I use most of Morey's commands on a regular basis and try to make sure we are practicing the ones I don't use as often. As my physical abilities and life circumstances change, I never know when something I don't use today might be useful tomorrow. However, practicing in my office or in the living room and practicing them in real life are quite different to a dog as I was reminded this week...
We were out on our walk during my lunch break and a cyclist was coming toward us from the opposite direction. There was no way to have Morey out of the way so the cyclist could pass except to have Morey do a "behind". I cued him to do so and he just looked at me. I had to target him with my hand behind my chair and then he got in position, but would only stay behind me as long as my hand was there and then he would pop back into a "heel".
Since I didn't have a specific destination or time deadline to be somewhere, I took the rest of my break working with Morey on "behind"as we made our way back to my office. There are a lot of cyclists in Austin and having Morey be able to go behind me so they can pass is a skill and situation that will come up again in the future. We worked on it for a while and he was getting better at moving behind me on cue.
As we went back into my office building, I asked him once again and this time he did a perfect "behind", staying behind me while I went several feet. I think this dramatic change in his response had more to do with the environment than with his 15 minute "refresher". I usually practice "behind" inside, where he does it very nicely. We have not spent a lot of time working on it outside. Functionally, I think I have only used it inside or while I was stationary. While to me it was the same behavior, to Morey asking outside while we were moving was quite different.
As a dog trainer, sometimes I forget to think from the dog's perspective. Especially when you run into training challenges, thinking like a dog can sometimes help resolve problems (and shift the "blame" from the dog back to yourself). I think it might be time to read "The Other End of the Leash" again...
Our topic of conversation in class last night! Talking about different situations and how the dog might not be responding to your words but, possibly, something else. An example was a dog who was great at the command "come" to a gentleman but when that same man took off his hat, the dog just sat there. The thinking was he cued on the nod of the hat, not the word come.
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