Denise the dog trainer has been helping us again. She took a good look at the recent videos and noticed something startling, to me at least.

In the video of Thor’s Down-Stay where I’m using the 300 Peck Method for Duration, my timing is awful. I’m actually treating, then clicking, at some points. Denise pointed out that’s effectively rewarding Thor for eating. He’s a pretty good little thinker, so no wonder he’s so fidgety using this method; it’s confusing to him, even though rewarding.

All Duration techniques seem pretty boring…for everyone!…so it’s a challenge to stay awake and on count. Clearly I was asleep at the wheel here.

She challenged me to try it again, making sure both my timing and my counting improve. Unfortunately, Thor has gone through 3 different methods for Duration, so I can’t put him through it again. And the 80% seems to be working pretty well for Mox and Gus. Since we have a new little guy, though, I can try it on him. Dylan, here we come.