One of the ideas in Leslie McDevitt’s book, “Control Unleashed,” is to allow dogs to look at things they might react to. It’s something I wanted to try shaping in a low-stimuli
setting, so as recommended I placed an X of duct tape on the wall. I closed the door, got out some treats, manned my clicker and waited to see what would happen. …
I realized recently that maybe I haven’t given you enough detail on what exactly I mean when I say that Lilly shuts down. So, here, in full glory — using the best literary devices I
know — is a description of a true and total shut down. …
As suggested by frequent blog readers, I got myself a copy of Leslie McDevitt’s book, “Control Unleashed.” I read it once straight through, and now I’m going back to re-read, highlight
key things and mark sections that explain how to teach certain core behaviors to the program. On first read, I must admit that I rode quite an emotional roller coaster. Then again, it’s not not
uncommon for me to bounce from hope to despair in my work with Lilly. …
Well, it’s already winter here at altitude in Colorado. Snow, crazy wind, the whole bit. We missed our usual Sunday class due to weather, but Lilly had a private lesson on Wednesday at
Gigi’s new indoor facility. We wanted to wait until Lilly’s brain was duly soaked with serotonin to introduce her to the new space. We wanted her to have full run of the place and see what happens.
…
When they are outside alone, I often watch Lilly and Ginko from various windows in the house. I particularly like to watch when they don’t think I’m looking. I like the unaffected way
they explore the yard or just hang out. I love watching them pal around, usually with Ginko in the lead and Lilly tagging along. In particularly, I enjoy seeing Lilly be relaxed and confident at
home. And, I hope someday she’ll be like that elsewhere too. …
A couple days ago, Tom shot some video of
Lilly running her home agility course. (Last week, it took 3 tries to get this to work. The solution was to post the videos to YouTube and link to them there. So, to simplify, I’m re-posting this and
deleting all my mistakes.) …
Sometimes Ginko does it to Lilly. He’ll just walk up and start nibbling on her like an ear of corn, tiny bites in a row on her neck or shoulder or side. She seems to like it. Often, if
she’s just been bossy to him, then she’ll race up and lick him like crazy, but she rarely nibbles on him. She also doesn’t nibble on Tom, but I think it’s because when she tried early on, he yelled
“ouch.” And, then there’s me. Lilly likes to nibble on my head. And, I have no idea why. …
Lilly and I had an interesting week. She did not snark at anyone or anything, but she did shut down a couple times in training. She also had one very scary encounter and responded
beautifully. Here’s what happened. …
Here’s an update on my pal Don’s new border collie puppy, Indy. This week, she’s 6 months old. And … man, is she cute. …
We do not have class the last weekend of the month, so no formal training venue updates to report. However, as I mentioned earlier in the week, Lilly and I took a few adventures into
public settings instead, and we have a new training challenge at home … mules. …
