Fernando 4/24

Forgot my own advice and took Fernando out with toys everywhere- but he did great! I still think we should try to work him with treats and without toys to see how he does, but this is how it went: Instead of grabbing a toy, he kept running around (off leash at first) and stopping and looking at me. While he was away from me, I'd try to grab toys and get rid of them. He caught me with a toy in hand so I asked him to sit and used it as a reward. A minute later he was looking at me again, toyless. I did the same. This worked 3 times until he found a tennis ball. I really think he wants to work and already understands that we are using the toys as a reward!

Once he got the tennis ball, he kept making passes by me, which I am pretty sure to him is a game of keep-away. I sat down and when he went by slowly once, I got his collar and got him on the leash. He wasn't letting go of the ball, so I took Sue's advice and worked with it instead of against it. I just worked on loose leash walking. If he bounded ahead anywhere, I abruptly changed direction. I tried to work in "Let's go" but it would make excited and him charge ahead so I had better luck being silent except for mellow praise. He tries to pull behind you and diagonally, which can be hard to deal with, but I just kept jerking him back in a different direction, even if that meant going two feet into a fence and changing again. He did great! After a few minutes I had him walking with me like a gentleman on a loose lead, ball-in-mouth.

I think if we can be consistent with this, he will learn it's not his choice where we go when he is on the leash. Ultimately, we need more command over the toys but for now if he learns that he doesn't need to run like the wind once he gets one, because we aren't necessarily taking it away, that will be a great baby step. Also I think every session for him should end with a good few minutes of letting him chew a toy. I like to send him back to his pen with it too- sometimes the staff gets mad about the pieces in the pen to clean up, but sometimes they don't seem to mind. If you see pieces in there before you leave, grab them- that will help. Based on this session I think Fernando's state of mind has actually improved a little since the last time I had him out.