Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Training Day 29

So today I had to go to Bailey's house a little later than usual. He was super excited to see me and I could hear him barking for me as soon as I opened the door to the van in the driveway. We tried the dreaded light switch today. I had bought some new red colored plastic tubes to put on the switch hoping that the new color and shape might draw his attention to the task, but no. He seemed even less interested than usual. This light switch dilemma stumps me. Bailey is usually so easy to teach a new task to . And I can definitely tell he is frustrated because he doesn't even seem interested in the switch anymore and isn't trying to figure out like he use to do.
So after our light switch disaster we tried the "give kisses" command. He does it with my aide (jumps up on her lap) but he doesn't do it with me. I honestly think he is afraid to get up on me. Because he gives me kisses but does it by putting his head in my lap instead of actually putting his paws up on my chair.
So after two unsuccessful training activities I, the genius, decided to take Bailey outside for an auto-sit session right away. I was still kind of frustrated and I could tell Bailey was too. So he didn't do so well.  I should have given him a break before taking him outside. Bad trainer! So after that it was get busy time and then lunch.
After lunch I really had to use the restroom so my aide and I left our plates (with food still on them) on the den table and left the room. Bailey was alone and loose in the den and out of our sight. He was such a good boy he didn't touch any of the tempting left overs from our lunch (meat, cheese a doggy daydream). This was not planned but ended up being a great training opportunity and a nice successful surprise.
After that I wanted to try one more auto sit session since Bailey had now had a break from his frustrating morning. He did a lot better this time. After that we took Bailey into the side yard to play. Bailey is now suddenly playing fetch like an expert. My aide was stunned and asked me "how the hell did he figure that out overnight?" , nobody knows why he all the sudden "loves" fetch, which he had zero interest in before. But I'm excited about this new play opportunity. So after fetch we left for the day.

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