....what do you do? Since we had the dog trainer over, my husband and I have
been working quite productively towards educating Kiba. He's a quick eager
learner, and now that we have some useful tools, he's really making
progress.

I saw Victoria Stillwell teach Presley the boxer "leave it" on the Greatest
American Dog show, and thought I'd try that with Kiba. We have a pretty good
"drop it" but "leave it" isn't one we've worked on. He's GREAT with the
treat in the hand. Show him the treat, say "leave it", put hand near nose.
If he leaves it, "click" or "good dog" and he gets a treat from the other
hand. He can do that over and over. Started out really well when I put the
treat on the floor. We did it a few times. Until he grabbed the treat.
Twice. I'm an idiot. A slow idiot. I didn't know what to do the first
time. I actually tried to get it out of his mouth. Maroon, as Jack might
say. Second time I just stopped playing. Put the lid on the treat bucket,
put my nose in the air, and ignored him. I realize of course that I should
have had my foot ready to cover the treat, but as I said, idiot. Have I
screwed this up beyond redemption? Why, oh why, do I make this so
difficult? Kiba doesn't deserve me... he's better than this.
--
Phyrie
Kiba the Cav's Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phyrie/...758930/detail/

On 2008-09-18 00:21:22 -0400, "Phyrie" said:

...what do you do?

We remember that tomorrow is a new day.

"montana wildhack" wrote in message
news:2008091800543216807-montana@wildhackcominvalid...
On 2008-09-18 00:21:22 -0400, "Phyrie"
said:

...what do you do?

We remember that tomorrow is a new day.

Yeah, that's true. I wish I could learn to relax about this stuff. Kiba is
such a good dog, I hope he will forgive me my mistakes. I just wish I knew
it all RIGHT NOW, so I could help him better to become the great dog I know
he is.

Attempting to channel Scarlett..."Tomorrow is another day..."
--
Phyrie
Kiba the Cav's Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phyrie/...758930/detail/

On 2008-09-18 01:59:15 -0400, "Phyrie" said:

I hope he will forgive me my mistakes.

He will. Give yourselves some time. Dogs are very forgiving.

Phyrie wrote:
Have I
screwed this up beyond redemption? Why, oh why, do I make this so
difficult? Kiba doesn't deserve me... he's better than this.

Okay, first of all, wow. Settle down. Tell your inner Drama Queen to go
find another gig. Getting a treat off the floor twice is not going to
scar Kiba for life, or you either!

So, Kiba got the treat twice. All that means is that it may take just a
bit longer to teach this skill as she has learned she can get rewarded
if she's persistent. Quit with the ground work for awhile, and work on
reinforcing the hand work. Sue Ailsby's Doggie Zen is perfect and
reinforces your work. Go to www. dragonflyllama.com and click on her
Levels training then find the doggie zen section.

Dogs are very forgiving of our mistakes. Sometimes when we make mistakes
that allow the dog to indulge in a highly self-reinforcing behavior it
IS harder to get the behavior we want, but it can happen.

Next time you do a treat on the floor, put it *right* by the side of
your foot. If she goes for it, step on the treat.

On Sep 17, 9:21*pm, "Phyrie" wrote:

Kiba doesn't deserve me... he's better than this.

Oh, heavens. You know that training dogs is also about training
humans, right? You're learning and will bump along just fine. Back
up, keep it simple, and try it again.

My mentor in field and obedience has, more than once, come over and
smacked me on the top o' the head for being a Stoopid Human. But I
learn from it, and the dogs learn from it, and we all move along as a
team, developing at our own paces. You will, too. If the goal was a
dog trained with the fewest errors in the process, I'd just hand them
over to my mentor to train and trial - but that's not why I'm in the
game, and it's not why you're there, either.

You'll be fine. Kiba will, too.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:21:22 -0700, "Phyrie"
wrote:

Maroon, as Jack might say.

Phyrie, I know maroons.

Maroons are friends of mine.

And you're no maroon.

Forgedaboudit.

--
Handsome Jack Morrison

Important Public Health Announcement.
http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball...-announcement/

The Democratic "poison pill" on drilling.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/1...l-on-drilling/

The NYT (finally!) Discovers The Chicago Annenberg Challenge.
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/mai...mes-disco.html
http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008...-ny-times.html

Ten Myths About Budget Deficits and Debt.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg2178.cfm

The Fallacy of 'Green Jobs'.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...reen_jobs.html

The two Americas: One likes kids, the other doesn't.
http://rightcoast.typepad.com/rightc...its-all-a.html

This is what happens when you don't build power plants.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...ritain-warning

The Culture War's Decisive Battle has Begun.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/...ve_batt_1.html

The *Real* Google Agenda. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
http://pajamasmedia.com/edgelings/20...google-agenda/

Do you really want this person to be your new First Lady? (Be sure to read her *entire* thesis).
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html

If this doesn't scare the **** out of you, you might be a fascist.
http://volokh.com/posts/1220243277.shtml

"Robin Nuttall" wrote in message
news:kUsAk.292887$TT4.253298@attbi_s22...

Sue Ailsby's Doggie Zen is perfect and
reinforces your work. Go to www. dragonflyllama.com and click on her
Levels training then find the doggie zen section.


Great site! Thanks Robin, for posting it. I can't wait to try some of the
zen things.

Sue and Atty

"Sue and Atty" wrote in message
...

"Robin Nuttall" wrote in message
news:kUsAk.292887$TT4.253298@attbi_s22...

Sue Ailsby's Doggie Zen is perfect and
reinforces your work. Go to www. dragonflyllama.com and click on her
Levels training then find the doggie zen section.


Great site! Thanks Robin, for posting it. I can't wait to try some of
the zen things.

Sue and Atty


ROFL - I just tried this with Atty - level 1
After the 3rd treat, she just stared at the ground, looking all around her,
waiting for the next treat to drop. I don't know if she's brilliant or an
idiot!

Sue and Atty

"Phyrie" wrote in message
...

Why, oh why, do I make this so
difficult?

OOF! Might have something to do with overmedication from an emergency root
canal performed while on vacation in Calgary by a yellow-pages dentist, who
may or may not have totally ****ed up my jaw. I must try to remember not
type while I'm upset.

Kiba does forgive me, and is great at "leave it" in the hand. I'll work on
the floor stuff later. Right now he's having a major case of zoomies, and
is amusing himself (and me) by running full tilt out the back door, around
the yard, in the front door, through the house and out the back door again,
occasionally picking up random trash to growl at while flying past me.
Lucky for him I was baking pizzas and the smoke detector told me to open all
the doors! This dog cracks me up, when I'm not worrying...
--
Phyrie
Kiba the Cav's Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phyrie/...758930/detail/