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Socialization/focus/outings:
- Long line hike to a bridge. Worked a couple of recalls. He still mostly tends to stay within the distance of the 30' long line. I'm sure that will change. But he recalled very nicely!
- Trip to the dog-friendly art store. In which I learned that he will pick things up off the floor before I even see them. Time to work on our leave-it. I also learned that while he can walk calmly past people, if I stop to talk to anyone he gets very upset that they are paying attention to me and not to HIM. Note to self: make up more questions to ask employees.
- A walk around the block. I wanted to see what he would do on a walk if I wasn't feeding him much. He tends to heel if I'm feeding, which is great, but I also want him to able to just walk and look around. He maintained his loose leash walking pretty nicely until we got back to our driveway and he "knew where we were going." So that was a nice teaching moment. Even if you know where we're going, we still have to go together. He did look around more, but also still spent a good amount of time walking in heel or side or behind me.
- Put your head in a loop. I got tired of collars ending up in his mouth when I try to slip them over his head, so we worked on the behavior of him offering to put his head through the loop.
- Down on side for cooperative care. I would like him to lie down on his grooming table for brushing and drying, including lying on his side (saw this in a video---wow, I have a lot to learn about grooming!). We worked on the cue "flat." I started with a lure and transitioned to the verbal + tactile cue (my hand on the side of neck, which will tell him which side to lie on. We started adding duration and proofing. Next week: get out the brush and blow drier on low.
- Back up. We started this last week and have made a ton of progress! Today he offered 6 continuous steps! We're working with a wall on his left because that's the only side he tends to get off track. I need a cue for this. It can't be "back" because that's a hunting cue I plan to use. I also need to figure out what my cue means.
- Retrieves! Otto still doesn't really do toys, although he did a bit more this week. Hopefully teething is getting to a point where his mouth is more comfortable. He still has that canine that's hitting the roof of his mouth though. A couple more weeks until his dental appointment. In the mean time, I have been using his object-stealing powers for good and encouraging him to bring the objects back to me for a treat. He's picking up on this and enjoying it! No behavior is required other than carrying the object to me. And I've even been able to toss objects for multiple retrieves. This week he retrieved: shoes, boots, the end of a carrot, a sponge, a small leather piece, a mesh bag of scent articles. I'm hoping he decides that bringing things to me for a treat is a better game than running off with things.
- Moving Chin Rest. Broke out the chin rest for the first time in ages and added following me while I back up with his chin in my palm. It was kind of funny, he was having trouble finding the chin rest at first and I thought I'd need to re-teach it. Then I realized that I was offering my hand where I had offered it when he was 3" shorter!
- Stationing. Stillness (mine) is always the hardest thing to proof a stay with for an operant dog. We have worked up 8 second reliable and 12 seconds max of stillness. I can walk all the over the place and he will stay. I changed the mat to a stationing behavior in a down rather than a foot target and transitioned his foot target over to a round piece of plastic, which made complete sense to him, as his pivot bowl is basically a round foot target. We are working on distance and duration with that.
Just Otto Things: Gosh, he is delightful! This morning he followed me around the house while I cleaned. He tried to steal my sponge while I was cleaning the bathroom and eventually got it. Then he brought it back to me for treats! He is just fun and happy and joy!
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