Noodle Rides the Short Bus

While I've had many different positions in a handful of different places over the last ten years, there is one thing I've always done, and that's train dogs.  Looking at Noodle, you'd never guess that I am a trainer of canines.  Noodle is, well... special.  Let's take her swimming habits, for example.

Anyway, I've had Noodle for about a year and a half and she still has a handful of bad habits at which she excels.  Thankfully my clients don't hold it against me.

My greatest training accomplishment was my previous pooch, Ash.  He was a hellion husky pup that grew to be an amazing dog, and had even managed to become a service dog for me for a bit.  Since I ran the apprenticeship program for new trainers, Ash was learning new useless things constantly as a part of their training.  His crowning glory, however, was this

This trick was done at a pet event in Redford, MI where there were several hundred people and several hundred dogs in attendance.  There are 100 treats in this picture.  This was repeated later in the day with 150 treats.  We could do this trick with anything.

 Ham.

 Duplo.  Whatever.

Anyway, Ash was a very well-trained dog and a shining example of my training prowess.  And then there was Noodle...

I suppose I have the excuse that bad habits are hard to break, and this girl had over a year of bad habits built up.  I can also attest to the fact that, in other homes, Noodle was MUCH worse than she is here, and a lot of those bad habits immediately went out the window.  But she still jumps up, though almost exclusively on me.  And she walks kind of badly on a leash.  And she's really impatient.  Then there's the window licking....

Noodle's a pretty good dog.  She listens fairly well for a dog that's been moved around as much as she has before she landed with me.  She has talents, like punching you in the face and smashing your balls if you have them.  But she's also a class A snuggler and she knows how to wait at the door.  And really, we wouldn't have it any other way.