Sit-Stay on the box

[BrownieNJoyce]

Update on Brownie: He's doing great! It only took him one session to get the hang of "on the box" and "sit" so I started working on sit-stay. He does well for very brief stays. I'm thinking that when he breaks focus that it's too much for him because when he comes for the push, he is giving me less. So the next time on the box I reduce the distance that I back away and therefore also the time he has to remain in the stay. So now I'm better at intuiting when to call him so he still has an enthusiastic push. Am I right about my interpretation of his looking away? any other thoughts about that?

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Your intuition is right. When a dog looks away it means the exercise has become a little too stressful. There are two ways to deal with this. One is to go back a little to wherever the dog was more comfortable doing it. The other is to infuse a bit more energy into the situation yourself, i.e., make yourself feel more prey-like (moose-like, squirrel-like) to the dog.

I hope this helps!

LCK

[BrownieNJoyce]

Thanks Lee, that is helpful. Good to know when my thinking is on the right track.