Training Day
Pixel and I had our first class at Petsmart’s Beginner training today. Since we missed the first session we had a half-hour one-on-one session with Nicole, our trainer, before the regular class. We talked about Pixel’s peculiarities (fearful, nervous, territorial) and I learned the Look-at-me command to get his attention.
Then, in the general class, we learned Sit and Loose-leash-walking — where you walk with the dog and then suddenly change direction any time he tries to get ahead of you. I was dizzy from all the spinning in the first five minutes but by the end of it he seemed to be getting the idea.
Pixel had a belly full of treats and needed a major nap by the end of it all. I feel pretty confident that we can learn some valuable things by the end of this 8-week course. And you can’t beat the price tag (only $109).
October 20th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I took that class with Eddie a few years ago. It was very helpful to get the basics down. I’m interested to try that Look-at-me command, because Eddie has some of those same peculiarities as Pixel.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Look-at-me is pretty easy, apparently, but I haven’t tried it in a tense situation (eg, encountering a stranger) yet.
Basically you hold a bit of treat up to him, let him smell it, and then bring it up to your eyes so that he makes eye contact with you. Upon eye contact say, “Look at me,” and then give him the treat with praise. Build up to longer and longer eye contact. Theoretically you should be able to do it in the wild and have him pay attention to you (instead of the stranger he wants to growl at).
October 29th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Most of our tricks work great when we’re at home in practice mode with the treats right there. But without the treats, I can barely get him to sit! I guess it’s a matter of making an effort to practice in different situations, or “in the wild”.