I saw that too and couldn't figure out how to respond without being confrontational, so I kept my mouth shut.

However, I have similar feelings to what you've expressed here. My house is hardly a museum, and I routinely leaving steaming food on the coffee table at nose height and then go back into the kitchen for a drink with no concern that my dogs will grab it. There is also zero counter surfing in my home from two Goldens who are capable of getting their entire bodies up on the counter with an easy jump.

You don't need to use unpleasant surprises, physical discomfort, or "dominance" to make a dog a livable member of the household. You need to prevent dogs from self-rewarding for undesired behavior and set up patterns to reward them for the things you want. I'm not an ideological purist when it comes to correction, but I think if you can avoid it by shifting your technique, why wouldn't you?

The less I have to intimidate or use discomfort, the better. Who could argue against that? If I didn't have rock solid obedience, you could say I was taking it too far, but nobody who's watched me handle my dogs at the house or at class could say that I don't have their attention or that they aren't anything but incredibly motivated to work for me in all contexts.

I spend a lot of time at the dog training center these days, working with incredibly skilled certified professionals who have never corrected a dog—as least in my presence—with a tap, a harsh word, a scruff shake, or anything from the traditional correction playbook. Watching one precision heel an intense bull-mix rescue dog who's prancing away like it's the best game in the world, or watching another take a nippy, wild client dog and have him walking politely on lead within ten or twenty steps, it would be hard to argue that they had taken positivity "too far."

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I am so very excited and have been keeping it kind of under my hat, but thought I would share that I have signed up for a few more on-line courses that will begin mid-January These classes have assignments that are video taped, and based on the level of your tuition, have feedback from the instructor, access to forums and chats and access to all the other student's questions, videos and chit chat.

A self control class for focus, proofing etc (Brady will be the 'student')
Agility handling class based on Ashley Deacon's Turn 'n Burn (Faelan will be the 'student')

and although sign ups have not been opened yet, I am hoping to get into a Heeling Class with Denise Fenzi (have not decided on the primary dog yet)

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

I'm just posting here that despite my head being foggy (good news is I'm sneezing now instead of the dry painful cough)... I did train the Bert.

The thing I'm all excited about this weekend is the fact that I was doing my usual pacing with Bertie in our upstairs hallway, and he's driving around the about turns and then catching himself to stay in heel position!

Up through now I've been just guiding him back to heel position and treating him as soon as he gets back there.

I also did the 1-2-3 scoot sits in heel position today and those were snap perfect.

I'm really kinda sad that I signed him up for the jumpstart class instead of the actual beginner class. But REALLY glad I didn't do the puppy class. o_O!

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

Just back from picking Faelan and Brady up from the field doggie bus. I took advantage of the fact the pickup was at a PetSmart and

1) Finished my Christmas shopping
2) Trained Brady
3) Trained Faelan (byw when little dogs are circling he is not ready for signals <sigh>)

Brady went first and was quite the hit. There were a lot of people there with and without dogs. There were also classes going on.
Faelan then went in and he too got a lot of attention and one lady in particular could not get over how well behaved both the dogs were ; the class dogs were older and just a wee bit rambunctious LOL The instructor was kind of weird though - she asked if I finished Faelan before going to obedience, and when I mentioned no although he had passed his CCA (I explained what that was) he was doing obedience, rally, agility and field. She then asked what he was currently training for and I said his UD and she asked again about finishing him - I don't know if she understood the levels of training .... but we were holding up her class so I just left it and thanked her for helping me train.

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

*biting fingernails* I went ahead and finally ordered articles for Jacksipants finally. The expense ($100+) just about killed me at this time of the year, but class starts in 3 weeks. o_O I talked with my instructor and she advised me on the size articles to get.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

You will either love or hate article training

I love it!

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

I think I'll love it with Jacks? We haven't done any scent discrimination yet, but I at least have a dog who uses his nose. I've heard that doesn't matter with articles, but I'm HOPING it helps.

I'm doing the same "training" with Berts to encourage him to think and use his nose more, but oh dear. The poor dear kid uses his eyes more. And even there I wonder about him.

If you point a finger, Jacks will look to where you are pointing and Bertie will look at your finger. o_O

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

Kate - he may not be able to see where your finger is pointing yet. Their eyes can take a few months to really be able to see well - Brady will be 5 months next week and is just starting to really see long range.

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

Very interesting.... o_O I didn't know that!

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

I love the initial teaching of articles, it's later on when they suddenly develop a problem that it can get frustrating.

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Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)