Zoey has been doing great, I train her every night, along with intermittently during the day ( to & from work - leash training). She did great last night, we walked about half of our road - except at the end she got a little distracted, then went into 'lets play tug with the leash' so I stood there until she stopped. lol. I also got her to play in puddle and touch two road cones. A couple cars went by, but luckily where we were I was able to take her further from the road, lessening her reaction. ( trying to set her up for success).
Last night's training was fun, really mixed it up. worked on stay on the mat, then played with the cat toy, then stay on the mat again, then played fetch, then the touch it game. I think she really enjoyed it.
Also a note on teaching stay, and it's funny cuz it has almost nothing to do with the dog - this is a handler issue. LOL. so I started adding distractions to her stays as well as duration. jump up and down, good, hop on one foot, good, slide across the kitchen floor in my socks, good. run across the floor ( this is her weakness, but she got better), ok so here's the tip, when teaching your dog stay on the mat while you proceed to run across the floor - MAKE SURE YOUR TREAT BAG IS CLOSED!! HAHA!!
I inadvertently rewarded her for leaving her stay when I ran across the kitchen spilling treats all over the place!
Another tip, make sure your treat bag is where NO other dogs can get them, twice I've zoned out and left it on the coffee table, only to come back from taking Zoey out to go potty, to find Amber gorging herself on tasty tasty treats ( yes standing on the coffee table). *smack yourself over the head with the treat bag*
big step forward this morning, as we're walking to work my boss' big diesel truck is idling in the driveway. Zoey was doing great on the walk over, so I slowly approached the truck, then I rewarded her for being calm and curious around the truck. not rewarding any fearful behavior - which there wasn't much. I asked her to touch the truck, C/T, we walked all around the truck and every time she focused on me she got a click. So I thought that was a good thing. Now to work on the ones that are moving.
I've found the faster the car is moving, the more reactive she is. Almost thinking about making a sign that says 'please slow down, puppy training in progress' LOL yes the crazy lady training her dog ALL of the time. LOL
another tip - if you put treats in your sweatshirt pocket, makes sure the dogs can't get to that sweatshirt when you're not wearing it. lol. I kept putting my clicker in my pocket, then it would fall out, after 3x I was like what the heck!!?! flipped the bottom of my sweatshirt inside out, there was a big hole in the bottom, someone with little razor teeth 'modified' my hoody!! LOL