I set up our spiffy little PA on the grooming table last night and played ball with Mimi in the dog room. Chasing the ball is one of her favorite games and she gets pretty focused on it. I repeatedly said "Go!" into the mic in all sorts of odd voices before, during, and after tossing the ball. She flicked her ears back each time and sometime flinched but did continue to play.
Tonight, I set the PA on the floor just outside the kitchen and said "Go!" every so often while I was preparing dinner with Jack, Mimi, and Dyna milling around my feet. Mimi started to stress out so I didn't speak into the mic as frequently.
She always has to sit and hold that sit in the kitchen while I walk away, then she has to perform some action before she gets to go in her crate where she eats. The action can be as simple as having her come up to touch my hand then continue on to her crate or as complex as my doing a lead out pivot and directing her out and around the armchair before she can go in her crate. These are my variations of Susan Garrett's Crate Games and involve self control and focus.
Well, I put her in a sit like I would in the agility ring, led out, said "GO!" which the PA made really loud and scary, then turned my head so I wasn't speaking through the mic and told her "okay, get in your box!" Her body posture was definitely stressed but she held the sit through the scary sound then shot into her box at top speed.
Baby steps.
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