In the Levels it's called "Continuing Education". In Steps, "Before Moving On". What Lily did yesterday was "Continuing Education" of a different sort.
We used Level One as a vehicle for continuing (expanding) Lily's education.
Slowly, ever so slowly (mainly because I am limited by volunteers at the ready) I am having other trainers work with Lily while out and about in the real world.
Her work with Dale is invaluable. Within the past month, she has worked with two new trainers. We are continuing her education.
Last Thursday, we held a mentoring session at a local PetCo with another team. A new Freedom Dogs trainer came and worked with Lily while I played the mentor role for both teams. Oh. And documented with my Flip.
As with Dale, I asked Jan to handle Lily on her right side.
We located ourselves in a small, remote area of the store amid bird supplies and dog toys. Controlling our environment.
We did a lot of Doodling with both teams. Working in Leash, Level 2, both off leash and on. Incorporating turns - left and right. Level 1 behaviors (except for Come).
Jan was generous with the clicks and the treats. I had brought mid and high level treats for her to use.
She did short, quick OOS (out of sights) periodically and matter of factly. I handled the other dog some with Lily watching.
We expected Lily to maintain a Lazy Leash passing me and approaching me. We did CGC "meet and greets" with Lily on Jan's leash.
We used me as Lily's single focal point.
For the few dogs venturing into our part of the store, we played Look at That.
IOW, it was a good workout for a Level One dog. That's all we expected of Lily. To be a good Level One dog while working for an unknown person.
Lily was able to maintain her focus and work sub-threshold for a little over an hour. Then she began exhibiting stress signals. Slowly at first. We kept close watch.
When she began refusing treats we knew that it was time to give her a big time break and end her session.
Yawning, drooling, forgetting to keep the leash totally loose, defaulting to Jan's left side
These were her stressors: working for someone else, not being with me, occasionally being out of my sight, working on Jan's right side, following another's hand signals.....everything still the same but slightly different.
Next time, hopefully I will be more aware of my dog and end the session BEFORE her needing to tell me that she had had enough.
THAT was my most important lesson of the morning.
Off Leash Doodling......
not a problem
