House manners are key things to work with your dogs on and the best way to do that is to have the dog out in the house, free to wander. Yesterday, I worked on house manners with Luke. Luke as always been really wild and hard to get calm, but deep down I could tell he was really sweet and easy to train. At first I was only going to leave him out for about 15 minutes but he did so great that he stayed out in the house for 3 1/2 HOURS! I was really surprised on how well he did. I took him outside and worked him on the gentle leader for the first time, just trying to get him used to it. I then took him in and let him hang out with the family. He loved all the attention he got from my younger brother and sister. He didn't miss behave once. He never had an accident or got hyper. I was sooo proud of my boy! We did find out that he doesn't like squeaky toys. LOL. We worked on how to behave during meal times, how you can't eat/lick/sniff things on the plates, and how to lay down and rest outside the cage. He did extremely well on all these even if every time I got up to get something he jumped up and followed me. But I don't mind it. That as been one of the things I've missed since Rascal's death. Luke as really opened my heart open again and I love that sweet boy. He will be a great obedience dog.
The plan is to work all the dogs like this. Not sure if Luke is going to like the idea of the others getting out and not him, but we will see. I believe Wrangler is next on my list. He may be a little harder to do, but I look forward to it. Come back soon. I will be keeping you guys up to date on House Manners with all the dogs. Happy training days everyone!
