Week One - Basic Obedience

Indigo began a basic obedience class, offered by the Misha May Foundation.  This is a video of her 2nd practice session.  The first task is for her to look up at me and then I acknowledge and reward her when our eyes meet.   She starts out staring at my hand with the treat but she caught on pretty fast to look at me.  That's not easy for a puppy mill dog.   

More challenging for her is "sit".  She isn't trusting of me withholding the treat - but she managed to do a couple.   I need to learn to curb my enthusiasm to not scare her.  It was exciting to see her succeed.

Now we need to build upon these successes.

Next week, all the dogs will be in the classroom together.  They are all puppies.   I am hoping she will soak it all in and learn from them what she did not get in her puppy hood.  

I was impressed that she was not fearful being in a classroom with 6 people sitting around her for an hour. 

This is practice #2 a couple of days later.  She is getting the hang of it.

The Value of a Confident Dog As an Example to a Puppymill Dog

Indigo is doing well to come when called. Although her demeanor is to slink in and hit the ground when I reach for her. When Scout is getting attention at the same time, then she is more confident and confident enough to almost be playful. She doesn't want to miss out on attention.

Here she is on her own with me:

And here she is when Scout is in the room:

Current Reaction to Being Approached for Petting

This is Indy's current reaction to being approached for petting.   I am going to get some lessons from Tender Hands Animal Training.  They use the Tellington Touch (TTouch) method and I am excited to see how this can help Indigo (and Scout) to be more confident dogs.

In the past, when Gracie, Dudley, and Scout boarded at Tails Up, we signed them up for a TTouch massage while we were away.  The kennel always reported about how relaxed they were after a session.   I didn't know much about the science behind it - but started looking for something to help Indigo.  I wanted to take her to a class as Gracie had done but she is too timid at this point.  It would be too much for her.   I am confident that this TTouch experience will give us both a solid starting point that we can move forward from to greater things.

The inventor of the TTouch method studied under Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais.  The Feldenkrais modality is a component of Nia - my favorite form of exercise.  I love when "coincidental" connections like that happen.