Since Ayla was being a bit of a pain this morning already and trying to play too rough, I decided I would distract her with some training to wear her out after breakfast. I started working her on the crate games since she’s only willing to go in her crate when a treat is thrown in there first and obviously this is not too ideal for the future. We want her to like the crate and go in willingly but of course don’t have any delusions that she would want to hang out in there all the time.
Since she is already pretty well trained to sit and wait in the crate when we tell her to (otherwise we won’t let her out of the box), the first step of cracking the door and giving her a treat inside the crate was no problem. Well, we do have a bit more of an issue since our crate is sideways and has a door opening on the side which we use instead of the one on the front…therefore the crate is not very long and she can get out much faster. But she’s used to this already and the other door isn’t so practical for us so sideways it will remain.
Ayla was in the crate, passed the first part with flying colors and it was on to step 2; opening the door halfway and giving the treat. Things started to get complicated here since she thinks she needs to come out immediately when the door opens. At first I still only cracked the door about a 1/4 of the way open to prevent her from lunging out. We probably did this about 10 times since she seemed very anxious to get out. Then I tried the process with the door half way open and things started to fall apart. She was ok for the first time or two but then she charged out of the crate and refused to go back in for any reason. I guess she decided the session was over…I know, I probably shouldn’t let her win but I was getting bored with it too lol.
When she came out of the box, she got herself some water and then passed out under the dining room table. I knew she must be tired since she hadn’t had a nap since breakfast but I wouldn’t have expected her to be that worn out. Training makes a sleepy puppy…and tired puppies are good puppies 😉
We’ll probably continue this one again tomorrow and see if she’s learned anything…and I’m looking forward to another session of mind games with the down-stay assisted by the leash under my chair. Perhaps she’ll be a tiny bit less vocal this time? lol
