KATIE GOES TO SCHOOL 20 MARCH 2013

Marilyn writes: Our Katie girl starts obedience training tomorrow. Last week was the first class but without dogs, as this is clicker training and the teacher explains the concepts to the humans. Our homework this past week has been to familiarize our dogs with the clicker. Katie started out hating the sound and slinking away whenever I clicked it. So I found a clicker that makes a softer sound and she is better with it. But I think she thinks it means "get in your bed" since we worked on that a little, even though I have tried to teach her a couple of other commands using the clicker, too. But in any case, we are ready for our first class tomorrow. The biggest challenge for her is leash walking, as she has a very strong prey drive and is always extra alert when we go on our walks in the woods every day. She also is following Frosty's bad example by barking at any big brown UPS trucks and the poor delivery people who come with them. Frosty actually fell off Jeff's chair yesterday, he was barking so hard! When I can catch them, Click/Get in Your Bed/Treat seems to get the behavior diverted, so I am hoping we can fix this! Frosty, who has been extremely noise sensitive since we got him (for example, he jumps and runs whenever anyone uses fingernail clippers or a spray bottle) - loves the clicker because the treat follows after he executes the command - and he is such a little show-off that he will do anything for a treat. We're hoping Katie follows suit. Anyway, I will let you know how she is doing! Is SHE still here? Is SHE why we have all this noise??

KATIE GRADUATES! 27 APRIL 2013
Marilyn writes: Our sweet girl Katie finished her Basic Obedience class and came through with flying colors. Everyone in the class remarked how much more confident she seemed as well. It was my first experience with clicker training and it worked quite well with Katie, after she got over her fear of the clicker! She still has lots of things to work on, but continues to impress us with her intelligence, and she is such a loving little girl. Congratulations, Katie! On 9 May, Marilyn writes: Thought you'd enjoy this cute picture of Katie staring down a bird on the bird feeder in our backyard. Katie is very prey-driven, and we fully expect that she will catch one of these little guys in our back yard. But so far, they have managed to fly away before she gets too close.
	Katie [left] & Frosty [above]

KATIE "CELEBRATES" MEMORIAL DAY HERE