All in all, we had a good training session with Bingo last night. Our class is made up of highly spirited dogs who are easily distracted, especially by other dogs, and last night we were able to get the dogs much closer together than before.
In the following video, Bingo and Mikey are only a few feet apart, with Mikey sitting in a Down Stay. Very impressive. Cheryl gives Bingo the Down command, but he looks up at the instructor for a few seconds to see if she has another suggestion--possibly a command that would be more fun--before he eventually complies.
Normally Bingo is very good at the Down command, but this time it was a little tough for him. And to be honest, I did cut out the end of this video--Bingo did not stay down for very long. Let's just say that his subsequent actions were inappropriate, but that's OK. We have all moved on.
Still, the dogs were much closer together than last week. Things are looking up. Just a few weeks ago none of this would have been possible.
Meanwhile Cheryl is away on a school trip for a few days, and it's up to me to maintain the emotional balance of our house in her absence (for the dogs' sake), so I've had two extra cups of coffee today and am resolved to be cheerful and talk to the dogs frequently. It's a tough job.
Keep up the pawesome great work!
ReplyDeleteBetter luck on the down-stay next time:)
Toby's Raiser
Way to go Bingo!I have a feeling I know what happens in the part of the video that you cut. A baby step at a time leads to great progress over time. You guys are doing a really good job with him!
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