The Beauty of Positive Reinforcement

So, after emailing with Sarah at side by side training an looking at a local trainer's website (in the dog house) she suggested, some thoughts began to click which I think should have clicked earlier. I need to continuously motivate Parker to WANT to do what I want him to do. Duh. I need him to be excited about what I need/want him to do! Doing it once or twice and expecting him to always be excited without a tasty treat once in a while is unrealistic.

So I started to problem solve one potential issue, his growling at me at night while on the chair.

I want him to get off the chair to get outside and potty. He is perfectly comfortable sleeping where he is at. How can I motivate him to move? hmm, If I have yummy treats by the door and he gets up and comes when he is called then he gets a big yummy treat as a reward for doing what I want. And as a result, he gets what he wants, a yummy treat. I will start by getting a treat and showing it to him before I ask him to come to me. I know he is food motivated and I know what treats he likes. Theoretically he should beat me to the door in no time!

I cooked up some hot dog and chicken hearts and armed with a bag full of small pieces of treats, a leash, and a positive attitude, Parker and I went down the street to McCracken's to have a positive experience! Once out of the car I showed him the treats, asked for a sit and look a few times in the parking lot and off we went.

Systematically we went. Once through the door, Parker, Sit, look! Good-boy! give treat. Up first aisle, Parker, sit, look (longer pause) good-boy! give treat. We avoided the group of people at the counter at first...too many men with facial hair. The place cleared out and Dave, one of the men that works there offered to help us out a little. I let them know up front, we're working through men with facial hair issues and he was ok with that. He let Parker come to him. No body language that showed fear or uncertainty. I treated Parker with a nice "good-boy" and Dave moved away. Dave came around Parker a few more times while we were there without any issue or hint of fear or aggression. Parker received lots of praise and treats during the whole experience. He was well behaved, attentive, and polite!

He did manage to pee on the floor though : ( I watched him go to pee and tried to get him moving... all i succeeded in doing was have him pee on the floor rather than the display. So we cleaned it up and kept on rolling.

We picked up some Zuke's mini naturals so I can have treats strategically placed around the house so I can catch him being good and reward quickly and effectively. I love the hotdog, but it needs to be refridgerated (ok, so I hate the crap that is in hotdogs, but I love the results I get with the dogs when working with it....the positives outweigh the negatives in this case...plus I don't really want to pay 8 bucks a package for hotdogs without perservatives...I'll wait til they're on sale : )

So that's my positive outlook. Let's keep him motivated to do what I want him to do, give him the training and consistency so he knows what I want him to do, and stay loving and kind to this little bugger!

I am so proud of how his was in public today! Go Parker!