Training Sans Treats

Zuzu is definitely a treat oriented pooch.  Training without treats is HARD!  It’s actual work!  Sigh.

We didn’t practice as much as we normally do between classes since we were on Spring Break last week.  There were lots of walks, but way more play time and exploring than training.

Last Monday’s class was going fine for the first 15 minutes.  Then I showed up with Tressa and all heck broke loose.  She got one glimpse of Tressa and went crazy, trying to jump out of the training ring to get to her.  Jim finally brought her over to say hi to us, hoping that it would calm her down, but it didn’t.  Poor Tressa decided to go read a book in the van in the parking lot so that we could continue with training.

That stopped Zuzu from trying to run away, but all hope of a good training session was pretty much lost.  We learned a lot of the same stuff as last week, and added ‘come’, ‘sit after the come’, and ‘heel from the front sit’ (which is just getting them to swing their butt around from sitting in front of you to sitting next to you.)  It was challenging.

At the end of the class, one of the trainers brought her German Shepherd out and demonstrated everything we had learned, but with no leash and only hand signals.  And no treats.  Really?  How bad do you want to make me feel?!  Then she promised that all of our dogs would be behaving by the end of the seven week session just like hers, but still on a leash.  Hmmmm.  

The training program has us using choke chains and snapping them.  We have stopped using it. First, it was actually cutting the hair off around her neck, making it only about an inch long where the chain snapped!  Second, it only seemed to truly irritate her instead of getting her to do anything. 

We practiced A LOT this week.  We took her out to Cuesta Park and Bubb School and anywhere where there were at least small distractions and went over and over the training.  Jim was out of town for three days, so I even had Darby and Tressa coming with me and taking their turns.  The first few days, I couldn’t even get her to sit!  It was so frustrating!  If I stopped walking and asked her to sit, she would just stand there and ignore me, sometimes completely turning away from me.

I learned by accident, that rather than snap the chain with your right hand and put your left on her side to prevent her from turning while sitting, if I placed my left hand gently on her face and had her look up at me while I said sit, her butt immediately hits the ground.  It’s like she was telling me that all I had to do was say, “Please.”

By Thursday, I could get her to do all of the commands for about five minutes, before her LOTADD set in.  (Lack of Treat Attention Deficit Disorder)  Then she would decide that it was time to play.  If I wanted her to sit, she would...but backwards!  If I tried to turn her around, she would chew my fingers and the leash and jump up on me!  We actually got into a wrestling match in the middle of the park!  I’m sure all of the walkers and joggers were thoroughly amused.  I know Zuzu was!  I. Was. Not.  We made it home, and we rested.

On Friday, I decided to try something different.  I had boiled some chicken for her dinner and brought out a handful of it to the backyard.  She could smell it and got all puppy wiggly and spinny, just waiting to have some.  I made her earn it.  I’ll be darned if that silly little dog didn’t obey every command that I threw at her, without a leash, to get that chicken!  She would heel - no matter how fast or slowly I was walking or jogging- stop on her own and sit when I stopped, lay down, stay, come, and sit.  She still doesn’t quite get the heel from a sit command, but for everything else she was as good as that German Shepherd.

This weekend we made sure that we brought treats everywhere we went.  We only gave them sparingly, still trying the training without them, but she definitely responds better when she knows they’re there.

Tomorrow, I have someone else driving Tressa to lacrosse.  Jim and I will both be at the training from beginning to end with no interruptions.  And, I am going to sneak in some treats in my pockets!