July 2012 -- Day Eleven

We ventured out to the store again today. Many changes from our first visit this week.

When we first started walking down the sidewalk, she got ahead of me once. This is just like our "walking toward a goal" exercise we did yesterday. Her reward for walking nicely is that we move forward. So what do I do when she gets ahead of me? I immediately stop moving forward.

She knows this routine well now so it doesn't take long for her to look back at me to figure out how to get us to move forward.

Without saying anything to her, she comes back to me right away and we start walking forward. Much different than the first time we did this. We were able to walk into the store right away because she was walking so nicely with me. I think last time it look us almost 10 minutes to make it 1/2 a block.

She's been a little nervous when she sees strangers (sometimes barking). Today she was nervous because the employees were on the floor doing inventory. We let Mollie approach on her own terms at her own speed.

A less intimidating way to stand is having your side pointed toward the dog. Facing a dog is a little forward and confrontational in the dog world.

It doesn't take long for her to warm up when the woman changed her position.

There's the social girl we know and love. Her greetings are improving so much! Only rarely does she jump on anyone now.

All in all Mollie was much more focused on this visit.

And much more relaxed. She was very easy to manage even with strange dogs coming in and out of the store.

The walk back to the car was a breeze. We didn't have to stop or turn around once. She walked beautifully right next to me. What a good girl!

July 2012 -- Day Ten

Mollie does great with her loose leash walking when there are no distractions around. That's a really good start but it doesn't do us much good if we can only walk in areas where there are no distractions.

Ideally we are getting her attention before we head into a lot of distractions but, if she has a nice foundation, she will learn how to handle it even when we walk into a distracting situation unexpectedly.

I like to do an exercise where Mollie walks towards a goal. What I like about this exercise is that Mollie really needs to figure out on her own how to move forward in order to walk towards the goal (treat or toy on the ground). I start out by showing her I have the treat and then toss it about 20 or so feet away. She then needs to walk towards it on a loose leash in order to get the treat. I will use words to encourage her but the only other feed back I will give her is that I will stop moving forward if she gets ahead of me.

If she pulls to get the treat, I'm just going to stand still.

It might take her awhile but the idea is for her to realize that pulling on the leash isn't working. At that point, she will turn towards me in an attempt to figure out how to get us to move forward. I'm going to praise her and wait for her to come back to me before we start moving forward again. She already knows that routine from all our drills we've been doing so it doesn't take her long to figure out to return to me.

If she is walking nicely next to me, we move forward. If she walks nicely the whole way up to the treat, I'll tell her "get it" and let her get the treat. We use the same concept when we are trying to walk towards something that is really exciting for her (dog park, home, etc.). We don't move forward until she is walking nicely beside me. This really helps her to think it through and figure out on her own how to get what she wants.

And when she's done it well several times in a row, it's time to play. But first, she earns the play by sitting and paying attention to me before I take the leash off.

And then it's time to run...

She even enticed the older dogs to join in on the fun...that's a rare sight around here.

Then time to rest. She is definitely getting her fair share of exercise here.

July 2012 -- Day Nine

Mollie is happily giving up most items when I request her to "drop."

She'll do it on a verbal cue. Nice, fast responses at this point will earn her a treat.

But there are still things that are sometimes hard for her to drop.

More practice with the difficult objects (like her beloved sticks) will make this much smoother. It's very normal for dogs to have to almost relearn things when you make changes. The nice thing is, it doesn't take them long to learn with the new circumstances. Just a little back tracking and she's good to go.

 Another factor we can change is adding other dogs to the mix.

This can make it very challenging for the dog to give up the tug item. The more we practice different scenarios like this, the better she will be and completing the request in a variety of situations.

We have to change the scenarios for everything we teach her. Greetings is no exception. She's doing really well at sitting for greetings and she has not been jumping on people (even new people she meets). Except maybe when I am sitting on the couch. I'm still getting a little bit of jumping when I am sitting down but, when it happens, I just quickly stand up and walk away from her. Of course, I give lots of praise when she comes over and asks for attention appropriately by sitting by me.

Mollie says it's hard, she likes to be close to people.

July 2012 -- Day Eight

We've been working on polite behaviors like "wait" at doorways and "say please." "Wait" tells a dog not to cross a threshold. She can sit, stand, lay down, or move around, as long as she stays on the other side of the threshold. We are using this at both doorways and in her crate. She has a tendency to barrel out of her crate which can be dangerous if you are trying to get her out of the car with a lot of traffic around. But waiting for permission to cross through gives you a little bit more control in situations like that.

Asking her to "say please" or sit for things she wants tells her a similar story. She needs to ask for things.

Tonight provided a good opportunity to practice these skills in a more "real life" situation. We went to a BBQ where there were new people and new dogs. We first practiced our "wait" when getting out of the car. Next we worked on walking towards a goal...which was the gate to the yard. No treats needed here because her reward for walking nicely with me was to move closer to the gate that would take her to where all the other dogs were playing. It doesn't take her long to figure out that she needs to work with me in order to get what she wants. Then we have another "sit" at the gate before we walk through. Once inside, where all her new friends are, she must sit and give me attention before I take her leash off and release her to go play. That release is a huge payoff for her!

Playing with friends is a huge reward and she earned it!

And now time to run...

And run...

And run...

And run.

I let her get a little bit of energy out before I start practicing recalls with her. Perfect! She came quickly and consistently, no matter what was going on (cat, play with other dogs, full on run, etc.). Not only that, but her greetings with everyone were stellar! Good girl...

Guess what your reward is because you have been so good?

July 2012 -- Day Seven

Mollie's leash skills are improving. Loose leash walking is always a lot tougher to teach than it looks. A big part of the challenge is that pulling and walking ahead of us is so rewarding. Being the first one to get some where, even if it's as simple as sniffing a bush, is exciting. Pulling feels good and, when we pull back, it creates more drive forward and can make the pulling worse. The problem? Pulling is not pleasant for most humans. It's such a joy to walk a dog who is walking nicely beside you but, to get to that point, it takes some effort.

We're starting to add in more distractions to our drills and she's doing well. It takes her far less time to get acclimated and check in with her person when going into a distracting situation. We're almost ready to try the store again.

Her automatic sit when we come to a stop is coming along nicely too. All in all, she's much more checked in when we are walking.

It doesn't hurt that we've had some nice exercise before our practice sessions. Mollie is good at exercising the puppies too.

Seems hard to believe but you can exercise a dog too much and it will wind them up even more. Mollie is pretty good about regulating herself though and only needs a few interruptions in play to keep things on an even playing field.

Her on/off switch is coming along nicely too. She is nice a responsive to commands even with a lot of distractions all around her. She's holding her stay nicely too with only an occasional reminder to stay in place.

She's doing such a nice job keying into people, I make sure to interact a lot with her during play.

Which also means more practice with her recalls. Nice and solid! I'm continuing to cheer her on the whole way to keep up that nice speedy response.

And happy. We like happy responses. She's so much more likely to repeat the behavior when she LOVES doing it. That's why we always try to make it fun and exciting (as well as pay off big).

My favorite way to end a training session...I love snuggling up with Mollie. What a sweet girl.

Another successful day!