Inmate Update Part 2

Grace arrived home from prison-boot camp with a wild look in her eyes. She followed each of the commands her trainer gave to her and then climbed the back deck and waited by the door to be let in. We said goodbye to trainer Simms, had a brief reunion with Pippa, and then let Grace curl up in her favorite spot on the couch for the first time in four weeks. 

Grace and Pippa had almost no reaction to each other except that Pippa tried to hump Grace which we've never seen her do before so we were equal parts tickled and terrified. Those first few days home with Grace were the most difficult. She was dead-set on disobedience. It was her way of informing us that she will not be adhering to any new rules or protocols. We would zap her collar for each ignored command and she would brace herself for the hit. She would slowly walk backwards when I told her to "come." She frequently backed herself all the way into the garage while I had the zapper turned up to 30. (Usually a 12 gets her attention.) I'd concede and come into the garage to grab her and physically act out "come" and then she would run away from me. I'd come in fuming. Brett would gave it a try. He'd come in even angrier. For about a week Brett would take Grace out to practice her commands and from any point in the house I would just hear Brett screaming for her to come back. 

On week two we had a fifty percent success rate. Sometimes she would do her task with a fiendish excitement. She run up and sit and then wiggle her butt and look up at us and smile. Moments later she'd bolt for the garage. 
By now Grace had learned that it's most worth her time to just do it on the first ask so we'll leave her alone. Occasionally she gets the better of herself and takes off with that wild look in her eyes. Also, we realized that she discovered a way to arch her neck so that the electric zaps trail off into her fur instead of her skin. We had to tighten her collar. Together, Pip and Grace act just like they did before except that if we ask for their attention, they will give it to us. They are now very good dogs to take on walks and we have little "place mats" where we can put them when we need them to stay out of our way. They can do whatever they want to on the mats, they just cannot step off of them. Pippa hates to be "on place." Grace loves it because it means she can lay down. 

The girls carry on in a familiar fashion and seem to be getting along. We monitor Pippa's harassment attempts and also do not allow Grace to have toys unless she's isolated. This seems to help them tolerate each other. But all of that said, we are certain that if they decided to fight each other, our commands would nary be heard. 

Luckily Simms taught us how to choke them out. Just in case.