We had an other session with Salme and she was very impressed with Riva's progress. It surprised me because we haven't practiced our "homework" all that much. I told Monica that I'm a lazy trainer and like a dog that doesn't need a lot of repetitions to pick up things :-). I obviously got what I asked for.
His sit is quite good, we have been practicing that already with some distractions and his down is coming along very nicely, he even surprised me by actually downing on verbal cue eventhough I only introduced it a few sessions ago. I just need to have faith on him and start fading lures and physical cues fast so that he doesn't become dependent on them. Salme said he is ready to start learning stand, too, so then we would have all three positions. His front finish is awesome, he comes right in and lays his jaw flat against me, I just need to start fading the lure and hands on that one too. Heeling is still in very early stages but its started.
One thing I noticed during the session is that I need to be more carefull with the in-between-time. He concentrates fully on what we are doing, but if my attention is not 100% on him, he will start exploring and goes to say hi to people etc. He comes right back when I call him but I don't want him to learn that when my attention falters he can do what he wants. So until he is ready to wait under command while I talk to someone or get more treats or something, I hold him by the collar or put him into a lead (we generally train off lead from the start).
I also stayed to watch while two other of Salme's students practiced. You can learn so much by watching other people and dogs work.
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