Chris said Riggs would test me. Well, Chris
promised Riggs would test me. I thought I would share my pain, and also the lessons I am learning already. Of course, you're all also going to see me get taught a lesson or two, but hey, them's the breaks.
I want Riggs to lie down before I open the crate door. Riggs wiggles back and forth and paws at the door when he sees me coming, and the first few times blasted out of the crate as soon as I unlocked it. Tail going a mile a minute. Not good - well the happy tail is fine, the blasting out is not.
So, I started to tell him to down. He looks at me and keeps on wiggleing. "down" Wiggle. "down" wiggle. "DOWN" sit. "down" wiggle. "D-O-W-N" sit and look at the top of the crate. lather, rinse, repeat.
I've held his toy where he can see it, a treat, waited, walked away, come back, everything I can think of.
After four days of this, I am finally getting a down after only 5 or 6 times. I open the crate the second he hits the floor and freezes for .1 second.
Now, I can't correct him because he's on one side of the door and I'm on the other. Once the door is open he blasts out, and the battle to get him back in to make him lie down (because I can enforce the command with my hand on his collar) is a battle of wagging tail, licking dog and the giant mittens that dog calls feet.
He will down the second I tell him to after his butt has cleared the crate door.
So, what's the secret? In the evenings I have time to go back and forth 15 times instead of telling him to down 500 times, but in the morning I don't have the time to do it. If I really wanted to 'teach him a lesson' I'd just say screw it and go to work, but I'd feel guilty the entire day and I am sure I'd come home and have to clean the crate and the dog.
I'm open to suggestions, hints, redicule, whatever.