Gunner's visit, Part 1

" . . . oh, and Gunner ate a sock. It's not his first one either."

These were the parting words of Gunner's alpha human before she and her 2 sons departed for a vacation in Jamaica, leaving me to board Gunner for the week. For those following my Blog, Gunner was Mr Black in our Ozzie-Miska breeding born June 16, 2008. Mr Black was totally fearless confronting his uncles Tyro and Chili (who has been renamed Tucker by his new owner) as a 3 week old puppy. http://varazsvizslas.blogspot.com/2008/07/mr-black-meets-big-boys.html In contrast, it was Chili who was more afraid of Mr Black than Mr Black/Gunner was afraid of him.

I hadn't seen Gunner for several months so was anxious and excited to see how he was turning out. I always love to hear news, see photos and ideally have visits from the 'grand-pups' so jumped at the chance. But I was just a little concerned about his visit only because Gunner had injured his shoulder a few weeks ago. I know from dog and personal experience how long it takes to heal soft-tissue injuries and how well dogs can mask pain. Boarding him means he gets to see his relations and that means he wants to play, race and have fun. Some of that wouldn't be possible because I want to rest him and ensure his injury heals. Hard to do when he's just a puppy and there are other Vizslas to play with.

Gunner is certainly a handful and very smart. It turns out he's your typical, somewhat out-of-control Vizsla, male puppy: counter surfs, jumps up on people A LOT, steals food, pulls in a leash, mouthes leashes, eats socks, sit-stays for 1 nano-second, etc. WOW! But I suspect my dogs aren't the most perfectly behaved when they go and stay at someone else's house either. However, the jumping up on people is a major concern for a dog that is going to weight around 55 lb. Gotta definitely do something about that before the owners return and teach them how to eliminate this behaviour.

First order of business - outfit Gunner with a Gentle Leader. Then I took him and Tyro for a nice leash walk. At least the boys get along well. Gunner understands he's not top dog in this house.

Second order of business is to change his release word from "Okay" to something else, e.g., "break". Talk to Susan Garrett about using Okay as a release word - NOT!!! Too overused in everyday human language- very confusing for a dog.

Third is to start shaping his behaviour rather than using lures. Unfortunately, most schools use lure training and it's almost impossible to avoid. The school I sent Gunner and his humans to introduce the clicker but really don't use shaping at all in their classes. There are no other schools I've found which teach the general public how to shape their pet's behaviours. I hate lure training now that I've seen the incredible results that well-timed shaping can produce but it's virtually impossible to avoid if one trains with anyone other than Susan Garrett.

Fourth is to use at least 1/2 of the kibble in his meals to shape various behaviours like go and stay on a mat, lie down, etc. He knows some of these behaviours from his school but most are lure-trained. I need him to figure things out on his own and especially learn some self-control.

That's all within the first hour of observing him. I've determined that Gunner has a lovely temperament. Like most male Vizslas, however, he's highly energetic, very kissy and has the attention span of a gnat for a not-quite 9-month old. Gunner, I'm looking forward to this week with you!

As to that sock . . . my experience is that socks don't tend to exit the back door. They are regurgitated through the front. How long will this take? I'll wait and see. Note to self- tell owners about inducing vomiting if they witness Gunner eating a sock again but also teach them Susan Garrett's "It's Your Choice" game using smelly socks.