It was a good week all around: work, Auggie and Emmett, weather and food. I have zero complaints!

Emmett is 18 weeks old and has been with Auggie and me for 10 weeks – Unbelievable!

We continue to work on less wrestling, more snuggling … a work in progress!

And in other training news, we started attending a training class at a spot not too far away headed by Will and Andrea Brunz. Will is a Karen Pryor Training Camp alumni, does continuing education and referred me to Laurie Luck’s Smart Dog University site. (with the many videos on clicker training). I am incredibly fortunate to have someone of Will’s expertise and experience to guide me in my training of Emmett AND to have great classes so that we also learn to do things at different places and with a variety of distractions.

The first session was too exciting to do much except absorb the smells and sounds. There were 3 other dogs, all over a year old and all large dogs. All well behaved and nice people. Emmett was beside himself wanting to say hello. Much like the video when he watched the deer, he sat with tail wagging and whole body wiggling. As things got going he walked around but was not interested in treats or the click … too much happening and too much to sniff. Toward the end, we were able to do a few things but primarily I was thrilled that he was so confident and interested – no fear or reluctance at the other dogs or the horses.

He barked at the horses and Will showed me a technique to help him learn not to bark at them. As soon as Emmett stopped for an instant to draw breath, click-treat. I.E. reward the cessation of the unwanted behavior. As we continued, the barking slowed and then I was able to get Emmett’s attention and we turned away.

Normal (adversive) training would have me saying “NO!”, and forcibly turning him away. One of the benefits of the positive reinforcement is that there is almost immediate understanding of the desired behavior – stop barking marked by clicker and reinforced by a treat. With the adversive technique, “does she mean don’t look at that thing, don’t bark, turn around ??? – what is No and what is Ok?” Communication is both quieter and succinct with positive reinforcement (operant conditioning). Everyone is happier with everything and we progress faster.

The technique of marking the instant the undesired behavior stopped was a light bulb moment for me. I’d read about shaping behavior but it was like it didn’t click for other things we are working on: jumping up, grabbing clothing, getting too rough with Auggie. So, a new tool in my training tool box. For jumping up, I was standing still and then click/treat when Emmett sat but he was getting the idea that to get a treat, he jumped up and then sat. So, I changed to click/treat in that moment before the jump which in a few uses, stopped the jumping. I will need to keep watching but there is much improvement.

We went to a second class yesterday and because weather was a bit iffy, we were the only ones there. Emmett was excited as soon as I pulled in to park so good memories. He sniffed around, looked at the horses, some boarding dogs in adjacent yards barked and he sat and watched for a bit and then ignored. We were able to go through the things we learned and also start the official “loose leash walking” and prelude to “walk at heel”. Will explained all the steps and it makes so much sense to me. We are at the beginning but Emmett did the first part very well and we will continue practicing that this week.

I can read and watch videos, but there is nothing like having someone observe, correct timing and technique and explain the progression of steps. I am beyond thrilled. Both Emmett and I have fun, learn and come home ready for naps!

Other items:

The CSA vegetable haul keeps getting better:

The weather alternating between warm sunshine and soft rain has provided perfect growing conditions.

The Fuschia agree!

The view from the road home is spectacular.

A very good week.

***In honor of “Father’s Day”, some photos of Emmett’s father: Connor. Connor and Emmett have very similar markings. I think Emmett will be slightly smaller. Connor is 51 pounds. I’m thinking Emmett will land at 45-48 pounds.