Sherman returned from Camp Diana on Sunday. We arrived about noon, and spent two hours with Diana, putting Sherman through his paces, discussing training, and the what not. We could have easily spent another hour, but her 2 PM appointment showed up, and we had to wander off.

So what do we know about Sherman now? Well, we now think that instead of 10 months, he may be closer to 2 years. This is based on a slight tartar build up on his teeth, the fact that he moves with a fair amount of grace and none of the young dog klutziness, and his overall demeanor. I don’t have a problem with that, other than it means switching him from puppy chow to adult chow when this bag runs out.

We also learned that Sherman is very intelligent, but independent. Dogs have three basic drives: pack drive, prey drive, and defense drive. Loyal and person or family oriented dogs have a high pack drive; Sherman has a very low pack drive. This also explains his lack of food motivation. His prey drive is middle to high; this means he’s prone to react to stimulus quickly. Luckily, his defense drive is low. From what I understand, if this drive was high, he’d likely be more prone to fighting.

When is dog is in the prey drive state (wanting to chase a car, squirrel, what-have-you), to get them back to pack drive (where you want them to be when you’re walking, training, etc), you have to take them through the defense drive (via disciplining, such as a sharp tug on the prong collar).

Sherman occasionally tries to exhibit dominant behavior, an undesirable trait, particularly when directed towards the human. Dominant behavior in dogs is typically curbed by entry protocol, downs (general obedience work) and the like. Occasionally it takes something more severe, like a pop across the muzzle with the leash. Sherman had direct experience with this.

When dogs discipline each other, they do it quickly, severely (when warranted and all other warnings have failed) and they get over it (unlike us humans, who hold grudges forever). A snap across the muzzle is like another dog biting him, which is what would happen when all other resources to garner respect of the alpha had failed. No screaming, yelling, or going postal. And just like when dogs discipline each other, it takes decisive and severe action, but keeping it unemotional.

After two weeks, Sherman can now walk fairly politely on a leash without constant correction, he can sit and lay-down on command, and he’s better (but far from perfect) about being around other dogs on leash. The last one is the main reason he went to Camp Diana; as I mentioned in one of the previous entries, he tends to go Cujo on them (apparently I’ve been spelling it wrong for years).

The “let’s walk” goes pretty well, and he can even maintain a fairly good walk on his flat collar, although corrections are far less effective. The sit and lay-down commands can be fairly quick if it’s in his self interest to do so, such as when he wants to go out. Otherwise, a sit may take a couple seconds to get executed, and for a lay-down you may want to go make a cup of tea. Well, maybe not *that* slowly, but there’s no sudden drop to the ground. This is because Sherman knows he’ll have to do it, but there’s no reason to drop like a rock, because it doesn’t suit his personal interest.

The one problem we still have is he’s quite the mouthy dog. Playing and such is rough on the hands and arms. Sherman will bring you his favorite squeaky toy, but he won’t give it up, and he’ll paw at you while he’s trying to get you to take it. This, I think, is the whole point of his game: wrestle with me for the ball. Once you get it free and throw it, he’ll immediately bring it back for another round of wrestling it away from him. Usually I don’t play his game; if he doesn’t drop it on command, I stop playing. After a bit, he’ll drop it and whine, and we go back to playing.

Luckily, Sherman is a great people dog. Diana took him to Petsmart several times, and he met a number of people and was great with them (we knew this before he went to camp). It’s the dogs he has more trouble with. Although we haven’t had a dog introduction experience since we got back, Diana says he acts better.

I’ve really wanted to take him to the park and practice commands on a long walk. Alas, it’s been raining in the evenings on the last couple days, and the forecast doesn’t look good. It’s pretty much limited to taking him out to the yard and driveway to practice. And there’s not many good distractions. But we’ll get him out there and work him. He’ll be completely worth it.