I introduced Copper to the hot collar today. We started with him on leash and instead of getting physical corrections with a slip chain I would give him a tap from the remote collar. After a few minutes he was understanding the stimulation was connected to a correction. Then we did some on leash Recall (the "come" command) with the hot collar. Whenever I asked Copper to come to me he would feel a page from the collar. This light vibration feeling will soon become a signal to him if he is out of ear shot or if he is not hearing his owner, for whatever reason, to come back. After he got that basic idea, the big moment came. The leash came off and we went for a walk. I had some "therapy dogs" (ie dogs that already knew the rules and can set a good example) along with us to help. Every time Copper got a certain distance away I would page him and have him come back. He came back very well but he still isn't sitting every time.
Later in the day we had an obedience session with the hot collar and again he did really well. He did not need a leash.
Copper's Progress Report:
Heel/Autosit- Understands it well. Does not always sit all the way but squats and hopes I don't notice.
Sit- Understands and is very reliable in low distraction settings. In high distraction settings he does not do as well.
Down at the Side and from the Front- Understands well. Is better about Down than he is about Sit. Again, sometimes tries to cheat by not going all the way down.
Implied Stay- Gets it and is getting better.
Come- Knows well and is fairly reliable. In good Bird Dog fashion will make a sweeping circle instead of b-lining for you.
He also learned that it IS in fact possible to play AROUND a cat while not playing WITH the cat. He bounced up to Angela today and muzzle punched her and she got really puffy and gave him a good swat on the nose. He then decided maybe she wasn't the best playmate and resigned himself to just playing with me. Angela was not impressed.
Tomorrow some workouts might be rained out and so we are going to work on Place Mat and maybe play some hide and seek (practicing Recall) in the house. I also plan to set some spicy traps for this counter surfer.
Later in the day we had an obedience session with the hot collar and again he did really well. He did not need a leash.
Copper's Progress Report:
Heel/Autosit- Understands it well. Does not always sit all the way but squats and hopes I don't notice.
Sit- Understands and is very reliable in low distraction settings. In high distraction settings he does not do as well.
Down at the Side and from the Front- Understands well. Is better about Down than he is about Sit. Again, sometimes tries to cheat by not going all the way down.
Implied Stay- Gets it and is getting better.
Come- Knows well and is fairly reliable. In good Bird Dog fashion will make a sweeping circle instead of b-lining for you.
He also learned that it IS in fact possible to play AROUND a cat while not playing WITH the cat. He bounced up to Angela today and muzzle punched her and she got really puffy and gave him a good swat on the nose. He then decided maybe she wasn't the best playmate and resigned himself to just playing with me. Angela was not impressed.
Tomorrow some workouts might be rained out and so we are going to work on Place Mat and maybe play some hide and seek (practicing Recall) in the house. I also plan to set some spicy traps for this counter surfer.
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