04/14/2024
It was a good day. The trainer was thrilled with Lumi and could tell I put in a lot of work with her. He has no problems taking her on as one of the dogs he certifys. His exact words "I have no problems with this dog, I like her demeanour".
He isn't a new age trainer with only positive reinforcement, force free kind of training. He comes from a police background and understands dogs body language and how to communicate with them in a way they understand. He does a very balanced approach. There is nothing wrong with negative consequences, when positive reinforcement isn't working, but a correction is simply a correction. Nothing more. He loves the new age trainers, because it's making him a lot of money. (his words) lol. He's pro e-collar, pro chain collars, and pro balanced training.
We have some very minor things to work on, her remaining in a "down", remaining in a sit, and we've changed from a haltie to a chain collar and the biggest change... No treats when working? I am not a treat only, I do both treat and praise. But he wants no treats. This won't be a hard change, as she gets very limited treats when working, but I think I'll still continue with the odd treat. We get paid to work, why shouldn't they.
The change to the chain vs haltie, took Lumi to the next level which I've been missing this whole time as chains are soooo taboo in the Training world. But like any tool, when used correctly, it's effective. It's not the old school large heavy choke chain, but instead a very thin chain now. This will now enable me to break her focus with seeing other dogs and hyper focusing on them when working. Now with this added correction, I can get her ignoring working dogs like she was before she had 2 negative dog encounters.
I expect she will pass her test when she's ready. He only didn't get to see her with other dogs, but she passed all the tests he threw at her. Including walking in an arcade, and sitting in front of the kids play area, and an unplanned little kid approach her, get right in her face, and she was calm through all of it. We even dos Ă long down Stay for 10 min, which she was fine with and passed as well.
Yay Lumi!