My favorite day in training...when everything starts to come together for the dog. Sophia did GREAT today! She made wonderful progress on her jumping. She still makes an occasional mistake, but quickly pulls herself back together if I say "Ah" and turn my back on her. Then she gets a nice pet and praise for sitting. She's even remembering to sit when she's really excited to see me (for Sophia, this might be when I return after I am out of the room for 30 seconds...she REALLY likes people).
Sophia is really getting the idea to sit for things she wants, like going out into the yard to play. She is quick to offer a sit and I am quick to reward her for it. Rewards can be anything in her environment like opening a door, playtime, a meal, and more. It just takes a little thought and figuring out what she wants and using that as a reward for the behavior you like.
Today we combined impulse control around fast movement (i.e. not jumping or nipping) with improving her response time when I call her to come. This picture made me laugh because she was coming so fast when I called her today, all I could get were blury pictures. Her recalls were fast and, if I moved quickly, no jumping! YEA!!! She even came when I called her in the middle of wrestling with Sinbad. She almost tripped over him trying to get to me.
So now for a little self-control we implemented a sit when she arrives after I've called her to come. Love that little tongue sticking out.
Sophia rang the bells at the door today! She still doesn't understand that she can use that when she goes outside but with practice that will come.
She's doing well with her housetraining. I've changed her feeding schedule so she eats twice a day so I can predict when she will need to toilet. I know that every morning about midway through her breakfast we have to go out for a bathroom break. And again, about an hour after her dinner. So, I keep a close eye on her during those times so I can interrupt her if she tries to go to the bathroom inside the house. After I know she has gone to the bathroom, I can give her a little more freedom in the house. But not too much, she's still young and I want to make sure I am interrupting behavior I don't like.
I forgot to mention that we started working on drop. She absconded with my headband yesterday and tried to run off with it. I resisted the temptation to chase after her because I didn't want her to think we were playing a game. Instead, I said "drop" in a normal tone of voice and put a treat to her nose. When she dropped the headband, I said "yes" and gave her the treat. Now I am regularly doing the same exercise but with her toys. But I am also adding giving her the toy back after I give her the treat. I'm trying to teach her that it REALLY pays off if I ask her to drop something. She loves these exercises!
She likes when I blog. She gets to hear what a good girl she is when she is sitting beside me. And cute, she gets to hear how cute she is too.
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