Playful and Loving

This week Tisha took her final exam and passed with flying colors.  Since arriving at the prison, she has adapted well to her new surroundings with ease.  She has displayed her playfulness with people, and her "I'm the queen" attitude with the other dogs.  She gets very excited and loves to play with the other greyhounds.

Tisha's inmate trainer said that this experience with her has opened his eyes on just how close a bond can be between a dog and their human.  Once they accept and trust us, they look to us for everything.  He is going to miss Tisha.  She will bring lots of fun and joy to her new family.

Confident Tisha

Tisha has changed so much since first arriving at the prison.  She was super timid, submissive Tisha.  Now she's confident, I'll do what is takes Tisha.  She has learned all of her commands with ease and is ready for graduation next week. She learns very quickly.  She does get excited when it's training time.  She just can't wait for her treat!

She gets a little worried when clipping her nails, thinking it's going to hurt, but she will sit there like a champ for you to finish.  Such a patient girl.

Tisha doesn't mind her trainer laying on her bed with her.  She actually fell asleep while he was rubbing and petting her.  She is a gentle girl and any family will be lucky to have her.

Ready For The Next Step...Forever Home

Since first arriving at the prison, Tisha has come out of her shyness and enjoys playing games with her inmate trainer.  She isn't much into toys, but she does love chewing on her squeaky fish.  She loves to play with people more than toys, and she has shown no aggression whatsoever to people. 

Tisha has mastered all her basic commands and knows them all verbal and visual.  She has also mastered some extras:  "Belly", "shake", "bounce".  She's a little slow with "paws up", but with some extra practice she'll get the hang of it.

Tisha does seem to have a sensitive stomach to certain foods/treats, so her inmate trainer is just using kibble for her training treats.  She doesn't seem to mind at all.

All in all, Tisha is a sweet girl and is ready for the next step in her life, retirement and her forever home.

Tisha, An Instant Pick-me-up

This past week Tisha has been learning the "leave it" command, and like all the other commands, she picks it up very quickly.  Her inmate trainer started with regular kibble.  She performed well with it by walking right by.  She loves special treats and gets very excited about them, so it's going to take a few more days for her to totally comprehend that she can't eat it, until she is told to.  She is doing wonderfully with her basic commands and is ready to show her new forever family just how smart she is.

Her inmate trainer is so proud of how well Tisha does with people.  She is very gentle around all new people and loves to be loved on.  If you need an instant "pick me up", just look into Tisha's eyes.  She can brighten your day in just one look, and put a smile on your face. 

Nosey... Nah, just curious

Tisha has adapted to living at the prison and enjoys sunbathing on the fresh cut grass in the big yard.  Her inmate trainer says that he’s enjoying watching more and more of Tisha’s personality emerge.  She’s a very curious girl.  When walking down the hallway she tries to arch her head up so she can get a glimpse of what is happening in the next rooms.  

Tisha has been a little bossy with the other female dogs and seems to get along a little better with the males.  She’s been submissive with strangers so her inmate trainer is having her interact with other people on the training team to help build her confidence.   

She’s doing really well with all of her commands!  The “leave it” command could use a little more work so her inmate trainer plans to focus on improving this command. She’s learned the order of the commands so her inmate trainer is working on changing it up a bit so she will not be anticipating the next move.  

Tisha’s inmate trainer says that it’s been a real pleasure working with Tisha.  She’s made him aware of a love for dogs that he never knew he had.  

What a Dreamboat!

Tisha is advancing in her training very well.  She knows all of her basic commands but she still needs work because she gets in a hurry anticipating what her inmate is asking her to do.  When he feeds her, she is very well mannered as they walk to her kennel where she eats her meals.  He has her "sit" and "wait", and then places her bowl into the kennel where she devours it after he gives the "release" command.

He has been changing up the order of the commands, just to keep Tisha on her toes. Oddly, she does better with hang signals than she does with verbal commands.  Its still early in the game and there is lots of time to fine tune responses to both. 

Tisha is very mild mannered. She seems to really enjoy learning and is constantly looking to her inmate for the next command. 

Her inmate is eager to see how much Tisha will learn this coming week.  They will be perfecting the basic commands and adding a few extras.  Stay tuned!

One Smart Girl

Tisha is adjusting to the new environment nicely.  She’s starting to come out of her shell more and more allowing her personality to shine.  Her inmate trainer says that her body language tells him who she likes more than others, when she needs to go potty, and when she’s hungry.  

She’s been working more on the “sit,” “heel,” and “stay” commands this week.  Once she learned the “down” command she wanted to perform down instead of the “sit” command.  Her inmate trainer changed their feeding time routine swapping up the commands each day.  He’s proud to say that Tisha is showing great improvement!  He plans to start working on the duration of each command so that she will stay in position a little longer.  He says that Tisha is a very smart girl and picks up on commands with one or two attempts and she will perform commands for her secondary trainer with no problems!  Her inmate trainer says that he’s looking forward to seeing what Tisha masters next! 

Progress, Progress

This week Tisha worked on her basic commands.  She is doing the sit command with ease.  "Stay" and "heel" are a work in progress, but it's early and she'll have them figured out in no time.  Tisha is doing very well with the commands: "let's go", "kennel", "here", and "bed.

Tisha and her trainer also worked on stairs this week.  She had no problems going up the stairs, but was a little slow coming down them.  Tisha takes to new ideas quickly and with a small amount of effort.  She is coming out of her shell more and more every day and her personality is starting to show.  She has a playful side and a submissive side.  She sometimes acts like she's done all of this before, or she is just that smart...

She is a very intelligent girl and her trainer is very excited to see how much progress she makes in the coming weeks. 

Welcome To A Whole New Life

Tisha is adjusting to the new environment really well. Her inmate trainer says that she was nervous at first, but not overly so.  So far she seems to be submissive and kennel training is going very well.  In the day room area she will lie on the bed quietly watching the activity around her.  

She’s been learning her new name and working on: hurry, kennel, and wait.  She makes eye contact and is very attentive during training.  She gets excited about the special training treats so her inmate trainer plans to hold those for the more difficult training areas.  

Tisha is doing great with staying calm and waiting patiently before coming out of the kennel. When the kennel door is opened Tisha will stand up and her inmate trainer closes the door until she lies back down.  She will lie back down almost immediately and he’ll leave the kennel door open as long as she stays in the down position.  When he reaches into the kennel to put the leash on she will roll onto her side, almost to her back, and put her paws in the air.  He leashes her up and gives her the “here” command.    

Tisha’s inmate trainer says that she has made him very proud of her progress in just the first 72 hours.  He says that she doesn’t shed very much at all and doesn't mind her grooming sessions. She actually seems to enjoy the attention.  He believes that she's is going to do a fantastic job with training and can't wait to see what the coming weeks bring.