I was reminded twice today that I haven't posted in a week. Between an amazingly stressful week at work, and it being so very cold outside, I haven't had time to do focused training or post! I'm still here and we are still motivated!
Let me start by saying that just because I haven't had any "training sessions" doesn't mean she isn't being trained. I focus on my behavior, and by extension her behavior, every single day. The little moments in my day where I used to think "my dog is hopeless" have disappeared. By working on "saying please" Juneau knows she has something to try when she doesn't know what to do. So instead of jumping up on me, she can try sitting to get the thing in my hand or get let outside, or whatever she wants.
Overall, the jumping has decreased dramatically since I started this program of thought. And when she does jump on me, it is because I am holding her ball and we are about to go play catch and she hasn't had any exercise yet that day. (Really intense for a 2 year-old dog to be good when they haven't had any release.) I hope in the early spring that we can buy a house with a back yard, so more exercise can happen on a day-to-day basis without always involving me and a leash.
One funny thing happened this morning regarding memory: It snowed last night. When Juneau was a baby and we were housebreaking her, I wanted going to the bathroom outside to be the greatest thing ever. So when she did her business outside, she got a cookie and we would kick snow for her. She loves to jump up and catch it in the air. So this morning she pees and then sits really quickly and looks at my face, then my feet, then my face; back at forth. She was reminding me to kick snow, which no one had done for her since March! (I did of course and she was ecstatic!)
I have also decided that enough time has passed that I need to read the two training books again. I need a refresher to make sure we are still headed down the path we started on. While I'm sad that improvements aren't coming in leaps and bounds anymore, I am so excited that we got past the "I can't take this" hurdle. My goal is to begin the dog-related training in the spring, since it is pretty simple to avoid strange dogs all winter long. By then I expect us to be quite good at "watch me" with minor distractions.
Go Beccy!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I didn't mean to be pushy, lol, I guess I just like reading these because I can see progress in every single entry - something I really feel is basically totally lacking in my own life because I fail to overcome ADD and motivational/inspirational issues on a daily basis. Even feldenkrais, whose benefits are visible and tangible, I have a hard time motivating myself to do with any kind of regularity. And when you've got 3 areas (career, love, health) that are all "supposed" to have momentum and all of them are basically totally stalled, you start to feel pretty useless. I am currently working with a friend on better nutrition, and basically that means forcing/motivating myself to eat and drink enough to be a reasonably normal human being - and when you're forced to acknowledge that you are that broken and this is really from whence you are beginning, it can be a bit of a downer. Lol. So I guess I just enjoy reading about Juneau because I can cheer you on. :) I don't begrudge you not working in the snow/cold. I ran 3000 miles because of it. lol.
Stay warm!