Day 20

Hops earned his breakfast by doing some shaping for the camera. We started with his second shaping session of go to bed. I used a different mat this time to help him generalize the behavior. He immediately went to the mat and I clicked and treated on the mat. I released him off and tossed a kibble to reset him. I was able to stand about 6 feet away from the mat and he had no problem working that far away from me. At the end of the session I tried withholding my click when he stepped on the mat to see if he would offer a sit or down. Once he walked away (but came right back), once he offered a down and once a sit. I ended on that one.

For the next video clip we had a shaping lesson of go in your crate. He offered a few sits and downs and barks outside the crate but for the most part offered to go right back in after he was released out. The one time I closed the door he was able to stay in until released on the first try. Good puppy!

His third shaping lesson was with a large plastic bowl with the goal of him offering to put all four feet in it. Hops immediately offered to put his two front feet in it and put all four feet in it a few of times. He might have been getting a little tired because he was offering lots of downs. He did a great job though!

Hops had his first session of watching me play with Rice and Dillon while he was on a tie down. I started by playing with him, first with a game of “fetch,” meaning him chasing after a toy and trying to run away with it and me reeling him in (the toy was on a leash) and playing tug with him when he got to me. Then we played tug sit tug then I put him on his tie down. I played with Rice first because he is a lower key tugger. Hops barked right away and I gave a verbal interruption of Ah Ah! and rewarded him when he was quiet. I interrupted Rice’s game of tug often to reward Hops when he was quite. He was staying quiet by he end of Rice’s session. When I started playing tug with Dillon I had to start all over again with interrupting the barking/lunging and heavily rewarding being quiet. By the end of Dillon’s session Hops was lying down quietly, watching us play. I then rewarded Hops by playing more tug sit tug with him.

Hops had another very good day at work with me. During the first three classes I moved him into one of he larger crates that was already there (versus the small one I had been carrying in) and covered him. He had chewies and stuffed kongs and he chewed or slept during the classes. For the last class he was on the opposite side of the arena for the first time (though Rice was in the crate next to him) and cried at first but quieted when I covered the crate so he could not see out. He woke up about an hour later and fussed through the last 10 minutes of class. After everyone left we practiced the table. He is so awesome, he offers a down right away almost every time he gets on it. I worked on adding motion away from the table and was able to get about 6 feet away with him still in a down on the table. I am sure it helped that Rice was doing adown stay on he table too : ) Then we ran around and around the arena, doing pushes, pulls and front crosses and rewarding him in heel whenever I stopped. When we were all out running, he really barked! Between classes Hops pottied outside on leash, did recalls, visited and played with other dogs and people, played on balance disks, and practiced heeling. He is now a tired puppy!