A Boy and his dog meet!

Today a boy and his dog meet for the first time.  What a match made in heaven.  May is full of as much energy as Joe is!  How they made such a perfect match I'll never know.  So today we got background information on our dogs, May is from one of 4 Paws breeding programs. She did most of her basic training at a near by college, that's what makes her so smart. To begin we learned about equipment we will use with our dog.  The leash is a Leather Double handle leash, she has a training collar, and a Gentle leader.  We will be introduced to her harness in a few days.  Treats are a huge thing, we use treats to reward behaviors that you like and want to see more of.  It might even be a behavior that Joe develops with May and we are to reward it as long it does not hurt May.  So for example when Joe plays with her ears we reward her for allowing her to do this so she knows it is an ok behavior.  The treats are the size of a "pea" small enough to eat quickly and not too big that the dog takes several minutes to eat...so guess what we need to do, yep we have to take all the Pupperoni sticks and pinch them into a bout 30 pieces.  Then we began learning and practicing some basic commands.  When giving a command there is not reason to raise your voice, just use a matter of fact tone.  Praise tone should sound happy and excited. We learned basic obedience today, Sit, on command whether they are at your side, in front or behind you or across the room.  The are expected to stay in a sit until you release them with the command FREE.  Down is prompted by using your pointer finger indicating down, again she will stay in a down position until you FREE her.  Stay, there is no verbal command, as this is implied for each command until she is released.  This is truly amazing  May did this easily for me and Denny and even for Joe. 

Joe and May meet for the first time, they were both so excited and began bonding immediately.

   

                                May loves to kiss even from her kennel...good morning boy!

                             We have been marked as the "Howliday Class 2013"

                                            Just strolling around the room, getting used to a leash.

                                     They both can calm down after some work.

The end of the day was play time...tennis balls...May goes crazy and Joe loved it, they will be the best of pals outside together!!

It was a long first day, Joe got a little frustrated at times but held it together pretty well.  He's now in the swimming pool with Dad, letting go of some bottle energy.  As Jeremy our trainer said today is kind of like "Christmas" for our dogs, they are so excited to meet their kids and all the people they are a bit crazy too, so I have to say it really did feel like Christmas, the excited of the day we waited so long for, the families and kids to meet and our dogs to meet, and now the exhaustion of "Christmas" the day being over.  I'm sure we will all sleep well tonight.  May will not come back to the hotel with us until Wednesday night which will be another experience.  One last thing I just have to brag to all our family and friends in MN...notice Joe is in short sleeves outside, it was 59 degrees here this afternoon!!