Training Highlites

Colton has been attending dog training classes for the last three weeks. His progress is good.
One of the big things we have been working on is recall, if he gets out the front door or off his leash or out of his yard he needs to know a command to come back. Our command is "Colton, Front!!" He loves this exercise! He gets a treat or several treats when he responds and comes back to the person calling him. Last night my husband and I tried this off leash with him. We stood about 20 feet apart and when he was with my husband I would give him the command. He would run to me so fast that he couldn't stop in time, he would run a little past me with the brakes on and then make a quick turn around to get to me and the treats. We did this several times and he was worn out. Today my daughter and I tried it, we each had treats so I would give the command and he would run to me and then she would give the command and he would run to her. He is now laying on the floor panting. Great exercise for him! He is such a good boy.
The second thing we have been working on is laying down without a voice command, it is by signal. When he lays down I click the clicker and he gets a treat. Then I get him up again and repeat this. We have a hand signal we are using and he is getting it! This is very exciting because we couldn't train him the regular way because he is so big that he never lays in the Sphinx position like most greyhounds. He turns in a circle and finally goes down on his bottom/side and then lays all the way down on the floor. The next thing to work on is to get him to stay in the down position until he is released to stand up again. I am working on that a little at a time. I am just so happy that we made a break through on the "down" since it is more difficult for him. I think the next class we are going to work on the "sit". This should be interesting because I have never seen him sit. Wish us luck with this one!
He is one great dog that is going to be a wonderful addition to whoever adopts him. He now comes with extra equipment, the commands he has learned!