Day 11: Walking Walking

The focus of today's training was leash walking, since she has been doing so well at recall. we stayed inside in the morning, as it was pouring with rain and then a hail storm hit, but after that the sun came out, just in time for a play date with her mini-Aussie puppy friends, Star and Rosa.

Rosa found her a little overwhelming, but Star and Sage had some good chases.

Next we went into town for our leash walking bonanza. The idea was to walk in different parts of town, on a flat collar and leash only. That meant we could not rely on equipment to do the teaching - it was all about technique, taking it slow and not proceeding to the next place until she had aced it in the one we were in. Dogs tend to generalize behaviors after they have perfected them in 7-12 places (not factoring in the ability to ignore distractions, which is another whole 'nother ball game!)

So that's what we did today. I picked 7 parts of town and we walked in each one, back and forth until she was working perfectly. Then we hopped in the car or took a sniff break, and then moved on to the next.

As it happened, one of the people  who attended play and train happened to come to the post office when we were working there in the car park, so I asked her to take photos. She was happy to oblige - after we had chatted for a while and Sage had  done a very nice Sit to Say Hi, Sit Stay, Down and Stand-Settle while we were talking.

When we get out of the car, I always have sage on a fairly short but loose leash. I wait till she has a look around, sniffing the air and getting her bearings, and say nothing until she looks back to me. then I praise her and give her a treat. Today she voluntarily sat nicely in front of me with a cheesey grin as if to say: "I know this game, let's get going" :)

 So we did! As we move off, I get her in the game by delivering several treats in rapid succession just behind my left leg - this teaches her to orient slightly behind me (and therefore be roughly level with me) keeping the leash loose.

I chose the parking bays at the post office as our first walking course.

I give the cue "Let's Go!" as we move off.
I keep my focus on Sage, and praise her for being beside me with the leash loose

I turn left across her body putting gentle pressure not to forge ahead

Then I go back to praising and treating for being in position

Now I am looking ahead, not at Sage, but still praising her for being in position

Right turn "This Way" 

Praising and treating after the turn

Left turn, cueing  "This Way" just before the turn 

Good girl, nice pace and position!

Treating during the turn to add motivation and precision

It takes two to tango - focus and connection from both ends of the leash

That was really good!!

Sage smiles at her audience! She knows she did well!

Final treat before moving on to the next practice location

Sage did extremely well today. This was very focused, precision training. It was slow and steady and repetitious, not really like  a normal walk - and yet by going slowly and sticking to the training protocol we actually walked all over town, without any pulling on leash.

We'll do more!

Sage just had a big frolic in the meadow with her senior pal, Sy. Now it's time for dinner!