Things to work on

Here are two of my biggest problems right now. Or maybe there are three.

1. Not coming when called on the agility field after a run. ( she circles me)

2. She hates the car. So if she thinks I'm getting ready to go to the car and I get the leash, she again wont come to me.

3. No wait when on the agility field. She will wait in her crate and at the door, but has a hard time on the agility field. Its like when you see those boarder collies and they are bent down and ready to go, inching forward. She will just break. Its hard to see in the picture above but her butt is raised.

So for the next 2 weeks that is what I'm going to focus on. So far there is no treat that is good enough to stop the circling. Today I bought salmon. That was very effective today. I'm only going to use it for circling behavior and the car/leash thing. Today while I was practicing a wait on the field , the dog next door started barking at the fence line. She ran off to bark. I was able to call her back and then I released her to go back to barking. I was able to do this twice. We stopped practice after that success. I'm also teaching a hand touch to bring her close.

I'm going to try not to take her anywhere in the car for a while. I may have to take her to the agility trial on Saturday that our club is hosting. They are having a photographer (Diane Lewis) there that is only taking portraits. I really like her work and would like a picture of Miley. I will have to see about that. If I do take her and she shows any negative behavior toward the car, then I will abort the photo shoot. I'm going to use the salmon treats if she comes when going to the garage and getting the leash. I will also treat next to the car. When I do get back into the car, I'm going to use the other car for a while. I might let here sit in the front with a harness on. If you click the seat belt without the right weight the air bag turns off.