Natalie Haycock

So this week I was still quarantined until Monday and there were many other people quarantined, so I wasn't able to train him in a group of people like I wanted. As an alternative, I decided to take Jerzey on walks other than our normal route. We went on a couple of walks on mainstreet and worked on all of the same things as usual. I also took him around the trails at spotted eagle. This alternative opened my eyes because I didn't notice how Jerzey was so used to our normal route. He acted differently during our walks this week. He was not aware of everything that was around him, so that made him "be on the look out". He had to know what every sound was. Although he was more aware what was going on, he still listened to my commands and did them very well. He would listen right away, but would still complain (he is a very stubborn dog and loves to complain and "talk back"). The commands that we would work on is ...

These are the anxiety treats I give Jerzey. Jerzey laying down and staying. I didn't notice his eyes looked weird in this...oops. Jerzey knows so many other tricks that aren't requirements for the CGC. One of his favorites is shake. He can shake from either paw or both! His favorite trick is roll over.  This is Jerzey(left) and Rocco(right) sitting down for their treat.  Hey Guys! So before I start writing my blog, some people had a few questions. There was one question about the anxiety treats I give to Jerzey and what they were called. I give Jerzey the treats that I took a picture of above. He gets one in the morning and one in the evening. I use to give him the Purina treats, but he did not like those as much. I have seen a change in his anxiety while giving him these treats. He is a lot more calm and listens to my commands easier.      Another question I got was if I train Jerzey on just our walks and if I wil...

This week Jerzey and I focused a lot on laying down and staying. On all of our walks I commanded him to lay down at every intersection. When we get certified, he is going to have to lay down most of the time in a calmly manner. He still does get very anxious though when he lays down. After a while, he stops whining. This will be something we work on for the next six weeks.  Jerzey and I also worked on sit, stay, and come. We worked on this in my backyard most of the time and some of the time on our walks. In my backyard,  I would command him to lay down and stay and then I would walk away until he could not see me. Then I would command him to come. This was difficult for him some days, but the more we practiced the easier it was for him. This week I also tried walking him without the training collar. I walked him on his regular collar a couple of times to see if what I have been training him has set in. At first, he would pull on...

Jerzey and I had a difficult time this week, more so on my part. I was able to work with him everyday but not as ong as we would usually work. This time difference put us back a little bit. On the Action Plan Template, I had written that we would work on walking through a crowd, sitting and staying in place, coming when called, reacting to a distraction, and supervised separation. Out of those five tasks we were only really able to work on sitting and staying in place, coming when called, and reacting to a distraction. We also worked on some of the tasks from last week.  Jerzey has been doing really good with sitting and staying. I've trained him to do that ever since he was a puppy. He does have a hard time staying in place. He will stay in place for a minute or so. He gets anxious when he first has to stay in place, but after a little while he calms down and doesn't show as many signs of anxie...