Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The dogs go to college, too

I've decided that my college campus is the perfect place for dog training. It's a good size campus (for a community college) with lots of large grassy areas. I can work the dogs near buildings and people if I want to work the dogs under distractions or go to the edge of the parking lot and have the area all to myself.

I'm already there three days a week and since the dogs are almost always crated in the back of the car anyway I don't have drive anywhere to get to a new training area.

Today I worked at the far edge of the parking lot away from the distractions. I opened up the crates in the back and alternated calling the dogs and sending them back to their crate - I'd call Kipp and Kenzi had to stay put. Then I'd send Kipp back to his crate and call Kenzi while Kipp waited (in the open crate) I had never done this exact game before with the dogs and I was impressed at how well they did. I only had to remind Kipp once and Kenzi twice that they were supposed to stay in the crate when the other dog popped out. As I was working them one of the college maintenance guys drove past on a golf cart. He paused to watch for a minute and when I looked up he smiled and called out "I've got a German Shepherd at home you can train!" :D

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