Toast is her own dog and I have to get over it for her sake. She's funny, opionated, easy to distract, and doesn't come with the chewing obsession Honey had.
Toast is making a ton of progress too, but even after a week and a few days, I can tell she probably won't ever be that completely outgoing social butterfly both Tucker and Honey turned into. She's middle-of-the-road compared to what Honey was (before and after), and is learning everyday. However, Toast doesn't really catch on quick which is making her progress slower (not really 'slow'). She'll come a long way from what she was, but I doubt she'll go up to perfect strangers for quite some time. At least if they don't have REALLY tasty snacks.
Somethings that annoy me with Toast:
Example: Leashed walks.
Toast walks well on leash, but has the really annoying habit of not turning on slight corners, or swerving me into bizarre things so I don't walk into her. I don't want to turn off her 'checking in' with me, so I don't want to give a real correction with the leash when she does so. My 'bright idea' of just walking into her a few times and she'll smarten up totally backfired. Instead of smartening her up and not walking in front of me, Toast has decided when I walk into her -even lightly- she's in a severe amount of trouble and buckles down into the 'she's going to kill me' mode. So, instead of not walking right in front of me, or swerving in front of me, she's doing both that and getting freaked out. I'd take her off the harness (which is part of the problem, dogs naturally walk in front with a harness and its hard to correct), but when dogs got into 'omg they're going to kill me' mode, a collar alone can easily slip off. Oh well, onto the next tactic.
Moving Places:
Toast loves her walks, likes daycare, and in general wants to go wherever I go, but heaven forbid you try to get her to move anywhere without a leash. Downstairs, upstairs, sideways, two steps to her left. You can move her when it doesn't matter if she moves or not, but when push comes to shove Toast is a 'omg, what the hell is happening, catch me if you can' machine. Regardless how much practice we seem to be doing when it doesn't matter, when I actually want to go anywhere with her it becomes a small event. All with time, I know, but I'd rather not take 10 minutes in the yard before going for a half hour walk with her. --But I'm being a bit of a bitch :S
The good thing about Toast over her sister though is that she springs back almost instanteously. Whether she's scolded, 10 minutes later she'll do the same thing and be corrected again, or whether she's praised, all the dots just don't connect. This makes training harder, but it means that any setback is quickly overcome. I can be harder on her than Honey (who took things quite personally).
Beckett has found this with her too. She's his 'annoying little sister', always wanting to play with him even at moments when he'd rather not: AKA, trying to find a poop spot in the yard, or curled up for his afternoon snooze. He's told her off well (and appropriately) a few times, but they go through the motion at least once or twice a day.
Toast trying to get Beckett to play when he's sleeping. Amazing Xena hasn't told her off already.
The annoying little sister is everywhere! And oh so sneaky.
Toast mopey for maybe a whole minute after being told off by Beckett.
\"I'm sorry, can we cuddle instead."
Overall though, Toast is doing awesome and I'm just playing favourites. She's pretty damn adorable and a good cuddler, so I forgive her for not being the smartest bulb in the shed. Smart, shiny bulbs always keep you on your toes anyway, and lately I've been feeling a little lazy (I think because Xena is rubbing off on me!) She'll be easier to find a home for than Honey was, so I doubt she'll be here too much longer ( :( ).
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