I do have to tell you that I'm a teensy bit mad at Claire for getting me into this itchy mess to begin with, and I am considering taking away her off-leash privileges for the remainder of the summer so that we can work on recall without giving her opportunities to push her limits too much. Am I being too harsh? Tell me the truth... The upside to this arrangement for Claire - who is extremely food-motivated - is that doing recall work is fun work her. She gets rewarded with cheese. And for Claire, there is no better reward than that!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
too harsh of a consequence?
Friends! Hello! I was going to write a blog post yesterday, but I was horribly bitchy grumpy and whiny all the live long day because of the poison ivy that has now spread all over my body. My accessories these days consist of band-aids and calamine lotion, and it's quite attractive. But I'm in a much better mood today because I persuaded one of my pals to prescribe some topical steroids, and with only two applications, the poison ivy looks 10x better. My skin is also splotchy because it's such a strong steroid, but apparently once I stop using it, the splotchiness will go away.
I do have to tell you that I'm a teensy bit mad at Claire for getting me into this itchy mess to begin with, and I am considering taking away her off-leash privileges for the remainder of the summer so that we can work on recall without giving her opportunities to push her limits too much. Am I being too harsh? Tell me the truth... The upside to this arrangement for Claire - who is extremely food-motivated - is that doing recall work is fun work her. She gets rewarded with cheese. And for Claire, there is no better reward than that!
I do have to tell you that I'm a teensy bit mad at Claire for getting me into this itchy mess to begin with, and I am considering taking away her off-leash privileges for the remainder of the summer so that we can work on recall without giving her opportunities to push her limits too much. Am I being too harsh? Tell me the truth... The upside to this arrangement for Claire - who is extremely food-motivated - is that doing recall work is fun work her. She gets rewarded with cheese. And for Claire, there is no better reward than that!
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Sounds perfect to me! Off-leash privileges are just that.. and if she gets to practice the behaviors you don't want (especially off-leash) they become stronger and much more reinforcing than returning to you.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with recall work! That's one of my favorite things to work on because it can be SO fun for everyone!
wish I could offer constructive advice -- I've got a 13-year-old Beagle that's morbidly obese, untrained and spiteful. She thought she owned the house (before Asya got here anyway) and to this day, she has no problem peeing on the floor while looking right at me. So you see, I don't think I have any room to offer advice..... ;)
ReplyDeletePS Claire's awfully cute, go easy, pweese..... ;)
I think it's important for you to ensure your beloved companion's safety, so no, I think it's an appropriate consequence.
ReplyDeleteKnow that, however, you'll have to generalize her recall at *some* point, and that DOES mean giving her opportunities to stretch limits within reason.
Recall work is always worth it! That's a good way to turn things around ;)
ReplyDelete(I'd be pretty mad, too. For the record.)
I've tried to take away off leash privileges before...but unfortunately dogs have such short memories that I always end up giving into those sad puppy dog eyes! Fail.
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