New Year's Resolution

I must confess that dog training as not been at at the forefront of my activities. It seems between holidays, leaving a job, starting a new job, illness and dealing with the weather I am just managing to maintain the status quo. My stress level has been up and didn't really want to pass it along to the pets with poor training. Though training never truly ceases. There is always the times when I have them wait in the living room while we walk out the door or tell them to stop barking.

So many other things have been placed on the back burner including dog training. I should make some New Year's Resolutions to teach the dogs specific things. I guess one of the things I like to get control of with Kota is his barking, it seems like when I make progress in one aspect then you notice another area. I can get ready in the morning without anyone barking and sometimes I am able to get the laundry door open without anyone barking. But my current dilemma is getting them not to bark after I open the door. Many times the instigator is Daisy, who just seems to be filled with so much emotion she just has to let it out. They seem to feed off each other.

I guess with Daisy I would like to work on her fear aggression. It's hard to get willing participants to help you train her to not fear strangers. She becomes so vicious and so consumed that she won't listen to you. She will calm down after some time but if they try to move in a direction she doesn't like she will start up again. Men are the worst, she tends to warm up to woman so much faster.

Tanner's biggest behavior problem is eating everything. You would think after 8 years we all would be trained not to leave anything out. Though he is big enough to pull dirty dishes out of the sink, so he can give them a good pre-rinse. I wish I could train him to use his dish carrying ability for a good trick. It would be nice to get him to leave food alone, even when left on the counter or the table.

I hope when next year rolls around we have made some progress on not just those items, but many more. It takes me longer to learn than it does to teach the dogs.