Sunday morning we had the most beautiful fall weather. Sampson, Delilah and I headed out shortly after 9:00. The air was cool and crisp, the sky bright blue with white fluffy clouds. As we walked I looked up to the majestic sight of a pair of hawks flying overhead.
They were too high for a good close up shot.
The dogs had headed up the hill, probably thinking they were going to get a walk in the woods, (they weren’t), so around the block we went. The dogs took their time. They sniffed the things that needed to be sniffed, and peed on the things that needed to be peed on.
We encountered one person. A young girl with her music, singing out loud to her heart’s content.
There were no dogs.
There were no other people.
There were no distractions.
Until Sampson stopped to poop and something, (what I have no idea), caught Delilah’s attention.
I’ve mentioned this before, Delilah is a hard core puller. We’re working on it, but until we get it right, she continues to pull. So Sampson stops to poop and Delilah goes right to the end of the leash. And stands there, staring off at Dog knows what.
If I stand here long enough…she’ll give me a treat.
I had a funny thought. I thought, I’m more stubborn than she is.
I have mentioned a time or two that she’s a lab, right? A chocolate lab. Actually, I think she might have some donkey in her, because that jackass just stood there, at the end of the leash for about two full minutes, with me at the other end waiting for her to give.
Sampson got so bored, he laid down in the grass.
Dear Dog, it must be something shiny.
Eventually after standing there for what seemed like forever, I had the wherewithal to stick my hand in the treat bag, which promptly turned her around. I said, “Yes!” and gave her a treat.
Finally we were back on our way.
As we rounded the turn towards home we saw the mail truck heading up the street and they pulled into our driveway (I had no idea Amazon Prime used the post office for Sunday deliveries). Hubby must have heard the truck because he came out to get the package. Since we were virtually on the edge of our property, I let Sampson off leash and told him to “Go Get Daddy”, and then because I was stupid, or hadn’t had enough coffee (or I’d had too much whiskey) I let Delilah off leash too, with the same instructions.
She headed up the lawn.
Then, for a reason known only to her (probably has a lot to do with the fact the neighbor loves to feed wildlife) she veered off to the neighbor’s yard.
The arrow on the left indicates the path she was expected to take, the arrow on the right…well you know.
I was stunned. (Which I always am when she takes off on me.) She’d been doing so good and then…so I yelled, “Delilah!” In my deepest, loudest voice and then I said, “Get over here!”
She turned and ran back to me and then, that’s when I made my colossal training mistake. As she ran back towards me, I pointed at the house and said, “Get in the house.” Instead of rewarding her and praising her for coming back to me, I scolded her.
She ran up the yard and into the house and I spent the rest of the day apologizing to her (like she knew what I was babbling about) and feeling like a jerk because I failed my dog, and wondering if I’d just undone the last two years worth of work.
Honestly, if my foot would reach, I’d kick myself in the ass.
Oops! I’m sure you’ll do better next time! Delilah kind of reminds me of Zoe sometimes! Zoe does the same thing with the hitting the end of the leash and ignoring me for minutes on end! I’ve began waiting, too.. Just like you did and when she finally turns around something fun happens. I’ve been having good luck with it!
I think we all do that, I know I do. It takes so much longer for us silly humans to remember that we’re supposed to somehow make ourselves the most awesome thing on the planet everytime we do a recall. It’s challenging.
I love Sampson’s idea of just chillin & waiting for the battle of wits to end 🙂
Can’t you tell your self you’re gradually cutting the treats to every other time? That might make you feel better. Clearly Delilah already feels fine. I love the picture of Sampson waiting for one of his girls to give in and start moving. Such a good boy.
Oooooops! But we’ve all done it! 🙂
Don’t be so hard on yourself Jodi…you’re taking a perfectly good job…from someone else! 😉
Seriously, if that’s the worst thing you do, then I’m sure D-Dog will be just fine. Besides, if you kick yourself, you’ll probably get hurt and who’d dispense treats for when you really need them? 🙂
Oh I hate when I do stuff like that. Feel guilty and horribly inadequate every time, too. Funny how our dogs survive – even thrive – in spite of our mistakes, isn’t it? Just remember, you’ve done well if she came to you and even went into the house on command 🙂
Now you know, treats instead of that voice. Mom is guilty of the same thing
Snorts,
Lily & Edward
Sometimes Mom has a hard time reacting correctly to dog thinking too. She is still punishing herself for failing me at our nose work event in May. We get it, I bet she knows you did wrong, and she did wrong initially, so two wrongs make a right and you both should sit on the couch and eat snacks together and call it even.
whoops, shit happens. That was very good of her to stop thou and come back great job on the recall. Love how Sampson just laid down to wait. Cute!
Delilah is just one of those dogs who will always take the road less traveled by. Learn it. Live it. Don’t beat yourself up about it. She makes wonderful blog content.
I’ve done this too. 🙁 It happens to us all, we just work to not do it again. LoL thankfully dogs forgive us better than we do!
You really thought you were more stubborn than Delilah? LOL. I’ve given up on thinking I could wait out my dogs. It’s such common training advice to stand still when they’re pulling, and wait until they come back to you. Yeah, that never works for me.
Don’t beat yourself up…we all make those training mistakes. I often say that I’m more reactive than my dogs. When we took Cricket hiking last weekend and got approached by off leash dogs, I totally forgot everything I knew and though I at least got her off the trail and tried to block the other dogs, I should have smartly taken the opportunity to feed her treats while the dogs passed. Duh.
How long would it take to really discover who’s more stubborn? And don’t you have to get to work on Mondays?
Nope you did not ruin her or make a mistake. You told her what you wanted and she did it. I think you did exactly right. You do not want her to get the idea that taking off and then coming back gets a treat. You won the battle. Good for you! (PS I also would not have rewarded her for responding to reaching in the treat bag. I may have called her and then rewarded her for responding to that. I realize our training is a bit different than what is popular today. We do not focus on treats for training and sometimes our ending on a positive is us winning the battle.)
As a friend can I volunteer to kick you instead – you know I am there for you hun! 🙂
Don’t beat yourself up too much (easier said then done I know) we all make mistakes and you will again. We are human.
I know, I know. We all feel so bad for missing a training moment and possibly hurting our love’s feelings.. But, keep in mind, that the original command was to go get Daddy. It’s a good thing that she came back when you called and a really good thing that she completed the original command. Maybe, next time she will remember that she needs to complete her original command instead of being rewarded for going off and then coming back to you. I mean, possibly? it can go either way. The good thing is that she thinks you have forgiven her for running off and loving you all the more. Delilah is a good girl and we know dogs don’t hold grudges the way we can sometimes. She has a good Momma!
Gus’ Mom
I think we’ve all made that mistake in the heat of the moment…..
Don’t be so hard on yourself! We ALL make mistakes. The fact that D-Dog came back to you tells me the mistake won’t have colossal effects.