Working on sit, Working on relationships

The longer I work with rescue dogs, the more I learn about training. One thing that has changed for me is that when I was new to working with dogs, I worked on "sit", "stay", leash walking, etc., because a well mannered dog is a more adoptable dog. My goal was getting those manners. Now that part is my secondary reason for training. Now I work on training with my foster dogs because of the relationship/trust building benefits. I never used to realize those were there because I was so focused on the end goal of a dog who understood how humans expect dogs to behave in a house.

The reality though, is that when I worked on basic clicker training stuff on my less confident foster dogs, they blossomed. Here would be this dog who had very little reason to want to connect and spend more time with humans. Just loading the clicker (training them that click = incredible stuff) alone turned things around drastically. I mean, think about it. Here is this lump of a human who the dog is a bit worried about and not sure they want to spend any time with them. Then said lump of human turns into this crazy clicking treat dispenser and immediately, the humans value to the dog has skyrocketed. Turn those click/rewards into a communication method and that interest and trust is just going to continue to grow. 

Chima's "sit"

I wish I had time for more training time with the foster dogs in my care. I'd love to take classes with them and be really consistent with our sessions but let's be honest - I struggle being consistent because I've got too much going on. But even if all I have time to do is help a dog learn that a human can be trusted and fun to spend time with, then I've taught them the lesson they need to pave the way for all other training. They can relax enough that retaining those future training lessons is possible. 

Sal's "sit"

That's the road I'm walking with Salinas and Chima right now. We've loaded the clicker and are working on the "sit" cue and other behaviors like "four on the floor" (not jumping up on people for attention) with Sal and accepting pets and touch with Chima. It's been wonderful to see the change in the girls speed up exponentially thanks to the few minutes each day we spend on these different things. Chima is so relaxed outside now that she acts like a puppy and I fear for my landscaping since her rattie runs tend to include barrelling through the middle of anything soft and under 4 feet tall. Salinas isn't feeling the need to stick to her sister like glue or to constantly be checking in with me every time I walk a few steps. She's exploring and relaxing as well and I couldn't be happier for her.