Boon's Work-Ethic

Tonight, my Boon is exhausted. We got up fairly early this morning, and then set out for our new training adventure: Canine Good Citizenship Training. Training sessions take place outside, under a pavilion. Though the sun was not beating down on my big boy, the humidity of Hotlanta was extremely evident.

At the beginning of our training time, Boon was excited and eager. With focus and enthusiasm, he met some new dog friends and learned some new moves. After an hour of training, the heat had a wilting effect on this 90-lb. puppy. When it came time to show what he had learned, Boon's focus and stamina had completely waned. Greatly distracted by his fatigue, commands seemed to barely register. When told to "Sit", he sat and then went "Down"...with no intention of getting up anytime soon. Further commands were met with a you-don't-really-mean-it-do-you? look. So, needless to say, we have quite a bit of homework to do. Most of which, we will need to work on outside so that Boon can get better acquainted with the humidity of Hotlanta's summer.

Though the heat drained my Boon companion, I was so proud of how hard he worked today. Tonight, he is taking every opportunity to rest...this is a good thing, for come Monday, we will be practicing again...outside. Poor Boon~

A Boon Gift

My mom recently returned from a trip to South Africa. She brought back a gift for her granddog: a scarf that pictures the South African flag. Here, Boon is sporting his new scarf.

Boon And Busy Days

The last few months have been very busy around our house. So busy, we have not even been able to think about beginning Boon's next level of training. By this point, I was hoping that he would have begun his Canine Good Citizenship training; since that has not been possible, my goal now is to begin this training sometime around the end of July or the beginning of August.

Though our schedule has been crazy, Boon has taken everything in stride. As long as he has food, water, outside time and a generous helping of ball time, he seems perfectly content.

At almost 10 months old, Boon is steadily growing and maturing. He is showing some signs of adolescence: little pimples popping up around his mouth and some pushing of boundaries, but he remains as sweet as ever...and though he is around 75 lbs, he still curls up in my lap just like he did when he was a little pup.

The Excellence of Boon

When our last obedience class commenced, I was not sure if Boon would be able to settle down enough to complete his commands: it had been two weeks since Boon had seen Pavi...at Pavi's arrival to class, Boon went crazy. He could not contain his excitement at seeing his little buddy.

After separating him from his beloved friend and using some creative measures to help him focus -- which included a few romps up and down the agility A-frame ramp -- Boon was ready to show himself competent in the obedience of commands such as Sit, Stay, Down, Leave It and Come.

Upon successfully completing all of his commands, Boon received his "Certificate of Excellence". Of course, this certificate did not tell us anything that we did not already know: Boon is definitely an excellent dog. Yet, his excellence runs much deeper than his ability to complete particular commands...it is seen in his daily sweetness, in the kindness that he willingly offers. On days that I am not feeling well, this is especially evident...as I lie on the couch, this ball-loving puppy will come and lie down beside me, longing to play ball, but somehow knowing that I do not have the strength that day. While Boon is working toward becoming an official therapy dog, his kind nature is already a source of therapy for me.

Boon's Favorite Class

Due to illness, Boon and I missed class #4, but we made it for our 5th class. When we showed up for class, we found that we were the only ones who were able to make it for week 5...this meant we had Jeanne, our wonderful trainer, all to ourselves. We had so much fun! Boon practiced walking on his leash, Leave It and Come. Boon also had the opportunity to show Jeanne his Retrieve and Release skills. Jeanne was very impressed that Boon could Stay until told to Retrieve a particular toy...that is a big accomplishment for a 7-month-old lab!

After Boon and I practiced each of his commands, Jeanne thought it might be fun to break out the agility equipment and see how Boon responded to it. At first, Boon was a little hesitant to go up the large, agility A-frame ramp, but after a little coaxing, he was going up and down the ramp with great ease. He wanted to play on the ramp...but learned that the ramp is off limits unless he is instructed to do ramp exercises.

Following a few ramp repetitions, Boon also had the opportunity to attempt a low-level agility jump: Boon was on one side of the jump apparatus, I was on the other side. Boon was told to Come and was supposed to jump over the apparatus as part of the Come process. Boon's first response was to try to go around the jump, but after a little practice, he was jumping over the apparatus to complete the Come. What a treat this was for Boon...it was definitely his favorite class!

Boon has one more week of obedience training and then will soon begin his Canine Good Citizenship training. He loved this agility work so much, I think we will plan to do some agility training after he completes the CGC training.

A Boon Act

Well, Boon has completed three obedience classes and he has three more to go. In week three, he continued to show improvement, but the whining was still an issue. It is hard for him to see the other two dogs and not be able to play with them.

In this third class, we worked on the Leave It command, added Down and also worked on sitting at a door/waiting to be released to exit through door. Since we first brought Boon home, we have worked on Sit, Down, Stay and Come, but it was good to have the opportunity to work on these things with an added element of distraction.

The leash pulling is getter better, but Boon still has some work to do in that department. My prize moment of the class started out as quite a blunder. Each of us were working individually with our dogs. To Boon's right, Pavi, the sweet, corgi/jack russell mix, was intently focusing on his owner. I was working with Boon, leash in one hand, bag of treats in the other: in a down moment, Pavi became Boon's focus, he lunged toward Pavi, wanting to give him a friendly sniff...the lunge pulled me off balance and all of Boon's treats scattered across the floor...I quickly told Boon to SIT and STAY...Pavi's owner and I swiftly began to pick up Boon's treats...and Boon, with all that wonderful temptation luring him to disobey, did exactly what he had been told - he sat and stayed! WOW! The trainer was quite impressed by Boon's act of obedience...and so was I.

A Boon Class

In class #2, Boon showed marked improvement. He whined much less...when he was in the presence of the other dogs, he pulled some on his leash, but found it much easier to focus on my instructions. I know that continued exposure to new dogs and experiences will increase his aptitude and comfort level.

Last night, we worked on leash walking: Boon walking by my side, sitting when I stop...and we also worked on the Leave It command. Boon responded very well. My prize memory of the night was when I said "Leave It" and Boon stopped focusing on the sweet, little corgi/jack russell mix and looked right at me!