Applying new stuff

OK, so I get home exhausted from the Ian Dunbar seminar (listening takes energy, and I’m already adrenalised this week). But I’m enthused. And concerned. Dogs shouldn’t duck their heads when hands reach out to them, Says Dr. Dunbar. Amika does this. I noticed it this morning.

This morning I reached a resolution. Amika is wearing a drag line when out the back. If I’m a leader, I don’t yell or chase. I just make it happen. The deciding point was this morning: I grabbed her collar to bring her in because she went the other way when I called (duck, point nose at hand to say “I’d like to nip you, but I’m a good dog”. In restrosped- EEK!) Once I did that she accompanied me to the porch.

The normal pattern is: dog sits at door, gets the cue to go in, sits once in. This morning I got the sit and then a direct eye-contact with flared cheeks look. She got up and turned away to leave the porch. I thought “You Bitch!!” and lost it for a moment. Bear in mind that we have been implementing the stuff Lesley pointed out- so we have at turns probably confusion and annoyance from the dog. I also have the food bowl from brekky in my hand, as she’s now transitioning to main meals in the morning with two eats per day. And I’m stressed.

So what did I do? I bopped her on the offered butt with the bowl. NOT a part of positive dog training, but it did pursuade her to turn her little hiney around and do the coming into the house thing. And it pursuaded me that I need a guilt, fallout free option: a long line dragging behind the dog!

So, after getting home, eating something, replying to messages, medicating something, ignoring increasingly persuasive attention seeking  etc… I found some bits and made a 6m drag line. Then I dug out some of the leftover treats from Wednesday’s training session. I remembered that Lesley had recommended getting Amika thoroughly used to the black dog head halter. While the Canny Collar was comfy, I do not need it to get a good heel, and it will not turn her head aside in the event that she looses her mind at another dog. This is not a walking device, but a emergency safety device.

So, rather than put up with the hand poking that she normally does, I let her have a sniff of the head halter (which she hasn’t seen in months), then start putting it towards her. The last training session we did yesterday was zen. So what does she try? She backs off just a tad. That’ll do. She tried a few things to start, until I got the thing on top of her nose then removed it and treated. Did that a couple of times. Any time she moved her head towards the collar, I would pull it away- this is not for sniffing or playing with. She got it, and it went on.

Next I worked on hands. Holding palm open and about vertical, I would swing it forward from my side towards the side of her head. If she moved, the hand went away. If she was still, she got treats. In fairly rapid steps, I was able to get both hands to the side and back of her head while she kept her nose pointing at my body, not following the hand. I also did both hands. This is the first step towards the grabbing the dog game, and I was very pleased with progress.

But that didn’t get to my overal want- I wanted to play with my dog! I’ve had to ignore her and boot her out of doorways for three days, I am so mean! So off we went to the back door with a line attached and a head halter properly fitted. I grabbed the big tennis ball and we repeated hands approaching face at back door. The ball behind my back had her sitting there eagerly, but she got to go out the door as a reward. She sat eagerly once out the door, waiting for the ball. I got the rest of the line out the door and backed Chook out of the way while she did a couple of great little sit-stays. Reward for second one was to chase the ball (forget putting the rooster in his place).

I then decided on the spot to do a come game. She ran off after and then with the ball, and I ran the opposite way making enthusiastic noises. Sure enough she came running. As usual she wanted to curve past and keep going, but I drew her attention to the fact that I had dropped some tasty treats. I got the ball. I asked for some more hand stuff, then chucked the ball. Did it over a couple of times and quit while I was ahead. I sent her to sniff, she had a pee and we went in without argument (I had the ball).

In the house, I fixed a snack for her dinner (she’s just eaten a bunch of treats and she wasn’t too enthused about breakfast this morning). I had her sit-stay and rewarded that a couple of times. Then it was out again for dinns while wearing the head collar. This time, coming in after dinner was easy- I’ve just been rewarding her a lot and she is engaged. So I got to dismiss her once the long line was off. Then called her, did more hand work while removing the head halter, and all done. I’m very satisfied with my work this evening. It was a very rewarding experience, so hopefully it’ll get me going back for more!