No Stinking Leashes

Today was so beautiful!

I did two sessions today with Tom and one with Opal.
Tom Session #1
Front yard. Hot dog as reinforcement.
I mostly worked on the "No Stinking Leashes" game with him. He was a bit low energy but did well with it. There were few distractions even though I worked in the front yard because he prefers it. I quite like the game and think we're making a lot of progress with it. Lessons reminded of: The game is really helpful at making sure I have Tom working with me before I take him off leash or up the ante in any way. It is necessary to have a dog some drive (don't think that's the right word...)/ motivation to play games.
Also worked a little on Premack with my remaining treats. It went like this. One eye contact when I first released him, CT. Sniff for about a minute. Then he came over and gave more frequent attention.

Opal Session
In the front yard. Milkbone chicken chewies as reinforcement (okay, not great, ingredients are crap but I'm using them because I have them).
I pulled out a tunnel and a jump and pul them next to each other. I tried to get her to tunnel and then loop back towards me to do the jump. She did fine with tunnel, jump but wouldn't do jump, tunnel because the tunnel takes some urging to go through. I'm happy she was willing to do both obstacles though, especially since the jump was on the high side and she sometimes prefers to jump lower. Also worked some on "come". She does have a good recall with me. It's not 100% but when she comes she gallops.

Tom Session #2
Also in the front yard, with agility equipment set up. Hot dogs as reinforcement.
I worked on more "No Stinking Leashes". The environment was a lot more distracting. There were turkeys across the street and some animals ran to the back of our property when we came out. It went pretty well. There were a few times when Tom was either dragging the leash or off and he stared at something across the street but I was able to bring him back. I learned that I CAN get him back without going up to him and sticking treats in his face. I had to learn this in riding too, just because things aren't going how I'd like doesn't mean I need to freak out. I can figure it out and just modify the exercise. With Tom, if I used more verbal encouragement or ran towards him or picked up his leash and ran away I could get him back. I sent him over the equipment some and he was much better at getting my poor directionals. Of course there were only two pieces of equipment. Overall it was very successful and I'm glad I can do some work in my yard even though I may not be able to use the side yard which is the flattest and biggest. Oh well.