Mason

Who can not love this face??

I mean really?? Look at him!

This is Mason. Our adorable Dogue de Bordeaux!

These are pictures of when Mase was little bitty. Just presh! But then... Mason started to grow.

Maybe got a little crazy...

He grew and grew...

But he's still so lovable!

HA!

Sigh...

And he was still getting bigger...

But still, who couldn't love his droopy face!

So now Mase is about a year and a half old. He weighs over 100 pounds. My guess would be probably 120 now. But I have to be honest. Mason has a problem: a big one. He's a rude dog.  He jumps on people. He doesn't like to sit when we ask him. He barks at our friendly rabbits in the woods. He pulls on his leash which makes him impossible to walk! He needs a major attitude adjustment. m-a-j-o-r

So, my mission this summer is to whip my dog into shape! Without actually whipping him. bahaha! Today was our first training day. I worked with him about twenty minutes. He did such a good job! He's so very smart. He already knew the commands "Sit" and "Lay Down," so we did a refresher course. I cut up a whole package of hot dogs for rewards. I also used my clicker that Bran and I bought forever ago but never tried out. Once Mase associated the click with the treat, we got busy! Any time he sat down, I clicked and rewarded. Then we practiced sitting for longer amounts of time. Then we practiced laying down. What I was really impressed with though is that Mase only jumped up on me once. I simply turned my back to him and gave him no attention. He sat down finally and I clicked and rewarded! No more jumping! Woo-hoo!

After the training session, I swept all the pine needles off our deck. Mase goes CRAZY with the broom and tries to catch it. So I applied the same principles. I ignored him and stopped sweeping. He went and laid down and I clicked and rewarded! It worked like a charm! He sat down the entire time just watching me, so I kept giving out the hot dogs! Hopefully tomorrow will go just as well. We are going to work on the "Stay" command and maybe practice walking on a leash. I'm motivated to shape him into the perfect dog!