19 Months: Training - Days 290 - 293

Emma loves outside time.

Monday

Are we already nearly at 300 days?  Wow!  Hard to believe we've been on this journey this long.  A lot has changed since Emma first arrived for training.  Attitude, Emma's mentor for proper dog behavior has passed, Jack joined the family and we had a brief visit from Maura while she was fostered before heading off to find her new home and now Malcolm is being mentored by Emma on proper dog behavior.  What a change for Ms. Emma to be the adult in the family teaching the youngster it's rude to jump on her or try to take her bones or toys.  Emma went from a pup who barely knew to hold her bladder in the home to a young dog who aids her handler on the weekends and continues to learn important tasks to assist him.  It won't be long before a video will be compiled of Emma's skill set to show the world what she's learned on this journey.

Last Friday when Emma was picked up I was told by her owner that she would arrive at her normal time on Monday.  I was relieved.  As I stated in earlier blog posts, Emma's late arrival has affected the flow of the first day of the week, which seems to set off a chain reaction for the remainder of the week.  I don't do change well at times and with my disability flucuating any change can throw me into a loop.  I live by a schedule for a reason - if I don't things simply don't happen.

I am struggling to survive on a very narrow income and to do so I must make contact with clients who called during training time and left messages during business hours and arrange appointments to meet and work with them.  This is part of the schedule I set for myself and the dogs to ensure there is power, food and gas available for the entire household.  On top of that I finally have health insurance and can continue to explore what the cause of my disability is.  This means a series of appointments with physical therapists, neurologists and other doctors.  I have accounted for those appointments in my schedule also.  I have applied for social security disability and must meet those obligations as well - which includes appointments to determine the extent of my disability.  A seemingly minor change in my schedule can result in a major chain reaction in my week and that has been happening for the past few weeks.

At first I was told that Emma would be arriving closer to 9:00 AM instead of between 7:30 AM and 8:30 AM.  Since Emma regularly arrived at 8:30 AM I had worked my schedule around that arrival time.  A half an hour change actually changed the entire morning routine, but could be worked around.  In the end, Emma arrived regularly at 9:30 AM instead of the time I had adjusted the schedule to.  That half an hour made a huge change in the day and threw the entire works into a mess.

With Emma arriving on time this week it meant putting the schedule back to what worked best for me and the dogs.  I wake between 6:00 AM and 6:30 AM on weekdays.  I tend to hit the snooze a few times because it takes about half an hour to get my muscles to relax enough to allow me to walk more than the 1 to 2 feet to my alarm clock to press the snooze.  By the time 6:30 AM comes I have relaxed the muscles in my legs enough that a major crippling cramp won't happen and I can go to the front door and let the boys out for their morning potty break.  While they are out I get my first cup of coffee and prepare their meals.  I had used to wait for Emma to arrive for breakfast, but stopped when her arrival time became unpredictable and it left Malcolm, Max and Dieter extra excitable and grumpy due to a late breakfast. 

By 7:00 AM I have showered normally, fed Max and Dieter their morning meal and lately fed Malcolm half of his to calm his ravenous appetite due to a sudden growth spurt.  By 7:30 AM I have trained Malcolm and started the first of my morning phone calls.  By 8:30 AM I am exhausted but not hungry yet.  I have never been hungry when I first wake, not even as a child.  I generally don't eat my first meal until late morning.  Coffee is my  morning staple and keeps the migraine I am threatened with daily at bay most days.  On bad days, I do all of this with a blinding migraine that makes each movement of my body make me feel like I am about to tip off the planet and light and sound extremely painful.

By 9:00 AM it's time for the dogs to play in the yard.  I don't let them out sooner because of the bus stop.  It's still the school year and the kids gather between 7:30 AM and 9:00 AM for the various buses that come through the neighborhood.  The bus stop is only a few feet away from my fence line and I don't think it's fair to the parents or children to have 4 or 5 dogs barking their fool heads off at them.  I also have seen the unsupervised children come up to my fence and reach over it, even with the dogs going nuts and their ruffs standing on end.  For the safety of both the children and the dogs, I keep the dogs in the house during bus time.  I have 3 to 4 bus times during the day and must regularly check to see if parents or children are gathering near my fence before letting the dogs out.

During their first playtime I go out and pick up after the dogs.  With 4 to 5 dogs in a small yard it is important to clean the yard as often as the weather permits.  This is where things had started to fall apart.  Though I had moved up Malcolm's training during my wait for Emma and fed the dogs on time despite her not being present, playtime was held at bay waiting for her arrival and it led to a riot in the house.  After a long night of sleep and being awake and at the prime time for their physical and mental activity, the boys were going crazy waiting for permission to go out.  Malcolm, a young teenage dog with a lot of energy and after a nights sleep truly needs to go play.

I had kept them in so they wouldn't interfere with Emma's arrival and coming into the yard, but was left with Malcolm running laps in the house and banging on the front door begging out.  Max was grumpy with Malcolm's antics and wanted to run in the yard too.  Dieter was grouchy too with Malcolm banging the chair he lays in and trying to get him to play.  By the time Emma arrived the boys were in a heightened state of excitement and were reacting to any sound they heard.  Today I decided I didn't care anymore.  If Emma couldn't arrive on time the schedule that had kept the house in balance and the boys happy would be kept.

I had finished my morning routine by 8:30 AM as per normal and received the phone call from Emma's owner that she was leaving the house at 8:47 AM and would be arriving after 9:00 AM to drop her off.  I took both Max and Malcolm out to play.  Dieter was offered, but decided to snooze on my chair.  Both boys were running and playing in the yard while I picked up behind them when Emma arrived.  Malcolm was overjoyed to see her arrive and I had to call him three times before he let me take his collar and allow her in without being molested.

I let them play for almost half an hour in the yard after her arrival.  It was just afte 9:30 AM when we went back into the house.  By now my blood sugars were down and I had to eat myself.  I gave Emma a 1/4 cup of her food to keep her stomach from becoming upset and made myself breakfast so I could take my medication and keep my pre-diabetes under control.  By the time I had finished eating it was 10:00 AM.  By this time my mental clarity and physical energy is at it's lowest and I have to push to train Emma and not just push it off to another day.  A simple change in schedule can affect the entire day for me - I have only so much I can give with clarity and by 10:00 AM I am entering my daily muddy thought process and nearing my required rest period.  I had taken many breaks during the preceding hours, but by this point my pain levels have risen to an all time high and I simply need to stop for a prolonged period of time to prevent my collapsing for the remainder of the day.  Training through that required rest period means I am spending energy I'll need for the rest of the day and thus by the end of the day spending the next days energy and thus the cascade starts.

It may not seem like a huge thing to many, but when working with chronic pain and fatigue and a limited amount of energy that can be spent during the day and during certain times of the day, a simple shift of half and hour to an hour in a schedule can lead to a huge change in the entire week.  For me, it can be the difference between having the energy to take the dogs out for public access training or not and even if I can train with any level of focus.  The past few weeks the cascade has resulted in my training plans falling apart and my focus evading me.  I am truly hoping soon my schedule can get back to normal so both Emma and Malcolm can benefit.

I spoke earlier about Emma's excitability.  Emma is, by definition, a very excitable dog.  She can easily be wound up with a happy voice or a stroke along her body.  She can go from perfectly calm to bouncing off of the walls in a single second.  She finds the handling of her leash or harness extremely exciting and for her it's like waking on Christmas morning and finding a 100 presents under the tree every single time.  For Max and Malcolm, my picking up their leashes and harnesses is like waking on Saturday morning and its cartoon time.  I prefer the Saturday morning excitement.  That excitement has a level of control and thought involved; the Christmas excitement is out of control.

Last week I worked on her accepting my touching and then lifting and finally putting on her leash with Saturday morning excitement and she did very well.  I also reminded her she could give into the pressure on her collar and not pull.  This week I will expand on that concept and explain to her how she can exit the door of the house and go to the car with calm control and still enjoy herself.

I worked for one 3 minute Round on just giving to the leash.  Last week she was tense and would lock her muscles and fight giving to the pressure.  This week she was fluid and moving nicely with the leash.  The only direction she's still resisting is forward, but the time it took her to unlock her muscles and move into the pressure was only a few seconds, a marked improvement from last week.  We'll continue to explain the need to give to the pressure and make it a natural behavior for her again.

I worked for one 3 minute Round on just walking with a loose lead beside me in the house.  While I work with Emma I have Malcolm crated, since his "Other Dog Zen" is weak right now and she doesn't need him pushing in right now.  I will start working him on Go To Mat (GTM) to help explain this behavior over the course of the week.

I then worked on several 3 minute Rounds of her exiting the house without bolting out the door.  The first time I opened the door she shot forward, but hit the end of the lead when this happened.  It surprised her and she was taken a bit back by the sudden stop.  I hadn't given her a leash correction, but the effect was much the same and for such a soft girl it was a bit over the top for her and she wouldn't take the treat I offered when I clicked for her sitting down next to me.  She actually wouldn't take a treat when just inside the house, but would just outside the house.  I truly wish she hadn't done that to herself; it clearly upset her.

She figured out the concept of walking under control beside me out of the front door.  We then worked up and down the ramp to the gate for two 3 minute rounds and then finally for 2 three minute rounds we worked going in and out of the gate under control.  Kibble, by the time we reached the gate, no longer worked for her.  Between the first and second round working the gate I raised the value of the kibble by adding some chopped tripe to it.  She was very keen on the food by then and more than willing to work with me.

We ended the last of her food by working on Sit, Down, Stand and Pull (using the cabinet door) with Malcolm out of his crate.  I used these skills because they are her strongest and her distractability with Malcolm is very strong.  She did very well actually and finished on a high note.  I, on the other hand, was finished for the day.  It was 11:30 AM by the time we finished her training and the hopes of going to the local playground in the early afternoon with her and Malcolm to work further on leash skills was no longer on the table.  I was exhausted and had pushed too hard and had used the last of my energies for the day and yet still had work to do with the blogs.

I am pleased with the better control Emma is demonstrating now that we are breaking it all back down for her.  I am happy to see her leash manners coming back faster than I expected.  I am hoping by the end of the week to get her out of the yard and into a new location to continue working on proper leash manners so we can begin to go to public locations to work on her public access skills.  The goal is to have her calm and thinking from start to finish without an extreme reaction of excitement before ever leaving the house.

She did great today and her mood for the remainder of the day was fantastic.  With the warm day I was able to give the dogs two very long play sessions in the yard, which helped everyone's mood.  My Mom dropped by in the late afternoon and we were both pleased to see that despite Emma's Christmas morning excitement at meeting her, she kept her feet on the floor and tried very hard to visit without jumping too much.  More work needed, but she's trying and I am happy to see that.

Here's hoping I didn't spend tomorrow's spoons.

Watching the neighbors.

Tuesday

It's 10:02 PM and my neighbor just started with the music thrumming through the neighborhood again.  I tend to spend my time waiting for my legs to stop spasming and my pain levels to lower enough for sleep doing the nights entries in the blogs - if my mental clarity and energy permits.  On the bad days or weeks I don't even have the energy to type up the day's events and lay in bed waiting for my body to permit me to sleep and my neighbor to get past his tribal drum solo so I can sleep.  Though I wake between 6:00 AM and 6:30 AM in the morning, there are nights I don't get to sleep until 2:00 AM or 3:00 AM due to pain and/or my neighbor making so much racket I can't relax and stop the spasms.  On a good night I generally don't get to sleep until after 11:00 PM or Midnight.

That was the case last night.  I spent the night typing up the day's events for both dogs and waiting for the pain in my legs to subside and my migraine, brought on by the deep thrumming of drum and bass through my walls (enough to rattle my dishes) from 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM.  The noise had ended by 10:00 PM, though it would rise and fall off and on until nearly 2:00 AM and something would set the entire household off barking at 3:00 AM.  I felt rung out when the alarm went off at 6:00 AM and actually couldn't relax again after I hit snooze the first time and got up at 6:15 AM.

Emma has always been excitable when I first wake.  She takes my first deep breath of the morning as invite to launch out of the bed like an acrobat and start bouncing and barking, thus setting the rest of the house off.  I have worked different ways to tell her this is not acceptable, but she didn't believe me.  It's just too self rewarding to act that way and it always seems to get me up - ah, yes, then I am indeed rewarding the behavior.

For the past two weeks anytime she went off and set the house off I would just pull the covers back up and pretend to sleep.  It seemed to startle the whole household.  The goal was to hurry me to the front door, not get me back in bed!  It worked.  Malcolm, who was never a barker in the morning, but a world class wrestler and thus riler up, even came to a stop and poked me to see if I had died suddenly.

The silence meant I would get up, which would set off the riot again.  It took time, but they put it together.  Acting up made me go to bed, being quiet got me out of bed.  This morning I took that deep breath and rolled to find both Malcolm and Emma watching me with a "oh good, you survived the night" look on their faces.  Cute, their comics.

As Malcolm's blog states, by 6:45 AM I was showered, 7:00 AM Max and Dieter got their full meals and Emma and Malcolm got a portion of their meals (Emma got 1/4 cup to keep her tummy awake and prevent dry vomiting and Malcolm 1/2 his meal to prevent sudden starvation during a growth spurt) and I had my first cup of coffee entering my system.  By 7:30 AM I had Malcolm trained and by 8:00 AM it became clear that Emma had no intention of training.

I started on loose leash work again by clicking good behavior when I touched her leash and offering her a kibble and she pursed her lips and refused to eat it.  I offered it a second time and she turned her head away.  Fine.  I ended the session and put her bowl up.  It surprised her, but she needs to work for her meal, not be picky about what she eats - which she is doing again.

Emma is under weight.  It is because she is such an active dog and burns calories like mad and doesn't eat near enough without a lot of coaxing on our part.  She is one of those "anorexic" dogs and needs to learn to eat on a regular basis.  It can be maddening.  Emma has never been a good eater, not even as a baby, and if we don't keep up the attitude that she won't get anything better if she doesn't eat what she's offered she will become very picky about her food and wait for it to improve.  I also think she really doesn't like her food in general.  She prefers the food I feed the boys, which is a different protein than what she gets in her food, but both are from the same company.  The Salmon and Sweet Potato formula has a rich and lovely scent to it and never smells off or stale like the Turkey and Sweet Potato formula she eats.  I actually find the smell of her food very unpleasant and it is very likely she does also.

I have asked she be changed to the Beef and Sweet Potato formula for two reasons.  She was for a while eating my dogs food when she'd run out of her own here.  She was calmer on the Salmon and Sweet Potato and more focused and she ate it very well.  When she returned to the Turkey and Sweet Potato she became unbelievably excitable again.  I think the Turkey, which should be calming for most dogs, is not for her.  I think the Beef and Sweet Potato formula will be better overall for her.  Hopefully she'll like the smell and flavor of that formula better also.

I intended to get to her training sooner, but between paperwork and phone calls I didn't return to her training until late afternoon.  I offered her a kibble and she greedily took it. Yup, she just needed to get hungry.  I took her out and walked her to the gate on a loose lead, mostly.  She is walking too far forward (her butt is about half a foot before my knees when she's allowed to tell me where she things she should walk) and she likes a small amount of tension on her lead.  This can become exhausting if walking her for several hours on lead and thus needs to be fixed.  Walking that far forward doesn't give her the level of feed back for properly turning with her handler either.  In a wheelchair a bit forward is good, but it should be at her shoulder, not 6 inches in front of the handler.  At least she's walking calm and has her mind in place.

She was able to take treats once we exited the gate, which she did with calm control and worked nicely finding and working at the right spot for loose lead beside me.  She had a nice J in the leash and was resetting herself when I stopped and she wandered too far ahead.  She can quickly forget she's attached to a leash and is supposed to keep track of where I am.

We were doing great working in the street before the house and my next door neighbors empty lot when the neighbor dog came over.  I have one neighbor who cannot contain any animal she owns.  She had ducks one year and they both went wandering by my house wing in wing chatting it up as they headed for heavy traffic on Park road.  Her pig escaped.  Her ferrets got into my yard and were attacked my Attitude and Dieter.  Her male dog has been sponsored in my blogs many times - he was the one bugging the crap out of me last year by breeding in the lots beside me and running loose and challenging the dogs all summer.  He's gone now as so many of her animals are within a year or two.  She had a lab mix that was hit and killed on Broadway.  She still owns a Pom who was also hit that day, but lived and was moved to live with her parents.  He was out daily and running the neighborhood prior to that.  She now has a new puppy, her favorite time of a dogs life (she rarely keeps the adults for long) and he came bustling over to check us out.  It's going to be another long summer.

He looks like the offspring of the dog they owned previously.  Tiny head, big body and dorky looking, but still very young and playful.  He's lucky he rushed up to Emma and not Malcolm.  Malcolm would have been over threshold with the boldness of this pup.  Emma and he greeted nicely and Emma lost focus on the lessons.  The pup play bowed and jumped on her head and barked at her.  I went to walk Emma away, but she couldn't walk without watching him closely and he was following trying to entice play.  I picked Emma up and carried her back to the yard with the puppy hot on my heels.

He tried to get her to play for a bit outside of my fence and then left.  I worked Emma in the yard for a few more minutes and she was fantastic.  I had left Malcolm loose in the house with Max and Dieter and decided it was time to let him and the other two out.  I unhooked Emma and worked her loose while Malcolm and the other two played in the yard.  She kept finding the sweet spot beside me and really worked on staying at my side the entire time.  She was really into the lesson and did fantastic.

I then had her do Level one behaviors while sitting between Malcolm and Max and she was top notch.  Her confidence working around Malcolm is improving and I am happy to see it.  I am still doing very short lessons when Malcolm is present and it's things she knows extremely well.  This has boosted her willingness to offer behaviors around him.  This will later translate to working in public around things that may be a bit frightening for her normally without feeling the stress she has in the past nor shutting down as she has in the past.  Malcolm, for Emma, can be very overpowering when he's focused on earning treats with her and for Emma this is a challenge that we've been working on in small steps to prevent her being overwhelmed by it.  She is doing very well and her confidence is improving as a result.

We ended the day with play and cuddles before dinner.  I offered her dinner, but she is again refusing to eat from the bowl.  I gave her a count of five and picked up the meal.  I do hope a change in food will improve her appetite.  Emma is about 3 pounds underweight and on her it is noticeable.  I can easily feel her skull bones, ribs and back bone and there is simply not enough cushion on them.  I have increased her daily allotment to 2 cups a day from the 1 1/2 cups a day to account for the increased activity Spring has brought on, but if she won't eat it it won't put the weight she needs on her.

I am hoping tomorrow she'll be more inclined to eat and thus work more distance on loose leash work and preparing to practice in a new location this week to prepare her for going to the Safeway parking lot and working on calm entry into the store.

Last year she barked at every sight, now she just watches.

Wednesday

The most disheartening thing I face is Emma turning her nose up to her food.  Her weight is too low and I am struggling to get enough calories into her to get her weight up where it belongs, yet she simply won't eat all of the food I offer her.  We had done the entire protocol for teaching her to eat, which had improved her appetite, but for the past three weeks I have seen her appetite again wain and her choose to not eat at least one meal a day.  I again faced her not wanting to eat.  She'd been fussy about her food all week, but it hit it's peak on Wednesday morning.

I offered her the 1/4 cup of food I do most mornings to keep her stomach from becoming upset and she gave it a half hearted sniff and walked off.  She's always been fussy about food, but she's more fussy about the Turkey and Sweet Potato food than she ever was about the Salmon and Sweet Potato.  I picked up her food and felt a level of defeat sink in.  I can only get so far with praise and affection with her training and really need to work with some food to help her advance; I also need her to eat enough food to keep her weight up.

I waited about an hour and offered her a kibble from her bowl.  She sniffed it like I was about to poison her and turned her head away as if to say it turned her stomach.  That got me to thinking and I went into the kitchen, put her kibble back and played around in the kitchen for a moment while she laid in my chair.  I returned with a kibble from Malcolm's bowl and offered it to her.  She gave it the same sniff and then ate it eagerly.  That did it.  She doesn't like the food we are feeding her and would rather starve than eat it.  Not a problem, I decided that Malcolm could eat the amount of food she would normally be getting from her stash of food and she could eat her amount from Malcolm's.  I can't afford to feed her out of my dog's bin without replacing that amount currently - the exchange solves all of our problems.

I returned her food to her bag and replaced it with Malcolm's and she happily worked for it.  I had done half of her normal morning amount to start with and when I went to get the other half cup I mixed her food and Malcolm's half and half.  She actually spit out the Turkey kibble each time she was given it and only ate the Salmon kibble.  In the end, she chose to eat some of the Turkey kibble, but it was only after the Salmon was gone and Max showed interest in her kibble.

Since our day started on such a weird note I decided to shape her to touching a post it note on the floor with her foot.  She happily worked for the food and enjoyed the lesson.

In the evening I gave her a cup of food in her bowl and she ate it without issue.  She's still a bit hesitant to start eating, but at least she's eating.  What I did note is with the increase to 1 cup of food in the morning and 1 cup of food in the evening she's actually emotionally more stable and calmer.  She's not barking at sounds as much and she's showing better self control.  It'll be nice when I feel meat over her hips and ribs again.  I hate feeling how thin she is right now.

Watching Dieter play.

Thursday

My neighbor started the music again at 10:00 PM and ran it until 2:00 AM.  In order to hope for any sleep I had the TV running to deaden the sound of the thumping, but it didn't help.  I slept poorly, woke several times during the night and woke with my neck muscles locked and my skull on fire.  I struggled to wake and tried to push into training.  I had showered, fed the dogs their morning meal which Emma ate without issue and was struggling with Malcolm's training when I felt the first waves of dizziness and brain burn start.  A few minutes later I felt like I would be sick and light and sound made me absolutely ill.  Any movement made things worse.  It was a migraine to beat all migraines and I told the dogs I was done for the day.

I fed Emma and Malcolm the last of their morning meal and sent everyone out for a quick potty break and then crawled into bed and covered my eyes to stop the pain from the light.  It was clear I wasn't doing well when Max curled up against me and Malcolm gave me soft kisses and Emma laid her head on my feet.  They all stayed quiet while I slept off the worst of the migraine.

No training happened today, but we spent the day curled up watching movies once my head allowed it and enjoying each other's company.  Emma ate the entire cup of food for dinner without issue and enjoyed an evening of X-Men movies curled against me and regular trips out for potty breaks.  It was a quiet day of cuddling that ended with my head not hurting near as bad as it did this morning.

I am just happy to see her eating well finally and enjoying her food.  Hopefully in a week or so we'll finally have her weight where it should be and she can finally put on the muscle she's supposed to for this stage of her life.

Tomorrow is grooming day and as a result our week ends here.  It's been a good week for Emma and I have seen a lot of progress in her excitement level and her ability to focus and work.  Solving the issue with her food has helped and I believe we are again moving in a forward direction.  Let's see if we can't get the tug tasks finished over the next week or so!

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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

18 Months: Training - Days 284 - 289

Good weather means more yard time.

Monday - Friday

That hour behind schedule is defently throwing both of us off.  Emma was in a good mood, but just not in the game when she arrived.   It didn't help that I had a long and painful weekend and then appointments scheduled for the morning and afternoon.  I worked a bit with her on Lazy Leash but she wasn't willing to take food and so ended the game and offered her breakfast to her.  She again decided she didn't want to eat so I picked it up.  It would be the only time she chose to not eat all week, but it wasn't a good start to our week.

Between working on giving to the leash when pressure is applied, which she is still resisting with locking up her muscles and going stiff and shaping her bow, which she finally got and I put both a verbal and hand cue on, she had a full week.  More important though was her calming down when the leash was touched and going out the door.

She's back to launching from my lap like a rocket when she's heard something outside or shooting out of the bedroom or front door like she's shot from a canon.  She will never fully be able to just relax and stay calm until she's much older.  Until then a lot of reminders will need to be given to her to keep the calm behavior we are training her to use sharp.

So, bedroom door.  I hadn't started to let Malcolm have reign of the house at night just yet, therefore the gate was setup at the bedroom door.  When I lifted it she would start to run to dash through the door and literally run in place for a good 10 seconds before she could gain footing and then burst out the door with little control and a lot of barking and bounding around the house, which set the entire household off.  I lifted the door and the moment she went to shoot out I just lowered it.  She came to a crashing halt at the gate and looked up at me and sat.  I praised her and then opened it a little and she darted out.  Not fully calm, but better.

The front door was the same.  If she started to show signs of getting ready to bolt out the door when released I simply shut the door.  By the end of the week she would walk out the door at a nice controled trot and not be skittering along my floor trying to gain footing nor barking her fool head off as she left the door.  The whole household fell silent as a result of this.  It was the start of calming her down overall.  No longer was she leaping out of my lap or setting off at every sound in the house.

Early warning system.

She seems to have this deep need to be always touching someone.  Normally she wants to be in my lap all the time, but she has a bad habit of pushing against my ribs and looking up into my face and not just laying quietly beside me in the chair.  The pressure she puts on my legs with her tiny feet hurts and the insistence of being in the middle of everything I am doing makes it impossible to drink or eat or work.  I have been teaching her she can lay by my foot and press her body against it and be just fine.  She's finally choosing that spot to be close to me and cherishes the times I invite her into my lap for some cuddling.

I was able to pick up her leash all week long and not have her go into spasms of joy.  She kept her feet on the floor and was able to sit with minimal vibrating to have her lead put on and work on walking in the correct position beside me.  It was a huge change from how she's always met me when I pick her leash up.  I will work on touching her harness next and develop the same behavior with her.

Since I had two appointments on Monday and two again on Tuesday it meant a lot of time in the crate while I was away.  Monday she did fine with being crated for the morning appointment and coming out for an hour before being crated for the afternoon appointment, but by Tuesday I didn't want to do that to her again.  She does okay with such crating for one day, but not two in a row.  I took her over for the afternoon crate time to visit with Jack at Ronda's.  When I returned she was so excited she was almost hovering.  Ronda said she played hard and ran laps around the yard and enjoyed exploring the entire time I was gone.  She was in a super happy mood and curled up on Ronda's couch with me and turned upside down to get my attention.

On Thursday Ronda invited us for dinner and she again got a lot of playtime with Jack and Malcolm in the yard.  She ran laps and did recalls and just had a great time and finally curled up in Ronda's lap and cuddled for a while.  She was in a fantastic mood after that visit too.  It was great.

Since I was going to Ronda's I didn't leash up any of the dogs before loading them in the car.  I have been working with every one of them on entering and exiting the van without a lead to make catching her in the event of an accidental escape easier.  She will exit the gate and go straight to the van and the first open door she sees and enter without hesitation.  When I open the van and give the all clear (I always check traffic and what is happening before releasing any of them from the gate or van) she exits the van and runs straight into the yard through the gate I have already opened.

Hark! Who goes there!

This is an area I need to work on lowering her excitement level.  The moment she realizes we are leaving without a lead, which means we are off to play, she hits the clouds with her excitement level.  Since I have an auto door and open it prior to letting her out of the gate, I think I will just work on opening and closing the door a couple of times and then going off to do something else in the yard until she sees it as just another normal part of our day.  Lowered excitement levels will keep her brain in operating order and make her eaiser to handle over all.

Next week we'll begin working on leaving the house without shooting out the door like a rocket on the leash and then work on walking up and down the ramp on a loose lead.  Once she can enter and exit the van calmly we'll return to going to locations to work on calmly walking to and from the door until she can finally begin her entry into buildings and exiting again while calm.  Without this training she will not be able to continue her public access training; currently her leash work is not good enough for public access work.

It's been an interesting week with a successfully trained trick.  I will work on shaping the last of Say Your Prayers and then work on her pulling open the bigger doors and bedding and begin the last of her task training.  By then she should be ready to finish her public access training and preparing to finally graduate.  It's been a lot of work, but Emma is progressing and once a task or skill is learned she does well with her confidence and control - it's just getting her there that makes me scratch my head on a daily basis.

Tada!

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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

18 Months: Training - Days 280 - 284

Doodles are silly when wet.

Monday - Friday

My whole schedule is off with Emma arriving an hour after she would normally arrive.  It seems to throw me into a loop to have the schedule changed by that much and I am having a hard time adjusting to it.  I have never really done well with schedule changes and this has been a change that really has thrown me for a loop.

It seems to have thrown Emma for a loop also.  I went to work with her and she simply didn't have her mind in the game and couldn't focus to work. With both of us off our game there is a gap in our communication.  Since Mondays set her mood for the week and how well she'll focus on her training (she is one of THOSE dogs) for the remainder of the week.  If she starts her week off with a lack of focus she'll generally end it with a large amount of shyness.  Starting an hour late seems to throw her off as much as it does me.  We both seem to be creatures of habit.

There is another issue with Emma.  She's hyper excitable.  Malcolm is excitable because he's an 8 month old puppy; Emma is 18 months old, almost 19 months old and her excitability makes Malcolm's look like he's nearly dead.  A glance, a happy voice, a sound, movement anything sends Emma into flights of fancy.  This is not a bad thing in a pet dog, but in a service dog it can become a fatal flaw.  In order to make her return to public access training successful the first thing she needs is self control even when highly excited.  That became the goal for the next two weeks of training - breaking down the idea she can be excited, but not jumping out of her skin excited.

When I pick up a leash or harness I expect a level of excitement.  Max gives me a happy dance by spinning in a circle and then thrusting his head into his harness, but once it's on he's calm and ready to work.  Malcolm does something similar, but isn't happy about putting the harness on just yet.  Emma goes into barks, jumps and vibrations.  For Emma, touching a leash or harness is like having Christmas every single day.  For Max and Malcolm it is like waking up on a Saturday - I prefer the later reaction because it makes for a calmer dog long before entering the public realm.

Dry Doodle!

Meeting new people, going to new places, even going outside for Emma is a matter of high level excitement and that hyped up excitement shoots her in the foot for working properly in public before we even get her gear on.  So, we are spending time teaching her to be calm from the point the leash is touched to the point she enters the van and eventually to the point she exits the van and enters a new location.  This will be a process and so far we haven't gotten out the front door.

Meanwhile, since I have her working so hard on solving the problem for getting her leash attached, I wanted something silly and fun for her to work on and to lay a foundation of learning for some upcoming task training.  Her basics are solid; she can sit, down and stay on cue.  She recalls like a bandit and even in a distracted state turn and focus back on me.  Her leash work and her excitability are hindering her, but her basics are rock solid - including her Zen.  We just need to calm her down to finish her training or accept it's a normal state of being and work her where her greatest success will be.

I decided to train Malcolm to bow and therefore did the same with Emma.  She has Shake, High Five and the beginning of Say Your Prayers, but no bow just yet.  For Malcolm it came quick and easy, for Emma it would be the hardest thing she's learned.  One of the tasks Emma will learn is to pull the covers down for her handler and if possible to pull them up when he gets out of bed.  So far she's figured out socks and pants and jackets, but beds are harder yet and will take shaping.  Shaping her to bow is something that makes her aware of her body and requires her to solve what I am asking for.

I prefer to advance shaping by using tricks that in the end don't really matter if she masters or not.  If she masters a bow, fantastic, but if she doesn't then it won't affect her ability to help her handler.  I also believe it'll make him smile and that is always a good thing.  I normally use a complex hand signal for the bow, but for Emma I used one I believe he can perform.  It would be a while before I could put a hand cue onto her bow.

In Malcolm's case he'll learn to bow facing me, facing the same way as me, while I am sitting and while I am standing.  For Emma she'll only be learning it facing her handler and only from a seated position.  This is a trick he and she can do together and he can't stand, so she doesn't need to know it while I am standing.

First though was reminding her that she has a leash attached to her.  She has little clue that tightness on her collar means she's to yield to it.  She used to remember that, but doesn't anymore.  Her leash skills have fallen back to the beginning of lead training again.  We worked on Level 2: Step 1 Lazy Leash and will continue to work Lazy Leash until she's once again able to walk properly on a leash.

To get to the point of putting the leash on to work the step though I had to calm her down.  I reached up and touched the leash and clicked before she could go into spasms.  I did this several times and then did it for lifting the leash and returning it and holding the leash and returning it and finally for putting on the leash.  It took 10 minutes to get a leash on her with her remaining calm.

Guard Doodle.

When I put pressure on the leash she locked up.  I didn't put a lot of pressure on it, no more than to push a cell phone, but she locked her entire body and remained absolutely still for almost 2 minutes before she shifted her weight ever so slightly toward the clasp.  I clicked it.  Each time we did a repeat she would lock up for a long time before moving, but each time was a little less and finally she was moving with the leash when she felt pressure.  I'll stay with this until it's a fluid motion and she's not resisting the pressure of the leash and locking her muscles.

After that I began working on a bow.  She offered me backing up and laying down and putting her chin on her feet.  It was a good start and nice to see.  I was finally able to click for just a chin dip while she was standing and by the end of that first session she was dipping and holding her head near the floor.  Silly and funny to see, but not really what I was aiming for.  Goofy girl.

By the end of the week she figured out how to bow, but only once and when she did she suddenly stopped taking treats and ended the game.  One click she was up and wagging her tail and happy open mouth smiling and the next she was roached and making herself small and unwilling to take food.  I don't know what went through her mind, but clearly something bugged her and all that happened was she solved the problem.  Some days she has me scratching my head.

She ended the week a bit down, which got me to thinking she may need to burn off more energy than she's been doing during playtime in the yard.  I knew the next week I had several back to back appointments that I had to attend, so I decided that I would see if she couldn't spend time playing with Jack at Ronda's in her nice big yard and explore a new area and really stretch her legs.  It always seems to improve her mood.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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

18 Months: Training - Days 275 - 279

FINALLY!  She is LOOKING at the camera!

Monday

Emma normally arrives between 7:30 AM and 8:30 AM on Monday mornings. With the onset of tax season that changed to closer to 9:00 AM in the morning.  I had expected her between 8:30 AM and 9:00 AM, so decided to train Malcolm just prior to her arriving and then focus on training her.  This changed when Robin called and we got to discussing training plans for both her and Malcolm and sharing brags between our dogs.  I kept watching for her owner as 9:00 AM passed and then 9:15 AM passed and finally noted their arrival at 9:30 AM.

By this time I had changed the training plan for Emma and decided she'd attend my client consult that afternoon.  Since she doesn't handle stress well just yet, I don't do formal training on public outing days and instead using the public outing as the formal training session.  Since it was a client consult in a location she'd been too once before, I knew the level of stress I would be putting her under.  It's a quiet single bedroom apartment where she's in a more home setting environment than a store type envirnonment.  This type of setting allows for longer outings due to it being low stress.

I fed her breakfast and then setup a pouch with extra kibble and hotdog for our outing.  Emma, a long time ago, stopped eating a portion of her meal when I fed her out of her bowl.  She left approximately 1/4 cup of food in her bowl each time I fed and I took it as a sign she was regulating her calorie intake, which some dogs do.  I dropped her food to 1 cup a day as a result.  She's been eating 1 cup of food a day here since then and recently I have noted her ribs and back bone are too easily felt - she's not getting enough calories and this can lead to emotional instability.  I have raised her back to 1 1/2 cups of food a day again since last week.  I noticed this week she's not as thin, but her emotional well being may still be a bit unstable until she's at weight.  Adding a few extra calories into her daily intake will be good for her overall at this point.

She is still getting over the top excited if she thinks I am taking her somewhere.  I have to wait her out until she's not jumping and barking at me before I dress her.  Once dressed she's ready to head out, but I have found her loose leash walking is completely shot - she's just not paying attention to the tension on her collar, so I will need to retrain that.  She also cannot focus when out on the leash - she's ping ponging and rubber necking when out.

When we got to my client's location she was all over the place on the leash and it took a lot of work to get her focused and walking a straight line and even then, she was pulling on the leash.  I have a lot of work to do to get her walking on a loose leash again.  Any location I take her now needs to be pet friendly because she's not walking under control and needs to be reminded how to behave when out on a leash.

Inside the building she was a little worried, but otherwise okay.  In the apartment she was in good spirits and did great demoing retrieve, shake, sit, down, settle, high five and target.  She has a hard time just laying by me in a new location and needs more work on that behavior.  We were there for approximately 2 hours in which she was heavily rewarded for behaviors I liked and did finally lay by me for up to 20 minutes at a time before breaking her down.

Our walk out to the van was again a challenge due to her leash behaviors.  Looks like I need to take her back to basics on all of that to rebuild her skills on a leash.

Excuse me, but can I have your attention now?

Tuesday

Today we took off from training.  After an outing I want to see how she is emotionally and today she was flighty.  No really fearful, but showing some fallout from being out the day before.  She was more vocal, tending to leap out of my lap when Max barked and fly into the office to assist and quickly hid from me or anything that worried her.  I offered her breakfast in her bowl and she refused to eat.  That alone told me she was having major fallout and needed downtime to recoup.  We'll return to training tomorrow.

Oh sure, he's willing to look at her, but not his brother.

Wednesday

Emma was in a fantastic mood this morning!  I was so happy to see her up and happy and engaged.  I started her on Level 2: Step 1 Communication and in short order she was backing up twice her body length and doing so on verbal cue.  I will continue to work on adding a hand cue also, but the verbal cue was what I needed to get her started in the right direction for her tug tasks.  After two solid rounds of backing up without anything in her mouth I pulled out a tug toy and had her take it and then back up.

Since she knows "Take It" as a cue (take item in her mouth to hold) and now "Back Up" as a cue, it was a quick process to chain the two behaviors together.  I cued her to Take It and then Back Up and rewarded her backing up further and further.  She started to put her paw into the picture by lifting it and looping it over the item in her mouth.  I was careful to click for when her foot wasn't over the item in her mouth.  It wasn't log before I got a good solid back up and no feet.

Level 2: Step 1 Communication

The remainder of her lesson was working on taking and backing up with the jacket sleeve and removing my jacket.  She did fantastic and lit up when she realized it was so much easier to take my jacket off.  The next was with a pair of sweats which I pulled over my pants and low and behold, she was able to take the pant leg and back up with the level of force needed to pull them off.  I only did one leg this round and I started with it on loose and then slowly put it on more and more until it was technically all the way on, but she never faltered once she got the idea she could back up and pull my pants off.  I am very pleased with this development.  She's ready to practice these two behaviors at home, though she's not up to taking a pair of pants off if they are all the way on and over the buttocks.

The cues are "Sleeve" for the jacket (aim her at the sleeve by the wrist by tapping it with your forefinger and saying "Take That" and then "Back Up" the first two or three times and then "Take Sleeve" and "Back Up" and then just "Emma, Sleeve" when she's doing good at aiming at the right spot on the sleeve to get a good pull.) and loosened pants which she can freely pulll off.  The cue is "Pants" and she will need to have you point the first few times to get her thinking about what you are asking of her.

Right now, in practice, the rewards should be frequent and high value when working and slowly fade them as she improves.  I am currently rewarding for each removed sleeve and will soon be rewarding for only removing the jacket, but she may need more rewards as she relearns the skill with her handler.  Have him attempt the cues so she learns them from him as well.

She was having so much fun that she was trying to remove the pants before I could put them back on and was just lit up.  She wasn't just enjoying the lesson she was completly thrilled with it.  When the lesson was happening she had accidently taken ahold of my sock while pulling on the sweats.  After the lesson I lifted my foot to pull my sock up and she zipped in and pulled it off with lightening speed.  I laughed so hard and she danced and did the doggy smile and was clearly having too much fun.  It took 5 minutes to put on my sock, but it was a lot of laughs and happy times for both of us.

I knew I had a series of appointments in the afternoon and having had her in a crate for 3 hours the day before I really didn't want to crate her again today.  I lucked out, Ronda called to talk to me and agreed to watch Emma while I was away.  I dropped her off for my physical therapy appointment and let her have a solo hour with Jack to run and play.  Ronda said she was a little shy, but played in the yard with Jack after a bit and had a good time.

When I returned I dropped off Malcolm and Max and I headed out.  Ronda said Emma and Malcolm defended her from a loose dog that was outside of the fence and she, Malcolm and Jack played hard in the yard.  When I returned I let Max play for a while and watched Emma start a game of Catch Me If You Can with Jack and Malcolm and run with pure joy of living.  She played until she couldn't anymore and came home to fall over and sleep until it was bedtime.

She ate dinner with gusto also.  She's been a bit off on her feed and her appetite tonight made me very happy.  She was relaxed, not stressed and happy as could be.  Her huge play session at Ronda's was just what the doctor ordered.  Tomorrow she'll attend my grooming session with Max and Malcolm at Haute Paws Grooming as another public access outing for this week.  I'll evaluate how she is emotionally Friday and use that as my planner for next weeks training sessions for Public Access.

It was a fun day and Emma did a great job.  I want to take some of what she's learned here to Haute Paws and work it again to improve her understanding of her tasks.  I may even ask if Ralph or Sandi won't mind being alternate people she practices her skills on.  I will also work on her leash skills at Haute Paws and her focus.

Wasn't he smaller than me when he came here?

Thursday

Right now the type of public access training I am taking Emma to is designed for socializing more than practicing skills in public.  This type of outing can be longer because it is not a "working" type of outing and designed more of a play type of outing.  Max has events he attends with friends and family where I ask for assistance as needed, but he's in dog mode most of the event.  Family holidays, visiting a friend's home or going to an event where he is primarily off duty require a different type of behavior from him; Emma is learning how to do this type of event also.

For Max, he is expected to maintain his manners.  No begging food, sniffing tables, chewing on items that are not his, having accidents in the home.  He's to be polite to people and other animals in the home and he's to be calm and a good house guest.  Emma needs this type of training also.  She may, in the future, travel with her family to visit other family and if she doesn't know how to be a good guest it would not make her welcome for future visits.

On Monday she visited a client's home and was a very good guest.  She got to explore a little, but mostly laid by me and was quiet as a mouse a majority of the time.  She did try a bit of barking, but it was quiet and under her breath and near the end when she grew tired.

Our second outing was to another known location.  She went with us to Haute Paws Grooming.  She's permitted to wander about while we work on bathing and grooming Max and Malcolm and visit.  She was a very good guest.

She doesn't bark at new dogs when she meets them, but is instead curious but friendly and not rude when she says her hellos.  A few times she put her paws up on the grooming table and sniffed the dog in play without causing them undo stress.  She was never pushy or rude, but instead just curious.

She met Pi and Lulu through their x-pen and was polite and appropriate.  She met some of the customers who came and wasn't jumpy or out of control when she met them.  She was considered a very polite and friendly girl.

She played or slept or laid and watched us without getting in any trouble or being a problem to anyone there.  Thus she got more attention from us.  We praised her and gave her loves when she came up for a hello.  She got lots of happy voices and plenty of time to be near us.  She was lovely.

I asked her to hop up on one of the tables and brushed her out without her tethered to it.  She did without hesitation and was very good at letting us brush her out.  Since the area behind Haute Paws is safe, I let her run off lead when we went on bathroom breaks and she explored the wooded area and recalled nicely.

She's a typical hunting dog and once her nose hit the ground she forgot I was there once and was sniffing her way off to the next county.  I called her to me and made a mental note that if she's let to play off lead she needs to be monitored to prevent her wandering off while following her nose.

She spent the entire day there.  By the end of the day she was tired and she started to bark at customers when they first came in.  Clearly she needs to be given a nap on long outings to prevent her from becoming too vocal.

She was tired when we left and slept all the way home.  It was a good outing and Emma was fantastic all day long.  I have no complaints about her behavior with new people, new dogs and visiting in dog mode at locations where she can.

Stop staring at me!

Friday

After our outing Monday Emma was a bit shutdown the next morning and needed a day off.  I had seen the mood change first thing when we work Tuesday.  I had taken a deep breath and she was flying into bark and bounce mode - which is one of her stress signs.  She becomes more vocal when either tired or stressed.

This morning I took that first deep breath and felt her shift her weight, but she was quiet and just watching to see if I was really awake.  We spent the early morning cuddling and watching "How I Met Your Mother" on Netflix while I drank my morning coffee.  She was happy and upbeat and not showing a lot of stress signs.  She was even playful.  Nice to see.

She enjoyed playing with me and laying on my chest until I was ready to get up.  Since her mood was so good I decided to do formal training with her today and she was great!  I am so glad to see her recovery from an long outing the day before, even a fun one (she loves visiting Sandi and Ralph), was so good.

She worked on removing pants today and I filmed it.  We had to do a bit to remind her she could back up, but once she had that she was off and flying.  Enjoy the attached video of some of our training.

The cue for removing pants is Pants - she may need to go back to the building blocks of "Take it, Pull, Back Up" when learning again with her handler at home.  She is not ready to remove them from his hips yet.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Complete	Complete	Complete	Complete	Complete

Level 2

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

Level 3

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

Level 4

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

18 Months: Training - Days 272 - 274

She's starting to look at the camera.  That's nice.

Tuesday - Thursday

Emma stayed with her family on Monday because her boy was sick.  We encourage any extra time Emma can spend with him to improve their bond.  She is helping him at home by learning to now take his socks off, picking up items he's dropped and getting help when he needs it.  Her biggest asset is she loves to spend time cuddling with him and giving him companionship.  She's a master cuddler.

She arrived Tuesday in a fantastic mood.  We worked on removing the jacket again and she did a great job with it.  I am now cuing her to take the sleeve and pull.  she's starting to back up a little bit, but is still primarily pulling with her head and feet.  I introduced the idea of removing pants by getting my sweats and having her target the pant legs.  It is clear she understands the concept, but finds the pants harder to do because she's not backing up.

On Wednesday we worked on Level 2: Step 1 Communication again.  I really want her to have a solid idea of backing up on cue when she's holding something in her mouth and thus need to build up the idea of backing up.  I got her to back up more than move sideways by the end of the training session, but I noticed she was off while training.  It's not a "she's shy" or "she's fearful" thing, just not really in the game thing.  Emotionally Emma is a hotbox of good and bad days right now and sometimes a goal in her training needs to be set aside and her emotional needs must be addressed.

She's had a couple of weeks where my symptoms have flared and I am off, grumpy and in a great deal of pain and unable to handler her due to the perfume in her coat.  For Emma, this is a breeding zone for insecurity.  I simply need to stop and let her be a dog when this happens.

I spent the rest of Wednesday letting her cuddle and teaching her that laying right at my feet (a skill needed for working also) is as good as being in my lap.  She's doing it more often now.  I feel her curled against my ankle and reach down and praise her for her good choice.  I noticed that another thing was happening all around the house - every dog in the house has Spring Fever.  Yep, every single one of them is off.  Max is barking, talking and reacting to every sound outside.  Emma is launching like she's been shot out of a rocket when he does and following suit and barking at me constantly when she gets excited - even my taking a deep breath first thing in the morning sends her into spasms of barks.  Malcolm is trying to start play sessions in the house and is finding trouble more often.  The cold snap had broken, but the rain had come.  The ground outside was a mud ball and we were having off and on downpours.  It was not good play weather.

On Thursday I hit my limit.  I took Emma, Max and Malcolm over to Ronda's house to play.  I heard my voice raising at all of the dogs because they were reacting to every little thing and my head was pounding with all of the barking (Max and Emma and Dieter, not Malcolm. He doesn't bark when they do...how strange...) and I really didn't want to get into reacting instead of managing behavior.  They all needed a huge run and a big play session.

Ronda had back surgery and I am helping feed her dogs in the mornings and evenings.  I brought the kids over to play and check in on Ronda.  Emma entered the yard and went into the rips.  Ronda has a 6/10ths of an acre and Emma can really lay out when she's running.  She spent the first 10 minutes in the yard doing nothing but running as fast as she could!  Yep, she needed to play badly!

Malcolm injured himself this day.  He was playing in the pool and when he ran into the house he did the splits and pulled his hamstring.  Emma, on the other hand, didn't want to come in, but spent most of the hour we were there running and exploring the yard.  She loves visit days and truly enjoyed playing in Ronda's yard.

Malcolm, who had injured himself, was so excited to be there he wouldn't indicate he had until hours later.  He played Catch Me If You Can and wrestled with Emma and Jack until all three had huge tongues and were exhausted.  At one point I spotted the three of them at the far corner of the back of the property and Emma laying by the strawberry bed watching Ronda and I on the deck by the house.  I called her name and she perked and then I said, "Come" and she laid out like a Greyhound and ran with such speed to the house that Ronda couldn't say anything but, "Damn she's fast."  Oh yeah, she can't get that type of speed up in my yard really and she's built for speed.

She cleared 6/10th of an acre of land, went around the deck and shot up the stairs in less than 3 seconds - oh yeah, she's built for speed.  No wonder she hurts herself sometimes; she gets such a head of speed up she can't stop or correct her direction until it's too late.  But she's a sheer joy to watch when she runs like that - it's nothing but pure joy of living for her when she's running like that.

When we returned from our play session she was happy, relaxed and feeling emotionally better.  We spent the rest of the day just cuddling and enjoying being a family together.  It was a much needed break for her and she ended the day on an upbeat and happy mood.  If only I could get that happy mood day to day and not wonder each day if she'll be feeling emotionally secure.  I'll be glad when her emotional roller coaster of maturity comes to a more stable ride.

On Friday Malcolm and I took her to her grooming appointment.  She rode nicely in the van, but when we got there the groomer noted she was shaking a bit.  She's so sweet and loving and silly and soft.  I plan to take her back into public outings again, but I am going to take it slow with her and see if I can't get her ready for public work; there is no promise she can work in public settings at this time.

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