Where's the Flip when you need it?

You will have to picture this.

At the homeopathic vet where they have Lily's favorite blueberry treats. I help myself to a handful.

A big, fluffy fat cat sitting on the far end of the counter 5' away.

At the other end, Lily.

"Paws Up".

1...2...3...4...etc...to 12

C/T. Blueberry treat.

"Paws Up".

1...2...3...4...etc...to 15

C/T. Blueberry treat.

etc

etc

etc

Cat? What cat?

COACHING SESSION REPORT: 8/10/10

A good coaching session with Dale and Lily. And several "firsts". First time for Lily riding in Dale's truck. First time we had a coaching session with both Lily and Landry together, although working on different behaviors.

Dale will begin taking Lily to work with him, little steps at a time, next week. So although Dale has trained with Lily and her Car Zen and Car Safety behaviors in MY car, now she must ride in Dale's truck. Everything about this is different and must be practiced.

This was also the first time that Dale has handled Lily when I was working with another dog. Initially Lily was unable to give Dale focus, attention OR a loose leash. When we moved my car to Landry' second training location, it was within Lily's line of sight. She verbalized her discomfort. So we discovered another area of Lily's separation anxiety that we will need to practice more to change.

It was an excellent session and we learned a lot. We did not Flip Lily.

Lily learns a "lady like" behavior

DELIVER: LEVEL TWO

The dog targets a palm-up hand in the seated trainer's lap.

Dog must be able to target the left or right hand, whichever is palm-up.

The cue for this behavior is "Touch".

The

Now we add some duration. Then raise the criteria until she is actually resting her head in my hand and we now have a new behavior, "Place".

Training Discovery: Put the iClicker on the floor, upside down under your foot, for a controllable hands-free click.

And, "Why", you ask? Why teach this Place behavior to Lily? Lily is sometimes a drooler. She can Place on a terry towel (or a lacy handkerchief) and wipe her mouth herself.

Walking with Dale

At least twice weekly, Dale is walking Lily around Coronado before taking Landry home. Dale insists on a Lazy Leash. Dale insists, too, that Lily walk on his right side. His reports are glowing, for the most part.

I remember Sue saying that if you were to take Scuba's leash, Scuba would immediately ask, "Do you believe in loose leashes?" and, if your answer was negative, she would pull you from here to kingdom come. If your answer, however, was, "I sure do!" you would be walking a feather.

Lily doesn't need to ask that question of Dale.

Yesterday he walked her downtown on Orange Avenue and they encountered several dogs. Dale described it this way, "Lily really made me look good." No Flip could describe it better.