Tone of Voice

Today I noticed that Sox seems to respond to me faster if I speak to her in a lighter tone of voice. When we were working at Petsmart tonight she was very focused on me and her whole body language was that of relaxation and happiness, even though we were "working".

I was also reminded that Sox is NOT a couch potato - lol. She is most happy when she is active, learning, and moving.

Right before we left the store, one of the trainers stopped to chat with me. We were talking about a dog aggressive pitbull that she had had in class earlier that evening and how good she had done when she and Sox met.

I had been working with Sox on the "leave it" command. Holly (the trainer) wanted to play with Sox, so I asked her to ask Sox to "leave it" with the treat she wanted to give her. So she asked Sox to lay down, then to leave it while she placed the treat in front of her, on her paws, and then to the side. Sox looked at her, then turned her head away from the treat - lol - just like we'd practiced. She praised her and Sox sat up to get her treat. Then when she (the trainer) started to walk away, I asked Sox to "say thank you" and Sox bowed very prettily and held it - yes!

Holly laughed and said, "How cool is that? I never thought of labeling that 'thank you'. " Sox was so pleased with Holly's reaction that she danced over to her and curled herself up in a "c" shape and wiggled! I'm enjoying having this little dog in my life.