Mollie has been practicing paying attention...
Even in the face of some major distractions. We practiced extra today in preparation for our outing this evening. We also practiced greetings with new people so she would be nice and sharp when we go into a new environment.
Of course, before we go, we need to exercise. It's hard work but someone has to do it.
Not everyone has a group of dogs to play their dog with on a daily basis but getting her to run by practicing recalls, playing fetch, etc. will help burn off that energy.
For our purposes, it's helpful to have the dogs as they create nice distraction opportunities to practice.
We can practice name recognition and eye contact. It seems pretty basic and it's all things we worked on when she was a puppy but dogs need refreshers as they grow. It's going to be really important that we have her attention if we want her to walk nicely on a leash.
It's important to practice her leash skills and get her "checked in" before we go. Notice that I have most of the leash in my hand. I've given her just enough to create a loose leash but not enough so that she can go ahead of me and "self reward" by sniffing things, grabbing things, or greeting people/dogs. It's so much easier to get her back into a proper position when she's not at the end of a 6 foot leash extended all the way out.
We're also going to make sure that Mollie is asking for what she wants. She's really good about doing this for her meals but I want her to do this for every resource she can "earn."
No treats required here. The resource is the reward. Want to go out the door? Sit first and the door will open. Want out of the crate? Sit first and the crate door will open. Want to go for a walk? Sit first and I'll put your leash on. Want to play with those dogs? Sit first and then you can play. This will teach her to rely on you more because you control all the good things in her life. It's the same concept as walking on a leash except, in that instance, we are expecting her to walk nicely beside us. Want to move forward? Then walk nicely beside me.
My camera on my phone didn't work so we'll have to fake it for the pictures on our outing. It took us quite a while to walk into the pet supply store. There were a lot of distractions and all our practice has been in low to moderate distraction levels. That's ok. We didn't expect to get far. Once inside the store, we just stood in a corner near the door and worked on attention. It took a few minutes and a lot of work but she finally checked in with me and would respond to commands and give me attention. Perfect! All our hard work to get through the door paid off! We were finally able to walk around nicely on a loose leash for a short time. We didn't stay long because we wanted to end on a really good note. Next time we will be able to do more.
Back home it was time to rest and relax with the Kong I had made up to help her get in her crate a little easier. I think, too, it may have been the hard sided crates she didn't care for as she went into the wire crate just fine.
And eventually curled up at my feet. Just what you want a dog to do at the end of the day...what a good girl.
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