Mat working well

I have not been particularly good about doing the relaxation protocol lately, but the mat really does work. I took Amika out to the park this morning and after some on lead stuff and some running in harness, set her up tied to a tree again. She got up off the mat twice- both times while I was there and she thought we were done.

I had put the box with the “puppy” about 50m away before getting her out. Once she was set up on the mat, I did a couple of easy RP steps, then I sprinted away 20m and came back. She didn’t move. A couple more easy ones, and I walked out to the box and came back. An easy, then to the box and took out the toy pup and left it sitting in the sun. She still didn’t move.

We then tried LAT. I’m not sure what we were looking at, there had been a few kids on bikes earlier. Maybe it was birds and the box and the pup. Anyway, we played LAT with “Amika” as an eye contact cue. She didin’t get that one every time, it needs practice. I’m hoping we’re good enough to work with the real dog on Monday. I’m panicking about that.

After a bit of LAT, I got up and did an easy RP task, then went 10m out and back, then went all the way out. I got the pup moving about, stopping and going in a circle around me before putting it away in the box. Back to Amika, who was still on the mat. The last rep was me going out, getting the box and taking it back to the car (which is to the side on the way back) and then continuing back to her with her water bowl. It is a warm morning, and she appreciated H2O as a reward.

We finished up with some running and pulling, and headed home. Amika’s recall is terrible, but at least I can practice some scooter cues when we’re doing this stuff. I’ll work on recall later.