Mochi really struggles with work time. He wants Arya to back off and have me to himself. You can probably guess by now he doesn't say so politely. I used to try to teach him to stay back and he would still wander and be a jerk. It was never really successful - either my criteria (stay) wasn't clear or sans medication it wasn't possible due to anxiety.
Work is so hard
Either way, we've started working again on "leaving us alone during training - lots of reinforcement away from us". So for him not bugging us, I throw him a treat behind him. I usually stick him somewhere that the criteria will be clear - the hallway which opens into the living room has a pillar where it meets the living room and he's not supposed to pass it when I ask him to stay behind it. Today, he had to stay near the fence and let Arya work on her weaves.
We have 1 lip lift when he approached me to work after he'd done his work. That's the other thing I do, he works first when I know a situation might be extra stressful to help get some energy out. Today we did heel/choose to heel. For how little I've done with him formally working on heel, he really wanted to offer the heel! Being in close proximity can be difficult for him if he's worried so it was nice to see him working hard.
After that I cleaned up the yard and went back inside. All had been quiet for a while, which is when I start to worry. I called and he didn't come so I went to the bedroom, which looks out on a part of the yard I can't see from the back door. There he was napping in the grass. That's new!He was napping just behind where he's rolling in this picture, away from the photographer. The door inside is behind me. He normally won't hang out that far away if he's not fence running!
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