Loki is doing very well. He is enjoying the freedom the Dogtra gives him. Instead of being leashed up to go outside I can just open the door. He gets to go to the bathroom in the taller grass like he likes to. He can run around and really exercise with Kylie. He still pushes it sometimes. I will tell him to come back and most of the time he just complies and returns to me and sits down. Other times he will stand there and stare at me as though weighing the benefits and drawbacks of running away from me. He gets a 1 second correction for bolting from me on purpose and he always slinks back to me after that. If he is truly afraid (I can't pinpoint what it is that scares him because it has happened a few times in varied circumstances) and runs and hides I usually go and retrieve him myself instead of making him come out of hiding. We call it being a "basket case" when a dog is afraid of inanimate objects or imaginary threats. I have worked with a few "basket case" dogs and usually it is more effective to move them on with redirecting instead of correcting them out of it when they have a mini freak out.
Loki seems to really fear getting something wrong. Even in the training room he will have a fantastic workout but then I ask him to do something and either he doesn't understand me or he wasn't paying attention and he doesn't know what to do. No matter the reason, if he realizes he doesn't know the answer he seems to really become agitated. He looks all around the room for a cheat or a way out and sometime bolts for the door to try to go inside and do something else. I correct him for this and then, if I have to, move him back to the spot where I gave the command and tell him to do whatever it was again. It is never something difficult. And once he does it and he knows he got it right he wiggles his butt and acts so happy! It is just that he over thinks things if he gets caught letting his mind wander.
This sweet boy has such a gentle personality and a tendency towards fits of the sullens (his feelings are easily hurt) but he has gotten easier to cheer back up than he was when he first arrived. He has also stopped snapping inappropriately at hands that reach for him. It was obvious that this was a learned (and likely inadvertently rewarded) behavior from puppy hood. He would snap at hands when the reached for him to make him do something he didn't want to do or take something from him he didn't want taken. He would also snap at my hands when I would reach to correct him. What I would do whenever he snapped at my hands is give him what is called a "Left/Right" correction. Which corrects the dog sharply to the right then to the left then back to the right. It is a way to safely "bite back" when a dog lashes out. It is for this reason that I had Loki wear a correction collar for his first few days here. Now he only wears a corrective collar when he is outside. I have been able to reach for him (and I will roughly reach for him and kind of jostle him around on purpose and then praise him warmly) or take something from him, or reach to correct him.
I am very pleased with the progress he has made over the last week and some days. We are now well into the proofing and practice stage. He will get to take a field trip down town and maybe to the dog park this weekend.
Loki seems to really fear getting something wrong. Even in the training room he will have a fantastic workout but then I ask him to do something and either he doesn't understand me or he wasn't paying attention and he doesn't know what to do. No matter the reason, if he realizes he doesn't know the answer he seems to really become agitated. He looks all around the room for a cheat or a way out and sometime bolts for the door to try to go inside and do something else. I correct him for this and then, if I have to, move him back to the spot where I gave the command and tell him to do whatever it was again. It is never something difficult. And once he does it and he knows he got it right he wiggles his butt and acts so happy! It is just that he over thinks things if he gets caught letting his mind wander.
This sweet boy has such a gentle personality and a tendency towards fits of the sullens (his feelings are easily hurt) but he has gotten easier to cheer back up than he was when he first arrived. He has also stopped snapping inappropriately at hands that reach for him. It was obvious that this was a learned (and likely inadvertently rewarded) behavior from puppy hood. He would snap at hands when the reached for him to make him do something he didn't want to do or take something from him he didn't want taken. He would also snap at my hands when I would reach to correct him. What I would do whenever he snapped at my hands is give him what is called a "Left/Right" correction. Which corrects the dog sharply to the right then to the left then back to the right. It is a way to safely "bite back" when a dog lashes out. It is for this reason that I had Loki wear a correction collar for his first few days here. Now he only wears a corrective collar when he is outside. I have been able to reach for him (and I will roughly reach for him and kind of jostle him around on purpose and then praise him warmly) or take something from him, or reach to correct him.
I am very pleased with the progress he has made over the last week and some days. We are now well into the proofing and practice stage. He will get to take a field trip down town and maybe to the dog park this weekend.
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