Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Popping Up On Downs

I was very frustrated yesterday when Wyatt kept popping up on his downs. It seems to happen most when I when walking away from him initially. It also happened once when I was out of sight. I have no clue why this happening and it is a new behavior. I never saw this in novice. I did treat him a lot for just being in sit when I would gently touch him all over to increase stress a bit while rewarding him for being in a sit. I thought it might be related to cold but he is still doing it now in the Spring. I got mad and used a very stern voice to "make" him sit back down. I guess I need to back up and go for shorted periods, stay closer, and reward him when he is staying. I am also walking away, circling around, etc so he will hold his sit no matter what I am doing.

3 comments:

Stephanie Colman said...

You might also try training with another human present so that person can reposition him if he gets up. Otherwise, you risk creating a behavior chain of you leave > he gets up > you come back.

John Heffernan said...

Good point...

Urban Smoothie Read said...

someone even suggest me to jump, run around and throw some balls to provide more distraction...

but i find it most useful when there is another person doing recall next to my dog who is staying... i can test n see how my dog response while there's another dog running next to her...