Well we took the leash off today. She did relatively well but her short attention span makes it difficult for her. She will stay right in a Heel/Autosit for 10 minutes but if the cat streaks past or someone throws a ball or even if a stranger walks by us she hyper-focuses on that thing and I have a difficult time getting her focus back. In a distraction free zone she has Heel/Autosti, Come, Down from the Side, and Implied Stay under her belt. What we are going to push this week (along with Down from the front and Placemat) is doing these things with distractions around. She may merit a field trip to Mass. Street to get some real distraction practice.
Another thing we are going to work on is her bullying of other dogs. Kylie is a very clear communicator. That is why I like to use her in Puppy Preschool because she is so good at showing puppy owners what behaviors make a dog uncomfortable. Today Piper started sniffing Kylie's face and when Kylie showed her teeth, telling Piper to back away, Piper instead muzzle punched Kylie. Kylie snapped at Piper, giving her a final warning and Piper jumped on Kylie and tried to start a fight. Luckily, it takes two to tango and Kylie wouldn't indulge Piper in a fight and instead tried to ignore the annoying puppy biting her cheek. All I had to do was say "NO!" to get Piper to stop but if Kylie had wanted to fight back it likely would have taken human intervention to get Piper off of Kylie.
I have a rule. I try not to interfere with two dogs interacting unless someone is getting hurt. I always supervise the boarders when they are with my dogs because it is impossible to predict animals all the time. When I saw Piper ignoring Kylie's warnings I started to count to 10. By the time I got to 10 the two dogs were separated and had moved on to other interests. However, I don't think I am going to sit quietly again when Piper gets too big for her britches. I am hoping to be able to get a picture of what Piper toeing the line with another dog so that her owners can see when they should redirect her. Her whole attitude changed when she got up and walked over to Kylie to sniff her face and I could pinpoint exactly when Piper decided she was going to try to start a fight. Let me be clear, I don't think Piper is an aggressive dog. I think she is a bit of a bully and a little stupid about other dogs. I worry that she will bully the wrong dog and really get taught a lesson one day so I am hoping to start redirecting her when I see her stiffen before a fight even starts and teach her that she needs to leave dogs alone that want to be left alone.
Tomorrow we are working again on off leash obedience and I think she is ready to learn Place Mat
Another thing we are going to work on is her bullying of other dogs. Kylie is a very clear communicator. That is why I like to use her in Puppy Preschool because she is so good at showing puppy owners what behaviors make a dog uncomfortable. Today Piper started sniffing Kylie's face and when Kylie showed her teeth, telling Piper to back away, Piper instead muzzle punched Kylie. Kylie snapped at Piper, giving her a final warning and Piper jumped on Kylie and tried to start a fight. Luckily, it takes two to tango and Kylie wouldn't indulge Piper in a fight and instead tried to ignore the annoying puppy biting her cheek. All I had to do was say "NO!" to get Piper to stop but if Kylie had wanted to fight back it likely would have taken human intervention to get Piper off of Kylie.
I have a rule. I try not to interfere with two dogs interacting unless someone is getting hurt. I always supervise the boarders when they are with my dogs because it is impossible to predict animals all the time. When I saw Piper ignoring Kylie's warnings I started to count to 10. By the time I got to 10 the two dogs were separated and had moved on to other interests. However, I don't think I am going to sit quietly again when Piper gets too big for her britches. I am hoping to be able to get a picture of what Piper toeing the line with another dog so that her owners can see when they should redirect her. Her whole attitude changed when she got up and walked over to Kylie to sniff her face and I could pinpoint exactly when Piper decided she was going to try to start a fight. Let me be clear, I don't think Piper is an aggressive dog. I think she is a bit of a bully and a little stupid about other dogs. I worry that she will bully the wrong dog and really get taught a lesson one day so I am hoping to start redirecting her when I see her stiffen before a fight even starts and teach her that she needs to leave dogs alone that want to be left alone.
Tomorrow we are working again on off leash obedience and I think she is ready to learn Place Mat
RSS Feed