Arya  - Training Photos, Videos and Updates

Pawsitive Notes - Tracking Arya's Milestones

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  • ​11/4 - Arya is slowly warming up to the environment. She's been doing well with Jen, seeking affection and approval. She was growling a Mark a bit on the first day here, but seems to have given up the ghost on that for now. She met a big dog at her crate on Friday and stayed calm and minded her manners as he sniffed through the crate at her. Well done, especially for the first day! Today we had a lovely walk. Arya needed some gentle reminders to heel, but followed suit quickly. She was a little stubborn with her sit at first, but was doing well consistently with it by the end of the walk. We passed a few dogs on the walk and Arya did well to "Leave-It". The first was a larger dog, off leash, who didn't get too close. Arya gave a slight grumble and received a verbal correction. The next was a small dog, Arya's size, who was extremely excitable, pulling on leash to try and say hi. Arya stayed close to and at the very last second started jumping up, but out of excitement, not aggression. We definitely have work to do, but not a bad start for miss Arya!
  • 11/5 - Arya has settled in and now that she is comfortable, she is starting to exhibit more of her behavioral issues. She has increased barking and today decided to lunge, bark and growl at one of the bigger dogs in the office next to her crate. She received some verbal corrections along with some spritzes from the squirt bottle and has not made a peep since. This will likely take plenty of repetition, but she did receive the correction today very well. 
  • 11/8 - Arya is out with the full pack and doing pretty well. Drogo was a bit up in her business at one point and she did snap a bit, but a sharp "Leave-It" from Mark and she relaxed. She has shown a bit of resource guarding around food in her crate, but a sharp "Leave-It" and she relaxed. She's no longer running around like the boss dog, having been demoted by Mark and is starting to understand that she's not in charge. 
  • 11/11 - Arya is very comfortable now, which means that much more attitude and stubbornness is showing up. It's great that we still have her for a couple of weeks, so we can work at the meat and bones of everything now that she is exhibiting more of her behaviors. She's received a few corrections in the pack now, wanting to be bossy when the other dogs are playing and going after them, not quite understanding yet that play is normal and healthy and it's not her job to intervene, even if it weren't. She got surprisingly aggressive at an elderly lady pulling in her trash can yesterday, while out on our walk. She lunged, barked and growled at her and received a quick correction, getting her to stop immediately. She wanted to bark back at some dogs on their fence line who were being aggressive as we passed, but she did well listening to "Leave-It". I had to keep repeating it as we passed, but it was enough to get her to not engage with them. She needed verbal reminders to "Heel" on occasion during the walk, but really did extremely well with that, keeping a good pace and checking in with me to ensure she was doing well. We passed other people in close proximity and she sniffed at them in interest and kept walking. We didn't come across any other dogs close up, but did across the way. She noticed the dogs, but a firm "Leave-It" in advance and she minded her manners and kept on going. We obviously still have things to continue working, but she is eager to please and doesn't like to get in trouble, which are great qualities in helping these concepts stick!
  • 11/12 - Arya needed almost zero reminders to heel on her walk today. She is rocking that now! She did want to chase a squirrel and got a firm "Leave-It" and correction for not listening to "Leave-It". Then, later in the walk, we passed a dog in the street and one across the way and she completely ignored them. She did get snappy again with the big dogs in the pack today and got a correction from the hose and as I was typing this, she aggressively barked at the dog in the crate next to her and got a squirt bottle correction. The good news is that consistent acting out receives consistent corrections and she will hopefully start putting two and two together.
  • 11/15 - Arya is doing well on her walks and out behaving with the pack. She hasn't shown any signs of aggression in the pack in days and is starting to show interest in trying to play with the bigger dogs, although she is still fairly unsure of the concept or how to engage without being aggressive about it.
  • 11/18 - Arya is continuing to do well with her walks; heeling and being out and non-aggressive with the pack. She's building confidence with the bigger dogs.
  • 11/19 - Arya took an evening pack walk with Remus. Pack walks always add an extra challenge of remembering skills when another dog is present. Arya did a great job of minding her leash manners and only needed a couple of soft verbal reminders to heel. Pretty impressive! My phone doesn't take clear pictures at night, so we'll have to make sure to get another pack walk in earlier during the day so we can capture some images of her rocking the pack walk!
  • 11/20 - Another pack walk today. Arya did well with her heel, although she did try to charge at barking dogs on the other side of the fence a couple of times, earning her some quick corrections. This is the first time we've encountered that on our walks, the barking fence line dogs, so a good challenge for her to learn from. She's been doing really well with the dogs in the pack and today she had her first real attempt at play! It didn't last long, but she did it!
  • 11/22 - Arya's best walk yet! We passed two different sets of dogs barking at fence lines and while Arya was interested in the dogs, she listened to repeated "Leave-It"'s and kept walking. Towards the end of our walk, we passed a young boy walking his dog on the same sidewalk and a quick preemptive "Leave-It" had Arya sniff at the air as they passed and completely ignore them after that!
  • 11/25 - Another stellar walk today! Arya did an excellent job with heeling and following basic obedience commands during her walk. We came across a dog on the path in the park, Arya's size, and Arya greeted him extremely well, with zero aggression and lovely manners. Then, we passed a dog barking along the fence line. While interested in the dog, Arya listened to "Leave-It" and kept on walking, not engaging with the barking dog. Excellent work! (See video).
  • 11/26 - Amazing walk, yet again. Not a lot of people and dogs out today, due to the rain, but she is listening and following directions so much better!
  • 11/27 - We took an extra long walk today and Arya rocked it. We passed lots of people and dogs and Arya is doing very welll with listening to "Leave-It" now. Some vocal "Uh-uh's" or "Leave-It", and subtle cues like finger wags and she is checking herself. She does not want to get in trouble, she's eager to please! We did have one surprise moment when she started barking at a guy who was loading up his car at the park. Not sure what prompted that from her, but she received a small correction and continued on flawlessly the rest of the walk.
  • 12/2 - We got a new pup in the office today and Arya did very well greeting him. He is a 6 month pup, so is working on his social skills as well, learning to pick up on social cues. He kept wanting to play with Arya and she gave him a warning snap. She got a small verbal correction, just to make sure that she didn't ramp up her correction and she proceeded to ignore him after that. He learned that he needs to pay attention and no means no. Good learning all around!
  • 12/3 - Arya and Thatcher, the pup, went on a walk together today. A small, off leash dog, with no owner in sight, came running up to us aggressively. A sharp "Leave-It" quickly to Arya and Thatcher, and then some stern no's to the random dog and everyone minded their manners. The little dog started barking aggressively at us again after a few minutes and Arya looked to me for guidance. Another "Leave-It" and she continued to stay calm and just watch the little dog, trusting me to handle the situation. Then the little dog ran off and under the fence of the house we were standing in front of. Incredible work by Miss Arya!!! So proud of her!