06/26/2026
Most won’t see it and that’s ok! But you have to read this and then go watch it again to catch it.
Poppy is more guarded about her right side, she’s only just started allowing me over there these last few days. Tonight when I asked to switch sides Poppy hesitated and then offered a behavior that she felt more comfortable with. I said that’s ok and still rewarded her, I don’t want go punish her for communicating. I decided to try one more time and if she said no again we would move on to something easier. The second time I asked she said yes.
The cue is my fist being offered in a position that asks her to turn her head so that she’s putting me into her line of sight in her right eye. Doing this took days for her to get comfortable with but she did really well yesterday so I was surprised to have her say no right away. The behavior she offered is moving towards my hand. ‘Touch’ was one of the first cues she learned it’s how she started accepting touch.
I would hold my hand out (open as if I was asking her for a high five) and reward anytime she moved towards my hand. Now when I ask for it she will side step until she’s touching my hand. So open 🤚 is her cue to move her body towards my hand 👊 is a target cue, I want your nose to touch my hand. The target cue was too much for her to do at that moment so she offered touch instead. Did you see it?
