Long-Dangerous Tails

Ann,

I am by no means an expert–but I have learned a lot about training puppies, and will gladly share what I have learned. For example, since puppies have short attention spans–keep the training sessions short. Make it fun–lots of praise, use that silly “puppy talk” voice, and I use a lot of Pupcorn for treats. To teach “leave it” you have to watch the puppy’s body language and anticipate when they are going to go after something–like an inflated football. Then praise them when they look to you, and give them an alternative behavior like stay or come.

I taught Kodi leave it on a Sunday morning walk, everytime we came to a driveway with a newspaper in a driveway I gave him the command just before he started to sniff the paper. By the 4th or 5th paper he walked by without even looking at it and I praised him saying “Good leave it.” Give it a try see if it works for you. I will be anxious to hear how it goes.

Marcia and FLD Kodiak

Kodiak had a fun and productive training week–with two great outings. He went to a local middle school on Tuesday, to participate in their Health Fair. We arrived early so that I could set up a lap top with my Leader Dog for the Blind power point slides, along with pictures of the puppies we have raised. I placed Kodi’s bed under the table with several of his favorite Nyla Bone toys–we were all set to talk to the students, Kodi was ready for lots of loving, and of course to hundreds of questions about raising puppies and Leader Dog training.

It was about this time that I noticed the display next to us included a basketball goal and an inflated football player with a net to catch the inflated footballs. I thought this is going to make this a very long training day.

But, Kodi surprised me–when the balls started flying he was watching them intently. One of them landed about 3-4 feet from him and I could see he was about to go after it. I said, “Kodi, leave it.” and when he looked at me I said “Good boy, sit” as soon as he sat I gave him a treat and lots of loving. Then I had him lay on his bed, kids started arriving and of course the girls “oohhhed and awwwwed” over him. They were rubbing his ears, he is smart enough to know this attention was one hundred times better than chasing after balls. By the third hour, he needed to go outside, and when we came back in I could see he was very sleepy. So I explained to the students that he needed some nap time. He slept the rest of the afternoon–with kids running around, balls flying all around (some even landed on his bed!), and all the noise of over 100 young teens in the gym! What great socialization training!

Yesterday we went to the airport to let the puppies experience being around the baggage carousels, and going through airport security. He went through all of it with no problems. This was also training for the TSA security as well. The lady that worked with us was afraid of dogs, so he helped her with her anxiety issues as well.

Just wanted to tell you about Kodiak’s first puppy outing in Springfield, IL. We visited the Mill Creek Alzheimer Center, the residents really enjoyed petting the puppies and telling us about their dogs. Kodiak loved all the attention and was the center of attention for most of the afternoon.

He got lots of compliments about his soft furry coat and good manners. I must confess there was
a little secret they did not know–so I can’t take all the credit for his good behavior. Springfield is about a ninety minute drive and he was awake since
about 8:30 in the morning. We arrived at the Center at 2:00–and is was very warm in the Center, so he was ready for an afternoon nap.

As you can see from
the group picture we had several puppies there

The tiny yellow lab is about one week younger than Kodiak. Her name is Lindy. The big yellow lab is Gabe, he is 11 months old and will be going back to Leader Dog in March. The Golden is named Bradford he is 7 months old. The two black labs are Purcell, 10 months, and Sterling, 7 months.

After our visit at
the Center, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner. You would not have known
our puppies were there–all six were sleeping under the table before we had
placed our orders. We had a really fun day.

Hope you enjoy the
pictures–next month we will be going to Peoria Airport. It will be a training
day for the puppies and for the TSA security personnel as
well.

Marcia and FLD
Kodiak