Kaly - 6 months old training

Kaly has been to the local Schutzhund training club for 3 training sessions since we started about 2 months ago. The club took a Christmas break. The sessions were mainly socializing as we found she is nervous around other dogs. She was even growling at the Club Trainer, Sean's new Rott puppy. We were pretty unhappy about that. At the end of the last session, Kaly appears to be a bit better with the other dogs. She no longer growl at them, but neither she allows them to get near her. She just want to play catch with all of them. We noticed that she would be calm until the other dogs look at her. She doesn't like it when the other dogs look at her in her eyes.

In the last session, we also work a bit on obedience (OB) which was not too bad. She sits, down pretty consistently. Things need to work on a bit, but she is learning. We tested her prey drive, and she excel in that department. On the other hand, I have to get her to be more active rather than I be the active role. Thus, I would only move the "prey" or let her bite when she barks and wants it... In terms of tracking, she shows potential.. she has the enthusiasm and the motivation. She wants to do it! Hannah was very pleased with her tracking ability, so are the other club members.

Recently, we have been working with her on bitework and OB at home. She is getting stronger in terms of bitework, but she is still nervous when she gets touch by unfamiliar objects, thus we decided to back-off the pressure for a bit and just work on her confidence. We have been giving her different scenario. We started feeding her dinner under the shower curtain. She was nervous at the start and refused to approach the food. However, after a couple of times, she is getting more confident and eating her dinner under the cover of the curtain.

Her OB is not improving much according to Hannah. Thus, Hannah is trying something new from today. If Kaly doesn't respond to a known command, she is just going to stop the training, thus Kaly doesn't get the reward (treat) and Hannah would resume the training later. Let's see if this works... will post results.