The other day I was at Costco and I was trying to get Morey to close the door to the refrigerated section. He was pushing on the wrong side to make it close and I was trying to get him to understand he had to go around and push from the other side. We weren't making much progress and I could tell Morey was getting frustrated but instead of taking a break or giving him something to succeed at we kept at it. I was very surprised when Morey let out a loud bark of frustration, startling everyone in the aisle including me!The bark jolted me back into dog trainer mode and after ignoring him for a moment (as to not reward the barking) I had him do a few easy cues "sit" "stand" and "touch". We celebrated those successes and moved on (after I closed the refrigerated door!). Next time I want to work on this I will use it as a training moment and come prepared.
Looking back on this situation I realized this was not the first time Morey has barked in frustration- he actually does it a lot when we are training for agility but since we are usually outside and that is his "fun" time I don't usually do anything about it. There are a few lessons I learned from this 1) Don't let Morey get to the point of frustration where he feels the need to bark. Whether we are working on agility or service dog tasks it is my job to make it fun and set him up for success. If Morey isn't getting it and is starting to bark that means I need to change my criteria and training method so he can be more successful. 2) I need to respond to Morey's barking bouts in a way that discourages the behavior. Usually this means simply turning away and disengaging so he learns that barking= end of interaction. He learns quickly so I know it won't take him long to learn other ways to manage his frustration.
Hopefully I will be posting another update soon showing Morey doing this task correctly!
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