ZUCCHINI: 3 1/2 year Progress Report

I found an old list I had when Zook was only a few weeks old of things I wanted him to learn. I wanted to see how we'd come along with his training, and decided to update his progress on the list.

• Learn name
• Learn command "sit"
• Learn command "down" (for laying down)
• Learn command "show me your belly"
• Learn command "sit pretty" (to get him to sit up and "beg")
• Learn command "roll over"
• Learn command "come here"
• Learn command "stay"
• Learn command "get in your bed"
• Learn what "Wanna go outside" means
• Learn what "Wanna go for a ride" means (What dog doesn't know this one?)
• Learn what "eat" means (He knows this in addition to "food" and "hungry", and will bring me his bowl on command.)
• Learn to walk properly on a lead (And does very well obeying commands like "wait" and "stay with me" when he's off-leash as well.)
• Learn to ask to go outside
• Learn to fetch (He'll "fetch" almost anything I ask for.)
• Become "crate trained" (He enters his cage at work on command, but I rarely need to command him to go in. Usually he lays wherever he wants in my office.)
• Learn the meaning of "toy" or "baby"
• Try different foods. Get him to eat rice and veggies and such.(He eats almost everything but turnips.)
• Become good friends with Katy (Mom's dog) so that maybe the two of them can even play together. (They became best friends before she died, and now he's best friends with our new dog Tiki.) 

Additionally he has learned:

• "Drop it"
• "Leave it"
• "Off" (for getting down off of things or people)
• "Wait" (he'll wait at the road for me to tell him it's okay to cross, or slow down to wait for me)
• "Treat"
• "Go see" (to "go see" a certain person, or what a noise was, or something. It's basically a release command that gives him permission.)
• "Bath" (he's learned to walk into the shower and "submit" to a bath. He isn't happy about it, but he'll do it without being forced)
• "Go to work" (he knows these words mean going to work with me, where he gets to see the other people he loves)
• "Go home" (he knows this means we are going home)
• "Stop" (When off-leash, he's been taught to "stop" at the road and wait for me to say it's okay to cross)
• "Load Up" (for "loading" into the car)
• "Clean up" (to clean up any food that fell on the floor)
• "Inside" (to go inside)
• "Watch" (To get him to focus on me rather than the treat, but I hope to expand on this eventually and get him to watch something else I indicate)
• "Bring your bowl" 
• "Bring it here" (he'll bring anything I indicate)
• "Come see me" (usually means for him to climb into my lap)
• "Let me see" (for him to bring me whatever he has, so I can see what it is or take it away from him) 
• Bedroom/Office (tells him what room he needs to go to)
• "Get out of my kitchen"
• "Take it nice" (to get him to take food nicely from my fingers) 
• "Move over" 
• "Settle" (when he's excited and needs to settle down)
• "Back" (it can mean for him to back up, but when we're in the car and he's in my lap, it means for him to get in the backseat)
• "Treat" (what dog doesn't know this one?)

There's probably more that I'm not thinking of. He's so smart and learns so fast! He is such a sweet dog with adults, although he can mistrust some kids and can be aggressive toward some dogs (never hurting them, but threatening). The day I chose to adopt him has proven to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. He's the best dog I could have ever hoped for.

And now Zook has a friend. Tiki (now 10 yrs old) joined our family last year. I had intended on just fostering her while I found her another home, but Zook took to her and loved having her around. So I kept her on permanently for him.

It's all worked out very well. We have a happy little family.