We are making SLOW progress, but it's progress all the same. Can't tell yet how much longer it'll be before I can take the first week 5 test since she still keeps tension on the leash almost constantly. Here are our wins for the day:
1. On LL, she's learned to hear "leave it" and not break at barking dogs behind fences, regardless of the provocation. We had a few new ones this am so it was an excellent opportunity to drill her with them before she gets used to them. She got a bit sassy with me in the beginning, so we hung out there until she got over it.
2. We progressed the "chicken gauntlet" to include weaving through them, sitting next to them, sit/stay next to them, and finally down/stay within 12" of them. The only thing I didn't try yet was make her watch the cat eat them. I don't want that to backfire and have her start to target the cat.
3. She's moving in closer on the leash while heeling, keeping my right hand slightly behind my back helps. I'll be taking her for a second training walk this evening to see if we can't progress that to on trail.
4. She down/stayed wonderfully on the grass. That was a nice progression.
5. The stand/stay is progressing, but slowly. When she starts to get bored, she still sits down.
6. She does much better holding her STAY in whichever position, when she's focused on me. If she gets distracted for too long, she still tends to break. Today I started something new... saying "Piper eyes" or "eyes" to get her to look back at me and every time her did I said "good girl".
Unless you tell me why not to do that, I'm going to continue to encourage eye contact, especially when there are lots of distractions. Obviously, I don't want to make it mandatory because I know she needs to stay whether she can see me or not. It's just to help her while she's learning to tune out distractions.
7. The finish is almost there. I still need to encourage her with leash pressure, but not much anymore.
8. The down is also progressing. Having to change my hand command has been the hardest to layer in for us both. But it's coming along.
That's it for now. Doing my best to juggle a lot of balls and not drop any. I'm very grateful Piper is such a smarty and retains her training with minimal refreshing. Sorry to miss this am. Will do my best to have us attend next Monday's 10am class.
Kellie, all your comments and efforts are good with the exception of your # 6. The reason why we DON'T add an additional command such as "eyes" is then your Stay command NOW includes that additional command. Instead, when she looks AT YOU, smile. Or when she looks at you, step towards her and gently scritch under her chin to encourage eye contact.
ReplyDeleteEye contact IS NOT MANDATED, nor do we want that as the dog then is NOT also, simultaneously, taking careful attention to its surroundings. Instead, simply gently encourage eye contact and leave the superfluous and extra verbiage out of the dogs' learning equation.
Does that make sense?
Roxanne