Dog Training

To try to help Max become a well behaved and good dog I have been training with Sue Kinney. Her business is called Goldenbookends. She gave me five routines to work on with Max whenever I had the time. Some of the problems she recognized were recall and over-excitement for treats. Recall is when he is running away (such as running into the road) and being able to call his name so he comes. For a trick, I would throw a treat five yards away and let him retrieve it. When he was getting it, I would call his name. If he came back to me I would give him a treat. If he didn't he wouldn't get a treat.  The trick we used for his over-excitement for treats was to show him a treat in my palm.  I would then close my hand and clench my fist.  If he went for the treat (which used to happen every time) he would bite and lick my hand. If he then decided to back off and wait patiently, I would open my hand and give him the treat.  Sometimes he wouldn't get it right away and I would have to say, "take it!"  "Take it" has become his code for, "you have passed and you may know have the treat." Over the month I've been working with him on these things he has shown huge improvement and is doing much better.

I highly recommend Sue as a trainer.  She can be reached at: http://www.goldenbookends.com/