I have to repeat to myself over and over again "she's not cute, she's not cute!" while working with Daisy. Truthfully, she is adorable. The problem is that she knows it full well. We have been working hard on Down today and while Pepper is laying down like a black and silver sphinx on the sidelines Daisy is either on her back wiggling around, on her tummy pouting, rolling all over the place trying to wiggle onto my shoes, or simply blowing me off and bouncing around instead. "She's not cute, she's not cute!"
If I allow her to tease me into playing with her instead of insisting on a proper Down (that means laying down nicely, patiently and with as much dignity as the dog can muster, which in this case is not much) she will only learn that she can get out of obedience if she acts silly enough. Don't worry though, we are getting a lot of play time and silliness in, just not when practicing Down.
Tomorrow we are going to practice Heeling Daisy around a strange dog. We will start with my most neutral pooch, Ace, and later in the day probably bring out my dominant female, Kylie. We will start by asking her to Heel past Ace while he is in a Down/Stay and move up to walking past him while he is in a Heel, then work on her allowing a dog to follow her without losing her mind. Pepper will be in on this process eventually but first I want to work on this with Daisy solo.
The girls are both doing well and are a delight to have around.
If I allow her to tease me into playing with her instead of insisting on a proper Down (that means laying down nicely, patiently and with as much dignity as the dog can muster, which in this case is not much) she will only learn that she can get out of obedience if she acts silly enough. Don't worry though, we are getting a lot of play time and silliness in, just not when practicing Down.
Tomorrow we are going to practice Heeling Daisy around a strange dog. We will start with my most neutral pooch, Ace, and later in the day probably bring out my dominant female, Kylie. We will start by asking her to Heel past Ace while he is in a Down/Stay and move up to walking past him while he is in a Heel, then work on her allowing a dog to follow her without losing her mind. Pepper will be in on this process eventually but first I want to work on this with Daisy solo.
The girls are both doing well and are a delight to have around.
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