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Yesterday was the final day of my 30-day challenge to walk Ace every day. The challenge was a success, and I plan on creating more challenges for Ace and I. However there were difficulties. Time was the biggest problem for me. Walking Ace does not tire him out as fast as running, ball playing or going to the park, so I sometimes didn’t have enough time to give him more exercise other than our walk. In our case, the walk is important bonding time and time to practice training and my leadership. Ace is an athletic dog and needs more rigorous exercise than a walk, unless the walk is for over an hour. Because of this, I usually prefer to run with him for 40 minutes instead of walking for longer. I am also guilty of throwing a ball for Ace for 20 minutes instead of taking him for a walk. So this challenge required me to organize my time in order to get a good walk in every day.
Over the last 30 days, I wanted to:
1. Improve Ace’s response to heeling with a single command and few reminders.
Ace’s response to heeling with one command didn’t improve very much in just 30 days. He still needs reminders to return to heel position. He likes to sneak ahead, and it will take a lot of practice and patience in order to get him to heel perfectly.
2. Work to perfect Ace’s heeling without a pinch collar and work on off-leash heeling.
Whether or not Ace needs a pinch collar for heeling depends a lot on his energy for that particular day, where we are and how fast we are going. It’s really just hit or miss. If we drive to a park, he is usually so excited that he has to have the pinch collar on in order to be under control. If we leave for a walk from our apartment, then a regular collar is often fine. It works well for me to keep both collars around his neck and then switch the leash to the appropriate collar as needed. The same goes with heeling off-leash. He can be very attentive at times, especially after we’ve been walking for awhile. The worst is when we approach someone else head-on. But it helps if we are going at a faster pace. I am lucky because Ace never wants to bolt away like some dogs. He wants to stay near me, he just doesn’t always want to heel.
3. Walk in as many places as possible so Ace learns to stay calm in new areas.
Ace still needs a lot of work for this one. A good challenge for us would be to go to a new place every day so Ace can practice calm behavior. Right now he gets excited and starts crying and panting when we go to the park or somewhere new. I would really like to help him get over this annoying habit. If anyone has any suggestions, I will try them.
4. Use more treats for positive reinforcement.
I don’t want Ace to be dependent on treats, but offering him pieces of jerky or cat-food kibble every now and then are a good way to keep his attention and to make training more fun.
5. Practice random basic obedience along the walk such as sits, downs and the recall.
I want to get him to respond on the first command at least 95% of the time. When I am consistent and practice commands with Ace every day, he listens better. It’s really that easy. If we don’t practice for a few days, then he gets sloppy too and needs to hear a command three or four times even though he knows the word. So, he’s still inconsistent, but he’s getting better.
6. Practice name reinforcement and encourage eye contact and focus.
This improved a lot over 30 days. We went from Ace not responding at all to his name on a walk, to him looking up at me every time I say his name. I did this by offering him a treat every time. This is also a good way to distract him from other dogs approaching us.
Walking my dog every day was a good 30-day challenge. But in order to keep up the positive improvements, I will have to continue walking Ace every day. I encourage others to give it a try. Go here to see how Abbey and Chelsea are doing.
Click here to see all my 30-day challenge posts.
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April 16th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
It was cool to follow your progress over the last month. Good luck as things progress
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April 17th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Some time and love with dogs and everyone is happy!
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