At last week's practice test, Sandy the instructor told everybody to "treat the heck out of the dogs" this week when we practice, so the dogs would get so used to getting treats, that they would do the commands during the test, when all the sudden we don't have treats, just this once. Well, I think Keely's problem is she was so used to getting rewarded for doing commands that she would refuse to do them when she didn't see a treat first. So I actually cut back using treats this week. I didn't use treats at all when we practice in my apartment or in the apartment parking lot or during our walks on campus. But I did "train the heck out of Keely" and I did use treats at unfamiliar environment. We went to three obedience class earlier during the week at the pet boutique, then two nights at Petco later during the week (we just walked around Petco and every two steps I took, I had Keely Sit and tried to make her Down), AND to socialize her more by taking her to restaurant to eat with me twice (the people at the restaurant thought she's so cute). She was very good at Sit at unfamiliar places after the three obedience classes (about 80%), but at the end of the week, she still would only do Down on command at unfamiliar places about 20% of the time without treats. We didn't do a lot of training on Friday, because I thought like taking the SAT, the day before we just need a good night of sleep, because cramming the night before doesn't generally help. So on Friday night, we just did our usual 3 mile walk around campus, and I only told her to do Sit-Down three times during the entire walk. She still would not do Down very well. So I thought, well, during the test the next day, if I have to beg her to Down, I will. But I also told Keely, if that still doesn't work, that means we'll just practice more and more and more until she passes the test. I wasn't worried about her pulling on leash during heel because she follows me closely when she's wearing the Gentle Leader. I don't think she needs the Gentle Leader on daily basis, but Sandy told us to get one last week, so I had planned to use one on her for the real test. And I also tried to desensitize her wearing the Gentle Leader (by making sure it's not associated with anything negative). By the third day she still wasn't happy with it, but at least she didn't act like she got her feelings hurt when she's wearing it, and acted almost normal when she wore it for about 10 minutes while we took our campus walk on Wednesday night.
On Saturday morning, we woke up at 5 AM and did another 3 mile around campus at 6 AM. After we got to Atlanta, we did another 1 mile at a nearby park. My thinking was, since she didn't like to Down on command when we practiced, I'm going to make her so tired that she would be so glad when I tell her to Down (and rest) when the time comes. Also I had to time her feeding time. I wanted her to eat something before the test so she would be tired from digesting the food also, so she won't act so hyper and reactive to other dogs and unfamiliar environment. So I had to time the feeding time (not near exercise time). I hand fed her half cup of treats (she gets one cup of food at each meal) about an hour into the drive (two hours each way), which happened to be her usual breakfast time.
Picture of Keely and me at the dog school, taken for me by Sydney�s mom.
After the test's officially over, we waited another 30 minutes for Sandy and Xalina to sign the AKC paperwork, etc. That's when I "treated the heck out of Keely". I just kept feeding her treats and praised her. Nobody else brought treats though, so Cash and Ellie wanted some of Keely's treats too. Keely was okay until Ellie was sitting right next to Keely for about three minutes staring at my hand with the treats, which was about one foot from both dogs. Keely gave a low growl and Ellie backed away. Cash did get some of Keely's treats when his mom asked for some.
Then we did the Sit Down Stay Come on command individually. Sydney the Spaniel mix went first and was perfect, did everything on the first try (by the way, Sydney's owner said she will try again to talk to the Browns again about letting their dog go to rescue, but she mention that they told her that they don�t like the idea of seeing their dog on the �Available for Adoption� page). Then Cash, then the Shelties (Teddy, forgot the other one�s name) went. All three had one mistake each but did fine when their owners told them again. Sam the Beagle would not Stay on command no matter how many times they tried, and his mom said it's because they always practiced Stay without leash attached at home, so Sam thinks with the leash on, he is supposed to heel. By this time, Keely got so tired that she actually stretched out on all fours and lied down on her side. But only for a few seconds, because then Keely and I went up. I thought, well, if she doesn't pass, that's okay, because we've done our best to prepare her. Well, Keely did Sit on command, Down on command, I didn't even have to beg her, just told her once and made the hand gesture, didn't even have to kneel down to touch the floor. She just did it all on her own, just like that! Then I told her to Stay then I walked 20 feet away. When I turned around, I saw her standing up, not following me, just stood up. So I went back to her, told her to Sit again, which she did immediately, then I walked 20 feet and back, she stayed Sit the whole time. Then I walked 10 feet away and told her to Come. She walked right over and Sit automatically in front of me! I mean she does automatic Sit after Come usually if I have treats, but if I didn't have treats, she would only do it 50% of the time usually. She was brilliant! I think what worked was she liked performing in front of all these people and dogs. I think she's like Brenna, she's one of those Diva dogs who would like an "audience" in her daily life. While we waited for Ellie and Zoe the Blue Heelers to finish, I kept praising Keely and she put her head on my lap and enjoyed my petting. The last test was supervised separation. Xalina had to leave early to teach the puppy class so it was just Sandy. She couldn't take all nine dogs by herself, so she just had us tie our dogs to the rings that are cemented onto the floor. Keely did fine during the three minutes. Also when us handlers were outside waiting for three minutes, three owners came up to me and said Keely did wonderful, and that if they didn't have dogs already, they would adopt her themselves. They think she's such a calm and sweet dog. Everybody passed the test! Sam has to come back next week to do the Stay though. But we're sure he'll pass with no problem.
