Nice work, Mara!

Today we had our first BAT trial session with a stuffed decoy dog. This is a lifesize stuffed dog and looks quite realistic from a distance. Rosanne positioned the decoy at the top of our driveway and then trained with me to teach me the sequence for giving markers and functional rewards. I don't know who was more tired at the end, Jethro, for trying follow my guidance, me, for trying to figure out the right sequence, body posture, movement, reward, or Rosanne, watching the two of us work and giving instruction while hanging onto Skipper.

Super awesome. I am thinking I could use a stuffed decoy dog at home. Matt and I could work on Jethro's reactivity to passerby by setting up our own BAT trials.

Today we worked on

1) Vaithy: Engagement under distraction, heel walk.

2) Bommi: Heel walk

3) Helga: heel walk

4) Kaiser: heel walk , position changes at a distance.

5) Kari: Heel walk

Logan finally did a down, sit and stand without falling off the bench! He did a long sit stay in the field while I had my back to him but caught him as he laid down, cheater. We also worked on him holding the PVC and walking without chomping it...that's getting a lot better now after taking a break from it and restarting. We warm-up first by doing a dry run with me just holding his muzzle. If that's good, then with the PVC. He's starting to hate it less and hopefully will be reliable soon.

I have been doing serious distraction training with Zuki and Keiko... We have been walking through crouds (in front of walmart, HEB, Target, Pet stores) and doing the basic OB there as well.

With Zuki I did a 2 mile walk with a backpack in heel (no focus just beside me) and no hold on the leash with dogs on one side barking from behind fences and a highway on the other side. She did EXCELLENT!

Keiko is working on his down and sit stays, some where he can't see me for a few secs. He can do a nice walk on the leash and stand but the words have not been connected to the action yet. I really want to get the CGC for him before we leave the US, about 2 months.

Zuki is going to start running with a bike as soon as I find one. I can't wait cause I know she would LOVE it.

Position change at a distance for a fetch.
Down some hiow got to be default position.

So I send Harley out. With a ball he will run like mad. Then ask for a position. But it is a constant spin drop to a down then into what ever I ask him. Then the ball comes flying to him.

Worked on ignoring a sheltie and ironically the owners were working on that with the sheltie. Logan did really good, looked at the sheltie no whining and looked back at me. I marked and did some fronts and a down stay while I picked up his turd.

Then we walked to the front of the school, there's picknick tables and stuff and these 4-5ft high round tables. I tell him up and then sit/down/or stand then walk across the grass to another table. Then call him to the next table...jump the bike rack, sit and recall over it. Then did a short heel with a right turn which he did good, ran out of treats, walked home because I didn't want him to see the stupid lady with "psycho-beagle" without any treats.

It was in the mid-fifties with sunshine and blue skies today, very rare for January in Michigan. So we had a long session of chasing the Chuck-It balls in the yard. I figured we had to burn off some energy before actually working on anything.

Then I took Logan to the park and we worked on loose-leash walking and ignoring distractions. He did quite well, considering there haven't been many walks in the park lately. I had the prong collar in my pocket just in case, but we made it through an hour walk on just the buckle collar.

We encountered quite a few bicyclists, where he was requested to sit and watch me. I got a few comments about what a well-trained dog he is. I guess people are really impressed with any dog they see in public who isn't lunging at the end of a Flexi.

One thing I have to work on is his "Free" command. Every 20 minutes or so, I pick an inviting tree and move off the path and tell him "Free" and give him the full length of a six-foot leash. It's supposed to mean you can sniff, pee, look at stuff, etc. He is interpreting it to mean "I can now pull on the leash like a maniac." So we have some practicing to do on that one.

Ha! Those cyclists were probably very grateful too!

I walk my Logan and he has to stay by my side no pulling or sniffing unless I release him to mark a pole. I used a 20ft cotton lead and let him have more room when free (but he's very active). Now he's so good I can walk him and use a flexi for sniffing and peeing and looking. BUT I always have another leash, 6ft to switch to if needed AND I randomly recall him, or say wait, down, sit etc. With those rules he is good and knows the regular tension vs end of leash.

 Quote: Cheri Grissom

One thing I have to work on is his "Free" command. Every 20 minutes or so, I pick an inviting tree and move off the path and tell him "Free" and give him the full length of a six-foot leash. It's supposed to mean you can sniff, pee, look at stuff, etc. He is interpreting it to mean "I can now pull on the leash like a maniac." So we have some practicing to do on that one.

For my "free" command (I use a different word, but exactly the same intention), I don't move at all. The spot is chosen carefully, and when I have released them, I stand like a statue. They have the length of the leash.

I don't move at all because I want to make even more black-and-white the difference between "let's go" (loose leash) and the release.

I think you will find that when you don't move, period, you will become what I want to be during the release: nothing more than an anchor.

I used to kind of wander/amble, but quickly saw that this led to a pulling contest and stopped being a real release.


You guys are doing a great job of getting me outside with my own dogs, BTW. I was often kind of skipping them (except for exercise) on days when I worked with other dogs, and now this thread has shamed me out of that very bad habit.

 Quote: Elizabeth Anderson

I have been doing serious distraction training with Zuki and Keiko... .

You've made such amazing progress on your dog-training path!