Our positive training success

As you all know, Kiefer is reactive to other dogs and due his lack of earlier training we are having hard times to deal with reactivity and training basic obedience.
 But we have positively progressed!

In this week i saw much more progress in obedience and tiny steps in reactivity.

We have made associations that barking dogs behind the fences mean minced meat and contact with me means good kibble (he loves his training kibble, it's different than daily kibble)

 Also we have seen about 5 dogs. One walked pass us, we stayed on the edge of the road and Kiefer ate minced meat all the time.
 2 dogs he saw in appropriate distance so he sat and ate. No reaction. Yes, he was still annoyed but did not react badly.
 One dog walked behind us about 20 m away and Kiefer was able to look at me (or my hand)

At home, where we have less distractions he has learned his paw targeting quite well and manages to do figure 8 between my legs without hand-luring.

And our most biggest victory - Kiefer goes out in the dark! It took about 1 year to overcome his fear of evenings! About 22.30 i say, Kiefer let's go out and he comes on first call!!!
 This is my first and biggest winning!
I want to learn more about dogs, how dog thinks, how to train dogs positively so i ordered 5 books: 1. Emma Parsons - Click to Calm
 2. Karen Pryor - Reaching the animals mind
 3. Emma Parsons - Teaching the Reactive Dog Class: Leading the Journey from Reactivity to the Reliability
 4. Pat Miller - The Power of Positive Dog Training
 5. Patricia McConnell - The other end of the leash

Hope to receive them soon and gather more information and wisdom to be a good positive human to my dog.
 

February is Responsible Pet Owners Month. Thank You Cascadian Nomads and Tenacious Little Terrier for this Positive Pet Training Blog Hop .