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After several months of trying to teach focus around squirrels, Annie is now on a pinch collar for daytime walks. My goal is to have a dog who I can walk without getting angry/embarrassed, who DOESN'T scream like I am killing her on her walks as she sees squirrels she can't chase - and to no longer have to use the pinch collar. Outlining my training plan here in case anyone has additional suggestions - and also to document it to get myself to stick to it.
So far - the pinch collar has stopped her thrashing on leash, so i'm less worried about us getting hurt, but has done nothing to stop the vocalizing.
Here's my training plan right now
So far - the pinch collar has stopped her thrashing on leash, so i'm less worried about us getting hurt, but has done nothing to stop the vocalizing.
Here's my training plan right now
- Clicker and pinch collar and sandwich meat on EVERY daytime walk.
- Click and treating voluntary focus, and focus on command, especially around squirrels.
- Limiting daytime walks to 5 min or less - She can handle the 1st squirrel, and the 5th without losing her mind, but after that? Not so much. So setting her up to succeed with shorter walks.
- When possible (and it often isn't), turning away if she's over stimulated
- Avoiding the one street where someone feeds squirrels (which cuts our possible walks in half)
- Playing the look at that game with her ball (second-most obsessed thing after squirrels), and requiring focus on me before I'll throw her ball (not just a sit).