...the more you realize you don't know. I took Moto to a shopping center yesterday and discovered he has a completely different way of dealing with stress than his sire, Blitz, or Dusty. Well DUH he's a completely different dog! Maybe it's not stress, rather lack of confidence. Either way he was working very sluggishly. I had anticipated this and thank goodness I had a plan and that was simply to make every new place we went FUN so he would realize every trip with Mom was a new and exciting adventure!
So after I saw he wasn't able to work the way I wanted, we played "which fist has the cookie" which he enjoys, the "touch my hand" game and I did a lot of playing and having him do some quick tricks that he enjoys. When I saw he was relaxed we started doing some heeling and it was very nice. We did some small segments so he could be successful as well as some easy stuff and it worked out well. Patience is going to be key in building this partner into a happy confident performer.
In Obedience class today he was relaxed so I stepped things up a bit - I am fading the leash and trying to get the level of accuracy without using it as a guide. Moto enjoys problem solving and responded pretty good to my patting my leg and a light touch on the collar. As long as we have good weather he'll go a different place every day and I think/hope this will pay off in the long run.
Tricks by any other name
10 years ago
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