Walking with children CHALLENGE

Colin, 4, and Bethany, 6, take Shayla and Lily for a short walk before breakfast.

Using RETRIEVE to teach self control

CRITERIA: Pick up from floor and hold quietly in her mouth until clicked to release (approx. 30 seconds)

Turkey Log Retrieve

(no teeth marks)

Sweet Potato Retrieve

(no teeth marks)

Orange Retrieve

(teeth marks, but didn't break surface)

Hot Dog Retrieve

(no teeth marks, but not ready to remove the wrapper)

LEASH: Level 2: Step 4

In this session, Dale had just arrived for his mentoring session. He was an "over the top" single focal point for Lily. But Lily and I had been working on this Step and she made good decisions.

Step 4 has several "classic" admonitions.

"Click anywhere you see a good decision happening."

"You want to TEACH the behaviour by turning away,

and PRACTISE it by walking past."

"Walk by on the RIGHT side of the Focal Point,

so there is nothing but training in between the dog and the treat."

"Be especially vigilant to notice the decisions she makes."

"So far you have a very small beginning of a Lazy Leash. Use it to teach yourself AND your dog what a loose leash feels like. When you get used to it, your hands will start telling your feet to back up without your brain having to be involved at all."

MOVING DOWN

(This is a Rally behavior)

Step 1. Getting an instant Down in position

Step 2. Getting an instant Down in position and beginning to step further

Step 3. Stepping further and further without breaking stride

No click if she doesn't meet criteria. I will try and make a newer Flip tomorrow showing the completed behavior.

ROLL

Luring the Roll

Lily and Bethany

RALLY: Left About Turn

Using my target hand,
I lead Lily across in front of me to my right

while I make a 180 degree turn to my left.

She ends up in heel position.

WATCH and the 3Ds: Duration, Distance, Distraction

Saturday Morning Walk by the Bay

Saturday morning.

A 35 minute session.

21 dogs. (2 off leash but under verbal control) Bikes. Skateboards. Walkers. A wheelchair.

LOTS of Saturday morning pedestrian traffic.

CRITERIA: No tight leash.

DETERMINE THRESHOLD re: passing distractions

No clicker.

No treats.

The bike path is 8' wide.

The sandy lot where we were walking borders the path.

We paralleled the path about 15' away.

Most dogs and other distractions passed us on the path.

But 4 dogs (2 pit bulls, a Golden and a yellow lab) passed us on the other side of the lot itself.

No cues given.

"Good girl!" was the only reward.

I was aiming at interest but no other reaction and that's what I got,

so the 15' was definitely under Lily's threshold.

By 1030 it was getting hot and we left. A GOOD session. Totally uneventful and ho-hum. Just the way we wanted it.