Training Pepper

Hi Kaye,

I loved that session yesterday too. Pep certainly had a good time. What a day she had yesterday.Sally had her out and about in the paddock for an hour and a half talking to Melbourne Water about managing our beautiful creek.

Pepper is off her food today, probably because of the combination of a big day and getting used to liver and cheese. I broke rule number one, failing to change diet gradually. Anyway she'll live, she is self medicating on grass. I'll give her a quiet day today.

Sally is also in terrible grief about the probability of needing to send Pep off to our youngest son George. I am on 'quicksand' if you know what I mean.

I did have a little session with Pepper last night just on the high five. She must have been half asleep because she got a fright at the click and was not interested in the food. Pep is an on/off dog I think. Possibly the female in her. I am going to have to get very good at recognising her moods. I need to learn to recognise them so I can guess  what she does feel like doing and work from there. I'll also need to learn a 'dignified retreat' when she is just not interested. Do I just give her the opportunity to participate and walk away if she chooses not too, or do I look for something she would like to do. All good life lessons! Coaxing and pleading strategies would be demeaning to both of us. A big subject 'dignity'!

I'm also very interested in the significance of place. She'll play Kong inside but not on the porch. In horse training I will always go to the spot the horse 'got the clue'. It seems to remember 'I do this here'. Once the behaviour is learnt I'll systematically spread it out to other spots until the cue works anywhere. This is what Dr.Andrew McLean calls 'proof'! The training is only successful if the horse will do it anywhere.

I totally agree with you about the house yard here. Sally and I are gardeners, I love landscaping so the place here is not straight forward to fence. My brother's kelpie 'Blossom' climbs out of our 6ft. run easily and is very hard to tie up because her head is just an extension of her neck tapering to a sharp point. It's lucky she doesn't roam. We'll be looking carefully at the fencing possibilities today.A big bouncy working dog might be hard to keep in.

I'll call Helen. Thanks for the tip and thanks for looking about. I'll also look at the puppies at the Pet Haven Rescue up here.


Cheers,

Richard