Since a lot of dogs are home with their humans now, we thought we’d re-share the posts from our training series to perhaps inspire you to work on your human’s skills. In 2018 Asa and I enrolled Mom and Dad for private lessons to address issues they were having with leash walking and other commands. During those first few weeks of classes, we were told to stay home and hit the reset button with their training. I have to admit it wasn’t easy. However, Asa and I now laugh when reading these old posts. Mom and Dad sure have come a long way, and I have to admit we have too!
Should have Paid More Attention (July 10, 2018)
Mom and Dad’s first training class didn’t go quite as expected. However, I believe we are on the right track to retraining them to be more responsive to our demands, oops I mean commands. Anxious to start Mom and Dad’s training, Asa and I came charging into the classroom, dragging Dad behind us. Why must he insist on walking so slow? The trainer smiled and said, “I see why you’re here.” Awesome! He understands! Or so I thought.
To my surprise, Mom and Dad’s trainer immediately separated us! He tied Asa to one corner, me to another, and had Mom and Dad sit as far away as possible on the opposite side of the room. How insulting! After all, I believe in the power of paws-on learning, and want to be involved in every step of this process. Although I can see it from the trainer’s perspective as well. He no doubt needed to give Mom and Dad a stern talking to about their behavior, and didn’t want to upset Asa or me.
Anyways, we’ve never been so far from Mom and Dad while in the same room before! So I struggled to join in the conversation by barking my input. Why wasn’t anyone listening to me? Realizing I was annoyed, Asa tried to get to me. But then got distracted by a box of tennis balls, and spent the remainder of the class trying to figure out how to get those coveted toys. When will he realize life isn’t all about fetch? Training Mom and Dad is serious work!
I continued to try to get their attention, when next thing I realize I’m tangled up in my leash. Mom immediately jumped to my rescue, but the trainer said, “let’s see if he can figure it out on his own.” On my own? What’s the point of training Mom if I have to do stuff myself! Ok, I admit it took a moment, but I realized if I walked backwards I could untangle myself. In fact, I was so proud of figuring this out that I happily tangled and untangled myself three more times. Practice makes perfect, right?
Well unfortunately while I was perfecting my new trick, I was only half listening to the lesson he was giving Mom and Dad. I did pick up a word here and there though. For example, the trainer said something about “too bonded to each other.” Now that he mentions it, Mom and Dad are really bonded to each other! I need to get them to focus on myself and Asa for leadership instead of each other. It’s as if they are purposely trying to team up, and override our decisions! Wish I could have heard more of this part of the conversation, but Asa was trying to get my attention to help him with the box of toys.
I probably also should have stopped barking “look at me! I untangled myself! Give me a treat!” while the trainer was talking. But they were the ones being rude by not focusing their undivided attention on me. However, another snippet I overhead was something to the affect of regain respect of authority. Again, the trainer is right on target. When I was a puppy, I totally had Mom and Dad wrapped around my paw. They did everything I wanted and let me get away with anything. However over time they got more strict, and foolishly started acting like they were in charge. I totally blame Asa for this decline in Mom and Dad’s obedience. However, slowly but surely I’ve been getting them back on track to my standards. However, there is still some tweaking to be done reestablishing control. Hence the need to sign Mom and Dad up for summer school.
At least on the bright side, Mom and Dad have already mastered one aspect of the training. The trainer talked about getting into “service mode.” Well that’s something they have perfected! My meals are served promptly at my appointed time each day, and my walks are like clockwork. In fact, I’ve trained Mom and Dad to follow the schedule I’ve established for them quite nicely. But before I could bark my approval, the teacher was wrapping up their first lesson. Time to find out their homework assignment to put these words into action.
This is where the class got difficult. The trainer said something about we need to hit the “reset” button, and not do our regular schedule. Wish I listened to this more, because he may have said “no going places in the coming weeks.” But I was distracted because Asa almost knocked over the box of tennis balls, and I was hoping for a game of fetch with the trainer before we left. Anyways, the plan for this week is resetting Mom and Dad. We need to change our routine, not let Mom and Dad have the run of the house, and make them earn their treats. We also need to focus on just the basic demands of feed me and take me out, while establishing who is in charge. I’ll keep you posted on how they do with this week’s homework. Also I promise to be more attentive at Mom and Dad’s lesson next week!
