Offering Behaviors

I haven't posted much about what Vivre and I have been doing. There have been a couple of times I was thinking "Oh I have to blog about this," only to get busy and forget. The last week or so I have started working on having her either lay calmly on her side. I want to work her through the relaxation protocol and start the mat work from CU. We have done several of the other games in CU, but not the mat work. I opted against using her regular down because it has such a strong reinforcement history I don't think she will relax in that position. Instead she will be ready to keep working. So now she knows that if she lays on her side she will get petting and puppy massage. (Rubbing circles on her jaw just knocks her right out.) And a position that I hope to condition to mean "this is calm time."

Since it is so easy to let her roll all the way over on her back from that position I have also rewarded her rolling over with all four feet in the air. What she usually does is roll over first and bat at me with one of her paws then when I start petting her she rolls back and lays on her side. So it has become a way to solicited calm petting time. (She either nose bumps me or drops a ball at my feet if she wants to work)

I absolutely cracked up last night. Apollo, my golden mix, doesn't really care for Vivre and will mostly completely ignore her. After calling her away from him after repeated pestering attempts I watched her go right over to Apollo, look at him for a second and then lay right down in front of him and roll over then start batting at his face with her paw. The exact same behavior she uses to solicit attention from me.

I don't really do puppies. The house training and the teething and the complete lack of a decent night's sleep (and this is just a few weeks, I can't imagine parenthood.) But having a dog that has learned from the start how to trade behavior to get what she wants is just great. She is such a hoot.