Brady Graduated

Last night Brady graduated Beginners Obedience Training. He made us so proud. As we drove to his final exam we encouraged Brady by telling him no matter if he passed or not we were already proud of him. This was no stretch of truth let me tell you. After reading Marley and Me, by John Grogan we didn’t have very high expectations for our son. The old aim low and your chances of being pleased increase theory. Also up to a couple of months ago we had an unruly 65 pound hairy Dracula dog.

There has been a big difference between when Brady started his obedience training to now. At first it was all play and he thought he was the Alpha dog. I guess he was. Last night as Rick was bringing him through his routine Brady kept looking up at Rick for guidance. Brady knew he was working. Gone was the playful puppy that thinks we’re his play toys. Last night I saw Brady for the dog he’ll be. Well-mannered (always looking around to see if anyone else would claim the weed he was about to eat), loyal (he never let on that we didn’t practice at all last week), and obedient (yes Brady will still do anything for food). Here’s a list of what Brady learned:
Sit= mastered, no food required
Down= okay with, can trick him into doing without food, inconsistent
Heeling= mastered with Rick, good with me-Blew away our expectations
Sit Stay= mastered, we do this every day with his food
Down Stay= Over all good but still not a sure thing
Watch Me= mastered, again he loves his food
Leave it= mastered with Rick, good with me-again blew away our expectations
Door Dashing= mastered, he’s a gentleman and lets others in and out the door first
Stand= still working on
Recall (come)= still working on but pretty good
Finish to the right= our fault we didn’t practice
Come with a long line= mastered or just dumb luck
Jump= very good

Here's Brady and Rick on their first day of class.

Brady came home to his graduation dinner, steak. He ate it like a king. That was last night.

This morning was a different story. One thing I've learned about Brady is he's much better behaved if we exhaust him. I knew I wanted to blog about his graduation so Brady and I took a walk this morning. We ran, we jumped, we ate garbage, and we ate weeds (okay it was more Brady than me but I was there too). All in an effort to get him good and tired. When we got home Brady grabbed something from under the kitchen sink. He ran into our bedroom. This is a game he loves to play. The rules are: Brady grabs something he knows he's not supposed to have. He runs like a bat out of hell through out the house making as much noise as he can so we'll try to get what ever he has out of his mouth. I don't like this game. This morning in an effort to stop this behavior I grabbed the bottle of bitter apple. I trapped Brady in our bedroom. I was giddy with excitement at the idea of stopping this game once and for all. I imagined Brady never trying this again after getting a mouthful of bitter apple. I was delighted. I was delusional. What really happened was when he saw me with the bitter apple (he's had a taste before and hates it) it charged his energy up even more. I was a bit discouraged but I had him trapped in the bedroom. There wasn't anywhere for him to go and then he did it. That dog started jumping on the bed, running over the bed and going back and forth over the bed as I tried to get him. He was lighting fast and I couldn't keep up with him. Sometimes you just know you have to win a battle and this was one for me. I planned it out in my head-jump and dive on him. He saw me coming and I hit the floor. Shake it off Wheeler I told myself. Okay next plan throw him off by making a strange sound. That did it. I got a hold of him with my weapon of choice-bitter apple in a spray bottle. He saw that coming and clenched his teeth shut so I couldn't get the nozzle into his mouth. Again I chanted my mantra- I must win this battle. I pried open his mouth and shot him with bitter apple. He accepted defeat. We're still working on the whole Alpha dog thing and where he fits into this pack or family. He is now lying next to me sleeping. I wonder if they make a bitter apple for children, I'm kidding.