Went for a walk this morning round the big field down the road. Dora came too. Dora kept going off ahead. Saffy followed but couldn't really keep up. When Saffy was going to Dora I would call her back to me, then she would go back to Dora again and I would call her again. Saffy comes galloping back and hurls herself at me. She does like a treat when she gets to me but I think letting her jump up and giving her a big fuss is more of a reward. I am also marking and rewarding eye contact and attention on me. She does watch me a lot and I am going to keep encouraging that. When Dora goes off Saffy is not quite as confident and she sticks very close to my legs getting between my legs and I nearly fall over her.
We had a breakthrough with training today. Saffy Discovered she has paws! Ihave been trying to get Saffy to give me her paw for a while now. I have taught all the other dogs to do this by holding a really nice treat in my hand and letting the dog sniff and try to get the treat. if they fail to get the treat with their mouth they use their paw to try to get the treat and I click the paw movement. I have tried this with Saffy several times but she never attempted to use her paw. She would sniff and lick and then try sitting and then give up. She made no attempt to use her paw at all.
I tried a different approach today and placed a treat just under the leg of my office chair where Saffy could see it but not quite reach it with her tongue. She then actually used her paw to get the treat so i clicked that. We did this several times until Saffy discovered she could just go round the chair to get the treat.
I then put a treat in my hand and first of all lay down and the she tried her paw. a few more repetions and she was using her paw straight away to get the treat. After this I presented my hand in the same position but without the treat. At first she didn't give me her paw so I waited and a few seconds later she tried her paw so clicked and gave her the treat. We did this several times
Next session I asked Saffy to sit rather than lie down and presented my hand with a treat in and waited until she tried her paw again. It took a little while for her to work out that I still wanted her to give a paw even though she was sitting but again just a few tries and she was using her paw every time.
A few more goes and I was able to drop the treat so she would put her paw in my empty hand. then I changed rooms and started asking for her paw in other places in the house. each training session only involved 5-6 treats and only took a minute ot two.
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