Accomplishments!

Training dogs is unlike any other profession. If you call a plumber or an electrician you expect them to do the work for you, not teach you how to plumb or do things with wires and plugs. But training is really about relationship, so the trainer can start the process but then the dog only knows to do the thing for the trainer. Early in the process, the inexperienced owner needs to take over.

So my job is one part teaching the dog new things and nine parts teaching the human how to teach the dog. A first rough indicator of how a training project is going to go is how long it takes the human to figure this out. Katie figured it out within the first hour. This bodes well!

We started with "touch" - my very favorite foundation behavior.  I taught this at the veterinary clinic and by the time we had our first meeting at school he was well on his way to "getting it". Which means she has been working on it at home. Another excellent indicator. This is fun.

Today was my third or fourth visit a school and I wonder if Katie and Karen know just how much we have worked on and accomplished. Here is my list:

• Touch - a most useful  way to distract a dog who is about do to something it shouldn't. 
• Loose leash walking. This is hard for everyone. Henry Clay does it pretty well for me and not as well for Katie and Karen, but I think it is getting better. For some reason the thick leash was a toy and distracting, so a thin leash might help. Katie is still keeping a tight leash - as if it is the leash that controls the dog. haha. Nope. The dog has to be free to make mistakes and it is the knowledge of what is expected and repetition of the skill that controls the dog. (Is this true of children students, too?)
• Go to mat. We still have lots of auxilliary cues - pointing  and standing just so, from the trainers but Henry is learning the skill and we will be able to fade the cues. 
• Stay. I was especially impressed that he was making progress on this. 
• Heel. Today we introduced the training of this skill. Which, when "installed" means the dog knows to get to the handler's left side in "control" position. I mentioned "side" (go to handler's right side) also. 

We work on other vague but important issues also. For instance, we developed this exercise: Assign a suitable student to be a "dog". Now turn the class loose and let them pet the "dog". How does that feel?  The goal is to let the students brainstorm the most empathic and comfortable ways to interact with the dog. Today Katie told me she did this with a class! And they are in the process of figuring it out. 

Karen asked me "how should the dog interact with students?" and then told me he goes up to them, doesn't jump on them but greets them and is friendly. I think this is perfect! Perhaps a "go to mat" for kids that don't want to interact with a dog. 

As for Henry Clay, he is a gem! Naturally friendly and confident. He spent 4 days at my house with my pack of dogs and interacted well with dogs and humans. It is of utmost importance to me that the dog is not a tool or an object, but a living, breathing partner in this endeavor.  A puppy cannot decide that this is his career for sure any more than an 8 year old can decide to be a surgeon. But so far he shows every indication this will be fine with him.