I have been....very lax and bad about training Abrams. Like, bad. Ever since we moved down here (so for the past year), I've just been very...meh. We do some things, we work on some general principles during day to day activities (impulse control is a way of life), but I never actively DO anything with him. Which sounds so horrible to say, because one of my goals was having a dog that I could DO things with. And now that I have a dog that I can do things with, I have no motivation to do them. And poor Abrams tries to happily fill the roll that I currently have for him as house pet/bro dog and his potential just goes completely untapped.
Today I finally said, "You know, I'm going to train my dog."
And it was FUN. So much fun. I remembered why I loved doing it. And how great it is to work WITH your dog, together, to achieve something. To get them to understand what you want, watch the light bulb come on, and then get to shower all of the treats and praise and happy-butt-smacks while they zoom around you with sheer happiness because they did and it you're happy so they're SO HAPPY.
It also made me realize how awesome of a dog Abrams is. As soon as he saw me grab the treat bag his eyes got huge. He started spazz running everywhere. "Finallywearedoingsomething". Took a minute to get him to focus because he was so excited, but then he just rocked it. All of it. Sit stay? Long down stay? Sit Pretty? Off leash heel, with turns, varying speeds, and abrupt stops? Nailed it. All of it. And he learned roll over, which was hard for him to do with his size and coordination.
So then we went outside. Played a few quick rounds of fetch, then I grabbed the hose to spray off the porch and clean a cat carrier that has been collecting sand for awhile. So we played with the hose. And when I needed him to not bite at the spray so I could clean, he held a sit/stay 4 feet away from a moving spray of water until released him. He held his sit/stay even though the hose was on, without trying to break it. Multiple times.. Impulse control Level 10 (for him).
I had a big stupid grin on my face the entire time. Abrams had a big stupid grin on his face the entire time. And I received a much needed reminder of why I love my dog and why I chose a Chessie above all of the other breeds I could have gone with at the time.
He may be an asshole towards other dogs sometimes. He may get snarky over his food when the cat is around. He may be weirdly reactive when he's in or around our car. He's loud and physical and nuts, and sometimes I wonder why I didn't get an easier dog, a quieter dog, a dog that is just generally well behaved, but then I remember that he's pretty much freaking perfect and I don't give him NEAR as much credit as I should.
Please, feel free to gush about your own dogs. I just needed to gush about Abrams for a moment. I soooooooooooooooooooo wish we had dog activities around here that we could do, and I'd LOVE to try dock diving with him, but alas, there are none. :/
Today I finally said, "You know, I'm going to train my dog."
And it was FUN. So much fun. I remembered why I loved doing it. And how great it is to work WITH your dog, together, to achieve something. To get them to understand what you want, watch the light bulb come on, and then get to shower all of the treats and praise and happy-butt-smacks while they zoom around you with sheer happiness because they did and it you're happy so they're SO HAPPY.
It also made me realize how awesome of a dog Abrams is. As soon as he saw me grab the treat bag his eyes got huge. He started spazz running everywhere. "Finallywearedoingsomething". Took a minute to get him to focus because he was so excited, but then he just rocked it. All of it. Sit stay? Long down stay? Sit Pretty? Off leash heel, with turns, varying speeds, and abrupt stops? Nailed it. All of it. And he learned roll over, which was hard for him to do with his size and coordination.
So then we went outside. Played a few quick rounds of fetch, then I grabbed the hose to spray off the porch and clean a cat carrier that has been collecting sand for awhile. So we played with the hose. And when I needed him to not bite at the spray so I could clean, he held a sit/stay 4 feet away from a moving spray of water until released him. He held his sit/stay even though the hose was on, without trying to break it. Multiple times.. Impulse control Level 10 (for him).
I had a big stupid grin on my face the entire time. Abrams had a big stupid grin on his face the entire time. And I received a much needed reminder of why I love my dog and why I chose a Chessie above all of the other breeds I could have gone with at the time.
He may be an asshole towards other dogs sometimes. He may get snarky over his food when the cat is around. He may be weirdly reactive when he's in or around our car. He's loud and physical and nuts, and sometimes I wonder why I didn't get an easier dog, a quieter dog, a dog that is just generally well behaved, but then I remember that he's pretty much freaking perfect and I don't give him NEAR as much credit as I should.
Please, feel free to gush about your own dogs. I just needed to gush about Abrams for a moment. I soooooooooooooooooooo wish we had dog activities around here that we could do, and I'd LOVE to try dock diving with him, but alas, there are none. :/
