After the last post, the next day, we did another session on L2 S1 Sit. That session was such a crappy one that I HAD to take a break, both for my sanity and Luna's.
Here's the problem; Luna doesn't just MOVE when she doesn't get a click soon enough, she also starts whining, which can lead to screaming. Sounds are her way of telling me she's frustrated/confused/thinks-this-is-UNFAIR!
So, we had a break. And then I got to a point where I really wanted to get back to L2, but I REALLY didn't want to have that noise again. What was I gonna do?!
Finally, I started by re-reading the instructions (RTFM! :D); L2 Down (a-HA!), L2 Sit, L2 Go To Mat, L2 Crate.
Tonight I mustered up the courage to try again, starting with L2 Down S1. I sat on the ground, treats and clicker ready. First I wanted her to offer downs, so I waited. She backed up, she sat, she nose-touched the sole of my foot, she backed up some more, she sat again. Very low noise level, so I waited her out. Ok, no, I ran out of patience/didn't want to risk escalating noise, so I prompted a down by tapping the ground. She downed, I clicked, praised and fed. Tossed a cookie to reset. More backing up, touching my foot, and then, a down! Yay! The third down came quicker still, and now we were getting somewhere. Clicked about 10 offered downs, tossing the cookie to reset her each time. When it was clear that all thoughts of backing up, sitting, and touching my foot had been erased, we moved on to the really scary part; STAYING down. Per Sue's instructions, I started with 10 RF C/T's, then counting one second, click, RF another five. It took about 5 of these (either Luna got up before I clicked, or she moved her paws, hips, or mouth while down) for Luna to trust that the down was correct. Then I started counting 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds. Still not calm and secure enough for my liking, barely sticking to criteria, so I devised a new plan; click, treat in position for lying down, count my seconds, click, toss treat to reset. LOTS of back-and-forth between 1 and 5 seconds, just to make sure she was correct. She got up before the click only twice in about 30 reps, and she didn't break criteria while down. The new plan worked well, she became increasingly more still in body and mind. Getting to chase the treats helped her release pent-up energy, which helped to create calmer downs. Above all, she was QUIET!
I think it will be good for both of us to stay within this 1-5 second range for several sessions, to build more trust, more calmness and more quietness. Also, stay in the same place, in the same position for a while.
All in all, this was an encouraging session!
