Gus' Big Day at the Park

Gus & I went to the dog park yesterday & met an old friend & trainee Stella and her new baby brother Vinnie (referred to in previous blog). The dog park, for Gus, is his biggest challenge. He plays well with the other dogs but the walk down to the park, from what I've heard, is quite comical. He taught himself how to do back flips on the way down all the while sounding like he's being murdered or going to attack everything in sight. Needless to say yesterday was NOT like that at all. He barked at a few people as soon as we got to the park from inside the truck but that was promptly corrected. He was excited to be there but minded his manners & heeled relatively well on the way down. When we got to the gate & he saw Stella and Vinnie going in & he had to hold his sit, he came unhinged. We had to work on him understanding he doesn't call the shots as to when he does things, right now, I do :) He greeted people & dogs nicely & then once in, he was off to play. Then he started with the chasing & taking dogs down by the back on the neck. This behavior is a sure fire way to start a fight, so I had to correct that as well. I definitely got my exercise walking all around the dog area keeping him in check. He had a few melt downs when I had to correct him for either jumping up or playing too rough. He finally got the idea I believe & he settled down a bit. He came home & pooped out for a short time & then he was back to running around like a fool :) Gus' mom has decided to finish out the training with the Advanced Obedience which makes me so happy. I really think she's going to enjoy him so much more with that added help of the remote collar. He's going to stay with us through the rest of this week & he'll have his go home lesson on Wednesday morning of next week. I'm very excited! So, more to come on Gus' progress as we head into the remote collar training!