|
Lottie is making progress with sitting quietly
whilst another dog retrieves. She has
been watching Bella fetch dummies thrown at various
positions around them. Initially I tried to minimise
the temptation by keeping the dummies well away from
Lottie and out to Bella's side (see photo to the
right). I also had both dogs sitting facing me
so that I can watch Lottie's face and keep her eyes
on me.
As Lottie has remained
steady I have been making the exercise more
difficult and tempting for her. I progressed
to throwing the dummies over Bella's head beyond the
two dogs, and yesterday introduced a third dog - one
of my spaniels - into the equation.
I put Lottie in the middle of the two dogs and
Lottie sat and watched both Bella and Annie retrieve
without any problems.
Today, we made
things a little harder still. I turned the
three dogs around so that we were all facing the
same way, and had them all next to me - still
with Lottie in the middle. I then threw
several marks out in front, collect some
myself and sent Bella and Annie for one each.
This was much harder for Lottie and she almost broke
her position as Annie went out.
When Lottie is facing me, I am able to hold
her attention more easily so this is much more
testing of her own 'self-discipline'.
We will need to work on
this some more before I begin letting Lottie have a
share of the retrieves.
My main concern apart
from steadiness, is that she learns to cope
with taking turns without making a noise. I am
therefore going to take my time before letting her
have a retrieve in this situation. For now,
I just want her to believe it is always someone
else's turn. My plan, if she makes the
slightest squeak, is to scold and return her to the
vehicle. So far, no noise. |
