Mississippi clearly thinks she’s in the driver’s seat.
Mississippi and I were thrown into the fire last night at an advanced dog obedience class. Though she went through 6 weeks of training, there were some basic commands we never got to teach her. Everyone else in the class had taken the beginning class from the same teacher so we were at a disadvantage there. They were all used to doing a specific set of commands which were a little different from what we’ve learned, and they are used to the group environment by now. We need to get some basic commands down to keep up. We’ve been teaching her to stay by extending the sit or down command until we release her with a ‘thank you’, but we’ve never used the hand signal or the word ‘stay’ with her. She’s gonna need that one. The ‘stay’ hand signal that they were using in class last night will prompt her to shake your hand. She also doesn’t know ‘heel’. She knows to keep eye contact with us and to stay at our side, but she only knows “come on, let’s go’ and ‘this way.’ I also like to use “where’s mom’ when she gets distracted and looses focus. I’m sure that one’s a common textbook phrase, right?
In an ideal scenario Mississippi can walk on a slack leash. That ideal environment is a stretch of sidewalk in front of our house about 50 feet long. Our last trainer encouraged us to just work on walking her in a more controlled space before trying to take her out into the world with all the crazy distractions. It’s been a great way to train her to walk by our side and try to ignore other dogs, bikes, cats, etc. On longer walks, we have to constantly remind her that she should be watching us and not running amuck. She is gradually getting better at passing by other dogs without having a conniption fit. The word ‘better’ is relative here.
Last night at the very beginning of class, we went outside for a walk together. Us and 6 other dogs in a new neighborhood. Yikes! Mississippi has a hard time concentrating around other dogs and an even harder time concentrating in a new environment with plants and birds and smells and squirrels. She tugged the whole time. She would sit at the corners for me, but only after some coaxing. We don’t touch her butt to sit. In fact, at corners, we often don’t even have to say a thing, she just does it. It’s something we are proud of, but last night I had my hands all over her trying to get her to do my bidding. The teacher kept telling me to help her into her sits. She also doesn’t know how to “finish” so that was just a mess. We’ve gotta work on that one this week.
The teacher mentioned I should get a training collar. I told her I had a harness, I just didn’t expect we’d be outside walking so I didn’t bring it. Once we were back inside the gym, she offered a choke collar for me to use for the rest of class. I try not to pass judgment on other dog training techniques, every dog has different needs. But I definitely don’t want a choke collar on Mississippi. I graciously declined her offer. Enough said.
Once we were back inside the gym, she did pretty well anyway. She just needs some time in the outside world with other dogs, to understand that training is training, no matter what distractions may be around her. That was one big thing we missed from her first trainer. The classes never had more than two other dogs. This was a great start for her because she had such a hard time being around other dogs, but now that she’s getting a little more used to it, she needs exposure. She knows how to do it, she just needs practice.
She had some very fine moments in the gym. We wove in and out of all the dogs and she just stayed focused on me the whole time. She also did well sitting very still while all the other dogs took turns weaving around us all. I got her to lay down and wait while I crossed the gym, then called her to me. She started a little too soon but I figured being in a new, exciting environment like that, she did a great job.
One thing I was not expecting was that the trainer does not teach with treats. By now Mississippi is very conditioned to work for treats. I know it’s something she’ll eventually get weened off of, but for now, I can’t expect her to learn anything new without some sort of major pay off in the form of food or extreme praise. I was sort of amazed that the rest of the dogs were trained without treats. Where’s the fun in that? I love the way Mississippi looks up at me with anticipation of a big pay off. I don’t want that to end. It keeps her eager and excited.
I’m looking forward to the practice in a group setting every week but I feel like the philosophies of this class might be too different from what we’ve been doing. By the end of the class, Mississippi was understandably frustrated and was very ready to go home. Still she certainly needs to learn some patience, so I think as long as the classes are fun enough for her, it’ll be good to test her like this. I’m going to continue to bring her treats and her clicker to class and use them as I see fit. This week we have to work on heel and finish. and some other maneuvers that the rest of the class knew but we hadn’t done yet.
Once we got home, I had to leave her and rush to the airport to pick up Tom. I gave her a kiss and a nice carrot to munch on and when we got home, I smothered her with love. I was a little worried that she’d be bummed out at how frustrating the class was, but of course, she’s just a dumb lemonhead and she was happy as a pig in a mud puddle. I hope the class works out for us. She could make great progress over the next few weeks. And then…. the beach?!? Camping? Please oh please.