It's been a few weeks since I
updated last, and a lot of things have been happening in our house! I am
a proud Auntie again to a beautiful little girl, but because of her birth
things in our place have been a little chaotic. Jazmyn hasn't gotten
enough exercise, but now that my sister-in-law is all settled at home, things
are going back to normal and we're amping up Jazmyn's training and exercise
schedule.
We withdrew Jaz from group
obedience classes and have begun our private training sessions. We've
completed 2 so far and I think they're going to help long-term.
Private Lesson #1
Jazmyn always knows when we're
heading to SuperDogs, it's like she can just sense it from the country roads we
have to take. Usually, she begins to act up in the car and is reactive
right on the drive in. This time, she was much better! We've been working
a lot to reduce her stress in the car and overall she was much calmer.
She offered a nice sit and a calm reaction before Paul let her out. Of
course, once out she can hear the dogs barking in the daycare, but she was much
more focused on getting to the front door of the reception.
She gets so excited to meet new
people that she pulls quite hard. She MUST sit or lay down before
receiving an "Okay" to greet.
We got into the training hall and
we asked if we could drop the leash just to let Jazmyn explore and get
comfortable. This worked like a charm. Within 30 seconds she'd
established where she was and came right back. There were dogs on the
other side of the dividing wall, she barked a few times, but being off leash
didn't create a reaction as normal, it was more of an "I'm here too!"
kind of bark. Another dog was on the other side of the door, and they
sniffed under the door, no barking, we called her back and she came no issue.
The main exercise that we're
working on with Jazmyn is teaching her that her barking & lunging DOES NOT
allow her to move towards whatever she is fixated on. We all agree that
her barking & reaction is excitement, so we need to curb it and get her
focused on us. We started working on the movement without another dog
present. We'd walk with a loose leash, Jazmyn focusing on us. The
second that she showed the body language of a reaction, or an actual reaction, we'd
sharply turn the other direction (without tightening on the leash),
forcing her to follow us. At first, she'd attempt to keep moving in her
own direction, but very quickly, she understood that she had to follow, and if
she did, she'd be rewarded. Once she was following, the goal was to then
turn back towards her fixation, yet have her remain focused on us and
progressing with no reaction. The second another reaction, turn away
again.
Now it was time for the real
test. The trainer brought in her Malinois and put her in a down stay (she
was really focused & non-reactive). We started right away walking the
opposite direction with Jaz. We'd have to put her into a sit occasionally
to get her focus 100%. After about 15 minutes of turning & walking, she
"Got" it. We walked up calmly behind the Malinois, no reaction,
and put Jazmyn into a sit about 6 feet away or so. Once focused, we gave
her the "okay" to say hello and then we'd quickly walk away.
Jazmyn was only allowed to sniff the Mal for a second, and received no sniff
back. It was purely to teach her that nothing bad would happen upon a
nice greeting. We repeated this about
5-7 times, with each approaching becoming smoother and smoother.
Overall a great first session, that
left us hopeful for the future!
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