Monday, January 18, 2010

Ooooohhh, It's like magic!

You know I've had Cotton McLovin for awhile now and while he's better in many ways than he was when he arrived he's still got a ways to go with his manners. There's a young man who's done a 1 year study course in training with the goal of volunteering to train dogs in rescue and Cotton in the lucky recipient of some of his training time he needs to put in to get certified. Understandably none of the rescue groups wanted to fully take advantage of his offer without some kind of credentials.

Today he came and worked with Cotton for an hour in the backyard. I hung out, watching, as I know a little bit and have worked with multiple trainers in the past. He really was quite good and only showed his frustration a few times. It wasn't something someone else might see but I was watching for it. I saw him take more than one deep breath, but at the end of the hour and then a good long walk Cotton wasn't jumping. He was sitting to be petted. His trainer did not do anything I haven't done but he did it over and over and over. For an hour. With frozen hot dogs. Cotton really likes him. The best part though is that I saw a marked improvement the remainder of the day.

It's a lot like he's in kindergarten you know...He doesn't know to sit, down or roll over on any command. But, he has mastered leash walking, crate-training, house-training, come and now isn't quite as jumpy. These things will go a long way helping him find, and more importantly, keep a forever family all his own.

4 comments:

  1. Yeah Cotton! Sounds like he had a very good session with the trainer. Here's to keeping up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1/19/2010

    I didn't realize until now how much time and energy is spent in making a dog adoptable. Rescue operations always held a special place in my heart but now the people that do the real work with the dogs are included too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. He is just so damn cute. How could you not just love that face?!?!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1/19/2010

    Yeah I can imagine that can get pretty frustrating. YAY for Cotton!

    ReplyDelete