Puppy Power!!

It's been a while since I made a puppy post; sorry, I don't have any pictures to go along with it.

Last night, we continued working with Larry in training Denali on the Heel command. Unfortunately, Denali won't Heel without being directed to my ankle, but we are persevering.

We took her for a walk with her in the Heel position. She did NOT like that. She is used to being able to roam where ever she feels like (within certain boundaries) to the length of the leash. Well, we gave her just enough leash for her front legs to meet the ground with about two inches of slack or so.

We then walked. If she stopped to sniff something, we continued on, and she got dragged. If she tried to run ahead, we would give her slack and then snap the leash and pull her back to the Heel position. She pretty much fought with us the whole way, so I figured she'd be a bit tired when we got back to Larry's house, which would be a good thing for what we were doing next.

After the walk, we tested Denali on how long she would stay in a Down/Stay position with me out of sight. Our goal was 5 minutes. She made it 2 at the most.

Previously, we did pass a test where we put her in a Down/Stay position, but we remained in sight and were able to remind her to "stay."

So, we have our work cut out for us this week to get her to stay when we are out of sight.

In other puppy news, I put up the warning flags for the invisible fence and started the training, which, on the first two days, consists of letting Denali get to the flag line and jerking back on the leash.

Days 3 and 4 are a lot like the previous ones, but the shock collar is attached, and Denali is allowed to feel the shock. Ouch! Do not want!!

Days 5-8 still involve the leash and shock collar, but also involve distractions that tempt her to break through the fence. Things like balls rolled or thrown out of the yard, family members outside of the fence, or other dogs outside of the fence. This will be Denali's hardest stage as she's just a puppy and has some issues with self control (don't we all!!).

Hopefully she'll be fully trained to the fence in two weeks so my mom and T will have an easier time with her while my wife and I are off to Hawaii.

BTW, my wife did go to work today, so she's feeling a bit better, and I'm optimistic about our upcoming trip. Yay!