For one reason or another, Astra has found humans mesmerising for a long time – not just hypergreeting in close proximity like Nell, but intentionally seeking them out, as you can see here. I’ve been working on this consistently on every walk, and to be honest, it’s quite frustrating for me after living with Grace, who has never been that interested in unfamiliar people.
In addition, since I have actually raised Astra from birth, there’s always a part of me wondering whether I made a mistake somewhere or if I should have done something differently – that’s also the part that secretly wanted all of the puppies to be PERFECT forevermore the day they leave us…
Anyway, I filmed this for my own records to watch it back, but she did so well that I thought I’d share it too in case it’s helpful for someone else to see this kind of training. I’m particularly pleased that she is starting to disengage by herself – looking at the delicious humans, and then turning to look at me. I’ve previously rewarded this heavily, and now slowly reducing it to a more normal amount of great treats.
At the end, you’ll see how she lost interest in the people ahead of us which is also good to see – before she has gone back to looking at the people or just grab her treat and run off again. Also, she is usually very soft mouthed, but when I called her back at the beginning, she grabbed the treat from me, so I know she was a little bit hyped up.
It’s still a work in progress to get to a place of ignoring humans, but she’s only 5 months (and only 2 months of being able to train her without her siblings present).
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Disclaimer: I’m not a professional, so this isn’t a how-to… I’m still learning – I only really started learning about dog training 5 years ago, just before Grace arrived!
BusyDoggie 