Day Ten -- Wrapping Up

Oh Indy, it has been such a pleasure having you here.

He has worked hard this week.

And played hard too.

By today, he was fine with the house being torn down behind us (despite his ears being back in this picture). No barking or hackling and he could easily play in the yard (and do his business) without any problems. He was a little barky when the yard maintenance person was in the back but he recovered quickly and was soon wiggling up to him for attention. When we allow him to explore scary things on his own and slowly get acclimated, he doesn't start to anticipate being pressured into an uncomfortable situation.

Having the added distraction of someone new was a great opportunity to practice his recall which is coming along very nicely. He's coming very quickly and reliably right now.

He's doing well with most everything...just don't put a treat on this boy's nose.

Everyone will miss him.

He gets along with everyone he meets.

It helps that he has such nice manner.

Everyone will be sad when he goes...

But it's time to go home and see your family. That will bring you all sorts of happiness tomorrow!

Day Nine -- Bumps in the Road

It's normal every once in a while to hit bumps in the road when training dogs. Even dogs as perfect as Mr. Indy. His bumps, thus far, have been pretty minor.

He has shown a little bit of fear on a few occasions; when meeting the cat for the first time, when I place a file folder on the ground, and when they started tearing down the house behind mine. He's at the right age for a fear period, which is just a normal developmental period in a dog, usually associated with a period of rapid growth. During fear periods, things that your puppy readily accepted and was familiar with suddenly becomes a scary object. It usually looks something like this; puppy walks past laundry basket every day of his life but, after doing this a zillion times in the past, suddenly he's barking with hackles up at the laundry basket. Most puppies go through these periods unscathed. Occasionally something will stick with a dog or they become fearful in general. The cat and the file folder are pretty classic fear period type reactions. The house being torn down, well, that's just plain scary. But I deal with them in the same way.

I don't force dogs to investigate scary things. I can encourage them, sometimes by touching the scary thing so he sees it's ok. Mostly, though, I just act as normal as possible and tell him it's no big deal. If he's really scared, I might get him at a distance where he can handle it and play with him. Play is a lovely way to get a dog into a different state of mind.

It is pretty easy to get Indy to play even when scary things are happening nearby which tells me this isn't a huge deal for him. Because I didn't push him into investigating a scary thing, he eventually gets over it (like he did with cat who he is now good friends with.

We increased the difficulty level of his "leave it." And it was a challenge for him!

He did really well with treats on the ground.

But now it's time to start working on real life objects.

No easy task! Especially when he was just having a good time with that toy. He did it but needed a little more support to get it done.

It's ok. He's young and mistakes happen. Mistakes can even be good. It gives us a chance to more thoroughly teach him what behavior we want.

We had to back up on his "Go to Mat" command the last couple of days too. We were starting to send him from a distance and now he's back to physical cues to go to his mat. And, no, it's not because Mo is teasing him. It just happens sometimes when puppies are learning. They go on overload and can't remember things they knew well just the other day. Staying consistent with him and following through will help with these little bumps in the road.

Indy, at least you didn't hit the same bump in the road that Pioneer faced today. That whole neuter thing is a distant memory for you.

But it didn't stop him from being sympathetic.

It was a busy day. Rest up, little guy, we've got more work to do tomorrow.

Day Eight -- Distractions

There are distractions all around. They can be as simple as a smell...

As exciting as a new friend...

Or as challenging as another species.

It's ok for Indy to look at distractions. It's very normal for dogs to need to see what is going on in their environments.

But he needs to be responsive to his name and other commands even when everything is going on around him.

I have similar expectations when we are walking. I start the walk out by having him check in with me. I want him to realize right off the bat that he needs to pay attention to me and that he has a task before him, to walk nicely on the leash.

When we are walking, I like for him to periodically check in with me.

Most of the time he's looking forward to see where he is going. I just want occasional glances up at me as if to say, "Do you need anything?"

Ideally, I notice the big distractions around us long before I've lost his attention so I'm continually scanning the environment.

If I see something that might catch his attention, I start rewarding more frequently.

If need be, I pull off to the side and work on attention. Over time, if he is conditioned to pay attention to you, those big distractions will be much easier to handle.

I started to add some distraction to his distance stays today. Just a little bit. But even that was a bit much at first. Breaking his stay let me know I was asking too much at the time and I needed to modify my approach.

I can do that a few different ways. I can stay a little closer when I do the distractions. Or I can make the distractions smaller.

Or I can walk away a short distance, return and reward him, and walk away again. I did this several times and then he was able to handle the distraction.

He's doing really nice coming off of distractions when I call him to come.

Even with a brand new friend.

And, as suspected, the two were fast friends. Or at least he thought Pioneer will do if Remo is not available.

Day Seven -- Let's Go

When I'm working on leash skills, I spend a good part of that time with no leash. I walk in big circles or I change direction a lot, usually at a quick pace. I expect him to stick with me, right by my side.

I talk to him, I pat my leg, and I periodically reward him for staying in position.

I have the same expectations I would have if he had a leash one so he sits when we come to a stop.

We work on both sides so he is proficient at walking on both my left and right side. And why no leash? Really what we are trying to teach our dogs is to walk nicely beside us. Our leash should just be there for safety. We do similar drills with the leash on and, of course, work around distractions with the leash on but these off leash drills improve leash walking considerably.

He's been working hard on his stays too and doing well!

Improving on distractions too. Setting him up for success has the added benefit of boosting confidence and speeding up the learning process.

He's responding really nice in the face of distractions.

Before doing anything new, especially in the outside world, it helps to work on attention ahead of time. It gets him nice and keyed into you before you lose his attention to all the distractions. It's much harder to regain a dog's attention after you have lost it then it is to gain it ahead of time.

Don't worry, there is time for the fun tricks after your studies, Indy.