Success!

Today was another school day for Mr.Pompei and I; it was the first class since lasts week escapades......

Last Week:
I knew I needed to exercise him before subjecting him to 4 hours of class time, but it was cold, and I was feeling very lazy about getting out and doing it. So I walked him around a little bit before heading to class.

Boy did I pay the price for that! The first 50 minutes of my 55 minute class was spent: "Pompei Sit" .."Down" Good..Noo SIT" "PoMpEi". And Pompei is not one to take these things quietly, noo he's gotten to let me know vocally. While he didn't bark, his whining was insistent.

It was very easy to let myself get frustrated and be harsh, but I had to realize that I was so focused on his "negative" behaviors, that I was failing to reward his positive behaviors. Such as responding to my commands.

So I had to mentally pull myself together and go back at it.

• "Pompei Down ... Goood Boy!" *kibbles
• 10 seconds late
• "Good boy" Kibbles
• 10 seconds later
• "No, Down" 
• "Good job" 

I had to teach him, what I needed him to do was lie quietly, and I knew jerking him or being harsh wouldn't teach anything, and could set us back, that and I could tell he was starting to pant and stress out and I needed to get him calmed.

Needless to say we both were worn out by the time we made it through our last class, and was beating myself up pretty good for being lazy! But we survived.

This week, I knew what I had to do, and we got out and pounded some pavement for about 20 minutes before heading to class. And this was the results: Success Baby!

 

As he grows, I will expect him to do this regardless of his energy level, but until that point I have to set him up for success, so that he will know what to do later.