Weds and Greg lesson

Was FANTASTIC!

Tony was a good boy and didnt over excite the Pipkin in the day and put him in his crate around 2.30 so he was nicely refreshed for the evening.

In the morning he again earned his breakies with nose touches and its yer choice and some cue work.

In the evening we arrived early and he came out for a wee (he didnt) then played with me a bit in the car park

The evening started with about an hour of talk around reinforcement - will blog it all from notes later.

Then we got the pups out.

Session 1 - was supposed to be examining our play - but Pip was a bit worried by it all and instead of walking him round calmly and doing some touches I pushed on to play and he wouldnt. It was obviously he was too worried by the strange place - but he did settle to do some cue work.

Session 2 - was supposed to be play/treat/play - but with Pip we just went for nose touches and cues and feed - to get him happy. He played outside before coming in, and in the foyer and was more focussed on me this time.

session 3 - its yer choice. Kid was a bit distracted at first, but then did really well. :) So we can do one thing!

Take aways -

1. I NEED to plan every details and allow for him being worried and NOT push him to play if he isnt ready.

2. TUG needs to be aggressive and obsessive. TUG is his only game for the next month TUG is with me and 2 mins every hour if poss.

3. Keep hand feeding his food and making him EARN

4. More environments and take him places

Eliminate bad behaviour by not letting them happen.

He isnt ALLOWED to run up the arena with Bonnie when people or cars go down

He isnt ALLOWED to choose not to come back as he will always be on a line or lead.

I'm actually amazed by the change in his attitude to food since making him earn his dinner - he is seeking to earn kibble and eating pretty much anything! He is DESPERATE to earn nicer treats.

Allow failure - the dog MUST learn to fail 75% of the time without being frightened of failing.