Generalization

This weekend, I was able to get out with Oliver and work on some generalization. I often take Oliver with me when I go out as long as it is cool enough for him. I never realized that this was the perfect way to help in generalize! So, this weekend, every time we went somewhere, I made a point to get Oliver out and work with him. The first day, my husband and I had to run to Lowe's and Home Depot for some things. At Lowe's, I got Oliver out the Jeep and went to a safe, sunny part of the parking lot. It was quiet and out of the way. Oliver was very interested in everything. He had a long acclimation period. Then we started to work. I asked for a few steps of heeling. He did perfectly. Then I released him to go sniff. I let him look around and sniff until he checked back in with me. Then we would start over again with heeling. Soon, his sniffing and looking around became less and less. I started to ask Oliver for a few more steps of heeling. He wanted to keep working so we did fronts and finishes. The whole session lasted approximately 10 minutes. We had a lot of fun! The second day, we had went on a walk with a group of Beagles. It was a lot of fun and afterwards, I decided to work him for a minute or two. He was more than ready to work! I was excited. He did some wonderful work. This time, because Oliver was more focused, we had almost five minutes of constant work. Such a good boy! And yesterday, my husband and I went to a grocery store to pick up chestnuts. When my husband was in the store, I got Oliver out of the Jeep. We worked for only about 5 minutes. The parking lot was busier with people walking around. Oliver did lovely! He didn't need such a long acclimation period. In fact, he started working almost immediately. He's really doing a great job! This was his third time doing generalization for a new location. Yet, he had improved tremendously from the first time! I'm very excited with his progress. His weaves, jumping, stays, and generalization is coming along really well. He's a great working partner!