Week 9

Training Progress and Progress Check Preparation

This Weeks Planning

Training Progress

Training Plan - PA1

In response to the feedback I received from the professional dog trainer I decided to make a new training plan for this week which is structured slightly differently to how I did it before.

Training Plan Draft - PA1, E2

Daily Training Plan

Session 1 – Morning (backyard)

5 minutes of warm-up – e.g. sit, shake, lie down
5 – 7 repetitions of fetch

Notes:

Only say the cue once
Encourage her to return by moving backwards or crouching
Only use the drop command once (and only if needed)
End training on a successful sequence

Session 2 – Afternoon (Backyard)

The focus for the after session is to introduce moderate distractions

2–3 fetch repetitions with slight distractions – done by either playing random sounds on phone or having family members around

Note:

If she’s not that into it you can use some better treats

Session 3 – Evening (Indoors)

Focus – Get successful full sequences.

Practice the “Drop” command 5 – 10 times
End with 1–2 successful full fetches

Returns but does not return directly to me

Training Journal - E2

Monday

Winnie chased the toy every time, but she still tends to drop it a few steps away from me rather than directly at my feet. I made sure not to repeat the “Drop” cue and instead used my body movement (like backing away or crouching) to encourage her to come closer. In the afternoon, we did a few fetch reps in the front yard. She was slightly distracted by the occasional sound, but overall she responded well. I rewarded her with play rather than treats to keep things fun and test how motivated she was by interaction alone. It worked better than I expected — she stayed fairly engaged and I think was quite happing engaging in fetch today.

Tuesday

Winnie felt a bit off today — not in a bad way, just more easily distracted than usual. She kept glancing around or pausing mid-fetch to sniff the grass. I stayed patient and didn’t overdo the session. She still chased after the toy every time, but I think in a way kind of scattered, and she didn’t seem fully focused. I tried using more enthusiastic body language, which helped a little. She responded more when I crouched or ran a few steps in the opposite direction. I think she’s starting to understand that when I throw it I want her to return directly to me afterwards.

Wednesday

There was a big improvement in her “Drop” today — I only had to use the cue once each time, and she actually brought the toy all the way back to me more than once. It feels like she’s starting to figure out the full sequence. I kept the session short and ended it as soon as we had a few clean reps. I think now that she is starting to understand fetch the overall quality of our sessions has improved. I think its because both me and her are getting more happy with whats going on as she starts to understand how to fetch.

Thursday

Winnie was playful today. Today fetch took a few tries but I think she is starting to understand that it is more fun when she returns it to me as there isn’t an awkward gap between fetching and throwing.

Friday

We trained in a more distracting area today. Instead of doing fetch in the backyard like normal we went to the park. Winnie was definitely more distracted than usual, but she still chased the toy and responded to the recall about half the time. I didn’t expect perfection, just wanted to see how she coped. It's clear she still needs practice in stimulating environments, but I was happy that she didn’t just completely stop.

Saturday

Winnie was a bit more relaxed today. Although she wasn't as enthusiastic I found that her fetch sequence was quite good today. Her drop was also very good today. I switched things up and used praise or tug play instead of food for rewards, and she still stayed focused. I think also she’s definitely starting to understand how fetch works. I think we are almost there in terms of getting to a point where fetch becomes good enough to treat it more like a game rather than training.

Sunday

We wrapped up the week with a session that honestly felt like the most balanced so far. Winnie was engaged, excited, and brought the toy all the way back to me in a straight line a few times. I only used “Drop” once per repetition, and she responded immediately. I didn’t need treats every time either — she seemed happy just playing and hearing my praise. I think it is quite cool as she learns to understand as I feel like as a dog fetch may actually be quite a difficult concept and I think its quite nice to see her slowly picking it up.

Progress Check Preparation

Progress check - PA1

To prepare for the progress check I decided to dot point some answers to the questions provided so I could have them fresh in my mind when I conducted the progress check.

Strategies and Perspectives that I thought to implement after the progress check 1
- professional review

Strategies and Perspectives used
- timetabling: notion, google calendar, task manager
- consistency across family members
- taking treats gently
- short training sessions
- professional review

Strategies and Perspectives I didn't follow through with
- I stopped conducting research and decided to use a more experience based learning method

Output progress
- Yes I am videoing my dog training and my training with Winnie is going well. Almost finished everything I wanted out of my dog training.

Last phase
- Do some video editing and piece together everything.

JOURNAL ENTRY WEEK 9

Week 9 Journal Journal

00:00 / 03:22

SUMMARY OF JOURNAL ENTRY - E1, E2

This week, I placed a strong emphasis on fetch training with Winnie, applying the feedback I received from the dog trainer last week. The main changes I made were keeping training sessions shorter (around 10–15 minutes each), only saying commands once, and using body language to guide her behaviour instead of relying solely on verbal cues.

Winnies Improvements:

Responded quite well to the new training routine

Started to show more understanding of the fetch sequence
Started to bring the toy closer to me
Biggest improvement is the “Drop”

What worked well:

Resetting after she does not fetch (as per the trainers advice)
Short sessions (as per the trainers advice)
Using play and praise as other reward mechanisms too to keep her excited
Ending the training on a good fetch and when she is still engaged

What didn’t work as well

Training in more distracting environments

However, although she is less good in distracting environments she does not completely forget how to fetch/recall and so on. This is good as that means there is room for improvement with practice.

Plans for future weeks:

Probably stop introducing new things
Continue practicing

Week 10