Freeshaping flat - The beginnings of a drop?

I started freeshaping Grey to put his chin flat on the floor. This might be the beginnings of a drop where he will down and lie flat. Or it could be the beginnings of the cute behaviour 'sleepy'.

I see a big difference in his understanding of behaviours that are shaped as opposed to lured.

Assigning hand signal to known behaviour - sit

I've started adding a hand signal to his sit so that I can work towards having some distance control and a stop signal. Here's our first session at home. I don't know why I didn't do this before as it's long overdue!

Freeshaping - take a bow

I've often had problems freeshaping where Grey freezes and waits and waits as still as a statue. I thought I'm probably doing something wrong and had moved on too fast for him and was expecting too much. But then I also probably started to help him out and so it all got a bit messy. I recently read a blog post from the clicker trainer Fanny Gott who does a lot of freeshaping. So I took up the advice of building some confidence in shaping by clicking the dog for what ever he offered me for a couple of sessions. It seemed to work. We were able to quickly move on to a free shaped 'bow'. In this film this is the 2nd couple of minute session on the 'bow'. It falls apart in the middle where he starts to offer a 'down' but we manage to find the 'bow' again. Really pleased with him, as it's a big step forwards.

Building Confidence - Thinking About Different Surfaces

I've not found time to post much these last few weeks. Probably owing to the fact that Grey and I have been out more since his recovery from the shoulder injury seems to be going really well. Yeah, well, that's my excuse! We've been following the virtual course still with Learning About Dogs with Kay Laurence on building confidence and working with reactive dogs. It's been good helping me look at the finer details of behaviour and how he interacts with the environment.

I put the crate back in the car and covered it so he can't see out the back or side windows. He can still look forward and at me. Instant improvement in stress levels for both of us. No more barking and lunging at the windows at anyone who comes near the car on the outward journey. So he's no longer practising this unwanted behaviour and not building up more of a habit of it. He also at our walk in a much calmer state. Quicker to settle down before he gets out of the car and so much more connected when he's let out, My own stress levels are much improved no longer having the hound of the baskervilles in the back seat!

It's a simple solution and doesn't involve yelling, antibark collars and keeps him safer in the car.

Here's some video homework looking at different surfaces.

Work inside on a polished concrete floor with the target stick



The varied surfaces Grey runs on in our walk. Just video I shot on my phone of him. It's great to see him so relaxed and happy.





I was interested in the choices Grey makes about which surface to walk/run on. On our grassy field top beginning of the walk he actively chooses grass over the harder paths of gravel, compacted sand or asphalt. On the field top he will pee lots and mark up frequently. He doesn't ever mark up on sand or if we are out in the woods.

On the sand he will immediately look for an object like a rock to carry and will also frequently dig. He never digs or carries objects on the grassy areas.

He will happily canter and trot on grass and slow down very suddenly on asphalt. On sand he will frequently gallop.