Learning the Power of Pushing

[Chris]

Yesterday I had my first 'taste' of the power of pushing.

We've only just got started with pushing but yesterday up in the forest we heard some dogs barking on the track below us. Ty was very tense but twice I got him to redirect to me and push. That in itself is a big WOW as normally he would be pulling on the lead in fear of a dog nearby.

A minute later two loose dogs came running up behind us, Ty barked and lunged, I remembered to stay calm and praise him. We got onto a side track and once the owner arrived and called the dogs away I started to work Ty. He tried to rush after the dogs but I managed to get my arm under his chest and lifted him into a sort of sideways push, (tracks are very narrow and hard to move about much) I worked my hand to his nose and offered food. Most other times he's never taken food with dogs that close but he did, so I worked him around until he was pushing into me. I put him down then asked for another push and he DID, I was so impressed and then he did it again. Then he really shocked me, within a minute of the dogs going out of sight he picked up a pinecone and said lets play.

That is really powerful for me as normally Ty is a handful of tension /stress for 5 mins after a dog encounter and it was like he had fully discharged himself of all stress.

WOW WOW


Cheers

Chris Zeke & Ty

[neilsattin]

Well done, Chris - sounds like you did a great job of working with what you had in the moment. Over time you'll see, as I illustrated in the "redirection" section of the DVDs, that Ty's attraction to those other dogs will just become greater attraction to you...skipping the "barking and lunging" step, and receptive to pushing right away.

Love to hear progress - please keep us posted...

[Chris]

Thanks Neil, at this stage it's still a little hard to believe that Ty's attraction to me will ever be greater than the other dogs but I'll be working on it thats for sure.

[neilsattin]

It takes time, you just need to trust the process and be patient.