Moldy Bread

:( All my bread molded! I have no bread for bologna sandwiches. I have no buns for barbeque sandwiches. All my bread is covered in a green and white fuzz!!!

Ok, so that was the bad part of my day, and it was kind of sucky. Really, though, my day has gone quite well.

Today, I successfully progressed Odin, Seamus, and Coal to the e-collar, and I moved Darla further along on it. I also got Henry to do tricks with rewards. A few more sessions like this, and he'll be on to corrections.

I know most of you don't really know what any of that means, but it's really just too hard to explain in a blog (at least for me). Just know that it's all good!

Kylie, the girl who was first teaching me, seems to be pretty impressed. She actually made the comment today (get this) that I might make a good dog trainer after all! Another girl in the room made it very clear that she doesn't say that to everybody. Yay for me!!!

I am noticing my biggest fault is lack of patience. I'm patient in each session, but I tend to try to rush the dog to the next level. So, I'm really trying to take my time with them, and really see where they are. I will never move to the next level until they've had at least three sessions of one level, and then I judge the dogs. Some need as many as 6 or 7 sessions before we can move on.

Take Coal, for example. He has a sister here named Onyx. Onyx got corrections right away. She did what we asked and was quite happy. Coal, on the other hand, shut down. He didn't want treats. He didn't respond to praise or loving. He just laid down and moped. Coal took a lot more work. Now, however, they're both on the e-collar. Coal doesn't like it, but he's coming along quite nicely. Onyx on the other hand, tries to run away. Some dogs just need more time on different levels.

So that's my big problem right now...patience. This has always been a problem for me, and I figure this is just good practice. For those of you reading, though, any tips??