Clicker & Desensitization - Good Job!

My husband asking for the smile.

I started out working on smile a little bit. He does it perfectly already. I'm totally shocked with how quickly he learned it. :)

Then I worked on targeting his orange cone. He did fantastic with that, but was trying to take the treats with his teeth again instead of his lips, so I tried something new. I worked on "leave it" like you would with a dog. Basically I held the treat in a closed fist and offered my hand to him. He would lip and nibble at my fist. If he tried to use teeth I did bop him for it. Then when he moved his mouth away from my hand about two inches I clicked and opened my fist so he could have the treat. Obviously it isn't cured in one session, but I do think this is going to help. He was taking it with his lips after the click so maybe this will teach him to pay attention to what he's doing with his mouth. :)

Taking the treat with his teeth . . . naughty!

Taking the treat nicely. Good boy!

After that I worked on targeting the plastic bag. He was doing his gorgeous arched neck again, but targeting it easily, so I touched it to his body. He didn't much like it, but he didn't move. Within a minute or two he was standing quietly letting me touch him all over the back, sides, haunches and shoulders. When I had it on his back he even did his lateral flex trying to touch it. It was too cute.

Then I put it between his legs. He was fine until it touched his rear legs then he struck out, crow hopped and lunged away from it. Oops. The second time he just picked up his foot so I went ahead and clicked. The third time he stood there. I held it between his legs, not touching for a few clicks, then I touched the backs of his front legs for a few clicks then I finally touched the fronts of his rear legs for a few clicks. Last I touched the back of his rear legs with it. He was totally fine by this time.

Next I put it on his neck and head. It was too funny when I put it on his head he automatically did his head lowering. :D It was cute. And I realized with the extra length the whip gives me he can't pull his head away (we were doing all of this at liberty with no halter or lead). I ended the session on a really good head lower where he kept it down for a second instead of popping back up. Good boy.

Then I worked with Zeppelin. He followed the target around and I worked on having him take the treat higher up instead of me leaning all the way to the ground. I'm so thankful he takes treats gently lol. Then I worked on petting his head again. He was fine on the forehead but didn't really want me touching the sides of his face. I really think it was because I was wearing gloves so I'll leave it alone until it warms back up and I can use my bare hands. My reaction time will be a bit quicker then too. :) Well that's all with the boys today.

We were feeding sweet tart candies and he loved them. :)