This post is primarily for myself, because we are training Boyo alone. Given that I am still in the middle of my chemotherapy treatment, there are weeks where there will be no solitary training at all, because I am so insanely tired. But now there are only a few days left until the next one (penultimate, actually!) the treatment, and I'm relatively alert. So we have to watch out.
Goal
To remind Boyo (and fortify) that it is ok to stay in your own dog bed, even when the bedroom door is closed – and preferably closed.
Method
I will train Boyo's understanding of the word stay in slightly different ways – which, incidentally, will also serve him in other situations. After that we will practice in the bedroom, where his own bed with pillows and his own blanket is located.
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And for it who wonders – I will use body language and energy, positive reinforcement and the word NO (if it is needed).
Today's result
I actually am quite impressed with today's results. It's been at least ten days since we last practiced this, and he was super talented. We practiced staying on the couch in the living room and in the dog bed in the bedroom. Unlike last time, he knew what I meant, and actually stayed. Went out into the hall and rustled with various gadgets, and yet he remained. I even closed the bedroom door completely a couple of times, and rustled in the hall.
Now we're going start increasing the amount of time he is alone “his” rum, to hopefully be able to open the front door relatively soon without him panicking.
Otherwise trained we also a little on him stopping while I reverse, to then entice him (whereupon he rushes!), and I say stop in the middle of the rush. He was actually surprisingly good at more or less standing still. Another thing, at least I personally think is a bit of fun, is to make him back off. Something we have done for a long time is, for example, that he is allowed to back up all the stairs to the apartment (lives on the third floor). He thinks it's great fun and always shows that he wants to. Today he had to back up on the sofa – it took a couple of three times before he realized that I want him to go up with the rear first, instead of throwing himself up with the front part sideways. 😀
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As an addition can I say that I am in a Facebook group for Boyo's siblings, and one of his brothers human wrote at some point that they train tracks according to the dog's ability, and I thought it was incredibly well expressed. It's a bit like that with Boyo too. Compared to Ella, he is slow and quite winded, but somewhere I have still accepted that he is quite smart – in its own way.
To reflect somewhat generally, I can say that I am very happy that I finally have managed to find a way to solo train Boyo that actually seems to work. I won't know that until later, but what is interesting to me is to get him to be able to be alone at home without panicking and tearing my whole home apart and also breaking out in the stairwell (which has happened on a couple of occasions). It's very different to Ella, and for that matter, one of Boyo's best friends – Leonberger Mozart, who are not nearly as dependent on their people as Boyo is on me.
Next training diary should reasonably appear in the relatively near future.