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

21 Weeks: Training - Day 34

Emma (21 weeks) sitting on her mat in her box.

It was not Emma who woke me at 6:30 AM this morning, but Max.  I woke to the lovely sound of him bringing up the doggy equivalent of a hairball, followed shortly by the cat bringing up a hairball in the bathroom.  Why a dog decides the best place to empty their stomach is in a location that is difficult to clean up afterwards I will never know, but Max decided to empty his stomach between his bed and the wall.  Upon hearing the retching of both the dog and cat and my sitting up making unkind comments of animals and bodily fluids, Emma gave me a sharp yip to let me know she was alive.

Thus, my morning started with animals and body fluids and clean up duties.  I got my morning coffee and watched everyone run about the yard for a bit before starting our day of training.  As you remember, Emma had become stressed enough to need a break in training yesterday, but this morning work with her normal cheerful puppy attitude and willingness to earn her breakfast.

Since she is at that age where she's aware not all people are family, not all things are safe and some things might actually be scary, she's become a bit of a wilting willow in my home.  Silver bowls, new ceramic bowls, the vacuum, a dropped spoon, my changing how I stand or where I train all throw her into a wilting willow pose and slinking off to hide behind my recliner or in the office.  It's a normal part of growing up puppy, but I find it tiring when I turn to work on something new and she's moved half way across the house and sat staring at me like I was about to scald her with hot water.

This calls for confidence building for Ms. Emma.  Games she can win at.  Games that make her the smartest puppy on the planet for the day.  Games that challenge her, but don't frighten her.  What to play? Shaping of course.

For three days now I've been working on building up Max's back end awareness.  Though it may sound funny, most dogs are completely clueless to the fact they have back feet.  That thing that trails behind them, wags it's tail and bumps into stuff is a completely surprise when they discover it.  There are lessons one can use to improve back end awareness.  Learning to pivot from Front to either Heel or Side positions gives them an idea they have back feet.  Having them back up steps or over a board can also help them discover their back feet.  Max had learned both of those as an introduction to his back feet, so this week I found a fun shaped box that I though would encourage him to lift his back feet to step into it and make him more aware of them.

While working this game with him for his kibble, I worked with Emma to step into and explore a box with even sides.  In her current class she'll be asked to step into and sit in a box and I started that lesson with her before she even started her Puppy K class.  I plan to expand the lesson to teach her to curl into a small ball and lay with a low profile while working in public.  I am also using the box to make her more aware of the mat I am training with for Go To Mat in the Levels Training.

Today I worked with Max, who is an expert on putting his front feet in the box, but seems to forget he has back feet.  Or he'll put his back feet in the box, but not keep his front feet in the box.  He never truly learned to "step in the box" in class and only displayed he had an idea of it when he got into my laundry basket and sat on my dirty clothes one day when helping with laundry.  It is still a lesson we return to when I want to charge him up and get him to explore and play with shaping and one he enjoys.

Right after that I worked with Emma to get her thinking about boxes.  Boxes can be fun and I wanted her to see me get a box and get as excited as Max does when he sees me with a box and a clicker in my hand.  She tends to just lay next to the box, sometimes glance at it and then look at it and maybe sniff it. It takes time to get her thinking she can interact with it and make me click - but she's starting to get there.

Our box lesson morphed into our Go To Mat lesson once I got her thinking about the box.  I took pictures today of Emma and Max and their boxes.  Enjoy the lesson plan!

Today's Lesson:

Go To Mat

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Go To Mat.  In this step Emma is asked simply to go to the mat and stand on it.  The criteria I have set for Emma is to have all four feet on the mat I have selected for her.  The mat I am training with at this time is a cloth bath mat which I can easily travel and is different than Max's standard mat.

I began by shaping Emma with the box.  She had shutdown the day before and didn't want to train.  With rest she was interested in eating and training and thus wanted to earn her kibble.  I set the box before me and clicked anything she did around the box.  If she looked at, walked around, sniff, sat beside, laid beside or touched the box in anyway she got a click.  In short order she was experimenting with me to find what I wanted her to do.  It wasn't long after that she got the idea that anything to do with the box got me to click.

Once I was getting her front feet into the box and her pawing or bowing into the box I worked on her getting her back feet into the box.  She quickly lifted both back feet, did a side hop and sat in the box.  Once I had her regularly stepping into and sitting in the box I went and got the mat and folded it and placed it in the box.

She was curious about the mat in the box and got clicks for exploring the mat in any way she could think of.  She soon stepped into the box and sat on the mat.  It was there she got several heavy rewards for being on the mat in the box.

I then removed the mat from the box and set it on the floor beside the box.  Emma promptly stepped onto the mat and sat.  I heavily rewarded her for being on the mat.  Each time I tossed a kibble to get her off the mat she returned and sat on the mat with all four feet on the mat.  We ended the session with Emma freely stepping onto and sitting on the mat on the floor.

This evening I reversed the process.  I placed the mat on the floor and rewarded Emma for any exploration of the mat.  In short order Emma was standing on the mat with all four feet.  At this time I am not requiring a sit or a down on the mat, just that she gets all four feet on the mat once she understands it's the Mat Game we are playing.

After half of her meal working with the Mat on the floor and her approaching it from different angles to step back onto it, I folded the mat and placed it in the box.  Emma promptly stepped into the box and sat on her mat.  I heavily rewarded her for sitting in the box on the mat and then would toss a treat in different directions to reset her.  She quickly and easily got into the box from several different angles and sat on the mat.

Every so often I lured her into a down on the mat in the box and heavily rewarded her down on the mat in the box.  Emma enjoyed her Mat Game both with and without the box today.  Emma is not ready to find her mat at distance yet, but can begin to work toward adding distance on her next lesson.

Funny Story:

Tonight, after working with Max for almost two years to get him to step into a box and sit with all four feet in the box, I got success.  After he got the idea he could put his back feet in and then pull his front feet into the box as he sat, we ended his session with the box by giving him the last of his meal as a huge break through reward.

When I went to get the pictures of Max and Emma and their box adventures I put their mats into their boxes and set Max's box down while I got the camera ready.  When I looked up Max was sitting proud as a peacock in his box! My camera wasn't obeying me and Max sat in that box for up to 3 minutes while I fussed with it.

I took his pictures, pulled up his box and pulled out Emma's box.  I have not trained Max with this box even once and when I sat the box down Max promptly stepped in and sat!  I guess he got the idea.  It took me telling him not to get in the box to get the above picture of Emma in her box!  Here are Max's box pictures.

Max steps in with is front foot to get into the box.

Brings his butt around to sit...

and sits in his box!

He sees a mat in Emma's box and steps in.  See how he's now lifting
his back feet to get into the box while his front feet are still
in the box?

Pivots in the box to get his butt in position.....

and sits!  And just encase you think he's cheating.....

all of that big butt is IN the box.

Observations

Emma is in a critical stage where she can become fearful of the world or bold as brass.  She is a soft personality who needs a little extra TLC when she's uncertain of something, but once she's recovered she is a bold girl.  Right now the world is a bit scary, so she needs exposure to lots of textures, strange people, shapes, sounds and smells to build her confidence.  She needs it in tiny bit sized bits that can build her confidence.  She needs each experience to be positive with high value treats and calm, steady reassurance from her handlers.

She is also growing into the "I don't think so" stage of life.  This is the stage where they truly begin to show their pre-teen behavior.  She's testing to see if I am serious about going into the crate at night for bedtime by hiding behind my recliner.  She tests the waters a lot right now.  As long as she continues to get consistent and fair handling from the people in her life, she'll come out of this stage a bolder and more confident dog knowing the rules applied, even when she did rebel and nothing harsh or harmful happened when she did.

Tomorrow Emma heads back to her owners for the weekend.  I have enjoyed our week so far and look forward to her new and ever changing personality next week on her return.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	5	1	2	3	4
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	2	2	2	1	1
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Tricks	Communication
Step	1	1	1	Completed	1

21 Weeks: Training - Day 32

Someday Emma will learn to walk like Max does
next to a wheelchair with her handler.

Today Emma starts her Prep class at Diamonds in the Ruff and the chances of a family bringing a child with them is greater because it is a 6 PM class as compared to a 7:30 PM class like before.  Emma is uncertain about children around the ages of 5 to 10 years of age and barks at them when she sees them.  Once she's had a chance to meet the child she is fine, but the instant barking fit that happens when she does see a child while we are out is troublesome for her working future Public Access Training.  I woke before Emma at 7 AM and prepared some high value treats for her so she and I could stand on my porch when the kids in the neighborhood waited for the morning bus.

At about 8:20 AM the kids began to gather and I took Emma out on the porch.  The moment she saw them, right at the front door, she began barking.  I spent the time until the bus arrived and left giving her treats for looking at the kids (currently, even with a bark) and rewarding her for looking back to me when I clicked my tongue.  I had to move to partially block her view of them and let her primarily hear them, but by the time the bus arrived her arousal level had lowered and she was more focused on me and less on them.

It is my goal that by the time our mornings are warm and I can stand being outside more than a few minutes that Emma can be outside of the fence working on loose leash walking with the kids lined up a few feet away while they wait for the bus.  I suspect it will take us that long to achieve this goal.  She's in a major fear period and right now small humanoids are scary.

One thing I did notice is I will need to pick up something at Petsmart tomorrow.  Attitude has barely left my porch all winter to relieve herself and my front porch by my door smells  like a urinal.  I will have to get some enzyme deodorizer to de-stink my front porch.  The scent is extremely powerful with her kidneys not diluting her urine like they should and it's a very unpleasant odor.

Today is cold, but not slick and wet, so I intend to work loose leash outside of the fence with Emma for her lunch.  For breakfast we worked on Target and "metal bowls are not scary" again.  She won't put her nose in it yet, nor get near it to get kibble, but she's not skulking away when she sees the bowl any longer.  To aid her in not being afraid of the bowl I leave it in the middle of the living room when we are not using it and will over time start dropping high value treats in it all the dogs can have.  I may, for a bit, use it as a distance item also to have her go around it and really make it a nothing item in her world.

Since dropping the bowl scared her so badly, I am now sliding it a bit on the floor and tossing her treats and banging it softly and tossing her treats too.  I also drop items, on purpose, a distance from her and then toss her treats.  She'll be a full puppy, but hopefully the "sky is falling" reaction she's had to the bowl dropping or other loud sounds in the house will fade and she'll accept falling items in the house as part of everyday life.

I'll spend the rest of the winter and early spring working on getting her closer to the children at the bus stop without barking and then work on her Levels behaviors while strange children she's not met are nearby.  When the weather is much better I'll start taking her to outside of playgrounds while school is in session and work on her watching without reacting while children play.

Today's Lessons:

Target

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 4 Target.  I took a break from Target when Emma decided the goal of the game was to lay before me and watch me intently.  I had to think how I was going to change that behavior and encourage her to target a post it note on a wall or other object.  Today we revisited the lesson with a brighter colored piece of duct tape stuck to my end table and Max nearby ready to demonstrate the goal of the lesson.

Once again Emma was curious about the tape, but didn't really get the idea to touch it.  I clicked for her looking at the end table and eventually looking at the tape, but she wasn't moving her body to touch the tape.  I asked Max to touch and he got up from his Mat, came over and touched the tape.  That seemed to start the forward progression I wanted.

Emma would still lay down and stare at me and ignore the end table or tape, so I would either stare at the tape or turn away from her until she got impatient and moved.  Anytime she looked at the tape I would click and eventually hold off the click until she got up and pointed to it with her nose.

In the end she got the idea we were working on her touching the tape and did very well, but she still tends to stop and lay before me.  I will continue working on this in the one location until she's targeting the tape without thinking about it and then move it to a new location in the house.  Once we have that concept solid I will move toward her closing a cabinet door.

Lazy Leash

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 of Lazy Leash.  In this step Emma is asked to stand for a few seconds beside me with a loose leash and then take a few steps with me on a loose leash.  Emma has been doing well on this step, but not in higher distraction levels, such as going outside.  Today I planned on taking her outside to work on this step, which she has mastered in my house.

Once we got outside Emma was in full distraction mode.  She couldn't focus enough to eat a treat and was too busy trying to explore her environment to actually focus on the training.  Since I know she can walk through Petsmart and in my living room on a loose lead, I know it's time to work with her in the outside world to learn the lesson applies there also.

It's a cold day and without the support of Max or the cane I found I was in too much pain to work more than a couple of minutes with her.  She was unable to focus and learn and I was unable to bend and get her attention.  I will have to find a location where she can focus and begin practicing this lesson outside.

I believe a good spot to try again today will be at Diamonds in the Ruff while waiting to go into class and upon entering class.  I will update with how that second session progressed.

Prep Class

When we arrived at Diamonds in the Ruff Emma she completely surprised me by walking loose lead to the potty area behind the building and the returning and entering class completely on loose lead.  This all broke down when the German Shepherd across the room broke out in excited barking and lunged on it's lead, but I was very pleased with her ability to walk loose lead around the building.

Her previous class had been very small and there had been a lot of extra space between each dog while class was held.  This class is full near past capacity and each dog was nearly on top of each other during class.  Carol, the owner and instructor, directed which dog was to sit where to prevent any fights and thus Emma and I were placed between a tiny Rough Fox Terrier cross and one of Emma's cousins!

When Emma was with the breeder she had been the last of her liter who hadn't been purchased.  Her breeder included her into the liter she was raising, who was four weeks younger than Emma, and thus Emma lived with Pepper from 10 weeks to 14 weeks of age.  Pepper is bigger than Emma and very bonded with her handler.  What a lovely pup!

Emma was completely distracted and couldn't focus enough to learn anything in class.  She was busy trying to visit with the people next to us or the dogs.  She would give me brief boughts of focus and then turn her back and watch the world around us.  With 9 dogs in the room, I was not terribly surprised by her sudden breakdown in focus.  This was he busiest environment she's been in to date with me and I am simply boring.

My treat value was not good enough either.  Though hungry and at first willing to work for kibble and soft treats, she quickly lost interest.  Instead she was poking her nose in other dogs faces and putting her feet on other people and basically pulling on the lead as much as she could.

She went into "bucky dog" several times also.  It's like having a wild horse on the end of the lead as she rears up, bucks and fights against the lead before sitting and keeping the lead taunt between her and I and just giving me the "I'm not talking to you" stance.

I was in more pain than normal and her jerking and pulling on the lead and high energy was enough to wear me out early in class.  Though we tried to work on the in class lessons, she generally wasn't going to have it and wanted to play and interact with the other dogs.  The outbreak of barking and even when the one dog got so over excited he stuck himself under a chair and panicked didn't bother her; she wanted to play with the four month old puppies that surrounded her.

By the end of class she was throwing play bows and nose nudges and generally engaging in full play mode with Pepper.  If we had been able too, she and Pepper would have had a wonderful play session - but that wasn't in the cards with so many dogs in the room.  By the time she decided she had to play with Pepper she also decided to not pay anymore attention to me.  I was, at that point, in total management mode with her, since I didn't want her and Pepper to get every other dog in the room over-excited.

I will have to take super high value, over the top, can't believe you put that in my pouch, why haven't you given me that in the past, treats in her pouch for next weeks class.  I will ask Carol to not place Emma and Pepper next to each other, since Emma is more interested in playing with a fellow "liter mate" than listening to instruction and will have to ensure I take extra pain killers before arriving at class so I can keep up with the high energy, fast paced learning techniques for this class.

Until then, Emma and I will work on Focus in more distracting locations and some of her class home work.

Observations

Last night Emma's owner called and said they needed two skills at home right away and were worried if they worked on them they'd confuse her with what she was working on here.  I re-assured them they wouldn't and that she was ready to learn the two skills they need.  One is to go around their son, whom she'll be helping later when she's fully trained, instead of over him.  This is Level 2 Distance and she's ready to start Distance as a formal training plan.  I recommended they use their son as the pole in Step 1 and start teaching her to go around him while they support him and over time teach her to go around him while he's laying on the floor.  I also recommended they slowly add distance as per Levels instructions until she's able to go around him without thinking.

The other skill is for her to lay down between him and a wall while he is being tended to on his bed.  Right now she tends to lay against her owner and not by her soon to be handler and is therefore in the way.  This is Level 2 Down Steps 1 and 2 - duration.  I recommended several ways to help her understand what they wanted.

Remember we've talked in the past that Emma is uncomfortable doing a down when she is blocked on two or more sides and placing her between her boy and the wall does just that.  Her owner (We'll start calling her C and her son B)  said it just dawned on her that it is this reluctance to lay between people and objects that may be the problem and she may be right.  I said to plan a couple of training sessions with her and do Puppy Push Ups with high value treats and make her comfortable working in that area.  Once she's able to throw a down without fear there (which won't take long) the work on just giving them downs and start to add duration by 1 second increments.

If they need it a bit faster then use a paper plate and tape it to the wall where she can easily lick it and lay in a down beside B and let C do what she needs to for his care.  On the paper plate put some over the top, can't believe you gave me this, mushy food on it.  I found here she loves the Wilderness Duck & Chicken Grill by Blue Buffalo canned dog food.  It is grain free and high quality and easy to spread on a paper plate and would keep her occupied while she stays in that position.  Over time put less and less food on the plate and slowly fade it as she becomes comfortable and happy to lay where they need.

Or, have a third person click and treat her for duration while she's in position and slowly fade those treats as she becomes comfortable with staying in a down while C works on B.  A third person could also help if she breaks position and lure and guide her back to where they want.

The trick though is to get her ready first by making laying between B and the wall worth her effort.  I couldn't use her kibble to teach her to lay between Max and the wall here.  I had to use over the top, high value treats, at first and lure and reward her heavily for doing downs.  I watched her body language go from leery and frightened to confident and bold and when I had a strong, bolder attitude toward laying before the door I then did the Puppy Push Ups there and slowly worked to her doing just downs and then duration in that location.  It took me about three days to get to that goal, but it was a goal I had a clear picture on and one I knew we'd need for her future job.

That future job is happening now with her being asked to lay beside her boy and calm him while he is being cared for.  Whether they do separate training sessions on her building duration and laying between B and the wall, use a paper plate with soft food smeared on it or a third person clicking and treating for desired position and behavior, she is learning one of her first service dog skills - to calm and comfort him while a needed procedure is done for his care.

While she is laying there she can lean against him and apply calming pressure, or nuzzle him and provide a new place to focus, or lay quietly so he can pet her and relax while he's being cared for.  It is something her boy needs and at five months she can now provide.  It's exciting to see her learning her first steps in being a comfort and aid for her boy.  How exciting for the family!

So, while I work on Target, Focus, Go To Mat, Handling and Lazy Leash for her targeted lessons at my home, they'll be working on Down and Distance as needed behaviors in their home.  Please read and follow the instructions for the steps are on and don't rush ahead until you see her offering you the behavior, once you have that you can move forward.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	5	1	2	3	4
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	2	2	1	1	1
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Tricks	Communication
Step	1	1	1	Completed	1