Training sessions

Lately I've been on a training kick with the dogs - both my own and my clients'. It all started this summer when some friends came over for dinner and Lola jumped up on their bare legs to say hello and scratched them with her little nails. Ouch!!

Obviously this is not acceptable. Granted most of the people coming into our home are fellow dog lovers and owners. And this is a difficult face to resist:

But still. Not ok. So we went back to our basics and made her sit before we opened the door. And then instructed everyone to ignore her if she jumped. We're getting there. And it's occurred to me (and Dan will roll his eyes at me that it's taken this long since it's what he always says) but training is an ongoing process. We're never really done. If we slack on our routine and regular sessions, the dogs will slack on their good behavior. And then here we are: not acceptable.

At the park I've been working with all my dogs on the basics. Because a large golden retriever charging your way may not be your idea of a good time, even if he just wants to say hello. I've always made them sit before they were allowed to go off leash. But now we're doing more in session training. Like this:

We're not perfect. We probably never will be. But there's better listening going on.

This also led to a conversation between Alex and myself about the things our dogs do that we never trained them to do. For example, Lola knows how to perfectly untangle herself from the leash whereas Gus just stands there helpless, waiting for someone to save him. They both also recognize the sound of a motorcycle and know that means daddy's home. Maybe that's pavlovian?

What has your dog taught himself? I'd be interested to hear.