Day Nine: Smug Shepherd
Dayton seems to have spent the entire day a little full of himself. He has enjoyed showing how well-behaved and brilliant he can be.
He refused to distract even though there were two dogs walking around during obedience. He has just been very compliant and exactly who I want him to be.
We did traffic this morning with the quiet car, and he did all he needed to do. He wanted to hurry back to the other teams waiting for their turn as if he wanted to warn them to watch out for the evil car. He refused to go into the street as a right turn was made, he backed up when he needed to, and he stopped when backing up wasn't necessary.
This afternoon, we did the TSA/security stuff at the airport. We also worked around again, and the trainers kept cutting him off and stopping suddenly in front of him to help remind him to be more careful when working around pedestrians in tight quarters. They couldn't outwit him, so hopefully the politeness transfers to all bipeds. Today, when we worked through the crowd-control ropes, he did not try to take me under any of them. He put his nose on them and waited for me to find them before he would work around them. He wanted me to see why we could not go straight. Smart kid has figured out that I am stubborn and sometimes terrible at listening, but if he shows me why he is no longer going straight, I praise him like crazy, and he is completely pleased with himself. His willingness to show me things before making the move around them has really increased my confidence in our work, and I am much better at trusting that he is making the right decision without having to verify for myself.
Tonight, we are having a movie night, so that should be fun. Now it is time to get ready for dinner. I cannot believe how long I have been here already.
He refused to distract even though there were two dogs walking around during obedience. He has just been very compliant and exactly who I want him to be.
We did traffic this morning with the quiet car, and he did all he needed to do. He wanted to hurry back to the other teams waiting for their turn as if he wanted to warn them to watch out for the evil car. He refused to go into the street as a right turn was made, he backed up when he needed to, and he stopped when backing up wasn't necessary.
This afternoon, we did the TSA/security stuff at the airport. We also worked around again, and the trainers kept cutting him off and stopping suddenly in front of him to help remind him to be more careful when working around pedestrians in tight quarters. They couldn't outwit him, so hopefully the politeness transfers to all bipeds. Today, when we worked through the crowd-control ropes, he did not try to take me under any of them. He put his nose on them and waited for me to find them before he would work around them. He wanted me to see why we could not go straight. Smart kid has figured out that I am stubborn and sometimes terrible at listening, but if he shows me why he is no longer going straight, I praise him like crazy, and he is completely pleased with himself. His willingness to show me things before making the move around them has really increased my confidence in our work, and I am much better at trusting that he is making the right decision without having to verify for myself.
Tonight, we are having a movie night, so that should be fun. Now it is time to get ready for dinner. I cannot believe how long I have been here already.