At the start of 2011, I shared my list of dog training resolutions. They were all pretty broad, and some I’m going to chip away at all year. For a little bit of accountability, I thought I would share our progress.
Emmett:
Because he has to renew his therapy dog registration this year, I wanted to start prepping for the test (gulp) by taking him to a public location weekly and training at home 2-3 times per week. Well… I’ve only taken him to the park once, and he was so crazed that he barely responded to his name. I need to renew my commitment to this one. As for the in-home training, we’re doing pretty well with twice-per-week sessions. Which leads me to…
My second goal for Emmett was to train a new trick each month. We started one in January. We did three sessions. He doesn’t have it yet. Fail. On my part, not his.
Lucas:
In my quest to conquer Lucas’ leash reactivity, I decided to start training with a woman who specializes in this sort of thing. We’ve had two sessions so far. (I think they warrant their very own post at some later date…) We have gobs and gobs of homework to do, luckily most of it is to be done at home. Because my other goal was to walk Lucas solo 2 or 3 times per week, which hasn’t happened. Sadly, the boys have only gotten a handful of walks for the past couple of weeks, partly because of the weather (there is SO MUCH salt and ice melt on the sidewalks, Emmett limped home from his last walk 🙁 ), and partly because my work schedule through January was one of the worst ever. Not a good excuse. I know. I feel terrible. But owning up to it here… my commitment is renewed for February.
Cooper:
I have to gush with this one. On my three goals for Cooper – basic manners, socialization, and walks – we’re doing pretty well. Puppy class is going great. He’s done extremely well training at the park, and his loose leash walking is top-notch. In the living room. When the big boys are upstairs. Okay, that one’s a work in progress.
And, lastly, door manners for the whole group. Individually, they do great. As a whole, not so much. We recently rearranged some furniture in our house (related to Lucas’ training… again, another post for another day), and their beds are in a much better location for this. Once Cooper has a better, more solid stay, I think we’ll nail it.
Overall, I give myself a C. Maybe even a C-. Lesson learned: I need to schedule these activities into my days and weeks to really make progress. With Emmett’s trick training, for instance, one session a week isn’t going to cut it, so I need to make it a priority. Same thing with Lucas’ solo walks and Cooper’s loose leash walking. I’ll keep you posted…
What about you? Did you set goals or resolutions? If so, how are you doing with your goals for the year?
I think your boys are perfect as they are!
I started out great with Scout — she’s learned sit and stay. She’s pretty good with lay own and stay. She’s learned she has to be much more gentle with Willy than Simba. She’s very patient and gentle when getting treats BUT she is picking up some obnoxious habits we have to address. She’s very pushy with Sam and Clara. She literally pushes the girls out of the way when she wants something, when going outside, etc. I wanted her to feel part of the family but I think she now believes she’s in charge of the family. She needs more exercise but our weather has prevented it because she really hates being in the cold and getting her feet wet. Come on Spring!
I am so, so with you on the exercise thing. All three of the guys could use more walks, but it’s just been brutal. Emmett and Cooper, in particular, HATE the cold. I keep trying to tell myself that with the boys’ dynamics, that they’ll work it out amongst themselves eventually. Scout is such a good girl that I’m sure they’ll get it all worked out, too!
Spike and Dru are terrible at loose leash. We had resolved to work on it but, as with you, the weather has not been condusive to walks. Any time we have taken them for a walk my whole focus has been on me remaining upright and still attached to the dog! We have also wanted to teach Spike and Dru tricks to perform on their therapy visits and this one lays at our feet, can’t blame the weather. I will blame our crazy schedule of two jobs, therapy visits, etc. Surprisingly, Spike and Dru do not remember a trick we worked on a week and a half ago for five minutes! We really have to work with them consistently. I think we get a D 🙁
Winter does make it so much harder, Helen! It’s too bad New Year’s resolutions can’t start in May! I think we’d both end up with an A! 🙂
I didn’t make any resolutions for the new year-I know better! I do hope to be able to sign up for agility with Daisy later this year. I think she’d enjoy it (mostly because she would enjoy anything involving food). I’m content to let Bella just be herself.
I bet Daisy will have a blast with agility – the food part definitely helps! I’m starting up with Lucas in the spring. We’ll have to compare notes! 🙂
Don’t be so hard on yourself, Miss Maggie! At least you HAVE goals. My mom is all…’ooooo…that would be really cool to do.” And I’m all, okay, so let’s do it! And she’s all, excuse, excuse, blah, blah, blah. I think I should make goals for it. Like, stop putting stuff off. Haha! Yeah, right.
Anyways, I think that you just do what you can when you can and try to make it the most fun you can!
Wiggles & Wags,
mayzie
Awww, thanks, Mayzie!
We were confronted with our less than stellar training schedule this week as well. The good news is that dogs don’t hold a grudge – we’ll both do better this month!