Layla is off to a great start with her attention work! She's really responsive when I call her and she pays attention to me when we are working. I also really like how well she is checking in with me throughout the day. What a good girl...
She's been working on her leash skills. I like to use a shorter leash (about 3 feet long) and even at that, I don't usually use the whole leash. Giving her a lot of leash allows her to "self-reward" meaning that she can reward herself by getting to things she wants (i.e. something to sniff, another dog, a person, etc.). I don't want the leash to be tight so I make sure there is a nice "J" in the leash where the clasp hangs down loose but she doesn't have a lot of extra leash. I can give her more leash when needed (like when I am rewarding her by letting her sniff or if she's needs to go to the bathroom). I also like the leash to be really comfortable in my hand. Some people like nylon leashes but I find them to be uncomfortable in my hand. The leash in the photo is made out of recycled climbing rope and it's very comfortable to hold.
Layla is also learning to go to her bed. Right now she's just learning how to go to her bed when I ask her to. When she gets really good at that, we'll add a "stay" into her "bed" command.
It helps that she likes to lay on the bed on her own time. It makes it much easier to teach. Here she is getting in one last snuggle before Kravitz goes back to his service dog training.
She's also learning to go into her kennel when asked.
She gets big rewards when she offers the behavior and goes into the crate on her own.
She's been very playful here. She loves to play with the toys, the other dogs and the human. Sometimes she starts to guard her toys a little bit from the other dogs (dart away with a toy, protect the toy with a little growl, etc.). When she does this, I say "ah ah" and remove the toy from play. When she is playing really nice with the other dogs, I give her lots of praise.
We definitely want to encourage more of her nicely sharing her toys or, if it's a toy she has a hard time sharing, it's a good idea to give it to her when there aren't other dogs around so she doesn't feel like she needs to protect it.
All in all she's doing really well! We're just hoping for clear skies in the next few days!!
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