Puppy videos!

Having puppies on the program means we need to make sure they get play time with other dogs as much as we can. There is a window of socialization that closes with puppies if you don't expose them to other dogs when they are young. If you miss that window you may end up having to do counter conditioning to other dogs instead. I want to make sure they don't miss that window being in such a controlled environment. Fortunately some staff at the facility bring their dogs in sometimes so they have met a few other dogs as well. Here are some video of dogs I have brought for the handlers to work with and for the puppies to socialize with after we train.
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Here is Jenny, my pug, begging for treats from one of the handlers while the pups play with each other. She did interact with them more when she first got there. Then she got focused on the treats after I had one of the handlers work with her. Patty was a little standoffish with Jenny at first but she recovered well. The videos may look a little odd because I was trying to keep the handlers out of the frame to protect their privacy.



This is Patty and Jack playing with Brutus, a yorkie cross puppy, and being around my sisters bulldog Minos. Minos did got some off leash time with them as well once he settled down a bit. I had to make sure he wasn't going to be to rough because of the size difference. Brutus is a bit shy with new people so it was good for him to learn how to be around strangers as well. (and is also the reason I had him drag his leash)



More of Brutus with the pups.



Today I took a jack russell pup named Lucy that they learned to work around as a distraction. Lucy was learning to walk wearing a head collar. Because she can be reactive with other dogs we didn't let them interact very much. Instead we covered how to create a greeting between dogs that don't always behave appropriately (and ones who do) and the handlers learned about the proper use of a head collar. (when, why and how) I like head collars for reactive dogs because with them you can control the dogs line of sight when needed. They also give you a leverage advantage for large strong dogs. Unfortunately my camera's battery pooched out on me so I have no video or photos of that to share.
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Things are going very well for the pups. I need to get more pics and video of actual training but at this point I forget my camera until after the real work is done. For anyone interested in the applying for either of these pups you have to contact the www.humanesocietyofknoxcounty.org for more info. I have NOTHING to do with the adoptions. I just wanted to make that clear because I have started to get calls and e-mails.