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This was great! He is a good looking puppy! I really admire you for taking so much time to care for his needs.
I have a question, is he still reliant on hand signals? On the training chart you will notice fading in phase 1. If he had previously gone into p2 and p3 but still needed physical prompts, it may be something to tidy up before moving forward. This way we can be sure the dog understands the verbal command on its own. This will minimize false disobedience and corrections/punishment to a confused dog. For me this would be encouraging to because it’s one thing we can easily fix and it will deepen communication!!!
When I have client dogs like this I encourage clients to invite dogs in for affection with a neutral and inviting posture….like if they were kneeling down to give a toddler affection. This may be an added measure but I find it helps the dog feel less pressure and then if the dog doesn’t want to come in for affection, it gives the handler notes on where they are at relationship wise.
