The biggest struggle with training an Australian Cattle Dog, or any dog, is consistency. To be consistent, means working on the issue every day. Make no mistake, it’s hard to be consistent and not get discouraged, especially when the dog regresses.
Training: The Downside
If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know. But for those who are new, let me give you a quick rundown on the two biggest struggles we have with Pandora, our 2.4-year-old Australian Cattle Dog.
- Barking: We made some headway with this issue, but it is not where we’d like it yet.
- Walking on a leash (or even off) near cars: She will not do this. It’s a no-go thing in her life. It’s rough, it’s a one inch forward, seven yards back type of an ordeal.
For both of those issues, we’ve trained, we’ve made progress, and we’ve hit setbacks.
Also, for both of those issues, we’ve made progress. Itsy bitsy, steps that give us hope in the training process.
We still keep training her to tame the barking, and we’ve made a few steps towards where we had gotten in the past. That would be, she will calm down upon command. She is not consistently doing it, but I’d guess she’s listening about 3 our of every 5 times. Not bad, not great. We’ll continue to work the bark.
Training: The Upside
I share with you every time we make the smallest bit of progress.
Some people will see the small progress and assume it’s not worth celebrating. Others understand that all progress will eventually add up to great progress. I’m clearly in the second group. Why? Because I need the hope. I need to know we are slowly making progress, it helps me get through setbacks.
This weekend, we had the tiniest bit of progress.
Pandora hates vehicles. As far as the noise of them. She doesn’t mind riding with me in one.
We were heading out to some trails, and we had to cross a highway. She hates crossing the highway. Whenever she has her head out the window and hears or sees cars coming up near us, she pulls her head in and sits up straight, while staring directly ahead.
Well, Saturday, June 18th, 2022 – she kept her nose out the window. Didn’t tuck back in and hide.
Side note: She can’t get anything more than her head out the window. I know some will be okay with that and some won’t.
A Bonus Bit of Progress
Pandora not only showed no fear during the ride, but she also made some leash progress.
On one section of the trail we get into a wooded trail of a housing development. That trail is usually busy. So I put Pandora on leash. She usually tries to yank me as quickly as possible to the section where I remove her leash.
Saturday, she did not do that. Her leash skills left a lot to be desired, BUT, she walked on leash, didn’t yank or tug or drop anchor. We even walked by another dog that didn’t want to socialize. The dog wasn’t mean, the owner was clearly training the dog not to lunge and bark at other dogs and people. I gave a little snap on the collar and Pandora walked right by without a care.
Usually, she pulls to see the people or the dog or both. She wants to make sure everyone loves her.
To Sum UP
Yes, these were very small bits of progress. But they are progress none-the-less. If we can get to this point, we can get further. So can you.
We will get to our ultimate goals. We may have to adjust the ultimate goal, I may never be able to walk Pandora around the lake during rush hour, but maybe we’ll get to walk the lake during the lazy, slow hours.
Through consistent training and sheer force of repetition we’ll get there.
Every bit of progress is to be celebrated.
Don’t give up.
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