This is long - because this is a way of positioning Sabirah that we're just beginning to figure out. So, I left in all of our mistakes and the beginning of our adjustments. But this is sort of the way most real dog training goes. Dogs don't always respond to the same cues or ways as other dogs. Even day to day, their response can change. Here I'm having trouble communicating to Sabirah the difference between the side position and the middle position. There are adjustments I figure out along the way. And rather than overtire her, we'll come back to it with new ideas on how to help her understand. We had success - but it's not real clear to her yet - and that's my job as a trainer to figure out what will help her - and what mechanics I can change or clean up to help her.
What makes a dog a dream to walk? When you say "let's go this way" or you turn and they follow without hesitation!
There's a game for that! Actually, there's two games for that. We're playing one of them this month. I'm calling it "Collar or Leash Pressure Magic." The skill we want to teach the dog's brain to process is that when Mom/Dad give a little pressure on my leash (always always attached to a collar not a harness) ... then I see how quickly I can move that direction!
This is Sabirah's first attempt at learning this magic! By the end of this session, she is starting to figure it out. Stephen's going to do great at helping her finish off and become magical at this game!
Once she's got the idea down in the house, then it'll be time to try it in the yard a few times. Once she's PERFECTO at this magic in the yard, then Stephen will have the kids throw a ball behind her and see if she can still be flexible enough to follow the leash pressure!!! (Give her LOTS of praise and treats if she resists the urge to pounce on that ball - and her brain has grown flexible enough to follow the leash instead - that will be a HUGE win!) Then, you might be ready for the road - go ahead and take her for a short 5 minute walk using it a few times and see how quickly she responds. If she's not responding after three attempts on the walk - go back to the last successful place and practice more until her brain is getting it consistently. Then return to the walk. When the leash pressure magic is PERFECTO again on that 5 minute walk, keep repeating that short walk - no long walks until she masters the 5 minute walk with perfect leash pressure awareness and flexibility to change directions!
Voila!
Again, we continue to train concepts - and EVERY game helps a concept grow in our dog's brain. The concept here majors in Flexibility and minors in proximity too. Flexibility is a HARD one to master. So, during November we're laughing and playing with flexibility a lot. This is a win-win
Some of what we need when training dogs is to learn how to do something with our dog! Dog Training isn't always intuitive or "natural." It looks "easy" on paper - but the practice of it is what helps us iron out the wrinkles and communicate better with our dog. This is one trainer skill to practice during November with Sabirah. Similar to Magic Hand, this is called "luring a dog."
This teaches the concept of proximity. It's also useful to practice for future situations. When would this be helpful? Say, Sabirah is really freaked out about something - sticking the high value treat almost into her nose (well not quite but it should touch her nose) - and moving her away from whatever is freaking her out with the food would be a helpful skill to have right? Or what about if she looks like she's going to dash after a squirrel across the road, the faster you can get that lure in front of her nose and lure her so that your body is between the road and her, blocking her view and blocking her from getting hurt in the road - another good situation this is helpful for.
By practicing this a lot before that kind of situation comes up, she will automatically know what to do - follow that food - when you take the action of putting it right in front of her nose! Practice helps her brain to know what to do.
Game #1 is "Boundary Games with Distraction Challenges." This is a more advanced boundary game. We are training FOR the situation rather than IN the situation - so when a situation comes up, she has the tools to Ace it with flying colors! So, what situations could this be useful for? **Comment below how you could see it being useful!
This game gives Sabirah the skills for Self-Control and Focus. How can self-control help you and your dog with real life situations?
P.S. If you haven't played the basic boundary games yet, look up on YouTube for Absolute Dogs Boundary Games - or sign up for Absolute Dogs Training Academy to learn. It's a game changer!
Dogs get dirty - don't worry about it - no need to scold them! But we do need to clean them up, don't we? We are ALWAYS ENCOURAGING OPTIMISM! Quick refresher - Optimism in a dog is their natural inclination to say, "oh, I wonder what this fantastic adventure is going to be?" And that goes for baths too! A service dog is going to get a lot of baths. How terrible would it be if you turn on the shower/hose/bath water and they tuck their tail between their legs and do everything in their power to avoid a bath? That would not be fun - for you or them!
This video on a typical day of muddiness outside shows how I keep the optimism high. Make it playful! Use lots of kind words, happy sounds, and have fun yourself getting a bit wet! (What does it really hurt anyway?) But also a few other tricks you'll see along the way - and how when she begins to show some "fear" or "I'm not REALLY enjoying this" - how I turn that into "ok, let's have more fun and make this a joyful time!"
Optimism - enjoying the adventure of life is how we create great dogs in general - but is absolutely necessary for a future Service Dog!
Dogs don't automatically know how to behave in public situations. Rather than train them "in the situation" - meaning, oh the situation is happening and we keep taking them back to the same situation to train them until they get better - there's a much better and more successful way to get behaviors you want in that future situation. It's done by training skills at home, that you can use "on the road" and practicing FOR the situation rather than after you arrived in the situation. This is one concrete example of how to go about this - by how we train FOR the veterinarian's office.
Sabirah and Dog Calm-ness
This is the first of series of videos about Sabirah, our Service Dog in Training and what she's learned - a bit about how she's learned it. Stephen Schmidt
We're learning to play today!
