Good work at the park

5/12/08

We went to the new park spot again, after lots of days off and days doing bits at home. It went really well with her ability to focus and my ability to direct GMAB-like stuff. I noticed (not for the first time) that Amika got rapidly excited when my partner left our immediate vicinity. I used this a couple of times to work out an “orienting gets you closer” type game.

I needed to hold the long leash relatively short so she didn’t just run in panicked circles. Her reaction to her name was zero most of the time, so I need to work on that. When she was persistently pulling, I walked away, and she would come up to me after I’d dragged her a ways (reorient) upon which I would turn around with her. She wanted to run full pelt and had to work to slow herself down. I did a lot of stopping as soon as the lead was taut.

Eventually I worked out that walking away increased anxiety, and only to do it to force her attention back to me if waiting for a bit didn’t work. She had pretty much got it by the end. She would surge ahead and check back before reaching the end of the leash. Each time she checked, I clicked and kept moving forward. If she got to the end of the lead, I stopped, and she would turn back. Funny thing was, once she got to where my partner was, he wasn’t so important – she wanted to go jump in the creek before she gave him a proper greeting. Confused dog.