So the last two months or so, I've noticed that Rave has been acting up a bit. She's been stealing things like crazy, only when we aren't looking of course. She's broken a few ceramic dog bowls in her attempts to find things on the counter while we are at work. I found her with an empty dog food can after I got out of the shower yesterday and last night when I went to bed, she stole an entire bag of rawhide chews off the counter. And about six weeks ago, she ate a whole, still warm, pineapple upside down cake.
So I got to thinking about her last night. As I've said before, I didn't put the training into her like I did Rival before and Gypsy now. Rave came into my life at a weird time, and looking back I didn't need a puppy then, but something about her called to me. I was getting Rival ready to compete, and I still had Dazzle and I was working so hard to try to connect with her and create a good relationship. Plus that was also the year I had a major lifestyle overhaul and was really focused on taking care of myself and getting fit. Then less than a year after I got Rave, I met Rob and things got even crazier. My focus shifted a lot from training and trialing the dogs to doing other things and having a more balanced life. Though the dogs are always included in our fun, I didn't do much training with them.
Of course there are also personality differences. Rival was born with an incredible amount of natural self control and an incredibly high desire to please. Rave not so much! I think girls tend to be a tad more independent than the boys in general. Rave is quite biddable, and likes to please me, but she also very much likes to please herself!!!
I have been working a TON with Gypsy. We have training sessions most mornings before work, play sessions right after work, maybe some more training in the evening too. And I think poor Rave is quite jealous. I think all the dogs are jealous, as they all would love daily training sessions, but Rave seems to be the most put off by this, and I think it's really coming out in her thievery.
So today I started working with her again, on the basics like self control! And she told me loud and clear that if you don't use it, you lose it! She used to be great at It's Yer Choice games. But she failed on her first try this morning! So we did lots of that and some shaping, which she just loves. So I am going to try to give her short sessions regularly too, to reconnect with her more, work on her self control and keep her busy little mind from getting too bored. I've been working with her in agility more, but I think she needs to relearn the basics.
The funny part was coming out of the room I train in with Rave, and seeing Gypsy's face. It was priceless! As if no other dog belonged in there with me!!! So funny!
And a switch flipped in Gyps this week. She's always been keen to train and play, but she's turned into a shaping machine now! She really uses her brain and tries to hard to figure out what I want. I leave our training sessions in awe most of the time, because of the speed at which she picks things up. Six weeks ago, if she didn't understand what I wanted, she would leave the work, and try to find her own reinforcement. Now she pushes right through and keeps trying things. I love it!
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