Where does the time go?

It's already Saturday, March 26!! Clay came by on Wednesday as planned and we started working Bayou with the collar. It has made a huge difference. She's no longer going after the bushes when she's out, she's not going after the wires and plugs inside and the barking is a lot less than it was. The biting has almost stopped. When she gets real excited she tries it but with the collar we can settle her down and get her to stop. I'm amazed that in just an hour of training we were able to accomplish so much. She hasn't had to spend any time in her kennel when I'm home. Before Wednesday she would spend hours in her kennel because she would get into so much mischief when she was free. Now she plays with her toys, chews on chew sticks (bully sticks and a bison bone) and actually lies down to sleep all on her own.

We're still getting used to how to use the collar but I think we have a pretty good handle on it in the short amount of time she's been wearing it. She doesn't seem to mind the collar much. Getting it on her in the morning can be a chore but eventually we get it on her. She wears it all day. I don't take it off of her until she goes out for the last time at night before bed. One night I took it off before I let her out and it took forever to get her back in. One of the issues that is always brought up when using a training collar is that the dog will not behave without the collar on. I'm finding that when I say "off" of "come" when the collar is not on that she pays more attention to me than she did before. "Off" especially is really working well.

Today she's full of energy so she's kind of crazy but not as bad as she was sans collar. Next Thursday we're going to the SMS facility to do some training. I wish we could train more but I know we need the practice time in between sessions to work with Bayou. We're using a long lead to work with her on "come". One of us holds the lead and the other holds the transmitter and we call her back and forth, ping pong style. It works really well. We spend most of the time saying "off" though because that has a few meanings - get off, stop, leave it alone. It's nice to have just one command for all of that instead of having to teach her a different saying for each thing we want her to do or not do. It makes training a lot easier and it helps to move things on quicker too.

I find that I have more trouble than Bayou does. I'm so used to saying "leave it" that it's hard to transition to "off". I'll get it eventually though. lol It also makes it easier for David and I to say the same commands since there aren't so many of them.

I used my AGC's from Swagbucks to buy Bayou a bed big enough to go in her kennel which is 42" long. I paid a whole $1.50 for it. I love Swagbucks!! Only thing is we're not putting anything in her kennel right now because of potty training issues. It's in the living room right now. She seems to like it and how big it is. She still uses her tiny beds too. Or the floor. She's lying on the floor by the back door right now. I think she's ready for a nap. It's really nice, since she's not in her kennel all day, that she actually tires herself out by playing, training and going outside. She's becoming a regular, normal dog now instead of a crazy lunatic dog.

I haven't taken very many pictures of her lately so I need to get on the ball with that. Videos too. I want to get some training videos to post on the blog. I also want to take a picture of her on her new bed to post on the Swagbucks Facebook wall. SB's likes when people post pictures of "prizes" they've received. The trick is to get her on the bed. We don't know place yet so we can't use that command and we don't have a command to make her stay somewhere (beside "sit" which she only does for a few seconds). I'll put some treats on her bed. That should keep her there long enough to get a picture.

I think while she is sleeping I'll clean up the living room. There are beds, blankets, toys and chews everywhere. It will only take a minute or two to do it so it's no big deal. I also need to clean the yard today. There's not much out there because I'm really doing well keeping up with it. It's a lot easier to do a bit every other day instead of waiting a week and doing it all at one time. As she gets older that will become more important.

Today a little girl, a toddler, came running over to the yard to see Bayou. I think she scared Bayou because Bayou came around the deck and ran inside. She really hasn't met any kids. April 4th she gets her last set of puppy shots and then I can take her to Petsmart so she can be around other people and other dogs. She needs that. Speaking of socialization, I haven't emailed Rebekah yet. I was wondering if Bayou would be better this week because of the training, but without the collar on I don't think there would be much of a difference right now. She's not allowed to wear the collar in class. Without it, at this point, I think I would just be holding her back from the other dogs and watching her choking herself by pulling on the leash the whole time. She's too big for me to hold her now. She's got to be close to 25 pounds. They only time I pick her up is to put her in bed at night. I'm going to fix that though by putting the blanket chest at the end of the bed again and teach her to get up there and then up on to the bed. Of course that means she can get out of bed too but I think she'll be okay with that. As long as she doesn't get out to pee on the floor, things should be okay.

I have to decide today whether I'm going to go to the Puppy Class or not. I want to be able to let Rebekah know ahead of time. I won't just not show up. That would be rude. I'd like to give it a shot but if all we do is sit around while Rebekah talks, I won't be able to take it because Bayou will be bored and that is stressful for me. I guess I could ask Rebekah what the plan is for tomorrow. The thing is I just really don't want to go. It's just not fun. When we used to take Watson to Christine, it was at least fun and we learned things every session. I think Rebekah could go over all of this stuff in an orientation session with humans only. Then the 6 puppy classes could start the following week. But, it is her class, not mine.

I'm so excited to go to the SMS facility on Thursday. I'm sure Bayou will love it too. She loves new places. I don't know if any other dogs will be there. Either way, I'm looking forward to learning more. David and I need to spend more time training though. It's been hard this week to get the training in because I have a sore back. I had to get a 2nd shot in 2 weeks on Friday. This time is was in the sacroiliac joint. I couldn't have sedation because I didn't have a driver (David was working, Lisa is in China). I felt everything that Dr. Jenks did. It wasn't horrible or unbearable but it did suck. No more shots without sedation. For 5-7 days I have to watch my activity level but the training doesn't take too much physical energy so I should be able to get back to it now.

Bayou is slowly learning to retrieve. She will go after the ball or toy and bring it back to your general area but doesn't give it to you. She may drop it close enough that you can get it but she doesn't really bring it to you. Of course, she's not a retriever so I'm not expecting miracles from her. She'll get it though. Eventually.

That's it for now. I'll do my best to get some pics and vids to post. Later.