It was Bruce's 3rd training day this morning. And after 3 more sessions, he would eventually graduate and move on to Family Dog Module 2. To be able to enroll there, he has to master the basic tricks first like stay, sit and down. On the 2nd module, the tricks will be a little more complicated. Stays would have to be longer with distance, sits would have to be more dramatic and everything has to be done with high level of distractions.
I'm fully confident he will graduate with flying colors. In terms of getting the lesson, he gets it so well to a point that he orchestrates the whole trick even if you we don't command it just because he wants to seek our pleasure and treats. He gets the command and he gets the pattern that we never go home frustrated and disappointed.
For today's lesson, we introduced the concept of "stay" by getting him at our desired position changing our distance, increasing levels of distraction and the time for him to be released from that position. Three different sets of lessons not to be intertwined at this point.
For the distance, we had to ask him to do the sit or down position in his mat, both lessons he learned last week, and we moved two steps back. For the timing, we asked him to maintain his sit position for 10-15 seconds. And for the distraction, we asked him to maintain his sit or down position while people walk in front of him with treats falling off outside his intended place. According to his trainer, this is one of the most difficult lessons the dog will have to learn and Bruce learnt it so well. We were all impressed.
There were just a couple of ironing out to do of course. Bruce grew impatient at times and had to bark at us for his treat. He had attempts of leaving his mat because of some treats falling off and he gets tense when we move back. But doing the rule of repetition, he knew eventually what we expect from him.
Again, practice is key.
I'm fully confident he will graduate with flying colors. In terms of getting the lesson, he gets it so well to a point that he orchestrates the whole trick even if you we don't command it just because he wants to seek our pleasure and treats. He gets the command and he gets the pattern that we never go home frustrated and disappointed.
For today's lesson, we introduced the concept of "stay" by getting him at our desired position changing our distance, increasing levels of distraction and the time for him to be released from that position. Three different sets of lessons not to be intertwined at this point.
For the distance, we had to ask him to do the sit or down position in his mat, both lessons he learned last week, and we moved two steps back. For the timing, we asked him to maintain his sit position for 10-15 seconds. And for the distraction, we asked him to maintain his sit or down position while people walk in front of him with treats falling off outside his intended place. According to his trainer, this is one of the most difficult lessons the dog will have to learn and Bruce learnt it so well. We were all impressed.
There were just a couple of ironing out to do of course. Bruce grew impatient at times and had to bark at us for his treat. He had attempts of leaving his mat because of some treats falling off and he gets tense when we move back. But doing the rule of repetition, he knew eventually what we expect from him.
Again, practice is key.
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| Teaching STAY while Harvey, JD and I listen |
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