Copper is doing so well! I have been very impressed with how quickly he catches on. We are now approaching the proofing stage of his training. That means he knows the commands and has a good understanding of what is right and what is wrong and now we need to test it. We are going to put him into increasingly difficult situations. We will start small with someone throwing a ball while we work or squeaking a toy, and move up to a field trip to South Park and Massachusetts street for some real world distraction.
One thing he is having a very hard time with is Placemat. His mat is supposed to be his crate without walls. A blanket to lay on and he can relax and feel safe at the same time as keeping him out from under everyone's feet. However, he has a dramatic fear reaction whenever I direct him to his bed. He will put the breaks on and refuse to budge any further, he will run in the other direction, and once he took a flying leap from a stand still to try to jump over the mat.
At first I thought he didn't like the way his mat crinkles (something inside of it makes a strange sound) so I tried his bed. Nope. He will go onto his bed on his own and sleep on it without any problem. But if I lead him to his bed and tell him "Place" he immediately tucks his tail and hunches up and acts very afraid. I have started from square 1 introducing him to Placemat and so far we have not made a lot of progress.
Today we made a tiny step forward because I decided to use a blanket that was simply too big for him to jump over. I heeled him over it again and again, making him walk on it. Then I had him autosit on it over and over again. He does okay with this although he puts the breaks on often. I also had Helo, another student dog, lay on the big mat with Copper. He was slightly calmer with a buddy but this is definitely something he will need more work on.
Tomorrow we are going to fine tune his skills and work on Place mat yet again. Every dog has his quirks.
One thing he is having a very hard time with is Placemat. His mat is supposed to be his crate without walls. A blanket to lay on and he can relax and feel safe at the same time as keeping him out from under everyone's feet. However, he has a dramatic fear reaction whenever I direct him to his bed. He will put the breaks on and refuse to budge any further, he will run in the other direction, and once he took a flying leap from a stand still to try to jump over the mat.
At first I thought he didn't like the way his mat crinkles (something inside of it makes a strange sound) so I tried his bed. Nope. He will go onto his bed on his own and sleep on it without any problem. But if I lead him to his bed and tell him "Place" he immediately tucks his tail and hunches up and acts very afraid. I have started from square 1 introducing him to Placemat and so far we have not made a lot of progress.
Today we made a tiny step forward because I decided to use a blanket that was simply too big for him to jump over. I heeled him over it again and again, making him walk on it. Then I had him autosit on it over and over again. He does okay with this although he puts the breaks on often. I also had Helo, another student dog, lay on the big mat with Copper. He was slightly calmer with a buddy but this is definitely something he will need more work on.
Tomorrow we are going to fine tune his skills and work on Place mat yet again. Every dog has his quirks.
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