So, Asia and I worked really hard on this all week. The beginning of the video my husband left out the back, put on a ski mask, hat and dark glasses and came around to the front door but Asia has a really good nose and wasn't really fooled so I had to encourage her to bark. The second part probably isn't the best use of quiet-more likely a 'leave it' command but I knew she would bark and even get close to the red zone so I put it in. The third is my son and his girlfriend coming to the door. Asia's being really stubborn and I probably should have been cranking the level on the remote but I was trying to get my timing perfect on the corrections. All in all, this was/is a tough nut to crack with Asia. She is a very dominant female (to the point that she will actually mark like a male). We will continue but on and off since she is already getting hesitant at the door and I don't want to kill her spirit for defense. Maybe we can get into that a bit on Monday's call. You can see she is looking back at me at times anticipating the quiet and not sure if she is supposed to be barking or not.

Hi Cathy,

I think it will be easiest if I break it down by sections.

1.  Working this way with the door is a great way to teach the quiet.  And you demonstrated this very nicely.  The only thing I would change is I would just say "quiet" without the dogs name.  Saying Asia could potentially put her in a different mind state.  I think what we would all like to achieve, is our dogs turning off the barking on command, but still maintaining focus.  So, to do this, just simply say "quiet" and reward!

2.  I hate to sound so blunt, but its the easiest way in terms of typing.   What you are doing with the vacuum is working against you.  Because of the sequence of events.  I think Asia thinks she is first supposed to attack the vacuum, then stop and be rewarded.  With this type of behavior, I do not reward at all.  I only correct.  If you correct properly she will stop attacking the vacuum.  Right now I think she thinks that when the vacuum comes on she should attack it not only because something inside her is telling her to, but also because she will receive a food reward.  So, we can talk more about this in our chat tonight.

3.  This situation is similar to the situation of the vacuum in the way that the corrections are not working.  We always know if corrections are working because the dog immediately shows us a reflection of that in their behaviors.  Asia, continues to bark throughout the sequence even with your corrections.  So we can chat more about this as well tonight.  For now, I would diminish the verbal praise for barking at the door and just let her do her thing, working the quiet when possible, like in the first example.  That being said, I would not let her jump on the door in the way that she is.  We can talk more about that tonight as well.

I'm sure with a couple of minor adjustments, you can get Asia behaving exactly how you'd like her to behave!

Thanks, Cathy!

Mark

Thanks Mark. I totally agree with you about the vacuum. Generally I don't do the vacuuming. My back is just not up to it. So, I usually have her in a down-stay or I kick her outside. I know this week was a complete disaster with Asia. I find that my timing and corrections are much better than when I'm working something that we are both very comfortable with like focused heeling. But I was totally out of my element on this one. Thanks for the corrections and I look forward to tonight's call!!  This is exactly why I took this class BEFORE I got my next puppy.