2017-01-11
Early day, dropped off at Doggie Dog World ~0630.
He seems slightly less anxious about me leaving these days, but I'm not confident enough in this observation to play or go for a potty walk before driving to day care. I think his main motivation for exiting the car is to go potty/sniff.
I picked him up around 1700. Once home, we played fetch in the yard with starmark ball. Worked on "leave it" a few times with his harness/leash attached. Improving, but needs more work.
[ ] Note to self: back up and work on "leave it" inside the house. 1) food/treats in different rooms, 2) toys in different rooms, THEN 3) treats outside?
We had a little down time after dinner to let his food digest a bit. Then we went out back to play fetch again, and after that went out for a training walk. No lunging episodes on this walk! On the way back home he spotted cat moving behind cars a few houses down and started to stiffen up. I tried to use this opportunity to do a little desensitization work. We stopped walking, and I gave him some treats, which he took willingly. He continued to stare, so we moved away a little bit; he whined, presumably frustrated about not being allowed to go chase the thing. We moved away a little more until he seemed a bit more relaxed. I gave continuous treats as we walked along towards home/cat. He seemed less tense but still appeared interested in the cat. I moved back and then forward a couple times. I think there was still a bit of light tension on the leash. Once we got home, I gave him the cue to go upstairs ("up!") which he was happy to do.
Early day, dropped off at Doggie Dog World ~0630.
He seems slightly less anxious about me leaving these days, but I'm not confident enough in this observation to play or go for a potty walk before driving to day care. I think his main motivation for exiting the car is to go potty/sniff.
I picked him up around 1700. Once home, we played fetch in the yard with starmark ball. Worked on "leave it" a few times with his harness/leash attached. Improving, but needs more work.
[ ] Note to self: back up and work on "leave it" inside the house. 1) food/treats in different rooms, 2) toys in different rooms, THEN 3) treats outside?
We had a little down time after dinner to let his food digest a bit. Then we went out back to play fetch again, and after that went out for a training walk. No lunging episodes on this walk! On the way back home he spotted cat moving behind cars a few houses down and started to stiffen up. I tried to use this opportunity to do a little desensitization work. We stopped walking, and I gave him some treats, which he took willingly. He continued to stare, so we moved away a little bit; he whined, presumably frustrated about not being allowed to go chase the thing. We moved away a little more until he seemed a bit more relaxed. I gave continuous treats as we walked along towards home/cat. He seemed less tense but still appeared interested in the cat. I moved back and then forward a couple times. I think there was still a bit of light tension on the leash. Once we got home, I gave him the cue to go upstairs ("up!") which he was happy to do.
