Sitting on top of the world

Well Mr. Alfredo has had a big few days. Trips to the park and the coffee shop; all three pet stores-- the last one with me and River together!

and down the street meeting the neighborhood kids-- he is so gentle with children and is becoming much more interested in people. Still cautious, but interested. He's been training, learning to play with toys, and sleeping in the crate.

Yes. 

Sleeping. in. the. crate. Going in all on his own.

He hangs out there at night, and during the day, and when he's unsure of what's going on. He's doing so well, and I am getting sleep. Hallelujah. 

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I finally decided to just teach the sit. Luna has been cranky about Alfie now that she's realized he's not going away, and so I need him to get a good solid sit/stay for use around the house and a hand target to move him around quicker. I decided I'd deal with the issue of a tuck sit later, but honestly, he rarely moves his front legs when he sits, so it really will just need tightening up if anything. 

Once again, I still haven't seemed to learn to keep the sessions shorter and click at a higher rate. I HAVE to work on this.

I started today with hand targets. I had been playing with this over the last couple of days, verbally marking and rewarding with pets and personal play. He does very well when my hand is close. But then we hit a plateau when I started trying to get distance. Oddly enough, turning my hand upside down did the trick. So that got us further and by the end of our session, we had some nice distance and enthusiasm. I especially love the last rep where he starting hitting my arm and worked his way to my hand until I clicked. 

After this, we had some tug time and played with a toy. Then I switched to sit. I was able to capture some sits quickly at first. We hit a plateau and I tried to toss a treat to reset, but each time, he came back, a little less engaged than before... So I lured a sit, paid heavy and tossed... and still less engaged. So I lured again, paid heavy again, and dropped the treat instead of tossing. That did it. He needed less time to forget or get bored with what we were doing. And by the end, when I was very confident of the sit, I started adding the cue. I will keep trying to only use this when I am certain of it and can reward. 

Most excitingly, I am seeing a happy dog. I'm seeing a dog that is blossoming and getting comfortable and loving training and treats (he snuck back in the room, stole a bucket of treats off the counter, chewed off the lid, and I found him on the floor with his head halfway in). 

I can't think of anything more fun.