Jake and I have been practicing on Friday again at the dog park, just lots of Sits and Downs and Stays as we slowly walked around the trail. He still wouldn't take treats from my hand in distracted environment, but he would eat it if I shove it into his mouth. As expected, the first five to ten minutes, he was very distracted, even though we were just passed by one dog (once fall semester starts, there will be more dogs). But we just kept practicing and practicing, with treats, until he would do Sit, Stay, AND Down 80% of the time, even when there were three GSD 20 feet away.
This morning we woke up at 5:30 AM Central Time, so I would have time to exercise Jake to wear him out before the class. After I fed him, we left Auburn at 7 AM to drive to Atlanta for the class. He slept the whole way. We got there 30 minutes before class started, because I want to walk him around, to stretch his legs after the car ride, and to familiarize him with the place (other dogs in class probably have been to this park before, because this park is only 1 mile from the dog school, and the class instructors always tell their students to exercise their dogs before class). The park is about 5 acres, but there were so many people there! Probably 100, mostly parents with kids, some joggers, and some dog walkers. Jake was very distracted. No wonder, the only time an Auburn park would get this many people is when we have a festival or something. He wouldn't even Sit at the beginning, but we just kept practicing and practicing, until he was doing it about 80% of the time. He wouldn't eat any treats (I shouldn't have fed him his full breakfast), not even when I shoved them into his mouth. And I was worried about how he would do when there is going to be a group of dogs right next to him. At 10:30 AM Eastern Time, students started to show up. Jake was excited to meet everybody, but not as exuberant as I expected. I guess he's getting tired with all the exercise. There were 6 other dogs, one male GSD (Jonah), two male Boxers (Scout and Max), one female yellow Lab puppy, one large male Mini Poodle (Bentley), one female Papillon. Two instructors, Sandy and Xalina, were there, and Sandy brought her new 5 and half week old GSD puppy with her as major distraction for the test dogs. It's strange, the moment Xalina started the class and told the owners and dogs to stand in a line, Jake seems to know he needs to be on his best behavior. At first we practiced Sit Down Stay on different surfaces (concrete, gravel, grass, luckily I thought about this before and had practiced with Jake on different surfaces). Jake was so good throughout the class that I shouldn't have worried (I kept the Gentle Leader on him though, he still pulls when he doesn't wear it, and he's such big dog, I just don't have the strength to fight with him). There were tons of kids and joggers and dogs being walked all over the place, but Jake seemed to be one of the other dogs, who had taken the basic obedience class and four weeks of CGC, even though he never had taken formal obedience class with me. He was distracted and got up when he was supposed to be Sit or Down a couple times, but this is expected considering the circumstances, and most of other dogs in class did it too. The two Boxers were very very distracted and moved around a lot and didn't really listen to commands, and Scout and his owner just happened to be right next to us, so that's added distraction for Jake. At one time, Scout's owner got frustrated, and spanked Scout. I just stared at him in disbelieve (I think he forgot this is a positive reinforcement class and he's doing it in front of all these dog lovers), and Xalina stared at him also, but didn't say anything about it. But Jake was very very good, no problem Sit or Down or Stay, and stayed in Heel position when we walked around (no pulling). However, Jake is very much like Lexi, in that the only time Sandy corrected us was during Come, Jake ran past me, instead of at me. This is exactly the only problem I had with Lexi also. Otherwise, he was very good, even during the 3 minute separation. During the 3 minute separation, Max�s dad said this is the second time he and his dog is going through CGC class, and actually he remembers me from last time when I was with Lexi (I don't remember him at all, I need to look at the old pictures). Near the end of class, Jake started eating treats when I showed it to him (I had left the treats in my backpack, but Sandy reminded us to give the dogs treats since they are distracted by the park goers). And of course everybody just thought Jake's the sweetest dog. Xalina especially loves how he leans on her when she told him to sit. Jake got along with everybody in class. Xalina said Jake will pass the test next week, which will be indoor, back in the dog school. It will be more crowded with 8 dogs and 10 people in 15' by 15' room, but without the distraction from the kids and joggers. Sandy and Xalina are very supportive of me and Jake as a foster dog getting CGC certified; they even had the class give us a round of applause. Jake slept the whole way when we drove back to Auburn.
I went to a local pet supply store sale after we came back from Atlanta, and I met Janet and her neutered male Cocker Spaniel, Boo, there. After Janet and I finished shopping, we came back to my apartment so Jake and Boo could meet. They just sniffed each other and didn't seem very interested in each other.
Anastasia sleeping on Jake�s bed. Jake let her do it and slept on the floor.
Sunday, August 7, 2005
Poor Jake had diarrhea last night again. I think it's from the canned chicken I gave him yesterday morning. I've never bought canned chicken before, but I thought maybe I could try it as lure during the CGC class. But when I opened the can yesterday morning, I realized that the meat is too loose to feed it to him with my hands. But I did give him about a tablespoon of it. Well, Jake just couldn't hold it last night and pooped on the carpet while I was sleeping. But I think he felt a lot better after that. No more canned chicken of course. I did try giving him string cheese as lure for training purpose about two weeks ago. He loved it, but he started begging whenever I was eating string cheese myself, and he never begged food before, so I had to stop giving it to him.
Jake seems to read my feelings pretty well. The new neighbor who moved in next door is a mom with her three-year-old son. I've seen them before at a friend's party, but I don't actually know them myself. Friday morning, Anastasia was sitting in front of the window, and the little boy started knocking on my window, trying to get the cat to notice him. Anastasia could care less about the little boy, so he kept knocking on my window. A few years ago, some other kids kept knocking on my window to get Penelope to bark at them, so I was not happy about this happening again. So I sat by the window and behind the front door, a little agitated, as I know the mom is about 20 feet away watching her son, and I was trying to think of a way to tell them nicely not to do it again. Jake came over, stared at the little boy, and gave a short growl, certainly not loud enough for anybody on the other side of the window to hear. I think he sensed my agitation. Anyways, the mom came over to get her son to get to day care right after that. At the park on Saturday, Jake was fine with all the little kids there though. So I think the growl is in response to my feeling, not towards the little boy. This morning as I was taking Jake out potty, the mom and son next door was outside playing, and she asked me if they could pet Jake. Jake sat right down automatically by the mom's side and enjoyed petting from her. I told him Down, and he wouldn't do it, but when I stretched his legs out to make him Down, he stayed Down. The little boy petted Jake just for a couple seconds. The mom said her parents in Auburn have two toy sized dogs, and her son likes to pet them, but she thinks her son is a little afraid of Jake because he's so big. Anyways, Jake had no problem with the little boy, I don't think he cared for him that much, just sniffed him when the little boy touched him. But he definitely warms up to female strangers right away. Usually it takes a couple seconds for him to warm up to male strangers. But I still think he's too exuberant if he has to live with a three-year-old though.
Jake has marked on the merchandise the last three times I took him to pet supply stores. Heather said her dominant male Tully does the same thing. I guess from now on I�ll only take Jake to the pet supply store when I know I can watch him 100% and don�t have to browse.
Monday, August 8, 2005
When I went to pick up a bag of dog food at the pet supply store on Friday, I asked the store owner if I could bring Jake to her classes this week, to get him used to doing obedience around other dogs indoors, just like we did with Lexi. She said yes. So tonight we went to the Monday class. This is their eighth and last class. This is not the Petco class; this is the class that I took Penelope to, with choke chain. But they also allow the use of Gentle Leader instead of choke chain. I really don't want to use choke chain on another dog ever again, but luckily Jake is already using Gentle Leader. There were six other dogs in the class: two yellow Labs, two shepherd mixes, two terrier mixes. All male dogs, and all the handlers were female, but two dads came along to watch graduation. I gave Jake some treats at the beginning of the class, so he would feel good about being in the new room. But I didn�t use treats during obedience practice, because I knew this instructor doesn�t like her students to use treats as lure. We did obedience for only 10 minutes, then the instructor passed out chew treats, and the dogs chewed on them for twenty minutes, then we took all their collars and leashes off, and they were allowed to play for the rest of the class, for 30 minutes. Jake was great with all the dogs. But the two terriers kept trying to mount him. One of the terriers is a little reactive, he would growl at any dog who gets near his mom or sniffs at him for too long. Everybody there thought Jake's the nicest and sweetest and a very handsome dog. He did growl and bark once after the terriers have followed him around and tried to mount him for about 20 minutes. But considering he didn't know any of the dogs before, but the other dogs knew each other for two months, I think he did really well. After Jake barked, I kept him near me in Down position, and when the terrier tried to mount him, I gently pushed the other dog away, and his owner called him back to her. Also, since they were all male dogs, and we were in the large dog day care room, we had territorial marking on the walls left and right. The owners kept going back to the mop and bucket. After class, the instructor/store owner said Jake and I are welcome to come to the Wednesday class, which will be their third class (thus more obedience and less play time).
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Last night we sat in another obedience class. There were three other dogs: a female Husky, a male Golden Retriever puppy (about 6 months), and a male All-American (about 40 lbs). They were learning Down this week, so there were some jerking on the choke chain as the instructor was showing them how to make the dog lie down. But Jake was very good in class, following the commands about 80% of the time, even though he didn't know any of the dogs there. The class was only 30 minutes, because the instructor had to drive to Atlanta to catch a plane later that night. She said that Jake is her favorite of my four Springer fosters. She said she loves his freckles, and he has the right balance of personality, and he's so sweet (whenever she came over to pet him, he would sit automatically, and when she bent down to get nearer him, Jake licked her face).
Jake and I have been practicing all week, even though he did really well at the pre-test last week, I still wanted him to practice, so he wouldn't "forget" this Saturday.
Saturday morning we did exactly what we did last week, woke up early to exercise, then breakfast, then drive to Atlanta. We got there 30 minutes early again to stretch and practice at the park. Very nice park, they even have dog poop stations.
