Because I feel like reminiscing today. Buckle in for a lengthy bulleted list! This main takeaway here is that our first few years felt like nonstop active, focused training… and our last few have been mostly reaping those benefits (and refining things I initially messed up).
If you want to read some better written reflections in paragraph form: This post talks about the biggest changes in my training philosophy over time and this one talks about what I’d do differently if I could adopt my cattle dog all over again.
Visual summary and some reflections
I initially got interested in dog training, way back before Scout with my family’s husky, because of ego. Genuine curiosity, too — I loved dogs, I wanted to do cool things with them! — but quite a bit of desire to feel “good enough” and get some validation from a community I looked up to.
Then I got deeper into dog training with Scout out of necessity. We were not living a mutually enjoyable life together at first (as much as I wanted to feel like we were). She was really struggling with her fear reactivity… and I was really struggling with my human end of things.
So once we reached a point where our shared day-in and day-out was pretty good? Well, it makes perfect sense to me that the list of “new commands / cues / skills we learned each year” dwindled and dwindled to where 2023 was a great big “nothing we hadn’t done before”.
It’s not that we don’t still enjoy training together. (I stand by the belief that every interaction with our dogs is training, technically, or rather that living together is synonymous with learning together.) And it’s not that we’ve stopped growing completely. (That would be a sad day!)
But I think maybe I was a bit fatigued of some of the nitty-gritty technical training stuff after it occupying so much space, physical and mental, for so long. I also realized that my personal biggest interests are a bit broader. I love watching trick videos and cheering for our friends in dog sports, for example — but for me those things aren’t compelling goals. I want to read about social species overall and nerd out over theory and most importantly just move seamlessly through my days with this delightful dog.
Here’s to looking back, and looking forward, and embracing that every dog/owner/lifestyle can look different, and loving what we’ve done together — what we still do together — even as things change over time 💛
2019: Our first year together (in Wisconsin apartments)
I brought Scout home from the Humane Society of Marathon County on January 13th. I was told she was “shy but sweet” and needed help building confidence around other dogs.
Her baseline in the beginning: Reasonably comfortable inside our apartment, but we dealt with a fair amount of destruction (furniture, paper products) that I think was from stress. Mild separation troubles. She was pretty shut down and nervous outside but took high value food like cheese. Tiny bursts of playful energy fizzled quickly.
Winter
- We started training right away. I hand fed all of her meals for eye contact, muzzle conditioning, and a nose target to the palm of my hand, using the marker “yes” from the first day. We spent a bunch of time walking around my apartment’s hallway with a full treat pouch to build a loose heel. I also tossed treats up and down from my bed to begin teaching her to jump off on command.
- Scout had a delightful tuck-up sit pretty much from the get go. She’d pop out of downs to sit up again… and then she’d creep forward to always be right in front of me as I moved away trying to work on stays 😂
- Her first episode of outward reactivity was at the end of January, a day or two after she was pinned to the ground by another dog we passed on a walk. From then on it got worse quickly.
- We enrolled in a multi-week reactivity-focused group class at a training facility in Madison.
- I tried to be consistent with my returns to the apartment
Spring
- I kept working on basic obedience for daily food, stressing leash and door manners. Door manners were fast. Leash stuff took longer.
- We had three or four training consults in the Madison area, one at our apartment and the others at larger facilities.
- I started trying to build Scout’s confidence by teaching her she was able to jump up on things like our piano bench and structures at the nearby park. She caught on more quickly than I’d expected given her initial hesitation.
- We honed more body awareness by starting to pivot on an upturned pan in my living room.
- We began formalizing her place command.
- If we saw dogs out on walks, we could often avoid full-blown reactions by crossing the street. If we saw them inside our apartment, we almost always had a huge reaction.
- We visited my parents for Easter — they have two dogs of their own — and I recall it being a bit of a logistical nightmare. Scout reacted every time she simply heard them on the other side of a door.
- I sometimes got to bring my cattle dog into my office, where she was a bit timid but appeared calm on the surface and had great impulse control.
Summer
- We moved across town at the end of summer to a smaller apartment building. Scout had a real kennel here not in my own bedroom, so we worked on crate training. It took a few weeks before her crate comfort seemed solid.
- Karen Pryor’s relaxation protocol didn’t seem to help us much with actual deep calmness — but it did really proof Scout’s down stay.
- Speaking of her down, it took ages for her to get it on verbal only, but we finally got there.
Fall
- I prioritized structured walks almost every morning. Scout’s heel improved and became the default way she walked on a leash — and I finally named the heel position as a separate thing from a default loose-leash walk (though that was still messy for a while).
- We could pass other dogs in the neighborhood — typically on the other side of the street — without intense barking, growling, and lunging. Scout still wasn’t all that comfortable though.
- We visited our first dog-friendly breweries. At the time, I was so proud! Looking back… my cattle dog was not enjoying herself.
- We had our first successful (read: no outbursts) close-proximity passings to other dogs on leash at a nearby hiking trail.
- Scout walked with my mom’s dog, Margo, in my parents’ neighborhood for the first time. Both dogs were in tight heels.
- Our Christmas visit to my parents’ was much easier than our previous ones. Scout and Margo hung out in the living room, both tethered far apart on place commands — lots of management but minimal issues.
- I did more training consults and a few virtual sessions, along with subscribing to what felt like a dozen (but was probably more like half that) dog training Patreons or online course hubs.
- I finally separated out our duration and terminal reward makers. This took a while to clean up but was so worth it!
Summary: Commands, cues, and skills we learned this first year
- General eye contact
- Palm target
- Leave it
- Basic comfort being left alone
- Sit (verbal and hand signal) with implied stay
- Down (verbal and hand signal) with implied stay
- Implied door manners
- Muzzle conditioning
- Lava (jump up on object)
- Off (of couch, of bed)
- Place
- Go to crate (and relax in it)
- Loose leash walking
- Heel
- Drop (out, let go of what she’s holding)
- Lots of beginning reactivity work, like looking at me when she saw a trigger
2020: Our second year (we moved to Florida during the pandemic)
Winter
- We began working on middle sometime around Valentine’s Day. It took us several weeks to fade the initial lure.
- I bought our first retractable leash, and we worked on Scout’s recall with more room for her to maneuver.
Spring
- Scout and I lived with my parents for a few weeks before we finally made it down to Florida to move in with Sean when he got a new job. She and my mom’s dog coexisted beautifully in a range of situations, including loose-leash liberty on walks as opposed to such strict management with an actual heel command.
- I started taking our cattle dog to a nearby outdoor mall after we settled down in Florida to practice being calm in public — just watching the world go by — most mornings.
- We started collar pop conditioning, something I learned about from trainer Jay Jack.
- We took a virtual GRC Social Responsibility Foundations class with some friends. We polished up a verbal-only middle and worked more on front, too.
- Scout’s down stay got really solid as we worked on it probably at least once a day. I was so proud of all the distractions she could hold it through!
- We went back to basics with dremel conditioning so I could file her nails myself if needed.
- I got really into windows of opportunity and progressed from using just one cue to indicate the start of either training or play to using multiple for more clarity. This helped us a lot with Scout’s fixation on squirrels in the park that bordered our apartment.
- Scout played a sustained game of tug with me outside for the first time!
Summer
- Scout came to her first sit-down restaurant patio with us on my 23rd birthday.
- We started Wacky Training Wednesdays! These mostly involved proofing Scout’s commands for real-world situations, like practicing heel while I carried things — then they got progressively sillier as we enjoyed ourselves.
- I finally taught a stationary heel entrance and created different cues for each side I wanted her on, in hopes of making the position clearer.
- I sent Scout to her crate or place to calm down every time she heard a noise outside the apartment and alert barked, and she eventually started taking herself there.
- We began attending a weekly outdoor yoga class together at the nearby mall.
Fall
- We moved away from hand feeding every single meal and started box feeding sometime around September.
- I taught Scout to spin and sit pretty towards the end of the year, and we submitted our novice and intermediate trick dog titles virtually.
- As I learned more about play, building up our tug and fetch games became a bigger focus than ever.
Summary: Commands, cues, and skills we learned this second year
- Middle
- Collar pop conditioning
- Beginning recall work
- Stationary heel entrance
- Close (separate right-side heel)
- Down in motion
- Front
- Spin
- Sit pretty
- Go to place or crate when startled by a noise
- Better nail filing comfort
- Multiple clear windows of opportunity
- Hanging out in public regularly, like at an outdoor yoga class
- The start of ignoring prey / chasing only when allowed
- Reactivity proficiency… the start of neutrality around other dogs
2021: Our third year (we moved into a house)
Winter
- In January we started a new in-person group class down hoping to get more structured exposure to other dogs now that some of the pandemic restrictions were winding down.
- In prep for moving into our house (where Scout could be fully off-leash in the yard) we really honed her recall.
Spring
- We did a different group trick training class, again mainly just for safe exposure to other dogs, where Scout got her advanced trick dog title.
- Scout’s reactivity really, truly started to feel like it wasn’t the biggest focus of our life together.
Summer
- We met up with some fellow dog owners in our local area and started going on neutral walks, along with continuing some of our group classes for exposure.
- More park time meant seeing more squirrels, and we continued to refine Scout’s windows of opportunity to only chase them with permission.
- We became coffee shop regulars. Our cattle dog visited more patios than ever and seemed properly comfortable at them.
- Scout came to more weekly workout classes with me at our old favorite outdoor mall.
Fall
- We took a mimicry course through FDSA that was super fun! Scout learned to copy my movements when I lay down, jumped on an object, or spun in place.
Summary: Commands, cues, and skills we learned this third year
- Solid recall, including around other dogs and more distractions like prey
- Ignoring prey as a default
- Basic mimicry skills
- Greater confidence in public
2022: Our fourth year (Sean and I got married + fostered other dogs)
Winter
- We reached the point where Scout would play just about anywhere if we asked — and usually stay in the game.
- Just vibing, mostly.
Spring
- Scout hung out with us and our loved ones in a huge house we rented for the week of our wedding. It felt like a massive “all our training paying off” moment!
- We brought home our first foster dog and went back to some FOMO training basics to help Scout handle sharing her house.
Summer
- We welcomed our first foster puppies!
Fall
- We welcomed more foster puppies!
Summary: Commands, cues, and skills we learned this fourth year
- Continued impulse control in a range of situations
- Continued neutrality around other dogs
- Off-leash reliability around other dogs (could be loose, naked, in the house or yard with our fosters tethered or crated or being held by us so they didn’t directly approach her)
- Not much in the way of brand new specific commands or cues
2023: Our fifth year (we moved into our van)
- We got to test Scout’s off-leash reliability more than ever on our first visits to public land.
- Her ability to settle when left alone in the van lets us enjoy more flexibility on the road!
- She’s been exposed to more environments than ever before, like New York City.
- We can walk alongside pretty much any new dog with no problem.
- Scout now initiates play all on her own just about every place we stop.
Summary: Commands, cues, and skills we learned this fifth year
- Honestly… not anything new. But we love where we are in our life together!
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[…] recently put together a timeline of Scout’s training skills over our life together. It’s simply a representation of our own pacing and order — of how things played out in our […]