Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Day 3 -- Out and About

Sia is doing great with her attention work. She is responding really well when I call her name by looking at me no matter what is going on around her. I am careful to only say her name once and, if she doesn't look at me, I am sure to follow up with her. I want her to know that she needs to look at me when I say her name no matter what. Things that can distract a dog are movement, odor, sound or touch but I can also use those things to get her attention back on me when I've lost it. If she doesn't look at me, I might tap on her hip to get her attention or I might make some noise to get her attention. If it's a really distracting environment, I use something a little more enticing for her like the smell of a tasty treat. It was important for Sia to be able to respond to her name well so we could move on to some socialization in some moderately distracting environments.
Sia is a little uncomfortable when we go into new environments or there is a lot of traffic noise. She shows me that she is uncomfortable by shaking off (a sign of stress) and darting around. When she is like this, I step off to the side where it's less stressful for her and work on getting her attention. It's an easy task for her to complete and it gives her something to do when she's a little nervous. I also want to teach her to look to her handler for direction if she is ever uncomfortable. At her age it's important to get her out and expose her to different things but I want to be very careful that I am not pushing her too far too fast. I'm not going to ask a lot of her in this situation. I just want her to get comfortable in the new environment.

We're practicing her leash skills in low distraction environments right now because she is a little stressed with traffic or in new environments. Right now we're taking baby steps with the leash walking and trying to get a really solid start to her foundation. It's really important that she does not pull on the leash. This could knock someone over who was unsteady on their feet...especially when she gets bigger. So we are practicing walking across a room without pulling. I don't want to practice this on a larger scale yet because we would never get very far and I want her to be successful. I will never take a step forward if she gets ahead of me on the leash. Walking ahead or pulling on the leash can be very rewarding for a dog. It's almost like giving them a cookie for pulling every time you take a step forward while the leash is tight.

This week is going to be all rain so we're looking at fun things to do in the house to keep Sia entertained. Play is a really important part of training. It's rewarding, it relieves stress, and it releases energy. We always make sure to take breaks in our training to play. I also want a lot of that play to be between humans and Sia (as opposed to by herself or with other dogs). I want Sia to know that all good things come from her people so she is really keyed into her handler and enjoys working with her handler.

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