First of all let me thank Sarah and Renae for taking the time and coming to my house to help me. We had fun training, eating, laughing and staying up late. All 4 dogs were comfortable and got plenty of attention.
I have to say that I learned so much. Some clicker training, a little shaping, calming signals (totally had that one backwards) and that each of my dogs learns in totally different ways and time spans.
This is my thoughts. Sarah will have to tell you hers
I thought that Gotty was the easiest to work with. His love for treats and attention span was great. He picked up everything very quickly. He was all into it and we were able to have longer sessions with him.
Worked on sit, stay, here (change the "come" to "Here"), leave it, out, down, and touch. This afternoon after Sarah left I had him jumping up to each hand for touch.
Now onto the one who I thought was hopeless. (Sorry Sammy for not having any Faith in you. I will never doubt you again).He did FANTASTIC!!!
He is another who will work for food. My little man was the best at shaping. She was getting him to go on the mat. Making him think for himself. He got it faster than anyone. He was able to sit his little waggly butt still in a down position, he did leave it wonderfully. I could drop something and tell him to leave it and he did.
She worked on getting him to do a spin. We worked on him not barking when someone comes up. He didn't bark when Travis and Allison drove up yesterday and I about fell over.
My little princess Kinzyl.
I thought she did well. Also Sarah told me that she does have a lot of stuff down already. Sit, leave it, spot, and leash manners. She needs a little tweaking on some others. We worked on her touch. She had a hard time with that one
. We worked on her wanting to paw instead of doing what we asked. HERE, oh that is the biggest one. She kinda gets bored with that game really easy and her food interest is really not that great. She gets over it very quickly and would much rather sniff the yard for critters. So I am doing very short session with her and doing one thing at a time. If I taught her the other things she knows, I can do these other things. I just have to have patience and think repetition.
Everything we did was very interesting to me and something that I CAN do with my dogs. Even if it is a few minutes here and there everyday.
What I enjoyed the most was spending time with someone who enjoyed the animals as much as me. Kinzyl showed Sarah how much she enjoyed her company by laying in her lap upside down half the night.
Gotty and Sammy knew thought of her as the "treat lady".
Sarah has a few videos of her working on shaping with each dog. They are kinda long and just really waiting,clicking and treating. Sammy was working on the mat. Kinzyl worked on bowing. Gotty worked on the mat.
It was a very good 2 days.
Didn't take pictures because I was too busy learning.