Day Four -- Where Are You?

Scout is starting to learn that in order to get things she wants, she needs to pay attention to where I am and what I'm doing. I want her to always think in the back of her mind "Where are my people?" She needs to keep track of that so she can ask for things when needed. It's a big change from just taking things you want.

We are still rewarding her random check ins with me and that will go on for a while (until she's reliably doing it even in really distracting situations).

When she has to sit to ask for things, she'll start to learn that you are in charge. This will help her be less anxious and less barky. If you have it handled, it's less for her to worry about.

At this point she needs reminders most of the time to sit for things she wants but it won't be long before she offers that behavior automatically.

We are continuing to build up her responsiveness to her recalls. She is doing really well on her recalls with little or no distractions and consistently comes to me.

She's even doing well with a little bit of a distraction (like one other dog present).

And she's starting to be more responsive when I call her from a distance. As she is coming to me, I'm encouraging her the whole way and paying her off big when she gets to me. I've brought out the big guns to get her recall nice and sharp so she gets little pieces of chicken breast when she arrives.

Scout does pretty well playing one on one with another dog as long as someone is there to interrupt her if she starts to get too rough.

She gets a little more anxious if there is more than one dog. She wants to join in but stays on the outskirts. She gets a little snappy if she ends up in the middle of it. It's just a bit too overstimulating for her.

But it's clear she'd like to be involved. So nice, easy dogs to play with and slowly introducing her to multiple playmates is the key.

Jessie appreciates the dogs here. None of them bother her or try to engage her in play. She definitely does not want to be in the mix of it but she's happily wags her tail as she meanders her way through the crowd.

Jessie has picked out a crate with a big cushy mat that she really likes. She had breakfast in bed this morning and happily gobbled up her meatloaf at an early hour today (what, no brunch?).

We give her time to herself but now it's time to get up and work.

Jessie is much more interested in where the people are which makes training nice.

She's happy to watch over the dogs while they play but that's about it.

Which means that she is very responsive even with distractions near by. That's such a nice characteristic in a dog!

Jessie is not pushy like Scout is so it's not imperative that she "say please" for everything but it's good practice none-the-less. She's slow but happy to comply.

We manage to sufficiently wear them out today.

And Scout was particularly happy to have friends to snuggle up with at the end of a busy day.