Zaaapppp

Ok folks - our doggies are now zapped. As guilty as I feel, it is really nice to finally have some serious control of our dogs. Both Carson and Sydney are fantastic dogs - they are mostly well mannered and very loving dogs. We have really enjoyed them and really couldn't complain too much about them. The quirky behaviors were just that - quirky - and didn't have a large impact on our daily lives. Carson LOVES to jump and steal and Sydney is the barker.

But in the last year, their quirky behaviors became more of an annoyance than anything and Jim and I finally gave up. Carson was stealing and chewing up Reagan's toys on a regular basis AND jumping on folks plus we were having trouble controlling Sydney's barking more often. Because of us both working and two kids, we decided to hire a local group to train them and sent them off to "boot camp" three days after my surgery.

Today was the BIG DAY! Carson and Sydney had been trained Thursday and Friday of last week, gotten the weekend off and then back in every day this week. Seven days! We met the trainers over at the Erlanger Day Care for some indoor demonstrations and to review how to work with them both. Because we had them "zap" trained, we had to know how to operate the collars and know the new commands.

At first, both dogs tried to come to "mommy" and "daddy" for rescuing. When that didn't work (over and over again), they settled down and into the mode of "training". Both dogs were impressive. Carson actually reminded me of how he was after he went through his advanced training years ago. Just so easy. Sydney struggled some, but she has some separation anxiety with Carson. (And I thought that only was a Reagan thing).

Once we went to the park, we were completely wowed! They now can walk completely off leash. Impressive. They didn't even try to "not" do it. They were trained. Sydney is definetly our stubborn girl. She does NOT want to do what you want her to do - she's bull headed. Carson gets it and just wants to please us.

So now we have some tools and we are to work with them this week. I don't think they are perfect. I still think that they will do some things we don't like, but we hope over time that they get mucho bettero!

I think the best is zapping Carson now when he tries to steal Reagan's toys. Poor thing.