Day 5: Training on the Fly

Margaret was tired after her big day yesterday so this morning we took it easier.  Training was woven into whatever we were doing -  morning chores, walking in the meadow, etc. We practiced all the basics as usual at Breakfast School - this is a time when we are both mentally fresh and food is interesting to Margaret, so it is a good time for training.

The difference today was that we couldn't do as many repetitions before Margaret lost interest as she was a bit tired - so I switched to training on the fly. For example, we practiced Fetch and Drop It with a stolen boot.    

I have found that praising Margaret lavishly for stealing has a wonderful reverse effect - instead of running away and keeping her booty (sorry, no pun intended!), Margaret can't help wagging her tail when she hears happy praise, and comes back to me for her anticipated reward.

She gets praise, treats, petting, a toy, another boot, anything I have on hand, for bringing me the stolen object and giving it to me.

This strategy is literally a game changer - it changes the game from stealing and keep away to Fetch and Drop.   She loves it and gets really proud of herself!

Margaret returning the stolen boot

Another counter-intuitive training strategy concerns "alert barking." Margaret has a loud and serious bark that she uses as an alert -  to sounds outside, potential intruders, people coming to the door, etc.

It doesn't do much good to tell her to be quiet - she may pause, but goes back to barking again. I am finding it works much better to praise her lavishly (as soon as she starts barking - so I am effectively rewarding her for a few barks instead of hundreds of them.) I thank her for a job well done, and reward her with treats as well.  This makes her stop barking and come to me, so I can then redirect her to a more acceptable (to me) job - like lying down next to me and being quiet.  This strategy is hard for humans to use at first because it seems as though we are rewarding a behavior we don't like - but it makes sense to dogs, and Margaret is catching on quickly.

Later in the morning Margaret came with me to Sy's house, for a visit to a new house and a small play date with Sy and The Moose.

After that it was time for a big romp with Moose back home in the meadow, before the most boring part of the day - a long nap in her crate in the van, while I taught a class for reactive dogs.

Margaret doesn't really like being confined in her crate in the day time so this was good practice for her. She barked when she heard someone close by and thought there was a chance to be let out, but otherwise accepted her fate and rested quietly or chewed on her green treat-toy.

Eventually the class ended and she was allowed out to play - with The Moose and her new friend Olive, a Border Collie /Jack Russell mix, who is older and rather sensible. Margaret was polite and respectful to her - and almost got her to play once or twice.  She also enjoyed playing Drop it with crinkle bottles and chasing  the Moose when he teased her with them.

Another impromptu training session happened when I came back from the chicken coop with 3 eggs.

Margaret really wanted to get her mouth around those eggs so I used them as rewards for training - just being allowed to sniff them made her work her heart out!

We practiced  all of her basics:

Name recognition/attention

Heel - off leash

Sit in Heel position

Down

Sit Stay

Down 

Down Stay 

Sit Stay (front) 

Sit Stay 

Rewarding Sit Stay with a sniff of an egg 

Leave it (one egg)

 Leave It with hand signal (one egg) 

Leave It  with twice the temptation (2 eggs)

2 egg sniff reward!

Isn't Margaret amazing! Such a smart girl!

Margaret got to sniff and lick all three eggs as her big reward at the end of the session. 

After another nap, while I worked on her blog it was time for dinner, a little play and more napping before bedtime.

We had another wonderful day together  and I am most definitely falling for Margaret in a big way. She is smart, fun, brave,  a fast learner, sweet-natured, and great with other dogs - an all-round great companion - and beautiful to look at too. I love to watch her prance and run in the meadow and along the trails, with a big smile on her face and her big feathery tail swishing. I hope you and Ringer aren't missing her too much! She sends lots of Margaret-love your way!