Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Doggy Threapy now under way

As it stands, Abby is becoming more "ours" every day. She just turns herself inside out to greet us at the end of our workday as we arrive home. Beckett isn't so involved but he's there at the gate in his own way saying hello. With Abby we can open the gate and allow her to run a bit around us to burn off some of that excitement. Beckett... well, he's not there yet either.

It has been a few weeks now and we are settling into a pattern with the dogs. Beckett still reacts quite oddly when we are out for a walk with the two of them. He still is honestly afraid of her and will get behind me in order to avoid Abby's advancements to play. These would be the same advancements that they just mutually displayed while playing on the back deck.

Abby is indeed more aggessive in her manner and while this isn't an issue for their interaction outside on the deck and their run, it is when they are in our presence.

On the training front, Abby is getting conditioned to be brushed and Beckett is being introduced to it as well. I may have to advance his involvement by keeping him on a leash while attempting to brush down his back. He will allow me to extend my hand and brush his chest.... key here is 'extend' myself. He won't come too near yet.

We have accepted that Abby will indeed take a spell to train and are taking the necessary precautions. We have installed a baby gate at the top of the stairs, we keep all doors closed when we are not in the room and nothing is allowed to be kept near the edge of the cupboard! She's tall when she stands on her back legs, even gets higher when she has a nearby chair to launch herself from too!

Some training with both dogs is meant to have them recognize not only the commands, but to recognize their names when being called out. One of these times Beckett will sit too in order to get a treat. Abby already has 'sit' and 'down' pretty much mastered, it's getting her to do it when she doesn't want to that is the trick.

Many things in the house now have the mark of Abby's presence. My rubber boots were the latest on a long list of items. Beckett used to just take them and store them near his bed. Abby wants a piece of everything. As Darrin pointed out this morning, Abby is still much further ahead of where his Jack was as a dog and was left at home. Apparently wall trim was not off limits!