Day 334-336: Park Work and Position Changes

We've been continuing to work very short sessions on position changes whilst it pisses down and sneaking out on rides in between. We met the neighbour and his spaniel on a walk the other day and Aster was brilliant. Into middle and look at me, which i was really pleased with.

We went to the park today for some "other dog" exposure and to see if she would play etc. We started with me just sitting in the boot of the car and her watch the other dogs in the park first as they were a bit close to start with. A few barks but she could disengage and look at me. We got out and did some food bowl-outs to get her moving and engaged. It started strong and petered out a bit so we got a toy to kick around which she couldn't have cared less about. Switched to her chuckit ball and thrower which she hasn't had in a while (but has always been her fave) and she was like a different dog. We did some "arounds" with the bench, some source focus, bark activation etc. Was pretty easy with that particular toy and agree had a great time. My worry though is that she is (i am) completely reliant on one particular toy as a motivator and the games/exercises in themselves have never become particularly reinforcing... she's really hard work at the moment in terms of getting much out of her during training. Feel like our play stuff hit a wall and has been going backwards for a while.

We finished with another session just watching the other dogs from the boot of the car which was very good (auto-looking at me) so was pleased with that.

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