22 Weeks: Training - Day 39

Emma, 22 weeks, hides behind my recliner when
she thinks it's bedtime or something frightens her, such as
the camera in my hand.

At 3 AM this morning Emma gave me the "hey, did you forget you put me in the crate" whine.  I sat up and told her to go back to sleep and promptly fell back asleep myself.  At 6 AM I rose and woke the household.  I am aware that Emma thinks the crate is an evil contraption that keeps her from having fun with the rest of the household and snuggling with her humans, but I am just not ready for a 5 month old puppy to be rushing about my home unattended while I sleep.

She's hitting the teenage stage of life.  She's only two weeks shy of 6 months of age.  At that age the puppy decides that maybe playing the games I offer or even doing well known cues may not be worth her effort.  This is the case, I am seeing those first budding moments of rebellion.  She's whining at night in her crate in hopes that I'll fold and let her out and sleep in the bed with me.  She's pushing and testing boundaries with me and the dogs to see if they still exist.  Thus, my role as her handler and puppy raiser is to tell her that, yes, the rules still apply and her teenage moods will not prevail.

But she's also at that age in her growth that she's a lot like the defiant toddler who wants both independence and to know where I am at all times.  She's telling me in her own puppy way that she doesn't like going to bed at night by hiding behind my recliner or that she's not wanting to play my game when I am training by engaging the toys or dogs in the area instead of taking the food I offer.  I suspect I am seeing a lot more of her puppy defiance that her owners, since I spend more time with her currently than they do.  That's okay, I am ready and able to deal with doggy teenhood - I have been waiting for its arrival.

Her confidence is growing again.  I am so happy to see that.  She enjoys a good game of tug or Catch Me If You Can (she can) or "beat the puppy" which she thinks is silly.  She enjoys a good snuggle and is generally a happy, bouncy and playful young girl.  She's funny also; she enjoys a good pounce on a treat or a wiggly flop when training.

Today we worked on Crate and Go To Mat together.  I am making the crate a part of her world and not the evil thing that locks her up at night.  I brought it out into the kitchen and put her mat before it.  I left it open for the day and let her explore and play with her.  I just let the crate exist in her world and didn't act like it was a big deal that it was there.

Next week we'll work on a series of behaviors, since she's regained her willingness to train again, and see how she does.  I suspect it'll be another short week, since it's a holiday weekend and her family may want a full four days playing with her.  I think it'll be good for her and she'll enjoy the vacation from training here.  I hope she has a great weekend with her owners.

Today's Lessons:

Go To Mat

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 of Go To Mat.  In this step she is to go to a mat from 2 feet away.  I am working on building distance from the mat as she becomes more confident that the mat is the goal.  I started with the mat in front of her crate.  At first she wasn't sure if it was the crate or the mat I wanted her to interact with, so she did some paw and nose touches on the crate and some putting her head into or looking into the crate.  I clicked for all of that because she was also standing or or touching the mat the entire time she explored the crate.  After a bit she stepped off of the mat and looked at the crate and I didn't click.  I could see the gears working and when she looked down at the mat and I clicked she got the idea and started to interact with the mat.

We spent the first lesson of the day working for one minute increments on mat targeting.  I would work with her, give her a break and then work with Max on Focus and then give him a break and work her again.  She quickly got the idea she could sniff, touch, look at, lay on or sit on the mat to get clicks.  In short order she was quickly returning to sit on her mat or lay on it.  Each time she got on the mat she got several rapid fire click/treats and then I would toss a treat off to the side and have her chase it.

In our second session I placed the mat in the center of the living room and stood 1 foot away from it.  As I suspected, she thought being on the mat was secondary to being in front of me and laying or sitting before me.  I clicked any head motion or body movement toward the mat, which was behind her, and soon had her going to and exploring the mat.  I think, for the first time, it sunk in that the mat was the target spot that she was being clicked for.

At the end of the session I still have about a 1/3 of her food in her bowl when she got up and walked to the mat 1 foot away from me.  She had to move away from me and to the mat behind her to get on it and I clicked and gave her the remaining food in the bowl on the mat to end the session.

Emma is starting to understand the mat is the goal and that she can move away from me to get to the mat.

Crate

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Crate.  In this step Emma is asked to go into the crate without luring.  I have decided to shape this behavior.  Emma is leery about the crate and the idea of it closing on her and thus won't enter the crate when I am near her.  She will, on the other hand, go in and out of her crate willingly if no humans are near it.  Giving her the choice to go into the crate at this time is our best option of turning crates into a positive location for her to be.

Today I worked on crate behavior by training Go To Mat beside the crate.  Whenever she interacted with the crate I clicked and treated her.  I was actually clicking for her being on the mat and exploring her crate, but for the first part of the GTM lesson I wanted her to feel the crate was a benign part of her lesson.

When I removed the mat from in front of her crate I focused on her interacting with and peering into her crate.  Though she never went into it, she did put her head in, paw it, touch it with her nose, look into it and even walk around it.  All of these actions got click/treats and helped her relax around her crate.

When I place her in her crate for bed or my leaving the house, I give her a high value reward, such as a Kong filled with soft food and kibble, to make the crate less stressful.  Today I had to leave to wash Max for our weekend trip and have the oil changed in my car.  I threw in kibble with soft food covering it into the crate and then gave her a Kong filled with soft food and kibble.  I placed a blanket over the crate with a small spot to peer out from the bottom and then put on the CD Through A Dog's Ear and let it play while I was away.

Emma will need a lot of high value positive rewards in her crate to improve her opinion of it.

Observations

I have accidentally poisoned one of Emma's cues.  Today when working on mat behavior I could see she was headed back to her mat and said, "Go to bed" and she immediately changed directions and went and hid behind my recliner.  Clearly the cue Bed has been poisoned for her and cannot be used for mat work.

I have chosen instead to use the cue "Hit the rack" for her going to her mat.  I do not want to use this cue until she's solid on mat behavior and offering the behavior freely.  I have also decided her cue for entering her crate will be Crate, which will not be introduced until she's freely offering entering a crate without concern about our shutting the door.

When talking with her owner I found we both said something similar when it was bedtime in our homes.  I tell the dogs, "It's bedtime" and start to go about shutting the house down and then tell them all, "Let's go bed" and head off into the bedroom.  For Emma this is the cue that I am about to stuff her into her crate and lock her up for the night; something she doesn't like.

In her owners home they tell her to either go into her "home" or "bed" when putting her into her crate.  Again, she's hearing "bed" and associating it with a negative and thus now feels negative emotions when she hears the word.  Thus, that word will not be one of Emma's cues.

At this point, I do not want to associate any other negative feelings with her cues for mat or crate therefore don't want any cues used until she's offering the behaviors freely.

I look forward to next weeks lessons and hope we can advance on her Sit, Down and Loose Leash Walking next 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

22 Weeks: Training - Day 38

Emma after she visited the groomers the first time.
She's now learning humans get groomed also.

What a long night!  Emma fussed and whined all night long in her crate.  She didn't claw, scream or throw a fit, but would do a soft whine at me every half hour all night long.  It was exhausting, but I knew she was trying very hard to convince me I was torturing her by keeping her crated when the rest of the world was out.

I had set my alarm for 6:30 AM and it went off when I finally gave in and got up and let her out at 6:25 AM.  I was letting her and Dieter and Max out when I heard my alarm sound.  Exhausted and grumpy I went to my room and shut off the alarm and promptly made myself a cup of coffee.

Once the crew was in I sat up in bed and enjoyed my coffee while Emma tackled the toy I had purchased for her the night before and Max tried to become one with me - butt first.  I knew then it must be Wednesday!

I had a hair appointment today and permission to bring Ms. Emma with me.  Walter would watch her while I was unable to during the appointment.  I want to give a special thanks to Quincy McDonald, owner of Strandz Off Broadway, for her continued support in training Service Dogs by allowing both Max and Emma learn how to be in a hair salon during their training.

Today was a great day for Emma.  Her personality is bold and bright and she was nothing but happy all day.  Below is our great field trip to a hair appointment!

Today's Training:

Crate

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 1 Crate.  In this step Emma is to enter her crate without being lured.  I have decided to shape this behavior.  Since she's not enjoying her crate at night, I decided that I would need higher level rewards than her plain kibble.  I mixed in Duck & Chicken Grill from Blue Buffalo moist food into her kibble.  The added moist food spiked her desire to work for her breakfast and she quickly began working around the crate, which I had left in the bedroom.

In a few clicks she was looking at, touching with her nose and paws and even sticking her head into the crate.  Since I had taken up time with snuggling on the bed and then showering before her breakfast, I realized I would be late if we worked for her full meal - so I simply placed her bowl with her spiked kibble into the crate after a few clicks. She looked a bit confused for a second and then went into her crate and age her breakfast.

This evening I worked through all but the last 1/4 of her dinner on crate.  She walked around, poked it with her nose, put her feet on it, laid down by it, put her head in it and anything else she could think of, but go into it.  That's fine, I planned on spending the last two days working on crate and tomorrow I'll put her mat in front of it and slowly work to putting her mat into it and turn "going into the crate" to "go to mat" as a game.

Her crate was in the kitchen for the dinner meal.  I had once again mixed moist food into the kibble, understanding that crate work requires higher payment.  The reason her crate was in the kitchen was because today Max had a TTouch appointment and I crated her where she could see me and gave her a Kong with moist food and kibble stuffed in it.  She was very good in her crate with her Kong and watched us in silence.

Tonight, since I planned on writing two blogs, I did the bedtime routine early and brought my laptop into the bedroom.  She once again hid behind my chair, but soon realized I wasn't gathering her up for bed.  She joined me in the bed and cuddle until she fell asleep while I worked.  Shortly I'll pack another Kong and put her to bed, but I have to careful to not give her predictors to bedtime that are associated with negative feelings with her crate.  Once she's realized she gets a Kong nightly for bed, I'll begin the nightly Kong packing for all the dogs and make bedtime a happy experience for Emma.

Field Trip

Emma came with me to my hair appointment at Strandz Off Broadway.  Walter attended to watch her while I had my hair cut.  Hair salons are scary places for dogs; there are strong chemical smells and the sound of buzz clippers and hair dryers.  Emma was excited to meet Quincy, who said she was a very pretty girl, and gladly explored the salon with Walter in tow.  I told Walter to let her explore, something Quincy and I expected, and he did great.

Max, on the other hand, was not up to form.  He normally lays by me while I have my hair done, but today was jumping up and wandering around, so I asked Walter to take him to the van and leave him there.  Max could see me through the windows and sat quietly in the front seat watching me during my appointment.

My hair appointment lasted approximately 30 minutes, in which point Emma went from excited to be in a new place to calm and quiet watching us chat as I paid.  She waited, in a sit, at the door and exited on lead when I gave her a release cue.

Her first visit to a hair salon was excellent.  It was just Quincy, Walter and I in the salon with her.  She was worried when she saw Quincy sweeping up my hair, but moved in and checked the broom after Quincy stopped so she could explore it.  Once she sniffed the broom she ignored it and went back to Walter and relaxed.  I am very happy with this extended outing.

Observations

Walter told me that both times he babysat her she whined while I was gone.  He said the first time, on Tuesday, she whined the entire time and he feared she was developing separation anxiety.  I don't believe that's the case.  She's just hit the age that she's aware of Us and Them.  I am part of Us and the world is part of Them.  That is her reason for barking at people with hats and children right now. It's also the reason why she whined; part of that awareness is that she knows Walter is not her normal care giver and thus my absence concerned her.

Today, when I took Max out for a walk for about an hour, she again whined, but not as long as yesterday. Walter was happy to see that, but said she spent the time I was away laying by the front door.  I must schedule times for her to be away from me when she's here so she doesn't become dependent on me, but can handle being alone or with other people.

I made the mistake of not teaching Max how to be alone and am now struggling with the seperation anxiety that he's developed because of it.  When I take Emma to class I have Walter watch him, but like Emma, I need to leave him for short periods alone until he can be okay with longer periods of time with me absent.

Instead of teaching how to be okay alone after she's developed separation anxiety, I am working on skipping it totally and teaching her now, when she's young, how to be separate from me or her handlers and be okay with it.

After Max's appointment I packed Kongs for all the dogs and sent them off to happily work on them.  Emma enjoys Kongs and is up to a tightly stuffed Kong.  I am seeing the first signs of her bouncing and tossing the Kong to empty it, after watching Max do the same to empty his, and her happily chew and play with it long after it's given her its contents.  A Kong, when she's busy and her owners are tired, is a great way to occupy her.  It is also a wonderful item to give her at bedtime to calm her in her crate.  For her crate, I would suggest finding as supper high value Kong stuffing to make bedtime a thrilling experience.

Tomorrow we'll continue Go To Mat and Crate work.

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

22 Weeks: Training - Day 37

Emma knew this lesson in class and showed off her
rad shaping skills!

Tuesday started early with Emma making small noises in the crate and waking me at 6 AM.  I got up and let everyone out and we came back to snuggle for a bit in bed.  After a cup of coffee and warming Attitude's breakfast on the counter (moist food, she doesn't like it right out of the fridge) we set out for our day of training.

Since I knew we had class that night I planned on working on some of the basics of what we'd be working on in class, which aligns nicely with what we are working on in The Levels also.  Target and Go To Mat were on the list and I figured it was time to really ramp up the puppy and get her excited about training again.

I had extended how long each session was and suspect that extension was part of her falling out of the game earlier.  She felt a bit stressed by the training and was burning out a bit from it.  I shortened our sessions to no more than one minute at a time and would work Max for two or three minutes before I returned to working with her.  This seemed to improve Emma's overall attitude toward training.

Midway through our morning training my son Wayne came by to visit.  We chatted for a bit, cooked up some food and had a good visit.  Emma was excited to see him and had to be reminded to not jump on him.  Once she calmed she went off to play with a toy while we had our visit.

At the end of the visit Emma was laying in the office chewing on a toy when Wayne opened the front door and stood, just past the threshold on my porch with the door open.  Curious Emma came out of the office and peered around the door; a perfect door dash moment.  Instead of dashing past him, which she had plenty of opportunity to do, she instead moved to where I normally have her wait when I go to let her out and sat and watched him while he talked to me.  What a huge difference from the Black Bullet who before couldn't help but shoot out the door the moment she saw an opportunity!

When Walter came later in the day I could see Emma fighting with every nerve in her body to not jump on him and throw her butt to the floor so she could be greeted by him.  It's a sign she's gaining more and more self control!  Between not shooting out the door and fighting to keep her feet on the floor, Emma is learning to control herself.  I am so happy to see this little dog applying her lessons!

Today's Lessons:

Go To Mat

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Go To Mat.  In this step Emma is to go to her mat from a distance of 2 feet.  She is still orienting on her mat and figuring out that standing, sitting or laying on her mat gains her rewards.  I am clicking her for getting on her mat, which is at my feet, and treating her three or four times before telling her "Free" (her release word, since using my standard release word has Max popping up from his mat when I am working with her) and tossing the kibble a short distance from the mat.

At first I toss it just far enough she had to get up and get it and on each following toss I send it further and further from the mat.  At this point she's returning to me and thus the mat from a distance after getting her kibble, next week I will work on her moving toward her mat when I am not next to it.

Emma has started to lay on the mat when she gets to it and will wait for her treat when there, but hasn't gained any duration at this time.

Target

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 4 Target.  In this step Emma is asked to touch a post it note or piece of bright tape on a wall.  Emma has been reluctant to do this over the past few sessions and I have had to do a lot of work to build up her willingness to touch something that is not in my hand for a reward.

We started with a bit of hand target, which she knows well and is good at, to give her a starting success and moved to her touching the wall.  She's still brushing the target with her nose and not giving a solid poke yet, but we did manage to get one good solid poke with her nose during our session.  She's starting to understand that touching the wall is the goal, but not yet focused on the tape on the wall.  I will continue to work this step with her until she's confident with the idea of touching a target on the wall.

Prep Class

Emma had Prep class again.  At the beginning of each class the instructors ask us how our week went and of any concerns we have with the dogs.  When my turn came I said I was pleasently pleased that she moved out of her Wilting Willow stage from the previous week to the Bold As Brass personality I'd grown to know.  I pointed out I had one problem, which I hadn't yet resolved, which is her hiding behind the chair when it's bedtime and I need to crate her.

This behavior is not a fear behavior as much as a loud communication to me that she doesn't enjoy being in her crate.  Carol said that at one time they had baby sat a friend's dog who got "Cookies for Bedtime" (a Kong) and the dog would actually beg for bedtime when they were tired because they loved getting the high reward for going into their crate.  What a wonderful idea!  I decided Emma needs a high reward for being crated at night and thus, I dug up a Kong for bedtime, put some of her kibble mixed with Attitude's very tasty moist food into it and went to the chair where she was hiding.  When I let her smell what I had she happily followed me into the bedroom and went into her crate without complaint.  I will continue this behavior with her to build up her enjoyment of bedtime.

Class went better for both Emma and I this time.  I packed in my treat pouch some Happy Howie's Turkey Roll (chopped into tiny bits) and Natural Balance Lamb Roll (chopped into bits) and cooked chicken breast and flavored all of that with some bacon grease (very small amount) and bits of broken up bacon.  She went nuts over what I was offering and worked hard for her rewards, even with the distraction of 8 other dogs in the room.

I also planted myself away from her cousin, whom she wanted to play with when in class, and worked extra hard to keep her attention during class.  I brought the mat she'd been working with from home also.

The problem is, I am tiring out early in class, long before she is, and simply am exhausted long before class time is over.  I may have to take a nap on class days so I have the energy to work with Ms. Emma in class.

This particular class we worked on shaping our dogs into boxes!  Does this not sound familiar?  I have been shaping Emma into a box for the past three weeks off and on.  I did it when sitting and standing, in the living room and kitchen and with and without her mat.  So, when the box came out Emma already knew that the idea was to do something with the box.  I had hoped we'd worked the box enough for her to get in during class with all those distractions and sit in it and low and behold, she did!  Not just once, but three separate times!

Next week we'll work on Go To Mat from a distance in class and Loose Leash Walking!  How exciting for Emma that she'll be working on behaviors she's been practicing at home so much in a new location.

At the end of class Travis, Carol and Dana's son, and his daughter came into the room.  Emma barked at both of them.  Travis had a hat on and his daughter was a, gasp, child.  She was not the only puppy to bark at the girl.  We all let our puppies come up and meet her and rewarded them for being brave.  We'll get through this phase, but some days it seems like it'll be a long and difficult process.

Observations

I am enjoying seeing the wiggly, happy, can't believe I am breathing puppy back.  I missed her last week when she was reserved and fearful of her own shadow.  I knew it was a phase, but it was troublesome to watch - even for an experienced dog owner.  She has such a soft and gentle personality that her "reserved" stages are very dramatic, as compared to the German Shepherd puppies I have raised in the past who seemed a bit shy, but not overly reserved.  I have had only one other dog who was as reserved as Emma is and that was my German Shepherd Gypsy, who was a quiet and reserved puppy and a very soft adult dog.  For Gypsy I did a lot of games to build her confidence, which truly helped her to become a bolder adult dog and able to handle startles and loud sounds without crumbling when she finally grew into an adult.  I am playing those games with Emma now.  I play "beat the puppy" which is just acting like I am beating her while I gently place my hands on her ribs or shoulders, she eats it up and starts to wiggle to death.  As the game progresses I just make my contact firmer and ensure I am not hurting her at any point, but just get her more comfortable with a thump on the ribs or a quick rub.   I also thump her ribs and tell her she's ripe or give her a quick rub.  Emma has grown bolder with these games and today when I dropped a can on the floor by accident she startled, but didn't crumble.  I was able to give her a thump on the ribs when she came to check what happened and she took that as a sign nothing bad happened.

Tonight I had an empty paper towel roll and played "beat the puppy" by gently taping her shoulders and ribs with it.  She got all excited and wiggly and stole it from me and ran off.  It's the same games I play with Max off and on and he too gets happy playful and smiles up at me.

Tonight I watched for the Black Shark who rushes in and steals toys that Max gives me.  I placed my hands on them and let her try all she could to steal them from me and when she stopped trying to take them rewarded her with praise.  She quickly learned I wouldn't let her steal toys whenever she wanted.

I noticed during one of our play sessions that she has two blank spots on her lower jaw where her bi-cuspids are going to come in.  She's chewing hard on everything and I am about to rename her to El Destructo (a name I gave to a friend's Dachshund who destroys every toy she gets her mouth on) .  When Walter came I asked him to babysit Emma while Max and I went shopping.  I bought her three new toys - a rubber squeaky bone, a rubber squeaky ball and a new chew toy which had a hard rubber center ball with a rope tug through it (small enough for Attitude to play with).  The cost was minimal, since they are from the cheap bin at Walmart and there are several other types of toys like that for less than a dollar a piece.  These are her "destructo" toys.  I am about to put up the soft toys she's been shredding that Max enjoys and will only pull out one or two at night for Max to play with while she plays with her own toys.

I do have to say, it's nice to see Emma back to her bold self; Wilting Willow was very hard to work with.

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

22 Weeks: Training - Day 36

Emma, 21 weeks, sits on a mat in a box.

It's Monday again!  Emma arrived in such good spirits she practically climbed me as I held her after her owner brought her into the house.  The Wilting Willow who left my house last week was a blazing bold black bullet this morning.  It's amazing how quickly personalities in a dog can change as they grow.

Once Emma's owner left and she calmed a bit from the excitement of returning here, I began her training in earnest.  Peering at Level 2 I decided this week to work on Target, Go To Mat and Crate as her focused training plan.  Sit, Down, Come and other key parts of her learning will be handled as daily practice with lots of play and praise as rewards.

I selected those three because they are closely related.  Target translates into Go To Mat by having Emma target the mat as the goal location for her to succeed in earning a reward.  Placing the mat near and finally in the crate for her Crate lessons will help her transition to entering the crate and relaxing in it.  The first goal though, no matter how focused I may be on what she will be working on for the week, is having her In The Game.

Today she was ready for a bit of Target, but not really willing to eat her kibble as a reward.  Since she needs food in order to grow and she's earning her food by offering me behaviors, I stepped away from the Target lesson and just encouraged her to engage me in play for a bit.  She jumped and played and pawed and nibbled at me until she was about to explode with joy and then ate the kibble I offered her!  This was my goal, to get that first kibble into her to start her learning process and it worked.

It took me all last week and today to realize what the problem with earning her kibble, something she truly enjoyed when we started, is currently.  She's still teething and bringing in new adult teeth. As any parent will tell you, when a child is bringing in a new tooth they are fussy, not as hungry as normal and difficult to work with when they are in pain.  As we humans grow our bones slowly grow as well.  There is a point in the human growth that bone growth causes just as much pain as bringing in new teeth does and the child becomes difficult because of that pain.  Emma is experiencing all of this at a faster rate than a human child does.

A puppy has 28 teeth after the age of 8 weeks.  Between 3 to 8 months they start to loose their puppy teeth and bring in their adult teeth; a total of 42 teeth for most breeds.  In order to accommodate the larger number of teeth the puppy's jaw expands while they are teething by growing a bit wider and longer.  Thus, Emma's jaw has been growing rapidly to allow for her new teeth to grow in.  She's already brought in her incisors  canines and bi-cuspids and is now working on bringing in molars.  This process is painful and distracting to a young dog and thus, Emma's willingness to chew on her kibble as a reward is lower than when she was younger and not experiencing this pain.

In order to bring her into the game enough to work for the food she needs I am playing with her more.  I got onto the floor and played Catch My Fingers and Spin the Puppy and Batty Feet with her.  I got up and played Catch Me If You Can (she can) and snuggled and did anything that ramped her up enough to gain interest in food.  It's tiring, but her Wilting Willow mode from last week was not seen once today and a bold and bouncy puppy got serious on her Target games today.

This week will be a short week since I am leaving town on Friday for a weekend Science Fiction Convention.  Emma's owner will pick her up at my home after 5 PM on Thursday and enjoy a three day weekend with her.  Meanwhile, I'll continue to work with increasing Emma's food drive and desire to work for her kibble this week.

Today's Lessons:

Target

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 4 Target.  In this step Emma is to touch a post it note or bright tape on a wall.  I went to tape recently because Max kept poking it with his wet nose and knocking it off the wall.  Emma has not fully grasped touching tape on the wall and quickly fell out of the lesson.  I decided today to remind her of the fun Target can be and went back to touching my hand high and low and then metal, plastic and wood object high and low and moving to touch everything.  We were soon bouncing and playing while earning kibble.

We worked primarily on Target today.  She enjoys hand target and quickly played the touch the hand game with me.  I only worked on wall targeting sporadically to build her tolerance for touching the wall and build her confidence when she did.  She's just grazing the wall with her nose and side of her face right now and hasn't fully focused on the orange tape we are using on the wall.  In time she should be able to touch with purpose on the tape and we can then move forward to closing a cabinet door.

Go To Mat

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Go To Mat.  In this step Emma is to go to her mat from a distance.  When I placed the mat on the floor Emma quickly moved onto it, but didn't have a lot of room to be on it with a small female Dachshund sharing it with her.  I could see she was loosing her interest and again ramped her up with a bit of play and then started tossing treats and clicking for returning to the mat.  Emma quickly got into that game and enjoyed it.

Confidence Building

Emma needs her confidence built as she works through this fear period.  The Wilting Willow and tuning out of training are at much confidence issues as they are physical discomfort from her teeth. In order to build her confidence I am playing with her, taking her to places she can succeed and working on well known behaviors where her success rate is high.

She enjoys the games and truly enjoyed playing in the yard while I cleaned it up today.  She loved the tummy rubs and Batty Feet and other games I played.  She also lit up when I worked Puppy Push Ups with her while I was on the phone.  She's comfortable now throwing downs at the door and enjoys earning her time outside to play by giving me a quick down.

With her front teeth finally in, she's able to engage in some tug games, which she enjoyed today.  Tug is a fun and confidence building game that dogs enjoy.  She loved being able to tug on a toy with me while I talked on the phone with a potential client.

I will continue working on building her confidence and keeping the fun in our training.  It won't be long before she's out of this fear period and ready to face any challenge we give her.

Observations

Emma has a single minded need to chew on cat toys.  I have been keeping my room gated during the day to prevent dogs raiding the cat box and have placed the cat toys in my room, but Victoria prefers to play with them out in the living room and has not been getting near the level of exercise she has in the past because her toys are not where she likes to play.  Unfortunately, if her toys are where Emma can get to them Emma chews and shreds them and the cat still can't play with them.  I believe it's time to make it a default Zen to ignore and leave cat toys alone in the house.

Emma also has a rather annoying habit of stealing toys from hands when she can.  Tonight I was holding a ball for Max and Emma ran in and snatched it from my hand and ran off before I could even blink.  I've seen her do this to my son Walter, also and realize it's something I need to work on also.  This is, again, a Zen issue.  I need to teach her that if I have a toy in my hand and I have not given her express permission to take it, she can't just steal it from my hands.

Both of these will take me time to think through and then plot how to train and proof.

This week her confidence has improved by 100%.  She's bold and happy and engaged in the world, unlike last week.  It still astounds me how fast a puppy's personality changes from one week to the next.  I enjoy it when she's bold and confident and ready to tackle something new and look forward to this weeks lessons.

I do have to announce that Emma astounded me when my son was visiting earlier today.  Emma was in the office when my son was leaving; he stood in the doorway with the front door open and Emma came out of the office, peered around the front door and saw him standing there.  Instead of shooting between him and the door to escape in the yard, she instead turned and went to the spot I normally ask her to wait when I open the door and sat without being cued.  What a wonderful change to see!  Great job, Little Girl.

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

21 Weeks: Training - Day 35

Max is In The Game!  He is focused and ready
to do what I ask to earn his reward of
my throwing the tennis ball.

In Training Levels: Steps to Success Sue Ailsby talks about the dog being In The Game.  This means a dog who is willing to work with you.  A dog who wants to learn.  A dog who thinks the value of the reward is worth the effort of the behavior you are working on.  This means a dog who is participating in the training process.  Today, Emma was not In The Game.

I tend to do a lot of my training from a sitting position and know I should watch myself and train from both sitting and standing positions if I want Emma to be fluent in a behavior.  I am falling under the simple law of laziness which states if I can do it with the least amount of effort I will.  In my case, not only is it easy to do it with the least amount of effort, but a lower level of pain.  Standing for prolonged periods of time increases my pain levels - I have to bend to deliver the treat, and standing alone increases my pain levels.  Thus, I will start and proof a lesson while sitting and have to start again while standing.

Recently, with rapid weather changes, I have been skipping the standing portion of our training.  Today I stood and Emma went into Wilting Willow mode again.  She refused the kibble I offered (clearly asking her to train while I stood over her for just kibble was not worth her effort) and would go and hide behind my recliner.  What to do?

I had decided that she needed to be loosened up a bit anyway.  She's got sitting and staring at me and laying at staring at me to get me to click down pat.  What she doesn't have it active, get up and move and try different body positions and explore her world to get me to click down yet.  What to do?

Shape her of course.

Emma is not In The Game.  She has hidden her
face when I asked for a down.  (Picture taken early in her training)

I decided to shape her over to my green chair and have her put her feet on it, but the moment I stood the game was off.  She wanted nothing to do with the kibble and me and went into hiding.  Instead of trying to push through the lesson and force her into a shaping session she wasn't inclined to try, I took mental note from Sue Ailsby's book again and remembered her saying, "If I have 10 goals for the day and don't accomplish anything at all except spending 5 minutes with the dog In The Game, it was a good day.  When this happens consistently, the dog begins to arrive in any situation In The Game and ready to work or learn." ^{Pg 33}

Emma has been out of the game for most of the week and I need her in it in order for her to learn.  What to do was abandon any plans I had and just get her In The Game today!  So, I started talking in a happy, excited voice and playing Catch Me If You Can and clicking every little thing she did and stuffing food in her mouth.  In short order she was In The Game and I continued to click for anything that she did to encourage her to explore and try to get me to click and feed again.  We bounced and played and laughed and barked and soon she was play bowing at me and I focused on the rapid play bows and clicked for them.

She also did Stomp Feet at me when I stomped my feet and shook her head and just had a gay old time.  Attitude barked, Max raced around the house and we had way too much fun.  I was clicking for bows and she soon was throwing them faster and faster and having too much fun doing that.  We finished our "loosen up Emma" session with a lot of play and fun.

Yes, we did get some goal oriented learning done today, but mostly, we spent the day getting In The Game, which I felt was way more important than any goal I may have set for the day.

Today's Lessons:

Go To Mat

Emma (21 weeks) sits in the box on her mat
while I a seated in my chair.  She doesn't know this
behavior when I stand - yet.

Emma is working on Level 2: Step 2 Go To Mat.  In this step she is asked to go to her mat from a distance of two feet.  We are still working on approaching her mat from different angles and I have not added distance yet.  When I first taught her to get on her mat it was in front of me and I was sitting.  I decided to work on that part of the goal first and once again started with the mat in the box.

Emma tends to go to the box and turn and focus only on me.  We spent a hazardous few seconds staring at each other and getting nothing accomplished when this happens.  She'll sit for a second and then do a down and still no interaction with the box.  In truth, Emma hasn't figured out the box itself is the key to the game.

Any slight head turn, glance at or movement toward the box gets a click and I have to be creative and encourage her to get up and try moving around the box.  Once we get started she'll start to put her nose in the box and walk around it, but overall, she tends to lay next to the box and ignore it.  It took half her meal to get her into the box.

I took a break and went to stand and shape her into the box again while I stood.  That was when Wilting Willow Emma arrived and she slunk behind my recliner and tuned out of the game.  I had given her a click for looking at the box and offered her a treat and she refused it and left the training session physically.  This is not an uncommon response from her right now and though I am uncertain why this is happen, I do have a solution as to how to approach the problem. A dog unwilling to work for the food and hide behind my recliner is not going to learn anything.

I picked up the box and put it up and thought for a few minutes on what I could do to encourage her to work for her food.  I called her out, but she simply trenched in behind my recliner and refused to join me.  It was then I decided it was time to give up on Go To Mat and go for In The Game instead.  For one reason or another she's disconnected and not participating in our training and it does take both of us to train - my teaching her a new lesson and her willing to learn it.

I have seen this before.  Max became bored or disengaged with our training for a while and I couldn't think around the "I must train this behavior" mindset to get around the problem.  I talked with trainers and friends and felt frustrated and angry that my dog was giving me the cold shoulder.  In truth, my energy levels were all wrong and he wasn't in the least bit interested in playing with someone with such low energy.  Once I relaxed and went back to play as a reward he and I rapidly moved forward in our lessons.

Between the advice from Sue Ailsby, my experience with Max and my recognizing that somehow the fun had left training, I decided to bring it all back again for Emma.  I started by saying her name in a high pitched voice and pretending to trot away from her (remember, I don't trot well) and calling to her.  In less than five seconds she was out and bounding around me in total glee that I was playing with her.

We played Catch Me If You Can, which is simply my  pretending to run away and her catching up with me.  Remember, I don't run well either.  Emma caught me with no problem and we had a high pitched "oh you got me!" party.  She bounded and barked and played with me for several more seconds and I offered a kibble and sure enough she ate it.  Once I saw that food was again acceptable, we began clicking for anything she did.

Sniff Max's butt, CLICK!  How surprised she was!  Poke Attitude in the face, CLICK!  Throw yourself to the floor, CLICK.  Stomp your feet, CLICK!  We clicked and clicked and clicked and suddenly she was play bowing at me, CLICK!  She started trying other things and found the click only happened when she play bowed!  What fun!  She started throwing them at me more and more and got lots of clicks.  By the time we finished her food she was ready for a nap, but clearly had enjoyed herself.

So, no, we didn't progress on Go To Mat, but we did end up In The Game!

Fun

Emma needs fun in her life.  We have asked a lot out of her for the past few weeks and not provided a lot of relaxation and fun with other dogs that want to play with her.  Max tries, but he's a bit over-powering and the fun she should have just isn't there.  Attitude and Dieter do not want to play with her.  The cat tries sometimes, but then it's all sharp feet and hissy cat and Emma is left wondering what happened to a game that looked promising.  I don't have the energy to keep up a good rousing game like she wants and thus don't play enough with her when we aren't training.  She's being asked to act like an adult dog when she's truly just a pre-teen in desperate need of fun and play time.

My yard is too small for such adventures and the school ground too big and with unsecured gates to let her run off her energy.  I fear she wouldn't recall and end up escaping through one of the gates at this time and simply won't risk her that way.  Since it's Friday and what I see is a dog who needs to run and play with other dogs, I am going to take her to the local dog park; if it appears the dogs in the park are playing well and won't get too rough with her, we'll go in and she can make a new friend or two there and run her feet off.

If that doesn't work, I may just take her to my friend Ronda's house and let her explore that yard and play with Chautze.  Though older, Chautze loves playing with puppies and should find Emma enjoyable company for about fifteen to twenty minutes.  Either way, I am seeking fun for Emma today.

When we arrived at the Dog Park on the State Line there were three dogs who were playing together with lovely body language.  I took Emma and Max out and started for the gates.  Emma, upon seeing the strange new dogs, began to bark at them as they came to the fence to check out who was visiting their playground.  Emma and Max met them at the fence and Emma began to wag her tail and get excited about going in.

Once inside the three dogs went to greet Max, accepted he wasn't into a big greeting ceremony and came to Emma.  She cowered a little, so they all said brief hellos and then came to check me out.  Emma was settling in nicely with the three new dogs when a woman came in with two Great Danes.  One was 1 year old and the other 6 months old.  The 1 year old had good dog manners, but the six month old had none and promptly began jumping on and banging everyone with her big feet.

Emma told her that she didn't like that, which seemed to excited the big lug, so I called Emma out and she and Max and I started to explore the rest of the park.  At one point we ended up bottle necked with the first three dogs and the two Danes and again Emma was being over powered by the Dane puppy.

I tried to free her and get her behind me, but the Dane puppy was to fast and got Emma rolled onto her back.  It was at this point Max came in and with a deep grumble poked the Dane puppy hard in the ribs and pivoted over Emma so she could escape.  He made it clear that she was his to pick on and continued to block the Dane puppy from Emma until we could walk away.

Emma enjoyed exploring the park and following Max around as we worked our way through the paths.  She sniffed trees and explored branches and bushes and galloped around.  Off and on I would call her back to me and she'd race as fast as she could, scarf up the treat I offered (cooked chicken breast with bacon fast on it) and race off to explore a new area.  She recalled 5 out of 6 times on the first call and each time 10 to 50 feet away from me!  Way to go, Little Girl.

When get got back to the entrance Emma was again mugged by the Dane puppy and when the owner, who saw me blocking the puppy from Emma, said, "Just let them work it out." saw the scathing look I sent her way finally called her dogs and went away from us, I decided Emma didn't need to remain there with a pushy and scary puppy who would push her to snapping and defending herself.

All the other dogs were polite and gave her the space she needed and she enjoyed her visit, but she was not going  to "work it out" with a puppy twice her size who was pouncing and bullying her.  We left at that point with Emma happy and tired.

I will plan other visits to the Dog Park and decide if she can go in only if I see dogs who are playing nicely and not bullying other dogs.  If I am not comfortable with the group of dogs or the owners present, Emma, Max and I will go somewhere else for off leash play away from home.

Observations

What a roller coaster week for Emma.  Crashing metal bowls and falling canes.  Scary cameras and loud vet office visit.  New locations to practice quiet behavior and a loud and busy class to try to learn in.  No wonder she fell out of the game and decided to hide from the world.  A playful and fun introduction to new things in her life is in order during this fear period, but she also needs play mates and fun and puppy time.  That bouncy, almost contained energy of a 5 month old pup shouldn't be lost just because we are training her how to behave politely - she should enjoy life and revel in it and I am hoping by next week we'll be able to work on more exciting lessons and over come more fears.

I look forward to next weeks lessons and seeing how far Emma has moved forward in her learning.  She's such a sweet girl and I do enjoy training her.

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

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 33

Play with humans, other dogs and herself are vital to a
balanced and happy dog.  Emma needs playmates who'll
romp and play dog with her to help with her emotional
balance.

When I started training Max I was so goal oriented all I could see was I needed to get in so much training per day in order to reach my goal by a given time.  I got up in the morning and trained him, trained him on each break during my work day and lunch each day and ended our day with training.  I trained him 7 days a week and took him to one class after the next without a break to think and take in the lessons.  Instead of polishing each lesson we worked on in class, I got them good enough and started the next class assignment and didn't revisit and refresh what we had learned.  In the end Max seemed to forget everything he'd learned.  He dropped out of the game and disengaged from learning and I didn't pick up right away what was happening.  Max's head was full and he needed a break to think about what he'd already learned.  In his case he needed one month of no training to recover from the over-load.

I warned Emma's owners that this could happen with her also, so I built in a take-a-break day for her.  A day of rest and no new lessons, just using already known cues and a full day of being a dog.    Instead of rushing ahead to the new lesson I am working on polishing the ones she's learned and building a new lesson on already know behaviors.  It's kept her in the game and ready to learn each week when we start.

Another reason Max will drop out of the game is when he's had a very stressful event.  A weekend working at a Science Fiction Convention or going to the local Fair where there are a ton of people closely pressed together and strange sounds, scents and animals are two examples of such stressful events for Max.  When such events happen I plan a down day for him and evaluate him on the second day to see if he needs another day of rest before re-entering his normal, "boring" work environment.

Emma had two very stressful days back to back.  She went to the vet and then had a spontaneous field trip on Monday and then a very busy, active and loud class last night.  I wasn't surprised this morning when she wasn't in the game.  Instead of trying to push through and train despite her ho hum opinion of the kibble and the lesson itself, I decided to give her a day off.  Thus, today you'll see no lessons worked on.

I watched her for a bit and saw a puppy who was exhausted and sleeping a lot.  She wasn't in trouble constantly like she has been lately (chasing the cat, stealing toys, taking off with a forbidden and prized object) and she wasn't trying to engage Max or the other dogs in play.  This, for a five month old puppy, isn't exactly normal - so I got on the floor and played puppy style with her.

In short order Max joined and Attitude tried to tell everyone to knock it off.  Emma was play bowing and racing around the house, or flopping on the floor and playing batty foot with me and Max was zooming around the house also.  I played catch me if you can and who's got your nose and would calm them down and take breaks when everyone got way to wound up.

In no time she was stealing toys, chasing the cat, playing with Max and taking off with my weekly sales flyers.  She was running through the house with prized and questionable objects and truly enjoying herself.  Instead of being pulled into herself and acting slightly shutdown, she's being a puppy again.

We'll continue to play games today and enjoy our vacation day so that tomorrow we can hit the books again and continue her training.  I truly think she needs play dates with young dogs who'll play back, but I currently don't have access to any.  I hope her owners find her play buddies they can plan to take her too and let her blow off some of the pent up puppy energy she has.

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