From our trainer, Andrew, who is working with Vietnam Veteran Travis, and his SDIT, Sergeant:

“On Sept 23rd, I had my first initial session with Travis and his SDIT, Sergeant. Sergeant is a tri-colored collie and is very smart. He has lots of food drive, but also likes to play with a tug. I worked some with a sit/down and sit/stay and the dog did as expected for being so raw and only just over two years old.

At our second training session, Sergeant proved to still be a very exuberant dog and is a very quick learner. We worked on basic obedience – mainly sit/down stays. I had an extended talk with Travis about training his dog: that sit means sit and down means down. I instructed Travis about leading the dog up to being able to stay in whatever position Travis commands even if he leaves the room. We talked a little about rewards as well and the pros and con’s of using praise rewards and food rewards… I only took one picture and here is the beautiful dog below in a down stay!”