Sit Happens: Adjusting Expectations

Salinas sit's like a pro and is happy to throw me sits non-stop. The girl wants so badly to please that she picks up on things super fast. She's always there, right in front of me, looking up and hoping that she'll be able to do something that will get her some attention. But Chima didn't seem to be getting the whole "sit" thing, which didn't make sense to me. If you look in Chima's eyes, there is such a clear and deep intelligence but I'd be working with her and Salinas and she would just back up and look at me warily.

Langley is Mr. Attentive when it comes to  his "sit"

What I'm accustomed to is the dog looking at me, face to face as we work on things. I mean, there's more to it than that but the connection is made as a dog sits in front of me - maybe out a ways but they look at me and face me.

Yesterday I was puzzling over how to make a connection with Chima and get the concept of sit across to her. She knew sit but clearly didn't really want to. I would face her and she'd look at me and then walk away. Or she'd look and then turn sideways.

This wasn't during a training time, but it's similar to what she looks like if  I try to face off for a "sit"

Then it clicked when she circled around me and sat behind me. It was that whole "face off" of us head to head, expectations in the air... It felt confrontational to her and she was attempting to avoid that confrontation and diffuse things by moving away.

Sitting almost in front of me, but only because of the high value treat in my hand

So I changed my expectations. For now I don't care where she sits - the reinforcer is given when the sit occurs, whether it's across the room, beside me, or behind me. When that behavior becomes comfortable to her, then I can adjust what version of the behavior gets reinforced. Maybe she'll need to sit within 4' of me before I click and reward. Or maybe anywhere but behind me (because it's really hard to click a behavior you can barely see!)

I love these reminders the dogs give me. If something isn't working, it's almost never because the dog can't learn but instead is because things need to be taught differently or more clearly. Step back, break things down into tinier steps, and then you'll finally start to move forward.