Shyla's Winter Training Plans

In the winter, our agility course is swamped by snow. It never melts until April so I am thinking about my training goals for Shyla this winter. I love training her, and she loves it too. That's the main reason why I plan to continue some training this winter.

I've been mulling over the socialization issue and discussing it with experts. At one point in the fall, I posted about an incredible trip to town when she was afraid of no one and excited to try new things - it seemed as if she'd been "transformed". Unfortunately, it didn't last - within 2 weeks after that, we'd had a string of trips to town during which various little things spooked her. She's still leaps and bounds ahead of where she was a year ago but I've decided to modify my approach.

Over the first year that she lived with us, I tried to take Shyla to town multiple times per week - in an attempt to overcome her lack of socialization as a puppy. It worked to a huge extent. Remember that, on the first occasion that I tried to take her into town, she collapsed onto a sidewalk, paralyzed by fear, and lost control of her bladder. Now, her signs of fear are far more subtle, and I know them well so I can help her when the fear starts to creep up on her.

She can get spooked by the most mundane things - and she remembers the places where she was scared with great precision. If she gets scared on one street corner in town, she will cower past that corner for a long time thereafter. So, I've learned to stay away from the "spooky" spots for months afterwards - and then she seems to forget.

After much thought, I've decided that I'm going to accept Shyla's socialization where it is right now - with the knowledge that she'll probably continue to slowly improve just from everyday life experiences. She's generally a very happy dog. She's a mountain dog at heart - but all of our hard work has made her capable of going to town when needed without it being traumatic. I'm happy with that situation. After all, I don't love going to town either!

So, for the winter, I'm planning to work on Shyla's greetings when we see people on our mountain trails. She still sometimes gets scared of people on the trails - and I simply encourage her to "go around" those people without greeting them. However, the opposite extreme happens too - she decides that someone seems very sweet and she jumps on them! To deal with that, I've been trying to closely supervise her interactions with people who she appears to like, requiring "four on the floor" for her to be petted. I think we're making some progress. It's a tricky issue because I don't want to discourage Shyla from being outgoing, given her history, but I think it's doable.

For the winter, I want to teach her some more tricks plus a few things that will be useful in agility. The next photo shows a trick that I taught her last winter, and she adores doing it! I don't even have to ask her to do it... she just "offers" it.

This is another trick from last winter - taking and holding an object.

So, what shall we do this winter? Hmm...

We'll definitely keep practicing recalls every single day. They are so important around the wildlife in our world. We'll also keep working on her "stay". She now will "stay" with me out of sight for extended periods (without any people to distract her). I plan to add more distractions to her extended stays.

This winter, I've already starting teaching her two new tricks: balancing a treat on her nose and spinning. She's not ready to show either of them for a camera yet!

I'm also thinking of teaching her to heel on either side, and to switch sides either in front of me or behind me, depending on which I ask for. That's something that will help us when we play on our home agility course. She already knows how to heel on one side but the rest of it will be new.

Do you have any suggestions for other fun tricks?

It looks like Shyla is getting tired just thinking about all this training. But, the truth is that she loves it as much as I do!