Yesterday Decker was an angel, today, not so much!

Yesterday, Thursday, was a day that I give sheepdog herding lessons. My student came and Decker greeted nicely, but he was tied to the fence, awaiting his turn to for sheepdog herding. I have started treating him like a normal dog, giving him the benefit of the doubt, as far as greeting people and coming up to them, but in the back of mind, ready to jump in and correct him if needed. He had a great time working sheep in the round pen and then after sheepdog herding work, playing in the pool and then with all of the dogs out on the lawn. I had my friend feed him some treats, but not to many as he is watching his figure, not to EXPLODE!

My friend Roland came over to let his young dog socialize with the pack. Decker ended up greeting Roland as he drove up. I had a wheelbarrow in my hand and Decker was determined to see him and would not come to me, and I couldn't force the issue either as I was dumping the wheelbarrow at the time. He was happy to see Roland, then smelled the puppy and was anxious to get to the puppy.

Everyone played and played. Decker and the puppy have a habit of playing right below our feet as we sit and talk. I decided that I was done with that and "fenced" the dogs out from the front porch. The fence is a piece of chicken wire stretched across the stairway. I usually put that wire up to contain the dogs, but this time it was to contain the humans! Anyway it worked, and the dogs left us alone.

I gave Roland a bag of treats to feed to Decker, and all of a sudden, Roland was the most popular person on the planet! He instantly got three dog's attention with the scent of dog treats in the air. So throughout Roland's visit, he intermittently gave treats to Decker. Decker did good at accepting them too. I made sure that he didn't get too excited and remained calm and not aggressive toward the treats.

After lunch, I had a friend come over from the local garden club. She came to pick out some plants for a section of the town garden that we were landscaping. I was in the basement when she arrived. Decker was on the porch. I ran up when I heard noise, but I was too late, Decker had growled at her and he was hiding around the corner of the house. My friend was not afraid of him at all, which was probably good for him, because he didn't get the reaction or the wrong energy that he usually gets when he growls at someone. When I found out that he had growled, I promptly put him on his side on the ground. He urinated.
After his discipline, he was fine with my friend the rest of the afternoon. I gave her a couple of treats to give to Decker.