A police officer had to come to the house last week, and I just knew Jade was going to lose it, and she did. She is so afraid of them, that all of her training just goes flying out the window, and I cant get her to perform her "door etiquette." Her door etiquette is when she goes to the door, when someone rings the bell, and barks. I tell her "thank you," which quiets her and sends her to her place to lie down until released. Were still working on that, but shes getting better...except when its a man in uniform, which sends her into a fearful, barking, mess, that cant be redirected no matter what.
So I spoke to my trainer about this, and she thinks itll be great for her to get some up close and personal training with men in uniform, actually letting them train her a bit. Were going to practice "treat and retreat," which is when the man in uniform will toss Jade a treat, then take a step backward, allowing her to come forward and take the treat. We keep doing this as Jade gets closer and closer, until shes finally eating out of Mr. Uniforms hand. Now wont that be nice! We also plan to plead with the firemen to allow us to borrow one of them to stop by my house a few times in uniform to practice this door etiquette with first responders. I dont know if theyll do this, but I would imagine they might welcome this type of training, as many first responders have issues with dogs upon coming into a home to help a downed person, but who knows, well see. I figure we can help each other in this training, and maybe theyd be willing to help Handi-dogs do this type of training for the disabled. Were definitely going to pitch the idea to them and see what happens.
Last week we trained at a bookstore doing down/stays, step-overs by strangers, and a sit and get a pet by a child. All went very well. I was amazed at Jades down/stay, while she waited patiently for me to go to the counter and purchase a book. She laid quietly while I walked away, and mustve been gone a good 5 minutes. The trainer stayed with her, but never had to touch her or say a word to her. Children ran past her, and people walked by, some stepped over her tail, and she stayed put waiting for me to return. Pretty impressive. Im very proud of her. We had her do a sit/stay and let some children come up and pet her, and she always welcomes a pat on the head. She did great!
Ive really been noticing also that Jade seems to be getting over her defensiveness with other dogs. She seems more interested in meeting other dogs at the park when shes off duty and even had a good sniff with another yellow Lab tonight. She let the dog sniff, she sniffed and gave a play bow. Im so glad that she seems to be moving past that. Now, I have hope. I have hope that she can move past just about anything, so Im hoping it wont take long to move past her fear of men in uniform. I think its all gonna work out. Sure am proud of my girl!!!
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar