This morning we did our morning walk routine, with the stopping and the sitting, but adding in the treats as well. She quickly stopped pulling, began sitting sooner and always looked at me the whole time she was sitting. She also began making eye contact with me if I said her name, which means I was able to slow her down if she got the least bit ahead since looking back at me eough to make eye contact generally means not being way ahead. We still had some pulling when she saw people walking, BUT I could get her to stop and look at me easily and I could even get her to sit without holding her still if I asked a couple of times.
The most striking part of that article I posted yesterday, to me, was the opening story about the dog who constantly nudges your hands and the newspaper until he gets your attention. That is 100% Olive behavior. She had me trained so well with the computer - if I sat on the floor or the couch with her and had my computer out she would immediately get a toy and start whacking my hands with it over and over until I threw it. And if that didn't work she would walk all over the keyboard and touch the screen with her nose. Needless to say I do not enjoy writing papers with Olive around.
So today I started using some of the method to work with this behavior. My first move was to take the toy from her right away (as she wanted me to) and as soon as she got out of my space and sat down (at request) I would throw it. I did this for a few minutes and then started lengthening the time I would make her sit still. I would praise dropping the toy and sitting on her own especially highly, but that doesn't happen much (it's only the first day, after all!).
I will say, though, as I've typed this whole thing she has been lying down next to me and watching me calmly instead of trying to smack me with her new toy over and over.
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