Passing Dogs (High Density Area - 5 Months Old) (Patreon)

This is a bit of a montage of passing dogs in an area that is wayyy higher volume than Denver had experienced before. Our goal was to make it to a specific store to practice shiny/black and white floors in, but to get there required walking through a busy outdoor mall setting on a nice day. Basically, it's over Denver's pay-grade until we get to the store.

I wanted to show you this video specifically to show you how much I am using food to manage him through these areas. Why? Because my first goal is for him to not practice behaviors I don't want him to practice, like for instance, running up to other dogs on leash. You can see by the last clip that he's actually able to give me attention without using the food to lure him by. Nice work from the baby dog!

Over time this turns into more of what the last clip looks like, then slowly into only marking and rewarding once they've passed the other dog with attention on me, and then finally, a dog that ignores other dogs. But this takes a while! And progress is often non-linear during adolescence.

It also involved lots of practice that is within Denver's ability to stay successful (attention on me around the distraction) without the use of lures, which typically looks like more distance, and/or less dogs. I would never repeatedly throw him into this environment, as that is a recipe for failure. But sometimes we unexpectedly find ourselves in situations that are a bit over our dog's ability levels, and that's where we need to support them through.

So, I just wanted to show you how I use a cookie in hand management in a high-difficulty situation at a young age to prevent undesirable behavior if I get thrown into something that's over his head.

Note 1: some of the vocal is cut out because my filming crew got loud

Note 2: the "no" is coming from the passerby with the white dog

Note 3: the first click in the last clip is because he left some bread on the floor alone (yay!)

Happy Training Ya'll