Coco and I made some major progress today - he started actively moving toward the target stick! This morning, he decided to move all the way across the 2' perch if necessary to touch the target. He even moved down the ladder to get to it. I was so encouraged that I put him back in his cage and worked on moving him around inside.
The first time I got close to him with the target, he bit at it viciously - so I backed way off. I placed it far from him and waited. After a minute, he decided to go touch it - from there on out it was "game on".
In our second session this afternoon he was moving all over the top of his play area! He has it down! It took much longer with Coco than with any dog I have ever trained, but it is also more work for him. When Coco has to go to the target, he often has to find a route to get there in 3 dimensions - the dog just has to walk across the floor.
A little more progress today: Coco ate raisons! It has been 3 weeks and he is still very hesitant about new foods. Tonight, we got to the point where he is getting used to me handing him stuff to eat and so he will now try whatever I offer him. He usually won't eat it, but he will touch or taste it.
