14 Months: Training - Days 215 - 218

Emma at 14 weeks of age.

Tuesday

Emma came into my life when she was 14 weeks old.  She was a bit shell shocked and frightened the first night.  She didn't know me or my son and she certainly didn't know the dogs in the house.  She was starting a journey she didn't understand and it took the first few days she was with me before she even felt safe enough to take food from my hand.

Emma is still shy and easily withdraws when stressed.  She's required gentle care and confidence building to get her where she is.  The last time I started to see a bit of shyness manifest into minor fear reactions I didn't take heed of her gentle nature and special need for care and accidentally pushed her too far to fast and she shutdown on me.  It was at the top of her fear period and we spent months rebuilding from that point - I was not about to let that happen to her again.

When I saw those beginning signs again last week, recognized I was part of the problem with my frustration levels too high and her triggering off of my holding my breath, I took the end of the week off and just gave her the attention and affection she needed to recover her confidence.  So, when she arrived excited and happy to return to my home I was happy for the effort I put in keeping her mood up.

We had a great start on our morning with training for Left and Right and working mat behaviors with the other dogs.  She ate well and was in a happy and confident mood.  It was fantastic to see.  When I let her and Jack out to play and run off some energy I wasn't expecting our day to end with a visit to the vet.

She went racing at 110 miles an hour along the length of the property, went to run around the end of my house like she's done a thousand times and lost her footing.  I didn't see her, but I heard her hit.  I was standing on my porch when I heard the impact followed by a scream.  It wasn't a yowl, howl or yelp, but a scream of pain.

By the time I came down the ramp Jack was slowly escorting her around the front of the house and she was hobbling with the leg she'd injured previously and looking like her world had ended.  I felt sick.

I rubbed her leg out and asked her to walk.  She put her foot down, but didn't bear weight on it and then she limped away.  My sick went to fear she'd re-injured her leg.  I called the vet and confirmed they wanted her in that night and packed her up after a call to her owner.

It turns out it wasn't a tear, break or dislocation, but a serious strain.  When I got her home, on medication for the strain, I massaged out her back and hip.  She was clearly swollen from the ribs to the knee.  Poor baby.

But the strain also meant she was to be restricted on her activity.  I had to leash relieve her and not let her run through the yard for the rest of the week.  I feared that with just getting her confidence built up we'd loose it again with forced inactivity.

What I didn't expect was her having forgotten all of her leash relieving skills.  She refused to potty on leash the rest of that day and ended up peeing on (yes, on) my power chair during the night.  Emma is one of those female dogs who raises her leg to pee on things - I've seen her do it on my fence and on plants when she's marking behind the boy dogs.  I keep telling people she's been at a disadvantage being the only girl dog in the family since April - she started lifting her leg during the summer after Attitude died.

I know it was her by two factors - the pee hit higher than Dieter can ever imagine to aim and was lower than Max aims - Malcolm is not peeing on things yet and is crated at night.  There was more pee than Dieter produces and the wrong color and less than Max produces.

Wednesday

Emma at 5 months of age.

She held out on peeing on leash until noon.  After that she did both jobs without hesitation.  She was convinced she'd wear me down and let her off lead, but learned I am more than willing to take her out every 30 minutes until she pees and/or poops.

As the day progressed she became more excitable, which is a fallback to restricted activity.  She tried a few times to start a game in the house, but quickly stopped when I said her name and came to me for a massage instead.

We worked on her Left and Right skills again and mat behavior with the other dogs.  She's enjoying this type of training and getting very good at it.  I had to do some research to find a better way to train the behavior, but she's getting it slowly.

I did a lot of emotional support with her to keep her mood up.  I didn't want this injury to set her back emotionally and massages and reassurance she was doing good by being quiet helped her.  She was in a good mood most of the day, though she was getting more and more wound up without being able to release her energy.  She's a high energy dog, though she can and does settle nicely in the house, she needs time to just run off the energy she builds up to be in balance.

One thing that has been a consistent problem with her is her jumping.  She gets excited about anything and she's bouncing off the walls like she's eaten a pound of sugar.  Touching her personnel leash from her home sends her into spasms of excitement.  Each time I seem to defuse it we loose ground and she is back at zero with her leash.  This week I was using her leash to take her out and simply would pick it up and sit and watch TV until she was past jumping, past spasms of excitement and past vibrating in place trying to keep her butt on the floor.  The first time it took fifteen minutes.

We spent a majority of the day on calm getting her leash on, calm going to the door, calm going out the door, calm going to the grass to pee, calm coming into the house and calm once off leash in the house.  It's a hard lesson she's been working on all her life.  A high pitched voice, directly looking in her eye, or even a new person sends her into bouts of jumping and barking with excitement.  It's a major issue for Emma.

I was very tired by the end of the day waiting for Emma to calm enough to take her outside and potty her, running Malcolm out every 20 to 40 minutes when he asked out and taking Jack out.  I was also in extreme pain by dinner time for the dogs and Emma was more than ready to rough house if I took my concentration off of her and Malcolm.  It's busy here during the week.

Thursday

Emma at 9 months of age.

Emma moved from 15 minutes to 10 minutes before she could calm enough to be taken out the first time in the morning.  No pee in the house, since she was once again emptying her bladder before bed, but she was even easier to hype up than the day before.  Poor girl is full of energy and no outlet.

We worked again on Left and Right - the beginning of her being directed to pick up something for her handler when he cues her.  She understood the lesson better this time, but was so excited about training her head looked like it was on a swivel.  I spent more time waiting for her to look at me than I did getting her to indicate the hand I wanted her too.

She was willing to engage the training and not showing fear signs, so I was managing to keep her mood up with the regular massages and lots of reassurance she was okay.  She was playful, her head up, her tail up and her body tall.  It was good to see that confident girl back after the week of slinking around my house just before this one.

Walter came over to do my floors in the afternoon.  Emma has learned that Walter will not pay attention to her until she's sitting and she immediately planted beside him vibrating like a toy when I told him we were working on the next level of calm.  Max greets Walter by turning sideways and leaning on him with his head down, but not so over the threshold of excitement he is out of control - it's a good greeting.  Emma needs to learn to greet in a nice soft body and then leave the guest alone - so I asked Walter to ignore her until she was calm.  I love my son, he did just that.

Poor Emma nearly exploded moving and sitting beside him vibrating in place for almost 30 minutes before she gave up and went into her normal calm behavior in the house.  He then gave her attention and when she wound into the ceiling again, he withdrew attention until she calmed.  This time it took only 5 minutes.  Much better.

She is okay with the vacuum and steamer, but also checked in with me off and on when she was a bit worried about it.  With a pat on the ribs and reassurance she was safe she went and watched Walter do the floors.

I had to go to a job interview in the afternoon and Walter watched the dogs.  I had informed him of her injuring herself and the need to take her out on lead.  What I forgot to do was inform Ronda, who knew of the interview, that Walter would be there and the dogs would not be crated when she arrived to get Jack.  She let herself in and accidentally let Emma loose.  Thankfully she did not set her recovery back, both Walter and Ronda rounded her up after a couple of round around the house.

Friday

Emma at 13 months of age.

Emma was in a fantastic mood on Friday.  She was down to 5 minutes before calming enough to be leashed and walking out of house and was walking nicely by my side and promptly doing her business.  Nice job.

She was ready for her "think on this" lesson for the weekend, so I introduced to her the idea of taking her bowl in her mouth.  We started with a bit of target and waited for her to offer mouthing it.  I didn't care if she took it and held it, I just wanted her to think that she could maybe pick up her bowl herself.  I'll revisit the idea during next week and see if I can't get her to pick up and hand me her bowl when she's done eating.

By the end of the day were were down to 2 minutes before calming enough to leash her and walking without launching out of the door.  I went out the gate with her to check the mail and she immediately put her nose to the ground.  I just shorted the leash so her nose couldn't reach and waited for her to bring her attention back to me before taking her back in the yard.  It worked and I will suggest that to her owner, who struggles on Monday's when delivering her to the house with her sniffing and lack of focus.  Her owner struggles with this weekly and I had to think of how to explain to her what to do without frustrating both her and the dog.  I think this will work best for both.

Near the end of the day she was pinging off of my bladder when I touched her leash.  We had gotten so good with the leash and she escalated.  I wasn't surprised, so I just wrapped her leash over my neck and wore it for the last hour and half she was with me.  When I saw the caretaker pull up outside I just clipped it on her and walked her out.

That was when she lost it.  The caretaker is fantastic about waiting quietly at the base of the ramp for Emma and giving me time to work her calmly to her.  Emma on the other hand, due to the shadows and it being nearly dark, was in bark and escalate mode and it took a bit to calm her down.  I did a lot of laps with her before she got to the caretaker and I could pass her off.

I need to think of a better way of explaining calm greeting behaviors with people with Emma.  Off to research some more!

Emma is progressing nicely but I want to take it slowly when doing her final public access training.  Until now she's been on more of a socialization run when out in public, but now she's ready to begin working in public and practicing her skills as she has them.  This needs to be taken slow with her because of her soft nature and tenancy to become fearful and shutdown when she's uncertain of her role.  I need to define her role clearly and build her confidence and lower her excitability when working in public to build her into a solid public access dog.

Next week will be pet friendly only locations so our expectations can be lower without her appearing untrained when learning her role as a public access dog working with a wheelchair.  I want to start with one or two outings a week and work up to daily outings by the time she graduates.  This slow build up to more outings and longer periods out in public should give her the foundation introduction to public access work will keep her from becoming overwhelmed and allow her to process and learn instead of being flooded.

We'll finish up polishing her basic skills in public and her retrieve skills before adding many more tasks.  Once she can take direction by body or eye movement and she can do a full wheelchair retrieve I'll build on it to give her a wide range of retrieve skills and then build her other basic task skills for helping her handler.  This is an exciting time for Emma.


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

18 Weeks: Training - Day 16

Emma, 14 weeks, playing shy.  Little did she
know what she'd know only four weeks later!

Emma returned today for training.  Her owner and I met at Hunter Vet Clinic at 8:30 AM, which her owner finds convenient due to her dropping her daughter off at a local high school nearby.  I arrived a bit early, so I took Max into Hunter's lobby and did a bit of positional training with him and arranged to bring him back later in the day to get his anal glands expressed.

Max is unable to properly express his own anal glands and thus needs them expressed every two months.  I generally know this needs to be done by his acting jumpy, flighty and nervous when working.  It clearly makes him uncomfortable and a weekend training trip with him resulted in my realizing he was in desperate need for them to be cleaned.

Emma was excited to see me and settled in her crate in the van and rode quietly all the way home.  Once home I offloaded Max and then took everything else I had for Emma into the house before getting her.  As I left the van I heard one lone bark telling me to not forget her.

I let her play in the yard for a bit before bringing her into the house.  She was excited to see all of the dogs and ran about the house in pure joy of breathing.  I had already fed Attitude, Dieter, Victoria and Max, so I quickly got her morning meal (3/4 cup of food) and set about testing her.

She remembered her Sit, Down, Target, Zen and Focus lessons from last week.  Very pleased I decided to finish her breakfast with a shaping lesson.  Some of her upcoming lessons will require her trying to figure out what I am clicking for and shaping her to a new behavior.  Shaping is a method where the trainer clicks for close approximations of the final outcome.  In this case, I was going to shape her to step into a box with all four feet and then cue her to sit in the box.

I have played box games with all of my dogs and when they saw I was hunting for and found a box to train Emma with they became excited.  Dieter, the least likely to interact with a box, jumped up on the chair and watched.  Attitude, who'd only just started thinking boxes may have secret ways of dispensing treats, put her nose in it and stood for a long time staring at the box.  Max, who has had a lot of box experience, put his feet on it, nudged it with his nose, put his feet in it, picked it up and finally was leashed and put into a down beside me.

I moved Attitude to my chair and then began working on Ms. Stares A Lot.  Emma sat before me vibrating and staring a hole into my nose as she waited for the click.  After several seconds she looked over her shoulder, nose nudged my knee and threw herself into a down.  This is excellent!  She was thinking "What is it you want?"

A second later she looked at the box and I clicked.  It went uphill from there.  I had to move a couple of times to really get the box into the picture, but she started putting her nose in it and purposefully putting her foot on it and then finally her feet into it.  It was less than five minutes later I had a Labordoodle puppy standing in the box with all four feet and when I cued Sit she did!

What an exciting event!  Emma is a smart girl who is learning shaping behaviors and learning to offer behaviors when she realizes I am expecting something from her.  We well continue to play shaping games to increase her willingness to try new behaviors.

Today's Lessons:

Shaping

Today Emma tested already learned behavior and spent the rest of the day practicing shaping into a box.  She quickly learned what I wanted from one angle with the box, but didn't recognize the game when I changed the picture by standing on another side of the box.  I will continue shaping lessons with her tomorrow, since my day is full with taking my mother to the doctor's for a procedure.

Shaping lessons help her learn to think and experiment with her environment.  Once she understands she can make me click by doing behaviors she'll begin each new lesson by trying to quickly learn what I am clicking for today.  This type of learning is something that stays with a dog for a life time and generally becomes the behaviors they offer first.

I shaped Max to pivot to my left side and when confused that is the first behavior he offers me.  Unlike his Sit and Down, which I taught by pushing down on his rump and pulling down on his collar, Max is more likely to offer a shake, nose touch, pivot to left and bow because they were all shaped.  Emma, who has been taught Sit and Down both by shaping (minimal) offers them as tools in her toolbox first.  She also is starting to offer nose touches and eye contact, both of which have been heavily rewarded.

Today, due to my shaping her to the box, she is starting to offer paw touches on objects and is interacting with objects.  Shaping is opening her thinking mind and giving her a clearer picture of what I want by creating a road map to the final destination of the lesson.

By the end of the week I would like to shape her to touch a post it note on a wall and this beginning lesson will have her thinking about what she can do with her body to get me to click when we get there.

Special Events

Today Emma was visited by both Redd and Ronda.  My son Walter is here also and will watch Emma in the morning when I am out with my Mom and in the evening will watch Max when I take Emma to class.

Emma is learning self control when visitors come.  Since I knew Redd was headed to my house I put her on lead and greeted Redd at the door that way.  Each time Emma attempted to jump on Redd she was stopped by the lead and only got affection after she regained her self control and had all four feet on the floor.

Ronda arrived before I could put a lead on her, but managed to keep her feet on the floor.  Ronda gave her affection when she had all four feet on the floor.

Milestone

Emma passed Level 1!  Congratulations Emma!

The last item in Level 1 for Emma was Come.  Emma needed to demostrated, when tested cold, that she could play the come game between two people at 20 feet.  Tonight Ronda, whom Emma has only played the game with once before, helped test Emma.  Emma gleefully ran between us, was turning to return to the next person while still chewing and even ran past the other dogs without hesitation during the 10 round game.

Emma is now working on Level 2 behaviors!

Observations

Emma is a very intelligent dog who enjoys learning.  She is completely in the game and eager to try new things.  She's a joy to train.

Emma has recently discovered people and things are outside of my fence line.  Today she was outside when the kids got off the bus and was standing against my gate barking at them.  When my God Daughter Tiffy came to the gate to talk to me and offered her hand to Emma to sniff, Emma bolted away and barked even harder.  She's uncertain of the world outside of my fence and the people there.

I picked her up and let her meet Tiffy over the fence.  Redd, who was standing with me, stepped out of the gate and let Emma check her.  Emma relaxed and started wagging her tail and then happily ran around the yard when I set her down.  I will need to sit outside with her when the kids get off the bus and feed her treats.  I may even take her to meet the bus and kids and let her see they are friends and don't need to be barked at.

Emma is expanding her world and will soon realize not everyone is her friend or family.  It happens for all dogs and she'll be a bit leery of new people for a bit.  I will find more new people for Emma to meet and learn the people, even strangers, are okay.

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

17 Weeks: Training - Day 15

Emma, 17 weeks, playing with a puzzle toy.

Emma spent an extra half day with me on Saturday and I was too busy over the weekend to blog about her morning.  It started at 6:50 AM after a quiet night in which she willingly went into her crate at bedtime.  I still have to carry her to her crate, but once there and presented with the open door she'll walk in now.  This is an improvement and it won't be long before she'll go to the door and wait for me to open it for her at night like Dieter does now.

After a quick run outdoors to use the bathroom we cuddled in bed and watched a bit of The Closer with the other animals.  I had four dogs and a cat in bed with me while I sipped my morning coffee.  After that I took her out and worked on two lessons for the day.  I wanted to get her breakfast in her quickly so she would be ready by 10 AM for her pick up, so we worked for half of her breakfast on Focus and the other have on Target.

Her owner was running late and we didn't transfer her until 12 PM.  She was in good humor when she met her owner and allowed us to quickly groom her before sending her off for the weekend.  We ended the week on a fantastic note and I am pleased to be starting the new week.

Today's Lessons:

Focus

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Focus.  She is starting to make purposeful eye contact, though the knowledge I have treats is overshadowing her ability to look up at me.  She is doing a lot of body flopping and pawing and head jerks to see what it is I am clicking for.  She finally stopped, looked over her shoulder for a second and then very purposefully brought her eyes to mine.  I clicked and she jumped with excitement.  She is starting to understand eye contact is a tool in her toolbox.

Emma needs to continue working on Focus until she's using it as a tool in her toolbox.

Target

Emma is working on Level 2: Steps 1 - 3 Target.  In these steps she is to touch wooden, plastic and metal objects with her nose.  I had her touching a wooden spoon, a plastic lid and my metal cane wit her nose.  The cane confused her and she tended to target the rubber end or foam handle.  At one point I set it down for her explore and Max promptly picked it up and handed it to me.

When I was working on the spoon Max was touching it on the other side and I found myself laughing as he stuck his nose to it and glanced at me through the sides of his eyes.  Max wants to participate in Emma's lessons and I need to work on Mat training again with him to keep him in one location while I work with her.

Emma is doing very well on Level 2 Target.  She enjoyed touching the new objects and showed no shyness when doing so.  I will continue to work Emma on Level 2 Target this week and build up to her touching a post it note on the wall.

Observations

Emma is a quick learner and enjoys earning her kibble.  She is in the game and has started throwing many behaviors at me to see what I am clicking for.  Emma is thinking!

Level 1	Zen Target Come Sit Down Step Completed  Completed  5 Completed  Completed
Level 2	Zen Come Sit Down Target Step 1 0 1 1 3 Focus Lazy Leash Go To Mat Crate Distance Step 1 1 1 1 0 Jump Relax Handling Tricks Communication Step 0 1 0 0 0

17 Weeks: Training - Day 14

Emma, 17 weeks, truly enjoys playing with toys.

At this weeks Puppy K class Dana Byrnes told the class about how he became Psycho Dad when his dogs put their noses near the edge of his kitchen counters or their feet on them when he cooked.  He explained that he would attack the counter, making a loud racket and yelling at the counter until the dog moved and then he would give the dog a treat and go back to cooking normally.  It sounds funny, but it worked for him and his dogs.

Today Psycho Mom arrived when Emma started the bark for bark sake barking.  She is picking it up from my dogs and I really don't want her learning that bad habit.  I was sitting at my desk and when she and Max began to bark because they heard a gnat fart outside I picked up a magazine and banged on my desk and yelled (a rousing "ahhhh ahhhhhhhh ahhhhhhh") until the house went quiet.  I turned to see Emma and Max sitting and staring at me with utter confusion.  At that point I gave them treats and went back to working on my computer.

It took three more rounds of barking from any of the dogs, but suddenly the house was silent for more than five minutes for the first time in months.  Why hadn't I remembered that story from our Head Start classes when Max and I started?  It would have saved me the almost 1 year of Thank You training I did to quiet them as much as they are.

I have been working on training both Max and Emma through their morning and evening meals for the past week.  Max and I had stopped using his meals to train with and with the puppy earning her meals from me I felt it was time for Max to do the same.  I knew she would progress into Level 2 quickly and so spent the first part of training Max and Emma in turns on reviewing Level 1 behaviors with him.  They are starting to understand when I finish with one the other gets their turn and I am seeing both now work harder to earn their kibble when it's their turn.

Emma is very focused on the game now and is starting to show clear signs she understands the basic concepts of shaping.  I will soon work on shaping her to an object just to shape her and let her explore and try new things to get clicks.  I am on several dog training lists and on one a woman told of her dog who'd had a stroke and that the behaviors the dog remembered after the stroke were the ones that had been shaped compared to the ones that had been lured.  The more I can shape Emma into new behaviors the better she'll be at them all of her life.

In mid December a friend of mine, Alan, had a major cardiac event that lead to oxygen deprivation brain damage.  The CT Scan by late December showed he had extensive frontal lob damage, mostly scar tissue and very little working brain tissue remained.  Technically, Alan lost his battle the night of his cardiac event, but his body hadn't stopped after it was revived 28 minutes after his heart had stopped.  Wednesday his body stopped and Alan was pronounced.

In late December I was asked to help find foster homes for Alan's two Pug dogs.  I spent the last of December and the beginning of this month working on that and finally got the Pug Rescue to step in and offer vet care and foster placement for the boys.  Today I met the woman from the rescue and tried to find Alan's home.  I got lost, go figure.  We called and for the first time got to talk to Alan's partner.

He's grieving badly and when we said we had placement for the boys he balked and hung up on us.  The lady from the rescue said she would continue to try to get the boys placed and the vet care they need; I have done all I can at this point.  It left me drained after spending so much time in the cold and driving around and dealing with the very emotional man who in care of Alan's boys.  I came home and realized I would need to force myself to step back and let what happens happen with the two Pugs because I cannot deal with the stress of this anymore after all that has happened between loosing two friends and trying to train a young dog.

Why am I saying this here?  I have video of Emma's field trip, but didn't down load it to the computer or edit it for upload to YouTube yet.  I simply couldn't deal with that and ensure I got Emma's after noon training, which had been interrupted, done.  I will post it as soon as I can.

Today's Lessons:

Zen

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Zen.  Today I was able to work with her at my feet in the living room.  I was able to put the treat uncovered on the floor and begin to build up duration.  Victoria, who wanted to join, was able to work on duration behaviors also today and earned rewards for not stealing Emma's kibble.

Emma was able to wait up to 10 seconds for me to click three times.  I was clicking for different duration counts from zero to 10 seconds for half of her breakfast.  Emma did not need a reminder of Level 1 Zen before starting this behavior with me, though she may need it with her owners.

Victoria was able to wait for the reward for ignoring Emma's kibble up to 5 seconds. For a cat with zero Zen skills, this was a remarkable improvement from yesterday.

I worked Emma on Zen for three separate sessions for up to 2 minutes per session.  She is able to remain in the game longer and remain focused on Zen behavior for up to half of her meal now.  Before this she would only work Zen for up to 1/3 of her morning meal before becoming bored and wandering off.  I am pleased with this progress.

Emma is ready to work on Level 2: Step 2 Zen as long as she shows she can resist the exposed treat.

Sit

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Sit.  Tonight I worked on walking around her again, but this time off lead.  She finds people walking behind her very difficult and needs extra tiny tiny splits to become comfortable with it.  I am not able to break it down enough without loosing my balance, so I started moving in straight lines from her while she remained in a seated position.

I did a star like pattern from her and clicked each time I returned to her.  She was able to 95% of the time remain in a seated position and just watched me walk and return to her.  She was able to keep her seated position if I turned my back on her, which is fantastic.  She was very engaged and enjoyed the game.

Emma will need continued practice with Level 2: Step 1 Sit for the weekend before we add a distance greater than 5 feet.

Focus

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Focus.  In this step she is to make a meaningful effort to look into my eyes.  I spent yesterday capturing any eye or nose movement toward my face and today waited for her to actually make an effort to look me in the eyes.  At first our click ratio was low, but she was clearly in the game and thinking of what she needed to do to make me click.  Once she got the idea it was eye contact she did a small amount of experimenting and then her click ratio shot through the roof as she offered with clear purpose eye contact repeatedly.

I worked on this lesson both with her morning and evening meals for approximately half of her food.  She was able to add minor duration during the evening training lesson.  She is not yet ready to add duration, I want to work with her more to make making eye contact rewarding, but by next week we can start adding duration.

Target

Emma has passed Level 1: Step 4 Come Afters today.  She is targeting my foot and able to touch it if I move it high or low and will do a double touch for one treat.  She will need to practice this with more people since eventually this will morph into her removing socks and shoes and other clothing items.  The more she practices this skill the better she'll be able to target a given clothing item to aid with removing or pulling it on.

I used shaping to work on her targeting my foot.  The amusing thing is Max recognized the game and was nose bumping my foot also!  What a funny boy.  Emma enjoys shaping and clearly thinks through what I am asking of her and does a lot of "is this what you want" check ins.  She is a joy to shape and train.

Emma has passed Level 1: Step 5 Target.  I was able to walk her across my house by having her target my hand and move her from one side of me to another by having her target my hand.  She will need more practice on this, but she is clearly ready to proceed with Target and build upon what she has learned.  She will need to work on all Come Afters at her owner's home and work through Level 1: Steps 4-5 there also to really cement the lessons in her mind.

Emma has passed Level 1 Target!  Congrats little girl!

Lazy Leash

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Lazy Leash.  I am holding the lead close to her clasp and applying gentle pressure on her collar.  When she looked or moved toward the clasp I would click.  At first her little body was glued to the floor, but within a few clicks she was standing and moving to relieve the pressure.  She is at the very beginning of this lesson, but is starting to understand the rules of the game.

She needs continued work on this lesson at this time.

Special Events

Since I had to deal with the Pug Rescue today I left Emma for the first time alone in her kennel without a sitter.  She was happy to see me and in a good humor when I returned.  She has had similar care at her owner's home on Sundays when they go to Church, so she's learning how to relax and be alone by herself without worrying where her people are.

She's learning to play with Max, who is engaging her more and more each day.  Today she bumped her nose on his as she came into the master bath and he just looked at her.  She's grown gentler with Attitude and Dieter as well.  She is more likely to sniff them softly or give them a quick lick than pounce on them.

I groomed her today and she was a bit wiggly when not in my arms, so I held her and brushed her out.  She enjoyed the brushing while in my arms and let me groom all of her body.  Afterwards I gave her a quick treat and then brushed out Max and did his nails.  She was polite to Max and either sniffed him or laid nearby while I worked on him.

Observations

Emma is teething with a vengeance and my living room looks like a toy factory exploded in it.  She's full of energy about mid-day and naps nicely by late afternoon.  She enjoys playing with me and has been learning Max's play style.  Max can be a bit overwhelming, so I am still managing their play and will put Max into a sit next to me when he gets too riled up, but I am needing to intervene less and less each day.

Both Max and Emma can be in the yard now without him herding her 98% of the time.  She is able to run and play in the yard and he won't interfere with her.  She is stopping herself from jumping on him and the two Dachshunds.  She's discovered people exist outside of my fence and barks at them.  When this happens she's over threshold and I have to go retrieve her.

I can't stay out in the cold long and have to think of a way to teach her she can't bark at passing strangers.  This spring and summer will be easier when I can stay out with her longer during her free play time, but for now I will limit her free play time to however long I can stay out with her.

Emma is progressing very well, but I want to warn that the second level will seem to last forever.  She will be learning and progressing, but she's approaching her true teenage months and will revert back to the puppy who knew nothing for a short time.  I expect this behavior to happen and will return to Level 1 and rework it when this happens.  She'll come out of her teenage months stronger and further ahead than expected, but for those few short months it will feel like we are all paddling in the water.

I look forward to her first attendance at her Puppy K class next week and working again with her on her Level 2 behaviors.

Level 1	Zen Target Come Sit Down Step Completed  Completed  5 Completed  Completed
Level 2	Zen Come Sit Down Target Step 1 0 1 1 1 Focus Lazy Leash Go To Mat Crate Distance Step 1 1 1 1 0 Jump Relax Handling Tricks Communication Step 0 1 0 0 0

17 Weeks: Training - Day 13

Emma, 17 weeks, explores her first puzzle toy.

Emma has discovered she can control humans.  It happens in every puppy's life, that moment they realize if they steal the remote or shoe that the humans will suddenly notice her.  In Emma's case when that happens (no remotes or shoes here, just cat toys) she gets a great reward for her find.  Nope, this realization in Emma's life has nothing to do with stealing prizes around my house or barking at the cat.  It has nothing to do with pouncing on the Dachshunds or riling up the German Shepherd.  It has everything to do with the morning Prison Riot coming from the crate at the foot of my bed.

All week long Emma has woke me at 7 AM with a riot of noise from her crate.  It is guaranteed to make me sit up and respond in a grumpy voice.  It is a promise of escape from the crate and a rush to the front door to use the outhouse.  What she has discovered this week is that the longer she runs the riot in the crate the longer it takes me to release her.  The first day I was able to warm a cup of coffee and sip some of it before she quieted.  The second day was half that time.  She split the time again yesterday and this morning she did the riot and promptly quieted as I got up to release her.

She's not rushing the front of the crate when the door pops open and I have added a whole two seconds to her wait time in the crate before I release her.  Then the race is on.  Max is trotting and yammering at me all the way to the front door.  Dieter, who'd been released prior to Emma, is skittering in a dance in the living room and Emma is bouncing like a Gazelle through my home.  The front door is a mix of legs and heads as the dogs mill around the door waiting for release and once Emma is on lead and all are settled on their bottoms we start our day.

I have been going full force this week and not getting to bed and asleep until late most nights.  It took its toll and this morning I woke with a raging migraine and zero energy.  I had feared this would happen, since last night I didn't have the energy to work on Emma's blog or post notes on her Facebook page.  Every so often I overdue it and use too many spoons and then need a full day of rest to recover.  Today is that day.

The problem is, when one has five animals in the house there is no true rest.  While the dogs were out, including Emma whom I didn't have the energy to walk outside this morning, I fed the cat her morning moist food.  She's convinced she must eat and eat now the moment I may be awake and will yowl at me until I have done so.

With the dogs in, I pulled Emma into the bed with me and curled around her and fell back asleep.  She was fine with that until her belly started speaking to her.  I on the other hand realized I wasn't up to even getting dressed yet.  What to do?

I fed the big boys and Attitude.  I didn't even care if Attitude left the bed for her breakfast, just that she ate.  Dieter, who has recently decided that eating his meal can wait until Attitude has finished hers in the event he might get some, lost out this morning.  He walked away from his bowl and I picked it up and put it up.  I am not playing the "waiting for something better" game with him.

With Max fed, Attitude medicated and Emma's food ready for delivery I brought her back into the bed and worked on Zen and Target.  Today's training is a combination of scheduled lessons on Zen and Target on the bed and how to self entertain when her handler is bed ridden.  She's doing well, playing with toys next to me and enjoying her day of bed training.

Today's Lessons:

Zen

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Zen.  Since we never did Zen in the bed before I did a brief review of Level 1 Zen.  She quickly caught on to what the game was and was quickly offering Zen when presented with my closed and then open hand.  I then started putting the treat on the blanket beside me and we worked to her not trying to take it while I covered it to her seeing it while it was exposed.

She did very well and is about ready to start building duration with this lesson.  She did steal one kibble before I could cover it, but after that really focused on the game.  On her second lesson she was stronger at the concept of leaving the treat alone when on the cover.  As she gains understanding of the game she calms down and becomes very focused.  Once I see that focus and quiet control I know I can move a bit forward with her.  The moment she becomes goofy and playful I know I've gone too far and need to back up.

Emma is doing very well with her Zen lesson and enjoyed learning it again on the bed.

Sit

Emma practiced Level 1 Sit on the bed.  She is starting to throw a default down when on the bed and I spent a lot of time to teaching her that I wanted her to stay in a sit when asked.  She is building minor duration on the sit and learning she can sit when I am in the bed leaning against the head board.  Her sit cue is solid enough she rarely gets confused on what you are asking of her in a new situation.

I spent several sessions working on Sit on the bed.

My friend Redd came over in the late afternoon, so I worked on Sit in the living room this evening to finish off her dinner.  I was able to walk repeatedly around her tonight without her breaking her sit.  She's a bit worried about my going behind her, so I will spend the next couple of days making her feel comfortable with my moving around her while she remains seated.

Down

Emma is now throwing a Down as a part of her known behaviors.  She's comfortable with offering a down and when on the bed has learned to lay quietly next to me.  It's made it a bit harder to teach some of the other positions we are working on, but she's starting to understand when asked for a new behavior to offer it.

We worked several sessions on Down on the bed.

Target

Emma is working Level 1: Step 4 Target Come Afters right now.  The Come After asks that Emma target my foot with her nose.  I worked on it this morning in bed by shaping her.  At first she was uncertain what she was doing to make me click, but by the end of a 2 minute shaping session she was purposefully turning her head to the right.  She still hasn't fully figured my foot is what we are working toward, but she enjoyed experimenting with her body to make me click.

Emma is also working on Level 1: Step 5 Target.  This step asks that Emma learns she can move her body to where I want it by targeting my hand.  Earlier her owner was frustrated because Emma was not understanding the cue, either hand or verbal, for stand.  I had said to wait until we had some of the Levels training under her belt and we'd get to Stand as a cue.  Today, we worked on Stand using Target.

I worked on luring her into a stand a few times, both from a sit and a down, and then slowly morphed my hand until it was a open palm facing her with my thumb up toward the ceiling and little finger down toward the bed and my fingers and thumb tight together.  It took two full sessions of working on just getting her bottom unglued from the bed, but she's now offering a stand when she touches my hand.  In short order she'll be offering Stand as a tool in her toolbox and I can tell her what it is called.

Once she understands when I put my hand out that way that she is to stand and touch it with her nose, I will then use it to move her around me and into new positions or onto new items, such as the scale at the vet office.

Focus

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 focus.  Today while training she was offering eye contact as an option for her behaviors.  This is excellent progress and I will continue to reward eye contact when she offers it.

Emma is offering eye contact as a tool in her toolbox tonight.  We worked for half of her dinner on Focus tonight.  She is testing to see if I am actually clicking for just looking at me.  Later, when I was working on Sit with her she began offering Focus when she was confused about what I wanted from her.  This is a good sign and I am happy to see it.

Relax

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Relax.  In this step she is rewarded for showing signs of relaxing.  Ever since Emma arrived at my house for training I have scheduled "quiet" times where all the dogs stretch out in their spots and nap.  Emma has learned through their example to nap near me when working on the computer, by my chair when I am watching TV and today to lay quiet and finally off and on nap next to me on the bed with the other four animals close by.

Her rewards for relax today have been games of tug or bitey face and lots of affection.  Emma is doing very well with Relax, but it is not on cue at this point.

Go To Mat

Emma is working Level 2: Step 1 Go To Mat.  My friend Redd dropped by for a visit and while I was talking to her I set out Max's grey mat and started shaping Emma to the Mat.  After our shaping lesson this morning Emma quickly moved to the mat this afternoon as she recognized I was clicking for her movements and interaction with something in that area.

The problem is, once I put a mat on the floor I had three adult dogs who glue themselves to the mat as well.  I had to reposition Attitude and shoo Dieter away and move Max to the side so Emma had some mat to stand on.  At one point Emma positioned herself behind Attitude and beside Max and couldn't get to the mat without moving around behind Attitude.  She watched me for a second and moved around Attitude and stood on the mat.

This is a fantastic start to the lesson, but I do need to contain the adult dogs during this lesson until I can train each one to a mat meant for them.  I will have to find "mats" for them to lay on and work each dog on their own mats for a while.

Special Events

Emma is in the game.  She wants to play the games I ask of her and tries to figure out what they are if she's uncertain.  She enjoys training and works hard for her kibble.  The difference in her behavior to Max's can be startling some days and I see I rushed Max on some of his training.  As a five year old dog Max is going to display his willingness to play differently than Emma as a puppy, but I am starting to see something with Emma I kept ignoring with Max.  I am seeing Emma offering behaviors as tools in her toolbox with quick purposeful movements.  With Max I allowed half efforts on his part and said, "That's good enough." and then continued to push forward.

Since I train Max and Emma in turns I am going to start working on Max offering with quick purposeful movements the behaviors he has.  I am not going to label them with his verbal cues and simply pay him until he's as happy to offer the behaviors that's been half way there all this time with as much joy as I see when he's truly in the game and ready to play.

Emma enjoys playing bitey face with me.  I make my hand into a mouth and try to catch her muzzle with it and avoid her boxey feet while we play.  If I catch her nose I win, if she catches my hand she wins.  It's much the same game Sue Ailsby plays with her dogs.  There are rules to the game.  She can play it when I invite it and as long as she doesn't bite down or hurt me doing the game.  The game ends if she gets too excited.

This game is important to help her learn bite inhibition with humans and self control with her mouth.  She is learning how to use her mouth with me and not hurt me.  She is learning she can paw me and not hurt me too.  She has a soft nature when dealing with her mouth and feet, so the lessons on how to handle humans has gone quickly.

The game is also a way for her to play and enjoy her time with me as a person.  Max and I play games together too and it helps with the bond.  I would recommend the owners to find a game they enjoy playing with Emma that Emma enjoys also.  She doesn't have a lot of play outlet other than toys and people right now, so I want her engaged in just silly play games when not training formally.

Redd dropped by today.  Most people knock on my door and wait for me to answer it, but a few just walk into my house.  I find it difficult to train basic door manners when this happens and it happened today.  Before I had a chance to contain the dogs and setup for a door greeting Redd was already in the door with four dogs mugging her.

Since I spent the morning in my bed, I may have missed Redd's knock.  Anyway it goes, Emma got lots of practice jumping on Redd when she came through the door because I didn't have a lead on her or was able to body block her from jumping on the company.

I need to continue working with Emma on Four on the Floor, since she tends to loose her mind when excited and automatically jumps on people when it happens.  Redd was good enough to not give her any affection or attention until her feet were on the floor and about a minute after she came into the house Emma began containing her energy and offering sits for attention.

Tomorrow Emma would normally return to her owners for the weekend, but due to their busy schedule she won't return until Saturday morning.  This will give me some extra time to work on her first Level 2 skills and really get the idea of what she is learning brewing in her mind for the weekend. This first week went very well and Emma is progressing nicely.  I am truly enjoying watching Ms. Emma learn and grow.

Level 1	Zen Target Come Sit Down Step Completed  5 5 Completed  Completed
Level 2	Zen Come Sit Down Target Step 1 0 1 1 1 Focus Lazy Leash Go To Mat Crate Distance Step 1 1 1 1 0 Jump Relax Handling Tricks Communication Step 0 1 0 0 0

17 Weeks: Training - Day 12

Emma at 17 Weeks enjoying play time.

Emma woke me at 7 AM throwing her "I want outta here" teenage fit again.  I ignored her while I took care of my needs and got my first cup of coffee.  I stood by the crate sipping it until she fully calmed and then waited a beat longer and finally opened her crate.  She laid in her crate waiting for release!  What a smart girl!

Later I was once again throne bound when Ms. Emma discovered a small, hard cat toy ball and picked it up.  Unfortunately, it is a toy I don't want her to play with since it is small enough to choke on.  Instead of calling her name or cuing Manners as she went to dash out of the bathroom, I said, "Hey?  What'chya got there?"  She quickly turned and brought the toy to me.  I took it from her mouth, proclaimed how cool it was and how much I liked it and then gave her the only reward I had on hand (other than affection) - a empty roll of toilet paper. She was thrilled with her new prize and took it to Max's bed and promptly chewed and shredded it.

Today I brought her food dish into my bathroom and worked on Level 1 Zen.  I worked all four steps of Level 1 Zen quickly with her and then started on Level 2 Zen.  As I was working Victoria poked her nose in and started to steal the treat Emma was trying very hard not to touch herself.  I put my finger on the treat and waited for Victoria to pull back and clicked and treated both her and Emma at the same time.  It took about five clicks before Victoria stopped trying to steal the covered treat.  Not sure who I was training Level 2: Step 1 Zen too this morning, but Emma did a very good job of not stealing a treat when Victoria was involved.

I did most of the morning training in the bedroom.  We worked on Level 1 Sit and Down on the bed while I laid on my belly.  She was beside me and offering both Sits and Downs on a new surface.  It was a wonderful start to a new day and I enjoyed it a lot.

Today's Lessons:

Zen

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 of Zen.  She is trying very hard with the new concept that she can see a treat on the floor and must leave it alone.  After first she mugged my fingers as I covered the treat on the floor and once she pulled her nose away and I clicked I would slide the treat to her.  It took only a couple of times of doing this for her to offer the same Zen behavior she showed when the treat was in my fist.

I then briefly removed my hand and covered it the moment she moved to snatch the treat up.  She gave me this, "HEY!  You mean I have too look and not eat?"  It wasn't long before I could set the treat down and not have to cover it and she would do a little dance with her feet as she lay close to the treat and then she'd look at me.  It was then our invader changed the game yet again.

Victoria moved in around us and tried to steal the treat.  I was in the bathroom on the closed throne with Max laying behind Emma, Emma laying against the tub and Attitude and Dieter sitting next to Max watching the training session when Ms. Victoria came in and tried to steal the kibble on the floor.

I had to put my finger on the kibble and wait for Victoria to pull her nose and paws away from it before clicking and then sliding one kibble to Victoria and one to Emma.  We did this for several kibble until Victoria was staying away from the kibble when it was covered.

I don't like feeding Victoria too many dog kibbles.  Though a few won't hurt her, too many will eventually lead to blindness.  There is not enough protein in dog food for a cat and a cat whose primary food intake is dog food will eventually go blind.  Victoria is on moist and dry cat food for her primary meals, but she occasionally sneaks a dog kibble during training.

Since she's so interested in joining our training I will have to bring out some of her kibble and let her have a 1 to 5 ratio of dog kibble to cat kibble.  This will keep her from filling up during the day on the wrong food and continue her health.

Victoria is doing well with the first lesson of Level 2 Zen and will continue to work it until she can see a treat set on the floor without moving toward it.  At this time, I am not using her verbal cue "Manners" with this lesson until she understands this is the same concept.

Sit

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Zen.  I started by teaching her that my feet could move without her standing up.  When I moved my foot she jumped up and I realized I would need to split this concept a bit thinner.  I started by shifting my weight, then moving my shoulders and finally moving my foot.  The rate of re-enforcement was high and she was very engaged.

I managed to step half away around her before she stood to turn and face me.  For a dog it is a very difficult concept to understand that a human can walk around them and they can watch them without moving.  At first the moment the human is anyway from 1/4 to 1/2 way around them they jump up and turn to face the handler.  A young dog first learning sit still believes that sit means facing the person and thus stepping around her helps her understand she doesn't have to face me to remain seated.  It is also the first step to walking away from her.

It took us five minutes before I was able to stop with her facing directly away from me and I could step around her the rest of the way.  I then walked around her for the first time while she remained in a seated position.  She hasn't figured out how to turn her head to the other side to continue watching me as I cross behind her, but she is learning she can remain seated while I move directly beside her.

Later, while talking with my Mom on the phone, I worked on walking around her again.  This time it went faster, but she still tends to jump and spin to face me.  I am helping her understand she can turn her head and still watch me as I move behind her, but she has not put it all together yet.  She will.

I also worked on stepping back from her and tossing her treats.  I was able to get up to five feet away from her for a second before returning to her to toss a treat between her feet.  I did this several times and finished her dinner doing this.

Down

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Down.  This step asks that she remain in a down for ten seconds.  I am working on one second increments before clicking and rewarding her for staying in her down.

Where Level 2 Sit builds distance, Level 2 Down builds duration.  She is learning she can do a down and remain there for extended periods of time before she receives a reward.  Emma's frustration threshold is low, so she is quickly worked up to 5 seconds before she started throwing other known behaviors at me to get me to click.

I will continue to work in one second increments on increasing her duration in a down.  If she becomes frustrated and starts to throw behaviors I will simply slide back down the ladder and start at zero seconds and build back up to where she became frustrated one second at a time.

Emma needs continued work on Level 1 Down in different rooms, locations and positions while she works on her Level 2 Down.

Focus

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Focus.  In this lesson Emma learns to look into the eyes of her handler.  It is the beginning of the Watch cue.  I started with her just glancing to my face at first.  I had treat in my hands by my belt and would wait for her nose to tip up or her to look at my face and click.  In short order I got the first brief contact with her eyes and clicked.

By the end of the first session she was experimenting with me.  She would tip just her nose up to me and get a click or flash her eyes up only and get a click.  She was starting to offer brief eye contact by the end of the lesson.

Emma will continue working on making eye contact until she's making purposeful efforts to look into my eyes for rewards.  Once she is doing that I will begin building duration on Focus.

Special Events

Walter, my son, has been coming every week Emma is here.  He helps by watching her if I need to leave the house for an errand or with training.  She has grown to accept Walter as part of the house hold and doesn't consider him a new person anymore.  Walter will no longer be listed as a "special event" in Emma's life.

We had no visitors or visiting dogs.  Emma did get outside play time alone, which she enjoyed.  She spent time playing with toys and raided her crate several times for toys when she was allowed in my bedroom.

Field Trips

Today Walter and I took Emma to a nearby Safeway Store in which I got permission to train her at.  My family has known the employees and store manager at this store for nearly 20 years and when I spoke with the manager about training Emma to public access at their store he said she was welcome because he knew I would not rush her into walking the store before she was ready.

Since Emma has no real leash manners I will not walk her through the store and out just yet.  What I did do was take her into the entrance between the two sliding doors.  Though I won't show Max's part in the exercise, I did use Max to model entering into the store.

She watched Max and I enter the double sliding doors and saw the second set of doors open and close while Max and I worked just at the edge of the electronic eye for that door.  When I took her lead she was ready for her adventure and entered the store without hesitation.  She did a sit, but her down was distracted as she kept looking to the other set of doors opening and closing.

People passed us as we worked and she glanced at them, but didn't try to engage them.  She saw a shopping cart pass her and was okay with it also.

After our second successful trip into the entrance of the store I took both her and Max in together and past the second set of doors.  We stopped just inside the store and though she was curious, she stayed focused on me and was clearly very excited and happy with the experience.

In this case, since we are doing early lessons on how to cross into different types of doors for buildings, I am not expecting top performance on her Level 1 behaviors.  I ask her to do Sits and Downs in a new location to help cement the idea that she can do them anywhere, but I don't expect her to be perfect.  The goal of these field trips is to enter a building, have a positive experience and then leave.

Several people passed us and thought the two dogs were cute.  Emma's pure enjoyment of training in public puts smiles on everyone around us.

After we finished in the store we passed through both doors without fear or anxiety on Emma's part and returned to the van.  For the first time Emma jumped into the van right after watching Max do it.

We had two problems during this field trip - both human error.  I was pre-occupied with getting Max unhooked and Walter didn't take up Emma's lead when we arrived.  This resulted in Emma bounding out of the car after about 20 to 40 seconds after I opened the slider.  Walter quickly caught her, but we do need to work on her ability to wait to be unloaded from a car with permission.

When handing the lead for Emma to Walter he dropped it and she bolted back into the store and stopped in the entry!  It was clear at that point she was enjoying her lesson!

Observations

With Emma teething she's a bit distracted.  She is also moving into a new stage of her life, one in which she sleeps less and plays more.  After our field trip she was so wound up she was bouncing off of the walls.  I tethered her to me and made her take a nap.

She's bold and enjoys field trips.  Though at first she would be frightened when riding in the car, she's learning that car rides lead to exciting new experiences and she's no longer fearful in the car.  She enjoys going into new locations and meeting new people.  When Deva and DJ came to visit she was happy to see them and no nearly as shy as she had been with her previous dog visitors.  Emma enjoys life and wants to explore; I encourage this.

She still tends to run away from me when she doesn't want to go to bed or has a prize she doesn't want to give up, but overall she's starting to accept that good things happen if she comes to me.

I have been working on teaching her the game of tug.  Tug is a fun game dogs enjoy with each other and humans.  Tug can be used as a re-enforcer when training and a way to exercise a dog during rainy or cold days.  She is starting to get the idea its fun, but still tends to flop and shark when playing.

I would like to train her to play fetch, but that is Max's big game and she shows no interest in chasing the ball when I throw it for him.  I like a dog who enjoys a good game of fetch because it is a quick and fun way to tire them out, but I am a bit leery of having two dogs who play fetch in the house at the same time.  I may have to find another game Emma can play that will allow her to play with humans and burn energy.

Level 1	Zen Target Come Sit Down Step Completed  5 5 Completed  Completed
Level 2	Zen Come Sit Down Target Step 1 0 1 1 1 Focus Lazy Leash Go To Mat Crate Distance Step 1 1 0 1 0 Jump Relax Handling Tricks Communication Step 0 1 0 0 0

17 Weeks: Training - Day 11

Emma's favorite toy at my house.

Today I tested Emma again and am happy to announce that Emma has passed Level 1 Zen, Sit and Down.  She still needs to work on Level 1 Come and Target, but she is very close to passing them also.  We'll continue to review Level 1 behaviors in as many new locations as possible to strengthen her understanding of them, but she has officially entered into Level 2 behaviors.

She is teething with a vengeance today and I decided to stop her lessons around noon and give her as many toys to chew on as I could.  She enjoys the soft toys, but needs something a bit more substantial while she brings in her adult teeth.  She has a toy from her owners that she enjoys chewing on and found some of Max's toys that have ropes on them, but spent most of the day with Max's Christmas gift, a penguin stuffy that has squeakers in it's feet.  For a majority of the day I heard squeaks and head shakes as she played with it.  On more than one occasion I was followed through the house with it hanging out of her mouth.

Emma's collection of toys.  Except for the tiny teal toy,
she pilfered the rest from Max's collection.

This evening before I left for class I noticed she has lost her first baby tooth.  One of her lower canines has fallen out and her gums are swollen.  This is a difficult time for a puppy.  They spend a large portion of their day chewing on anything that helps the teeth come in and eases the pain of the process.  Thankfully this process doesn't last long, though it may seem that way by the time she is through.

Tonight was her first puppy class.  I had arranged for Walter to watch Max while I was out, but realized this was not an advanced class, but a puppy class and thus Ms. Emma doesn't attend the first class.  Instead I had Walter watch her and took Max with me to the class.

Her class is small.  There are a total of four puppies in the class, all ranging from 3 months to 6 months of age.  A very sweet Chocolate Lab, which was invited to the first class as a demo puppy, a Springer Spaniel and a Rhodesian Ridgeback.  It will be a fun class.  I am hoping the small class will help Emma focus on the lessons in class, but still give her a nice introduction to other dogs.

Next week Emma will attend her first class.  It's a late night class and will leave me exhausted afterward.  As much as I enjoy getting Emma's blog updated each day, Tuesday's blog posts will be posted on Wednesday until the class is over.

Today's Lessons:

Zen

Emma has passed Level 1 Zen.  She will either lay just outside of my kitchen, right behind my feet in the kitchen or on the fall side of the kitchen and watch me.  She does not attempt to jump up on the counters and when something drops she doesn't try to take it.  She has seen Max, who lays close to me while I work in the kitchen, ignore dropped items and followed his lead.  Modeling once again played a big part in her learning this rule.

I will, as needed, teach her where the barrier for staying out of the kitchen is.  Max, Attitude and Dieter have all learned where to lay when I don't want them in the kitchen with me, but Emma has not been shown.  I plan on showing her once she's comfortable with my stepping away from her while she's in a sit or down.  Until then, I will be careful of where she is while I am cooking and reward her giving me space and not rushing for goodies on the floor.

I have begun Level 2 Zen with brief early morning reminders of the first steps of Level 1 Zen.  I have worked Zen in two of five rooms in my house, but am aware she's worked it at her owner's home also.  Her understanding of Zen is stronger because she gets lessons in locations other than my house and with different people than myself.

She is still mugging the treat on the floor at this point, so she is working Level 1: Step 1 of Zen.  Victoria, who has not had a lot of Zen training, is getting a crash course.  The moment the treat is on the floor and unattended she believes it's hers to eat.  I will have to work Victoria through both Level 1 Zen and Group Zen to ensure she doesn't stall Emma's learning.

Come

Emma worked on coming to me for good things all day.  She needed to approach me for her lead to go on to go outside or to get a pet, treat or toy.  She tends to walk away and sit at a distance when she's uncertain of something or doesn't want to go somewhere.  To encourage her to come close enough for me to touch her and touch her collar I have been saying her name and offering her rewards for coming to me.  If she doesn't come to me when I say her name, I make kissy  noises or call puppy puppy to her and make myself exciting by offering "play" behavior.

Her willingness to come to me, even if she's uncertain I may put her in her crate or a room has improved.  Her rewards were primarily life rewards such as praise, affection, play or toys.  I will continue making coming to me a highly rewarding behavior and work on the Come Game when my son visits each week.

Target

Level 1: Step 4 of Target asks for the dog to touch a persons hand twice for one treat.  Emma has passed that Step, but the Come After asks to reteach the dog all of the steps again with them targeting your foot.  I am working on Target Level 1: Steps 1-4 again with my foot.

I sat down with Emma and put my foot up for her to touch.  Since she's not fully figured out shaping yet, I clicked for any glance, movement toward or accidental brush of my foot.  The funny thing was Max recognized the lesson right away and walked across the room and planted his nose the top of my foot and glanced at me through the sides of his eyes.  I laughed, gave him a treat and then had him lay next too me while I worked with Emma.  Off and on through Level 1: Step 1 of Target to foot Max would reach up and touch my foot with his nose.

Emma started to understand fairly quickly.  Though she doesn't fully have the concept, she was making purposeful touches to the bottom of my foot.  We quickly and happily worked through 1/4 cup of food on foot target.

Level 1: Step 5 of Target asks to teach the dog to move around via targeting a person's hand.  In the end this will make teaching her loose lead walking easier, but right now she's still trying to figure out why she's needing to move so much to touch my hand.  I got her to move halfway around me with my hand in small increments, but can see her offering me all of her other known behaviors, which means she's thinking but not fully connected the dots with this lesson.

I will continue working on moving her with my hand via Target.

Sit

Emma has passed Level 1 Sit.  She understands to stop and sit at a door, with a hand cue on and off lead and with a verbal cue on and off lead, and to sit at an open door.  Though sitting at an open door is not default, she doesn't attempt to rush through an interior or exterior door and will sit on cue and remain seated even with the door open.

I started Level 2: Step 1 of Sit.  This step asks that the dog remain seated while you walk five feet away.  This is a step that has a hundred or more tiny splits in it and begins adding the first part of duration to the Sit behavior.  Today I worked on her sitting before me and my moving my body while she remained seated.

I started with trying to simply walk around her.  Slow, careful movements on my part were paid heavily for each time she stayed seated.  I was able to get about halfway around her before she broke her sit.  I kept placing her in a sit and starting again from where she stood up from.  In the end I was able to walk around her once.  We had a big party and ended out lesson there.

She is now learning she can continue to watch me without having to stand and turn to face me.  We worked through half of her breakfast to get around her, but she was clearly understanding each part of the lesson.  I will continue working on walking around her and then slowly start adding the beginning of distance to her sit.  It will happen one step at a time and with lots of rewards for success.

Down

Emma has passed Level 1 Down.  She is able to do a down with me sitting and standing on a hand cue and verbal cue, she is able to do a down on and off leash and she is earning rewards with downs during the day.  She is now offering Down as a tool in her toolbox.

She has started Level 2: Step 1 of Down which calls for a 10 second duration.  This will be added slowly by counting each second and rewarding it.  If she pops up anytime during her duration I will drop back to the beginning and explain from 0 to whatever seconds she can last.  She is a quick learner and has a high threshold for waiting for a click, so I am hoping this first duration exercise will go well for her.

Lazy Leash

Emma began Level 2: Step 1 Lazy Leash today.  This lesson will teach her to move into pressure placed on her collar.  She will learn that if her collar is tight it is her job to loosen it by moving to the side the collar has tightened.  In order to start this lesson with as few distractions as possible I took her into my front bathroom.

She's uncertain about that room, since it's not one I have asked her to enter before, so I lifted her up and carried her in and then let he explore the room while I sat on the closed throne.  I gave her lots of praise and affect, since at first she was unable to take treats and praised and talked to Max who wandered in and out of the room with us.  In short order her tail was wagging and she was able to eat treats.

I am working only to one side for this lesson right now.  I am holding the lead, close to the clasp, in my left hand and applying a small amount of pressure.  I waited for any movement that moved the clasp and moved toward the clasp side and clicked it and rewarded her.  She was soon able to lean toward the clasp and release the pressure.  I will work different sides each lesson, but remain on a single side per session until she fully understands the rules of the game.

Crate

Over the weekend I asked Emma's owners to make her crate available and play crate games with her.  Hide treats in her crate and play games that encourage her to go into her crate.  I see they did as I asked and I have seen Emma enter and remove toys or items from her crate on her own several times already.

I am leaving her crate door open when I go into the bedroom where it is and do anything in there.  Normally this room is gated off to prevent cat box raiding, but when I am with her I am encouraging her to enter her crate by making it available.

She has been entering and stealing toys from her crate for two days now.  I am very happy with this behavior.  I praise her and ask her what she has and make a big fuss over her find.  She is enjoying the attention.

When I placed her into her crate for the night I got no protests and little resistance   She is not ready to "load up" in her crate just yet, but she's starting to see her crate as a good place to go. In the morning when she's ready to wake up she's learned to make a huge fuss.  It's the "let me outta my room" teenage bellow.  It is enough to wake the dead.

I ignore her while she's bellowing in her crate.  I get up and take care of my first needs (which include a cup of coffee) and wait for her to quiet.  Once she's quiet and calm in her crate I open it and block her exit, thus teaching her again that she can't just rush out of her crate without my permission.  I am giving her a count of two once she gives me a sit and then giving her a release cue.  I will slowly build up duration, but right now want a default wait for permission before I work on any more duration.

Emma will continue to work on crate manners and learn good things happen around her crate.

Special Events

Walter dropped by for a visit today and Emma quickly gained control and stopped jumping on him.  He did not give her affection until her feet were on the floor and she was seated.  I am going to work on her maintaining her seat on the floor when someone bends toward her; it's a bit too exciting right now and she looses her mind when this happens.

Since she is teething we spent a large portion of the day practicing known behaviors and letting her work on sore gums.  She enjoyed long periods of play time in the house, a good run outside and from wrestling with me.

She and Max are trying so hard to play together.  She enjoys him and lays close to him whenever she can and he's trying to figure out how to engage her in his type of games.  It's a process and they are working it out.  The whole "I want to play now" can be very noisy in the house and I only interfere when Max get a bit too riled up.

She's stopped trying to engage Dieter or Attitude in play and is now offering soft licks or sniffs of their faces when they permit.  For the most part she ignores them now.

She has learned that the kitten can be fun and tried chasing her a couple of times.  The problem is, the kitten only runs so far and then turns and beats up the dog after it.  Emma quickly learned sniffing, licking or nudging the kitten is okay, but chasing the kitten results in sharp feet.  She stopped chasing her after "catching" her only two times.

Max models relaxing while I work on the computer.

She's learning from Max to curl up in the office with me and relax when I am working on the computer. I schedule her nap times for mid-day and she's able to take them without complaint when I need to work in my office.  She enjoys curling up on my feet and sleeping or quietly chewing on a toy close by.

Unlike Max, she has an off switch and can calm quickly.  I work on teaching her how to enjoy play periods and sleep periods according to the activity level in the house.

She is curious about objects on the floor and picks them up and carries them around.  I have been examining what she has and if it is dog safe returning it after giving her much attention and appreciation for what prize she has.  If it is not dog safe or something I don't want her to chew on, I give her a proper chew toy or a treat and praise her for finding things for me.

She has taken hold of my slippers only once to chew on.  I was sitting next to her when she found them amongst the toys and quickly traded a high value treat for them.  She has since left them alone and only selects toys to chew on - since they are what I pay the most attention too at this time.

Level 1	Zen Target Come Sit Down Step Complete 5 5 Complete  Complete
Level 2	Zen Come Sit Down Target Step 1 0 1 1 1 Focus Lazy Leash Go To Mat Crate Distance Step 1 1 0 1 0 Jump Relax Handling Tricks Communication Step 0 1 0 0 0