Bailey's Progress Report

Bailey is growing like a weed! We got her last set of vaccinations this week & she took them like a champ. I hate getting shots, she's way better than me. Haha. We took her to a clinic to get her vaccinations. It was by an organization called LuvMyPet, I think they do clinics nationally. We were going to take her to a vet, but it was going to be $200 not including her heartworm prevention! Just the office visit was $55, we pay $9 for an office visit back home. I do miss those small town perks. We'll still take her to a regular vet for annual checkups etc. We spent $91 for vaccinations AND her heartworm prevention so I'm definitely pleased. While we were waiting in line, Bailey got to meet lots of other dogs. There was an older Corgi in front of us who barked at her a lot & peed on the floor. She barked at him a little when we first got in line but when we told her to hush, she was so well behaved. I was so proud of her! She did try to lay on a bed that was on display. Haha.  

Class

Bailey's 2nd class went really well this week. It was a bit smaller & Hercules wasn't there this week. I'm not sure if he dropped out or not. The only other dog that wasn't a toy breed this week was a Bull Terrier (like the Target dog). We worked on sit & heel. Bailey already knows sit, but she doesn't always listen to it when she's distracted. She was still doing much better than most of the other dogs. We hadn't worked on heel before this week, just trying to keep her from pulling (without much success). She's been fine while walking...until another dog comes along. She gets so excited & wants to play so bad. She would keep pulling even when she was choking herself.  We knew pulling would likely be a problem with her, so I wasn't surprised...just very frustrated. Since she's a dominant breed, we wanted to fix this ASAP. 

Our trainer had us walk our dogs individually. She had two different types of collars. She doesn't use choke collars. I don't like them & I know Bailey wouldn't respond to them even if I was OK with using one. She has no response when she was choking herself with her regular collar. The first type was a martingale, it didn't work at all with Bailey. It tightens when she pulls (but not like a choker, it has a stopping point). When our trainer saw that the first collar wasn't helping, she gave us a pinch collar. The Bull Terrier had to get this one too. I was a little familiar with how it worked & I saw that Bailey wasn't choking herself at all when we put it on her. I liked it. Josh was a little more skeptical. To be fair, it does look a little harsh. He had to put it on his own neck to see if it really hurt before he was OK with it. Haha. It's working really well & Bailey doesn't pull with it. This definitely doesn't replace her every day collar. This one is just for training purposes. I even tried "heel" with her regular collar yesterday & she did really well. Of course, she wouldn't have if she would have seen another dog. I can really see a LOT of improvement. I can't wait to see how she does in class next week. She always behaves worse in class than around our house. I guess because there are like 10 dogs in room rather than 1 or 2 passing by. 

Potty Training

I STILL haven't finished Bailey's poochie bells. Maybe we should have just bought a set :-/ She's still doing pretty well though. She has still been holding it all day while we're at work (I'm very impressed, I can't even do this)! She did slip up one day this week, but I think we gave her too much water before we left. She has had 1 accident in the house. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and I just wasn't paying attention to her. It wasn't long after she drank a lot of water with dinner, so it was my fault. Overall I think we're doing pretty well...could be better. She has still only had potty accidents in our new house so I'm super thankful for that!

Training

We're still working on play dead. Josh and I rotate which trick we want to teach her next. Mine was high five, this is his. She is showing progress but it's taking a bit longer than high five. She's smart, so she'll get it :-) I think it's harder for her because it's a 2 step trick. Of course, she has down. She's used to down & she gets a treat. Now we're making her fall over to her side too. I think she's just confused. It's so cute though, sometimes she'll throw her feet up in the air. Josh wants to get her to stop this once she understands the trick. I like it.