We are getting a lot more offered downs today! Woooo hooo! This morning she went with me to the Gym to teach class. It was a one-person class with a young dog who is almost hysterical with his excitement over another dog. Therefore I could not use Rosanne very much as a demo dog. She did get a lot of practice getting attention for having four-on-the-floor and ignored when feet were up on Judi (bless you, Judi, for not reinforcing feet on you!)
We did a long errand on the way home which meant she had quite a long stretch of sleep in the van. We got home, did a potty break for all the dogs, and then I crashed on the couch. I was beat! So again, Rosanne had a long nap in her Puppy Palace. She's a real trooper, able to be on her own, quiet and fall asleep when mum needs to have a nap.
After nap time, we had all dogs in the side yard and Rosanne had a big run around the yard. She is sooooo cute when she's running flat out! I'm going to have to get the whip toy going with her and teach her to change gaits as I did with Joey. In the course of her running, Joey became very interested in running after her just a little bit. However, he started barking at the same time. He does have a cut-off cue for barking and I had to use it several times in a row (not something I like to do but I can't have him force-barking at the puppy). He caught on and held back on the barking. For brief moments he was interested in her as a possible play buddy, *very* brief moments. There were two times when Rosanne dropped to a down (cut-off signal) and Joey responded appropriately. I praised him like crazy and he broke off and came to me for treats. He's now more willing to act normal re: me in the presence of Rosanne.
We had work time in the office with my not able to get much done because Rosanne is all over the place. She has now discovered the tiny space under the drawers of my desk (old-fashioned desk with individual legs) is a perfect Rosanne cave for exploring. She then gets stuck and has to grunt and groan her way out backwards. It's very funny!
She's had occasion a couple of times today to bark at dogs that are new to her. I distracted her away. Both times were in a situation were I could not do proper desensitization. Next time we go somewhere I am going to be prepared for this. I'm also going to quit feeding her meals in a bowl as that is really messing with my ability to train her (she's too full to train). If I'm going to run into dogs who startle her, I need the power of food!
We had a lot of good work on clicking with a high rate of reinforcement for standing, occasional cued sits, and offered downs. Her downs are adorable. She will suddenly stop what she's doing, freeze and then fling herself into a down - as if she suddenly remembered to try down.
We had a really nice half-hour on the couch ostensibly watching the season premiere of South Park but really doing training with all dogs. Joey, having been the youngest for a long time, is used to being the dog in training while the older dogs watch. Now that Joey is more interested in being around when Rosanne is present, he's now come face to face with not being the dog in training. I tried to cue "touch" for Rosanne's hand target and Joey would leap up out of his down and touch my hand!
So it was treats for Marcus and Joey in downs with Rosanne on the couch. We did a whole lot of "Rosanne"/click/treat followed by a lovely bunch of offered downs. I discovered the my closed fist placed in front of her on the surface of the couch is a cue for her to lay down. Nice of her to explain that to me! :)
Many, many downs cued with the fist and many offered too. Woooo hooo! We had a couple good rounds of bitey-bitey games with my hand - all with the boys watching and being treated for staying in their downs. A very nice family training session!
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