Jade's training is coming along. We made our 3rd trip to Smithville this weekend. I keep pushing while we are up there and letting her have more freedom. On this trip I let her pursue a mouse all the way to the hole. I got Jade to about a 90% recall without any issues. She's an Akita with a high predatory drive so I need to be able to stop and recall her when I need to.
I'm a lucky trainer, Wayside Waifs has allowed me to bring Jade to the shelter on Saturdays when I volunteer. As a result she has met over 200 dogs in the past 4 months I've had her. Jade's dog to dog skills have increased 10 fold. She's able to adapt to a variety of dogs. Even if a dog really snarks at her she will walk away. I still need to work on her issues with resource guarding items from other dogs. Even for me, that takes a bit of work, but I am working on it. Tonight we went to Petco and for a walk at Zona Rosa (an outdoor mall). Every week for the past 4 months I've had Jade she has been to Petco, Wayside , farm, park, lake, outdoor mall or other unique setting 2-3 times a week. As a result, she is calm and non-reactive in just about every environment now. I've had a couple of consults lately, and each time it may be a training issue, but it's also a huge lack of socialization.
Socialization is not just taking your dog somewhere, but progressively taking them to new environments. Once in a new environment take control and do some easy training. Come-Sit, attention, or just sit and relax. When people approach, have them help you train your dog. If your dog is out of control, pick a less distracting environment. I cringe when I see people take their under socialized dog to a dog park. The poor dog never had a chance. Think of your home as the main circle. The ultimate sphere of control. You need to be able to control your dog in that main sphere before going to the next outer circles. Think of each new environment as a new circle, master it and move on to the next one.
If you do, then you can have a happy dog like this one. I've changed my website. Everyone always refers to me as the dog guy, so now I am http://www.kcdogguy.com/
Feel the urge for an akita? go http://www.akitas.org/ or http://www.bluemoonakitarescue.com a Shiba?www.shibarescue.org/
Remember shelter dogs rock! www.waysidewaifs.org
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