I had a very nice experience today,helping this organization that finds home for abandoned dogs and puppies. I help them on Fridays, for just few hours, spend some time with 'problematic' dogs etc. I'm not sure if I do much, but at least I like to think that I make their afternoon a bit better.
So, today, One of our dogs got returned since her owners had to move to a smaller apartment due to economical reasons. At first, she seemed a bit timid, and then, maybe realizing that her owners are not coming back, she went crazy, pulling her,e pulling there, whining. and I couldn't do a thing. I tried giving her treats when she settled down a bit, but it didn't seem to help at all. I felt, well, bed, holding this dog, she's totally lost and I can't help her... and I looked at her, and I remembered...
Few months ago, on a Friday, I was taking care of this crazy puppy, very smart female, learning very fast... but still very crazy... So, to occupy her and help myself, I took out some treats and I was doing just 'stop-being-pushy-and-you'll-get-a-treat'. She got it really fast. And well, me being clicker crazy, I got out my clicker and decided to work a bit more... I had her throwing sits at me in the matter of minutes. I mean, she was far from knowing to sit, but we were getting there. With a click, I was able to mark her looking at me, dropping into nice position while LLW.. very short and very fast... in few hours, she went from a pup that was al over the place to a still very energetic pup but that was really into walking right there, beside me, and looking at me while sitting. Man, she had better attention span than my first dog after 2 months of training... I was totally stunned.
And I remembered that puppy and I realized that the young dog standing before me is that puppy, although she seemed much different now that she was then. But, well, I took out my clicker, and next time, when she looked me, instead of trying to give her a treat, I clicked and treated. And there she was looking at me, like she was asking 'so we're playing THAT game again' and she sat down, and looked at me, and wasn't moving'...
This really was a great experience. After the first sit, she was looking at me a lot, sitting and calmed down a great deal.
