Day 250

Well, we hit another mile stone today. Sanity is now 11 months old and still hasn't come in season for the first time. I thought sure she was about to almost a month ago, the boys are finding her more and more interesting. Surely something will happen soon.

Time for the progress list. Just where are we in the training journey?

1. She always comes when called. I can't even remember the last time she didn't come or was slow about coming when I called her.
2. She is now taking a sit command from distances of up to about 30'. Her sit/stay is pretty solid. Her turn and sit not quite so good. Her active sit is the one that needs the most work.
3. Place command is there in the form of the "go to bed" command, but super weak when it comes to just doing a sent away. Needs lots of work.
4. She is able to maintain a close, tight heel for at least 5 minutes before she starts to wander. I think she would be much better if I was able to walk as fast as I used to and turn as cleanly and do good, smooth pace changes. But I'm not unhappy with how she is coming along since I'm the one holding her back.
5. Down. Ah the down command. How she hate that command. It continues to be a battle. All thought, once down her stay is solid.
6. Stand. She is really putting me through the wringer on this one. She does a beautiful stand when she doesn't have to think about what she is doing. If I dare to make her think about it, then she gets all squirrelly on me. It is in need of lots of work.
7. Fetch. Her retrieve just continues to get better and better. Yesterday for the very first time she finally figured out how to pick up her food pan the right way. That may seem like a simple thing and not something to get excited about. However, being able and willing to try different ways of picking a difficult item up is really necessary, if she is to be able to do her job correctly. There is still some rivalry between her and Wrap where the fetch command is concerned. Wrap is always hovering around in the background just waiting for Sanity to make a mistake so she can rush in and dog the retrieve herself. Certainly is a strong incentive for Sanity.
8. Scent work is moving along. I would like for it to be faster, but it can go no faster than I am willing and able to teach.
9. Jumping on command is the one thing I have been very lax about and I must get going on it this month. That includes the solid jump, the bar jump and the broad or long jump.
10. She has pretty much mastered her understanding of 'move', 'back', 'turn', 'forward', 'steady', and the all important 'that'll do'. To get these commands to where I want them just means more time and practice.
11. She is now able to jump the baby gate and hop up on the love seat and do the 'interview the new dog' thing for me. And she is doing a good job at it.
12. She swings wildly between doing a good job at being a yard boss and doing way too much 'stirring the pot so everyone gets in trouble'.

All in all I think that is a reasonable list of accomplishments for her age.