I continue working on clicker training with Besse and she's doing really well. You'll see I mention in previous posts that she was barking at other dogs that would pass us as we walked. I'd say that's down about 75% in the last couple weeks. Instead of allowing her to get nervous and bark as we pass other dogs on our walks I have her focus on me and I have her touch her nose to my hand. When she does that I treat her. I use "hand" for the command but most people use "touch". She learned that command very quickly. I show a quick video of this in one of my prior blog posts.
The trainer I use is a friend and she is certified by the Karen Pryor Academy (Karenpryoracademy.com). She hosts a "Hounds Around Town" training session on Sunday mornings in the fall. Owners and their dogs meet in a neighborhood and walk their dogs together. It's an opportunity to work on behaviors in a real-life setting and not a "class room" setting. Once again, Besse was really the best behaved dog there. Besse never barks or reacts when joggers or bikers or any people pass us on our walks. At least one of the other dogs in our walking group did. Besse did not bark at the other dogs we walked with even though some barked at her. And, she did well as we passed by houses where there were dogs inside electric fences who were barking at us. I used the "hand" command and rewarded her for focusing on me rather than on the distraction. Only when a large Great Dane came bounding towards the edge of his electric fence did she bark. Good girl!
My trainer friend was once again impressed by Besse. She remarked at how great Besse was at side stepping while keeping her attention on me and asked if I had trained that with her. I had to admit I had no idea what it was. Apparently it's literally a dog walking side-ways and its commonly used in things like freestyle dancing. Who knew. Google it and you'll see an example. Apparently it's not easy for dogs to do because they need a lot of body awareness. It's also hard to train. So, who knows, maybe Besse could be a freestyle partner for someone. This little girl has many talents!
I mentioned how Miles really likes Besse. She's also a smart girl who likes to stay busy. I wouldn't call her high energy but she does like activity and will pester me for attention. So, I decided Besse might like to join Miles and I for a run. She's gone on three runs with us so far. We go about 3-4 miles each time. Besse pulls but so did Miles when we first started out. I think most people wouldn't think that a 17 pound dog would make a good running partner. But, Miles, Besse and I are here to prove them wrong. The run does tire her out. She takes nice nap afterwards.
Speaking of sleeping. The last two nights I have let Besse sleep on the dog bed next to our bed instead of in the crate. She's done well. No fuss all night. Good girl.
Besse is a young girl and still going through her chewing phase. A friend of mine also has a 10 month old puppy and she commented how all of a sudden her dog was needing to chew and she asked for suggestions. I suggested....bully sticks, hooves, antlers, nylabones, etc. She mentioned she purchased one of those indestructible stuffed animals but that her dogs had managed to tear it open. Funny, Besse too. I have one of those (Tuff Toys is the name) and while they are sewn very well Besse realized that she could bite the nose off the sheep and get to all the fuzz. What fun she had pulling out the fuzz! But, the good thing about the toy is that it's still about 80% (body and legs are separate) so still a lot of chewing fun left.
Below are some pictures and video. Thanks for reading and thanks for thinking rescue!
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| Besse and my daughter. We were having our patio and stairs replaced and moved these stairs into the middle of the yard. The two of them decided to hang out there one morning. |
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| Happy girl |
Besse is enjoying the massage in the video below
The next two videos wouldn't post here. Sometimes that happens. I think there might be a size limit or something. No worries though because I've posted links to them below. The last video is one of Besse playing with a cicada. She plays with them and sometimes she (gasp) even eats them. Miles does too. Yuck! Apparently they're a good source of protein though and people in other countries enjoy eating them. Who knew!
