Mollie is wondering why we have been working on attention so much. It's not just attention though, it's also follow through. If I ask Mollie to do something but her friends are all enticing her to come play, I want to make sure she's doing what I ask. In order to help make this happen, she needs a big pay off when she complies.
Mollie met a new friend today which always means new distractions! Even when a new dog comes into the environment, it causes enough excitement that Mollie jumps on me even though she's been doing so good with not jumping. That happens. It just means that when she is reliable at one level, we have to increase the difficulty and train at the next level.
First we'll try name recognition. She need not come to me, only look at me when I say her name. The first time, she didn't respond but instead continued playing with her friends. So, instead of repeating her name or allowing her to continue to play, I went up to her and made some noises and moved backward quickly to get her attention back on me. Next time I tried, she looked at me and I paid her off well with a couple of small pieces of treats.
Now that she's all warmed up, let's try a recall. Beautiful! A quick head turn means I'm praising and encouraging her as she comes towards me.
She knows that coming to me means a good payoff and a return to play so she's happy to comply.
I also want to make sure she is able to do her basic obedience at the drop of a hat. So, while she's playing, I ask her to do a down. The first time she looked at me like "Are you kidding me? I'm in the middle of playing with my friends." But, again, I'm only going to say it once and, if she doesn't comply, I'm going to follow through with her. I'm going to get her attention and say "no, down." When she complies, I'm going to praise her but no treat for that one. Next time, when she does it the first time I ask, then she gets a treat. Even though she does downs without treats normally, she gets rewarded when it's in such a distracting situation.
And, yes, you need comply even when they are bugging you. Of course, we're not going to expect more from her than she's able to do, but we'll keep working until she's able to do it in all sorts of situations. It's so useful to have a nice on/off switch, especially with a girl who has so much energy.
Ok, maybe we won't get you to do a down when Billings is biting your leg...pesky little puppy.
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