The teenager

Hi Kaye,

Things are moving along with Fido's development. I've made a few changes to my approach to accommodate them . Well perhaps to get around them is more accurate.

Our frequent trips into the bush have stopped for the time being. He is getting too head strong and although I haven't lost him it is only a matter of time. He gets on a scent or sees a bunny and gets very wound up. Til now his recall has been strong enough to over ride his hunting instinct. I guess as a puppy he has been dependent enough on me to trust my judgement. It still works, he'll still come 90% of the time but his enthusiasms worry me so I'm opting for close contact and 'on lead' training.

The other big development is in his attention span. He can keep enthusiastic for pretty long periods and because we have so many things we can do together now, I can break up a long session with lots of little things, so we both have fun.

Last night I walked him on lead at the lake in Daylesford. He wanted to be in front of me a lot. I did the ‘change direction thing’ a lot, clicked and rewarded his attention and then would resume the walk. We didn't get far because he wanted to head off around the lake and I wanted him to be in a good position and not leaning on the lead. I told you it would be hard for me to give up negative reinforcement. Til now that hasn't been a problem. I turned into him and walked over him when he got in front of me and he was most surprised. A bit of a yelp and I preceded with a much more careful and cooperative little companion.

I thought OK, on lead was going very well, but now he has his own agenda and it is not all about finding ways to get me to give him a reward. I decided to reinforce his interest in me by doing more confined activities.

Last night and again this morning I started with some tug games in our School building away from Sally and Pepper. I went in fairly rapid succession through sit, stand, lie down, crawl, targeting the target stick, my hand, and various target stick negotiated obstacles. Then I took him outside off lead and did a rock course around our vegetable garden and then back into the school for more.

This morning after a very lively session in the School I took him for a walk on lead and he was very attentive and switched on. We only got 200 yards and I finished the session, a happy man with a happy pup!

The problem with leading him as I've been doing it, is that it is often with other people and we are in a very casual mood. He has a bit more latitude which of course he quietly expands, a sniff here a look there. I quess I am entering the land of spit and polish. Getting him to accept when I need a bit more discipline from him.

I'm very interested in directing his energies and enthusiasms so I am keying into the prey drive with the tugs games. I'm doing control activities interspersed with play to keep him interested.

In terms of my previous approach, developing Desire and Attention, Desire is a bit out of hand and Attention is a bit left behind. The decision to work with more confinement is to reinstate a more reliable level of attention. I'll be looking for more ways to seriously challenge him now, mindful that his body is all over the place.

Cheers,

Richard