Day Five -- The Whole Picture

When you ask Scout to do something, she frequently has that "What's in it for me" look in her eyes. If she thinks that it's perhaps something she really doesn't want to do, she darts away as if to play keep-away. Moving towards would only engage her in this game.

But moving away from her sparks her curiosity. If the movement alone doesn't do it, surely practicing recalls with the other dogs will get her moving towards me ("Hey! All those dogs are getting treats. Where are mine?"). As her recall improves, this game lessens.

Part of what I do to get a really good recall from a dog is to jackpot them when they come to me. But this also has a very useful side effect. It encourages the dog to stay with you instead of running up, grabbing a treat and taking off again.

I can tell she's starting to get the picture. Once she realized my cat was right there, Scout started barking madly, jumping around and play bowing to Mo, the cat. Mo is very use to dogs and doesn't bat an eye at all this ruckus.

And then it happened. I said "Scout, come" and Scout did the most beautiful instant and fast recall off of the cat. Not bad. I tried again from a different room. She was barking like crazy and I called her again. She came through two rooms to find me instantly. Way to go Scout!

Overall, having Scout earn a lot of her resources will help her to be more compliant. She's working on a slight shift in her thinking...the shift that says "Hey, maybe I'm not in charge here."

Jessie, on the other hand, happy to come to you but definitely likes to hold down the fort from her post.

She'll do what she can to navigate around the dogs to get to the people (makes training nice when she is so people focused).

But she's trying to get out of her comfort zone and check out the other dogs. But don't get too close, Jessie...

There are times when Scout doesn't want to be in the mix either. She's showing a little bit of resource guarding around the water bowl so she gets a bowl to herself in an area where the other dogs can't bother her. It can be a little intimidating to have big dogs around when you are not use to it. Even when those big dogs aren't pushy for their resources and will hardly approach the other dogs. But no sense adding to anxiety and we don't get to choose what they get anxious about.

Thankfully there are mandatory naps at this place because we have been BUSY!