I've actually done a good job all week of working with each of my dogs. Ideally I would give each of them 1/2 hour of my undivided attention each day. I managed this 3 days this week...better than nothing. Sherman gets his beloved neighborhood walk & we do practice basic manners, attention, automatic sits, recalls, etc. But mostly he just walks & pees on stuff.
Penny & Lola had a couple of LLW & training sessions. Penny is still doing well w/ her leash manners & we started advancing on behaviors I've been slacking on...Stand, Finishes, longer
Stays w/ more distractions & distinguishing cues. I also do lots of targeting w/ her because she LOVES it.
Lola is doing better with LLW & I'm doing better about working her within her threshold. We can make it 80% of the way down the block before she starts to lose focus. Up to that point, she is fabulous. Lots of attention, very loose leash, staying close to me. But we hit the last house on the street & I lose her. So I turn around & head back down the street. We'll get there. We also worked on Heeling, Stays, Finishes & Targeting.
By the end of the week though, I just wanted to go on a walk. No training, just a plain old walk. I took Sherman & Penny together & she pulled a bit at the beginning but quickly remembered her job. Then I took Lola out on a Gentle Leader (which she was less than thrilled about, but forgot about quickly) and it was a God-send. It was the nicest walk we've had since she was a puppy. I refuse to use it as a crutch as it's easy to forget about the training & just manage things (which I did w/ Penny & have regretted)...but it's good for occasional use.
