Hubby and I are fostering a 1.5 yo GSD. He is so sweet and lovable, super energetic as well.

We got him 2 weeks ago, I started marker training him 11 days ago. He has a great food drive and is so eager to learn.

We were told that he had some training in the past, I am not sure how much training he got. We were told at delivery that his commands were rusty. We tried the list of commands he supposedly knew, but we did not get much response from him. I am not sure how he was trained, so I just used the marker training stuff I learned from ME's OB Intensive course and started from the very beginning.

As I watch the videos, I realized how many marker mistakes I was making, LOL, but he is learning and we are having fun, so I guess that's what really matters

Week 1

Week 2

Looked like you guys were having a lot of fun Melissa. Nice big inside training area.

Loved the phone book shuffle, stretchy, slide thing he does around 40 sec in week 1. Poor guy was trying so hard to get a grip.

Handsome boy.

Very nice work so far, especially with only 11 days of training!

He seems like a really nice boy with good engagement, someone will be lucky to adopt him.

First of all what an awesome GSD. He looks PERFECT. Just how a GSD should be (atleast in my view). And good training too. Love his tail wagging and engagement. he is very focused . Great job.


Only thing I will suggest is to feed him randomly with left and right hand so that he does not get a right hand bias. i.e the dog always keeps to your right hand.

CJ, LOL, yes, Kain was having a hard time keeping his paws on the first touch pad (book), I tried several different things, until we settled on a box with anti-slip mat. I hope the box will work out and we won't have to change it again.

We purposely left our living room empty so we can use it as a training area. People have a hard time believing it when we tell them we don't have any soft/couch in the living room (or the house), it is a dog training area

Tabatha, thank you! Kain is a very good dog, he surely will make a great training buddy. Only thing is that he is super energetic, hubby and I are wondering if the rescue will be able to find a family that is going to meet his exercise needs.

Ram, thank you for your suggestion, LOL, yes, as I was watching my videos, I noticed it, too. I am going to try to work on that, hopefully you will see some improvements on my part in the Week 3 video.

He is about 60 to 65 lbs, I think he is the perfect size for a working dog/breed. He does have good focus, I did a little bit of engagement work with him at a park a couple of days ago, and he pretty much kept his attention on me. I hope his new family will keep training him, he really seems to enjoy learning.

Very nice job Melissa! Kain is so beautiful! He has such great focus, and I agree whom ever gets him is very lucky!
I am sure you will be very discerning as to who you allow to have him. You are awesome Melissa!

I really enjoyed your two videos Melissa and look forward to Week #3! It's so interesting to watch a progression like this. It looked awesome. Thank you for sharing those videos.
You mentioned that you had noticed that you were making Marker mistakes which you were not aware of until you watched your own videos from Week 1 and 2: This made me smile because during my own training sessions this week I wondered whether I am training my dog or training myself (to be better at giving consistent Markers)...I came to the conclusion that I must really focus on training myself because the way I am marking is not always consistent or precise enough!

Joyce, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank you for the comments on Kain's videos. Hubby and I are nicknaming him "Sugar Kain" 'cuz he is just too sweet, LOL. In a way, we want him to find a forever home quickly, in another way, we kind of wish we can keep him a little bit longer, what a dilemma!

Lisabet, yes, it is interesting to watch myself in a video, I catch all kind of things I am not doing correctly or precisely enough. Kain is now my temporary study buddy for marker training. Come to think of it, I think the videos are for my own learning as much as it is to promote him (it is on his rescue profile to help him get adopted), LOL.

I hope everyone is enjoying Thanksgiving!