Remedial Manners Class

Last night went really well. First off, all three dogs were really very quiet which helped a LOT. Our first instruction was to click and treat (C/T) anything other than looking at the other dogs or barking. It went very well. We then moved on to massage as a way to calm the dogs and as a precursor to being able to touch the dogs all over. Charlie did well with everything except the muzzle touches. We'll be working hard on that at home. Charlie completely forgot there were 2 other dogs, and promptly sprawled out on the floor. The trainer even noted that Charlie was doing a nice job holding down the floor.

We then moved on to targeting to a matt. Charlie caught a glimpse of one of the dogs while we were moving, and barked. However, he kept it short and refocused quickly. My biggest problem was getting him 1) off the matt, and 2) to focus on the matt instead of staring at me (what a problem for a trainer to have). I began tossing treats a short distance from the matt so I could click the return. We did relatively well at this. A new tidbit not learned previously. Only put the "matt" on the floor when training this behavior. That way you C/T EVERY time the dog goes to the matt. Our last class hadn't suggested this which probably explains why it didn't work well.

Next was sitting via targeting fingers. Again, a short bark session as everyone moved about, but calmed quickly. I had a bit of difficulty getting him to focus on sitting (he much preferred checking out the area we were in - we had moved a bit). He also finds sitting repeatedly very boring. I got out the squeeze cheese. That fixed everything. He was sitting so fast and hard, I had to target him out of the sit to repeat the sit over and over.

Materials used in class:
clicker
Kraft squeeze cheese with bacon
minced hot dogs
halved mini Zukes
bath towel (our matt)

General note: Charlie LOVES the squeeze cheese!