Finnegan  - Training Photos, Videos and Updates

Pawsitive Notes - Tracking Finnegan's Milestones

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  • 12/13 - Finnegan is back and out into the full pack without any issues. He did fairly well on his walk today, only needing the occasional verbal reminder to heel. He did struggle with some barking dogs at a fence line, but a quick correction and he did better (although didn't ignore them like we would like him to). He's definitely slipped a bit with his listening, but a firm verbal correction and he remembers himself for the most part. 
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  • ​9/3 - Finnegan has adjusted to the new environment.
  • 9/4 - Finnegan is out with the pack and has a healthy dose of burgeoning dominance issues related to his age, being a bit forceful in his attempts to play and mount other dogs.
  • 9/6 - We are still working on appropriateness of response in play and not being overly dominant towards other dogs, but have seen improvement.
  • 9/9 - After some quick corrections from Mark over the past week and a half, we are no longer seeing any jumping issues with excitement towards people.
  • 9/11 - Finnegan is still a bit overbearing in play, but continues to improve with receiving correction. Now, a stern voice and he will disengage, making eye contact to check in and show that he is receiving the trainer's input.
  • 9/16 - Finnegan continues to show improvement in play and listening skills. He can still fixate a bit much on trying to get one of the dogs to play with him and not quite observing their social cues well enough when they don't want to, but he's improving at keeping an ear out for training input while in play!
  • 9/20 - Finnegan had a good walk today. He has an excellent heel! He has a keen interest in other dogs and animals and it takes a few "Leave-It" and "Let's go" commands to keep him going. We'll continue to work that. He's been doing very well with staying calm and not jumping around those he knows. A stranger asked to pet him today and he lost all control in his enthusiasm to meet her, revisiting all the jumping we thought he had learned to control. After his correction, he altogether ignored the other people we passed on the sidewalk. We will obviously continue to work this!
  • 9/27 - Finnegan continues to work on his socialization skills. He has had a recent uptick in trying to mount a few of the newer dogs, but is still continuing to be responsive when given direction during play, both from people and dogs.
  • 9/30 - Finnegan hasn't tried to mount anyone in days and has made new friends in the pack!
  • 10/1 - Finnegan had a good walk today. He's doing exceptionally well with his heel. We did come across a group of kids today that wanted to say hi. He was very jumpy at first in his excitement with the kids. After a couple of small corrections, he remembered to listen to instructions and sat, allowing the kids to pet him. A couple blocks over a small dog was ferociously barking at Finnegan and he was unsure, he tried to pull and lunge over at the dog playfully and received correction. The owners came over to say hi and while not perfect, he was much quicker to sit and stay calm to allow for pets.
  • 10/2 - We passed some dogs along a fence line who charged and started barking like mad at Finnegan today. Finnegan lost control and started jumping and lunging at the dogs. He received some corrections and was jumping and spinning on leash in response. This was a HUGE challenge for him. After a moment, he composed himself and sat, even with the dogs barking at him on the other side of the fence and then continued his heel and tried to ignore the dogs. We passed numerous people on sidewalks today and while Finnegan was interested in them, he was very attentive to the preemptive "Leave-It" and passed on by without any jumping or lunging! A great step forward for him! We passed by the dogs at the fence line again as we circled back and they were preoccupied, so didn't charge at us, but in the same breath, Finnegan completely ignored them as well. Excellent work.
  • 10/3 - Finnegan is showing off a lovely heel in normal walking circumstances. We are still working hard on not jumping and he has shown much improvement. He is still doing the initial jump in his over excitement at people reaching to pet him, but quickly remembers himself and tries to compose himself into a sitting position. There is definite progress happening in this area, but we're not quite there yet. He is doing an excellent job with ignoring or just sniffing at people in passing, but is still struggling with his excitement when he knows that they want to interact with him. 
  • 10/7 - Finnegan showed some major progress today on his walk. Our first pass through downtown, Finnegan sat before I allowed someone to reach for and pet him. He did get excited and try to jump and was corrected and told to sit again. He tried once more to jump and then got the picture and received pets in a sit. Our second pass through downtown St. Johns, Finnegan sat for someone and received attention without jumping, looking up at me to make sure that I approved! We then came upon a group of teenage boys. He sat and received pets from 3/4 of them and at the last second jumped up at the 4th to try and get him to pet him as well, but then instantly corrected himself and sat again. It seems like things are starting to click and we're going to keep hammering away at this!
  • 10/9 - Finnegan had a stellar walk today! He passed barking dogs and did not jump or lunge! We also passed many people without issue and then went to the community center, which was full of employees and kids. Finnegan did an excellent job sitting to receive pets from both staff and passing kids. He did break his sit a few times, but did not jump or lunge in his excitement!
  • 10/14 - Finnegan had a huge challenge on his walk today. The entire neighborhood seemed to be out and eager to pet him! He did very well with his Sit to receive pets, but the more people around, the more he struggled. He handled one to two people well and got lots of praise, but as more people came over, he would get overstimulated and want to jump at them. Lots of progress, but obviously still a bit of fine tuning to do!
  • 10/15 - Finnegan did very well today! The first person we came to got a small jump response from Finn with a quick correction and reminder. After that, every single person we came across today, young, old, big, small, he remembered his manner with them all! He had to sit first before anyone was allowed to reach for him, to help set the tone and maintain a calmer demeanor. He didn't always hold the sit, which we will continue to work, but when he broke he didn't jump up. Very good work today!
  • 10/17 - Finnegan has made great progress, but is definitely showing his teenager side now. Overall, he's much, much more compliant and obedient. However, on occasion, with too much stimulation, he can be forgetful of his manners. Typically, a quick warning and small correction can get him back to paying attention, if the timing is right.