Lily was in the crate for a few hours while Rachel was out. We all met at her house and started working Lily as soon as she got back.
Jeanne was the first to start because Lily was already mouthy and chewing the longe line just walking out of the house. Next Rachel worked her, then Janet.
Lily likes to put everything in her mouth (which we correct with "phooey"), and has started jumping up on us (which we usually correct with "off" and sticking out a knee, and making her sit), but we were not expecting this much of both. She was jumping up quite a bit, biting the leash and our legs. She even got ahold of Rachel's pants revealing a half moon.
Lily had lots of energy and kept up with the mouthiness. Besides going in the opposite direction, what we could think to do was correct by standing on the leash and phooey, but please let us know what better option there is for us to do. She became progressively better with each of us, and finally had some good passes with Janet.
Looking forward to your feedback on what we can do to help us help Lily.
It can only get better from here....
ReplyDelete😉 It will get better. I am delighted to review these important videos.
ReplyDeleteRemember:
1) Seek to have quiet mechanics, especially when picking up the Safety Loop after letting it go as you countermoved. Quiet mechanics = keeping your left arm/hand close to your left side as you slide your hand down the LL to rapidly, and quietly, get the Safety Loop back into Ready Position.
2) No "phoohy", LL is to be done quietly, no words, no looking directly at the dog as that makes the correction (from the collar) personal. The point of LL is we turn, as we let go of Safety Loop, the snap of the LL does the correction/communication as we are moving AWAY from the dog. Simultaneously we use quiet mechanics and picking up the Safety Loop again.
3) The jumping up and biting the LL is normal behavior for an unearned dog. The dog is attributing the correction, AKA leash pressure from a turn, to the LL which is what we want. The dog is frustrated that it, now as a result of the LL working to correct a wrong choice, is being restricted from its intended focus and is experiencing slight discomfort as a result. Comfort IS restored when the dog is close to its handler. That is the point of LL= comfort restored to dog when in Safety Zone (5-6' to left of handler). Discomfort when dog is anywhere outside Safety Zone. For the jumping up, simply interrupt that behavior by using a lifted foot or knee (often this is done behind you) as a way to stop that behavior.
Lily IS a retriever so everything goes into her mouth. As you up the ante on distractions, her focus will rapidly become 'the distraction' instead of the LL, your pant leg, a stick, etc. Margot always said, "Distractions are your training friend
" Indeed, this is 100% true as you will see in the next few days.
How did Cool Down go after this session? How did QT go?
Uploading a video from earlier this week when I worked the 120 lb Boxer, Milo, for 1st time on LL. You will see me do a lot.of corrective mechanics with Milo as he is jumping around and biting the LL,. anything to get me to stop doing LL work. I simply keep interrupting his focus and require Milo to take responsibility for his choices. He's a lot of dog.
Watch n see..
Cool down went ok. Rachel crated Lily for QT while we reviewed the videos. Lily watched the videos for a bit and then quickly settled down and slept.
ReplyDelete