Day 2~ Handler's in Training

We spent the day of training focusing on new commands. Zion is a wonderful dog but there are definitely many things we need to learn about one another. We worked more in depth on commands such as "heel" and "place". "Place" basically commands the dog to stay in a certain place and not to move until instructed to. 4 Paws provided a mat for each of the dogs. We picked the color green, just because we though Trapper might like it. We are not sure really, but blue & green appear to be favorite colors. We hope some day he will tell us if we are right.:)
While we are training with Zion, Trapper spends much of his time with other children in the 4 Paws Facility. Well...near other children. Often he is playing with Thomas Trains or watching his DVD's, or just running in sprints across the floor in the training room. At one point today, Trapper dropped an item down through the cracks in the stairs. He started crying and screaming. Zion was in the place position at the time. He stayed in his "place", but sat up & seemed concerned about Trapper. All the other dogs stayed still & didn't pay any attention, but Trapper's crying really put Zion on the alert. That was great to see.

Zion likes to test us, just like our kids. We were very proud of him today in class though. He was so obedient. We know he is just as excited about us as we are about him...he may even be more excited and that is hard to imagine.;)

Trapper has made good progress with Zion and actually played with him when we got back to the hotel room. He is growing more comfortable with him every day. Zion is so exuberant sometimes that it is overwhelming for Trapper. Poor Trapper gets pushed down a lot when Zion starts to play hard. It is funny to watch Trapper as he carefully studies Zion, especially in the car. Today he started wanting to give Zion treats and touching his soft fur more.

One thing I can say I am not enjoying is the endless clean up of dog doo. I do not recall being told this was part of the job. :)

We are very excited about what each day will bring and we have seen great progress just in the last 24 hours. Tomorrow we are starting in the morning with tracking class then working more on commands.
We also learned that Zion knows a lot of fun commands like "high five" and "play dead".
More adventure tomorrow!!

~written by Rob (The Dad)