With some of the money I earned from inventories and babysitting, I bought stuff for the dogs the other day. The Kong toys we bought a while ago both went missing (okay, one got left by accident at the boarding kennel and we never took the trouble to get it back) and the dogs have resorted to chewing our things because they're bored. I also got dog treats (the special all natural kind even humans could enjoy) and a new body harness "guaranteed to stop pulling instantly" because the nose harness finally broke.
This was all in support of that healthy, positive lifestyle I've been meaning to develop for the past few years. Nothing like spending my own hard-earned money to encourage me into action. Sasha's nearly a year old.... Wait! Her birthday was two days ago! Whoa. Okay, so she's a year old, and she truly knows only two commands: "sit" (and then her butt barely touches the ground before she's up again most times) and "drop it" (but never with toys). She knows key words like "outside" and "walk", but mostly she catches onto routines: me grabbing the gate and an ice cube means bedtime, my getting on my sneakers in the morning after bringing her in from the kennel means a walk, me holding a treat and telling her to sit in the living room means "lay down" and "crawl" are to follow. She doesn't come when called, she doesn't stay (she'd quite ADHD), she pulls until she can't breathe on walks, she barks incessantly at anything that moves, she's abusive to Hershey and the cat, and, frankly, it's my fault.
When we visited our friends down south and saw how well-behaved their two-year-old dog was, I decided (again) that it was time to make some changes and teach my dog obedience.
All this to get to the point: walking.
Walking is the best way to get out Sasha's natural energy, and it's a good habit for me, too. However, she always pulls and she always leads. I've heard that a dog who follows on walks is a dog willing to follow and submit to their masters in other areas of life, so I figured it was a good place to start (since I failed to teach her "come" and "heel" as a puppy). I started by teaching her the concept of "heel" indoors, keeping her on my left side with her nose by my hip. She saw the clicker and was ready for action, and soon got the idea that walking beside me on my left earns a treat.
However, once we got outside, any such notion was forgotten, and she pulled away. She would come when I called "heel" and gave the signal, but only long enough to earn a treat, and then she was off again. Indoors, she'll fall into step beside me and watched me excitedly, but not outside.
Today was the second day of that exercise. I got 10 treats and broke them in half, debated about bringing more just in case, and decided it wasn't worth it. Then we were off.
I called Sasha to "heel" quite a few times on our street, and she did. However, she's learned where every dog on the street lives and watches their houses expectantly as we walk by, so she was very distracted. I decided to drill her on the "leave it" trick, which essentially means ignoring whatever has her attention, from the cat to a dog to something tasty on the floor she's eyeing. Basically, I clicked when she finally looked away.
Our normal route takes us up our street and across to the next one over, down that street, and across the park back to our house. Half-way down the other street, I'd pretty much given up on "heel" for the walk, and I was running out of treats. Then, all of a sudden, right near the end, Sasha stopped pulling and came back to my side, looking up expectantly.
Wonder of wonders! I dug in my pocket for the last treat I had, praised her, and kept on. Of course, now I was begging her to just behave until we got home so I didn't disappoint her with no more rewards.
We were half-way through the park when she did it again. I gave her all the crumbs I had, and she pulled the rest of the way home.
There are pros and cons to having a smart dog. Pro: she picks up quickly on things. Con: those things are both good and bad. Con: she has a lot of energy. Pro: if I'm persistent, she's willing to use it productively. Con: she assumes because she's so smart that she's better than the rest of us. At least, that's how I explain her attitude. It may just be her natural personality, but I think part of it is, again, my problem.
You live and learn, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment