We've been working very hard on our stand and stay for examination and we're starting to see some progress! At home or at the park with no other dogs or people present: Ella will now walk at heal, stop at heal in the stand position, stay for me to step out in front and place the lead on the ground. I can then walk away from her and approach from the side, run my hand down her head and back before returning to stand in front of her. I then return around the back of her to the heal position and end the exercise. At training or at home/in the park with distractions and another person doing the examination: again, she will walk at heal, stop, stay and allow me to leave her. I then return around the back to the heal position, bend down slightly and place my left hand on her side of her rib cage (as if I'm holding her against my leg). I don't put any pressure on her body, just a gentle touch to remind her where to stand. At this point the other person can walk up and run their hand down the end part of her back towards her tail. When they then move away I return to an upright position and end the exercise. We still have a looooong way to go with this as we're not even 100% consist with the above exercises yet but it's still a huge step in the right direction! Nothing quite beats the look on her face when we get it right! Hopefully one day I'll get to upload a video of us succeeding with the full exercise ☺
I'm also starting to find it useful when our friends or family come to visit as I can now ask her to stay at my heal while the guests come in and say hi. Lots of work to go but it's great to see the progress ☺☺
