Week 5

This week was the first proper week of training with Winnie, and I followed the structured schedule I had planned out earlier. Overall, the week went well and I can already see some small signs of progress, especially with crate training and name recognition.

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Monday:

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On Monday, I started with name recognition training. Winnie was in a quiet space, and she responded fairly well to her name, especially when I used an excited voice. I then moved on to recall and loose leash walking. She was a bit distracted but did follow me a few times, especially when I crouched down and opened my arms. Crate training was also quite difficult at first — she was hesitant to go inside even with treats, but eventually stepped in a couple of times which felt like a small win. However, I one thing I noticed was that she would rely on the treat being fully inside before she even decided to take any step inside. 

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Note:

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I think that especially with crate training I may need to make her want to go inside the crate more. However, I think that I will stick to the current training plan to start with before I make any changes as it is only the first day.

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Tuesday:​​

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Tuesday was similar but with a bit more difficulty. I tried name recognition again, but with more distractions around. She got distracted easily, and I had to repeat her name several times to get her attention. Recall training on the leash went okay — she came when prompted but definitely didn't stay focused for long. Crate training also improved better compared to Monday. She followed the treat better than Monday however I have noticed that after she has the treat she decides to come out straight away. I also revised some of the tricks she already knows like “sit” and “shake,” and she remembered them well, which was nice as I think that this means she has properly learnt them. 

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Note:

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With Crate training I may need to use some higher value treats (treats she likes more) to encourage her to go in the Crate more.

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Wednesday:​​

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By Wednesday, I started testing her name recognition without treats. As expected, she didn’t respond as well. Without the treat, she would often just ignore me unless I used a really excited tone or crouched. Recall training with more distance was challenging. Most of the time she would come to me, especially if I gave her a treat. However, what I found was that if she found something interesting she would ignore me and focus on the other thing instead. Crate training went a little better; she started responding to the word “crate” when I said it right before tossing the treat inside. Although I was starting to think I had to change my crate training strategy, I think that she is now showing some improvements.

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Thursday:

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On Thursday, I tried name recognition outdoors and it didn’t go as well. There were just too many distractions and she barely responded to her name. Recall training in the backyard without a leash was hard — she was more interested in sniffing and wandering than coming to me. I had to rely heavily on crouching and calling in a very excited voice to get her attention. Crate training was short that day, but I still tried to reinforce the command with treats.

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Note:

I think with recall training I may need to do the same thing as I did with crate training and use some higher value treats to start off with to get her interested in the exercise. Also I think that she may be more inclined to come to me if she thinks I have her favourite treats.

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Friday:

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Friday was mostly focused on adding distractions to recall training. I introduced random noises (using my phone) while trying to call her back. She didn’t respond well at first, but after several attempts she started to come back quicker, especially when I was holding the high value treats. Trick revision went well again, and name recognition seemed to stick more consistently — I’d say about 70% success even when distracted. I also tried leaving the room while she was in the crate, and although she whined a bit at first, she eventually settled down.

 

Saturday:
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Saturday was one of the more successful days. I introduced the “Go Find” game in the backyard. I did this by first doing the normal recall back and forth with my mum. Afterwards I slowly started to hide behind a corner and call her. I found that she caught on quickly and seemed to really enjoy it. It also felt like a good way to reinforce recall in a fun, less formal way. Crate training went really well that day too — I didn’t need to guide her in as much and she seemed more relaxed once inside. I studied next to her while she was in the crate for two hours, and she stayed calm the whole time, which felt like huge progress. 

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Note:

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The main thing for crate training is definitely for her to stay calm in her crate when we can't have her roam freely throughout the house. For our family, having her go in on command is not too big of a deal. That's why I think I have made huge progress towards my learning goal in the sense where she has started to be able to stay in her crate when we need her to.

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Sunday:

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Sunday was similar to Saturday, but I did the “Go Find” game inside the house instead. She was more focused indoors, and it was easier for her to stay on task. I also introduced “wait before eating” and she managed to hold off for about 2–3 seconds before trying to eat — definitely something I’ll have to keep practicing, but not bad for the first day. I did a quick review of all her tricks and she performed them all pretty well. This actually made me feel quite proud.​

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In general, I think the week went better than I expected. The biggest challenge is her getting distracted, especially outside, and also how dependent she still is on treats. But the positives outweigh the negatives. She’s improving with the crate, her recall is slowly getting better (especially when I use body language), and she remembers her tricks well. Whilst, there is definitely a lot of progress to go, especially before I can take her outside to do recall training, I think currently I am quite happy with my progress.

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Dog Walking Progress

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I found that Winnie picked up how to walk pretty much instantly. I think this was quite a big positive as I, in some way, took a gamble in how I was going to teach her how to walk. However, what I found was she was very happy in just "following the leader'. For example, she would follow my other dog who was already quite well versed in walking or would follow my family members. This made her pick up dog walking quite fast. Apart from that I don't think I need to teach her how to follow me perfectly at my feet. As I said when I conducted research, I have found that giving her freedom when walking is important. However, I will only let her off leash in the future once her recall has improved to a very good level.