Learning to Communicate: Kennel Training

When Ozzie first arrived at our home, he was reserved and super mellow. He still is. Trying to figure out something to motivate him to teach him is a challenge. Of course, treats/food work. We have a bag of Zuke's crunchy naturals and blueberries that we've used. The rattle of a container or crinkle of a package will have him running for a treat. He knows 'sit', but not reliably yet.  I use the command with a hand gesture and try my best to reward him with praise or a treat the instant his but hits the floor. He's learning! The command that we've been working on that gives me the most hope is 'kennel'.  We keep the kennel door off when we are home. We want him to learn that the kennel is his safe, private place and that he won't mind being in it when we are not home.

The first time I worked on the 'kennel' command with Ozzy, I positioned myself sitting in front of the kennel. I already had his attention since he knew I had treats, but the word 'kennel' was new as far as I knew. I threw the treat into the back of the kennel with a sweeping motion and said 'kennel' at the same time. He watched the treat go in, and sheepishly reached in--advantage dachshund: he could keep his back feet outside the kennel and still reach the treat in the back!--but after a few tries, he went all the way in and turned around. He still wanted to be back out, but I met him with praise and ear scratches when he came back to me. We repeated this maybe 5-6 times, and ended on a successful try. I try to end lessons with some verbal cue (and should probably add a gesture).

The next time we worked on 'kennel', I sat in the same place using the same gesture. He willingly went in for the treat. Toward the end of the lesson, I kept the treat in my other hand and asked him to 'kennel', gesturing inside as if I had thrown a treat in. In he went! And when he turned around, I praised him and gave him the treat, trying to give him some scratches and love before he came back out.

The next time we tried--he went right in, turned around and sat there. Boom! Goooood boy!!!!! New challange, he now understood that going in = treat. He didn't want to come back out! So, now we had the opportunity to add 'come' to the training. Win, win! :)

Right now, I still need to physically be touching or gesturing inside the kennel for him to understand what I want.  My plan is to vary my distances/locations within reach of the kennel and work on command/word recognition without the gesture. When he gets that, I will try moving further away from the kennel. Ozzie's success and consistency will determine the speed that this will happen.

This one lesson has given me so much hope. He CAN learn commands! He IS smart! And, although I'm thinking it could be just food motivation at this point, I have hope that he does have the drive to please.

Side notes: we never use our kennel as punishment.
Apologies for the shakey photo. Hard to get a picture, give command, get a still moment and reward all at the same time!