Blog 1.2

Jerzey and I had a difficult time this week, more so on my part. I was able to work with him everyday but not as ong as we would usually work. This time difference put us back a little bit. On the Action Plan Template, I had written that we would work on walking through a crowd, sitting and staying in place, coming when called, reacting to a distraction, and supervised separation. Out of those five tasks we were only really able to work on sitting and staying in place, coming when called, and reacting to a distraction. We also worked on some of the tasks from last week. 

Jerzey has been doing really good with sitting and staying. I've trained him to do that ever since he was a puppy. He does have a hard time staying in place. He will stay in place for a minute or so. He gets anxious when he first has to stay in place, but after a little while he calms down and doesn't show as many signs of anxiety. He has an easier time sitting and staying rather than laying down and staying. One thing that has helped me a lot is dog treats. He responds to me much better when I have a treat in my hand. 

Just like sitting and staying, I have trained Jerzey to come when called ever since he was a puppy. I have not trained him to do this outside. We have always worked on it inside of the house. I would command him to either sit or lay down and then say stay and then I would leave to a different part of the house where he could not see me. When I would get to where he couldn't see me, I would wait a few moments and then I would say "come". He would come when called. This task is a pretty easy one for him inside of the house since he learned it when he was a puppy. One challenge that we might run into is this task outside since he is an anxious dog. Overall, Jerzey is doing very well with this task. 

Unlike the other tasks, Jerzey does have a very hard time with distractions. He whines in these situations and has a hard time not whining. Distractions make him very anxious, so this task is one that we will have to work on the most. 

I had a hard time trying to figure out how to help with Jerzeys anxiety. I got him some treats that are suppose to help him with his anxiety. I have noticed a difference already that he doesn't stress lick anymore and that he is a lot more calm at home and our walks. One thing that I have noticed is that Jerzey has only stress lick twice ever since starting this Genius Hour. Before, I would often find him doing this, and to see that he is not, means that all of the tasks that I am doing to help train him are working. 

Overall, I think that this week was pretty successful. He and I were limited on time this week unfortunately but it didn't stop us from training. He was still able to do many "tasks".