 | At the beginning of Week 9, I made sure to do a lot of videos. I hope to string these together someday, to show the progress that is made over time. Alas, I am a much better dog trainer than "digital creator'. Perhaps some more practice will make perfect. We were mostly inside this week, as I had a lot of client dogs over needing to be trained, and I was pooped by 6 pm. This weekend, we are going to do a lot of "on the road training"m as I have am even busier week coming up next week. LaLa does help out on occasion by being the distraction in a crate for private lessons. In day training, she is a moving distraction. |
| Here is why "Sit on The Dog" still needs work inside around other dog clients. That is frustration and excitement and not being able to join in. It sounds bad, but it is just frustration releasing while being on a leash. Many MANY dogs need this practice. Also the Pack needs the practice in leaving us alone when we do this. When I say "ouch", she nipped the back of my ankle. That is called a deflection. If I do this a few times a week (when dogs are here or out and about), LaLa should start to calm down. I also have an "add on" to this exercise, that I may employ if that does not happen in these weeks. This is "Send to Place" around the day training and daycare dogs with LaLa. LaLa always likes to give me a hard time on this one for some reason (sassiness maybe). This used to take 20 minutes to get to my goal of 4 in a row (that means she walks on under her own steam without cajoling or corrections) for 3 sessions. This day it only took 7 minutes, while my goal is 3 minutes to get this part done, and then advancing it. | Our same dog, LaLa, working on a different exercise and having a different demeanor. LaLa is not usually "leash reactive" except on something like the sit on the dog exercise. It can have something to do with feeling a lack of control, which I identify with very well. On the place with the leash dropped, LaLa knows she has the OPPORTUNITY to leave the place if she chooses to. That helps alleviate the frustration. In our domestic world, however, there are sometimes that a dog needs to be held closely on a leash by us. Place has some similarities to that. but puts most of the control and decision making on the dog. Without these new dogs in the room, I drop the leash inside when I usually do circle place. However, LaLa has been really excited by her new friends, so I knew that would be a very frustrating exercise in futility, and in the end would produce big holes in our training instead of filling them in. It is okay to go steps back as distractions increase. I have learned this over many years, that doing that is better. |
| Practicing "Still Sit Stay" together around moving daycare and training dogs. This is another thing I do with the leash dropped when dogs are not around and moving with LaLa. This is an exercise that I yet again went some steps back due to increased and unusual distractions for LaLa. | "Circle Sit Stays" are where you start to prepare your dog for the idea that you can move while they remain in a stay. Again, no dropped leash or using the whole room. I took steps back in distance from her and by holding the leash while we did this. With the exception of "Sit on The Dog" (when things move around her), she is a surprisingly well behaved girl on leash. |
Besides the calming exercises (Sit on The Dog, Relax for Exam, and Behavioral Downs), completing my sit reps with my dog (or a client's dog) is usually a good warm up to distraction training. I pick this, because it is usually one of the first things I teach AND hence easiest for the dog to perform in habit and muscle memory. This gets us in working mode as a team (not a perfect team, but a team in progress).
RSS Feed