We have been training for about 4 weeks. So far I have learned that:
1. She knows her commands in German
2. She isn't happy to do what she is supposed to do.
3. She displays passive/aggressive behaviors when she is asked to do training exercises.
It occurred to me that I should describe the training routine.
On Tuesday and Thursday, Dena and I take a 2 mile walk on her 6 foot leash. During the walk I am interested in making sure she is paying attention to me for the most part. At various parts we stop and do sits, sit stays and sometimes we heel for a little while. There are 2 properties along the route where there are a lot of squirrels. At those places I work to help her concentrate dispite the distractions.
All the other days of the week we go out to specifically practice the tasks from class. We probably spend 15-20 minutes. Dena heels up and down in front of the house running and walking. She does her sit stays and recalls. The other dogs are locked in the house. They get in the way if we are training in the yard and if we are outside the yard I am afraid they will try to jump the fence. On these other days Dena gets a 2 mile walk on the "marital" leash with Kingsy.
2/15 Today was a training day. In the class Dena heeled ok, sat ok but needed correction for laying. I was advised to be happier when she does as she is told.
2/16 We trained outside and Dena had to be corrected for plotz every time except the final try. When she actually laid down without correction I figured that was good. Then later at night I asked her to plotz for a treat and she refused.
2/18 After the debacle of Sunday, I skipped Monday training except for a couple of sit-stays. Today was the walk. We walked for a while. Some squirrels distracted Dena but I corrected her and she paid attention to me after that. Toward the 1 mile mark we did some heeling. She wasn't real happy about it. We did sit stays after that and she seemed resentful. I had treats and gave her one after the sit-stays. We walked for a bit then did plotz. I had to correct her 3 times before she would do it. I gave her a treat. We went home. Near the end we did a couple more sit-stays and some heeling.
2/19 We did short training exercises. A little running heeling and some sit stays. No plotz as she really hates those.
2/20 Good thing for the walk or I wouldn't have trained or gone outside at all. What horrible weather. We mostly just walked with Dena paying attention to me enough to keep me from changing directions. The 6 inches of slush and ice probably did more to keep me from changing directions than anything. We did heel running for a bit. At home we tried to plotz. I had to correct her every time. I brought Kingsy out to plotz as an example. She still wouldn't do it without correction. Finally she did plotz once very begrudgingly. I praised the daylights out of her and we were done.
2/21 I thought the weather yesterday was bad. Today there was no walk as we'd have been killed if a car was on the street. So training consisted of some heeling in the house ending in sits and two ploz commands. The first one she ignored and the second one she complied grudgingly. I praised her profusely.
2/22 Dena and I went to Petsmart today. We spent about 1/2 and hour just messing around, talking to people, letting people pet Dena. We heeled up and down the aisles, sit stayed and plotzed many, many times. Dena now crawls onto my feet when she has to plotz. She did it though. When we got close to the door she bolted and tried to escape. So I went back into the bowels of the store for another 10 or so minutes. We were there so long, the staff was starting to follow us. All in all it was a great success!
So I took Sunday off.
2/24 Dena and I trained in the street today for a little bit. She has taken to jumping on me whenever she is released from anything. She plotzed without a fight which was nice but she broke a sit -stay and I had to put her back. Of course the only reason she is doing any of this is because she is wearing the pinch collar. Without it, she wouldn't do anything.
2/25 OK we have reached an impasse. Or maybe I mean imp-ass as that is what Dena is behaving like. Every release from any command means that she stands on her hind legs and hugs me. Every command needs to be corrected. She is trying to wear me down. We went out today. We walked about 1 mile. I stopped and we did a sit stay, which she broke. I put her back. She stayed. I made her plotz. She had to be corrected in order to put her elbows down. I had her heel. As soon as we stopped she put her butt down sideways and then leaped up and hugged me. I thought she was going to try and put her front paws around my neck and her back feet in my pants pockets. She was bouncing on her back legs and hugging me with her front legs, almost like she was humping me standing up. What the heck do I even do with that?
2/26 Did a small amount of training, some sits and plotz and a little heel with treats. After she figured out I had food she complied
2/27 Took Dena and Dopple together on their training leashes today. Had them both sit - stay. Tried to call Dopple only, but Dena came too so gave up and just called "doggies". Final sit/stay was in the yard so I could bring in the recycle bin. They both broke multiple times and I put them back each time. Finally, so they could have success, I put them on the sit/stay and just stood over them for a couple of seconds and then released them.
2/28 Dena did sit/stay in the yard without her training collar on. She was alone with me when I was doing chores. It wasn't a long sit/stay but it was something. When released she did that standing hump me thing again.
March 1 - We had a great class today. Dena did fairly well or at least she complied with all the requests and didn't make too much of a big deal of it. She was uber weird at night. She sat on the couch with her head on my lap and growled and snarled at anyone, including Dopple who tried to get near me. I hollered at her but wasn't really sure what to do.
3/2 We trained in the road today. Dena had some sloppy heeling but she sat and plotzed well. She held her sit stay for as long as I required. She likes to jump right up after she sits after a heel and hug me with her front feet. I really don't know if this is love or control she is exhibiting.
3/3 All good except for broken sit/stays.
3/4 Took a long walk. All went well except for broken sit/stays. Plotz is fine now and there is less jumping on me.
3/5 Again all good except for broken sit/stays.
Please see the page Dena training continued for more training with Dena.
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