Today I worked on attention, sits, and shaping the down with Ms. Carmen. She picked up on the eye contact pretty quickly, which made me happy. Initially she was standing on her hind legs trying to figure out how to get those treats! Then she started consistently offering eye contact. Good girlie!!
She has a solid sit, but asking for it on my left side was throwing her for an absolute loop. She would pivot around me and sit in front of me. I was able to convince her she could sit on my left after a couple of tries. It will take a bit of work to make this automatic with her; she has spent 5.5 years sitting three feet in front of people and been rewarding like mad for it.
She is familiar with the lure for "down" so I have to be really careful not to just lure her and allow it to be shaped.
Carmen is so excited that someone wants to work with her; talk about bright eyes.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ike was doing a bizarre high-pitched bark of jealousy. Interesting. Perhaps Katrin is right about competition being good for him.
2 months ago
2 comments:
For the sit on the side, rather than luring, I really like using eye contact to get the position. So I teach eye contact and how to find eye contact to the dog. Then look where I want the dog to sit, and when the dog moves to that spot to make eye contact, I cue sit. If the dog moves, no reward. He learns to maintain eye contact while moving his body into a position. Sets up really well for competition heeling.
Excellent. I'll work on this with her.
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