Toby's Loose Leash Walking Lessons

Toby is doing quite well.  Learning is not as fast as with "cruel" equipment (choke chains and pinch collars), but it is working!  We still have a way to go.  Since I am having difficulty with him charging ahead as soon as he gets his treat, his teacher had me take only one step, mark (which means to say "yes" or use a clicker.  I am NOT a clicker person.  ha!), then treat.  It worked VERY well.  Of course this cannot go on forever, but it is a great step forward in the right direction (pun intended).   

In this lesson, the new skill his teacher taught/tricked him into, was to walk past a closed bag of treats multiple times without him trying to get it.  As a reward for being a good boy each time, he got a handful of the treats out of the bag!  The final exercise was for a handful of treats to be on the sidewalk.  And he walked past them!!!  When I took the leash, he performed perfectly for me as well!  :) 

We did this exercise at home last night inside the house.  But I didn't start with the bag; I started with a handful of treats on the floor.  That was a bit too much to expect.  ha!  Though, the second time we did it, he was successful in completing the exercise!!!  Woo Hoo!!!

His teacher thinks he is both very smart and a handsome boy.  Both are true!!  She also frequently comments on how well bonded he is with me.  Like me wanting to be a princess, he is fitting into princely shoes. 

School -- Good and Bad

 Toby had his third class last night.  He is doing very well on some things and not so great on others.  He walks pretty well without tugging.  He doesn't hold anything in his mouth long enough to teach him "Drop it," and he is not doing well with "Leave it."  He does "Sit," "Down," and "COME"!!!!  Shocking about come!  He must have learned that before.  He got away from me a couple of days ago while taking things out of the car.  When I finally looked for him, he was gone.  I yelled, "Toby, Come!" and he ran to me immediately from the other side of the car!!!  And in our first "Come" exercises in class, he was perfect! 

Today, he awoke with a hoark.  He was seemingly trying to get something out of his throat, but nothing came.  Each time he awoke from resting, he would hoark.  We went to see the vet in case something could be stuck in his throat.  She thinks he picked up a bug in school at Petsmart.  The animal hospital is next door to our classroom, and he wanted to check out the hospital area during break.  Now he has two meds to take for the next several days. There is this marvelous new product -- "Pill Pockets!"  You place the pills inside the Pill Pocket, and the dog thinks it is a treat! 

Home From His First Pet Resort Vacation

This afternoon, I checked Toby out of his resort.  The person at the counter was the counselor who supervised his Playtime from 9 – 3 on Friday.  She said he had a BALL playing with all the other dogs (about 10).   Saturday, she was the person to take him swimming.  He put his front paws in, but would go no further.  He didn’t want anything to do with it.  She says she would go in the water with him the next time or throw him in.  I wish I had a creek or body of water to let him see what it is like!  They said he was a very good boy and had a good time.  When they let him out of his suite once, he escaped and ran down the aisle from them.  Ha!  He has spunk!  It is showing up more and more!  He did not exhibit any anxiety.  The suites have 3 walls and a glass door.  The walls and door do not go to the ceiling.  It is about a 3'X5' room.


He expressed his happiness at seeing me by jumping on me with a bit too much energy and clawed my arm making it bleed in several spots!!! 

As usually happens when my dogs return from the resort, he has been VERY tired since coming home.  Though we did take time for some training exercises.  I can walk him with minimal tugging now!  We haven’t conquered “Leave it” yet, and I can’t do “Drop it,” because he isn't interested in holding something in his mouth long enough to use the “Drop it” command.  He is showing improvement with the "Down" command.  As we walked around the neighborhood tonight, a couple of strangers  commented he is doing much better!  LOL  Perhaps one of them is the one who asked previously, "Who is taking who for a walk?"

His report card says:
Upon arrival I was HAPPY
My activity level during my stay was  HIGH
During my stay I ate  EVERYTHING
I barked SOMETIMES
I was PLAYFUL, SWEET
My favorite Pooch Perk was PLAY TIME, POOL TIME, GROUP PLAY
Comments by my resort supervisor:  "Loves to run & play & jump  :) "

Day Two of Deciphering a Dog

Today, I attended a writing seminar from 9 to 3.  Toby stayed at Petsmart Day Care to avoid any crate anxiety.  When we arrived, I told the staff present about his crate behavior, the reason for him being there.  They had a couple of good suggestions.  Buy him a plastic crate — the enclosed kind which makes the dog feel he is in a cave.  Or put a blanket over the crate thus transforming his wire crate into a tent cave.

I had great expectations he would have a wonderful day.  Well, he may have regarded it as a wonderful day, but I was disappointed.  Since I knew they put the dogs in a kennel for their individual treat time, I should have been wiser.  Since I had already told them about his crate anxiety,  they should have been a bit smarter as well!  The blame is not entirely mine especially since they refer to treat time being in a “private room.”  We all lacked foresight.  At day care, the owner may choose for his pet to have a treat or not.  I chose a Kong filled with treats topped off with peanut butter for his treat today.  He ate the peanut butter, but left the treats in the Kong.  Apparently, they store the dog’s leash and collar next to the crate which is theirs for snack time.  After eating the peanut butter, he reached his collar and tore it to shreds!!  He did not swallow any of the leather collar as they think they have all the pieces.  Thus, if he ever goes there again, he will not have any treats.  If he would eat a leather collar while crated, what would he do to a blanket covering a wire crate?  This is worrisome for leaving him in an enclosed car for very long!  My car has always been my dog’s crate on wheels.  As long as the weather is not too hot, my dog goes everywhere with me.

I need a doggie psychologist!

From Doggie Day Care, we moved to the training room at the front of the store for our second lesson.  The dogs were taught to hold still for examination accomplished by holding a treat at his mouth without letting him have it while you touch his ears and paws.  Toby did so well at sitting still, I used the hand motion for stay and walked around him saying “stay,” and he stayed!  The teacher complimented the Intermediate maneuver.  I think it was a fluke.  The second objective was to stay close to the owner while walking.  The teacher asked if we understood what walking with a loose lead meant.  With only two of us in class today, I,  a smart Alec, threw the leash over my right shoulder with Toby on my left side and walked around the room with him walking perfectly with me.  SHOCK!  We had never done that before!  The norm is for me to be dragged behind him. 

The next part of the lesson was to go to an aisle in the store and practice sitting still while being touched and walking on a loose lead.  Toby, being so interested in the products on the shelves, paid no attention to my pleas for “Look at me” or “Sit” which were last week’s lesson and he performs admirably under less distracting circumstances.  But, in Aisle 11, that learning is down the tubes.  I eventually had him walking fast, almost running, with me down the aisle.  Then I told him, “Easy, easy,” and he slowed down.  It would seem perhaps he has had previous training, but chooses to ignore what he has learned.  Or maybe, after training four dogs, my voice is authoritative and understood?