Class Week Five

Treasure brought some smiles when she showed off her ladybug costume tonight.  But then it was right down to business.  I did manage to get her to sit and down while wearing the costume, but she isn't totally comfortable in it, so I removed it for the working part of class. 

Tonight we did sits and downs, and I actually got two downs from a standing position, which if you remember, we had a difficult time doing last week.  We worked on our sit stay.  My stay signal is a flat hand pressed gently into Treasure's chest.  I practiced moving myself around her while she stayed sitting.  It was interesting because she seemed to know as I was moving around her and turned her head towards wherever I was to get her treat.  I'm not doing down stay yet, but I think it will go quickly because once she's down, she tends to stay down longer than she stays in a sit. 

I'm starting to use less of a signal to get her to sit.  I'm not leaving my hand in position quite as long, which I'm hoping will lead to a quicker sit response.  We did loose leash walking.  She is doing so good with this!  But I noticed something I had not planned on.  She was great working near our station where the chair and training bag were.  But when I wanted her to move away from it, she fought me a bit, trying to get back to the known area.  She was able to come out in the middle of the room and do some walking with me though, once I did get her away from our station.

Treasure is starting to move when she feels my left leg take a step, sometimes without any tension on the leash.  She is learning to feel the movement of my leg and feel the air current of its movement, plus the vibration of my steps near her.  I am feeding every few feet still, but I am able to get her to do right turns and about turns.  I am feeding her right next to my left leg to increase the importance of that leg to her and to increase her attention to it. 

We also worked on recalls.  Treasure was able to come towards me from about five feet away with me blowing towards her.  We did this several times to get a longer recall, with her getting a treat after each five foot span.  Once, when she walked to the end of her leash to greet the instructor, I was able to blow on her rear end from six feet away and she turned around and came to me.  I am very proud of her!  Now I just need to work on having enough breath for a longer recall! 

Next week is graduation!  We are still working on our tricks and I've narrowed it down to the easiest ones for now.  She has certainly come a long way in just a few weeks.  And I think she enjoys the special one on one time, and of course I know she enjoys all of the treats!!