I will no longer be updating Iron Guide (see below). Instead, I am now writing at my new, personal blog. Though that will be about some of the newer things I'm doing in life, if you want to see updates about Louie, Lester, and now Dusky, add me on Facebook -- there's enough ridiculously cute pictures to go around.

Just got back from our morning walk. Unfortunately, it looks Lester has picked up a very bad habit.

Off leash in the tennis court, I asked him to sit, which he very begrudgingly did, but, when I asked him to lay down, he just stood there, looking back at me. He mostly knows the core commands at this point, but he's definitely not totally reliable yet, so that's not terribly unexpected. I started walking over to hand-place his down, but, as soon as he saw me coming toward him, he startled, looked at me, and took off on a full sprint in the other direction.

Oh boy. Not good. Having outgrown his puppy waddle, Lester is now fast enough that he can outrun me. I couldn't catch him if I wanted. Not good at all. Still sprinting. Now on the other side of the tennis court.

"That's enough!", I yelled out. That brought him to a screeching halt. Well, momentarily, at least. As soon as he saw me walking toward him again, he took off again. This kid knows he's in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. He so knows it.

I hadn't ever had this problem with Louie, but I remembered Heidi talking with a family about their dog trying to play keep away at a meeting long ago. Basically, the last thing you want to do in a situation like this is chase after the dog. That's just the funnest game they can ever imagine. Playing keep-away (and winning!) with the alpha-male. I mean, really, how does life get any better than that? Instead, you're supposed to just very calmly and quietly walk the dog down, correct him, and then bring him back to where he was supposed to be.

I was (mostly) successful at that. To make a long story short, after a few minutes, Lester either got tired or realized he was finished either way, and I finally got ahold of him. I don't think I was too hard on him (see below), but hopefully he got the point.

Thinking about it now, I think I know why he did it. Lester knows his manners well enough that I feel comfortable letting him freely roam the room while I'm doing something else. Most of the time he's good about it, but, obviously, occasionally he'll do something stupid and -- here's the crucial part -- I walk up to him to correct him. I also walk up to him to praise him, but, putting two and two together, I've definitely sometimes seen him appear apprehensive (ears drooped, head lowered) when I've approached him in the past. If I praise him, he immediately perks up and starts wagging his whole body, but, still, until he knows which way it's going to go, he's apprehensive. In this case, it was just a step further.

What's funny is that he really does know when he's in trouble: he's usually worried only when he really has done something wrong. Occasionally, he'll worry even if he's doing great, but that's pretty rare and short-lived until the moment he hears "good boy!"

In either case, not quite sure about the best solution here, but I'm going to (a) consciously try to praise Lester much more so that he's less apprehensive and (b) keep him on leash, closer to me when I think I might need to correct him.

Labels: Lester, Louie

Permalink | Written at 11:36 AM | Post a comment | 4 comments | Trackbacks

until he gets over this I would try not giving him any commands I could not immediately reinforce. That's a rule in our club. Don't give a command you can not reinforce. If they don't do it (such as him not laying down on command) they learn that they can get away with not listening to you. Consistency in the raiser home and them never thinking they can get away with not listening lessens the chance they'll push with a blind handler. I hope that helps
Permalink   | Posted by  raiserally at April 3, 2007 1:10 PM

Yup, I generally also do that for commands that are still unreliable. What really concerns me here, however, is the keep-away part. At least until this gets better, I think I'm going to keep him on a long line even in the tennis courts. It's a little less fun for Lester but, well, what can you do?
Permalink   | Posted by  Kushal C. at April 4, 2007 12:16 AM

Just wondering if you still want to read my blog. I went private, but if you do, email me at sarahspups@hotmail.com and let me know. Thanks!
Permalink   | Posted by  Sarah at April 11, 2007 9:12 AM

The long line is a great idea! I have worked with a lot of dogs with this, and basically like you were saying, you just have to sit back and relax until they figure out it is a VERY boring game!
Permalink   | Posted by  Anna at April 12, 2007 7:57 AM