17 Months: Training - Days 264 - 267

Sleepy head!

Monday

Whew!  I have been mass producing blogs to catch up after the major flare in my arms.  I am going to be suffering again from this, but getting so far behind can result in my not getting you the information you seek, which is, "How is Emma doing?"

Emma is doing great.  She arrived in a great mood and jumped right into training.  I set aside 30 kibble to reward her randomly during the day for calm behavior, such as sitting at my feet instead of jumping and moving calmly through the house or stopping barking when shushed.  It is working and I am glad to see her calming faster as I reward those behaviors.

Today I pulled out a sock and put it loosely on my hand.  I she promptly took hold of it and started to pull, but not with enough force to pull it off.  After a few clicks she got the idea and pulled it free, though I saw some paw lifting.  Once I heavily rewarded the good behavior she was spot on and pulling it off no matter how much I put it on. She finally pulled it off when I had it fully and tightly on my hand.

I then put it loosely on my foot and she promptly targeted my foot and pulled.  No paw lifting this time, but still not enough pull to remove it.  A few clicks and she had it.  We got up to my sock being on 3/4ths of the way and her pulling it off in a smooth even action.

I have also been insisting she not climb on me all the time, but lay at my feet like she would if she was working.  She is getting more comfortable with this and no longer acts like she's whipped if I tell her I don't want her on me.  Her self confidence is increasing also.  I am very happy seeing this.

Tuesday

Emma - Tug Task Training

The snow on her back legs turned
into ice within a minute or two of coming
into the house.

Emma is working on task training now and doing such a fantastic job of it.  She has been learning some of her tug tasks, such as helping with undressing and making a bed or even opening a door.  I have worked this week on just pulling off socks and will work on jackets, pants and shirts over time.  Today I filmed what happened, so I won't be talking about the training as much as about her poor cold self.

Yesterday 3 inches of new powder fell, making my yard into a winter wonderland with the already existing snow from the past two snow falls still laying on the ground.  She came in from her outside playtime yesterday with loose packed snow in her coat, but not a lot of had packed snow.  Today the temperature went up and the snow became sloppy and sticky.  She had a hard time with the snow in her coat.

Snow balls packed into the fur around her legs, between her toes and into her pads.  She had it on her back legs so deeply that it went to the skin and she was distracted by it as it began to pull and clump into ice balls in the house.  I looked over as I was preparing to train her and saw her turned and chewing on her fur in a way that would remove huge clumps of it and hurt her.  I had to brush the ice out of her fur and then towel dry her, but even then, she was soaking wet.  Her legs and feet didn't dry between each outing, which means she has moisture against her legs for hours on end.

Jack, who recently had his coat cut, got a very tight cue on his lower legs for this very reason.  Though the fuller look is very pretty, in weather where snow, ice and water can gather in fur that takes up to 2 hours with a blow dryer to dry after a bath and then 2 hours of air drying after to fully dry, the fuller look on the legs can be an issue for keeping her dry overall.

Jack was a quick brush with a towel to remove the snow and a quick dry of his tightly trimmed feet and legs and he was dry within 5 to 10 minutes after coming in from outside.  When we were at the groomers we'd spotted pink, slightly swollen tissue in the depths of his pads from water resting there after playing in the snow and wet.  We did a major clean up between his pads to help dry them and are now working to prevent an infection in his feet.

I am worried that Emma is at risk of an infection in her feet and legs if we can't find a way to keep her dry or dry her out sooner.  I will continue to do what I can to dry her out - but even 4 hours after towel drying she was still damp against her skin.  This can't be good for her in the long run.

I am fairly certain that isn't my chair any longer.

Wednesday

Wednesdays are busy days here and not always a promise I will get formal training done.  Jack was scheduled to stay the day at his home, so a later start in the day than normal was a nice change of pace.  Emma, for a couple of weeks now, has been waking me by barking and setting the house off.  The week prior Malcolm had still been sleeping in his crate and Emma had access to the living room.  Twice she went out and barked at some things she either heard or saw and set the whole house off at extremely early hours.  Now that Malcolm has joined us in the bed and is learning to sleep through the night without eating the house I have the room once again gated.  Emma woke us on Tuesday by barking at something and Wednesday she did it again at 7:45 AM.  Not sure what she's hearing, unless it's the first kids going to school and the long cold winter and reduced physical exercise is finally making her batty like everyone else in the house.

I had been giving her carrots at night with the other dogs, which she took and ate, but stopped after 4 mornings the previous week being woken to her vomiting up some of the carrot in the morning.  Not sure why they do that to her, but they do appear to make her a bit urpy and I am not exactly happy to wake to her bringing up some bile in the morning.  This week, without giving her any carrots, the urping has stopped - so this is a good thing.

The other thing I faced the previous week was Emma peed and pooped in the house.  I am letting her out often and all dogs get a run outside right before bedtime, but for some reason she was having bladder and bowel control issues.  It happens with all dogs and I just shrugged it off for the week.  I am happy to report a dry week and no midnight pooping - so things are back on track with her.

Knowing I had a very trying afternoon, I reserved my energy for it.  I fed the dogs in the morning and we just enjoyed a lazy morning with me catching up on some TV programs and a little light house work.  I have a trip coming up and was considering what I would need to pack the Thursday night (which will take me most of the night) to be prepared with two dogs attending me.  I also had an expectation of Walter coming over to get the routine for this years babysitting of Dieter and Victoria and knew I needed to put together a few things for him too.

I crated Emma and Dieter when I left for a 4 hour run of appointments.  I had let all the dogs outside for a good 15 to 20 minutes before I left and let them play and run off energy and get themselves cleared out.  I gave Emma a bone they'd been working on during the week in her crate and decided to crate her in the big crate instead of the smaller one she normally crates in and put Dieter in that crate instead.  I should have reversed it.

I had a physical therapy appointment, a vet visit to recheck Max's ears to ensure his ear infection was cleared up and weigh Malcolm to find out if my increase of food had him growing on track again and a client consult.  I left at 2 PM and would return just after 5:30 PM.  When I came in the house I could smell poop and wondered which of the two dogs had an accident.  It turned out to be Emma.

She had pooped, a lot, in her crate while I was gone and sat, laid and walked in it.  I let her out and sent her outside for the time it would take me to clean up the crate and floor (poopy foot prints) and get the bathroom setup to bath her.  I then clipped her lead on and walked her into the bathroom and bathed her.  She was very unamused with the sudden bath, but there was no way I was sleeping with her that way nor sending her home that way.

The poop was a little runny so it may have been a slightly upset stomach or simply she wasn't happy being crated and she stressed herself enough to get an upset stomach and thus pooped.  I don't know.  She was happy enough when I let her out and didn't give any appeasement or stress signs at the time, so I am truly at a loss as to why she had such an accident.  Poor baby.

She was curly as all get out and damp for most of the night after that; it was unavoidable.  I can't let her stay covered in her own poop - it's not fair to her or her owners.  I was going to brush her out that night, since bathing her tightens her curls into little knots, but since I would be heading to Haute Paws Grooming the next day, I decided to ask them to show me the best way to make her coat look right after a brushing and brush her there instead.

She was in a great mood the rest of the evening and after she dried enough she wouldn't make me wet, we cuddled and she slept like a log during the night without any further incident, but it wasn't something I expected to return too.  I think from now on I'll just put her in the smaller crate where she doesn't have as much room and see if that prevents a repeat of this surprise when I return from required errands.

See ya next week!

Thursday

Her curls were so tight when she woke and she looked like a little hobo with her hair all flat.  I knew I had an early morning and needed to head out to Max's scheduled grooming for my trip, so I didn't do any formal training, but instead packed up the entire household with Walter and headed out just after 9:40 AM.

Emma was happy to go and a bit surprised we'd packed up Dieter also.  Sandi and Ralph, who own Haute Paws, had invited all four dogs to come for the day while I worked on training their puppy Pi and they tormented Max with a bath and brush.  I had to look like some over taxed dog walker walking four dogs across the parking lot - Max working on my left and Emma, Dieter and Malcolm walking like a mini herd on my right.  Funny thing is, all three walked pretty much loose lead - though Emma is back to pulling again so I will need to work on that more.

Emma was happy to hang out and sniff the three Bermese Mountain Dogs (two puppies and an adult) and Lulu (a Pug) and hang out watching the activities.  I take her to the groomers once a week and drop her off and she doesn't see me for 3 days after that.  This was a visit to a groomer without my leaving - which I hope helps her relax a bit with my taking her to her regular grooming appointments.

It was a great day and I saw lots of fantastic behaviors from her that I rewarded randomly during the day.  She laid quietly watching us and being very confident and regal.  Sandi, who has met Emma previously, was highly impressed with Emma's improvement.  She could see she was calmer, more confident and relaxed.  Nice to hear!

We put Emma up on the table and Sandi showed me a better way to groom Ms. Emma.  We got her tight curls brushed and trimmed and dremmeled her nails and cleaned up her potty area a tiny bit to make her daily care easier.  She was great for the brushing, but nail trims are a nightmare for her and I had to hold her and reassure her we were not removing her feet.  Poor baby.

I had asked Sandi and Ralph to do Max as quickly as possible so I could be back in time for Emma's pick up time.  I set a two hour block aside for the family to pick her up in, and though I know they generally don't arrive at the top of that 2 hour block, I make myself available during it anyway.  I had Walter walk each dog out individually (except Max) and cue them to potty and load them in the van as we prepared to leave.  He said that all but Malcolm pottied - Malcolm had gone potty a short time before that and simply didn't need to pee.  He reported that it took Emma some time to get to business, but she did go.

She and all the other dogs, after an adventure of new people, dogs, smells and sounds were exhausted and slept on the way home.  Once here they all tanked up on water and I finally got a chance to clean up the yard.  I haven't been able to get to that job since the snow flew about 3 weeks ago.  With five dogs using .12 acre to go in, it can get a bit thick if not picked up regularly year round.  With the snow almost a foot deep at one point and the poop hidden and then a sudden thaw that left the yard a swamp for 3 days I simply couldn't get the job done until today.

I let her and the boys out with me and they played and romped in the yard while I picked up.  She was outside when her caregiver came to get her.  She was in fantastic spirits after a good romp in the yard and I watched as she walked tall and jumped in her van to head out for the long weekend.  She won't return until Next Tuesday and a long day of dog friendly public access was a good end to her week and then a fun filled weekend with her family.

I am happy to see her confidence and mental and emotional health improve so much.  She showed no fear signs all day and had a great day and I do believe she'll handle other public access situations with more confidence now.  I am looking forward to restarting that part of her training.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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

17 Months: Training - Days 259 - 263

Excuse me sir, I was here first.

Monday - Friday

Emma returned with her spirits high and her bounce in full force.  I had hoped that the small changes I was seeing the week before, better focus, confidence and persistence would continue and I wasn't disappointed.  She was a new dog!

Emma has been, since she was a baby, a challenge to train.  She was uncertain, even as a baby, about taking food when offered and some days she was so fearful she would slink away and pee herself.  It was a challenge to bolster confidence and work at a pace that kept her from shutting down.  Had I even thought that teaching her to eat would change so much in her I would have done it ages ago.

She worked 3 Rounds of Tug Tasks with me.  We worked on the cabinet door, the easier of the tasks to start teaching the concept she can pull as well as push the same item.  She had been barely opening the cabinet before this and lifting her paw as she did, her sign she was worried.  Even with Malcolm making a fuss behind the gate across the kitchen she would just glance at him and then go right back to the task at hand and was IN THE GAME.

Do you know this dog?

She was up, her tail waving happily and her face relaxed and happy.  She was working on the task with a steady improvement each time she pulled and though the paw was coming up, she was starting to lift less and work harder, a sign her confidence was improving.  She got the cabinet half way open, the furthest she's ever opened it and she was totally ready to keep working when her time finished.  Who is this dog and why hadn't she shown up before?

We then worked Swing Finish and for the first time she wasn't shy, worried, slow, hunched, low to the ground, but up and almost dancing!  Who is this dog?!  For 2 Rounds she was playing and having a great time with zero fear!  I love it.

Tuesday was a no training day.  I had appointments and I wanted her to think on what I had worked on the day before.  Returning to full training needs to be done with some care and I want her fantastic mood to stay.  She's eating without hesitation and dancing when I bring out the food and I am loving it.

Wednesday I had only Emma and Malcolm to train since I had afternoon appointments and Ronda and I decided to keep Jack home.  She was once again ignoring Malcolm who was whining at the gate like he was be tortured - which he was, since I was giving food to someone else.  She would glance at him and work on her tug task - which was once again opening the cabinet.

She continued to improve and her entire body was relaxed and I had very little paw lifting.  She opened the cabinet! I have it on film and I was thrilled.  Once she got it open she was flying.  She knew she had it figured out and the paw lift just faded away as she improved on the skill.  I am so happy with her progress!

We again worked on pivoting as I pivot.  I was standing at the time, but will transfer it to a chair and finally the wheelchair.  It's a safety factor to keep her feet out from under the wheels and makes her look more professional when working with the chair.  She was so happy and focused and even began getting the idea of backing up with me.  This is just plain fun now.

Thursday we worked on shaping a back up to help her learn to pull open a drawer.  We moved our tug task to the drawer, but she was again at that, I don't know what you want and was starting to shut down.  I changed tracks and asked for a back up and low and behold, she's swinging into a heel!  Clearly she has that on her mind and has been working it out.  I can see her looking to get into the right position and it's just plain fun to watch.  What a smarty pants.

We also worked on tugging a sock off of my hand.  I had it loose on my hand and started the tug task she'll need to help her handler pull off his clothes.  She got the idea, but I had the sock on very loosely.  I then went and got a jacket and hung it over my shoulder with my arm in the sleeve and she was able to solve and pull my jacket off my arm.

She was soft on her pull in the beginning and it took a lot of click and pull to get there, but once she pulled it off the first time she suddenly got it and pulled it with gusto the second time.  She is better with my right arm than my left, but I will continue to build up to removing a jacket proper.

Friday she went for grooming, so she ate breakfast and we left for the groomers.  Unlike the last time, she wasn't shaking in fear when we arrived, but she wasn't totally happy to be there either.  Inside she kept trying to pull me away to the front door.  At least it was nerves this time and not full blown fear.

What a remarkable change in this tiny mite of a pup.  I am very happy with her and will soon rebuild her public access training and see if she can't improve on that and not have the fallout I've seen in the past.


Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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

17 Months: Training - Days 255 - 258

Her face has matured so much.

Tuesday - Friday

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

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

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

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

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

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

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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

16 Months: Training - Days 251 - 254

Emma before we started her new protocol.

Tuesday

I make an effort to meet Emma's owner outside when she drops Emma off so I can watch and evaluate their communication when walking.  I have been slowly fine tuning it and trying my best to help the walk from the car to me improve over time, but it's still been a bit off and it wasn't until the last time she had been dropped off I realized what it was.  Emma has a bad habit of sniffing the ground when she's walking and not paying any attention to her handler, not just her owner but I experience it also at least half of the time.  I had worked on it with her by adjusting how I hold the lead and how I communicate through it and was happy with her improvement with me.  I had then relayed to her owner that to keep her head from going down they needed to shorten the lead so she had less of a chance of sniffing.  What I didn't relay was a proper way to hold the lead.

Emma is their second dog and as hard as they are working to learn and understand her, they don't have the experience I do with dogs.  I have lived with, walked and raised dogs all of my life.  I have a ton of experience of holding a lead and just walking with the dog with a relaxed body and relaxed lead.  They do not.  It's like driving a car or learning to skate.  There is hesitation and a ton of things that need to be remembered and put into muscle memory.  Do you remember when you first started driving?  Checking the gauges, looking in the mirrors, making sure you were in alignment in the lane, gauging how wide the car was and more were ALL on your mind ALL at once and there was a lot of slow movement and hesitation in figuring out how to park or turn a corner.  Driving in a straight line didn't come naturally and only with experience did it become second nature.  The though of drinking a cup of coffee and eating a burger while turning up the volume on the radio and driving at the same time would have been overwhelming!  It's the same when learning how to walk with a dog and keep it fluid and the communication clear - a hundred tiny things to figure out and remember and try to do and all the while you are WALKING at the same time.  No wonder it is a struggle for both ends of the leash.

Now some dogs make it look easy.  They just get it and walk nice and loose on the lead and plod along at your pace.  Some people also never had the struggles of learning to drive either; they just got into the car and drove and it was perfectly natural.  Some people have the knack to get it and work a dog without hesitation or issue and the dog just gets it and follows along.  Some people can put on roller blades or skates and just go too.  Those people or dogs are rare and Emma is not one who just gets it nor is her owner able to just pick up the lead and have that wonderful communication.  There is nothing wrong with it and the family is doing nothing wrong, but it does mean I need to evaluate what I now do naturally (having driven a dog since childhood) and must break apart and share.

Thus, this morning I met her halfway down the ramp and explained why things were going a bit funky with poor Emma.  She had the leash in her right hand (the tail of it) and about halfway up the length of the leash she had in her left hand and she was lifting up (as per my instructions as she understood them) making a straight line from her to Emma with the leash and putting tension on the leash at all times.  This triggers an opposition reflex in the dog, which she wouldn't know, and for Emma adds stress to the generally pleasant walking experience.  How to explain what I do that is different and explains things better, but helps keep Emma's nose up?

We discussed it and I took Emma's lead (her excitement level was perfect, she was thrilled to be there and excited by the smells and totally distracted) and I curled the leash in a loop in my left hand to take up the excess amount and left about 1 to 1 1/2 foot between her and I - IE, just enough to let the leash be loose when we walk and my hand hangs down (the owner had her hand about shoulder height to keep the leash high enough to prevent her from sniffing) and just short enough to prevent her nose from reaching the ground without my knowing and being able to gently curl my wrist and shorten it just enough to catch her attention (without a leash pop or correction) as her head went down and bring her attention back to me.  My body was relaxed, my arm hanging normally at my side and I made myself a bit more exciting than the environment and got her into position and we walked up to her owner with minor sniffing and mostly loose lead.  I explained what I was doing and what I was looking for to prevent her from pulling by activating the reflex and give her a bit more communication through the lead that wasn't tense or worried - which trust me, I have fed that down a lead in the past also and it just makes the dog more anxious.  It took  me a long time to realize that was EXACTLY what I was doing to Dieter and a longer time to fix my own mistake.

I then handed the lead back to the owner and had her walk Emma up to me (about 5 to 7 feet) and low and behold Emma was paying attention to her suddenly and doing a nice job.  I have to say, her owner did a great job of listening and working with me and I appreciate the effort she put in.  It isn't easy to learn how to walk a dog where the two of you are in perfect sync, but once you know how it feels, boy howdy, do you want to have every dog from the point on do the same thing.  I may have to have her walk Jack sometime to feel it.  Jack is the best lead trained dog I have right now and he's like walking air.

Over the weekend Emma's owner worked on the protocol for Teach Your Dog to Eat.  They stuck to their guns and Emma was eating without issues and completing her meals by the time they brought her back.  Since Emma lives in two houses and there are, by default, difference in rules and structure in both home, she decided to try this morning to see if the new rules at her other home were the same ones here.  She is ONLY working on this protocol until she's eating with relish and looking for more when she finishes and not training task or basic skills at this time.

I set her bowl down, counted to five slowly and when she just stood looking at me picked her bowl up and set it aside for the day.  That was it.  It's a huge thing to train a dog to eat and the protocol that Sue Ailsby uses is highly effective and has taught all the other dogs in the house that have done it to eat and work for food.  It's Emma's turn and she's learning.

The rest of the day we used play to build impulse control and just enjoyed being together.  Her first day or two in my house is a no snuggle day due to some perfume the family uses in the home.  It makes my sinus' swell and makes it hard for me to breath.  It also makes my eyes water.  It's not strong on her coat most of the time, but due to her coat type it is deeply embedded by the time she returns and any very close contact causes me to react.  The last few times I have had troubles breathing if she puts her fur up in my face and I get a deep breath of it.  I am allergic to it and need to let her air out a bit before I can be close to her.  I need to find a better spray to put on her coat to remove the scent so I can be close to her sooner.  She's starting to get it though. She'll curl against me, but not put her head in my face until I invite her too.  It's a solution, but no the best.  Poor girl loves to cuddle.  Being able to play and get that type of interaction is important, since her favorite full body contact is out for a short time.

She is doing very well on her impulse control in play, but gets very jumpy.  At mid-day I decided to click for her feet hitting the floor and reward with physical contact.  I have muted the clicker I use in the house and can carry in my pockets and she's responding better to it. The instant I clicked and then petted her she lit up.  Very good.  We'll use that for a while and build impulse control while she works on learning to eat.

This evening when I put her food down she decided I was as serious as her owners about her eating her food and ate her entire dinner with only a brief stop to peer at me when I blocked the other dogs from entering the kitchen while she was eating.  After that she didn't stop eating until she finished.  Slowly she'll build confidence in eating with me nearby (a problem for her) and with the other dogs moving around (a problem for her) and with the gate opened or closed (closed is a problem for her) and learn that eating is safe and easy to do.

Wish us luck!

Hey, I was here first!

Wednesday

Emma is out of the food her family feeds her at my home and her family was supposed to bring me some when they dropped her off this week.  By accident it was forgotten and her owner stated she would bring it this morning.  Jack was not due to come today due to a schedule conflict, so I took a bit of extra time letting the muscles in my legs wake up before starting our day.  Emma had been fussy all night and woke me several times when she flopped across my legs or body slammed my legs.  It was always my legs and below my knees, so I think her sensitive self was aware I was in a great deal of pain - which was why I hadn't been able to fall asleep until well after 1 AM.  She's never done this before, but I suspect her boy has bad leg nights and she's grown used to pinning them to help him rest.  That is what it felt like she was trying to do - stop my legs from doing the jig.

I had expected her family to arrive with her food between 7:30 AM and 8:30 AM and so was waiting for them at that time.  Generally they arrive at the end of the hour, so I got my coffee and let them out for a run and then started to do my dishes, but my feet and hip still hurt, though not as bad as they did the day before.  Read Malcolm's post for this week to discover what type of day I truly had.

By 9 AM it was clear that her family had forgotten to bring her food, so I decided to feed her the same food my dogs eat and got everyone's breakfast.  I am currently feeding Emma out of a ceramic bowl after the fear reaction she had of the metal bowl when she returned.  I don't know what type of bowl she eats out of at home, but I am working up to her being able to pick up and hand her bowl to her handler to make it easier for him to be part of her daily care giving.  To do this she needs to eat out of a metal bowl (plastic bowls tend to collect bacteria and speed up the graying of the muzzle) and learn to pick it up.  When she was 4 months old I accidentally dropped her metal bowl right in front of her and frightened her badly.  It took months to recover from that one incident.

Before she went on vacation she was eating out of the metal bowl, but she was still stiff in the hind legs and a little leery of it, but I was seeing her relax more each day with the bowl.  She was able to slide it along the floor and had heard it drop a few times and not freak out.  When she returned she was back to the almost peeing herself frightened of the bowl.  Not sure if it's a phase and she just needs a little break from it or what, but I first want her willing to eat and THEN reintroduce the metal bowl and re-teach her to eat from it.

She is eating now without too much hesitation.  She goes right to the bowl and starts eating within 1 second of being released to eat.  She raised her head once today while I was moving to block Malcolm and Max from entering the kitchen while she ate, but went right back to her meal and finished it.  I am introducing distractions while eating slowly.  I have stopped shutting the gate and have turned my back on her.  That helped.  I stood still yesterday, but today moved around while she ate.  As she finished I let the dogs into the kitchen and retrieved her bowl.

The rest of the day would be spent cuddling and playing and visiting with a friend who dropped by.  She was very happy to meet him and curled up in his arms for a while during our visit.  In the evening I put her bowl down and this time waited until she was almost done before letting the dogs into the kitchen.  She was eating without issue and even with Malcolm standing close to her she continued to eat and finished her meal.

For the remainder of this week she'll work out of the ceramic bowl and I'll just allow the dogs into the room sooner until she's okay with the idea of them being in the room while she eats.  Next week we'll start from the beginning with the metal bowl and do it all over again.  By the end of next week she should be completely reset on her eating habits and I can, near the end of the week, start training her with some of her kibble.

Upper Left: Dieter, Middle Left: Emma, Middle Right: Malcolm,
Lower Left: Max and Lower Right: Jack

Thursday

It's funny how teaching Emma to eat improves her overall confidence.  I have been slowly introducing distractions in the room she's in while she's eating.  First it was my being in the room and still and then my being in the room and moving and then I added the dogs entering the room while she was just finishing her meal and finally the dogs entering the room while she's eating her meal.  She's able to eat without stopping now and there is not hesitation in her starting her meal.  I still see some stiffness in her body, but it's slowly leaving and her confidence each meal is increasing.

This change in her is bleeding over into her daily life.  Since I am not clicker training her while we work on her learning to eat I play games or just cuddle with her during the day.  Mostly, I am teaching her she's okay even if I am not paying attention to her.  She's always been one of those dogs that needs a ton of input from her humans to feel secure.  She wants verbal, physical and emotional support on an almost constant basis and it's truly exhausting.  These past two weeks I have rewarded her with affection and attention or food when she came out from behind my recliner and whenever I pass the recliner and she's laying in it I just stroke the top of her head and look at her.  It seems to be just enough to make her feel okay with her world.

When I am relaxing in my chair and I don't want a dog on me she's learned she can lay at my feet and it's okay.  She's discovered she can go into the big crate and enjoy a bone and all I do is walk by and praise her.  She's also learning that getting excited and barking gets her nowhere.  She's started this bounce and bark habit in the past month when I get up or it's time to go outside and it riles the whole house up.  It doesn't help Max does much the same with yakking at me in GSD speak and I am now hearing Emma use the various vocalizations he uses when she wants to convey her excitement to me.

Today I simply stopped and ignored every dog in the house when she and Max got into a bark off.  Once they quieted I would take a step and if they barked and wound up again I stopped.  It took 20 minutes to cross from my kitchen to my front door, but both her and Max got the message and it was quieter going to the door for the remainder of the day.

She also learned that going into leaping fits of excitement stopped my progress to the door and she's calming down a bit on that too.  It's a work in progress, but every dog in the house is given the choice to be over excited and stay in or calm and go out.  Since the reward is to go play outside, they are quickly picking up on the rules.

She is quickly and without fear or hesitation going into the smaller molded crate when I call her name and cue her.  She is staying quiet in the crate and waiting to be released whenever I have company come without fussing or protesting.  The new routine of crating her and Jack, putting Max in the office and Dieter in the bathroom and clipping a lead on Malcolm has helped with answering the door.  Every so often Emma or Jack will go in a room with either Max or Dieter on their own and I am okay with that - I just want them to have a given routine and to know mugging guests is not okay.

Today I dropped a bowl while working with Jack.  I was in the kitchen and Emma was in my recliner.  I glanced to see how she reacted and she didn't even hardly move and then decided to lift her head and watch me calmly over the arm of the chair.  This same event a month ago would have been too much for her and she would have run behind my chair.  I was very pleased to see that.

Later I was talking to her while I stood behind the gate to the kitchen and tapping and rattling it while she stood less than six inches from it and she was upbeat and didn't show stress or fear signs.  This is also a huge change from the week before when the gate and the sounds of the gate bothered her.  This evening I was playing fetch with Max and the ball banged and bounced off the gate while it leaned against the wall and she didn't flinch or become worried and when the gate to the bedroom fell and rattled a storm she startled, but recovered quickly and checked in with me to see if she should be worried.

These are all huge changes for her and I am happy to see them.  Right now, while she's learning to eat, we are not going on public access outings.  I am getting a solid baseline for her mood and her ability to handle stress now that she's eating well and feels more confident and when we return to public access training with her again I will get a better idea of what is and isn't causing her high stress and what type of fall out a public access outing causes her.

This has been a good thing, teaching her to eat, and I believe it will help her progress faster once we are done with this training protocol.

Friday

It's been a productive week with Emma.  She is eating each meal without hesitation and faster each day.  She is not nearly as worried when she's eating and she can now handle sounds and movement and other dogs while eating.  Her confidence slowly improved with the praise and affection for randomly asked for known behaviors and not being forced to work for her food during this time period.

Today I share a video with you of Emma on a Friday and looking pretty happy and confident.  If you review the videos from this month you'll see not long ago my first Friday video was of Emma being almost completely shutdown and unable to train until I did something to build her confidence.  Even then, she wasn't relaxed or happy or even in the game.  There was a ton of worry in her body language in that video.  My next video showed her training and looking much better, but still not fully in the game but happier and more relaxed - that second video was shot less than a week later.  The next video, shot one week after the first showed Emma up and happy and a in a much better mood, but we weren't training, just playing.  It was the contrast between the second and third videos that helped a friend and I deduce that Emma is uncomfortable with the more serious structure of training and we'd need to make some changes for her to make training fun.

So, stage one - train her to eat.  This part is going very well and next week we'll be working on training her to eat from a metal bowl as well as she eats from a ceramic bowl.  The next step was using praise, affection and play to get behaviors she already knew and associate them as rewards and keep focus.  I have worked on that this week.  The video above shows the outcome of that.  She's not totally up, but her focus has improved by droves and she's able to do more and work harder with me this time and with less fall out afterwards.

I will introduce praise, affection and play paired with food to make food give her the same happy feelings the former does and start working on basic behaviors to do that to improve success.  Hopefully, by the end of next week I will see almost no fallout after training and a happier dog as a result.

By fallout I mean stress signs.  After the video I shot today Emma climbed in my chair and went into stress relieving chewing on a bone for about 15 minutes.  This behavior should reduce when she is in the game and she'll be able to handle stress overall better as a result.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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

16 Months: Training - Days 246 - 250

Monday

Are you awake?  I need to pee.

Emma was in a much better mood on her arrival than she had been on her departure.  Poor girl had me worried.  I think the 2 weeks of rest time helped and my changing how things work here helped too.  I had more changes in mind to help her learn better and a new plan on place after seeing the bell curve her week was previously. I would rather a more stable week and if a single, quiet public access outing continues to create such a bell curve in her week and doesn't flatten out and become a stable learning curve, I will have to make the decision she'll work in home only for her handler and not push her any further on the public access.  I will make this decision after the 18 month mark, but work slowly on her public access material to see if she can't find a balance in the meantime.

I had mentioned this to her owner, who understood that I could never promise she would work out as a public access dog and understood that at some point I would need to make an honest evaluation of her ability to work in public and decide what is best for her emotionally.  I am glad she understands that and understands that even as an in home service dog, Emma will provide a great deal of support and independence for their son.

Part of the problem is Emma internalizes her stress when out which results in her displaying stress signs at home.  She become harder to work with, more fearful and less willing to join training because of this.  The trick is to build her confidence in small increments and hope, by the time she's out of this fear period, we've shored her up enough she can do her job in public as well as home.  If not, then Emma will be designated for in home service work only and we'll focus on how she can do her job in that setting.

Part of that is giving her more space while we are training and reassuring her she's safe during our training sessions.  High rate of re-enforcement and no wrong choices when we set out to train will make things easier on her.  Since I had a busy weekend and didn't get my household chores done during it, I decided to start our morning a bit differently.  I decided to do the chores first and get my house in order to make my mood better.

Emma has had a problem with the vacuum since she was little, so I was very pleased to see her carrying a bone around me while I vacuumed and not running to hide.  She was stressed, but not so stressed she'd decided she needed to hide.  What a lovely change.  I have been, since our return from vacation, rewarding her coming out of hiding and ignoring her going into hiding.  It's improved her mood and made her less worried about the world around her.  I am glad I worked that out over vacation - I like this change in her mood.

After that I got the dishes, laundry and steaming of the floor done.  I normally feed the dogs between 8:30 AM and 9 AM when I am feeding them out of their bowls, and generally have training for all three done by 9:30 AM when training for kibble.  This time I didn't even start until almost 10 AM and worked with Emma last, which made her meal nearly 11 AM by the time I started.  The change was immediate - she took her first kibble without hesitation and worked straight through with a better body language than previously.

I also decided to change her warm up routine from basic Level 1 behaviors to Click to Calm lessons.  I played the Up/Down game and the Side to Side game (much like the Come Game) and LAT with her.  She is worried about Max and Jack on the other side of the gate and being gated in the kitchen with me.  That's okay, we'll work on her confidence in this setting and relieve that worry and then work on training.

For Rounds 2 and 3 we just worked on Tug Tasks.  She again couldn't focus and it turned into a LAT session instead.  I had Malcolm in the crate, but just having Max and Jack on the other side of the gate and laying quietly was a bit overwhelming for her, so whenever she peered at them I clicked and rewarded.  By the end of Round 3 she was up to taking the tug in her mouth and starting to pull back - she chose to return to the lesson on her own, I just went with what she needed and helped her regain focus.

Since I had a long day with Jack I didn't do another training session with her.  Instead, when it was time for dinner I put the gate back up and gave her her food in the kitchen and left the kitchen.  She took about 2 minutes to decide she could eat in peace and ate the rest of her daily allotment of food.  Excellent.

Tuesday

We are having a much better week!

Sending the dogs out to play when Jack arrives has improved everyone's mood.  Emma and Jack and Malcolm have a high romp in the yard for about 15 minutes and come in happy and tired.  It's been a good choice to stop having the flooding of four dogs mugging Jack the moment he comes in and my trying to calm everyone down from their high excitement of having him join the party.

I again waited for a late start on the day for training Emma.  Making her a bit hungry helps her want to train and I wanted to see if the day before was a bit of a fluke or a solid observation.  I got my shower in and watched a bit of TV and ate my breakfast (which I normally don't do) and let the dogs have   a couple good romps outside before pulling up the bowls and starting the lessons for the day.

Emma is no longer defaulting to behind my recliner and is instead just laying in it and relaxing.  She watches me approach and doesn't move to get out unless I ask and accepts my pats on her head without stress signs.  It's a good thing.  When she comes to see what I am doing or checks in somehow I reward with praise, affection or food.  She is becoming more a part of the herd of dog seeking what I am doing and less the dog who goes and hides when I am surrounded.  Nice to see.

I gated the kitchen to work with Jack and Emma raised her head.  Seeing the gate goes up means its her time with me and I am seeing an interest in that.  Nice.  After I finished with Jack she came to me and we started out lesson.  I once again did Click to Calm games of Up/Down, Side to Side and Clicking for every two steps while she followed me.  Once again she was eating without hesitation, which is fantastic, this means her stress levels are lowering and she's feeling more confident.  She is still slow in her movements on the Side to Side and Up/Down game, but I am seeing an improvement in speed in the Up/Down game.  She seemed to calm the most with the moving game.  

In the beginning of the three minutes she was a bit hunched, a bit low and her tail was tight to her rear.  At the end of the three minutes she was standing tall, her tail was relaxed and she wasn't hunched as much as when we started.  The hunching and slow response was about all that told me she was still feeling stress.

For Rounds 2 and 3 I wanted to work on Tug, but she needed to work on LAT.  I had left Malcolm out of his crate this time and though he wasn't whining or banging on the gate, his presence was hard on her.  I worked LAT for the entire second round with only two attempts to work on Tug by her choice.  For the 3rd round I switched from clicking when she looked to clicking when she looked back.  In the second round she was stuck staring at the other dogs and while she was sitting, her body was clearly tense and her shoulders were rolled and her head was ducked down a bit.  By the end of the second round she was relaxed, her shoulders were square and her head was up and her ears were flaring forward as she looked.  This meant she wasn't so much stuck as I wasn't giving her time to choose to look away.  On the third round I withheld the click and she turned to look at me.  Her body was still relaxed and her head still high and her ears still flaring forward to look at the other dogs.  It was a relaxed look at them and wait for the click.  Okay, good, now I want her to focus on me and not them.

It worked, she could look at them and back to me and off and on offer a look, touch or grip on the tug.  We didn't get anywhere on the tug task, but we got somewhere on confidence.  She stood up and I saw her tail flash with a wag whenever I clicked.  Her tail was loose, her head was up, she breathing was normal, her focus was improving and her body was tall.  It was the best session ever, it was true communication between us and not a single word was said by me.  I just clicked to tell her that I got it, the boys worried her with that gate, and it was okay and she could work on her task and be safe.  Fantastic communication.

Just now the kids (also known as dogs) all got to rumbling around me while I sat working on the IPad typing this blog in my wheelchair.  I had just moved to get the sun out of my eyes and had deployed my cup holder for my Pepsi and set my e-cig on the holder while I worked.  Malcolm came around that side of the chair and knocked it off.  Emma went through the throng of milling dogs, picked up the e-cig, walked around to my more open side and handed it to me.  That folks, is the first sign her confidence is truly improving.  She got lots of love for such a fantastic auto retrieve.  Good girl!

Wednesday

Good morning sleepy head.

Good lord, it's 10 PM already and I still have Jack's blog to update before bed.  What long days I have during the week.  No wonder all I want to do on the weekends is nothing!

Emma woke me just prior to 7:30 AM this morning with her insistence to go outside.  I let her and the boys out for their potty run and when they came in curled up in bed with them.  She loves to drape across my body first thing in the morning while I wait for the pain of first standing on my feet to leave and the spasms in my legs to let up.

While she was turning upside down and trying very hard to win Cutest Dog on the Planet contest, I noticed that Malcolm, who normally goes in the other room and then returns every 5 to 10 minutes, had not returned for 15.  I got up to find he'd been destuffing my recliner through a hole in the seat.  It was decided at that moment I should cover it and thus the picture you see shows Emma on the newly covered recliner.

My morning schedule that thrown for a loop right after my morning coffee.  Having quickly showered and dressed after Jack's arrival and the mighty romp and run in the yard they enjoy each morning, I decided I would actually sit down and enjoy my morning coffee instead of drinking it while training.  I had just started Malcolm's training and finished his first round when my oldest called.  The phone call resulted in an hour and half delay in getting back to training the dogs and a 15 minute remind and recoup after getting off of the phone.  I didn't get to Emma for training until almost 11:30 AM.

I filmed all of the dog's morning lessons.  I wanted a base line of Emma's mid-week behavior prior to her public access outing so I could film her after she'd been out and see how much body language differences I could see.  I have attached that video for your review.

Click to Calm/Tug/LAT

We are working on confidence building, so our first lesson is a couple of pattern games - the Up/Down game and the Ping Pong game.  Her speed on bringing her head up and her going to get the treats when I toss them has improved.  I am glad to see that.  The cat came in during that round and Emma was thrown a bit by her being there, but continued to work with me.  The pattern games are helping her - she doesn't have to think, just follow a pattern and therefore it calms her.

We went to work on Tug for Rounds 2 and 3 and she was needing to do LAT less and could work on Tug more.  She was up to lifting and pulling back on the tug rope by the end of Round 2.  It was Round 3 that went sideways.  Max, who had been laying quietly outside of the gate, decided to charge it due to the cat.  He banged the gate and went into a bark and bang fest for a moment and then went into a more active circle and bark fest in the living room.  Poor Emma lost all thoughts of Tug and turned to face the gate and moved closer to me.  Her tail was tight to her hind end, but not tucked.  Her head was up, but her body was tense.  Her body was up, but she was very still.  She was taking in the situation and could take food still and moved closer to me because I am a safety zone, but she couldn't focus to work anymore.

In the afternoon we went in to work on Tug again and Emma simply couldn't not stare at the gate.  I simply sat on the floor and worked with her on handing me her paw or touching my hand or giving me a down.  Her focus is gone again, but she's not so over threshold she can't eat.  I may not be as set back as I had thought in the morning, but I will have to work carefully to get her confidence shored up.

I do have to say, Emma has taught me a great deal about working with a soft dog and splitting behaviors in to very tiny bites to increase success.  Letting her lead me on her ability to work and giving her a chance to resolve some of her worry has truly improved both our communication and I am happy she's helping me become a better trainer overall.

I offered her another quarter cup of food when I fed the other dogs their dinner, but she didn't want it.  She self regulates on how much she eats and I respect that.  She'd eaten all of her food (she eats a cup of kibble a day) and I wasn't worried about her calorie intake, just her tummy being a bit grumbly during the night.  The night carrot will help with that.

Thursday

She loves to curl up where Attitude used to always sleep.

I had planned to take Emma out this week for a public access run, but circumstances on Wednesday, the day I planned it, resulted in it not happening and today I came to the conclusion I didn't want to take her out this week.  Instead I want to build up her confidence and not tank her week by taking her out when she's having a fairly good week.  She's been more up than down, more confident than fearful and more engaged that hiding - why mess with that when I can spend some time building up the skills she'll need to do better in public access settings?

Instead we just played Click to Calm games, tug and other fun things that Emma enjoys to feed her her breakfast.  She's getting better about eating her kibble, but not like the other dogs do.  Max, Malcolm, Dieter and Jack would happily stand on their heads for a bit of kibble as a reward.  Mind you, Jack, Max and Malcolm are less excited about kibble as a reward in a higher distraction area than the house so we use higher value food for those times, but in the house kibble should be a solid and worthwhile reward and it is.  For Emma, kibble is a hit or miss reward and if she's even slightly off in her mood she won't take it.  This makes progress with her very hard due to inconsistent training sessions.

I had a similar situation with Jack when I was working with him prior to the vacation.  Though kibble was a perfectly good reward his ability to focus was inconsistent and so some sessions he was spot on and some he was so food stupid he couldn't think his way out of a box.  I was in a holding pattern with him and couldn't seem to get anywhere when he suddenly became so focused on the food he couldn't learn any longer.  The answer for Jack was Zen.  We worked hard for the month of December on It's Yer Choice and Zen and on his return I had a dog who was flying through his lessons because he could suddenly think.

I have two problems with Emma which actually may be a single problem - Emma doesn't know how to eat.  When she arrived Attitude was in the end stages of congestive heart failure and eating high value foods just to get her to eat.  Max, Dieter and Emma all found her food far more interesting than their kibble and I can't blame them.  She had raw medallions of beef, lamb or chicken at one point and porridge another (which had lots of tasty smells) and in the end grain free moist food.  It's hard to eat kibble when one bowl in the house smells like heaven.  I put a little of whatever Attitude was eating on the other dog's food to get them to eat their food and leave hers alone.  Emma learned that kibble came with high value food.  Period.

After Attitude died I had moist food to finish before it went bad (I had bought a new case of food) and so every dog got a spoonful of moist on their food for a while and it was my mistake that I kept buying it and adding it to their bowls.  When my money became too tight to continue the practice I went back to straight up kibble and low and behold Jack, Dieter and Max happily ate the dry kibble without complaint.  They had been taught to eat (we taught Jack to eat when he first arrived).  Emma, who returned to a new training system with dry kibble as the reward for the day couldn't make the change.  She gets water on her food at her home during the weekends and had been getting moist here and suddenly she's but on bread and water rations according to her.  She's picky, like little Attitude had been, and it's affecting our training.

So, starting tonight I decided to train her to eat.  This morning told me how important it was to do so.  She's eating the kibble, but her ability to focus is not as good as I would like and her communication of whether she's too worried to eat about a change in her environment or she's not willing to eat because of her level of hunger isn't clear.  So, tonight when I offered her her dinner I counted slowly to 5 and picked up the bowl when she didn't eat.  She actually looked surprised I had done so.  I think she's grown used to our pleading she eat and to tell the truth I went through that long enough with Attitude I am not going to do it with a perfectly healthy 16 month old dog.

I will email the family and ask them to read that section in the book and implement it at their home also.  Until Emma is eating with the same gusto that everyone else does we won't make progress.  She needs to know how to eat - period.

Friday

Emma just being Emma.

I started the protocol for training Emma to eat last night.  She was offered her food, given a slow count of five, didn't eat her food and it was picked up.  This morning she came in with Dieter and Max after playing in the yard with all of the dogs.  I fed Max, Dieter and her while Jack and Malcolm played in the yard.  I took her into the kitchen, set her food down and walked 5 feet away from it and did a slow count to five.  This time she approached the bowl and sniffed the food, but turned away and walked to me and sat behind me like the food scared her.  I picked up her bowl and put it away.

This may seem like a cruel thing, but not knowing how to eat can cause problems overall.  I have 3 dogs of my own I feed on a schedule.  I know how much they eat, I can tell when they don't feel well because they don't eat and I can catch a problem sooner because of that.  Dieter, who ruptured a disc right after Attitude died, is still walking because I caught he wasn't feeling well long before I realized he'd injured his back.  He wasn't crying or dragging his feet yet, but he was a bit roached (which I took note of when he turned away from his bowl) and he refused to eat.  Dieter would eat dirt if I put it in his bowl, so his not eating was a clue to his well being.

Emma can and does refuse to eat on an almost daily basis.  I can't tell if it's because today the food didn't meet her expectations, she wasn't hungry when I offered it or she's not feeling well.  This could lead to missing a serious problem in her future and not getting the medical treatment she needs in a timely fashion.

As a working dog or a pet dog, being on a schedule makes it easier to potty the dog when they have to go.  Knowing about how long after a meal she needs to poop makes it easier to plan when to give her a meal if you have to be away from the house or if she's working in public, how long before you leave so she's not uncomfortable during the outing.  This can't be done with a dog who free feeds because they are filling their belly off and on and so don't have a set schedule for when they need to go.

A dog who quickly eats their meal makes it easier to feed in the morning or evening when you are in a hurry.  There have been times I needed to go to an appointment after Max's dinner time and fed him quickly before we left.  He was able to finish his meal in a couple of minutes and be ready to go without causing an undue delay.  With his stomach full, he was able to relax during the appointment and sleep.

And finally, Max, Dieter, Malcolm and Jack will work for the food I feed them because it has value.  If they don't eat what I offer they may not be offered anything else.  Emma is willing to see if what is offered will be replaced with something better.  Raising the value of her kibble makes training her in the home easier and maintaining her weight easier.

So, what we are doing is vitally important on a lot of levels for Emma's overall well being.  It isn't cruel to let her decide that what is offered is of value and to eat it when offered.  She won't starve herself and she will be easier to train.  Mind you, I have known of one dog who couldn't be taught to eat and it turned out to be a fatal health issue that over time took his life.  If Emma cannot learn to eat we have more concerns than if she'll do a retrieve or learn to tug open a door.  I don't see any health issues with Emma.  There were other signs with the dog who couldn't learn to eat - small signs that were clear in hindsight which Emma doesn't display.  I believe we just need to make her kibble of value to her and she'll take an interest in working for it.

So, the remainder of our day was rewarding good behavior with play and praise and just letting her be a dog.  We will continue to work on training her to eat for the next couple of week to improve her desire to work and return to working on confidence and task training once we have achieved our goal.  In the meantime I will work on confidence by using praise and play as motivators.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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