"I thought you said you were getting a dog... that's an Ewok!"

Happy Sunday everyone!

I am super excited because the Breeder sent a new picture of Bruce. I showed it to a friend of

mine via text who said: "I thought you were getting a dog! That's an Ewok." Yes. Yes it is. It's

an Ewok dog. Don't judge or be jealous ;). ha.

The post prior to this I made a list of "things I want Bruce to do at first." I was watching a video this am and was told that in order to be successful, you need to write out all the tricks and behaviors you want to work on with the dog- so you don't get lost in the middle of training.

SO, here we go. For my own sake- and those of people reading- I am going to link the clicker training video for reference.

Here we go!:

CLICKER TRAINING TO DOS (not in order..)

1. Charge the clicker- make him understand that clicker = treat.
2. Teaching him to "leave it" Video # 2(GREAT video! The person who does the kikopup training is awesome)
3. Teaching him to like his little room- so he doesn't get upset when we leave.(Again, a kikopup video)
4. Teaching Bruce his name Link # 2 Link #3
5. Teaching him sit/ lay down
6. Teaching Bruce not to bite
7. Teaching Bruce not to jump up
8. Attention games
9. Counter surfing = It's a no no!
10. Sit stay
11. Teaching him to come

TRICKS TO TEACH BRUCE:

1. Teaching Bruce to jump up in my arms (kikopup ftw!)
2. Puppy putting feet on mine!
3. Getting Bruce to like being in his purse!
4. Teaching head shake
5. Teaching how to skate board

So there we have it. Once I get Bruce I am going to record my sessions and post them- and try to analyze what I did wrong and what I did right.

It occurred to me that I should share why I am interested in documenting Bruce's training and my successes/failures during sessions.

I am currently working on my Masters in Community Agency Counseling. In the long run, my goal is to work with at-risk youth in a therapeutic environment. Ive always been interested in integrating pet and play therapy in with sessions.

Also, as an undergrad I was very interested in behavioral psychology. I got a BS in Psych, and enjoyed very much learning about operant conditioning (positive reinforcement, etc.)

I think this will give me a different perspective when training Bruce. Plus- I get to enjoy the bonding time and seeing him succeed (hopefully!)

Fingers crossed.

On a more silly note... look what I ordered for Bruce.

Backstory: Bruce is named after Bruce Wayne of Batman. I love Batman, so it fits. We were trying to figure out how to name him after Jonathan Crane (The Scarecrow) but it didn't work.. so Bruce stuck.

I bought this ID tag for Bruce on Etsy.com (Link to the etsy page)

She has some REALLY cute tags as well- that I may get down the road. Obviously it will s

ay Bruce instead of Batdog- but how awesome is that?!?!

I agree. Very awesome.

Here is his collar (and the woman who made it also created a leash for him.) She sells cat collars, but made a dog collar for Bruce. I am excited!

Do you see the theme here? That is the extent of how nerdy I will be, but I felt it was necessary.

My goal of today? To find the right trainer for puppy kindergarten and on....