December 5th
First of all, I can't believe it's December. We're supposed to be getting snow, but so far I've just seen an occasional flake fly by.
OK, now for my breakthrough. As mentioned in my previous posts, working with Brook has been a challenge. She really is a sweet dog, but very shy, and unresponsive to any treat I've tried, so it hasn't been easy to work on basic commands with her. I've had to look for other things she likes. She likes the car, she likes me, she likes to run around with me, she likes to run up and down stairs, and she likes her buddy Ogy. Problem is, none of those can be used to lure her into sitting- they work only as rewards. So how do I get her to sit??? I found if I just sat down and talked to her for a while, eventually she would sit. At this point I'd tell her good girl and we would get up and run around. A bit tedious. But yesterday, Brook showed me that she had been keeping a secret!. If I lifted my hand over her head, much like you would do when trying to get a treat-responsive dog to sit (you'd be holding the treat and luring them into a sit because they would have to look up and back to see the treat), she would sit! She was a little inconsistent, particularly if there were other distratcions (such as cars or new people), but she definitely responded to that movement more often than not. So I ran with it. Yay! We're also getting better at loose leash walking in stressful situations.
Chester has been doing well too. We went off leash, and he came back every time I called him. He'll make someone a fantastic running and hiking partner.
Here is Brook looking happy in the car: |
