A New Year's Training Resolution

Lotte's a pretty good dog, most of the time. All things considered, we've come a long way in training. She's not quite to the point I want her to be at, particular in certain situations (like pet stores), and that's really my own fault for not working with her around higher distractions. There are some things, like walking calmly past other dogs, that I've always avoided, instead of working on. Avoidance, for the record, didn't work, and the problem still exists. So, it's not really Lotte's fault that she still loses focus around other dogs - I've dropped the ball and never taught her otherwise!

Then there are things that I settled for, instead of continuing to train. I was actively working on "heel" at one point, but stopped after I decided I was happy enough with her loose-leash walking. All that I've required from there-on was a loose lead, and a dog who doesn't dart out in front of me. Looking at it now, maybe it's not so much an issue of losing focus, as it is not having anything to focus on. Which would probably account for why she has so much trouble focusing when she sees another dog - if I'm not asking anything of her, all of her attention is going towards the distraction. For what it's worth, she won't pop out of a stay if another dog walks by, and she does manage to sit when I tell her to... but it would be really nice to just be able to keep walking without Lotte batting an eye at the distraction! I think it's time to buckle down and really teach her the heel.

So, we'll be making a resolution for the upcoming New Year: to rededicate ourselves to training. Our primary big-picture goal is to work up to higher distractions, so that Lotte learns to maintain self-control and follow her known commands under any situation.

Lotte's Training Goals:
- To be able to walk calmly through a pet store
- To be able to stay focused around other dogs, regardless of the circumstances
- To perfect the heel command
- To learn to fetch a frisbee (just for fun!)
- To learn to greet people calmly (another avoided-instead-of-trained behavior...)

My goals for training Lotte:
- To actively train her out of problem behaviors, rather than avoid the circumstances that cause them
- To focus solely on my dog, not on the opinion of random strangers who might see us training
- To better control her exposure to distractions, and not put her in too stimulating of a situation before she's ready to handle it
- To dedicate at least 20 minutes a day solely to training
- To stop making excuses

(Of course, I'm not going to wait until the New Year to get started. Lotte and I will be working on heel today, as a starting point for everything else).