Training Schedules

Although there has been some training that I haven't blogged about, the truth is that I've been much too lax in working with the dogs for the last few months. Ideally, I would work with each of them every day, but in the failure to meet that goal I haven't worked with any of them. So I've decided to schedule one dog per day, so that at least they each get worked with twice a week.

Monday: Netta
Tuesday: Lily
Wednesday: Bibb
Thursday: Netta
Friday: Lily
Saturday: Bibb
Sunday: Free

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Today I worked with Lily. She remembered walking figure-eights and other patterns, and it didn't take her too long to be paying attention to me. We didn't work on anything else.

Ovals Not Enough

Lily is far more intense than the other dogs, and she has many years of practicing bad habits on leash, so I expected the circuit work to go slower with her. We've been working on it for about two weeks, and it really hasn't done much to calm her. She has a very tough neck, and hardly seems to notice that the leash is tight most of the time. I noticed today that she always forged ahead at the same place on the oval, despite walking mostly on a loose leash for the rest of it. That's when I realized that she's merely practicing bad habits on the oval, and if I keep doing everything the same she's not going to get any better. So I switched to figure-eights, still in the same area. I focused on walking my pattern, not on Lily, so I tripped over her a few times. It didn't take long for her to be paying more attention to me than she ever has. Even when I went back to the oval pattern for a few rounds, she stayed intent on staying by my side. I stopped after a few rounds, because I wanted to end on a high note.

In hindsight, I should have figured this out earlier. She's a herding breed, and needs far more to keep her mind occupied than most dogs. I'll keep doing interesting patterns for the next several training sessions, and see how that translates into general loose leash walking for her.

First Real Walk

Today Bibb was doing so well on his circuits that I decided to take him up the street for some more practice with loose leash walking. He is very sensitive to leash pressure, and many times he corrected himself when got too far ahead. We had a very pleasant walk, interspersed with practice sitting.

Kay Laurence: Walk Together, Learn Together DVD

This DVD was discussed on a clicker training email list that I subscribe to. The system is supposed to calm down excited dogs by walking in an oval repeatedly. After several times around, the dog begins to focus on the handler instead of all the distractions.

Unfortunately, my library does not have this DVD (nor any of Kay Laurence's books), so for now I'll have to rely on the description in the emails. What I've been doing is I start with an oval at the bottom of the yard. Once the dog is paying attention to me, I turn down the alley (where there are lots of scent distractions). As long as the dog keeps the leash loose, we keep walking. I have enough slack in the leash that the dog can sniff as long as he is right next to me. The moment the leash tightens, I immediately turn back into a new circuit (or if I'm close enough, I'll return to the old one). I figure that a half hour walk is a half hour walk, whether we spend the time completely in the backyard or we walk halfway across town.

This has actually been working quite well, and it's very relaxing to just focus on walking a circuit. I get into a meditative state of mind, and after a while it seems that the dog does, too. I definitely want to buy the DVD when I get the chance.