Day 12
Richard and I have a training session. As well as reviewing Fido's position changes, and his High Five, I give him a portable roll up mat, and we introduce a "go and lie down (on your mat"). We also introduce the "Off" so that Richard can give Fido cues for getting and leaving his tug toys (and other objects).
Hi Kaye,
The little guy is under my feet after a very good session this morning. His
energy and appetite respond very well to the cooler weather. Our training
session last night was very useful.
The two most important things were; watching how I use the play things as a
distraction to get his attention and refining my treat giving technique.
He could very easily learn to trash the joint or abandon the 'hard stuff' (challenging behaviours) so we play a lot. Once he's got a few more buttons
working, resorting to the toys won't be as big a temptation. His focus was
great this morning so I worked a bit on 'OFF' and used it effectively once
or twice to stop him chewing his mat. I managed to get him on the job more
effectively, rewarding the 'OFF' and then I'd give him something easy to do
almost straight away......sit/lie down mostly.
I also tried to refine my clumsy treat giving and timing. I was in a pretty
soupy Ross River fog last night. This morning I'm a bit clearer. I regulated
the giving of the treat so my messages to him, specially about the 'high
five' were not blurred by constant nibbling. I still used breakfast but I
made much more of a fuss and gave him a big lump for small tries and just
tried to keep his interest by allowing very restricted nibbling. We got some
pretty nice, well rewarded tries. I also clicked and rewarded with a little
play with the new red squeaky kong pull toy. I'll get more done in the long
term if I'm not dependent on his appetite.
My homework is clear. 'High Five', start 'leading', 'Off', 'Go to your mat',
'lie down from stand', and 'stand from lie down'.
Fido and I would like to thank you so much for the training session and for
his beautiful new 'Swag'.
Cheers,
Richard
