I am continuing to break through to Bud, he has been a great challenge to me and my ideas, and has done a good job of shaking me up and teaching me new things. With a dog like Bud, you get knocked off your smug high horse all the time.

Bud is a small dog with a giant personality, he has powerful instincts and prey drive, and a fierce independence. He is gross in many ways, he’ll eat anything, including any kind of fresh feces from any animal, will mark almost anything at times, chases anything that moves and ferociously pursues rabbits, chipmunks, birds, moths and flies. He catches a lot of flies.

If it’s raining, he prefers to dump in the bathroom when no one is looking, he doesn’t like to get his bottom wet outside.

He is flatulent and can stink up a house in a minute. Yet I do love him quite a bit, he is also affectionate, loyal, smart and bristling with personality.

I am also grateful to be learning new ways to train a dog.

We have licked the dog poop eating problem by sprinkling meat tenderizer on the dog’s food. Bud doesn’t like the smell, and he no longer eats his poop or the other dog’s. I take my Pet Corrector aerosol spray can out when we go to the pasture.

If he goes near the fences, or donkey or sheep droppings, I just spray the can, even if we are 30 feet away. He turns away and moves on (there is nothing in the can but air, and it makes a sharp hiss which dogs hate).

I am learning to trust Bud. I now let him roam the pastures, he jumps in the pond, chases rabbits, sniffs and stalks at chipmunk holes. Even though he disappears from sight sometimes, I no longer fear his running away.

He stays within his territory, our fences, grass and the pond and marsh. He investigates or pursues his “prey” but never seems to catch anything (he got a bird once in the marsh) and wears himself out. I know now that he won’t run off, so I am free to trust him.

The small dogs have big heads but small lungs. He races around the pasture so much checking out every hold or bush, and then he wears himself out. He is happy to come inside the house and sit by me when I right. Trust and patience are important for training a dog like Bud.

This calms  him and wears him out for most of the day, especially as the temperature rises. He loves to sit by me and snore while I write. Like my other dogs, he seems to know to be quiet.

And then there are treats. I carry a small bag of grain-free biscuit bits, each piece is a little bitter than a piece of kibble. I give him a treat every third or fourth time he comes to me. If he doesn’t see a treat, he just moves on. If he does, he sits and waits for me to toss it, he catches it on the fly, like the circus dog he is.

Bud continues to watch out for Red, and he continues some sheep herding activity. He has been paying close attention to Red, he has even mastered the classic border collie “stare down.”

And then there is patience. To train a dog like Gus – he doesn’t mind my disapproval or shouting at all – you just have to be calm, clear and patient. It takes a very long time – about 2,000 repetitions – for a dog to really internalize a command. We are halfway there.

Training is multi-faceted, not one thing but many things, trial and error, give-and-take chess. I try one then, then another, and see what works. Bud is smart, but I am smarter, and he has a very short attention span, and I have a very long one.

We are getting there. I see that he very much has the potential to be a great dog, and considering the shape he was in when he arrived, this seems like a small miracle to me. I am very proud of him, and also of me. Like every dog I  have had, Bud is making me a better human.

I guess I had a very long way to go.

When Bud came he was like a wild animal.

He had to get housebroken, stop marking things in the house, stoop chewing my boots and chews, or eating Maria’s  yarn. He had to learn his name. We are past all of them, there is more work to do. Training is ruined by human distraction and complacency.

I was shocked and rattled.

Underneath all of the chaos – harassing chickens, sheep, donkeys – is a great big heart. Bud wants to do good. So do I. We are becoming a team. Bud has great potential, and I will stick with it and share what we are learning together.