17 Months: Training - Days 255 - 258

Her face has matured so much.

Tuesday - Friday

This will be a short blog post because not a lot happened last week for Emma outside of her continuing to learn to eat.    We had spent the week before working on learning to eat from a ceramic bowl with great success.  She was more confident in her daily activities and handling stress better overall.  I was very pleased with her continued progress.

I changed from the ceramic bowl to the metal bowl on her return on Tuesday after a long weekend with her family.  She once again choose not to eat when I set the metal bowl down and after a slow count to five I picked it up.  I watched her look up in a bit of surprise that I was still serious about her eating when presented with her food and went about the rest of my day.  That evening she ate her meal without hesitation or stopping.  It was a short battle between us with a single missed meal reminding her that despite the type of bowl she was to eat when offered.

For the remainder of the week she continued to improve on her confidence and emotional well being.  She was more upbeat, highly excitable at time and quick to recover from frights or concerns throughout the week.  I even did little bits of training with nothing more than praise and no food.  I wanted her kibble to raise in value and teaching her to eat did that.

The only problem I had is she peed in the house twice during the night, despite being put outside prior to bedtime.  She used the pads I lay out for Dieter, but it's not the first time I've had her pee in the house while I am sleeping and I don't know if it is because Dieter pees in the house or not.  She tends to lift her leg on my power chair and I've had her do that three times now.  A pee pad is now set along the edge of the power chair to prevent her peeing directly on it.

She also had a poop accident in the house during one night.  Still don't know what that was about, but I didn't react and just cleaned it up and it hasn't happened since.  She may have just had a couple of bad nights - but I am now not filling the water dish after 6 PM.  They have fresh water all day, but between Emma and Dieter I want to stop the process of learning they can sneak off and pee when I am sleeping.

Overall, Emma's progress with this two week protocol has truly improved her attitude overall.  She's a happier, more relaxed, less worried dog who is now curious about training and wants to join in when I am working with the other dogs.  I am truly looking forward to returning to regular training, but I think this break now has truly made a turn around for her.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	3	Completed	2	Completed	2
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Tricks	Communication
Step	1	3	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 3

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	3	Completed	2	1	1
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	4	0
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Retrieve	Communication
Step	Completed	2	Completed	Completed	1

Level 4

	Zen	Come	Retrieve	Target	Relax
Step	Completed	0	Completed	0	0
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	5	0
	Handling	Communication
Step	Completed	0