The Struggle Goes On

Each week we would learn something new, each week Sophie was used as the example. One particular week, I believe it was the fourth week of training, our dogs were going to learn the down stay position. 

Sophie is a very hard headed dog which is why Ted always uses her as the example. To do the down stay command, you put your dog in a sit stay, you then put the leash under your foot and pull slowly up towards you while you are saying down in a very calm voice.

 It was very difficult for me to stand there and watch my dog struggle. Ted repeated this act several times before Sophie caught on. Mr. Aloha looked at me and said "Why don't you try it?" I looked at him like he was nuts and said "I'm not doing that to my dog, why don't you do it! Then she’ll be mad at you not me." Ted looked at me rolled his eyes, then gave Sophie to Mr. Aloha who did it with only a little struggling from our darling Sophie. Of course I did try it, only after I was positive she knew what to do. I guess in my mind, it was her "Daddy" who was torturing her, not her "Mommy".

The following week we are to meet up at the field. This shall be interesting

That night when I got home I call my sister to tell her Sophie was the example again. My sister is so funny,  she couldn't understand why Sophie needed training if she was always used as the example. I laughed, I said "She's the example because she's so naughty."

The following week, all of us ran through our sits, downs and stays with our dogs. After each class Ted asks if there are any obedience issues. I of course had a question, "What do I do when Sophie refuses to do as I say"? Ted said like Joe's dog is doing right now?' I looked over at Joe's (not his real name) dog, she was lying on her back rolling around. "Yes" I said. Ted then went on to tell us our dogs are going to have good days and bad days. They are not perfect.

TRAINIG DAY

January 2010.

So I called the highly recommended trainer, lucky me he was starting a class that Saturday. The classes would be once a week for six weeks.  I suggested to Mr. Aloha he attend the classes also, this way, we are on the same page with training Sophie.

The first day of class, I'm fussing with Sophie cause she won't listen, Ted, the trainer walks up to us introduces himself then says "Do you mind if I show you something" Me: "Uh, no" He then grabs the leash, yanks on it twice, lo and behold Sophie is not tugging on the leash. He hands her back to me and says "You try it." Which of course I do and nothing amazing happens, I think she actually yanked me a couple of feet.

Ted is by far the best dog trainer I have ever met. Looking back on that day and a few other which you will hear about later on, I feel sorry for him. He has put up with a lot of resistance from me. His approach is great, he doesn't push you to do things, he just suggest you try it.

The Pinch Collar:


Being an animal lover, the pinch collar was not an option I would have previously considered, until Sophie.

Ted asked me if I was willing to try the pinch collar, my immediate answer was no. He told me he could see Sophie was too strong for me, a regular choke chain would not be sufficient.  I was very hesitant to use what seemed to me to be such a cruel devise. Ted then went on to explain to me how strong the dogs neck is, especially German Shepherds.  The pinch collar really doesn't hurt them, he said. I unwillingly gave it  a try. To my surprise, I was able to correct Sophie much easier with the pinch collar than the choke chain. I went home with the pinch collar.


During this class Ted was teaching us how to heal our dogs. He asked if he could use Sophie as the example, this by the way, will be a weekly occurrence. By the end of the class Sophie was walking nicely by my side.  We were to go home and practice healing each day for at least fifteen minutes.

Progress Is Satisfying

 Persistence, that is what the trainer is always telling me is the key to training a dog.



I've been training with Sophie for about eight months now, today we made progress. I gave Sophie the command sit, which she did, I then said down and stay. I threw her ball (which she is so obsessed with), she started to move, I gave the command stay, to my amazement she stayed and watched which direction it had landed. I gave her the command to go get her ball in German which she did. 


Maybe I should start at the beginning when we first got Sophie. It's a long story.

It was March 2009, we were in the local feed store when I saw an advertisement for German Shepherd puppies. I told my Husband what a good price that was for pure bred Shepherds. To my surprise he told me to take the number and give the owners a call. At the time we had three dogs already, we didn't need a fourth one. I asked him if he was nuts??? Mr. Aloha, my nick name for him, simply said "You're always talking about getting a pure bred German Shepherd, if that's a good price then lets go look." My reply was simple, "Okay".  He then added, "Just don't get a dog cause it's cute. make sure it's what you really want. Of course I agreed with him, even though I knew the minute I saw a puppy I'd want one.

I called the owner of the puppies and asked if she had any mostly red female puppies. She said the puppies where black and red, would I like to see them. We were going to the drag races the next day, so she agreed to meet us in a town halfway between where she lived and the races. Needless to say I fell in love with the puppy the minute I saw her! We told her we'd call her after the races to let her know if we would be taking the puppy, we also would like to see what her parents looked like and their temperament.

Mr. Aloha and I talked about it all afternoon. I told him she really wasn't the color I was looking for, but, she was beautiful and a great price. I called the lady, asked if we could come over to see the parents and the other female. When we got there, the owner had the two females out for us to look at. We sat with them for a while, I looked at Mr. Aloha and said "Well???" He said " lets get one",  "You choose" I said. He picked the original dog we met earlier in the day. She was six weeks old, I asked the lady if she would keep her till nine weeks, which is the age a puppy should be given away. At that age, a dog learns what it needs from it's mother. She said no, they were weened from their mom and eating puppy chow. Well, needless to say we took her home that evening.

This is the day we got her.

As you can see by the photo, she was very difficult to resist How could I not take her home with me.