Sidetracked!

I have a lot of reasons (okay, excuses) why I haven't done more tracking with Jojo.
But in the mean time, I borrowed a friends dog and have been practicing and competing with her.
This is Mara

She's a seven year old Belgian Malinois. Her Mom trains her in Obedience and Agility.  I pet sit with her when her owners are out of town.

I love working with her she's smart, quick, and happy.  She's also very stable,she appears a little wild, but she's not reactive.

Since I like to compete, and Marilyn does not. I asked if I could try her out in Novice. 

At the Seward, NE trial in April, we took 4th place in Novice B on Saturday and 3rd place in Novice B on Sunday.

It's definitely a learning experience. She does not need any cheer leading. She's pumped at all times. She loves to work, but her Mom doesn't train for the details. The straight sits, the straight fronts, and the perfect heeling haven't been on her radar. She wants and obedient dog who has her brain and body tired out.

So I've been practicing with her. Working on the details, I don't expect to earn an OTCH with her, but I'd like to polish her up a little. And it is fun to be back in the ring with a dog that I trust not to run out after another dog.  She has no interest in leaving the ring, she just wants to work.

Here's our second day in the ring:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0fQdJGy3s

Tracking--or not!

Well I've taken Jojo tracking exactly once, in my front yard.
I started at the bottom of the stairs to my porch and instead of going in a straight line, I curved out to the public right of way and ended in my neighbors yard. I used freeze dried lamb lung on the track. It wasn't the best or longest track, but Jojo did follow it. He did not eat all the food, he passed over quite a bit of it. He got a bit distracted by passing cars, and at one point he was facing me and backing down the track. Overall he did okay, I really need to make time to take him to the park and really lay a track.
I've been practicing Scent Discrimination with him inside, I'm not sure if that will help our tracking. But . . .
I've discovered that AKC now has Trick dog titles!
And I've gotten a little distracted by working with my oldest dog, Missy on practicing our tricks. she knows quite a few tricks and would zip right through the titles.

A new year a new . . .

It seems I start blogging and then as the year goes by, I forget. Oops.
Well as I last left off, Quinn and I were practicing Novice Obedience, and having issues. We went in to the ring several times and we did indeed earn his PCD!

He wasn't High in trial, but he did qualify at least three times. He was more distracted than he has been in the past, but overall he did a nice job. He didn't leave the ring and did what he was supposed to. I nq'd us once by saying "Finish" before the judge called it.
On his last leg, I set him up for the recall, and then called when the judge signaled, Quinn was watching the dog in the next ring. He looked back at me and just sat there staring at me.  I didn't say anything. I figured at some point the judge would say "Exercise Finished" and we'd be done.  But then I could see the light bulb go on above Quinn's head and he got up and raced to me.  What a good dog.  That was it, our title!

I had planned on continuing on with him and try for his PCDX and we might still, but he's now 10 and a little arthritic, I practiced a little of Open with him and then gave him the rest of the year off. We'll see where it goes.

I am planning on trying Tracking with Jojo, I'm hoping if I begin blogging it might keep me honest about practicing. So this year my goal is a TD with Jojo, let's see what happens!

Practice

Practiced in Sunday with a friend. She put Quinn and I through our paces. Quinn did very well until we got to heel off lead. As we did the last bit, we had to do a right turn, slow, normal and another right turn.  As I came out of the slow Quinn ducked behind me and came up on the wrong side.
We tried it again and he did the same thing.
Chris asked if I had been there a practicing for a while because he seemed tired.  Sadly that was not the case. I put him on lead and tried again, rewarding him heavily for staying with me. We did a quick recall and quit.

I'm showing in Seward next weekend. I just hope that he doesn't poop out on me then.

First Obedience Trial in a Long Time!

Oops, I haven't posted since January. The plus is I have been training Quinn!
I've been taking him to the obedience club and practicing at least once a week. I've been doing some practicing at home, but not nearly enough.

I took Quinn to the BDOC Obedience trial last week. I entered him just one day in Preferred Novice, I wanted to see how he did. Sadly, I didn't do as well as he did. I was nervous that he would go off on another dog. The building was very small, many people and dogs crowded together. Alicia initially came in without her wheelchair to video tape my run, but then when the host offered to help her bring her chair in--she went out the door--and out went Quinn's brain.   

He growled quietly a couple of times, but didn't do too badly. There was a woman just outside the ring with her uncrated dog. The Border Collie was either in her lap or at her feet, and did I say I was nervous? 

We started the heeling pattern right in front of her (and did the recall there as well.) I was very concerned he would begin barking at her dog. Quinn was more worried that Alicia would leave without him. Our heel on-lead was just okay, he lagged on the about turn and he refused to sit--why? Most likely, it was because I was hyperventilating and was not consistent. The figure 8 was much better! His stand-stay was great. The heel free was okay, again lagging on the about turn. At the very end of the heeling exercise, the judge had each team halt right in front of the ring gate (and that person with the dog.) It would have been much better, if I hadn't anticipated an about turn instead of a halt. I started to about turn when she said stop and Quinn, confused, circled me and did not sit. Damn! Completely my fault!

On the recall, I called him, he ran right past me to the ring gate. I thought 'Oh no! Here it comes, he's going to start barking at the other dog.' Nope, he was looking for his Auntie Alicia! After all, he loves her and it would be horrible if she disappeared without him. I said "Quinn" and he came back to me, but he did not sit in front and the judge just said "Exercised Finished." I was pretty sure we had NQ'd.

The final exercise in Pref. Nov. is the sit or down stay. Similar to the Beginning novice sit, the dog must sit or down in the center of the ring and the handler walks around the perimeter of the ring. Quinn did fantastic, he watched me, but didn't break his sit. 

I was very happy when the judge said "Congratulations!" We qualified, our score was not very high, just 182.5, but we took second place and earned our first PCD leg. 

My sister took the video with her Kindle Fire. She's been known video tape her feet instead of the intended target, so she didn't do too bad of a job. Here's the video:

Quinn's run

Oops-- It's been two weeks since my last post!

 I've been gone for a while and my sister took care of my dogs, so finally here is a new post:

It's been very cold here (average highs less than freezing,) so I've done little things inside the house. One practice session was solely calling Quinn to heel from various locations.  We started with a step in front (facing the same direction) and built until I was 10 feet away facing him. (The finish on the Moving Stand.) The biggest challenge we had was going to the obedience club for a heeling seminar.  I was actually the teacher. I took Quinn to be my demo dog. I was supposed to have a small group of people (5 or so) but due to some conflicts with an Agility class I ended up with 1 student taking the seminar and an Agility class being taught less than 10 feet away. 

Quinn had issues with some of the dogs doing agility.  Any dog he considered 'out of control' he barked at. Overall he did very well considering he's not used to being in the building with 8 dogs running agility in the next ring. I find that if Quinn views the situation as a 'Dog Show' is much more accepting of other dogs than if he sees it as 'Training.'  At a dog show he'll tolerate a lot more than he would in the real world. I'm not sure if  I do something different, or if it's the number dogs present, but he'll just settle right down at a show or fun match.

I used Quinn to show what a dog should look like when heeling, and then put him in a crate and demonstrated the beginning steps with Sage (Alicia's dog.)  When it was time to talk about proofing, I got Quinn back out and did some more heeling. It was nice practice and the dogs doing agility were  nice distraction. When Quinn makes a mistake I stop what I'm doing, by stepping out of position or just stop forward motion. If I continue to heel, then I've rewarded his inattention. I noticed that he's begun heeling wide on about turns, I'm sure I'm doing something to cause it.  I'm going to have to tape our heeling sessions and find out why.

The biggest reward for teaching that seminar was at the end. When several people were standing around talking, Quinn went up to a woman and asked for attention.  He's not nearly as scared of people as Jojo can be, but he is an Aussie and he's reserved with people.  The fact she was a complete stranger and he ran up (and jumped on her) was a good thing.  She had her Papillon sitting on a chair next to her.  Quinn's met (and lived with) several Papillons, so he just ignored the dog and concentrated on the person. Now if it only warms up enough to go outside and train.



Alicia did a little practice with Quinn while she took care of my dogs, here's her experience with Quin practicing the Stand-Stay:

"While it's true that I very rarely get to work with Marcy's dogs, when they are staying with me, I get to try lots of things with them. This time, Marcy wanted me to work specifically on Quinn's stand-stay. Quinn and I have a special relationship so I knew it would go either very well or rather badly. To my pleasure, it went rather well. I had Quinn get in heel position then gave him the cue to stand. Quinn did a great job of standing but either didn't see my signal for him to stay or was too excited to heed it. As a result, we had to do it again. This time, once I had Quinn in his stand position, I took a few seconds out to "set him up" in his stand position and he responded well to my "stay" and we were successful."

Yesterday we practiced go outs, it's not a Novice exercise, but it's obedience and it gives us something different to do.  I'm using a method, I learned from Shirley Chong.  You teach the dog to hit a target with his/her paw.  You slowly move backwards from various targets until you get full distance.  We're just starting out so I figured we don't need much room.
Alicia taught him to shake hands, so I cued him for that and moved my hand out of the way so he hit the footstool, bingo, he got it.  I had him "whack" the footstool, a traffic cone, (yes I have one in my dining room, don't you?) the sofa, and a plastic storage bin.  He was getting into it We were pretty close to each object, next time we work on it, we'll move a little ways away (18" or so.) To make this Novice related, we did finishes to set up each time, he did very well.

Today I practiced the retrieve on flat. Quinn really loves to retrieve so our difficulty is the stay while I throw the dumbbell. Because it's a challenge I decided to try a Graduate Novice exercise called a Dumbbell Recall.  You hand the dumbbell to the dog walk across the ring and call them to front.  Sound easy?  Well I thought it would be.  I handed him the dumbbell told him to stay took three steps and I heard the dumbbell hit the floor.
I went back set him up again and this time took just one step out (pivoted out in front of him.)  I called him and moved backwards.  He brought the dumbbell to me, yay!  The next time I went out just a couple of steps.  He did a good job.

Since he didn't do as well as I expected, I stopped there and tried something else.  I threw the dumbbell and then told him to heel with me,  The first time he started to go after the dumbbell, I interrupted him and called him back, made him do a pivot and then sent him.  He sat there not moving at all, oops!  I did another pivot and sent him again.  He ran out and retrieved, but dropped the dumbbell at my feet.  What the h--heck?! I did the exercise again and he actually heeled with me and then went out and got the dumbbell.  When I took it from him, I noticed blood on the bell and on Quinn's mouth.  He must have bit his tongue when he picked up the dumbbell, poor boy.  We stopped there and did some heeling and  tricks (walking in between my legs.) He just loves to work, I really feel bad that I haven't practiced with him much this past year.



*Picture By Michael Malak (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Sunday is a day of rest

So I'd planned on having Alicia come over and call a Novice Routine for Quinn and I, but that didn't happen.  I spent the day cooking (rhubarb upside down cake is a big mistake) and reading a book.

Today, after work I took the dogs out in the back yard and had Quinn do a sit-stay while I walked around the perimeter of the yard.  The first time I tried it, Missy enticed him out of the stay.  The second time, I just walked a short ways away and then went back and rewarded him.

The third time was the charm and he finally stayed while I walked around the yard.  He kept an eye on me but he didn't move. He got a big reward and then we went inside--it was darn cold!

Trying it again!

I have a goal for the year, and I thought I'd dust off the old Blog and see if I can use it to help me reach it.
My goal is to take Quinn into the ring and earn his P-CD.
AKC has a new titling class that's Preferred Novice.  It's standard Novice, but the sit (or down) stay is similar to the sit-stay in Beginning Novice.  In other words, no group sit and down!  Yay.
For Quinn that's the only way I'll be comfortable getting a CD on him.  He knows the exercises, but he's frightened of other dogs and I've worked very hard with him quite a bit.  There was a time when I couldn't even take him to a trial. Since then he's earned his RE and BN, so he's improved immensely, but I know I wouldn't feel confident of his behavior in a group of dogs.

So today, I practiced the sit-stay, he did fine, but we were in my dining room, not much of a challenge. My sister brought me a pizza for supper (we shared) and I had her help me practice the Moving Stand.  The first time, he did the stand and held the exam, which is tough because he loves Alicia and wants nothing more than to jump on her and give her kisses.  When I called him to heel, he came to heel, but didn't sit.  Oops, we need to work on that. The second time, I broke it up and did the stand and exam.  Then rewarded him, reset the stand and called him to heel, he did much better.

Tomorrow, I want to practice a full Novice routine, we'll see how that goes!

Training or Punishing?

Someone sent this article to me via email:
http://www.seespotrunkennel.com/blog/punishing-out-warning-signals-reality-or-myth/
I just felt I had to address some of the author's points. She argues that correcting a growling dog does not always create a dog who bites without warning and that it's only anecdotal evidence that is behind this thought process.
She also points out that people like Pamela Dennison and Pat Miller, (and even Ian Dunbar); people who encourage more positive methods of training are the people who believe and promote the idea that correcting a growling dog creates a stealth biter.
She does make a great point that growling is only one of the first signals that dogs give. I have pointed out that freezing, baring teeth, a hard stare, and a puckered commissure are all signals as well.
I then ask: Will the average pet owner be aware enough to watch for the other signals? Or will they say "He bit me without any warning?"
Ruth also states that a dog who growls at you for trying to take his bone is stating "Just try to take my bone, b!+@#" or words to that effect.  This statement smacks of the anthropomorphizing of dog trainers from the 1950’s and 60’s (that all dogs are stubborn and resent being trained).  Her argument is that if punishment is well timed, the dog can be taught what is appropriate and what is not.
I'm sure this is true. I'm not a positive-only trainer and I do use corrections. In my opinion, the flaw in her argument is the average owner, even the average trainer, has very bad timing. Whether using a clicker or a collar pop most people don't have the experience or skill to capture or correct a behavior.
So I pose the question using her scenario: What's wrong with training the dog to allow me to take the bone, instead of just punishing the growl?

Open Obedience Class or The Good and The Bad.

I had an Open Obedience class start last night (open as in Open class with retrieves, etc). The only dog I have that's even close to ready for Open is Quinn, so I decided to take him, have him demo. the exercises and then send him home with my sister.

When we arrived he barked at a couple of dogs he saw in the parking lot, but I moved out to the street and got him calmed down. When we had a little space, I took him into the building and right into a ring. He did great--no barking. We started working in the big ring practicing Open stuff. Another trainer brought her very calm GSD in the ring to practice with us. Quinn looked at other dog and then absolutely ignored him. At one point, we both set up the dogs (about 25' away from each other) and walked to the other side of the ring. I called Quinn first, then she called her dog. Quinn did nothing, he didn't even look at her or her dog!

That was the good.

I then had the students for the class line up outside the ring and watch us do a routine. Quinn did great, until we got to the retrieve on the flat. There was a lady with a Malinois standing just outside the ring gate right opposite us. I threw the dumbbell short and Quinn hesitated to get it. I knew why, the Mal was intense and he wasn't comfortable. I suggested we go to the other end of the ring and try it again. I should have asked the woman to move her dog.

When we got to the other side Quinn didn't want to go to heel, (again, I should have listened to him). He went behind me and ran up to the ring gate barking and growling. I told him to knock it off and called him back. He did (yay!) and I did get him to retrieve on the flat, he wasn't really focused on the retrieve over the jump, but had gotten back into the swing of things as we did the Broad jump exercise.

When my sister took him out of the building he barked quite a bit, but I just told her to leave and not mess around. I probably pushed him too far, too fast. but overall I'm really proud of his behavior. I obviously need to really focus on what he's telling me, he knew the situations he couldn't handle and he let me know. Now I just need to not push him.

Training with the Trainer

Met with the trainer today at a local park. She brought her older male Aussie and her younger male GSD. Quinn does not like GSD's for whatever reason, I was a little nervous.

We started with her getting out her Aussie and setting him up about 12' from the sidewalk. Quinn and I just started walking toward them. As we got closer, when he noticed her dog, I paused and when he chose to disengage, I marked the behavior and ran away (okay, by the end I was walking away). Quinn figured out that he could ignore the dog completely, he was on a loose leash walking back and forth in font of and to the side of her boy. She then had me go into the parking lot and she walked her Aussie by Quinn. He got a little upset, but wasn't overloaded. At one point we were walking behind them and Quinn acted as if he wanted to catch up to them.

She then brought out her GSD. I wasn't sure how Quinn would react. We started out the same way and Quinnie did very well. We had one outburst, but he settled down and it was much quicker for him to learn to ignore the dog. I walked around them and moved a little closer. Then she and I walked the dogs side by side (about 6-10' apart) down the soccer field and back. Quinn had no outbursts he reacted very well. I'm so proud of him!

Practicing Open

Went to the club building on Friday, the trainer didn't show, so Quinn and I practiced an open routine. He's doing very well, we need some more practice on the drop on recall. His broad jump was very good considering we haven't done it in about 2 months. His retrieves are fantastic as usual.

I worked a bit on the Graduate Novice exercise the dumbbell recall. The dog takes the dumbbell, you tell them to stay, walk across the ring and call him. Quinn really wanted to heel with the db in his mouth. That's really a favorite exercise.

We practiced a bit on directed jumping: sending him out to a target and jumping the high and bar jump on command. We didn't make much progress on that exercise.

Afterwards, I took him to PetsMart and we practiced B.A.T. with the store employees and any customers in the store (no dogs to use as decoys).

At one point a customer asked if I'd put a coat on Quinn to see if it would fit him. I said yes and put Quinn in a stand stay, stepped on the leash and put the coat on him. It barely fit and he was miserable, "Bad, Mommy!"

Really he didn't care that someone was looking at him, he didn't care about the stand-stay. He hated having to wear a coat!

Hope to meet up with the trainer next week.

Poor Quinn

I've been practicing Scent Discrimination with him. I moved the set up into the living room (from the dining room) to give him a new location to try it. He seems to be getting the idea, I can't do many repetitions, if I try to do it more than two or three times or he starts to just grab articles. I wonder if he gets bored or he's being lazy. Hmm, I'll have to think on that.

I took him to the club on Thursday evening. When I got there, we were alone. We went inside and we practiced some heeling and retrieves, drops, etc. A person was there with out their dog. He showed interest, but didn't bark at her. While we were in the smaller ring, located partially behind the bathroom, someone brought their dog in. Her dog was very barky. Quinn barked once or twice at her dog, I did correct him and then moved further away from the ring gate. She moved past us into another ring. Quinn then began barking at me, it wasn't the growly, aggressive bark at the other dog. He was looking right at me and barking. I covered his eyes, which is what I'd do for any other dog (you can see or bark). He did stop barking after a bit, then we went out to the car.

Unfortunately he and Jojo got into an argument, they were running outside and crashed into each other, that sparked actual bites. Jojo has a puncture wound on the top of his muzzle. Quinn ended up with four stitches in his ear! I've been keeping him quiet, I'll be meeting with my trainer on Friday.

Thursday's session

I met my trainer at the local obedience club building.

She set her 13 year old female up in a different ring than last time. She pointed out I needed to watch Quinn for calming signals (sniffing/lip-licking, etc), not just turning away from her dog. I brought Quinn in and he barked once or twice, but settled down. I was just having some timing issues with him and he got to practice a little barking/lunging.

I think her female has decided that she needs to fix Quinn's little red wagon once and for all. She didn't approach us at all, but she did stand up a couple of times.
We only got a little practice in before someone came to us the Agility equipment. I knew Quinn wouldn't have been able to handle that, so I took him back to the car. We'll try again next week.

Back to Scent Discrimination or Why taking a break from training an exercise can help the dog.

I've taken a small break from B.A.T. training with Quinn, I'll meet with my trainer on Thursday.

Last spring, I began working with Quinn on Janice Demello's Around the clock method of teaching Scent discrimination. He'd been doing pretty good, but we hadn't gotten away from using cheese. I'd decreased the amount, but was having a little trouble fading it completely.
About that time, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness and I stopped working on that exercise.

Last night, I decided to see where Quinn was with S. D. I put down a clean article and a scented article and told him to "find mine". He ran out, sniffed them both and brought back the correct one. Yay!

Today, I decided to haul out the whole set up. The first time I put out a clean article and a metal one with scent and a small smear of cheese. He brought me the correct one. I didn't use cheese on the next set up (two clean articles and the scented one). He did great. The third time, he brought me a clean leather article. I said "oops" and took it, but no treat.

I put out another clean article and a minuscule bit of cheese on the scented article. He did great. Back to no cheese, but the time we had 9 articles out, he was bringing me the scented article with no cheese on it. I then switched to the leather article, I did use a bit of cheese on it, I wanted him to get it right.

Then I switched out the leather article I've been using all along, for the clean one he had retrieved before. I scented it, but didn't add any cheese (this article has never had cheese on it). I put them out and rearranged them a bit. He sniffed all the articles and brought the correct one!

I've seen it before, I really think giving the dog a break to process new information really helps him to understand the exercise. Probably a year was a bit long of a break, but I do think it helped Quinn figure it out! I am so happy with my boy.

Session 2+

Monday I had another training session with my new coach. She brought a newer method to work on Quinn's issues. B.A.T. --Behavioral Adjustment Training, written about by Grisha Stewart a trainer out of Seattle.

My trainer brought her 13 year old Aussie bitch to use as a 'decoy' dog. Basically, Quinn and I would move closer to her (while she was in a down-stay), when he noticed her, I stopped. As soon as he looked away, I marked the behavior and ran back to the 'starting point'. We did it several times and she moved her Aussie to a couple of new locations, overall I really like how it's progressing.

I've always felt that using food with Quinn added a bit of guarding behavior. I don't know if that's just my fear or if it's reality, but I like this method because you don't start off using food. It makes him work to control himself to earn the ability to move away from the decoy, instead of working for food where he might easily eat the food then explode on the decoy anyway.

Tuesday, I had a friend bring her Corgi and she did a sit-stay and a down-stay with her dog while Quinn and I worked. We've trained in the same ring before, so Quinn's familiar with her dog. He had no reactivity at all.

Tonight, I took him back to the training building and another trainer was there with her Golden. I asked if she'd do a Down-Stay with him, while I worked with Quinn. He did pretty well. He did react once (I moved too close, too fast). I didn't want to inconvenience the other trainer too much, so after several minutes, I put Quinn back into the car. I was pleased that he didn't seem stressed when I took him back to the car.

Petco again!

Yesterday afternoon we once again I tried Petco. I don't know if it's because Quinn has bad associations with the place, but he was really wound up. It wasn't hugely busy, there were maybe two dogs in the whole store. He started barking as soon as we pulled into the lot. He saw a GSD being walked out of the store and lost it.
I just spent time with him in the crate (door open) and used the clicker, clicking for calm behavior and just letting hang out in his crate.I pulled him out of the crate and he was happy calm while he pottied, but as soon as we got into the store he barked at a store clerk, at Alicia with Sage (her puppy, who's currently living at my house while Alicia's pet/house-sitting).
I did get him to calm down a little, but he was on alert the whole time we were in the store. There were a couple of kids with a small white dog running around. He was focused on the boy when he saw him, but only barked at the little girl with the dog. He's never been comfortable around children, so I'm okay with his behavior at this point.
The worst reaction he had was as we left the store. A woman with a large black mix of some sort was getting out of her car as we approached my car. Quinn began barking, I corrected him, but it didn't help he continued to bark. Her dog was on a flat buckle collar and started to drag her over to Quinn. I just grabbed Quinn by the scruff and turned him away, he didn't stop barking, but the woman was able to get the other dog back under control and they went into the store. As soon as the dog was out of sight, Quinn calmed down. At that point I just crated him.Overall better than the last time we went to Petco, not as good as he's done at Petsmart or the club.

Quinn at the club

I took Quinn to the Greater Lincoln Obedience Club building. There was an Agility Fundamentals class and a Good Dog Level 1 class so there were plenty of dogs present.
He was barking when we pulled into the parking lot, but I waited him out and made him stay in the crate (door open) until he calmed down.
We then walked around a bit and let him potty if needed. When another trainer drove in we moved to the street. She had her very calm Border Collie with her and Quinn barked maybe once, but quickly calmed down.
We went into the building and he initially barked a couple of times, I corrected him and started rewarding him for being calm. I moved in to the office door several times and moved so he could see the other dogs in the building and again rewarded for calm behavior and then moved back into the office.
At one point another trainer brought her dogs towards the office. She came up on us quickly and Quinn began getting very upset. I asked her to wait for a minute in the doorway, then I calmed him down and moved him to the back of the office. He did very well, he didn't bark at them as they came close and left the building. He knows her dog, but on-leash in the building is very different from off leash in my backyard.
Overall I think he had a good session. I'm working up to being in the ring next to a beginning class or agility class. I don't think he'll ever be able to handle a Flyball class.

Day 2, Petco

My trainer gave me homework. It was to go to PetsMart and spend 10 minutes just walking around the store. No shopping, focus only on Quinn and interrupt or correct his bad behavior and reward the good. She also suggested I find a smaller class at the obedience club and get him either into the class or take him into the building--I'll work on that later!
Today I decided to take him to Petco, it's the same isn't it?
Apparently not. PetsMart on Friday is very very different from Petco on a Saturday. Quinn was over the top. When we first started in, he was fine. We got just inside the doors and he spotted the rescue booth. It wasn't the two Italian Greyhounds there to be adopted that make him bark, but the little Schipperke that was dancing around while the owners talked to the rescue people.
At that point, correcting him did not work. I just turned and got out of the entry-way. I should have turned around and left.
I worked on rewarding him and trying to stay as far away from the Schipperke and his people as possible. We were there about 5 minutes and had worked our way back to the grooming area. He barked a bit over the dog barking in the grooming room, but soon calmed down. We moved away to the Aquatics dept. He was nervous at first, but calmed quickly. We did a couple of pivots and were admired by a Dad and his daughter buying fish. As we moved back toward the door, I knew we'd have to pass the rescue booth. I moved up to the end of an aisle near the booth and we worked on not growling or barking at the Iggies (that he now decided needed to be barked at). When he calmed down I moved away and back up the next aisle, closer to the door and the booth.
We were almost even with the booth when the Schipperke and his people came down the main aisle, back to show off his new coat to the rescue people. Quinn once again went over the top. We moved back by the ferrets because I couldn't get him to calm down at all. Once the Schipperke was out of sight, he calmed down pretty quickly (he didn't care about the ferrets at all).
As soon as the Shipperke and his people left, we got the heck out of there. I now know, do not go to the store on a Saturday morning!