Yesterday I was supposed to have a lesson, but half way there it started POURING down rain. We worked a ton on "watch me's" yesterday - I want Nemo to have no doubt what that means when I take him out into the scary world. He did great, I got eye contact up to a minute. Maybe I'm easy to impress, but it seems like it would be tough for a puppy to focus for a minute without turning their head, good boy!!
Hopefully I can get some video of Dakota this weekend to post - she's started doing the cutest thing when we go swimming - she'll jump from raft to raft and paddle trying to get the raft wherever she wants to go - so cute!!
This weekend I'm looking forward to seeing the Simpson's movie :) and munching on some Krystal burgers! That's all I got for today..have a wonderful weekend!!

We didn't get much done yesterday. I went and played golf with the hubby afterwork, which took FOREVER so we didn't get home till 9:00. My Click to Calm book came yesterday, and it is excellent!! I read half of it last night and brought it to work to finish today. I'll try to work on some of the things tonight in my lesson.

Nemo Bootcamp

(Nemo sleeping under his bowl 3mos old)


So we met with Dr. Johnson on Monday and started our "action plan" to cure Nemo of his fear issues. In a nut shell it's a regimen of "watch me's" and down-stays, and lots of work on this around other dogs. Also he must learn that every good thing comes from me, so his attention gets more focused on me and less on his enviroment. So our day yesterday went like this:
5:30 am - hand feed breakfast, work on "watch me" without distractions, up to 1 minute
4:00 pm - played fetch one-on-one for about 30mins, but require a down-stay, watch me, or spin before each toss.
7:00 pm - 45 minute walk - moving across the street when other dogs or people approach and request a down-stay and watch me. Across the street is the closest distance for now at which he won't react to another dog or person.
8:00 pm - hand feed dinner, some more watch me's, but some fun stuff to relax too. Spins, rollovers, go on's etc.

He cannot get ANYTHING without doing SOMETHING - sit-stay if he wants to go out, down-stay when he wants to come in, sit for petting, watch me for fetch, etc...

We're going to do some work with JH tomorrow. I'm excited about that! Plus I get to meet her new baby Cheetah (a puppy, not an actual cheetah :)

Everything went pretty well yesterday, the only "incident" was on our walk we were rounding a corner and some people were coming around it whom I could not see. They startled Nemo, and of course they walked right up to him to try and pet him and he threw a fit. They said how cute he is and blah blah blah... Sometimes it stinks having a cute little dog, everybody and their brother wants to pet him - kids are the worst! :) I'm not sure when he got so nervous with people all of the sudden, but there it is...

Today we hand-fed breakfast, and tomorrow I plan on getting up earlier (eeck 4:30 am) and walking him some.

So that's it in a nutshell. There's more but I'm too tired to think of it all right now :)

Today I get to meet with Dr. Johnson to work up an action plan for Nemo and his behavior problems. I'm really excited to get on a program. I wrote down a bunch of notes and questions and realized that a lot of his issues he's had since day 1. I was really upset with his behavior in his last class, and I know he can't progress until we get through this. It's not enjoyable for him or me right now.
On a positive note, I've met a lot of really supportive dog people who've had similar problems. They've given me tons of encouragement and ideas, and I'm really thankful! Dog people are SO NICE!
I'll keep the updates here on our progress with Dr. Johnson. The blog will be a good way to keep track for me.
Wish me luck with my crazy pup!

Not a whole lot to update lately.. I've been watching some DVD's, reading Clean Run mag. while classes have been rained out. Luckily the sun has been out for the past few days, so hopefully we'll get a class in this week. From Clean Run I've been working on teaching Nemo to "go on" around a bucket. He picked that up pretty quickly, so we're working from farther and farther away. Clean Run says to get it up to 80 feet, eeck!
I'm excited this weekend I have a private lesson with Patty at DDS, and Jamie at her house. That should give me plenty to work on! Plus I get to meet Jamie's new puppy, yay!! I definitely need to live on a farm. I am a certified puppy addict and three dogs is certainly not enough :)
That's all for now, boring...I know....

Eeeck, it's been awhile since I posted anything...I know I'm a bad doggie mommy! Well there's not been much to talk about really. I haven't had a class in a month now due to rain and the 4th of July hoilday. Here's a video, after screwing with Photobucket for an hour, of a mini-practice while it was raining out. After that video we got to where I could send him to the jump from 6 FEET! I know, ho-hum, but that's big for us!! (:
I also started little sequences in my back yard (with a gallon of OFF on) of sending him to a target over a jump, or jump table, etc. He's doing great and I'm impressed everyday at what this little guy can learn. I'm really glad that I took the couple of months to work solely on his focus and obedience. I loved JH's class but neither Nemo or I were ready for that level. He was a silly puppy spaz!! Maybe soon we will be...
On the home front things are great, but ever busy. We just got back from Myrtle Beach, which was awesome!! Then my mother and aunt were in town for a couple of days. We shopped and shopped and ate and shopped some more! Work has been insane, but what else is new. :) Oh and we got new next door neighbors yesterday, Jamie and Chris (ahh another Jamie!). We met her yesterday, she seemed really nice.
I think that's all for now... I promise I'll do better with the updates! Ta-ta for now!