Daisy's Mom
Well-known member
I've posted several times about how Daisy is so wild on a leash (pulling, lunging at cars, dogs, people, etc.) Well, we have been working on it and I will have to say -- it is getting better! We went for a long walk on Sunday, and she only lunged at a passing car one time out of about 30 cars! She mostly ignored them. A couple of other times, she glanced at them and seemingly decided against lunging, so that is awesome (and earned her some treats)! I'm so proud of her. The treating and distraction every time a car passes has finally paid off. I didn't even have to do the distraction after I realized after the first few cars passed that she was ignoring them. (That's good because she's overweight and I can't be treating her so heavily long-term.)
We have two weeks left of Intermediate Obedience, and she is doing great there as well. Last night, she only lunged at other dogs about 5 times total, a huge improvement! She is a pro at the obedience stuff and has amazingly become the best heeler in the class. After our first two obedience courses (Puppy and Obedience I), I had almost despaired that she would ever heel -- that was her Achilles' heel (pun intended)! Now she's proved me wrong. The trainer always comments about how awesome Daisy is at focusing on me, which makes me feel good. She calls her a "cute heeler" because she looks up at me so intently all the time when she is walking. I'd like to say it's because she loves me so much, but it's really the treats.
The pulling on the leash has decreased pretty significantly and I think she has gotten the picture that I won't walk when she's pulling. She's far from perfect in that respect, but definitely much improved. I think she now understands the "no pull" command I always say when I plant myself.
So my strenuous attempts at patience have finally begun to pay off! We have the CGC test two weeks from now. Since there are no treats allowed, I don't really think we have much of a chance, but hopefully she will do her best that night. If I can somehow fool her into THINKING I have a treat.... Her weak areas will be the sitting still for a stranger (she wants to put her legs up on them to be petted) and passing another dog calmly. Her strengths as always will be the stays.
She did the stay with a stranger thing for 3 minutes (with me leaving the room) last night in class and did very well after the first couple of seconds when she was jumping up on the teacher's legs. She did watch me go and acted a little worried about it, which surprised me. She's always such a confident little girl. I peeked in at her through the window at one point and she was laying down, which was great.
Anyway, I thought I'd post some good news since I've posted my struggles a few times!
We have two weeks left of Intermediate Obedience, and she is doing great there as well. Last night, she only lunged at other dogs about 5 times total, a huge improvement! She is a pro at the obedience stuff and has amazingly become the best heeler in the class. After our first two obedience courses (Puppy and Obedience I), I had almost despaired that she would ever heel -- that was her Achilles' heel (pun intended)! Now she's proved me wrong. The trainer always comments about how awesome Daisy is at focusing on me, which makes me feel good. She calls her a "cute heeler" because she looks up at me so intently all the time when she is walking. I'd like to say it's because she loves me so much, but it's really the treats.
The pulling on the leash has decreased pretty significantly and I think she has gotten the picture that I won't walk when she's pulling. She's far from perfect in that respect, but definitely much improved. I think she now understands the "no pull" command I always say when I plant myself.
So my strenuous attempts at patience have finally begun to pay off! We have the CGC test two weeks from now. Since there are no treats allowed, I don't really think we have much of a chance, but hopefully she will do her best that night. If I can somehow fool her into THINKING I have a treat.... Her weak areas will be the sitting still for a stranger (she wants to put her legs up on them to be petted) and passing another dog calmly. Her strengths as always will be the stays.
She did the stay with a stranger thing for 3 minutes (with me leaving the room) last night in class and did very well after the first couple of seconds when she was jumping up on the teacher's legs. She did watch me go and acted a little worried about it, which surprised me. She's always such a confident little girl. I peeked in at her through the window at one point and she was laying down, which was great.
Anyway, I thought I'd post some good news since I've posted my struggles a few times!