Wednesday, December 16, 2009

More training levels


Cricket has been doing great and I really am LOVIN' the Training levels. http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/%20Dog1/levels.html This has been what we have been working on. I did not include the Zen, Watch, Loose Leash and Crate,sit and down but she is doing great on those. We still need to do the Stand, Stand Stay, Sit Stay-

On the topic of Loose Leash walking, my whole theory with that is that I am trying to teach Cricket to loosten the leash when she feels it tighten. My lofty goal is to never let her get where she wants when she is pulling on the collar. There are going to be times when I might not be able to work it like I would like, and for those times I am going to try to make sure she is on a harness, so if she inadvertantly gets where she wants to go and has pulled it will not be as bad as if she pulls and gets where she wants to go on the collar. I was researching different ideas on how to make this happen and I ran across the cutest post from Positive Petzine http://www.positivepetzine.com/node/392 he has a saying that I think is very cute and as silly as it sounds when I have Cricket on a leash I remember:

Remember-every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash A FAIRY DIES AND IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT, Think of the fairies,

LOL, talk about pressure to be consistent, LOL. Starting on Level 2 there are instructions for teaching loose leash walking, http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Levels/ByLevel/2Level.htmland it sure has to be easier to teach this to a young puppy then it will be to rehab Breeze who has been rewarded for pulling for years and thinks that is the correct behavior-hummm, wonder whose fault that is???

7 comments:

Diana said...

I have to say my dogs arent great loose leash walkers. Good for you for starting early. Diana

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

LOL, well, my dogs are REALLY not good loose leash walkers in any way shape or form, LOL, Lizzie is actually pretty good if she is by herself, but a couple of times with the two border collies pulling down hills I thought I was going to die, so I really want to have some leash manners because I am sure I will have to get all three BC on the leash at one time occassionally-I can not see any way around it and I want to survive the walk, hahahahaha.

Morganne said...

Oh my! Hundreds of Fairies are dying every day when I walk my dogs to the hiking trailhead.

Does pulling into the agility ring count?

Now I am determined that my new puppy WILL walk on a loose leash.

Chris and Ricky said...

Yes, you have made my mom determined that her next dog will learn to walk on a loose leash! I am good at the beginning of my walk but I pull like crazy on the way home! Good thing mom didn't know about the LEVELS when I was a pup! :)

Natasha said...

Level 2, wow little Cricket is doing great with the Levels! She's sure to be an awesome performance dog with your good training. LOL, I love that fairy quote!

To answer your question on my blog, yep, that was the same venue and the same fun match where the snow fell off the roof :)

Sam said...

Marge used to be a great loose leash walker, but I basically had to encourage gentle pulling to get her motivated for walks. She does understand when I tell her "no pull" though and heels reasonably well, so I guess you can't have everything. I kind of like the gentle tug on the leash when we're out in the woods.. it shows me she's excited and happy and not scared for once..

Next time around, I hopefully won't have to deal with all that fear and I can do good-dog etiquette things like loose leash walking and not chasing squirrels ;)

Sara said...

When oreo pulls on the leash I know he is nervous about something. It must be his fight or flight response.

Your fairy reference made me laugh!

I'm just in love with Cricket. And you are doing such a wonderful job with her.