Cooper

I've finally got a dog to train! Life has stopped for a while as I work on behaviors with Cooper and the housework has gone to pot. Sometimes I even forget to feed the kids.

He looks like a smaller version of Ace.

His behaviors are not too bad. Like Molly, he tends to be on the hyper side, jumps a lot and has become dominant in his teasing. But he's been very good about responding to his training and his "pet parents" have been very receptive to new information!

 Oh, and the number one complaint is that apparently he does not respond well in dog parks. Meaning, he runs off and doesn't come back. I must admit I've been scared to bring him there.

But I've been training him to respond to the dog whistle that I bought. I use high value treats (meat) every time I blow the whistle and he knows that it means "treat time!" I brought him to the dog park the other day and tested it out with him. I blew the whistle a few times and he did well in responding (although I kept him on a leash, I don't trust him quite yet), and all of a sudden, I heard a woman yelling, "Whoa!! Get back here!" I had seen her walking her dogs to the car when they suddenly took off and dragged her practically on her face across the parking lot. It took me a second to realize the dogs had heard the dog whistle and went crazy. You can bet I hid that thing under my coat after that!

Other than that, there is not much more to tell. He is a pretty mild case, lucky for me. I am nervous for that first case when I feel like I'm over my head. Not looking forward to it.

I am thankful for the dog training opportunity but please pray that things pick up a bit!