How to unfreeze a popsicle dog

Stitch and I go out to a book store, a place we've been several times before. Maybe because she's just come out of season? Maybe it's a full moon? Maybe she's having flashbacks from the giant flying pig? Whatever the reason, she "stresses out". Fortunately she doesn't stress out in the freaky direction, but her brain simply freezes. And gently. It doesn't show until I ask her to pick up her leash, at which point she stands as she has been standing, absolutely still. I ask her again. She glances up at me as though I have asked her something embarassing in front of her boyfriend, and remains still. I move her to the other side of the leash and ask her again, pointing down toward it. She wags her tail slightly, apparently relieved to be finally understanding what I want, and lies down. At this point my own brain kicks in and we go find a place for me to sit down. We spend the next few minutes working Watch, then Sit and Down, and finally move back to Take It. I hold the leash directly in front of her mouth and ask her to Get It. She stares at me for a moment and then moves her bottom jaw slightly. I click and reward, and ask her to Get It. This time her bottom jaw moves and she very gently touches the leash. I click and reward. I ask her again. She takes the leash softly between her lips. I click and reward, and suddenly she appears in her eyes again. I say hello and she wags her tail and sits. I ask her to Get It and she takes the leash. I click and reward, drop the leash, and she picks it up and hands it to me. We work on it a few more times, pay for my book, and go home.

Someone on the Training Levels list mentions teaching her dog to close a door, and it occurs to me that Stitch doesn't know she can open her crate door from outside the crate. I decide to shape her to do it. We start with a #450 Furrari plastic crate with the door half open. She's getting MUCH better at shaping - it takes her eight clicks to touch the door with her muzzle, another three to touch it on the inside, and only one more for her to realize that she's going to be clicked for moving the door.

We work another 10 clicks on opening the door. When she gets it all the way open, I close it 3/4 of the way and she starts opening it again. Then I close it all the way - not locked shut, but definitely closed. She works at it for a moment with her soft little nose, and then she makes a mental jump. I've seen Scuba make leaps like this several times - leaps based on understanding the task and not being able to accomplish it without changing what she's doing, but I've never before seen Stitch do it. She understands that she needs to open the door. She can't open the door with her nose as she's been clicked for doing. She problem-solves and she comes up with another solution. She moves her paw up to claw at the door, and at the same time bites the top of the door. The door opens. We have a party. I close the door, and she opens it again. And again. And again. We move to a #350 crate. This door is harder to open. It takes her six clicks to transfer to the second crate, and then she dives right in and opens the door. I'm very proud of the little girl.

 

 

 

 

A very successful obedience class as we begin to get back to something resembling Heeling with eye contact

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a gift for me when we get home

We go to obedience class. We have a "bloody mahvelous" class. We start before class with Watching, giving me her paws, Sit and Down, and retrieving her leash. I'm remembering that she has no clue about how to heel, so I bite off bits of wiener and keep them in my mouth, spitting them at her as we 300-Peck walking while staring at me. After about five minutes, she's doing so well that I start working on getting her butt under control and back in Heel position by backing up every time she swings it out. She swings it out automatically and I'm getting nowhere, so I stop trying to walk. Instead, I back up, sidestep, and walk one-step left squares, and she begins to remember Heel position while maintaining eye contact. I sit down on a wheeled stool and she does even better. We spend the next half hour getting her to be able to sit in Heel position while I stand up straight. This is VERY difficult for her, she wants to be in front of me. I get a little frustrated and actually use my hand to tuck her tail under and plant her little butt on the floor several times. This isn't a correction and doesn't bother her. Finally I settle on holding the leash behind my back so if she comes forward out of position, she bumps into the leash (limited slip collar, still no correction). Since she can't go forward, she settles on going back, gets her click, and I spit the wiener bit at her. Before long she's able to sit correctly and maintain position. Ee hah! And throughout, the most important thing, she's maintaining eye contact as if her eyes are glued to mine. There's a rank but not aggressive Boxer nearby, but he's not bothering Stitch, Stitch is intent on earning her wiener. We do Recalls, SitStays, DownStays, all excellent. I sit down on the stool again and we practise Front, Swing Finish, and GoBehind Finish. GoBehind isn't great as she tries to end up back in front of me again, but if I follow each GoBehind with a cue to Swing, she looks good.

When we get home, I put the car in the garage and let her out of her crate. She makes a beeline at a dead run for the cat-feeding station by the barn. Knowing that she hit the ground in full flight, I sort of sigh her name, and to my astonishment, she stops in midstride and comes back to me, all happy and excited then gambols to the house with me, glancing occasionally at the cats but showing no real inclination to start back toward them. A very successful evening. We have to pick a trick for next week - I pick putting her paw over her nose. Maybe the cue will be "Did you vote Liberal?"