This week we worked on refining Ella’s basic obedience and her stability assistance while on stairs. Her basic obedience has continued to improve. Whenever she tries to pull ahead in a heel, we simply say, “nope” and she will get back into a heel next to us. For stairs, we worked on going up and down slowly while putting pressure on her shoulders to simulate supporting her handler while going up and down.
We also did an facility walk towards A-Block where it is much noisier and has an echo and Ella did great. In new environments we need to lower our expectations and expect the dog to have a lot of competing motivators. We went slow as Ella explored the new area but also checked back in periodically as expected. I was encouraged by this as she was very shy and fearful when she first came in. Her new handlers need to be aware of this when they take her to new environments. High value treats will help keep her engaged with her handler in these new environments.
Next week we will begin to train her in her ability to help her new handler with standing up. Overall Ella has progressed nicely and I am pleased with where she is at.