Friday, July 1, 2011

Don't Feed the Corgi!!

Wednesday I was reminded of a very basic dog-owner/trainer tenet.

Do not feed the dog before asking him to do something that requires a lot of concentration in a stimulating environment.

I brought Bug over to my friend Marie's to practice heeling against her fence line. Every other time we have gone to Marie's house it has been to romp it her giant fenced in fields. Wednesday we went to her fields to work. However, I did NOT set myself up for success. I had already fed the corgi, and my treat of choice was less than exciting (cheese).

Needless to say I worked hard to get some attention and do some recalls and then dropped it to play a bit of ball. Maybe I should have pushed harder, but I really don't feel like I set either of us up for success so I changed the plan and lowered my criteria. I want Bug to chose to heel and I want us both to enjoy it!

I WILL be going back to Marie's fields to practice, but I won't feed him beforehand and I will bring a rocking treat to reward with!

1 comment:

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

hahahah, isnt it funny that when ever we get challeenges they can usually be addressed by going back to the basics. Love it when it is that simple though ;-)