Shana's Boston Training Week 2 Ended (Part 2 of Series)

Have I spoiled Shana?  In some ways, I have definitely spoiled Shana.   Shana is a hard worker and a good dog, but some of that spoiling is what holds her back now from being relaxed in a city like Boston.  I had really never thought we would take a Boston trip in Shana's lifetime.  The fall vacation is far enough away, that all I need to do is prepare her.

Shana and I have traveled to more rural places.   Probably the busiest place we stayed at for a seminar was Plymouth MA, but we had a wide open beach near us or a many acres of yard and surrounding area.   It's easy to move your anxious and fearful (and very bossy and defensive) dog around in this way.   At seminars, your dog is often in the crate for a period of time, and you are surrounded by other dog trainers.   Most other dog trainers are going to respect your need for space for your fearful, anxious, and defensive dog, so that you can relax a little.

There have been infrequent trips to Portsmouth, which Shana does well on but she is anxious.   So now I want to build more comfort in those types of settings where we may have to pass a dog closely (or even some person with strange energy for a dog).  Obviously, there is also management that will be used for this.   I really want Shana to enjoy this vacation as much as we do (or close to it).

So I am going to include some videos of the start of our training in this blog now.   This way, I can see the improvements we have made.  Already, there are improvements in her bossy demand barking, her obedience, and her trust in me that I have things handled.   The last one is the one that needs more work, being that Shana will be more than happy to step in if she things I am lacking.

Out of sight down stay helps impulse control among other things (this is something we have not worked on in a long while):

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Additional Week Two Work Not Videoed (average of about 14 hours this week):

• Two jogs off property on transitional leash for transitional leash behavioral work and loosening up her leashed area
• One jog on property for practicing let's go around her friends and toys
• Many 10 min in a row downs ranging from 10 min to 30 min or from D to A+ performance (particularly at the end of the week)
• A couple of times sits out of motion and downs out of motion in the yard (also inside but I didn't log that) with friends and toys around
• So much frisbee working on quiet, out, leave it, and where (find it).   Much of the demand barking has stopped, as well as giving up the frisbee when asked.
• A couple times of tug play training focusing on get it, out, fetch, retrieve, quiet and so forth.  Work in progress LOL.   She gets very excited for this toy.
• Working on tricks a couple of times weave, circle, safety, through, spin, over, touch, hug, kiss, go back, 
• Food rewards for quiet and fetching toys for friends play (part of one of her dogs)
• Fetch food bowls from upstairs or downstairs to be put away for food reward
• Consistent practice of sits and downs first command
• One Novice run through (heel, turns, auto sit, figure eight, stand , sit stay, down stay, recall) in the yard off equipment and around friends.   Actually very nice, though she was getting tug rewards between each exercise.
• At least two long places which she did break at least once and more during the 30 minutes
• Two sits on the dogs with friends, first one took her 5 ,min to go down with Reggie around.   Second one lots of barking and bullying with Cujo and Bandit around, but she went right down.
• No barking in car on a couple of off Town adventures!   Very relaxed and sleeping at times where she would have been up and barking.
• One very long (2 hours) walk to Ellis Park in York Maine on dirt and busy roads.  We saw many active people and leashed dogs from a closer distance.   Shana did very well, although she was very suspicious of a young Golden Retriever who was clearly admiring her from afar.   Also a was going to react (I stopped it) to a large Boxer who did not even look her way.   At the quiet time at Ellis Park (1/2 hour) I played lots of food games with her so she could begin to relax even with all sorts of dogs being walked around on leash.
  

Just a quick note that this does not need to be done two hours a day.  I have the time now before we get slammed very shortly with other work.   Plus I love doing stuff with Shana, and Shana is a true working dog.   If I am not doing things with her, she easily gets bored and, um, inventive.  So do whatever kind of time you can, just try to have a plan with goals.

So am I done with Shana's training?  No, nothing has been made habitual yet.   However, I am very pleased with the progress, and I expect the Boston experience is going to be much less scary for her.  I will be working right up to that point.   Stay tuned!