A Behavior Update

Piper (left) and her mother, Molly. Pic taken 3 weeks ago.

Here is an update on what Piper has learned to do since we began her training last spring. She can:

• Shake. Actually, she learned how to shake hands in puppy school, but perfected it in CT training. Comes in handy when her leash is tangled and she is acting rowdy.
• Loose-leash walking. She has become a good walker, and will return to the loose leash if we ask her to (we give her a lot of latitude for exploring and smelling on walks). Still tugs at times, but she has made great progress.
• Heel on command. She has trouble with this when around a lot of people, such as at the local outdoor shopping center.
• Sit. Nothing special -- nearly any dog can do it. The trick is to get her to do it every time we ask, even when something "important" is going on.
• Wait. Works well at intersections, or when about to pass through a gate or door.
• Touch a target stick. Really likes to do this. Targeting has a lot of uses, and we plan to take advantage of her facility with this.
• Spin. Will turn around in a circle, but doesn't seem to enjoy it,  so we rarely ask her to do it anymore.
• Touch the ball. Involves pushing a ball under a gate or through a narrow passageway. A fun back-and-forth game that she really enjoys. If we make it more comples by tossing the ball behind her, she will get it, drop it down in front of the gate, and push it under with her nose.
• Goes to her mat. We have a small rug in the kitchen, and she trots right to it when asked, knowing that she will get some peanut butter. 
• Down-stay. She'll do this for several minutes. Haven't tested it in highly distracting circumstances, but she's quite good at it.
• High-five. She knows the difference between this and "shake".
• Retrieve. Will get a ball, bring it back, and drop it. Time after time, as long as treats are a possibility. (See below.)
• Leave it. One of our favorites -- if she is starting to get into something she shouldn't and we tell her to "leave it", she will pull back and go do something else. Probably 90% of the time, at least. Really amazes us sometimes.

What we're working on:

• Recall. She is getting better at this, but still a long way from having it down.
• Four-on-the-floor. This is by far the hardest behavior for Piper to learn. Meeting people is just the most exciting thing in the world for her, and she wants to jump up while saying hello. One of the ways we train her in this is to take her with us to Starbucks and sit outside so she can get used to people coming and going. Some people want to "meet" her, so we let that happen -- she has some lapses, but is getting better.
• Drop it. She is a retriever, for sure. But when we throw her frisbee or her play-bucket and she returns with it, she often decides that playing with it herself and whacking us with it is more fun. Treats make a difference here.

With the difficult behaviors above, progress and success are usually related to the quality of the treat. Dogs are always weighing their options when it comes to executing behaviors. They're asking, "What's in it for me?" and "Is the treat I'm going to get more exciting than what I'm doing or about to do right now?" The problem for us here is that the tasty treats are usually higher in calories or salt, or messier to carry around; and if we use them a lot, she becomes desensitized, so it's an ongoing balancing act. 

The picture above was taken a couple of weeks ago when Piper visited her parents, Molly and Boomer, at the home of the breeder, Jenny Wiepert. That's Piper on the left, Molly on the right.