There are two posts I would like to comment on tonight.

Doggie Daycare – Author’s Note

Sampson and Delilah will be going to doggie daycare twice a week.   I choose Tuesdays and Fridays because I feel like it spaces their fun out, and gives them enough rest time in between visits.

Today was their second visit to daycare and their first Friday (at least in recent memory.)  Sara’s mom Sue was opening this morning, I had heard lots about Sue and seen her briefly in passing, but we hadn’t officially met.   Sue was super nice and very comfortable with the dogs.  A huge difference from when the center was sold last year and the new owners took over with nary a hello, how are you?

I’m quite comfortable with my dogs attending daycare at The Mellow Mutt and very happy to have a functioning facility once again.

You Win Some, You Lose Some – Author’s Note

After reading everyone’s questions and comments today I realize how poorly I handled the situation last night.  My intentions were good and in my eagerness to help I made a rookie mistake.  What I should have done was ask the woman in she’d mind if I tried using a treat with her dog; and then followed her lead. 

When I go back next week I will apologize for being inconsiderate, and explain to her the success I’ve been having with Delilah and let her know I am there if she has any questions.  The last thing I want to do is alienate someone from trying positive reinforcement training.

I thank you all for your questions, comments and suggestions; I appreciate every single one of them.

Tonight was the very first class held in our new training center.  I am still of the mind that positive reinforcement is better than force, so I had a plastic baggie with some treats in my pocket.

As is the custom, Hubby takes Sampson and I take Delilah.  I’m not sure what opinions you have gathered about Delilah, but I am here to tell you in class, Delilah is a stubborn lab.  She will sit, but it is difficult to get her into a down.

Before I was educated in the power of positive reinforcement I am ashamed to say, I bought into the traditional methods of training.  I would NEVER do something I felt was wrong, but I did buy into the pushing and pulling to get them to do my bidding.  Having seen the light I am eager to help others see how positive reinforcement is a much better method of teaching.

That being said, when I saw a classmate struggling to get her lab into a down, I went over treat in hand, knelt down in front of him and said, “Down.” It took about 20 seconds, but he did go into a down.  I rewarded him with the bit of dried salmon I had, gave him the “Stay” command and walked away.  He got up after a few seconds.  I went back over, repeated the process and this time he stayed down.

It was then time for a potty break after which I went up to his “mom” and offered her a couple of my treats, she hesitated a bit and then refused.  I though to myself as we drove off after class, she would much rather pull on her dog’s neck with his choke collar, then reward him with food.  It made me feel really sad.

The interesting thing about this whole story is Pamela over at Something Wagging just this morning had a post about this very topic, which left me wondering how I would react in a similar situation.

Lo and behold I found out.

Some pictures from class.