Luci is 4 months old now and she loves to work on commands with us. She is smart and eager to please, but keeps us all in check with a strong independent streak. Here she is learning to place toys in a box on command.
She loves to steal socks, papers, and anything Drew has ever touched. She is very stubborn with drop commands. I would love to get her to a point that she drops those forbidden objects in a box on command!
Mastered:
Fear of water
No longer digging and biting at carpet or corners or wood work
Goes to designated 'place' in each room on command
Needs work:
Leash pulling- we are moving to a harness instead of collar
Obeying commands in a distracting environment
Turning down excitement/ jumping when new people visit
Apparently, I forgot to post this one- puppy learning to not rush the door... She is still a flight risk when we aren't in a concentrated training session, but she is much better than the average pup!
It's important that Luci understands where she is supposed to be and what she should be doing while we get her acclimated to accompanying us in our daily routine. We are establishing her 'place' in each room of the house and encouraging her to relax, chew, and play in this place.
This video is my attempt at establishing a place for her in our kitchen. Once I established the place with this exercise, she goes there and stays while I unload the dishwasher, etc. She was previously chewing the dishwasher bins while I unloaded it, so this exercise solved a big problem!
We incorporated the 'place' practice with the wait and take practice from the prior week. We are now also requiring eye contact before she takes treats- this is the equivalent of her asking 'please, may I' before she takes action.
If you watch closely towards the end of the video, you can see her stop her body from lurching forward towards the treat. Instead of acting on her impulse, she looks towards me and 'asks' permission.
Just minutes earlier, she was not quite as sharp (see video below)...
What a chew face! This vizsla pup needs tons of time with bully sticks.
One of our goals this week is to increase water confidence- Drew is DYING that vizsla isn't ready to swim in the pool yet! We started acclimation with a fun game of duckies in a tub of water beside the pool. This is a fun way to get used to paws and noses in the water and easing poolside anxiety. Vizsla is always anxious to work on retriever skills so we incorporated that to relax her into the game confidently.
Here's our game of fish, run, return and drop...
Next up- feeling confident enough to approach poolside alone and retrieve a duckie...
Huge success and an overall great experience for both of us!
Vizsla getting better at:
-Leash pulling- a long way to go on this one
-Giving people & dogs their personal space when greeting (still needs lots of work on this)
-following commands in areas with distraction
-learning that carpet and rugs and corners and cabinets are not to be growled at or chewed on
Vizsla has mastered:
-no accidents
-sleeping all night in crate
-sit command
-commands from previous week
-getting in pool- climbs in and out to first step only
Baby girl is home!!! Chewing consumes her waking hours- thankful for bully sticks!
Saint Lucia (Luci) flew home to be with us in Texas at 9 weeks old.
We are both newbies at dog training, but here's some of what we accomplished week 1.
Bird dog owns me when she puts on her business face!
We started target training (touching her nose to my hand). We are also working on rewarding her for making eye contact. Somewhere along the way she decided that she would sit and look me in the eyes when I cross my arms in front of me so I just went with that as a signal.
Achievements:
-Getting very comfortable in home and yard setting- no longer scared of wind chimes
-Comes to a target hand
-Makes eye contact on signal
-Housebroken almost instantly
-Great with off/wait/take commands
-sleeps in crate all night
Problem/ work areas:
-Jumps like crazy when meeting & greeting
-Strong-willed on leash-- pulls & bites leash
-barks and jumps at me to insist on continuing rewards for good behavior
-no eye contact and won't take treats when on leash in new setting
