Training a Rescue Dog: the rewards of patience

In January 2009, my husband and I adopted a rescued German Shepherd named Jake. I have been taking him to Manners in Motion for Obedience training once or twice a week for over 2 years and he has come a long way. Last weekend he competed in his first Rally competition, which is an obedience competition where the dog and handler have to follow a set course. We had a great time and he got qualifying scores on both days. This is an unedited video of Jake's first run on Saturday, April 9, 2011. 

 

To see Jake's second run go to my Flickr Photostream.

You can also read Jake's story in Lost Souls: Found! Inspiring Stories About German Shepherd Dogs by Kyla Duffy and Lowrey Mumford. (I interviewed Kyla in Episode 34 of Books and Ideas.) His story also appears in Best of Lost Souls: Found! Audio Book, Vol. I.