Day 15 -- Changing it Up

As you can tell, Mollie has been enjoying playing with other dogs while she is here. It's helped her expend some of her energy and helped us with our lessons.

I break up play a little bit with practicing recalls. This helps her to learn to pay attention to her people but also gives me a way to settle down the play if needed. I have rules for my recalls; I only say her name and "come" once, I only use the word "come" if I know I will get a response or I can follow through if I don't get a response, I don't call her for things she dislikes, I encourage her on every step she takes towards me and I reward her heavily for coming to me. I will frequently release her to go play again as part of the reward too. This helps insure I get a really fast, reliable recall from her. It pays off well for her to come to me even if it means interrupting play with her pals.

I also break up play at times by asking Mollie to do a down. She doesn't have much of a stay on her down so I'm not asking for long downs. I just want her to alternate a little bit between a lot of activity and really calm activity (it's that nice on/off switch that we like so well).

All of these exercises help her to be more in tune with her people. So, if she gets distracted...

I can say her name and get a really fast head turn and she's paying attention to me. I pay her off with a lot of praise and sometimes a treat or a toy. She's so enthusiastic about it! I love how much she is into people, checks in frequently and stays tuned in. What a good girl!!

But what do you do if you don't have dogs around to keep things more interesting for her?

I like to put away a lot of the toys and regularly rotate different toys out for her to play with. She gets excited because it's like it's a brand new toy and she doesn't get bored with the same old toys day in and day out. It's the same with the exercises we do. I try to switch those up a lot and do different things with her. It keeps it exciting for both of us. I don't get the skunk on the lunge whip out every day. I don't want her to get too obsessed with it and I want it to be really exciting when I do get it out. I also like to change up her rewards. It's nice to be able to whip out some tasty treat she has never had before when we are in a particularly distracting environment. If I used the same old kibble, she's more likely to turn her nose up at it because the new dog walking down the sidewalk is much more interesting. By doing these simple things, your dog begins to regard you as a source of ever changing exciting resources and it's a much more fun way to interact with your dog.