Mia arrived home from her 3 week boot camp today. She did a really fantastic job there, it's amazing. When Jermaine brought her back we had a session with him on how we should proceed with her - bottom line is that we can't be the same as we were before. Now that she has learned new behaviors and new skills its important that we don't become lazy dog owners - when she does something wrong we need to correct her immediately because she will push us. We took her for a short walk around the block and she walked in the "heel" position the entire time, and when she didn't, we gave a quick tug on the leash to get her attention back. She did beautifully... and then a dog and stranger walked by - and she didn't react. She looked and she started to think about barking, but she didn't bark. That's never happened before, that's usually her most mortifying behavior. Jermaine showed us how he gets her to sit, lay down, and stay. The stay command isn't perfect yet, but getting her to stay for even 10 seconds was still really impressive to us. Abe was able to get her to stay after he left too for about 15 seconds before she decided to get up.
In the next few days we'll really be able to see more behaviors - going into the crate, staying in the crate, riding in the car, what she's like at daycare, etc. So this is just the beginning, but so far we're really happy to see her progress and intend on working hard to keep it going. It feels so good to have your dog on her leash and know that she's not going to go berserk at every thing we walk past!
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