Jahzara was one of our Greyhounds. She was born in April 2002. We fostered her starting in October 2003 and officially adopted her two months later. We lost her in May 2012.

She taught me a lot. And I like to sometimes reflect on the things I have learned from my dogs.

The I am Watching Story has a few lessons to go along with it.

Jahzara was a very smart girl. People generally do not think of Greyhounds when they are considering which breeds are the smartest. I would suggest that be reconsidered. . .

We started out fostering Jahzara. Initially, we assumed she would get adopted and move on to a new home. But she was so afraid of everyone, that when potential adopters would visit, she would run and hide. Which is not a great way to impress a potential adopter, so we weren't getting much interest in her.

I was not doing any training with her at first since she was so afraid. We were letting her get settled in and establishing a good safe predictable routine for her to get more comfortable and less stressed.

At the time, I had my Smooth Collie, Joxer. I was doing a lot of training with him at the time. Often, when I would conduct my training sessions with him, I would put her in her crate out of the way so Joxer could focus on me.

What I did not realize at the time was how closely Jahzara was paying attention to what Joxer and I were doing.

As Jahzara was struggling with gaining any interest with adopters, I decided it was time to get started on some training with her as well. She would be more adoptable if she had a bit of training already started.

So one day, I put Joxer elsewhere and decided to see what Jahzara could do.

Needless to say, I was quite surprised when she demonstrated that she already knew some of the things I was just introducing her to. Because, she actually had already been introduced to them. By watching my sessions with Joxer!

The first time I tried starting Stay with her, for example, she got it immediately. And I do mean, immediately. She did it as if she'd been doing it for quite some time. She already knew what Stay was.

By observing Joxer's training sessions, she was picking up on and understanding what to do before she ever got the chance to try.

What lessons did I learn from this?

Lesson #1. Dogs all learn at their own pace. So try not to go into training with preconceived ideas of how long it should take. In Jahzara's case, it was MUCH faster than I would have thought. I was very pleasantly surprised at how fast she learned. Joxer, on the other hand, was one who was very slow to learn. He needed LOTS and LOTS of repetition for things to sink in. And that's ok too. I just needed to be a lot more patient with him and a lot more deliberate with her since she learned so fast.

Lesson #2. Dogs are learning even when you are not focused on teaching them. We tend to think that learning is only happening during our training sessions, but learning is happening all the time. Be sure to surround your dog with GOOD influences!

Lesson #3. Be careful what you do when your dogs are watching. You never know when or what they are learning from you. So when they are paying attention, be careful that you are not teaching something you do not want them learning!

Has your dog learned anything by observing you that you didn't realize until later?

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