The Spaniel Annals

I wanted to post an update on Brian’s “side” position for freestyle, which we will eventually evolve into a moving lateral side. But when I pulled out the camera, the progress I’d seen the day before disintegrated, and I had to pull out the loaded dish of food again to straighten him out:

Was I disappointed? Nope. This is typical of a learning plateau with a new, difficult behavior, especially one that works against his lifelong positions parallel to me in left and right heel. His struggles to get it are all part of the process.

And happily enough, the next day showed a lot of progress! So we tinkered with his moving lateral side, which also looked stronger:

I anticipate more training sessions like these, where he moves up and down a little ladder of fluency/non-fluency until the behavior becomes solid. I’m excited for that moment when he can find the position all on his own, but I’m willing to wait for it, and go up and down that ladder with him as needed.

Would you like to see more behaviors-in-process like this? Let me know in the comments!