Thunder had a play date today. She thought Ben was pretty cute and she had a great time playing with him.
New friends always means more opportunities to practice our recall. As she's coming to me, I'm praising her the entire way so she comes faster and she really knows that she's doing the right thing.
When she gets to me, I'm going to feed her one little piece of treat right after the other. I'm going to make sure it's a higher valued treat than her kibble so it makes the recall really exciting for her. When she gets one small piece right after the other, she's getting paid off really big for a difficult recall (in the middle of play with another dog -- a new dog nonetheless) and I'm teaching her to stick with me after she comes to me (none of that grab and go stuff where she comes for the treat and takes off right away).
I also know, in high distractions (at least when she is still learning her recall), that I'm going to get a bit closer to her to help her comply if she blows me off. If I don't get a response the first time I call her, I'm going to quickly move towards her and either make some noise, wiggle a treat underneath her nose, or tap her on the hip and start moving backwards as I'm praising her for coming towards me. I'm still going to pay her off for that because it was still hard for her to do it and she made a choice to come to me instead of stay and play.
She's doing really well with her on/off switch during play. She will easily respond to my requests when she is playing and calm down right away.
I also make sure I am actively involved in her play so she learns that the humans in her life can provide all good things for her; food, water, play, affection, access to resources, etc.
Because puppies can get a little bored with their toys sometimes, I also rotate toys on a regular basis. Putting out different toys is like I've gone to the pet store every day and bought them new toys. They always seem happy to see the next group of toys and it keeps them interested. Much better to have a puppy into her toys than into your belongings.
We took advantage of the fact that there was a new person here for the play date so we practiced our greetings. Nice job Thunder! I love the automatic sit. She did really well and kept her paws on the ground.
We love when those big paws are on the ground!
Busy, busy day. She may be all worn out from our adventures today but we have more in store for tomorrow.
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