This week we reinforced all of Riggs training. He knows all the commands so we are work on reinforcing them daily. His heel has gotten to the point where if he forges ahead, we say, “nope” and he will back up to where he is in line with his handler. If he is too far forward, we will sometimes say back and he will back into the right position. This will only get better and more polished over the next couple of weeks. Riggs still struggles with the Six command and the block command. He does not like being in those position and is reluctant to complete the command. I will start to reinforce it with high value to see if that will get him a little more eager do them.
One area we are working on is when Riggs hears a female voice he will want to pull to go towards her. No doubt, this is because his owner is female. He rarely jumps on anyone unless you get him super excited. His Dog socialization is going well. He gets along with every dog here he has met and shows zero aggression and often zero interest in dog’s right outside our door he has not met. This is a great trait in a service dog.
Next week I will be shaping his deep pressure command.
-Smith
