Lately, Elka will not "go lay down". Or she will, but she'll come right back. Or she'll pace about like she's looking for the perfect spot, and then give up, imagining you've changed your mind about what you told her to do. You'll excuse me if I feel this is frustrating.
The interesting part? At the park, she'll do it. Or she'll maintain a down stay, anyway. Even at a distance. On a 20 foot leash. Sometimes, she'll put herself into the down stay. Most of the time, that particular trick is to lure children into licking distance. It seems to put some mothers at ease, that my vicious killer will lay down without a cue so as to not be intimidating to their children.
So, we'll continue to work on it. I know she knows what I'm asking her to do. See, I tell her once, wait for her to comply, and then get up to take her by the collar and place her somewhere for that down stay. When I get up, she scoots to her bed, or a spot on the couch, and lays down. I sit down, she gets up again. Really, she just doesn't wanna sometimes, and while I know how that feels, it's a pretty useful thing, to be able to trust her to go lay down and stay there if I need her to.
Hmmmm, the challenge of having a smart dog. :)
ReplyDeleteDo you think she's put off by having to stay on the cold, hard floor when she knows a nice soft bed or couch is somewhere nearby? Maybe linking her down/stay with a cushy pillow will get her back to her good behavior at home.
That said, it's awesome that she's so good outside. It's hard to lie still when there are so many distracting things going on all around you. :)
I don't doubt that she doesn't like laying on the floor, but she does have a pillow style bed. Sometimes I'm in fact telling her, specifically, "go lay on the couch" and she still paces back and forth like she's going to miss something. Or wants a different couch. I'm unsure!
DeleteI have the same problem. My dogs seem to understand my symptoms of ADD and just wait until I am off to a new idea. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that they even think about it that much, isn't it? Like "Well, I don't really feel like laying down, maybe if I....yeah, there she goes. Hah, I win!"
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