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crysania4We had our 6th week of obedience class this past Tuesday. It was somewhat of a slow class for Dahlia as we didn't get to DO much. We talked a good amount about dogs ignoring the word "come" because too often people use it for something "bad" (leaving play, going to their crate, etc.) and call it over and over again without the dog ever being made to come. Colleen usually teaches it on a long lead so that if she says "come" and the dog doesn't come, she can reel it in so that it's "forced" to come. She started demonstrating how she would get a dog to come, then give it a treat and let it go back to play, saying something like "Spot, COME." And every time she said "come, Dahlia would stand up and start walking to her (stopped only by the leash we had on her). It was SO damned cute and so ridiculous and everyone was laughing. We've decided to stick with the word "come" as she seems to know that command, especially when food is involved.
We also worked more on loose leash walking (Dahlia was SERIOUSLY distracted so it took us a moment to settle into it) and sitting quietly while being petted. She does this like a pro, so no problems there. I mean, if someone wants to pet her, she's TOTALLY there.
Colleen also started teaching us how to get a dog to drop something they're holding, so we're working on a "trade ya" command where we hold up the treat, say "trade ya!" and then when the dog drops the item they have, we give them the treat. I never thought in a million years that Dahlia would actually grab onto her sheep, but she did, and I got her to drop it. It's amazing just watching her mind work. I held up the treat and said "trade ya" and she looked at the treat and at me for a moment before finally dropping the sheep. You could almost see her thinking "hmmm...sheep...or treat..." before deciding the treat was better. She's an awesomely smart dog.
We did manage to switch our last couple classes, so we'll be doing obedience training for the last couple weeks on Friday (starting tomorrow). I'm so happy that we can actually finish this up sometime in the near future.
We also worked more on loose leash walking (Dahlia was SERIOUSLY distracted so it took us a moment to settle into it) and sitting quietly while being petted. She does this like a pro, so no problems there. I mean, if someone wants to pet her, she's TOTALLY there.
Colleen also started teaching us how to get a dog to drop something they're holding, so we're working on a "trade ya" command where we hold up the treat, say "trade ya!" and then when the dog drops the item they have, we give them the treat. I never thought in a million years that Dahlia would actually grab onto her sheep, but she did, and I got her to drop it. It's amazing just watching her mind work. I held up the treat and said "trade ya" and she looked at the treat and at me for a moment before finally dropping the sheep. You could almost see her thinking "hmmm...sheep...or treat..." before deciding the treat was better. She's an awesomely smart dog.
We did manage to switch our last couple classes, so we'll be doing obedience training for the last couple weeks on Friday (starting tomorrow). I'm so happy that we can actually finish this up sometime in the near future.