Week 1 and 2 Observations, Accomplishments and Videos

 Pigeon Observations:  Pigeon is a social girl who likes to have fun.  For most of the first week, Pigeon did not show much reactivity at all on leash.  However, she was introduced to the Day Training Group appropriately, so it was not like she was seeing "new dogs" to her when on leash.  I saw a little of her reactivity in excitement to seeing wildlife in our yard through the fenced-in pen area off-leash.    On this Monday, she did show a little excited reactivity when her friend, Chewy, came in.  She loves Chewy, and she wanted to get at him to play and flirt.

The basic skills that she came with are better than most dogs.  Therefore, we have been moving pretty quickly in advancing her skills to be used in much more exciting surroundings.  In week one, I have been using outside wildlife and walking in the woods to rein in her impulse control.

I am trying to get videos of Pigeon's reaction to the wildlife, but either my phone is not with me, or she stops if I have my phone, or I don't get a good shot.  The wildlife is a good starter to working with her reactivity.  In week 2, I have also been working on her skills that have advanced to start greeting the Day Training friends as they first come in, appropriately.

Overall, Pigeon is a great dog who learns quickly.  I expect this will move along successfully without many real problems.  

Accomplishments:  Behavioral and obedience training have been implemented to begin to shape Pigeon's behavior to be less reactive to unexpected stimuli on leash and off leash.  I got the training outside in the yard at the end of Week 1.  The things that will trigger Pigeon tend to be wildlife (especially), and the excitement of certain friends coming in while on leash have been identified.  Strategies to use these triggers in training have been implemented.  

Week 2 has been spent on getting baseline performance and behavior in the outside yard areas and starting the walks off property.  Week 3 will focus on leaving the yard for other areas of York, Maine's beaches, parks, and shopping areas where dogs are walked.  Week 1 has set up the foundation for this.  

Pigeon Videos [NOTE:  BLUE TEXT GOES TO EXERCISES DIRECTIONS]:

BEHAVIORAL EXERCISES:

these are meant to be a duration of exposure in a controlled way, first in non-distracting environments and then building up to distractions of various sorts, including changing up environments.

Sit on The Dog:

This one started with the audio noise barking from a YouTube audio file.   While she had been distracted doing obedience exercises, she is much less distracted by that when we do this. Now this has been moved to the yard.  In Week 2, we had a deer hanging around the yard that Pigeon was very excited about.  Squirrels are also a cause for excitement.

Long Place:  

This is one of the end goals of the four steps of place.  Being able to stay within the boarder and on the place object while distractions are around helps create a habit and builds on impulse control.

This is actually the middle of Week 2 work.  "Sit on the Dog" has been practiced outside as well.  We had a deer help us with wildlife distractions the other day as a gift from Mother Nature.

OBEDIENCE EXERCISES:

The sits on first command were pretty good with Pigeon starting in non distractions.  I did not make a video of those, as we dove right into sit stays.  I never had a problem meeting her goals with just sits under 4 minutes or less.  The circle sit stays with the leash dropped are usually worked on Week 2 with most dogs.

Circle Sit Stay Leash Dropped:

Send to Place:

This is the second step in training the place.  This has an audio distraction that made it harder for her to concentrate.  You might not hear the dogs barking because my earbuds do a good job of filtering out the other noises.

Circle Place:

The leash is dropped in Week 1, which is not usual for most dogs.  The dropped leashes inside usually happen on Week 2.  This also has an audio distraction playing of dogs barking.

Traditional Heeling: