Today the dogs and I spent the morning walking in one of our local parks. It is fun for all of us to go to Santa Fe and just take a leash walk together. I realized that the more they get to do this, the better they are at walking on a loose leash- no surprises here, the more anyone practices something the more permanent the behavior will become.
It is somewhat cold but Deuce and Rio would rather walk without their coats and I'm bundled up so I am comfortable. We walk on the snow and I feel some regret as our foot and paw prints do away with the smooth blanket of white snow. Rio is having a blast! Oh how much she (and I) wish that she could be off leash… it is difficult to keep her focused on me because she is tossing and turning like a colt. Also wanting to play with Deuce and, of course, the leashes make this almost impossible.
We practice our “go sniff” cue, which means: walk nicely and I let you go and sniff whatever your heart desires. Have you ever wanted to know all the info. our dogs can glean from another dog’s marking?
Now we are close to the parking lot and cars are coming and going. Perfect opportunity to practice with Deuce his laying down instead of chasing cars. Brilliant!
He goes into a down without me not even saying a word. Now the view of a car has become his cue to lie down. I reinforce him big time.
I had in mind as part of our outing to practice some of the stuff we have been practicing at home for a few weeks now. I bring the tug toy, a long line and a small container where I can set some treats for Rio.
I begin by attaching Rio on a leash to a close by tree while Deuce and I practice- him on a long line - our “stop”, “walk”, "that’ll do" (come back to me- stop “working”) and then running to get the tug toy that I previously tossed away from us so that we can play with it.
Deuce LOVES playing this game and it serves my purposes of having him stop on the dot (sometimes he voluntarily lies down) as part of my emergency recall plan.
As I am getting organized a man shows up with a remote control airplane. He is a few feet away from us. He begins to fly his little plane, which makes a hissing sound as it is flying. Deuce is not bothered by the noise but just super distracted! A few other people are walking their dogs on leash both my dogs spot the other dogs.
I toss the tug for Deuce but he is so distracted by everything around him that he does not even race to get the tug. Yikes! He is not interested in playing tug??? I give him another chance acting super excited myself as I run for the toy. He is still distracted - as if in a daze!
I then switch gears to get him focused back on the tug and the training as I say to him “switch” which is my verbal cue that Rio is up and he will get to watch.
I now have Rio on the long line while Deuce is looking around tied to the tree close by. Rio takes to the tug game like a champ and Deuce… watches and barks now wanting to play. Perfect! I think - I got his attention.
After a few rounds of fun with Rio I give her the “switch” cue and change dogs once again. Deuce is now with me tugging and ignoring his surroundings: cars passing by, dogs passing by, little airplanes close by. We practice our routine a few times and I pack the dogs in the car - everybody happy and looking for some warmth.
It is wise never to underestimate training in a new (more distracting) environment. It should not be a big deal but part of any well-thought out training plan. The trick to being successful is to lower our expectations and at the same time, knowing how to manipulate motivations at a given moment so that the dog can perform with distractions. Training dogs requires LOTS of flexibility besides knowing when to changes the environment (distractions, motivations, etc.) to get results. In essence working with the distractions around us instead of avoiding all distractions.
It is somewhat cold but Deuce and Rio would rather walk without their coats and I'm bundled up so I am comfortable. We walk on the snow and I feel some regret as our foot and paw prints do away with the smooth blanket of white snow. Rio is having a blast! Oh how much she (and I) wish that she could be off leash… it is difficult to keep her focused on me because she is tossing and turning like a colt. Also wanting to play with Deuce and, of course, the leashes make this almost impossible.
We practice our “go sniff” cue, which means: walk nicely and I let you go and sniff whatever your heart desires. Have you ever wanted to know all the info. our dogs can glean from another dog’s marking?
Now we are close to the parking lot and cars are coming and going. Perfect opportunity to practice with Deuce his laying down instead of chasing cars. Brilliant!
He goes into a down without me not even saying a word. Now the view of a car has become his cue to lie down. I reinforce him big time.
I had in mind as part of our outing to practice some of the stuff we have been practicing at home for a few weeks now. I bring the tug toy, a long line and a small container where I can set some treats for Rio.
I begin by attaching Rio on a leash to a close by tree while Deuce and I practice- him on a long line - our “stop”, “walk”, "that’ll do" (come back to me- stop “working”) and then running to get the tug toy that I previously tossed away from us so that we can play with it.
Deuce LOVES playing this game and it serves my purposes of having him stop on the dot (sometimes he voluntarily lies down) as part of my emergency recall plan.
As I am getting organized a man shows up with a remote control airplane. He is a few feet away from us. He begins to fly his little plane, which makes a hissing sound as it is flying. Deuce is not bothered by the noise but just super distracted! A few other people are walking their dogs on leash both my dogs spot the other dogs.
I toss the tug for Deuce but he is so distracted by everything around him that he does not even race to get the tug. Yikes! He is not interested in playing tug??? I give him another chance acting super excited myself as I run for the toy. He is still distracted - as if in a daze!
I then switch gears to get him focused back on the tug and the training as I say to him “switch” which is my verbal cue that Rio is up and he will get to watch.
I now have Rio on the long line while Deuce is looking around tied to the tree close by. Rio takes to the tug game like a champ and Deuce… watches and barks now wanting to play. Perfect! I think - I got his attention.
After a few rounds of fun with Rio I give her the “switch” cue and change dogs once again. Deuce is now with me tugging and ignoring his surroundings: cars passing by, dogs passing by, little airplanes close by. We practice our routine a few times and I pack the dogs in the car - everybody happy and looking for some warmth.
It is wise never to underestimate training in a new (more distracting) environment. It should not be a big deal but part of any well-thought out training plan. The trick to being successful is to lower our expectations and at the same time, knowing how to manipulate motivations at a given moment so that the dog can perform with distractions. Training dogs requires LOTS of flexibility besides knowing when to changes the environment (distractions, motivations, etc.) to get results. In essence working with the distractions around us instead of avoiding all distractions.
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