Lacey has been making excellent progress with the basic commands of “sit” and “down”.  We are still working on her recall, but she is focusing much better and responding very well to guidance from the leash. Being a puppy, she is naturally distracted by new sights, sounds, and smells… and, by Violet the cat, who insists on inviting herself to every training session.

Lacey spent the previous weekend with her forever family. My client had a concern about Lacey’s behavior around food: not only is she trying to get to the table to get food, but she is also trying to take food away from her human child. This is unacceptable, so yesterday, I began teaching Lacey “don’t touch”.

The lesson began at our supper time.  I put my supper on a plate, and then I sat on the floor, where Lacey would be able to reach the food.  The second she got close to the plate, I gave a calm but quick “tsht!” sound and snapped my fingers. Lacey moved away from the plate and was immediately rewarded for the behavior.

The lesson continued for several minutes. The plate was gradually placed closer and closer to Lacey, until it was almost right under her nose. Each time she lowered her head, I made the “tsht” sound and the finger-snap; each time, she immediately moved away from the food. After several minutes of this, Lacey began to show disinterest towards the food. At that point, she was rewarded with pets and “good girl!” and the exercise was ended.

When my client arrived for the evening’s training session, I repeated the exercise so that she could see for herself how Lacey responded.  The plate had turkey-breast meat on it – a very high-value food reward. As I took Lacey through the exercise, I changed it up to include food being dropped on the floor. Each aspect of this exercise was presented with the “don’t touch” command, and followed through with the “tsht” sound and finger-snap if Lacey tried to go to the food.  Lacey did a fantastic job of staying away from it.  Occasionally, she was rewarded with small pieces of the food she was being asked not to touch.

Today, we are going to continue working on the “don’t touch” command, as well as doing recall work, reinforcing the “sit” and “lay down” commands, and working more on the “stay” command.  Lacey is trying to learn how to hold her position (“stay”), and it’s very challenging for her because Violet is continually distracting or trying to distract her.

As a side note, attempts to video these training sessions with Lacey have repeatedly failed, which is why no video has been provided as yet.  For some reason, when Lacey sees the camera or hears it being turned on, she stops what she’s doing and she will not co-operate until the camera is no longer part of the equation.  She is not afraid of it; she just doesn’t like it.  Filming efforts will, however, continue, as they provide visual proof of her progress and my techniques.

Have a great day, and thanks for visiting.  Please feel free to comment your thoughts on this or any other post.

Lacey had a much better day yesterday.  We worked off and on all day: We did in-kennel/out-kennel training, we started working on the “heel” position, we practiced “sit” and “down”, and we learned “gentle” when approaching Glimmer and Violet. Glimmer and Violet are helping with this by allowing Lacey near them, by smelling her, and by letting her smell them. Lacey seems to be starting to understand that the interaction she wants with them can only occur if she is calm.

Nighttime is a bit challenging. Lacey does not like being kenneled at any time, but especially, at bedtime.  She can handle it for about an hour or two, but after that, she starts whining, yipping, and howling to be released.  She’s happy to sleep in one of the dog beds – and she does sleep through the night in those situations. But she does need to learn to accept being kenneled, because there are going to be times throughout her life when being left loose won’t be an option.

House-breaking is not going as well as it should. Lacey is being taken out regularly to do her business, but she is still going in the house, too.  And, she is not using the training pads, despite being encouraged to do so and despite being rewarded on the rare occasions that she does use them.  However, when she is with her family, she is not having in-house accidents at all.  I’m not sure what the difference is between our houses, but whatever it is, I know Lacey will eventually succeed and do her business outside every time, no matter where she is.

Lacey has challenges and issues, but I will not give up on helping her.  I will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to help her become balanced so that she can live her best life with her forever family.  I have never given up on a dog, nor will I.  Unless there is something medically wrong with them, no dog is so far gone that they cannot be helped to overcome their negative experiences and become happy.