Training in Session

Lady Gaga has been improving in her training. She remembers the previous tricks I taught her from over a year ago. She knows the following dog commands:

1. “Lie Down”: My hand is faced with my palm to the ground, while I motion my hand to the floor.

2. “Paw”: My right hand is steady with my palm facing up. I have treats in my left hand.

3. “Paparazzi”: Known as play dead. I have no signal for this one because she learned what the word meant quickly. She’s such a smart doggy.

She is having trouble learning new tricks. A part of me gets frustrated and impatient, but due to my ADHD, I know learning new things takes time. She has trouble with the following commands:

1. “Bad Romance”: The ability of sitting on her hind paws with her two front paws in the air. Even with my hand signals, Lady Gaga just doesn’t do it.

2. “Up”: When asking her to standing up, she doesn’t want to. My hand signal is simple, my palm faces down, while the motion of my hand moves up.

3. “Star Struck”: Also known as rolling over, she won’t do it. God give me patiences!!!

4. “Crawl”: No results.

Another challenge Lady Gaga is having is walking. She always had anxiety with sounds, people, and cars, but now it appears to have gotten worse. I try not to enable her anxiety, therefore, when she starts panicking, I do not pet her.

Glinda, on the other hand, is an excellent walker. She loves her walks, however, learning and remembering commands is difficult for her. The following dog commands, she knows:

1. “Up” : My palm faces down, while the motion of my hand moves up. She does this very gracefully.

2. “Sit”: My right hand is folded like an L shape.

Things Glinda has trouble with:

1. “Faint”: Known as play dead, she just doesn’t get it.

2. “Paw”: Glinda gives me an odd look then yawns.

3. “Crawl”: She lies down and gives this look of “Nope, I’m not doing it.”

I am currently taking my time with them. If they don’t get it or do it, I don’t get mad. Over time they will understand and perform these commands. Perhaps I need to change some of my hand signals to make things easier for them to understand what I’m asking for. Well until next time.