Today was Day 2 of training at the 4 Paws for Ability temporary facility. Did you know that they have grown so much that they are building a bigger training center?!

Today I got to get London out of the van that brought her to training.  The trainers show up each day in 2 vans with all of the dogs.  I got to walk London from the van to her kennel (crate) inside.  I was a little sad because the most of the morning was lecture time for mommy and daddy.  They have an awful lot to learn about how to work with London.

Today they learned about ‘bonding.’  London has spent a long time training with Shelby, but London needs to start to learn that I’m her person and mommy and daddy are her handlers.  So today Shelby didn’t even come to class. We learned that London needs to know that I’m special to her.  One way we do that is to ‘bait’ me.  Yup… I’m bait.  That means that whenever London is away from me, mommy and daddy put treats with me so when London comes back I can give her treats to make her excited to see me again.  Over time, she will just learn to be excited to see me even without the treats.  We also learned that every time I lay on top of London or have a meltdown, we need to give her extra treats so she learns that it’s okay and she needs to stay with me.  Her trainer said, “The dog won’t like the crying, but with the treats she will think, ‘man when this kid cries, I get treats! This is pretty cool! I’m gonna hang out with this treat machine.'” We also learned that even though London is supposed to be loved all the time, she should only get special loving when I’m around.  If I’m at school, she should just co-exist with whomever is home. This part might be really tough for my family (that means no cuddling for daddy and London if I’m not there!)

We spent time working on what it means when London is told ‘sit’ or ‘down.’  She is supposed to stay there until told a new command.  We practiced that by throwing her favorite treats on the floor near her and playing with a ball right in front of her. If she got up or moved towards the treat/ball she was told ‘No, sit’ or ‘No, down.’ I was amazed that she only needed to be corrected once! This obedience along with good manners will ensure she is on her best behavior in public, like restaruants.

Then we learn some of the tricks that London can do.  Yup, tricks.  This is a way that I can socialize with other kids, using London as tool.  I even got to go out on training floor with mommy and daddy for this part.  London knows how to shake, give me five, and high five! I’ll show you how she does this, you just need to ask me! Check out the new picture from to day at the bottom of the Meet London page. Look for the picture of me standing outside in front of the training center.