A place to learn a new language, the Koehler Method of Dog Training, which is an entire language of communication between owner(s) and their dog. Let the journey begin.
No. No, "Come on girl.", no "Stay with me", none of that additional and unnecessary commands. You are adding in commands that are going to backfire on you as you go forward. If she is moving with you, she's on a "Heel" command. BTW, what's with the stomping of the feet? Totally unnecessary.
LOL, yes you need the practice. STOP THOSE UNNECESAARY COMMANDS, you are training Sofie to ignore you when you do that. "Heel" means heel. "Sit/Stay" means sit/stay. "Stand" means stand, you gain nothing by adding and you are totally losing her attention and believe in you that your command means anything. When she's blowing you off, and she's TOTALLY blowing you off, switch to Walking Position on the leash and work her briskly, do a Turn/Halt, repeat, repeat, repeat. The point is that by Week 5, every time the dog is out of Heel position, the handler countermoves to require the dog to be again in Heel position. Doing more of the Vickster's Test practice, when she's blowing you off only reinforces her belief that she doesn't HAVE to listen to you and obey.
Of course, with all those superfluous verbiage you are doing, you've lost her attention completely. Go back to the leash as my motto is "Less done WELL is far, FAR better than more done poorly." And do practice with more boundaries so you can set up a boundary area to work her in using a wall and cars parked to create more boundaries. In this case, more open space is making it MUCH harder for Sofie to succeed.
Make sense?
Good for Sofie for maintaining her Sit/Stay despite bicycles.
we kept at it, need the practice
ReplyDeleteNo. No, "Come on girl.", no "Stay with me", none of that additional and unnecessary commands. You are adding in commands that are going to backfire on you as you go forward. If she is moving with you, she's on a "Heel" command. BTW, what's with the stomping of the feet? Totally unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteLOL, yes you need the practice. STOP THOSE UNNECESAARY COMMANDS, you are training Sofie to ignore you when you do that. "Heel" means heel. "Sit/Stay" means sit/stay. "Stand" means stand, you gain nothing by adding and you are totally losing her attention and believe in you that your command means anything. When she's blowing you off, and she's TOTALLY blowing you off, switch to Walking Position on the leash and work her briskly, do a Turn/Halt, repeat, repeat, repeat. The point is that by Week 5, every time the dog is out of Heel position, the handler countermoves to require the dog to be again in Heel position. Doing more of the Vickster's Test practice, when she's blowing you off only reinforces her belief that she doesn't HAVE to listen to you and obey.
Of course, with all those superfluous verbiage you are doing, you've lost her attention completely. Go back to the leash as my motto is "Less done WELL is far, FAR better than more done poorly." And do practice with more boundaries so you can set up a boundary area to work her in using a wall and cars parked to create more boundaries. In this case, more open space is making it MUCH harder for Sofie to succeed.
Make sense?
Good for Sofie for maintaining her Sit/Stay despite bicycles.