8/30/99 (10 Weeks 0 Days) 15.1 Lbs Another nice improvement in Rosie's visual tracking of long marks. This occurred while watching Rusty doing big dog stuff. The marks were in the 100yd. range. She was of course completely incapable of judging the depth of the falls but it certainly did not stop her from trying. She made several uncontrolled attempts on her own but never made it out past about 100 feet. (1/3 of the way.) We also introduced Rosie to wearing a collar and walking on leash. The collar was accepted after about a half hour. The leash is still a problem but should be accepted in short order. Leash training is another thing that I do somewhat different from a lot of trainers. Pup will wear a collar and short lead at all times for about a week. The lead will be trailing her on the ground when not in a persons hand. Rosie's trip to our retriever club fun day was a success. Lots of people, dogs and birds to go around. Rosie's day was spent as a "loaner pup." Lots of kids and many pup sitters all day long. No work for pup all day........ Just fun. Her reaction to all the strange and big dogs was typical for a young pup. Initially she was a bit timid around them but this quickly passed. My earlier observation that she is an alpha type is still appropriate. I got the feeling that she was somewhat overwhelmed by the quantity of people, dogs and activity. That feeling did not last long and her somewhat independent nature resurfaced with ease. This event also marked the first time I have seen her prefer something over birds. Well, almost...... Her new favorite thing seemed to be the fresh fried quail that were being served. These birds went direct from our upland training area to the grill. :-) Our early exposure to gun fire and dummy launchers paid off in a big way. The big guns had no effect on her even when in close proximity. She visited the retrieve line area and the skeet shooting area many times throughout the day. For the time being I am not going to worry about having her associate guns with birds. I like to save this until after obedience basics are grasped and I like to do this in a highly controlled manor. The day we do that part of our training is a day that I consider special and that day is in the neighborhood of six to eight weeks away if things continue as good as they are now. 9/2/99 (10 Weeks 3 Days) 16.8 Lbs Table work continues with several very brief sessions daily. Leash training is still going on but it will be discontinued in a couple of days. Not that it will be complete but for the purpose of giving pup only one thing to think about when we get serious with the sit command. Not much else to report at the moment so I thought a picture or two might be in order. Rosie enjoying one of her favorite activities. 9/7/99 (11 Weeks 1 Day) 17.3 Lbs The big jumps in Rosie's weight seem to have leveled of somewhat. Last Saturday was opening day for Bayou State dove hunters and we did do our part in reducing the bird population to managable levels. Rosie was not allowed along for the occasion. I feel that doves are probably the worst thing that could be done to a youg dog. Rosie's best buddy Rusty handled the task of retrieving the birds in fine fashion. No lost birds all day and we did shoot limits. Monday saw continued table work on the sit command. This is now progressing nicely with "sit" getting a relatively quick response. Other than the very initial stages of showing Rosie what action to take by manualy putting her in the sit position we have had very little physical contact with her to cause her to sit. Over the last few day the "SIT" training has slowly been turned to a game that Rosie now seems to enjoy. This is a very big milestone in her obedience training. This sets the tone for the rest of the table work and positively contributes to pup having a good attitude toward training. It is also a great relief to see this change take place. It strongly suggests that we are doing something right. This eagerness is also cause enough to add in a formal "Come" comand with our "Sit" work. This afternoon also saw a non-trained response to a whistle command. Well almost non-trained. Rosie responded on a couple of occasions to whistle commands given to Rusty and Pepper. I did not believe the action was on purpose at first but I was able to reproduce the results a couple of times. In general I transition over to whistle commands through association and repitition on the table. Normally this is not done until we are done with basic voice commands. I will be doing this with Rosie at that time but it does seem that she has a head start on me. For the next diary entry, please visit Week 11 of Rosie's Journal.

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