Training Day 37

When we got there today Bailey was in his crate in the den. So, zero "where's my dog" today. As soon as he was let out of the crate he jumped up and started giving me kisses. After saying hello, my aide went into the kitchen to put our lunches away and while she was gone Bailey was ALL OVER me! Three times in a row he jumped on me and was giving me endless love! It was awesome! After that we began our training with a light switch session. We started with the regular switch today. He was putting his nose up to the switch every time he was told but he was not hitting it. So we got the other modified switch and began using that one. It was really important that he hit the switch today. Since he had an upset stomach last week we were using kibble for reward and not his favorite, chicken. Today we were introducing chicken back into his diet and he was only going to get it if he hit the switch. Since it had been so long since he was given his favorite treat I thought that he might make the light switch connection a bit more clearly today since I knew he would reeeeeeeallly want that chicken, and he did! (kinda). When the modified switch was brought to him he hit it up and got tons of praise and tons of chicken. After that he hit the switch almost every single time. The cute thing was, he got so excited for all the praise and chicken that he began to joyously jump on my aide when he flipped the switch, because he knew what was coming.
After that great session we tried auto-sit with eyes. I think he's still trying to figure this one out. He knows he's got to do something else besides just sitting to get a treat but he's just not quite sure what that is yet. It will come in time. Then it was chill time. There are a few different dog beds in the den and Bailey chose the one right next to me and laid there the entire time. I let Bailey crash out for about an hour and then we did one more light switch session. He did pretty good and flipped the switch on the small board 75% of the time. When it was time for lunch my aide went to get our food ready and I was a bit nervous he might have an accident. We are still not exactly sure what upset his stomach last week and since this was the first day we were reintroducing chicken I was uncertain if an "accident" might happen. But everything was fine and he slept all through lunch, and had no stomach issues for the rest of the afternoon. Then it was play time. All the dogs were kind of chill today and we just hung out and enjoyed their company.