Attention Games

With Macy I've decided to start upping the ante on her Attention work. Especially out on our walks. I've been a huge slacker and have done very little training (especially outdoors) for the past several months... On walks lately the only I've done (at this is intermittently at best), was ask for a sit before heading out...normally so I could put my earbuds in and choose whether I was listening to a book or to music on the stroll for the day. After that, she was free to do what she wanted as long as I wasn't being dragged.

Uh-huh. We can see how well that's been working. Squirrels have suddenly hit her whoa-my-gosh chase mode, several of the dogs we pass daily are now getting screamy, bouncy answers from her as she play bows and madly dashes from one end of the leash to the other (though I am impressed at how little she ever bumps the end of the leash)...and uh, remembering I exist? Pretty nonexistent. Though considering I've been in earbud heaven, I count that fair. Obviously I haven't been considering her much either.

So, I added a few new rules. Mostly for me. -grin-

1. The earbuds stay home. When I'm on the treadmill or working out, I can have them. But if I'm working my dog, my attention needs to be on her. Only fair, since I want hers on me.

2. Start engaging with her on our walks again. Before I turned ultra-slacker, we'd frequently stop on the walk and I'd ask her for random behaviors - recalls, sits, stays, tricks...

3. Bring back play and rewards to our walks. When she sees a squirrel now, I've gone back to stopping and waiting for eye contact. Then I either reward with playing tug with the leash, a treat, or getting to chase the squirrel with me. Tugging on the leash is also back. This is great for her heel. She loves tug-o-war, and if she thinks there is any chance that I'll give her the cue to grab the leash for a tug, she'll heel into sunset on our strolls.

These three rules are suddenly morphing my dog back into the picture perfect walker she used to be (and me back into the person worth her paying attention to). I do plan on upping the ante though. I'd like to start getting her really solid attention wise and working around high distractions (especially with her recalls), so she can be offleash in certain places. Our yard is really small, and the one fenced in area gets closed off in the winter and has become an unsupervised (and scary) dog park during the warmer months. Meaning the only way she can get in a good run or do any obedience work outside of sidewalks, she has to be able to be offleash safely. Right now, we long-line it...but reeling up 50ft of long-line, covered in snow or mud gets old fast.

We're also introducing (or in some cases re-introducing) some Attention Games we can play indoors, to help build a better foundation for our outdoor work. I'll make a post on these and our upping the ante outdoor games as things progress. :)