Frankfurter

This morning, I was in the kitchen washing dishes. Frank was out with me and he was standing in another room stomping his paws on the ground, whining and barking. He had already been outside to go potty, so I knew that wasn't the issue. It was just demanding and bratty behaviour - Stop doing what you're doing and pay attention to ME.

I would love it if I could just hang out with the dogs all day long, but the reality is that there are other responsibilities that I have throughout the day. The other reality is that Frank needs to learn to relax and to be comfortable when he's not the center of attention. He gets lots of attention throughout the day - He gets exercised, we train, we go on walks, we cuddle and hang out etc... And you know what? More often than not, when I'm not preoccupied, Frank will just curl up and take a nap. So, it was a bit suspicious to me that the minute I'm actually busy is the time Frank suddenly NEEDS me.

It reminded me of when a parent is on the phone and suddenly their child has a million questions that they need to ask them.

So, I grabbed a leash, hooked him up and got him onto the dog bed to work on his place command.

He stayed on his place while I got some rewards ready to reinforce staying on the dog bed.

Initially, I rewarded him after every dish that I washed. Then, it was every second dish. Then, I got through washing all of the cutlery before giving him another reward. Then, there was the mashed potatoes that had adhered themselves to the potato masher... It felt like forever trying to wash this masher. I kept looking over my shoulder to see what he was up to and to see if he was getting restless.

You know what he was up to? He was just laying on the dog bed. He was quiet. He was relaxed. He seemed pretty content actually. I was quite impressed because he's only been here for about a week and we've only just begun increasing the duration that he spend on the dog bed.

All he really needed was a little bit of guidance in that moment. I was busy and Frank didn't know what to do with himself, so he did what I suspect he has always done and what has generally worked for him so far. So, I gave him something else to do that provided an opportunity to practice his new life skills in a scenario that he is likely to face when he goes back home.

It serves as an excellent reminder that training isn't always, "At 1pm, I'm going to take Frank out and work on X, Y, Z." Training happens in the moment. Training happens whenever it's needed. Training is consistent throughout the day. Daily life will always provide us with fantastic training opportunities... You just have to recognize it and do something with it!

.

.

.

.

.

.

#doggydaycare #training #progress #vancouver #lowermainland #dogtraining #doglife #vancouverdogs #yvrdogs #dogtrainer #doglover #fraservalley #engagement #boardandtrain #boarding #practice #doberman #reliable