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Increasing
distractions.
I then take the dog
furthest from Lottie and each day do something a
little more tempting with that dog.
To
begin with, I simply heeled the ‘temptation dog’ two
or three paces, sat her up again, and returned to
Lottie. We have progressed this week. Yesterday, I
took the furthest dog and heeled her in circle
around the next dog along (not Lottie). Lottie
looked very interested and ‘on the verge’ of
breaking, but managed to contain herself and did not
move. Today she was more relaxed and so I walked
the temptation dog in and out of all the other dogs
including around Lottie. Again, although clearly
tempted, she did not move. I will do this a few
more times and then begin incorporating more
distracting activities such as the recall, and
ultimately ‘honouring’ the retrieve
The Stay
Some of you might be
interested to know how I am dealing with Lottie’s
‘sticking point’ the ‘stay’. I have gone right back
to the basics with this, insisting on a nice, tight,
alert upright sit, no dipping her head down
(precursor to lying down), no fidgeting, no shifting
position at all.
Any deviation from the
standard I have set and I give her a sharp ‘no’. If
she returns to the correct position voluntarily, I
continue, if not I return to her and reseat her. I
do this in a grumbly, scolding way so that she is
not rewarded by my returning to her. When she
completes a perfect stay, I stroke and praise her
gently when I return, and sometimes give her an
edible treat such as a small cube of cheese, or a
little piece of chicken. I never call Lottie up
from the stay, but always return to her.
Each session I do a few
‘sets’ of stays with Lottie on her own. Each ‘set’
consists of several stays at increasing distances,
for one of which I remain by her side (0 yards). The
closer I remain to the dog, the longer the stay.
The following are examples of how gradually I
increase the level of difficulty
Yesterday my set was
as follows:
10 seconds at 0 yards, 7
seconds at 2 yards, 5 seconds at 5 yards, 2 seconds
at 10 yards. I also did one ‘stay’ where I walked a
half circle around Lottie at 2 yards. During the
first set I had to reseat her twice, once on the 10
second stay ‘at my side’ (she tried to jump up and
put her paws on me) and once on the 10-yard stay
when she stood up without permission on my
return. The second set she did perfectly. |
