Wednesday, February 15, 2006

It was incredibly beautiful today & I took advantage of the nice weather by taking Lola for another walk. More of the same from yesterday...she was near perfect. She did start to pull a bit in the beginning, but after two or three times stopping, she got the point. Toward the end of the walk, she really started to lag behind. She'd just stand there & stare at me. I think the walk might have been a bit long for her (about 25 minutes). I picked her up and carried her about 25 steps, put her down & she was fine.

I like this block though b/c it exposes her to lots of different things. If the weather holds out tomorrow, I may drive her up to Bellevue & walk her through that section of CA Ave. She'll get all kinds of exposure there!!

We had a very good training session tonight. I started w/ Attention. She getting really good at this. Of course there are no distractions and I need to start adding in small ones. There's time for that. Then we started working on Down again. I lured it about 10 times & then just started using my finger to target the spot. She was confused at first, but I waited it out & she got it in a short time. Then the phone rang & it was my Mom. While talking on the phone I was careful to
keep my eye on her b/c she was still in the Zone. She offered quite a few Sits which I C/T and then I stopped rewarding Sit. I ignored while I talked on the phone & wouldn't ya know it...she slid into a Down & stared a hole in my head! Jackpot! The last treat I threw away from her so she'd have to get up. She walked back over to me & plopped into another Down! We continued this about 15 more times & then I ran out of food. I threw a toy at her & we played Fetch for a minute or two. She may graduate after all!