Pushing reports - at times broken down day by day, of the pushing experience. Pushing is one of the basic exercises of the Natural Dog Training developed by Kevin Behan. Reports are in descending order. I try to do this 2x per day at
before mealtimes, though he still get's fed by his food caretaker.
OK
Friday, September 23
It has been 4 weeks and I really like the effect of pushing ...even once or twice a day for only a few minutes has an effect I like. It is better than treat for "sit" "down" "heel"etc. Those things are almost like side effects that happen in the course of the pushing exercise and me acting like prey. Storm now voluntarily jumps on the box :). He is still food oriented - but I can feel how much he gets out of pushing, today being the most vigorous yet. Not sure if that was because that is just what happens or because of both the other dog as well as the cattle being there.
Today we had the "white dog" neighbor distraction at the gate as well as cattle right there ...the dogs did great, very relaxed with everything, and Storm did a new level of pushing when called off while heading towards the cattle or the dog. At this time, as long as I am working with them...we can stand right next to them and they don't care but look towards me ....or, if I am far away and they start running, the come right back, especially
storm definitely preferring what I have to offer.
So everything was all relaxed, even as we had finished and while I continued working stacking wood with the cattle right there, the white neighbor dog sitting on the gravel road and our 2 dogs just hanging out...until another caretaker with different disposition towards the entire dog situation, came along and suddenly ..the dogs were barking and chasing the cattle. Go figure. It did not last long, they never hurt the cattle anyway and they came back running ...so no big deal, but it was interesting to watch.
It tells me that they can easily flip into another mode and that I want to do a lot more pushing and slowly increase the amount of distraction and stress while working with them.
So far I love this. With comparatively little time spent each day - the dogs are doing well....are more responsive and much more relaxed in general, including with visitors - while at the same time really up for working with me - and it is not just for the food.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Today I tried to flip the pushing. It went ok. Please see this video post - and please, I'm not like those sexy women of Westside German Shepherd rescue :)
On the way back to the house, there were visitors ...he barked, but then calmed down and just was there with us - nice.
Saturday, September 8, 2011 - this is day 1 of week 3
I have been able to work with Storm once a day only, evenings - and he is very enthusiastic.. The last 3 days we go for a little walk checking out the property. Today, the neighbors cows and their newborns were at the fence by the driveway - to my slight horror. I put the deaf aussie on a leash. Storm...he did so well - even though running towards them barking twice - he immediately turned and came running with the REAAADYY? STORM ...since I actually had the treats and was pushing - this proved to be extraordinarily attractive. He did not bother with them after that ...till way later when he followed the aussie and they chased them. at that point no point calling ...but we did after a minute and he came running.
I am making a point to massage him too these last 2 days.
Would be so cool to have a book: Raising a puppy the natural way :)
Monday, September 5, 2011 - day 4 of week 2
Again no pushing this morning, but this evening Storm was so "happy"...he's starting to run/dance ahead to the doggie training area. I am letting him chase me, hide, before pushing - fun.
About the visitors - there were mixed reports, but several said he is a lot calmer. But that is in general, and not necessarily attributable to the pushing.
As an aside, to do this, training dogs, outside dogs, as an aside, is difficult :)
Sunday, September 4, 2011 - day 3 of week 2
No pushing this morning, did really well this evening.
Some barking at visitors sometimes, other times totally relaxed.
The second DVD of Natural Dog Training (Neil Sattin, naturaldogblog.com) is very good also - lots to do on these basic levels and recommended to get. It will not play on computers though.
Finished the book: "Your Dog is your Mirror". Great read, may be the beginning of a new wave on how we view dogs and treat them. Some parts of it I will have to reread, or rather, study. Feeling a deep resonance though. For any young trainer, or anyone set up with a balanced dog pack, I'd go study with him to then incorporate the methods locally.
Saturday, September 3, 2011 - day 2 of week 2
Pushing went well both times, though I kept it short. We had lots of visitors. Whenever I was around, my impression was that storm was much more responsive when barking and he came when called. Mostly I did not hear him bark.One of the visitors felt he was much more relaxed, but another, who has 2 dogs of her won, said he was barking a lot and even jumped up at her (she was holding a bag). When she left in the evening, he did bark at her, I called him back, he came, then he went back to bark at her, I called him back and stayed.Storm's food caretaker seemed to think he was in an more aggressive phase. So, we'll see. One of these days I'll let you know about the history, we did not tie him up this time at all.
Still have not had time to watch DVD # 2 of Natural Dog Training, and I will register to the forum of the naturaldogblog.com
Friday, September 2, 2011 - day 1 of week 2
It was a good pushing day. Storm is really getting all exited when it is pushing time and it is a fun thing to do - AND, I don't have to jog or run. The horses at the corner just across the gate is no longer of interest when we go down there (that is a good thing). Storm is more relaxed with visitors. It is proving to be somewhat distracting to have the 2 dogs down by the training area, mostly I think I have to commit another time slot to more fully include our deaf dog - who is overly people "submissive" and so far will not push. For the most part he waits and gets a few treats while being touched at the neck - that was week 1. However, yesterday, I noticed a bit of willingness to push - sort of just a byproduct of including him a little, but it seemed that there is a change. This is interesting.
The DVD arrived - and I managed to watch the first one - most of it. It is useful to actually see the pushing exercise demonstrated, even more to hear explanation and see the demo of why you want to use a leash when doing the exercise. But if you don't want to invest in the DVD, Neil's description on the naturaldogblog.com of how to push is so good, that you will be able to do it correctly.
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