Hello Forever Family

So the final week is upon the trainers at Jenkins, and Ms. Pretty Penny is ready for her next step... Forever home.  She passed her final exam on the basic commands and also learned a few extras.  She knows "kiss", "bow", "give", "fix it", leave it", "off", and "nap" and is ready to show you just how smart and cute she is.

Penny and her trainer worked on the big stairs one last time and she did not hesitate going up them.  She was a little slow getting started coming down them, but her trainer is sure she will do fine on the steps in her forever home.  

A big happy birthday to Penny this week!!  She celebrated with a special treat; A Kong filled with peanut butter and kibble inside.  She loved it!

Penny is excited about meeting her forever family.  Her trainers are sad to see "Pretty Penny" leave, but are glad to know she is going to a loving family she so deserves.  

Hard To Resist

Penny had a great swap week!  Her trainer for the week enjoyed working with her.  He said she is a very sweet and smart greyhound.  She has a very gentle and outgoing personality that makes her hard to resist.

Penny knows and performs all her basic commands very well and she really, really loves squeaky toys.  She is an all around great gal and will make her forever family very happy.  Her trainers wish her well as she adjusts to her new home.  Cheers to a long and happy life with Penny!

Walking on Sunshine

Penny's third session on the full flight of stairs went very well! She barely hesitated at all before starting up.  She was a little slower getting started on the down part, but she kept a steady pace and only tried to jump off the last step once. 

She is still doing all her basic commands very well, and she's improved at kiss and bow for other people. The more time her trainer spends with this sweet, gentle girl, the more he's convinced she'll want nothing more than to be out and about with her forever family so she can love on them.

Miss Popular

Penny's second session on the full flight of stairs was a little better than the first one. Still slow, but a lot more confident on the second and third tries. She still doing well with all the basic commands for everyone on the team. Kiss and bow she does well for the primary trainer, and is still getting used to getting these commands from the secondary and Alternate trainers. She enjoys playing with her toys, and even more so being out and about getting - and giving - affection to and from everyone. She's one of the dogs everyone in the dorm looks forward to petting and loving on!

"Naps" And "Kisses" For Everyone!

Hi everyone!  It's Penny!  So this week I went to another building.  They had me walk up and down this BIIIIG set of stairs 3 TIMES!  I was really nervous and slow the first time, but only because they are not solid and I could see the ground through them.  Once I realized they would still hold me, I was a lot calmer and quicker.  I think I'm getting the hang of this "stair" thing.

I've still been doing all my regular commands each day and giving "kisses" too.  I like that one and I can't wait to try that out on my new family.  My trainers are teaching me "bow" and my all-time favorite "nap".  I get to lay my head on their chest or lap.  It doesn't get an better than that, since I love to snuggle.  Sending lots of "naps" and "kisses" to everyone.       

                                                                                                 Penny  

Gentle And Loving Girl

Penny has been doing her commands each day with her secondary trainer and enjoying some down time.  She enjoys lying on a bed next to him snoozing the day away.  What a life.

Penny is learning two new commands:  "fix it" and "kiss".  Fix-it is where her trainer has her lift her paw when the leash gets wrapped around or behind her leg.  I know any greyhound owner can relate.  "Kiss" is self explanatory.

Penny is such a gentle and loving girl.  No one can resist "Pretty Penny"!

Miss Congeniality

This past Friday, Penny finally had her first graded show-and-tell and her trainer is so proud of her for getting good scores on all seven basic commands. On five of them, she scored a perfect 10; on the other two, sit and heel, she scored nine and seven, respectively. Those were only lower because she sits side-saddle rather than sphinx sometimes, and her heel was still angled away rather than parallel with her trainer. But they have plenty of time to perfect those and shape them correctly.

Her trainer has been gradually increasing her water intake and it seems that she's okay drinking at 5 a.m., 8 a.m., and noon, and just a little hot water added to her dinner at 4:30. He's also been using ice cubes as treats but hasn't been giving them past 4:30.

Her jump and off commands, simulating getting in and out of a vehicle, are both great now. She has no hesitation with either one and she did great with the guard stairs again, but was actually too fast coming down and jumped off the last two steps. So next time, her trainer is going to walk slow or going down to slow and control her pace better. He hasn't heard anything about using the full flight of stairs in the other building yet, but hopefully she'll get even more practice soon. She's been great playing with toys and is quicker to give now, especially when there's another toy to swap out for it. She's been doing well with the secondary and alternate trainers too and has continued to show her loving, affectionate, and outgoing personality to everyone she meets.

A Budding Stairmaster of Sweetness

This week Penny has been focusing on the hurry command for relieving herself and she had her first stair lesson climbing the six concrete steps to the guards desk, and she did very well with them! Since her trainer was told that her forever home will have two narrow flights of stairs, he is coordinating for her to practice on the full flights of stairs in another building soon. She also had her first lesson with jump and off and did very well with those commands. And through all of this, she has kept her happy and affectionate spirit.

Star Student, Sweet Girl

So week two with Miss Penny has gone very well. She's played with three different dogs, two boys and one girl, on three separate occasions, and she has shown no toy aggression at all. In fact, she's more likely to submit. She's gotten more enthusiastic about playing with the toys each time, which is why her give was a very reluctant one, but she showed quick Improvement in just a few minutes during today's playtime. Her trainer is very impressed with how well and how quickly she learned wait. He can now take one to two steps forward and she rarely tries to move without being told to.

She does very well with stay and bed when it's feeding time or when there's not many distractions, but she hasn't done as well when there are distractions, so her trainer is working on that right now. Here is a command that he's only done when he calls her out of the kennel so far, and most of the time she comes before being called. So Miss Penny has this to work on with her trainer this week. He says that she has that calm, gentle, affectionate demeanor like he first thought when he met her. All the guys in the nearby bunks look forward to being able to love on her when she's done training or walking.

He's sure their lovely pretty Penny will be a great pet with her forever family.

Pretty Penny

Penny has only been in training for three days and she's already shown her trainer how sweet, loving, gentle and intelligent she is.  She is very attentive and curious, which is expected.  Everything is brand new to her at the prison. (Sights, sounds, smells).

Penny is very treat motivated, so training should be very easy with her.  She is leash walking very well, staying by her trainer's side and rarely trying to walk ahead of him.  Penny is learning "wait", "let's go", "heel" and "bed" this week.

In just 72 hours this "Pretty Penny" with her gorgeous red coat, big brown eyes and gentle, loving spirit, has already impressed her trainer and won a place in his heart.  One look and you're hooked.