Heeellllloooooo Adolescence! Ready to go yet? ~sigh~
Lola is in, what I believe (and hope) is a fear period. She is freaked out by the smallest thing (Ex. she can no longer eat next to the fridge if I open the door...it comes no where near her, but she runs out of the kitchen if I open it) and is reacting to anything and everything that moves. Walks have been put on hold while this passes and I've been working w/ her out on the front deck on attention, name recognition and eye contact. She is stellar on all of these in a low/no distraction environment (in the house, in the backyard, etc). But hit outside & she forgets everything. Selective attention. So I'm gradually moving her outside...starting w/ the deck. We'll then move to the front porch, then the front yard, then the sidewalk in front of the house & so on & so on. I'm learning a lot w/ her. Patience for one...and to take things slow & not push her. She doesn't need a 20 walk every day and I'm not forcing myself to take her on one if she's not ready.
I've also been having success w/ Penny & her reactivity w/ other dogs. I've been having her Sit & Stay when I see the dog and as long is it's across the street, she'll squeal a bit, but no barking, lunging or flipping out.
We're going for the TDI again on Saturday. I'm very confident that she'll do wonderfully on most everything and somewhat confident that she'll handle the supervised separation OK. Debby suggested cueing her to Stay when I leave & I tried this w/ Annette last week. She didn't make a peep, nor did she move. She didn't take her eyes off the door, but that's OK.
