09/04/2024
Fozzie was a stray so he had no concept of who Fozzie even was when his family named him, let alone that he was supposed to answer to said name. Now Fozzie knows his name but doesn’t see much value in showing up when you call him if he’s busy. After working on his recall out in his backyard and getting him to what I’d call about 98% there (as nobody is perfect) we moved to the park, his favorite place. This proved difficult for Fozzie, which in turn frustrated his owner, understandable he was doing AMAZING at home. Why Is it harder for him at the park it’s the same behavior 🤔 Well let’s put that into perspective for humans. Say you’re reading a book at home, nothing going on just you and your book. You can probably get through say 40 pages in a hour, but now let me take you to the middle of NYC and plop you in the middle of downtown. Now there is traffic, people asking you for directions, to take photos, different smells good and bad, people screaming etc…. You may only get through 10 pages or read the same page 10 times because you CAN’T FOCUS. Alternatively say you make it a goal, “I want to be able to read a book in Time Square without stopping” awesome. How do you work on that goal? You go to Times Square and read 1 paragraph to start. Then go home. Was that place too much? Try Central Park instead, the next session you try 2-3 pages, at the park and so on. Once you get it at the park try moving out to Times Square again, oh still too much? How about just a busy street corner then? After easing yourself into it you are eventually conditioned to ignore the noise and just continue on with your book and in the end you make it to the middle of Times Square. Yes the distractions are still there but you have now learned to ignore them through consistent short sessions. Dogs are not great generalizers. So we need to help them the best we can, sometimes it looks like the back yard right to the park, and sometimes it’s the back yard, the front yard, the side yard, the neighbors yard, the street, the parking lot at the park, and then finally out in the park. Whatever the journey is stay consistent, stay motivated and DO NOT GET FRUSTRATED. I promise your dog will only try as hard as you do 😉
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