Heeling with distractions

[Alchemist]

Duncan had his first "Control Unleashed" class tonight, and it went swimmingly. He had a blast, so I did as well. He whined a bit at first, seeing the other dogs in the class (total of four dogs tonight, plus the trainer's dog, with two more to join next time - a heckuva lot better than the 50-odd dogs at the last place!). But he calmed down very nicely, even doing a total "limp noodle" flop at one point. We worked on relaxing on the mat, massaging the dogs so that they forgot about all the things that were so exciting all around them. (She told us it wouldn't always be this "tree-huggy" a sort of thing). Then we worked on "shaping" a "go to your mat" (without commands). At first Duncan worried about trying to figure out what I wanted him to do - was he supposed to go inside the crate? "Sing?". I wasn't supposed to tell him "go to your bed" or give him any hand signals. But he very soon worked it out that if I was looking at the mat, he should go there and lie down. He also did very well at staying in the crate (without whining), even if the door was wide open and I'd picked up his leash, until I finally released him, at which point he hopped straight out and sat very nicely at attention in front of me. We also worked on hairpin turns on calling the dog's names when they were busy sniffing at something else, and discussed how to train them to "look at that".

 

I really like the trainer. She seems calm, totally unflappable, and her explanations are very clear. The other dogs have a lot in common with Duncan; they tend to get overexcited. The trainer paid Duncan a lot of compliments - told me that she'd expected a dog who was much more "over the top" from the descriptions I'd given her, and she noted several times how quickly he was picking up on things.

 

Next class isn't for two weeks, so we'll have plenty of time to practice the exercises we started on tonight.

 

In the meanwhile, I'm still hoping that the snow here will eventually melt. It's nigh-on impossible to walk along the sidewalks - most people haven't shoveled them wide enough for a dog and a human to walk side by side. Duncan is still happy to heel beautifully (without my asking him to) when I use the clicker (walking in the street), but only as long as there are no huge distractions (people shoveling snow - "dump it on me, please!!!"; other dogs "let me sniff you, please!"). I'm OK with that as I don't feel he's blowing me off if I haven't asked him to heel in the first place.

 

When life calms down (hopefully in another week or two), I'll start implementing some of the great suggestions some of you made.

[Root Beer]

Duncan had his first "Control Unleashed" class tonight, and it went swimmingly. He had a blast, so I did as well. He whined a bit at first, seeing the other dogs in the class (total of four dogs tonight, plus the trainer's dog, with two more to join next time - a heckuva lot better than the 50-odd dogs at the last place!). But he calmed down very nicely, even doing a total "limp noodle" flop at one point. We worked on relaxing on the mat, massaging the dogs so that they forgot about all the things that were so exciting all around them. (She told us it wouldn't always be this "tree-huggy" a sort of thing). Then we worked on "shaping" a "go to your mat" (without commands). At first Duncan worried about trying to figure out what I wanted him to do - was he supposed to go inside the crate? "Sing?". I wasn't supposed to tell him "go to your bed" or give him any hand signals. But he very soon worked it out that if I was looking at the mat, he should go there and lie down. He also did very well at staying in the crate (without whining), even if the door was wide open and I'd picked up his leash, until I finally released him, at which point he hopped straight out and sat very nicely at attention in front of me. We also worked on hairpin turns on calling the dog's names when they were busy sniffing at something else, and discussed how to train them to "look at that".

 

It's interesting to hear about how other CU instructors do things.

 

I'm glad it went well for you, and I look forward to hearing how things go as you progress through the class!

[Jedismom]

We had our first Control Unleashed class this morning too. We also had four dogs and we were set up to be at the four corners of the room. We mostly practiced trying to be calm on the mat in the presence of other dogs, and distractions such as the trainer approaching. Jedi lay down and was focused on me but never really achieved total calmness. He did ok though. The goal seemed to be to keep them all under threshold at all times. He whined some but it never escalated to more than that. It was hard for him to break his focus off me to do a "Look at That". We'll work on that this week. He got rewarded if he shifted his attention back to me without my calling him and we didn't work with crates. So a little different than Alchemist's experience. I just got the book in the mail so I'll be reading that also. I hope I can pick your brain sometimes Kristine, I know you are well versed in this.

[Root Beer]

Jedi lay down and was focused on me but never really achieved total calmness. He did ok though. The goal seemed to be to keep them all under threshold at all times. He whined some but it never escalated to more than that.

 

Repetition will help with that. Once it becomes a habit, he won't have to think about it as much, and he will relax more.

 

It was hard for him to break his focus off me to do a "Look at That". We'll work on that this week.

 

Trick of the trade - practice it at home by a window! The more you practice Look at That outside of class, the easier it will get in class.

 

He got rewarded if he shifted his attention back to me without my calling him and we didn't work with crates. So a little different than Alchemist's experience. I just got the book in the mail so I'll be reading that also. I hope I can pick your brain sometimes Kristine, I know you are well versed in this.

 

Anytime! I love talking CU!

 

It's really interesting to me that both of your classes started LAT the first week. I don't normally introduce it until the second week. I always have everyone load up clickers the first week because normally most of the students haven't used them before. The main reason I hold off on LAT until the second week is that I want all of the dogs to know what the click means before we introduce it into training LAT.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing more about your experiences as you move through the class.