Dog-dog training opportunity

This morning wasn’t to the usual plan. Amika barked at dawn, and being fed up I put her in the “little room”. A little later on Chook started clucking and I got up thinking I’d let Amika out. Then chook really squaked. I went out (not dressed, either!) to find two dogs in the yard.

After getting some clothing on, I went out and found only one of the dogs- the other must have gone over a fence. I was able to make friends with the frightened little dude and bring him in to the bathroom. He was rottie coloured black and tan with a white chest. Too small for a rott, maybe a staffy cross. Of about 15 cavies, none could be seen, and chook was a bit shaken for a few minutes. Later on, Dion found one dead young cavy, and the others have started to reapear. But they are spooked.

I left the dog in the bathroom, took Amika out for the first pee of the morning on lead and then crated her. She was fairly hyped because she could smell somebody. Given that I would have to wait for business hours to call the ranger, I decided to set up some training.

I put Amika’s mat in the kitchen, just inside the doorway from her crate in the hall. The other end of the kitchen opens into the laundry and bathroom. The bathroom door is in view from the kitchen. I loaded my treat pouch and donned a clicker. The poor dog in the bathroom alternated between gloomy silence, sniffing under the door, leaping at the walls, howling pitifully and yipping / barking to be let free. But wasn’t nearly as loud as Amika’s barking.

The first exercise I did was coming out of the crate. We’ve been working on this, so she did pretty good. I had to wait out whining a few times, but mostly she was able to calm herself by lying down. So the first step to coming out was a down, then a stay while I opened the crate door. When called “here” she comes to front. From there I started the “look at that” game (“LAT” the cue being “who’s'at?”).

Once Amika had LAT going, I lured her to her mat and she went into a down as she usually does. I was able to get her doing LAT rapid fire. At some point the dog in the bathroom made a noise or moved and Amika jumped up and started barking, which caused me to put her back in her crate and end the session. This happened I think three times, each time she’d have a barking session in the crate and I’d come back when she was quiet and ready to work again.

I gradually moved the mat to half way along the kitchen, then tried getting Amika to face the bathroom and it didn’t work so good. A break and I moved the mat to a diagonal position, started her facing away and then turned her gradually. She was doing brilliant LAT’s and also looking to me when I said her name.

I gave her another break, then did some more rounds with a new game. The game was a little bit on/off switch, mostly mat targeting. I moved the mat further away again. I called her off her mat to front, then cued “place” (go to mat) and treated. I started by rewarding a sit, down, sit routine then go back to mat. Then I got the front without rewarding and sent back to mat.  After the ‘being away from mat’ thing, she was ‘higher’ and I would spend some time rewarding stuff on the mat: LAT, head down, relax, looking to me.

Another thing I brought in from the relaxation protocol (RP) we have been doing was to drop the lead, step away and then return and reward. I used this to go grab more treats, which she went through at a great rate. She knows the RP stuff and I think that actually helped focus her.

The next step in the calling off game was to take her towards the bathroom door. At first I got a sit and then took her back to mat for treats and ‘down time’. Each time I’d say “ready?” which isn’t a cue I have ever used, but she got it by the end. Then we’d walk towards the door. I gave her some breaks in this game, a couple times for reacting / non response and a couple of times just for a rest. The reactions were not particularly intense.

At the end, I was able to walk her up to the door and cue her to “sniff” and she was able to sniff the other dog through the gap under the door for a couple of seconds before I called her and headed back for the mat. She got the pattern of it and the final rep there was no leash tension at all.

That was a couple of hours worth of training- fairly intense. But she did very well, and the other dog was none the worse for wear. The ranger / kennel guy came and took the poor sweet boy away while Amika was in the office. She hardly barked at all. Amika is now full of treats and flaked out here in the office, having thoroughly examined the house and yard.