Here Dave is working on rewarding Tim for being at his side rather than the usual running up front then checking back in. He is starting to get really good at it and will walk at Dave's side or a bit behind him on a regular basis now!
Here is Skip and Jenny walking next to me, I am trying to record and reward at the same time :) Nice to know I have their attention.
And wow Liza is in the video! This is the ripple effect of this work we are doing with Tim, Liza is staying close to us and not scouting out in front like she has done for the last 3 years that we have had her. She is really into this fun training we are doing. Liza says "if there is food involved I will gladly change my behavior!"
Normally we don't really stop our walk to deliver the rewards but everyone decided mom is preoccupied with recording so maybe it is a good time to see if they can get a treat for being super cute.... it worked! What the heck, if the dogs want to be focused on us when we are on these walks rather than heading out into the woods away from us, I am really good with that and it should be rewarded I think.
And look what we are achieving! 44 seconds of the dogs all walking behind Dave and in front of me. This feels like the safest way for us to do off leash walking and we will continue with our rewarding until this behavior will just be second nature for everyone.
I wanted to mention a few things in closing about this subject of off leash walking. In the past when we would work with training our dogs, before we had ratties, we would spend a lot of time saying "keep back, stay back, get back etc..." Not sure if you can notice from the videos but we aren't saying anything to the dogs. What we know now and wish we knew years ago, is dogs don't understand our conversation, confusing cues that were never even taught. They don't learn to stay where you want them because you say words to them and then get more stern each time you say it.
Dave and I daydream about going back to our past dogs and starting over with what we know now about force free training. We didn't know any better. I still believe we were loving doggies parents, but I now know we must have been awfully confusing to our dogs and they did get stern "talking-to's" which looking back did little to get the behaviors we were wanting and did nothing to deepen our relationship with our dogs.
I want to thank two New Rattitude team members for sharing with us their journey, passion, and love of force free training. Please visit their wonderful blogs here http://rescuedratties.blogspot.com/ and here http://cattierattie.blogspot.com/. I am a convert of this fun, gentle, and common sense way of having a working/training relationship with our dogs. And it works!
And a quick tip. If you decide to work off leash with your dog, please be safe with them. Where we practice this work is on state land where there are 99.99999% no other people or dogs to distract our dogs. Also with small dogs please be aware of wildlife that lives in the wild places and if your dog is wandering off, or his/her prey drive is too strong to be safe, then please use a long line or leash and keep them close to you. Talking, whistling, wearing bells, can help to warn wild life of your presence. Don't walk off leash with your dogs where it is not allowed. And always carry a leash for every dog that you can grab right away and use if needed. Some dogs might never be trustworthy to be off leash, that is perfectly fine.
This post is in honor of our dear friend Maya who was a great companion and hiking partner. She has been waiting for us at Rainbow Bridge for about 6 years now and we know someday we will meet again. Love you and miss you Maya.....
 |
| Maya at Chiwaukum Creek Trail, Eastern WA |
 |
| Maya at Goat Lake, WA |
No comments:
Post a Comment