcer with him since we learned that he does like that. A more powerful reinforcer will help to motivate his focus a lot. – Anna

8/1 Dog Focus and Leash Manners with Shelby

Dieago had a very special distraction today in the classroom: a puppy! Half of the time Shelby was behind a visual barrier so he wouldn’t get too overwhelmed, and he did an okay job refocusing himself when I asked. He’s definitely going to need more work in this area because he REALLY wanted to play with her (and he did after the session was over). -Maria

Dieago was very gentle and listened to Shelby when she had enough!!

8/2 Loose Leash Walking

Deiago and I worked on his loose leash walking in the classroom today. I did not have any hot dogs and he wasn’t interested in the cheese that I had but he did work for a tennis ball. It was a little more difficult to get him to focus, but he still did pretty well – Whitney

8/2 Leave It

Deiago made fantastic progress today! He seems to really understand “dejalo” as a command for leave it. He listens so well. Now that he has been fitted with a harness, his pulling is SO much better. He is like a different dog. I am a Spanish student and I am working on learning the language, so my Spanish isn’t perfect. It is so fun and rewarding to work with Deiago, though. He is great to practice with! Really good work today, such a good boy! -Miryam

8/3 Life Skills Walk

Deiago wasn’t super interested in treats this morning so we just went on a little life skills walk around the property to work on his general leash manners. Since he wasn’t into the treats, I used verbal praise and gave him pets, as well as using a tennis ball as rewards. He wasn’t pulling during our walk and generally did a really nice job walking with me! – Abby

8/3 Place

Deiago was a little confused about this at first but then he realized he had to lay down on the mat and then he started getting better and holding a down on the mat. I worked on releasing him from his stay and then going back to lie down on the mat. He was a little unfocused at times but mostly did well with this! – Whitney

8/3 Stays

For Deiago’s last session with us this visit I went ahead and did a review of his stays, seeing where he is at with both his sit/stays and down/stays. He definitely did a lot better with sit/stays, and I was able to work on taking a small step back from him while he held his stay. Down/stay was a little harder for him, so I worked with him on holding duration for his down. He still needs some work on his stays, but he’s making progress 🙂 – Abby

Idgie Bronneck 7/29/20 – 8/8/20

7/30 Loose Leash Walking with Finley

Idgie did really well today. She needs to practice loose leash walking by herself a little more, I don’t think she really knew what I wanted her to do (in terms of where to stand next to me while we are walking). Her focus was really great, she was able to acknowledge there was another dog in the room while staying focused on me. After the training session, we let Finley and Idgie meet and they really hit it off. Finley is a really shy dog, so it was lovely to see Idgie playing with her so well. Really great session today! -Miryam

7/30 Leave It

Idgie has really grown up a lot since I saw her last! I immediately noticed she is physically bigger, but I was really impressed with how much better her focus is while I trained her. She was able to walk right by the toys and dog biscuits and responded really well to my cues for her to leave it.. wonderful progress Idgie! – Whitney

7/31 Proper Play

Idgie is such a big girl now! It really shows how she’s learned to play better because she was able to grab onto the toy we were playing with without getting my hand in her mouth. She can work more on learning how to settle down from getting too excited, but otherwise she’s a very good player with humans! -Maria

8/1 Leash Manners with a Fake Dog

In the beginning of the session, Idgie was jumping and lunging towards our friend on the other side of the room. She was able to refocus and calm down quickly but still pulled a bit. Towards the end, she was able to look at the dog without pulling towards it. I think she’s ready to do some leash manner practice with a calm, real dog in the same room! -Maria

8/1 Recalls and No Jump

We used some toys to toss around today while we worked on Idgie’s recalls. When playing with the rope toy, we were able to learn fetch and practice recalls at the same time, which she’s getting much better at! We’ll have to move outdoors to give her a change of scenery and added challenge. -Maria

8/2 Loose Leash Walking

Today I worked with Idgie on her loose leash walking in the classroom with no distraction. She is really increasing her focus a lot, now it is sustained while we are walking for several seconds. Making great progress! – Whitney

8/2 Place with Wish

Idgie did really well today. She had fantastic focus even with Wish in the room. They barked a little at the beginning but both settled into the session very quickly. Idgie needs a little practice pairing “place” with “down”. When she gets to her place, she sits; however, she doesn’t lay down automatically yet. We made some really good progress today and I was really impressed with how unbothered Idgie was by Wish. Great work! -Miryam

8/3 Loose Leash Walking with Henry

Idgie did fantastic with loose leash walking and focus work with another dog in the room today, she really worked super hard and was really keeping her attention on me. She was a little distracted by the other dog but I was able to easily redirect her attention back to me. Great job Idgie! – Abby

8/3 Recalls

I worked with Idgie on her recalls on the long line today in the classroom and she was nailing them each time! She is definitely ready to work on this outside in a fenced area, starting on a long line to begin with – Whitney

8/4 Leave It

Idgie and I worked on leave it today. She did so well. I laid out a couple toys and a few milk-bones on the ground and had her approach them while on leash. When she showed interest in the distractions on the ground, I asked her to leave it and rewarded her when she moved on or looked up at me. She was showing amazing self control and caught on to what I was doing by the end of the session. I was even having trouble getting her interested in the treats on the ground by the end because she was being so good. She only needed to be reminded to leave it once or twice during our session. Really great work today! -Miryam

8/4 Agility Intro

Today I introduced Idgie to some agility obstacles! We did some low jumps, a short tunnel, got her up on the pause table and over a practice A frame. She really enjoyed herself and seemed motivated to go back and do the obstacles again! I think she would really enjoy doing more of this – Whitney

8/5 Focus Outside

Idgie and I went outside in front of the building this morning to work on her focus. The cars, trucks, and people that were outside of the parking lot were excellent distractions for Idgie. She was able to respond to her name and “look” but the real challenge was Suze, a dog, and Liv passing by our place. Idgie definitely needs more work trying not to lunge towards people/dogs that walk nearby in the future. -Maria

8/6 Recalls Out of Play with Molly

Idgie just loves her new bff Molly, a Brittany Spaniel! They love to wrestle and play together so this was really tough for Idgie. We kept them on leash and only when I was able to get Idgie a couple feet away from Molly would she then recall back to me. This is still a huge distraction so she needs some more work with lower level of distraction with recalls before moving up to this – Whitney

8/6 Leash Manners with Luna

Did great! Even got to incorporate some loose leash walking into the session. She also made a new friend, Luna! ~Christina

8/7 Place with Marvin and Lyra

We tried a session with three active puppies in the room. Idgie loves to play with other puppies so they were a powerful distraction for her to work around. I placed a visual barrier around us to help Idgie focus in a little bit, and she had no trouble at all with Place then. She can lie down and relax, roll her hip, and keep her attention on you, even when there is a lot going on. I then tried releasing her so that she could go see the other puppies, and practice pulling her focus back to working. She does that really well. Afterwards she got a special play session with Marvin for a bonus reward! – Anna

8/8 Leash Manners and Focus with Charlie

Idgie is so so cute. She has eyebrows just like my family’s dog, so I definitely have a soft spot for her. She is doing much better about not chewing on the leash or trying to eat my watch while I am putting her harness on her. She had great focus today when she was behind the barrier and was doing fantastically with looking at Charlie and then checking back in with me. She really wanted to play with Charlie so she was tugging at me to get over there and barking here and there, but overall she was listening really well. She is getting really good at loose leash walking, she falls right into the correct position. Really great work today! -Miryam

8/8 Stay

Idgie did a good job today but she still has a lot of work ahead of her. I was able to get her to stay in a sitting or down position but if I moved too far, she would tense then get up from her stay. She’ll need more work on movement, duration of stay, and gradually increase the level of distractions. -Maria

8/8 No Jumping

One of the things we’ve noticed is that Idgie gets super excited when she sees other dogs, and she does lunge and jump at them (which they don’t always love). I did some work today with her on maintaining her focus and staying calm with other dogs by using our large stuffed dogs. They stay still and don’t add any energy, so Idgie was able to work. And boy did she work hard! I introduced 3 different fake dogs and moved them around while asking her to stay calm. Its tough to stay in a Sit when you really want to greet that new dog, and she did great. – Anna

Asha Culbertson – July 2020 Dayschool

7/29 Recalls out of play with Molly

Asha is very much a puppy full of puppy energy and we started work on getting her to pause and come out of playing with another dog. Our goal at this age is just to get a brief pause, giving her attention to the human and then she gets to return right away to her play. She played with another energetic puppy Molly, and she was enjoying that. She is able to pause though and give me her eye contact and come grab the treat I used to lure her. We will keep working on building her skills. She is a really adorable pup. – Anna

7/29 Get to Know/Basics

Asha is a wonderful little pup and she wasn’t afraid at all when we got in the classroom. We did some basics (sit, down, stay, loose leash walk, drop it) and she’s definitely made some progress at home! However, Asha can practice more in the impulse control department so that she can learn how to calm herself down from getting too excited as well as distraction proofing her basics. I’m so happy I got to meet this wonderful girl and I’m looking forward to seeing her in the future! -Maria

Alfie Lalor 7/27/20 – 8/1/20

7/28 Outside Recalls with Pool

I read in Alfie’s file that he really likes water and that you are also having trouble with outdoor recalls. Today, Jacquie and I worked with Alfie outside with the kiddy pool. While we were recording, he didn’t actually get into the pool but literal seconds after I pressed stop he jumped in and was having a great time. Alfie’s recalls are really good! He responds quickly and I only had to repeat myself once or twice. Alfie is such a sweetie, it was a great time to watch him play and to get to work with him. He is doing so good! -Miryam

7/28 Agility Stay

Today I tried something a little different to work on Alfie’s stay. I had some agility equipment set up, including the pause table, which they have to sit or down on and stay until released. I left a tunnel, jump and practice A frame obstacle out and after releasing him from the stay I would let him do one of the other obstacles. He really enjoyed this, especially the tunnel! And I was able to get some really great distance on his stay by using the table also, he did wonderful. – Whitney

7/29 Leash Manners with Wish

We were joined by Anna and Wish today in the classroom so that the dogs would be distractions for each other, however we did put up a visual barrier so it wouldn’t be too much for them. Alfie did a fantastic job of giving me his focus, especially when we popped out to see Wish, and his leash manners are very good. He needs to work on not pivoting his butt out but that just comes with more practice. -Maria

7/30 Loose Leash Walking with Memphis

Alfie did well with his focus today. He needs a little solo practice with loose leash walking, but he stayed focused on me and did a great job ignoring Memphis. Alfie is such a sweetie and always a pleasure to work with. -Miryam

7/30 Place with Pippin

This was a big challenge for Alfie as he and Pippin (a corgi) are both very excitable and energetic dogs so we needed the barrier in place to keep them focused. Alfie did a wonderful job once we were behind the barrier and was able to forget all about Pippin. He is coming along beautifully on place, and I was able to get a bit of distance on his down stay on the mat. Great job! – Whitney

7/31 Polite Greeting

We had Liv (office person) help us today and Alfie was such a gentlemen for her; I think he knows when the cameras come on. It wasn’t until I gave Liv a toy to distract him with, Alfie was very challenged about not jumping up for it when it was presented. Towards the end, he got it and was able to sit nicely for us! -Maria

7/31 Leash Manners with a Fake Dog

Alfie was very interested in our friend in the room but he did a really good job refocusing when I asked him. He definitely can be moved on to the next stage of leash manners where there’s two real dogs in the same room, but its best to start with a calmer dog. Good job, Alfie! -Maria

8/1 Stay with Distance

Alfie did a fantastic job today! When I put out the mat for him to sit on, he went right to it and laid down. I was able to cross the room, wait for 10 seconds while he was in a stay, and come back without him popping up!! I even challenged him more by dropping a milk bone on the ground and he didn’t even budge. Alfie’s come a long way and I’m super proud of him! -Maria

8/1 Leave It

We made some good progress in the classroom today but Mr. Alfie can use some more work in this department. I could tell that he was waiting for me to slip up so that he could snatch the milk bone and we want to get him to the point where he ignores the thing he’s asked to leave alone. In the future, we can definitely work on this skill with different things, like other dogs, toys, and, of course, food. -Maria

Kylo Musquez – July 2020 Dayschool

7/27 Focus with Rey

Kylo did super good with working on focus with me while his sister was working with Whitney. There were a few moments where he would go to paw at his gentle leader, but when I called him to look up at me he did so without hesitation. ~Christina

7/27 Loose Leash Walking with Rey

Kylo did a lovely job working on his loose leash walking with me. We walking by Christina with Rey and passed them several times. Kylo’s focus and ability to work has improved so much! – Whitney

Rey Musquez – July 2020 Day School

7/27 Leash Manners with Kylo

Rey did an excellent job working with me on leash manners with her brother. She was focused on me throughout the session and responded to me each time I called her name, or asked her to look. ~Christina

7/27 Focus with Kylo

Rey and I worked on her focus as well as a few other basic things like her sit, down and even catching a treat! She did need to check out what Kylo was doing a few times but for the most part was very engaged during her session – Whitney