Training Progress

Despite the late nights and worry about allergies, G'Kar has been progressing in his training very well. I plan to shoot some video of some of the things he's learned so far and post it later, but so far, in two weeks he's learned the following:

1. Sit - he sits for everything, now, which is our first basic training goal.
   
   
2. Down - he knows down, but needs to be lead with a treat or a hand still.
   
   
3. Pee - This is the most important thing to teach a dog, in my opinion, and I'm glad to say that G'Kar will now pee within 30 seconds (most of the time) of the command, "Hurry Up." This has made house training so much easier. If you've never taught your dog this "trick" I strongly recommend you do!
   
   
4. Don't pee! - He's getting better. I'd guess he's about 70% housebroken now. He's barking more often when he needs to go out, and as soon as we can get that communication down, we're set. The good news is he hasn't even tried to go in the house in 3 days now. Yes, we keep him on a schedule, but, he's learning very well. From what I've read, it takes most dogs between 2 weeks and 2 months to be house trained, so I think he's right on track.
   
   
5. Stay - I'm blown away by this. Because I've taught him that he gets no treat until he sits, he learned this amazingly quickly. From the very first day we had him, I held a handful of treats in a tight fist and let him lick, sniff, and paw at them, but never let him have them. After trying all his options, he finally sat down and then I clicked and gave him what was in my hand. Within two days he was starting to move, then catching himself and sitting back down, showing remarkable patience for a puppy. I was so pleased! Now I'll be ramping up the stays, increasing distraction, and finally taking him outside to practice when I think he's ready.
   
   When I started training Stay he was (unknown to me) already programmed to wait in a sit. The very first time I could back up and wait, then click and treat. I'd been increasing the time he had to sit before a treat and I didn't realize I was also training him to stay. Now I'm able to move around the room, jumping and twisting, and he stays!
   
   
6. Come - G'Kar will now come when called about 90% of the time indoors and about 50% of the time outside in a field. We've done a few calling sessions with 2 or 4 people calling him one after another and that seemed to help. Now we have to move it to the out doors. Because I take him off leash every day, this is a critical bit of training.