Obedience 1: Class 2

It was a hot day to out in the sun training dogs to loose walk on leads. The dog trainer hasn't seen Xena in a month and said she was longer and even wrinklier than ever. :o)

She was quite happy to hear that I'm starting to let Xena into the sun room as long as she isn't acting like a 'pork chop.'

She took Xena for a walk. Xena is an enthusiastic walker. She leaps, lurches and lunges. Some dogs don't want to budge. However, with some training instructions she was walking quite well on her normal lead by the end of the hour. I'm impressed and really glad I didn't have to figure out how to use that halti collar.

Here goes so I don't forget....

Loose Lead Walking....

It doesn't matter if she walks and pulls behind you, keep going.
Keep the lead lose and let her go anywhere she wants as long a she doesn't pull.
The idea to lose lead walking is that she will learn to keep a comfortable distance between you and herself.

'Xena, walkies' is her command and from then on all she gets is 'good puppy, good girl etc' which she loves and comes closer.

If she rushes ahead just say something like 'wheres my puppy' and walk backwards don't use 'come' that's only for recall.

If she's acting like a 'pork chop' stop, don't move until the moment she stop jumping.
Completely ignore her. Keep her attention by saying 'good puppy etc' when she goes to a tree, is distracted by cars, dogs etc. as soon as she looks at you, move on

Sit, Stay, Drop

Xena knows sit and stay, but not today. She just knows it at home in the yard, where there are no distractions. Now she is walking better on the lead we will start taking her to the local parks to practice her puppy class commands. This has been my fault, sine her pulling while walking incident left my back sore I have only trained her at home. I'm glad though because now she is walking in a better manner we can finally get out and catch up.

Xena still needs to practice 'drop' honestly though, she will flop down and rest if I stop a few minutes anyway and that might be the way to teach her to drop... when I see it happen, cuz trying to get her to do it with food is slow. Though we can do both.

Recall

I don't think Xena will have too much problem with recall on the lead but its "Xena come" then walk backwards praising her all the way for coming. She needs to be just as excited to walk towards me as her food bowl. Which thankfully she is.

Leave it

I'm somewhat confused with this one. I have heard 3 different commands from my trainer on it 'yes' 'leave it' and 'thank you' I've been practicing 'thank you' at home.

I think the trainer may use 'leave it' if the dog is rummaging around off lead and has something in its mouth. I think she uses thank you if the dog has something in it mouth near her and she can walk up and say 'what have you got' remove it from dogs mouth 'thank you' I might call her about that.

She starts with 'yes' then changes it to leave it but said you can just go straight to 'leave it'.

The idea is to have yummy treats in your hand and let the dog lick your hand but moment she turns her nose away say 'yes' then give her the treat.

Other Dogs at the Park Although Xena sniffed and looked at the other dogs she still gets shy and moves quickly away if they start puppy play with her. She has improved since being a total scaredy cat when she was younger to at least showing an interest. I do think that later on she may not be a very social dog with other dogs so at least if she's had lead training/ recall it may help.

I think she is doing well.