Monday, February 08, 2010

Training Day



On Saturday, Otis and Cooper had their first training session with Patti. Patti was recommended by Jeff's friend, Andrew. Andrew has a Labrador that likes to jump on visitors and Patti corrected this problem. Since Oti has the same bad habit, we felt it was worth hiring her.

Patti said that 10 minutes of training (mental stimulation) is a tiring for a dog as running outside for 30 minutes. The pictures show just how Oti looked after a one hour session.

We learned "Leave it" and "Drop it", in the hopes that Oti will stop running thru the house with laundry and shoes, "Meet and Greet" and "Basic Recall". Patti said that it we practice ten minutes every day for 6 months to 2 years, eventually Oti will learn what these command mean!

Since Coop does not have these same bad habits, Patti focused on Coop's light and shadow obsession. Even she was flummoxed at how to break his concentration, since Coop has no interest in treats and quickly shredded his new squeaky toy.

It seems that the training is for us more than the dogs. Practice, practice, practice is the key.

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