Training Session Log

So we’ve been working on the Down Stay. I swear this dog is mounted on springs! To tell the truth I was pretty convinced I would never see any breakthrough on the stays with Nike. I have never had this much trouble teaching it to any of my dogs.

Anyhow. . . building up duration while I was in front of her just led to pure frustration no matter how small I started, how slow I increased the time, or how many times I started again at the beginning. Nike just got very frustrated. . . and so did I in the end.

So it was time to try something different. I sat on the floor with treats and all the dogs. I asked for a Down and got it from all the dogs (except Rosa but it’s okay she gets treats for just helping out LOL.)

I rewarded all dogs starting with Nike. If she got up while I was rewarding the other ones I waited her out until she downed on her own (no cues) before distributing treats again. Once she didn’t get up so much (Sue’s theory of Laziness!!!) I started treating one dog first, then her (increasing time) then two dogs and her, then three dogs and her, then having to pass in front of her nose with the treat to give it to Kali (tougher distraction) until she was solid. Then I got up and started again while I was standing.

Of course this was over several days/sessions. . . once she was solid I put the other dogs away and started not with duration but with me moving away from her. First I started with staying in place and moving one foot forward and back C/T, then the other foot C/T, then one foot then the other foot C/T, then taking one step AWAY from her and stepping back C/T.

. .. we’re up to FIVE steps away and back!

This morning I didn’t feel like putting the other dogs away so I asked Griffin to Go to Mat, put Kali on the Down Stay and let Rosa be my wagging tail ghost . I set Nike facing Griffin about 5’ away(he’s on the Mat) so I could walk away from her, reward Griffin and walk back to her before C/T.

Nice job. I can see how hard she’s thinking about this and how much self control it takes her to not spring up!

We’ll get there. I know it seems like there’s a lot of distractions and usually I would not start with so much but it really seems to help her. Now that she seems to have grabbed the concept I’ll be just alternating sessions with and without the rest of the gang from now on.

I’M pretty happy about this!

Behavior	Level	Uncued Reps	Cued Reps	Cued Errors	Success Rate	Duration	Distance
Contacts	3	15	0	0
Down Stay	2	20	0	0			5.0 ft