6 Months, 2 Weeks: Training - Day 53

Don't let that face fool you, this is a master in finding trouble!

When I put Emma to bed I had her off the tether this time.  She followed as I carried her bowl with a 1/4 cup of food in it to the crate and stood about two feet away from me watching.  Both Max and Dieter had lined up at the crate in hopes I would invite them to enter and get the prize in my hands.  Instead, I called to Emma and she walked up to me.  I opened the door and set the bowl inside.  She thought for a moment to turn away, but with a gentle touch of my fingers on her shoulder she instead changed her mind and entered the crate on her own.  A moment later she decided to eat her food while I cleaned the cat box.

Once finished I again retrieved the bowl and shutdown the house she settled in for the night without complaint.  It wasn't until 7 AM that I heard a high pitched whine from the crate.  I simply waited until she went quiet and then got up.  Once she saw me she started the fussing and whining again, so I ignored her and waited for silence again.  It won't be long before she'll wait quietly in her crate for release.

She's still in The Dance with me and working on earning more freedoms in my home.  She earned more free time yesterday, but I need to find a way to tether her when I am serving food to the other dogs; not because she is stealing food, but because she becomes so excited she pounces on the Dachshunds.

Both Attitude and Dieter are finding it hard to convince her that pouncing on them is not okay.  Attitude is exhausted after even one correction and I fear Dieter will be pounced one to many times and re-injure his back.  So, today we'll work on Dachshund Zen in the house.  As she becomes good at Dachshund Zen in the house we'll take the lesson outside and teach her again that she can't pounce on them in the yard.

Emma is not being a bad, just young.  She's bigger than the Dachshunds and with their age they are not setting boundaries as well as they could.  Her youth also tends to lend to impulsive actions, such as jumping or charging in play, and I can see by her reactions when they do correct her that she just doesn't understand they aren't willing to play.  Attitude will correct her and Emma will stop for a moment and then repeat the same behavior that got the correction a second before - basically, she's not taking Attitude seriously and thus Attitude has to work twice as hard to convince her to leave her alone.

Instead of placing both Attitude and Dieter in the path of a young dog with no protections, I can prevent the pounce and bounce attacks when Emma is excited and over time train her to ignore and respect both dogs, even when she's so excited she feels like she can explode.

Today's Lessons:

Zen

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 5 Zen.  In this step Emma is asked to turn and look to me when I tell her Leave It (or Manners) when approaching something I do not want her to have.  Items in the house she is to leave are Attitude and Dieter, dropped pills and other items I feel she needs to leave alone.

To help remind her about Zen, I refreshed Level 1 Zen and Level 2 Zen with her today.  She did a very good job and has been earning rewards of freedom and affection all day for leaving items I ask her to.

Emma will continue to use this step for the remainder of her life.

Focus

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Focus.  In this step Emma is asked to make eye contact for 2 seconds.  I have been working on this step while sitting in either my recliner or my glide rocker.  Emma had become comfortable with offering me eye contact and even built up several times to eye contact for up to 2 seconds when I realized I would need to take this lesson into a new room and with me standing.

I had setup the camera today to film Emma while working on a couple of lessons so I could review them later and see if there was something more I could do to explain the lesson to her in a clearer manner.  With the camera running I started the Focus lesson.

Since I hadn't done the lesson while I stood, I lowered my criteria and only asked for eye contact and again began to build slowly.  The video included in this blog shows how Emma did.

What you do see is Emma is a bit confused in the beginning and offered targeting the tripod for the camera when she didn't know what I was clicking for.  This is wonderful.  She's thinking and not tuning out and therefore wanting to learn.  What a wonderful thing to see.

Emma will continue to work on this step.

Lazy Leash

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Lazy Leash.  In this step Emma is asked to walk for 5 steps beside me while in the loose leash zone and then stand and wait five seconds while in the loose leash zone.  There are several smaller steps within it that ask the handler to not use the leash, but instead walk and click and reward the dog for walking next to the handler while in the loose leash zone.

The attached video shows Emma working this step.  She has done this part of the lesson 3 previous times and is clearly understanding the lesson and enjoying it.

Emma will continue to work on Lazy Leash Step 2 in the house until she can walk with purpose in position and not drift or loose her place beside me.

Observations

When Emma joined our little family here she tried everything she had to get Max, Attitude and Dieter to play with her.  Over time she did figure out that Attitude and Dieter didn't want to play, so now she works primarily on Max.  As I watched Max move from grumpy big brother to playful cohort I told him that she was a like a drop of water.  Her persistence to get Max to play wore him down to the point he went from grouchy to playful with her.

Yesterday she actually had Max doing full fluid movements as she bound about with him.  They enjoy a bit of bitey face and butt bump as play and she'll bound into his face, bop him with her feet or nuzzle him with her nose, and then flop onto her back while he mouths her.  When he stops she'll kip up and start him all over again.  It's loud and fast and at first Max would get too serious quickly, but yesterday I could see his tail waving with pure happiness as they played like that for almost 10 minutes.

A drop of water indeed.  She has reshaped him into a dog who enjoys physical play, something I never thought I would see.  The only problem is she's using that drop of water theory on Attitude and Dieter, who have no desire or energy to play with her.  Zen will be the rain gutter that'll redirect her away from them.

Victoria is also experiencing the drop of water theory.  There are times that Emma tries to engage Victoria in play.  At first Victoria was irritated by the effort, but now I see her starting to engage in play back.  The drop of water theory has relaxed Victoria around all of the dogs and I am starting to see Victoria start play off and on.  Zen again will help with the pounce and bounce play that Victoria finds frightening and encourage a more appropriate play style with Victoria.  The other problem with pounce and bounce is it turns into gang up and chase between both Emma and Max.  This is an unfair game and one I am working on discouraging.  Victoria doesn't need 80 pounds of German Shepherd and 22 pounds of Labradoodle charging her and chasing her through the house.

Zen will help with all of these, which is why I have brought back into formal training.  Once I have devised a solid plan for the final step of Zen Level 2, we'll move steadily into Zen Level 3.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	5	2	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

6 Months, 2 Weeks: Training - Day 52

Emma loves to play with different toys each day.

Our night had ended with my placing the last 1/4 cup of her dinner in the crate with her again.  She's still not entering the crate unaided, but she's not protesting once in.  She sat quiet for a couple of minutes as I cleaned the cat box and then decided to eat her food.  Once finished I took the bowl out of the crate and continued getting ready for bed myself.

This same process in the molded crate never went so smoothly.  She protested and whined and refused to eat her food if the door was latched.  I suspect she doesn't like the closed in feeling of the other crate, which is why I dealt with her whining and protesting.  Whatever the reason, I have a crate here I can place her in that doesn't rise her anxiety levels when used.  Today I'll bring in the cable I use to tether her into my van with and attach it to the table I have my TV on in my bedroom and try tethering her to it.

This morning she didn't make a sound when I woke.  Max was fussing and the cat had at one point protested the idea that I hadn't risen and placed moist cat food in one of her bowls, but Emma remained patient and quiet in her crate.  When I entered the room to let her out she continued to remain calm and quiet and once the door was open waited for me to release her.  She was, as per normal, bounding and barking.  I stopped and waited for her to calm, which she did almost immediately, and then continued to the door.

It was then I understood Max's whine and grumble to wake me.  The school bus was across the street and Max could hear it, but not leave my room to check it out.  I waited for the bus to leave and let everyone out after that.

This quieter change in my morning continued with Emma returning into the house without hesitation and then going to my room to settle on Max's bed and settled into chewing a bone.

I will continue to keep her in The Dance this week and slowly add freedoms as she earns them next week. I had hoped to take her out today to work on Public Access Training, but the sky opened up and a thunder and lightening storm broke out.  Instead of adding to her stress levels by working during the storm outside of a store, I decided instead to work on her being calm and comfortable with the storm itself.  A natural event, like a thunder storm, can be very disturbing to a dog and I want her confidence with the rumbles and flashes to be set in now and not attach undue fears by combining the two events (working outside a store and a storm) together this early in her training.  I'll take her out tomorrow instead.

Today's Lessons:

Focus

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Focus.  In this step Emma is asked to keep eye contact with me for up to 2 seconds. When we worked on this before Emma was starting into a fear stage and the pressure of holding eye contact started to shut her down.  I decided to shelve the idea until she was out of her fear stage.  Today was a perfect time to work on it.

I started with her just making eye contact and then worked up to 1 second of eye contact for several clicks.  At first she had a hard time maintaining the 1 second eye contact, so I withheld the click until she settled and gave me a strong and meaningful look as if to say, "Hey, did you die?"  It was then that I clicked.

We ended the session with her making eye contact for 2 seconds twice.  I'll continue to work this until she can offer 2 second eye contact with confidence and without building up to it.

Sit

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 3 Sit.  In this step Emma is asked to sit for 30 seconds while I am 5 feet away from her. Today my friend Robin called and I used the opportunity to train Emma to wait in a sit while I stood five feet away from her for varying amounts of time.  She did very well with this added distraction of my talking on the phone and was able to hold her sit for up to 5 seconds several times while I stood five feet away from her.

When I worked this I had her facing the kitchen while in the living room, unlike last night where she was facing the office (the opposite direction) while in the living room.  Later I'll work the same behavior while in the kitchen and facing the living room.

Emma is still working on this step.

Zen

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 5 Zen.  In this step Emma is to practice Zen when a new item is in the area or give a default Zen on certain items.  This is the step which will make it easier for Emma to work as a service dog.  Emma will learn to ignore passing people or items on shelves.

Since we haven't worked on Zen formally for a while I have decided to refresh and remind on Zen Level 1 and Level 1 Steps 1-5 to aid her in remembering my expectations and then push forward on her Zen skills.  Emma is already doing some of the Level 3 Zen behaviors, but I don't want to check them off until after we've completed Level 2.

Emma will continue working all steps she's learned of Zen until Zen is a part of her.

Observations

Thanks to Sue Ailsby sharing her years of experience with us, I have found this week going much easier than last week.  Why I didn't put her right into The Dance last week I don't know, but I must thank Robin for her patience and insight as she reminded me that my goal was to set Emma up to succeed and limit her ability to get into trouble.

Robin is raising a pup who is 2 1/2 months older than Emma and it was just before I started working with Emma that Robin called me in a state of frustration with the same problems I was facing with Emma last week.  Funny thing was, I was able to give her the same advise she gave me because I wasn't caught in the moment like she was.  When she called last week to check in and see how Emma and I were doing, she reminded me of my own advise.  How ironic that we both were in a position to see what the other was unable to at the time.

I equate it to the same blind survival mode one experiences when dealing with a new born child.  I remember my world collapsing into a small hallway where only my newborn son Wayne and I existed and all I could do was react to every fuss and need he had.  I was overwhelmed with the sheer need of my child and my newness at being a parent.  How odd that same effect happened when Walter was born and later Rachael. That same hallway develops when working with a new puppy - the reacting and not preventing hallway.  Robin simply reminded me of this the same that I did for her when she was stuck in it.

Once able to step out I could see that I needed to put Ms. Emma in The Dance and upon doing so was able to see what I needed to do to progress her training so she could slowly work her way out of The Dance.

Part of that is Zen; we worked hard on it in the beginning and then dropped the subject as a formal lesson as we moved forward with getting her into classes and ready for public access outings.  She needs a reminder again that Zen is part of her daily life.  She needs to learn that Attitude and Dieter and the Cat are default Zen items in my home.  None of them want to play with her and she's pushing boundaries with them, which makes them unhappy and stressed.  Therefore, Zen will return to our lesson plan and we'll address Zen items in a preventative method instead of a reactive method.

Thankfully, Emma is resetting to the rules and becoming a welcome family member again without much fuss.  It won't be long before the sweet and easy to live with Emma will return.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	5	2	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

6 Months, 2 Weeks: Training - Day 51

Emma practices staying on a mat while I work.

Last night I ended our long day of being tethered to me by placing her in Dieter's crate for the night.  I had saved the last 1/4 cup of her dinner for bed time and avoided using the term bed or bed time when getting ready for bed.  Attitude, Dieter and Max recognized the process and happily fell into the routine.  As I entered into the bedroom Dieter was standing, as per his routine, at the gate of his crate waiting patiently for me to put him up for the night.  I told him things changed for the night and he could sleep with me instead, but he wasn't listening.  I had a bowl of food in my hands and I was at his crate door!

He was ready to jump through the bars of the crate to get in for what he perceived as his reward; poor baby had to be redirected three times and then watched as I put Emma in the crate and set the bowl before her.  I went about getting myself ready for bed at this point and turned to see Dieter watching the bowl in the crate with deep intensity.

Emma sat in the crate, quiet and hoping I wasn't serious.  After a few minutes she decided to eat the food while I went about cleaning the cat box and changing into my bed clothes.  Once she finished I opened the crate enough to remove the bowl and shut the door again.  I think it was then it sunk in that she was there for the night.  She didn't make a sound, but instead turned and curled into a ball in the bed in the crate and went to sleep.

She couldn't see me from the crate once I went into the bedroom.  She is in my bathroom in a wire crate and she never threw a single protest or complaint about being stuck in there.  She didn't even fuss at me at 3 AM when I used the facilities.  It wasn't until I stirred at 6:30 AM and Max whined at me that she made any noise.  I told both of them it was too early and they went quiet.

At 7 AM, when I was ready to get up, she started a low constant whine and I went about getting up, using the facilities and preparing to start my day without talking to her or addressing her until she went quiet.  It took about ten minutes, but she realized I wouldn't even look at her until she was quiet.  After about 30 seconds of quiet I went to the crate, opened the door and had her wait to be released.

She bound about my home barking at me and I promptly turned and returned to the bedroom until she went quiet.  That only took about 20 seconds and so at the 30 second mark I went about letting everyone out.

Since I reset the boundaries in my home she has improved in her behavior.  Once back in the house it was almost ten minutes of waiting by Max while he laid on his bed and they both watched me go about gathering coffee and other supplies to curl up in the bed with them before she jumped into my bed without permission.  I gently cued her to get off the bed and a couple of minutes later she did it again and again was cued off.  Only after I got into bed and she made eye contact did I cue her to join me in the bed.

The remainder of the day has been much the same.  She's not pushing boundaries with me or the other animals in the house.  She's not trying to destroy my property and since  I have locked up all of the toys except the ones I am giving her permission to have, she's relaxed and accepted that I have things under control.  I'll continue to tether her to me and work on resetting who is in charge of what in the house, but already I can feel all of the animals relax as I establish with Ms. I Am A Teenage Dog that I can and will continue to manage the resources in the home.

Today's Lessons:

Target

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 5 Target.  Today I reviewed the Target steps in the book and thought about what I could do to improve her confidence and pressure when closing a cabinet door.  Since I already have a strip of orange tape on the door for her to target, I decided to back up a step for a few touches and click her for targeting the tape, which is Step 4.

As she targeted the tape she only brushed it with her nose and though I clicked at first for touching it, I started withholding my clicks and waited until she pressed hard enough to make the door bang a bit against it's frame.  Once she got that idea, I started to slowly open the door again and have her shut it.

I think my problem with pressure and consistency is she has not had enough practice with just touching, with intent, tape or a Post It Note on the door.  Therefore, I am going to back up for a couple of days and revisit the 4th step and build her confidence with it.

With this refresh and remind training on the 4th step, I suspect the 5th step will move along quickly by the end of the week.

Lazy Leash

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Lazy Leash.  In Step 2 of Lazy Leash the trainer is asked to work off lead and work with the dog walking at the persons side.  The first part of this is to drop treats and continue walking until the dog is catching up and staying caught up with the person.  This is the section of this step that Emma is working on.

I find I my direct path for Emma to walk with and stay with me in interrupted by a herd of dog.  Once I start pacing the floor with food in my hand I have Attitude and Max joining the fray.  This means I will have to either send Max outside so I can work solo with Emma or work on Max's Go To Mat behavior and have him parked while I work Emma.

Attitude is a different story.  She has a heart condition and as it has progressed she's become more and more sedentary.  Her following me for a couple of minutes during these exercises is technically the most exercise she gets any more and I truly don't want to refuse her following me and snagging the rare kibble she steals.  Thus, Attitude will be a distraction while we work and build Emma's leash work.

Sit

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 3 Sit.  In this step Emma is asked to stay in a sit for 30 seconds while I stand 5 feet away from her.  If you remember, I have been moving my distance from her slowly while I build her duration.  Tonight I managed to get to the 5 foot distance for up to 5 seconds several times and up to 10 seconds once.

Emma is not offering to slide into a down as often as she did before and has finally figured out that I am working on a Sit until I release her.  I will continue to work on duration with sit until Emma can easily sit and wait for up to 30 seconds when asked to Sit when I move away.

I have not added the cue, Stay, to the behavior yet and won't do so until Emma can repeatedly remain in a sit while I am at a distance of 5 or more feet for up to 15 seconds.

Come Game

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Come.  Though I haven't worked steadily on this in formal lessons, I have been building up and rewarding her recall.  This step asks that Emma recall from 10 feet away from me when I am working alone.  She will do this, but not reliably yet.

Tonight I had the rare opportunity to play the two-person Come Game with Emma.  We called her back and forth between us and worked on a Come After in Level 1, which is touching her collar as she comes up to us.  At first we just handed her the treat and touched her as she took it, then built up to taking her collar and then giving her the treat.  Where before this made her  nervous and would shutdown the game, she didn't have that issue tonight.

She was so excited to play the game she did a leap over Dieter to get to me and raced at full speed between Walter and I.  She did a great job at the game, but clearly has been out of practice and needs to work the game more when visiting her family.  I suggest they work up to calling her from different rooms around the house and have her race between the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom as each family member calls her

When starting the game start in the same room and slowly back away until everyone is in a different room and calling her randomly.  Change up the order of who calls when so she doesn't get into a pattern, so have a keyword for each person or a way to let everyone know when their turn is as they play the game.

However they decide to play this game with her, she needs more work on recall to improve it and ensure she'll come when they need to do an emergency recall.

Observations

Today I want to talk about Leading the Dance.  Leading the Dance is a problem-solving tool, not a tool to teach the dog not to jump, chew on non-toy items or stop her from racing out the door; as Sue Ailsby states, those items are covered by training.  In our case, Emma has grown into a boundary pushing teenager and needs to be given a chance to succeed and learn that she lives within a family and the family rules should be important to her also.

There are several steps to Leading the Dance and I can choose to do as many or as little of them as I want to help solve problems arising between her communication and mine.  The Dance includes tethering her to me while I go about my day, long down-stay while I work on the computer or watch TV, setting boundaries on what she has free access too and more.  The Dance is designed to refocus her on me as a leader and provider of the resources she needs and wants.

A resource is anything the dog finds of value.  I have a brand new IPad, which to me is a resource, but to Emma has little value.  For Emma resources include freedom to play Bitey Face with Max, run in the yard, food, toys and the ability to be on my bed and in my chair; the list of resources for a given dog will differ and the above list is not the entire complement of resources Emma finds of value.

I don't have the energy to use all of the tools in Leading the Dance, but I can use many of them.  I control how often she has access to food and have since she arrived at my house.  She is not free fed.  I have taken a tighter control of toys available to her and when she's allowed to have them, my affection (a high value resource), play time with Max, outside time and access to my chair and bed.  I do ask for downs just because and I do often say a rhyme or sing a song to her.  I have, since her arrival, implemented the long-down stay by my side and off and on the tether as I felt needed.

If you remember, I used a tether with her for almost two weeks when we first started together.  I wanted her to recognize I was the source of all things good and she quickly fell into that concept.  Recently she has forgotten that and is pushing boundaries as she grows.  Again, I have implemented the tether and tightened access to given resources in a way I haven't previously with her.

The result, she's calmer and not pushing boundaries in the house when released from the tether.  In no way am I expecting her to see me as some type of Pack Leader, but instead recognize following the seemingly arbitrary rules I set will result in rewards she wants, thus making following those rules worth her time and effort.  I am establishing a line of communication without force or intimidation and bringing her into the harmony my other dogs and I enjoy.

So, today Emma received brief periods of freedom in the house while under my supervision, but still spent over 80% of her time tethered to me.  As I see her boundary pushing declines, I will increase the number of resources available in her environment and if she once again becomes brat dog, I will decrease them and implement whatever part of Leading the Dance I need to improve her working with and living in my family unit.

I suggest to her owners to read that section of the book for themselves to better understand how it works and think of what parts of The Dance they can do with her while they have her over the weekends.

Since I was informed they had a problem with her sleeping uncrated and untethered in their son's bedroom, I would also suggest they invest in a cable of approximately 28 to 36 inches and attach it to the foot of their son's bed and set a bed for her to sleep on next to his bed she can easily get to on the tether.  Buy her a bone to chew on and place it on her bed for her bedtime and then tether each night in the room with him to keep her from causing problems and teach her where to sleep when she's an adult.

I will also implement the tether system for her to use here to sleep in my room and tether her on a bed during the night when I go to bed.  It won't take her long to figure out she is there for the night and settle in without issue.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	5	2	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

6 Months 2 Weeks: Training - Day 50

Given too many freedoms when she wasn't being directly
watched was turning Emma into the
bossy teen in our home.

Monday already? I set the alarm so I would be up and have a cup of coffee in my by the time Emma arrived. Her owner was running a bit late and when I greeted her at the gate she told me she would call later and talk about how the weekend went. From what I can tell, Emma was just as busy finding trouble in their home as she had been in my the previous week.

I brought Emma into the house and kept her on lead until I could pull out my handsfree lead and tether her to me. In Sue Ailsby's book Training Levels: Steps to Suceess she talks about a process called "Leading the Dance" in which the dog is tethered to the handler to keep the dog focused on what the handler wants. It also, effectively keeps the dog out of trouble. Emma is about to spend a week in the Dance with me and I'll gauge next week if we need yet another week of being tethered to me to reset her to the polite young lady she had been prior to teenhood.

So far we've had a pretty good morning of keeping her from pouncing on Attitude, chasing the cat, jumping on furniture without permission and any other trouble she could imagine getting into. She badly wanted to run wild and play without rules, but I am raising a dog who'll eventually become a service dog and don't wish bad habits to set in.

So, today Emma will be learning, again, that I am the source of all resources and she is to follow my rules if she wishes to get any of them. If you hear a nuclear bomb go off in my area it will be Emma protesting the injustice I have imposed upon her.

Today's Lessons:

Target

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 5 Target. In this step Emma is to shut a cabinet door with her nose. Today we started her lessons with the kitchen cabinet and did a few clicks to establish that the cabinet door was the goal. Since I removed the cue, "Push" from the lesson when I saw she was still not confident with the concept of shutting the door, I need to let her know what I want without using a cue - clicking her indicating the cabinet door is our way of communicating what the game is currently.

Today we quickly got to shutting the door and I clicked a few times when the door shut and then put the clicker down when she showed she understood the game. For a while she would move between soft glancing blows on the cabinet door and occasionally touch it hard enough to either move it or close it. I only rewarded when she heard the door close. Once she realized that the door closing was the "click" in this case, she became more confident with closing the door.

There were times she would push the door enough to move it, but not close it and she would check in with me to see if that was enough to get her reward. I would wait her out and she would push again and if that didn't close the door, yet again until the door closed. The persistence in working through the problem was a fantastic thing to see. As she realized that only closing the door would result in her getting a reward she also grew more confident in how much pressure to apply to the door. It won't be long before I see the purposeful effort to close the door in a single fluid movement of her nose.

Sit

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 3 Sit.  In this step Emma is adding Duration to Distance.  I started with rewarding her several times for just sitting and letting me walk around her.  This gave her a high rate of re-enforcement for staying in place and brought her In The Game with me.  I then moved 1 foot to her right and left and clicked for increasing amounts of time starting at 1 second and working up to 7 seconds.  Emma becomes bored and/or impatient with me around 6 seconds currently.  I will continue to work this step until she is comfortable and able to keep her sit without trying to lay down after a few seconds.

Lazy Leash

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Lazy Leash.  In this step Emms is to walk a few steps with me and then stand by me for a few seconds without drifting out of her loose leash zone.  Though I didn't formally schedule any Lazy Leash work, I did have Emma on a tether with me for 90% of the day.  Emma had to walk with me and then wait with me whereever I went today.  She is doing well and starting to learn to  not tie both of us in a knot.  Tomorrow I'll work off lead in the house with Emma and give her a high re-enforcement for staying in the zone with me.

Observations

What a busy girl Emma is.  The few times I didn't tether right off from coming in the house she went right into teen dog mode.  She tackled Dieter and poked Attitude in the head and charged my plants.  She spent a lot of the day learning she could be on my chair or my bed with my permission, but was quietly removed if she just jumped into them without permission.  She learned that she couldn't go rough housing with everyone and everything in the house without my direct permission to relax and play.  She also learned that being quiet and well behaved released her from my side and let her have a raving romp in the yard while I cleaned it up and a rousing wrestling match with Max in the living room.

Overall, she did much better today than all of last week where she was a terror on four paws.  It'll be a week of resetting who is the boss in the house, but by the end of the week we should have a mutual understanding.

Tonight she'll sleep in Dieter's crate - thus freeing Dieter to enjoy a night tucked in bed with me.  From there I evaluate if I let her sleep un-crated at night by her daytime behaviors.  It'll be an interesting week.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	5	2	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

6 Months: Training - Day 49

Emma the troublemaker.

I must apologize for the lateness of this post.  I have had a very full weekend and this is the first chance I've had to sit and work on the blog.  This is Friday's post for Emma's blog.  What is exciting is this post is being written on my brand new IPad using my brand new Bluetooth keyboard for it.  I bought the IPad because of a conversation on the Training Levels List regarding my training of Emma for her handler.  A member of the list had asked if I was training Emma to respond to computerized voices and I realized I had not done that yet, but needed too.  Why would I need to train Emma to respond to a computerized voice?  Emma's handler is primarily non-verbal and has mobility issues with his hands and arms - therefore to help him better communicate with her we will be training her to respond to his speaking device.  In order to do this training I would need a portable method for using a computerized voice to cue her with - thus the IPad.  The added advantage is I can better manage my blog posts, client information and schedule with the device also.

Emma's week ended with me exhausted.  With her in full blown teen mode and finding nothing but trouble around every corner I found myself back at a stage in life I had thought I left long behind.  It's the toddler stage in humans where the moment you turn your back they are sticking their finger in a light socket or racing around the neighborhood naked or flushing something down the toilet.  I spent the final two days of the week managing her to keep her from stealing my knitting projects, which she managed to do twice when I had to step out of the room for a few seconds, or chewing on something she shouldn't, such as my Spider plant, or pestering Attitude and Dieter by either charging Dieter while he was laying on the back of my recliner or standing over the top of Attitude to see if Attitude would tell her to knock it off.

I spent the entire week hearing myself saying, "Get off that Dachshund" or "leave the cat" or "what do you have now?".  It was a week of turn your head for a second and the puppy went into self destruct mode and began eating or challenging everything!

So, this coming week will be spent with a Labradoodle teenager tethered to me to prevent my correcting behavior after it occurred and instead rewarding behavior I want.  It is unfair to her to set her up to fail when it only takes a bit more effort on my part to set her up to succeed.

Fortunately this stage in life is short and only requires a bit of work on my part to lessen the impact on my property and animals.  I will find more things for her to do in her down time to occupy her mind and keep her from finding ways to annoy her house companions.

Until then, Max, Attitude, Dieter, Victoria and I have enjoyed a weekend of relaxation.  I haven't even bothered to clean my house, like I normally do.  I took Max with me to evaluate a dog for someone on Saturday and today, Sunday, he spent half of his day playing at Auntie Ronda's house and running around her yard.

Today's Lesson's:

Sit

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 3 Sit. In this step Emma is asked to wait for an increasing amount of time between clicks. Since I was introducing the idea of duration in Sit today, I decided to start with walking around her and away from her a few times to give her the idea she was to keep her position and wait for the click. As she became comfortable with that I then moved a foot away from her and began to count in one second increments. We were able to get up to 5 seconds before Emma would move. I would reset to zero seconds and build back up until she could sit for up to 10 seconds. Emma needs more practice with this concept.

Target

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 5 Target. In this step Emma is asked to close a cabinet door with her nose. She is closing the cabinet door, but not consistently. The amount of nose pressure applied each time has a wide range currently and therefore the door is sometimes not even moved when she brushes her nose on it. What this means is she's not certain what I am asking of her and she needs to continue to work on this concept until she is confident and consistent.

Lazy Leash

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Lazy Leash. In this step Emma is asked to walk a few steps with me and then stop and wait a few seconds beside me while working off leash. I am still working on Emma walking beside me consistently and will continue to reward her for walking at my left side in the loose leash zone until she is consistent and confident.

Observations

Emma is turning into a bold and confident young lady. She enjoys playing with toys and training and exploring her boundaries. At this time she needs extra supervision to prevent her from developing bad habits when left to choose her own activities. This will be a trying time, but one in which a lot of growth and maturity will occur and I look forward to watching her grow.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	5	2	3	3	5
	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