Thursday I started adding my movement to his contact work. Before, I was just sitting on the couch. Now I'm moving around the contact board while he gets on it and hits his two-on-two-off. Yes, the movement means that he misses a lot. But he's gradually coming to understand that he does it no matter what I'm doing.
Friday morning, we got up, and my husband, Zane, and I drove to Yuma. He had a company Christmas Party to go to and asked me to attend. But he was also doing some work, so Zane and I planned to get in some training in new places. I didn't know what I was in for!
The company keeps a house on Yuma Proving Ground, so we were planning to stay there. It has a fenced in yard, so easy for potty times. But the yard behind "ours" had two dogs who barked every time we moved. (Remember Zane's fear of other dogs?) So I pulled out clicker and treats and we played Look at That from Control Unleashed. Then we started BAT. Within a couple of minutes, he was glued to my side, all focus on me, not caring about those barking, nasty dogs. He would sit and down and heel. And he was more comfortable in the yard in general.
So I pulled out some toys. He is very high in toy drive. So we played. When I would throw a toy, he'd go out to get it, then have to stop and make sure the dogs weren't coming for him, then he'd pick up the toy, still watching the dogs, and finally bring the toy back.
He did some quiet woofing at the dogs, but no growling. Nice, big improvement for him! I've had him at the end of the leash, as far from other dogs as he can get, when we've met other barking dogs behind fences (and they were usually farther away). I've also had him lip curl and growl at barking dogs farther away. So this quiet interest and watchfulness and quiet woofing is good.
The house we stayed in has a sliding glass door. He's never seen one before. So when we walked through the house to get to the back door (the sliding door) to go into the yard, he walked right into the door! Smack! Poor puppy had never seen glass at his level. Later that evening, when it was dark, he was a little concerned about his reflection in that glass.
Now I'm going ti inundate you with pictures! I took so many of him.
Zane is not known for his catching ability yet.
Fail
Fail
Fail
Fail
And his first catch! He did catch a few others that day, but this was his first.
Look at that rich, red coat he's getting:
I put his leash and bait bag on the end table, and he kept taking them off! Multiple times! I finally moved them to the kitchen.
And look at that tongue. He smells his "cookies".
Throw the toy. . . throw the toy. . . throw the toy.
And yes, at almost 6 months, he still pees like a girl.
"Throw the gingerbread man."
"Please throw the gingerbread man."
"Mom! Please, please, please throw the gingerbread man!"
Merry Christmas, and many happy gingerbread men to you.
Finally relaxing at watching the other dogs.
I had just untaped his ears. He had to scratch!
Can you get the camera out of my face?
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