Training: Week 2 Report, Week 3 Plan
The Week in Review
It was a good week. Gromit continues to learn. I would say our biggest challenge right now is a basic one: teaching him that humans are not for mouthing. My junior handlers had more success this week -- not a surprise, since Gromit is now officially operant :).
Socialization... Gromit is a confidant and pushy puppy. He doesn't take "no" for an answer when a dog doesn't want to play. However, he does know how to appease an overly-agressive player, and chooses to hide rather than escalate. I discoverered a group that meets (illegally) at a nearby school playyard (fenced grassy area). They are mostly a great group, though of course there are several dogs that don't really belong there. I've taken Gromit to a wide variety of locations (Starbucks, Ward Reservation, ocean beach, etc.) and he's met tons of people. Our longest hike so far was at least 4 miles, maybe 5. (We got lost!)
Obedience skills: Slow but steady progress. He definitely knows the command "sit" (under boring circumstances), and he knows the games of "default down" and "leave it." I'm getting mixed results with "come," in part because he still hates the leash. However, leash walking on trails and outside has improved drastically. Best of all, he has an inkling that "Gromit" means him.
Potty training was better than last week. We had 3 perfect days, and only 5 accidents spread over the other 4 days.
I'm taking "default down" off the list for now, because we practise it all the time anyway. I'm also taking off "leave it" because he's doing well, but it's not very fun. I'm adding "stay" because we're doing it at PuppyK. I'm adding "touch" as an agility and tricks foundation skill.
Next Week:
Ongoing:
- 100 places/people/dogs (just keep going)
- house-training (goal of 5 perfect days)
Continued:
- come -- label
- sit -- ask for it
- name -- say "Gromit" and treat
- stay -- duration
- touch -- lure to touch hand
- Seth -- sit
- Eli -- name