Willow during the playtime at Puppy Train and Play Wednesday Night
Today has been a great day! We are now on day 3 with no potty accidents! Willow actually went to the door and scratched on it twice today to go out. We gave her tons of praise petting and a jackpot treat, a cookie from PetCo (a sandwich cookie) It is her favorite cookie. Those two things make today a red letter day!
We upped the ante on the touch exercise today. I started putting a sticky note on my hand. At first Willow was really confused and kept touching outside the sticky note. So, I started moving my hand to keep the sticky note in front of her nose. I did this 3 or 4 times and then she got it and would touch the paper without my moving my hand (most of the time). When I made a fist and put the sticky note on it she touched the note every time and stopped trying to find a spot on my hand that didn't have the sticky note.
This morning we had a good time at the local park. we were the only ones there. I put her on the 20 foot training lead so that she could run around a bit. She loved that! Especially when I threw her ball for her (Kong SqueakAir Tennis ball). the great thing is she brought the ball to within 6 inches of me 3 times. That is a record for her. When we got back from the park we went for a walk around the block. Three of the kids across the street were out playing (1 girl, about 10 yrs old, 1 boy about 8 yrs old, 1 boy about 6 yrs old.). I know these children and know that they can be gentle and not get too wild or excited around a dog and they are not fearful of dogs. So I asked them to help me with Willow. I told them that she hadn't met or seen any new people today and would like their help because she has to learn to behave around them. They of course were thrilled. They came up quietly and calmly to Willow and we introduced her to them. Then they began petting her. When she would try to jump on them they took 2 steps back, crossed their arms and turned their backs on her. Willow didn't like that. When she stopped jumping they would turn around again and give her attention. This happened twice before she got the idea if she jumped on them she wouldn't get petted. They said their parents taught them that because they just got a new puppy and are trying to train him not to jump. After about 5 minutes we continued our walk. I heard someone calling me and turned around to see the dad of the kids running towards me. He wanted to meet Willow too. her had been watching the kids and Willow and he told me how impressed he was. She is so calm even when excited. She's also more than twice the size of their pup and only 3 weeks older. He just cant' believe the difference in the 2 dogs. He has been observing Willow since we got her on August 30th. Within about 20 seconds the kids had come to join him as well as the other 3 kids that were at their home. So there were now 6 kids ranging in age from 1 1/2 to 10 yrs. I was amazed at Willow. With the older kids she tried to get a little rambunctious but with the 2 small children she was very gentle and didn't once try to jump on them even though they had food in their hands and you could see she really wanted it. So I decided it was to to seal the friendship with the kids. All 6 kids had Popsicles and a cookie in their hand. I asked the kids if they would like to take turns and each give Willow a treat. They were ecstatic! I laid the ground rules. One person at a time and Willow had to finish one treat before she could have another. The kids were great, even the 2 little ones. They each quietly and gently gave Willow her treat (I took 2 doggy cookies and broke them into 3 pieces each). Willow and the kids were having a great time. I felt like a meany but we needed to continue our walk so we said good bye and continued on.
Willow loved the cooler air we had today and she thoroughly enjoyed her walk. By the time we got home she was one pooped pup. She went into her crate as soon as I took her leash off and laid done and went right to sleep. She slept for almost 2 hours.
It will be interesting to see how tomorrow goes since I will be working again.
Till next time my friends...
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