Postby Ramblinrose » Fri Feb 23, 2018 3:40 pm
Morning...or at least it still is for me...
This is gonna be long so feel free to skip....
My plans for today changed. Originally we planned to go to an annual art show, but yesterday when we heard about the supposed weather for today, we did decided to postponed it till Sunday. Course when we work this morning the predicted weather did not show up and it is bright and sunny, though a bit chilly.
Tomorrow Sweetie and I will be attending another training session with Yoni and Willis. We had an amazing experience on Monday with Yoni. As I said before he is Ceasar trained which we are familiar with. When we first arrived, Yoni had us bring Willis through his house and into his backyard. Part of it was fenced in with a 3 foot wire fence. He placed Willis in it and then came back to where we were sitting. Willis paced and whined the entire time...and we commented we had never heard him make so much noise.
After Yoni explained how he trains differently than most..no sit,stay or stuff like that he told us that Willis needed to respect our space and then demonstrated how to use our bodies to block or pushed Willis away from us in certain situations. Example standing by a door. When Willis attempted to push through the back door in front of us, we faced him and pushed him back a few feet with just our bodies and NO WORDS and then we entered the door. After a few times of doing this, Willis got the idea.
Our biggest concern is how Willis whines and dances around when another dog is near. Yoni taught us how to distract Willis by walking a few step with him by our side and then abruptly turning different directions so that he stayed at our knees. We, Sweetie and I, did this numerous times till I thought I was gonna get dizzy.
Then the real test came. Yoni instructed us to take Willis to the far side of the yard and then brought his pitty girl out. I figured as soon as Willis spotted his dog, who was about 25 feet from us, Willis would start to do his dance thing...but he didn't. That was amazing in its self. Then Yoni had us walk Willis to the middle area, perhaps 15" from his girl who was quitely laying on her bed and he took Willis from us. As he and Willis approached his pup, Yoni pointed out how Willis ears went forwards and his forehead would wrinkle. As soon as that happened, Yoni changed directions and walked Willis away. He did this approach and turn things several times so that Willis would focus on him and not the other dog.
Each time Yoni did this, he and Willis would end up getting closer and closer to his dog until finally they stood two feet away from each other. Willis never whined, lunged, twirled or danced at any time....quite remarkable for us to see. Then Yoni turned Willis over to me and made me repeat the entire process. The only correction comment Yoni made to me was to relax my arm that was holding the leash. Then I handed Willis over to Sweetie and he did the same thing. By the time we were finish and were standing around discussing the process, Willis just decided to lay down, four feet from the other dog. We found ourselves laughing because both Sweetie and I were saying the same things that we've heard repeated over and over again when we watch the Dog Whisper...We just couldn't believe the difference in Willis' behavior with just an hour of training.
Of course we were sent home with homework to do with Willis...the distracting walk and such...but what is most amazing is how calm Willis continues to be since we brought him home. He loves to pester me while I prepare dinner, but instead of telling him to "go" out of my kitchen, I just block him with my body, keep my mouth shut and push him away AND he doesn't come back. After talking with Yoni, we understood and recognized how much we were contributing to the problem.
Perhaps the best part of all is watching Sweetie find his confidence in working with Willis. He usually walks Willis at night but worried about meeting up with other dogs. Willis is walking much better with him instead of pulling him along the way. Without my knowledge this morning, Sweetie took Willis out on the street and worked with him there. Tomorrow we go to a class with many other dogs and we are excited to see how we, the humans, do. Yoni and his assistant will be there to teach the class. I am beyond excited because I can see hikes with Willis in my future. It's been a problem in the past because so many people hike with their dogs off leash which as always been a concern for Willis and me. And, oh by the way, you CAN teach old dogs, and humans new tricks...Willis just turned nine and I have a really good feeling its gonna be a great year for all of us.
Live Boldly, Take Risks, No Regrets...Jilliam Michaels