I spent about 15-20 minutes working with Codiak while Casey was outside sleeping.  He’s definitely food motivated–something that Casey really is not.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, present Casey with some Kraft Cheese slices and it’s another story altogether.  Codiak doesn’t chew his kibble, so I used that to train yesterday.

We worked on “Sit” “Down” “Shake” “Codiak” and “Stay”.  Sitting is very easy for Codiak; he’s been doing it since before he came home, Codiak knows his name, too and there was definitely a marked difference in dogs when Codi came home to live with us.  He is a much better behaved dog than Casey is now at 17 months.  It took months and months of training to get Casey to “Sit” and he’s not very reliable.  He does it when he wants to.  Feeding time is getting better, as is sitting at the door instead of barking to be let in.  “Down” is a bit tougher a concept for Codiak to get, so I’ve been trying shaping, however, when I get him to a partial down position, he won’t go the rest of the way…He’s gone down the the down position when I feed them because that’s what Casey does and sort of mimics Casey.  I don’t require them to do that when I feed them.  I only require that no one whines or demands (barking at me to give it to them) or grabs the food while I’m setting it down for them.  It’s taken weeks of constant “eh, eh’s”, standing up and placing them in the correct position again and again, but we’re getting there.  Casey’s a bit better at that than Codi is.

Today, Casey was laying under the car, which Codi is already too big to do and so I let him in.  I had him do a couple of “Shake”s and he did very well–no food!  I could probably get Codi to do the really cute beg for treats, but I don’t know if I want to do that!  My old dog, Sir Duke Earl of Raggs (Raggs for short) used to do it.  My brother and I sorta trained him to do it.  He wouldn’t get any treats if he didn’t do the cute beg.  I thought about training Casey to do it, but he never seemed like he could get on his hind legs like that.  Codi’s done it a few times, and while I think it’s really adorable, Rob doesn’t want the dogs to be begging like that.  Pity, it really cute!

Codi’s got to go to the vet sometime this week for puppy shots and I haven’t got any Euro on me…well, not enough anyway.  I’m sure that they would wait to get paid–heck, I’m the one who prefers to pay for it at the time services are rendered.  I guess that’s just part of being an American–we’re used to doing it that way.  It must be something in German culture that I don’t really understand.  The vet is an older guy and it might be an older custom.  Much like closing up shop for several hours during the afternoon for the traditional main meal (lunch) instead of dinner.  It used to be (though things are changing) that lunch was where everyone gets together for the main meal–like our dinner at 5 or 5:30, but they do it from 11-1.  That is one thing about the German culture I never really understood.  It is probably better to have a large lunch and a small breakfast and dinner and then you can actually BURN off those calories during the rest of the day instead of having a huge ball of food in your tummy just hours before you go to bed.  But anyway, I digress…

Training Codiak has been pretty easy and actually a pleasure, as opposed to Casey who has been rather difficult.  Funny thing is, Codiak knows “bed”, too!  I tell him to go to bed, and he goes straight for his kennel and lays down!  He did know (sort of) “Drop it” and he would spit whatever it was he had in his mouth out, but he doesn’t do it as much anymore.  Casey’s pretty good about that.  He had a piece of newspaper in his mouth and I was going to take it from him and as soon as I said “drop it” he obeyed.  I guess my dogs are good in different ways.

Still no signs of who is the dominate one.  We may very well have “owner” dominance fights because they only fight in my presence, which means that I need to watch them closely when they are outside and see which one it is and act accordingly.  When they are outside, I hear no barking and no one is growling or fighting over the toys.  At the beginning, Casey was coming in the door first, which is a sign of being an Alpha dog, but lately Codi’s been coming in first.  Placing the foot on the neck and shoulders is also another sign.  However, humping is also a sign of dominance and Casey has been humping Codi.  I have no idea.

It is obvious, though, that the dogs see me, in an Alpha position because they do obey me–at least Casey eventually does!

As for the weather, it’s chilly.  It won’t get over 65 degrees all week!  Fall is in the air!  Hooray!  Just 100 more days to Christmas! 🙂

Well, I guess I better get going.  If you have any ideas about training or dominance related stuff, please, I’m willing to try it, so let me know!  Thanks for reading and have a great day! 🙂