[nagdu] Hubby distraction 2.0 and a question

[Daryl Marie]

Hi!
Mi culpa! My husband and I started a bad habit with Jenny - having him bond with her by allowing her to be happy and wiggly when we get home (off-harness). Unfortunately this has translated into spazziness and whining on the rare occasion that we see him out and about in-harness.  Ultimately, this is what caused me to start evaluating whether corrections work for her.
My husband has been on holidays the past couple weeks, but unfortunately the heat has made it nearly impossible to do training outside. Thankfully by the end of this week, things have cooled down, and I started training her with positive reinforcement.

I was at a store in the mall looking at purses, and was talking with the owner about my dog. I did forewarn her that Jenny might get wiggly when my husband came by to meet me, and she said that was fine, thanks for warning her. Jenny didn't react until hubby was basically right in front of her, but then she got up and wiggled. I was able to get her to sit and go around the other way *which she did calmly and beautifully). Unfortunately for the rest of the excursion at the mall she was more focused on showing her excitement than keeping her head.

So I got to thinking: OK, start small!
I had her on-leash in our living room and had her walk calmly with me around that area while hubby was in his chair. Took a couple of tries, but she got it.
That night, we did a little exercise when hubby came out of our friend's house, and Jenny barely reacted at all! She didn't whine (I treated), sat calmly while we talked, then walked calmly to the car.

Then yesterday, I asked hubby to be sitting on the steps in front of the house when I came home from work.  Jenny tried to get all wiggly, so we went back to the end of the driveway to try again. Praised for steady pace and focus, then she tried to run to him. Back to the end of the driveway...
Take 3: Calmly walked toward hubby, sat down in front of him. I told her to find the steps, so she started to take me around the side of the house (hubby was sprawled all over the stairs). She got loads of praise and a couple of treats! Again, NO WHINING!

I guess my next question is this: where do we go from here? I want to keep working with her on this, but want to do a session or two more before I think she understand what I want from her. Any ideas? I know Nicole emailed me off-list, but I can't find the email.

Thanks!

Daryl and Jenny