With the end of July coming upon us, it only seems like a good time to update the puppy progress. The girls have grown and are considered by veterinarians to be adults, i.e. capable of breeding for health of mom and pups. However, we took care of this issue last winter, so no puppies here! By trainers standards, we are in the horrid adolescent years. Late in the Spring, we took the girls to a professional trainer because the dogs are only getting bigger and more powerful. Blossom was starting to pull Isabella across the drive, skinning up her knees. Isabella was becoming fearful of taking her dog out and this was not going to work. Also, we have Karl's reasoning for spending the money, "It is much cheaper to have the dogs trained, which we want anyway, than to fence in 5 acres of land for them to run in." Katie's Independence was starting to show up in pure "female dog" form which resulted in her not really wanting to listen to us.
So off to the trainers they went for 3 weeks! After this time, we got to take them home and return for private weekly lessons. Isabella found her commanding voice and Anton learned proper discipline techniques. I was still the Alpha Dog, except when the trainers are in the room and their Marine Like voice booms over mine. I failed to mention these trainers train all the county's police dogs, have agility competitions, and can teach your dog advanced behavior for hunting/retrieving skills.
Now we have advanced to group lessons where the girls must learn to listen and obey us with other dogs around. Blossom listens better than Katie because Blossom really wants to please me. Katie is working on her independence and dominance which was obvious when she was suppose to remain in a down stay as other dogs invaded her 6 foot bubble. Katie ignored most dogs, but two. One was a solid German Shepherd, very well behaved and graduated that day, the other was a skittish Jack Russel. According to Dog Whisperer thought, Katie was triggered by the strong dominance of the German Shepherd and the unstable scent of the Jack Russel. Stable dogs do not usually cause problems. So, Katie, our problem child has issues with others being ahead of her, she wants to be the center of attention. She does not want anyone upstaging her time! But she is still very lovable and quite the ham for the camera!
