Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Good Little Fluffer


We had a very good walk day!  I thought Tibby would pick this up fairly quickly.
We saw a delivery man getting things out of his truck and were able to pass by him (about 6 feet away) with zero reaction from Tibby.  She saw him - he said 'Hi' to us, but she was too busy heeling and working for cheese.
We saw a few cars - I stop and have Tibby sit and eat cheese while they go past, to eliminate the lunging for cars.  Very successful.
We saw a man using a wheelchair lift to put an elderly person into a van (about 20 feet away) Tibby had a level one/two reaction.  Stiff body language, tail dropped, staring hard at the man.  She stared hard at him for about 2 seconds, ignored me when I called her once, but responded when I started to move away from her and called her again.  She looked back once and then kept walking with me.

I read this post today Flying Dog Press and I think it made a difference in my attitude and our success.

I paid attention to Tibby instead of scanning the world for possible threats.  I talked to her and told her she was doing great.  And she was!  She heeled for 90% of the walk.  Once she checked out to pee, once to poop and once to sniff some bird poop.
I don't ask her to heel, but she seems to think that will get her the cheese faster. 
For day 2 I think she is doing great :)

 

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