Grey's training plan /month 1

Haven't manage to have the time to update the blog since last week. Which is not to say that things haven't been happening in Grey's world. Quite the opposite. We're busy and so busy I've not had time to post. So this will be by way of a mega catchup.

We had an amazing day out on Thursday training with Helen. It was great to be assessed by someone of Helen's knowledge of HPRs and who is also a great clicker trainer. It was very much an assessment of both of us, which was really useful. Helen is a really positive and encouraging trainer.

We got up at the crack of dawn and set off for the other side of the country. With traffic on the M25 it took the best part of 5 hours. That's a bit of a trek, but seeing as he's ok in the new car, it wasn't too bad. He doesn't even bark at motorbikes or lorries in this car.

The session started with Helen chatting to me on my own over a cuppa. Then she wanted to assess how Grey was with me without her intervening. So I got him out of the car and struggled as usual to keep hold of him with him boinging all over the place. She was quite amazed I'd put up with it like that for 10 months. This was his most exciting kind of place: in the countryside, presented with a new person, and fresh out of the car. He's way more excited in that situation than if I'd got him out of a car in town. But still, pretty awful after all the work.

We headed off up to a field, passing some pigs on the way. Grey's first meeting of pigs. It went well. He had a sniff and moved on. Then we started the process of letting him off the lead to see what he would do. He zoomed off back in the direction we'd come from. It took him really ages to come back and he didn't really look at me. We were just standing there. And here lies the work that that I've been set to work on. Building in calm, building in attention, checking in with me, being with me.

Helen taught me how to do a process where you wait for him to regain his self control. Lots of this is now in his programme. I slip my hand under his collar and wait for him to sink back, to relax. I drop the length of the lead on the floor, step on it with my weight bearing foot. Then gently and slowly let go of his collar when I can feel he has relaxed. I then cue him a release cue 'you're free' if he is free to go. This process is used in situations where I'm about to let him run free, or where I've had to go back to him after he's done something like refuse recalls on the long line. Once I've collected him up I can also work on waiting for him to check in with me by looking at me. Working on responding to his name by looking at me. Calming down after he's been lunging and barking.

For the next month I'm doing the following:

- Two training sessions of approx 20-30 mins daily, morning and afternoon in a secure field with no dog walkers.
- Getting out of the car I wait for calm before allowing him out. Balancing out however the fact that we need to train and sometimes he is just very very excited so have to weigh up just how calm he has to be to get out of the car.
- Quick A-B walk to the field. Because Grey is a nightmare on the lead and if he's excited he can lunge at traffic, we do this by me holding him by the collar and quickly getting into the field.
- Step on the lead so it's at the right length for him to be able to stand but not jump up. Gently hold his collar until he is still and sinks back. Gently unclip the lead and release him with 'you're free' cue. Time the amount of time before he comes back for the first voluntary check in. We started at 1.59 on Friday and have improved down to 15 secs today.
- Reward each voluntary check in with 10 x treats given in succession.
- Work through 5 x voluntary check ins. I think it might have been 3, but I've misplacced my notes in the mess at home. So for now, I'm doing 5. What's been happening is that he's vastly reducing the amount of time he takes between each check in. The last few sessions he has more or less stayed around for the next one. I tell him how good he is and generally speak to him all the while I'm giving him the food.
- Put his harness on and the long line. Cue him 'you're free' once he's relaxed. Hold on to the end of the line and start walking. Get him to follow me with 'this way' if he's gone the other way. Hopefully he will and usually does before he pings the end of the line. So i try to keep a loose line.
- Do 3 x recalls on the line with 10 x treats.
- Reinforce voluntary check ins again x 10 treats.
- get his toy out. Try and get him to sit before throwing it. Let him run free on the line to get it and have the toy a little while. Then go and get the toy by walking the line and cue 'thankyou' to get it off him and repeat. Any bouncing off me, it gets put away, then we do something else and try again. If he does it again toy gets put away until the next session.
- If he refuses to recall when free running we pack up and go home.
- We end the session with A-B walk to the car.

Then at home we're working on the following:

- recall from another room and lots of treats scattered on the floor.
- name recognition.
- 'up up' and 'off' the sofa.
- 'up up' and 'off' the back of the car in the drive.
- all his usual sits, downs, touch etc at home and the back yard.
- any bad behaviour and he's put in his room for a time out or we do the collar holding and parking thing to wait for calm depending on what he's done.

So that's it. I'll now post his individual sessions since Friday.