Trusting the training
Hannah is nearly 12 years old. She has been with me for almost 2 years. She had had much training before she came to me. I worked with her, going through the basic obedience lessons daily for most of the first year. The only thing she did not know, or do anyway, was to look directly at me. I taught her to"Watch me". She watches me faithfully all the time unless sound asleep and even then she "watches" with her ears, knowing immediately if I leave her presence.
She will now look directly into my eyes when I say "watch me".
She will not go out the door with someone else holding the leash unless I give her the OK. I had complete confidence in her reliability.
I guess I trusted the training too much. I let up on the practice sessions--boring to me and I felt, to her. One thing I always counted on was that she NEVER went out the door before me. I am in a wheelchair and it sometimes takes me a few minutes to get it over the threshold and out. Hannah always waits patiently until I am completely outside before coming to stand by the chair.
I had become too comfortable in my confidence in her training.
Yesterday a friend came with a new dog she had just adopted. They were standing outside on my lawn when I opened my door and proceeded to exit. To my shock and alarm, Hannah pushed by me and dashed directly into the face of the new dog. Hannah's stub tail was wagging full tilt, but none of us knew much about this new dog or how she might react. Fortunately the new dog was very receptive to Hannah's approach and her tail was wagging too. When I rolled up to where Hannah was standing doing the sniff test of "Foxie", I touched her shoulder and said SIT, which she did instantly. I hooked her leash
to her collar and petted her head (though I really wanted to smack her.)
We let the dogs spend some time getting acquainted and I think they would love to be loosed from the leashes to play. Sadly we do not have any fenced area where we can let our dogs off leash.
I did not do any lessons review last night with Hannah. I was still shaking from the thought of what might have happened if Foxie had been an aggressive dog, or even if she had rejected Hannah's hearty approach.
This evening I decided we needed to return to the daily reminders-
boring or not. I got my tiny reward treats and we went through the
sit, down, stay, come, watch me routines. You know what? She actually seemed happy to be doing it!
When our dogs seem to know all the commands and obey routinely, it is easy to relax and trust that they will continue to act as they have been trained to do. We tend to forget that they are thinking creatures
with ideas of their own. In Hannah's case I am sure she misses the company of other dogs. In her excitement of seeing another dog her size (all the dogs here are tiny-mostly Chihuahuas and seldom are seen outside at all) she just did what she wanted to do. Whether she forgot
her training for a moment or whether she ignored it, I will never know.
What I did learn is that no matter how solid a dog seems to be, it is best to always be aware of a possible infraction. Keeping that thought in mind might even save the dog's life.
Hannah and I are going to be spending daily time on practice. I will try some twists on old routines and maybe introduce some new games.
Both of us old dogs might learn some new tricks.
She will now look directly into my eyes when I say "watch me".
She will not go out the door with someone else holding the leash unless I give her the OK. I had complete confidence in her reliability.
I guess I trusted the training too much. I let up on the practice sessions--boring to me and I felt, to her. One thing I always counted on was that she NEVER went out the door before me. I am in a wheelchair and it sometimes takes me a few minutes to get it over the threshold and out. Hannah always waits patiently until I am completely outside before coming to stand by the chair.
I had become too comfortable in my confidence in her training.
Yesterday a friend came with a new dog she had just adopted. They were standing outside on my lawn when I opened my door and proceeded to exit. To my shock and alarm, Hannah pushed by me and dashed directly into the face of the new dog. Hannah's stub tail was wagging full tilt, but none of us knew much about this new dog or how she might react. Fortunately the new dog was very receptive to Hannah's approach and her tail was wagging too. When I rolled up to where Hannah was standing doing the sniff test of "Foxie", I touched her shoulder and said SIT, which she did instantly. I hooked her leash
to her collar and petted her head (though I really wanted to smack her.)
We let the dogs spend some time getting acquainted and I think they would love to be loosed from the leashes to play. Sadly we do not have any fenced area where we can let our dogs off leash.
I did not do any lessons review last night with Hannah. I was still shaking from the thought of what might have happened if Foxie had been an aggressive dog, or even if she had rejected Hannah's hearty approach.
This evening I decided we needed to return to the daily reminders-
boring or not. I got my tiny reward treats and we went through the
sit, down, stay, come, watch me routines. You know what? She actually seemed happy to be doing it!
When our dogs seem to know all the commands and obey routinely, it is easy to relax and trust that they will continue to act as they have been trained to do. We tend to forget that they are thinking creatures
with ideas of their own. In Hannah's case I am sure she misses the company of other dogs. In her excitement of seeing another dog her size (all the dogs here are tiny-mostly Chihuahuas and seldom are seen outside at all) she just did what she wanted to do. Whether she forgot
her training for a moment or whether she ignored it, I will never know.
What I did learn is that no matter how solid a dog seems to be, it is best to always be aware of a possible infraction. Keeping that thought in mind might even save the dog's life.
Hannah and I are going to be spending daily time on practice. I will try some twists on old routines and maybe introduce some new games.
Both of us old dogs might learn some new tricks.
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