Bud is an intelligent dog and distractible dog, I like to train him out in the pasture, where there are other dogs, sheep and donkey. If I can train him there, the training will stick.
My training is short, three to five minutes, several times a day. When he loses focus, I stop. If he doesn’t stay, I move him back to the starting point and do it again. I am careful about how many words I am speaking and how often.
We all tend to say too many words to our dogs when we train them. Bud is getting it, a little bit at a time. He sits well now, and we will keep working on that and also on the “stays.” He will never be a spit-spot dog, but his recall is generally excellent.
I want to make sure he comes quickly, with or without food, and in the face of temptations. Come and take a look.
Welcome to life with terriers! Or, as an obedience instructor called my first Welsh Terrier, “terrier-ists.” Distractable doesn’t begin to do them justice. In fairness, Barkley was in a class with a bunch of golden retrievers who would do the down command if you simply looked at them cross-eyed. All of them graduated with honors. Our diploma said “perfect attendance.”
Yes, I see that…