Week 2 Update

We just got our weekly update on Mia's progress at boot camp.  This week she really has learned how to play less rough with the other dogs that she sees at the day camps.  She's very nice with the small puppies, which is good to know.  Jermaine gives her a command to drop a toy when he wants her to and you know what?  She actually does it.  Before camp, if I told her to drop it - she'd run away with it.  She does continue to work on her toy aggression around other dogs, so Jermaine still advises that this is something that we will need to watch out for.  Without toys around she does very well with the other dogs.  He's been taking her around in the car, and he straps her into the backseat on a doggie seat belt and instead of barking at every single person and dog that passes by she just looks.  Occasionally she will let out one tiny bark and that's it but she understands that she's not supposed to be vocal about the strangers.  We have been putting her in the back of our Jeep and using a doggie divider which was working Ok.  She liked it back there and could jump in and out of it pretty easily.  The only downside is that when she gets really worked up, that situation is not good because you are too far away to correct her before she's in full on meltdown mode.  So keeping her closer is better, and actually keeping her safer as well.  I can't even tell you the amount of times that a turn was taken a bit too sharp and our poor dog would end up rolling around more than anyone would have liked.

I asked Jermaine how she has been during the mornings.  Instantly, he said that she was great.  He actually has to wake her up.  I was like: WHAT!  Perhaps one of the most annoying things to new dog owners is having your dog wake you up barking/crying/whining at 5:30am on a weekend or even a weekday.  He said that the first 2 days she barked a little bit, but then she really got into a routine and with all of her intensive training and exercise that she's just Really tired and likes to sleep in as much as she can.  So he wakes her up and then she comes out of her crate and stretches for a few minutes (upward and downward dogs of course) and she's ready to go.  He advises that the key to this is making sure your dog has gotten a lot of physical and mental stimulation during the day - which is obvious, but what isn't obvious is How to do that.  If I didn't have to go to work everyday, then I'd be out there throwing the ball and running with her just to get her to sleep in but that's just not feasible.  She goes to doggie daycare and does get a lot of exercise and when she gets home she typically is Very tired but it's just not the same somehow.  I'm still not sure what we can do about that.  I think Caesar would tell me to put her on a treadmill, but we don't have one yet.

This is her last week away at camp, and she's going to be enrolling with Jermaine in typical obedience classes so that she can try a new facility and be around new dogs and new people to see how she does.  I like this because her biggest issue seems to be fear of something she doesn't know.  I can't wait to hear about how she does and I can't wait for this week to be over so she can finally come home!