Day 7: These Muddy Paws Are Made for Walkin'

Sage woke up late today, so I went to her bed and gave her a big snuggle. She rolled on her back and offered her tummy for a good rub, and gave me lots of kisses. Sometimes she is so unbearably sweet! I imagine you are missing her terribly!

Morning kissy face

The day began with whistle training and other training drills, with breakfast kibble as rewards. It is now the second week of the whistle training protocol, so we can move on to adding movement as well as food to the whistle sound. I drop a treat and while Sage is eating it I run away and blow the whistle. This makes things more exciting and Sage is right on schedule with her progress  - she comes immediately she hears the whistle, looking enthusiastic about what she will get when she reaches me.

We also worked on speedy Sits and Downs, Leave It, and Sage's first "Touch" lesson (poking her nose to a target, such as a palm or closed fist).  This is a helpful thing for her to learn as it is another way to encourage her to walk nicely on leash, and redirect her back into position if she begins to pull ahead.

Next, we took a walk with Andrea and Sy up Blodgett Rd, just north of Yachats. The dogs were happy to see each other and ambled happily up the forest road, with Sage trailing her long line.

The road is blocked off to traffic and few people go there so I decided to try a little off leash recall. Sage was a bit distracted at first and slow to respond, though she never went far. After she had taken care of her morning business, she was less sniffy, more able to think, and much speedier in her response!

We did lots of recalls along the road. If Sage didn't come as quickly as I wanted, I put her back on the long line and did a few shorter successful recalls, then let her off again. When she came quickly, she got delicious and very stinky salmon treats.  So did Sy - though he doesn't need them :)

Blodgett Road ends in a water reservoir and small waterfall. Sage loves moving water and got excited when she heard and saw it.

On the way back, Sage explored some interestingly muddy ditches and puddles, and ended up with mud up to her knees. She looked as though she had black knee socks on!

Sage also was really acing her recalls by this time, turning and running back to me whenever I called her.

Andrea called and rewarded her as well - this helps to cement understanding of the behavior through generalization (Come means Come whoever says it, wherever they say it, whatever is happening, etc)

Having expended some energy, it was time for Sage to do some leash walking practice around Yachats. After our experience in Florence, I scaled back the degree of difficulty for her, choosing a quiet restaurant car park to start with, then giving her a sniff break, then moving to another spot, and repeating this about 6 times with sniff breaks in between.  Long straight roads were more difficult for her than smaller squarer areas, but by the end of the session she was able to do well in both places.

She met one dog - a lovely Golden Retriever called Moses, and she observed a few others from a distance, including a pair of Dachshunds, a Pit Bull in car,  and another Golden Retriever. She also said hello to a woman who asked to pet her.

One of Sage's practice areas today

A sniff break area

I didn't have an assistant to take photos today so there aren't many to share. But I am happy to report that Sage did much better today than in Florence. I used the following strategies to help her be successful:

1) I used a correctly sized and fitted No Pull harness.

2) I deliberately made this a long session (90 minutes) broken down into short training and sniff break sessions, because part of Sage's problem on leash is that she doesn't have enough experience of urban environments. Just hanging out on leash in new situations, without walking anywhere, is good for her.

3) I gave Sage time  to stop and absorb her surroundings when she was distracted - if she began to pull, or was no longer interested in treats, I would simply stop and let her sniff the air, and watch what was going on. She acts like a dog who has not had much experience of being relaxed and focused on walks in different places. New sights and sounds fill her mind and make her a bit nervous or excited.  Rather than fight this with commands and pulling on leash, I allowed her to take a little time to adjust and relax. It usually only took a minute or two of quietly waiting beside her until she chose to look up at me. Then I knew she was back with me mentally, and I could reward that and move on.

3) We worked in short (3-5 minute) sessions interspersed with sniffing. Each sniffing break was announced with  a clear cue "Go Sniff" so she didn't just drag me to something she wanted to investigate.  If she pulled  we didn't go anywhere until the leash was loose again.

Checking peemail

4) Each walking lesson involved me calmly slowly walking forward, praising Sage for being in position, and using a high rate of reward at first and high value treats.

5) If we saw a dog we moved away to give her enough space to avoid her becoming hyper-focused on the other dog. She was rewarded for standing and looking at the dog calmly as it passed by at a comfortable distance.

Sage did extremely well, and I was very happy with her progress. She walked around Yachats calmly by my side, said hello politely to a woman who stopped to pet her, and was able to  keep this up throughout the session.

 Apparently this was all nicely tiring for her because she passed out when she got home and has been sleeping ever since! It is raining hard outside, so it's lucky we got our work done earlier, before the rain came. Now we can settle in for a cozy evening.  

Just as I wrapped up the blog, two elk ran across the meadow.

 Sage is so nice the way she doesn't bark at anything outside! She just watched intently.

Sage watching TV - Nature Channel