Success!

With the damn weather being so rainy over the past few weeks, Taz has not been able to practice outside the agility ring.  Today we had a few small successes!  We were two car lengths away from the ring with his kennel facing it.  I opened the door and put him on a boundary.  Because I had changed the difficulty of this task, I kept it short, about 30 seconds.  He STAYED in his kennel, did not react and actually laid down!  HUGE SUCCESS!!!

I decided to up the ante by dropping the leash and walking away.  He continued to STAY in his kennel!  Another success!!  I closed the door and covered it so that he could take a break.  While he was taking a little break, I watched some of the action on the field.  After about 5 minutes, I got his Mutt Matt (R) and laid it close to the kennel.  Again, I brought him out and put him on boundary on the matt.  He laid on his one hip, a nice relaxing pose and watched the action.  And there was action this evening!  The dogs were doing front crosses and pin wheels with a tunnel and 5 jumps!  Lots of dogs running!  I clicked and treated him while repeating boundary every few seconds.  He got a treat every time he looked a the ring and back at me.  Not once did he get up off of the matt to react!! 

I thought it would be good to test him again.  I dropped the leash and walked about 8 feet away, turned around, clicked because he was still on the matt and walked back!  I was able to repeat this about 6 times, getting all the way to the ring without him leaving the matt!  He did beautifully!  Back to the covered kennel for a few more minutes of rest.

We went through some Watch That, Look at Me and you get a treat exercise without asking for the "watch me" part.  It's called "offered focus".  It was beautiful!  I am going to have to bring my camera and take some pictures to add to the blog because a picture is worth a thousand words!  Diane mentioned that he is learning how to watch tv and not react.  Slowly he is learning control!

This coming weekend will see Riki and Rebel at Petsmart.  These guys are in need of a holiday and so am I!  Tonight Rebel has joined us in watching TV.  Another huge development for them.  I must rework their bios this weekend as their personalities have changed!