But, alas, this blog was originally started so I could yammer on about myself, since I don't really have friends that I talk to on a daily basis!
Anyhoo, today I can talk about Rudy. So, he's got his rabies shot, hooray! That means he can go to the dog park and get put in his place by other dogs. Oh, and we can have fun at the park too....
Here's some recent pics of him: Look how big he's getting.
Here's Rudy and TFP outside of the vet clinic where he got snipped. I wish this clinic was not 45 minutes to 1 and a half hours away!
Here he is with his kong toy
Here he is sporting his new rabies tag!
So, everyone with three kids has a rotating problem child, right? Well, right now, the rotation has stalled. But, as with parents with problem children, what do you do? You consult a specialist, right?
So, that's what we are doing. I contacted this company called K9 Advisors. So, we had our initial session last night, blistered hand and all. It still was searing a little during the session, but I worked through the pain and listened attentively.
This first appointment was about an hour and 20 minutes. Very helpful. Lots of stuff to process for both us and the little monster. It was great, because he was already getting riled up before the trainer arrived, so she got to experience his pretty natural self early on.
So, here's just some of the things that we do wrong are as follows:
-When giving commands, we give him too many chances to not follow orders. We should give one chance, if he doesn't follow through, say no, try again, until he gets it.
- We were holding the leash wrong. This is a whole thing that we have to practice with each other before trying it out on the puppy. This is something we never understood by reading it online, and it totally helped to see someone demonstrate it with us and practice it.
- We need to praise him when he follows a correction. It sounds confusing and like giving mixed signals, but he seemed to respond to it well.
- We shouldn't call his name when scolding. I kind of figured this out, because he doesn't always come when called. We also shouldn't call his name or call a command like come if we are doubtful that he will follow through. Instead we should coax him with nicknames or kissy kissy sounds or something similar.
- We should keep a leash on him for training in the house and when we have guests until he learns to behave properly. I always thought this would annoy puppies and they wouldn't go for it, but less than 24 hours later and he doesn't seem to mind it much. It's way easier to pull him off the counter, away from us and away from objects he shouldn't be getting into.
- We shouldn't use the command down for getting him off us, off furniture, etc. Each command word should have one specific function. So, "off" is more appropriate for get off me, and down is more appropriate for lay down. Maybe that's why he snaps at me when I'm working with obedience training and I say "down".
- We literally have to treat him like a special kid and praise him a lot when he is NOT doing something wrong! It sounds silly and sarcastic coming out of my mouth, but I have to go against my nature if I want to have a good dog and have a nice relationship with him.
Is it expensive? Well, yes, of course. Is it worth it? Well, yes, of course. If your kid was accepted to the best school for him or her, wouldn't you want to do everything in your power to have the funds to send the kid to the school? I mean, what we want is to raise happy, healthy, confident, pleasant beings that are a joy to interact with other beings, right?
Oh, and we also don't want to get sued when our dog bites someone else.....
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