This morning, outside, we worked a bit on come to heel. Chester heels quite well, off leash, in our backyard with few distractions. On leash & with distractions is a different story. And he really doesn’t like coming to heel.
The Petsmart trainer had us sit the dog in front of us, then have them follow our finger (or treat) in semicircle until they were in the heel position. I haven’t had great success with that.
So this morning I simply called “come to heel”, then gave him the hand signal for stop when he was at the heel position. He enjoyed that, and would usually heel with me (unasked), for quite some time. I’d stop & click & treat every few steps. I figure the more he gets treated for being next to me, the more he’s going to like being next to me.
This morning’s session went fairly well, other than the fact that Chester was clearly not happy on his bed in the bathroom. He loves the bed in the living room, though (obviously, no traumatic associations) and hops from that to the crate with great joy — he thinks it’s a terrific game, especially since he’s getting treats for doing it.
Our walk was later this morning since we had some rain again. When we got back, it was time for another session. He was fine in the living room. I am working on going out the door while he’s on his bed — since he needs to be trained to stay when I go out the door, anyway. The first time he popped up, but was still on the bed when I got back.
The second time, which was 20 seconds, he wasn’t on the bed when I came back in (he’s still tied to the bed with his leash at this point). I put him back in his “place”, waited til he laid down (and treated), then went back out for 30 seconds. This time he was still on his bed, although he’d popped up again.
Then we headed for the bedroom, but he balked at the door. I was able to lure him in with treats, but at the bathroom door he wouldn’t budge. Once again, I was able to lure him close to his bed with treats and a gentle tug on the leash, but he absolutely refused to get on the bed.
I tried crouching down, and finally just sat down. He came up to me then, and I was finally able to lure him to put his front feet on the bed, and called it a session. I’m sure he thought I was going to leave him again.
This afternoon’s session went better. We had another session after a potty break. More jumping on & off the crate, then some stays while I went outside — for up to a minute, eventually. A mixed bag; he never got off the bed, but most of the time he was standing when I came back in. I did the last one without the leash tied to the bed, but with me within sight.
Then off to the bedroom. This time he followed me readily enough, and hopped up onto the bed with just a litte hesitation. But it was quite clear he wasn’t happy. He makes almost this clicking noise with his breath, sort of like a very soft, very short whine, when he’s unhappy, and he was doing that.
I did a couple of out of sight stays, with the baby gate up. He did stay on the bed, but once again, was always standing when I came back. With the last one I untied him, and kept in sight. I was waiting for him to relax and lay down. He did — eventually — but it must have taken about 3 minutes.
I was planning on doing one evening session — but was just too tired. I was a bit concerned that he hadn’t pooped since this morning, although he’d pooped 3 times then. I gave him a kong in his crate while I fed & trained the boys; it took him about half an hour to polish that off.
Then I offered him what remained of his rawhide (after 3 days he hasn’t quite finished it off), and he was happy to stay on his bed for the next hour working on that.
When I took him out for last call, he pee’d but still didn’t poop. I didn’t get upset with him this time. It’s difficult, because even though he’s begun to have something like a pattern, there are still a lot of off-pattern days. I still don’t trust him enough to let me know when he has to go — he hasn’t proven himself there — so there’s still a lot of watching. It has been quite some time since the last accident, outside of when I’m gone, so he has been getting a bit more freedom lately.
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