training day 4.

i missed training day 3. and i completely forget what we worked on.

so onwards and upwards!

last night we went to training and rufus did well, although was really feeling pretty tired and distracted near the end. after not writing last week i realized i really dont remember what we did - so i want to continue to write about our progress.

so last night we worked on:

• eye contact. it is the first thing we do every class. and very important. we did a variation with holding a treat out to the side and when he gave us eye contact we click, treat. this food distraction is really good for reinforcing eye contact. 
• doggie zen. we have worked on this as well, but we added a variation like the eye contact - hold the treat out and get him to do another exercise (sit, down, touch) while holding the hand out with the treat. if he goes for the treat, cover it up until he does the exercise you want him to do - the reward becomes getting the treat.
• target practice. using a target to start the next level of training - we hid a target stick behind our backs and then presented it to him so he touched it with his nose (he actually would lunge and try and bite it...so we need to work on that!). this can lead to more advanced party tricks that your dog can do!
• sit and stay. pretty straight forward.
• tug. this is our half way play time during school. we let rufus play tug (he was ALL over play time this week) and then when we want him to drop the toy we present him with a treat and say drop. he is OK at this, but we definitely need to work on it.

so that is week 4 of rufus school. we are doing pretty well so far, but we need to do more practice at home.

we also got a little advice on a few of the things rufus does that we would like to work on - like jumping at us when we get home - any reaction is a good reaction for the dog...so we need to just stand, or ignore (no eye contact, no touching, no acknowledgement) until he calms down.

so that was long.
oupps.