Training Day 12

When I got to Bailey's house my trainer was practicing with him staying on the mat. Of course when he saw me he got up to greet me and I just stopped my chair and ignored him. My trainer got him to lay back down on the mat and I rolled in the room without him getting up. My trainer then released him to "go say hi". Then she left and we did some bell training using the new chicken liver flavored Kong stuffing instead of the cheez whiz or cream cheese. My trainer had emailed me over the weekend and said that cream cheese can cause diarrhea and suggested the kong stuffing. Bailey loved it! Then it was time for auto-sit training. I wanted to show my trainer what I had taught Bailey, so I asked her to come outside and watch. She was very impressed. We discussed his barking and she told me that she makes him watch all the dogs in her guide dog class come in one by one into the training area. She will then only praise him when he sits quietly and doesn't bark and try to greet the dogs. When he's barking she either waits for him to stop or makes a distracting noise to get his attention. When he looks up at her and stops barking then she rewards him. I think this is an excellent plan to get him to stop barking/greeting other dogs and people. After coming inside Bailey crashed out! I wanted to get him to pee before lunch so after about a half hour of him napping I took him outside. One problem with teaching him to automatically sit when I stop my chair, is that now he thinks he should always sit instead of going to the bathroom. But after three rounds of walking him around the pool he finally went. I think he kinda didn't have to go because he only peed a little bit. Then it was lunch time, and he crashed out again in his crate. My aide and I were discussing how his body language changes when he is leashed to me. When he's leashed to me he is more focused and alert and kinda struts when he walks. When he's not leashed to me he seems much more aloof. I'm very pleased because it shows he knows he's working when he is leashed to me. After lunch I wanted to take him out front for an auto-sit session. This time I wanted to be more sporadic with the treats and not give him one every time he sat, but every few times. He overall did great. But there was this one spot on the lawn he was super intrigued by and every time I took him over there he wouldn't auto-sit. So it became my new favorite spot to take him to. Eventually he started to sit when I took him to the spot. He did wonderfully otherwise. Then it was crate time.