July 18th - 27th, 2014

Buddy

Buddy has been released into Tao Service Dogs care for placement.  Buddy is now available for either pet dog or service dog placement.  If you are interested in Buddy, please contact me to apply.

Buddy needs work on Level 1 Zen, Level 1 Come, Level 2 Lazy Leash, Level 2 Sit and Level 2 Down.  Buddy also has Separation Anxiety (SA) and is under going training to assist him with it.

Buddy has spent the week learning I can walk away from him while he's in a crate or x-pen and return without his needing to bark or panic.  He is eating daily in his x-pen and works daily on short, split second separations to help him understand that people leaving is not a bad thing.

He is in need of crate training and we've begun it, but this means he doesn't crate well.  For more information on Buddy, please contact us and we'll discuss him.

Buddy will continue crate and SA training to help him be the best companion he can be.

Murphy

Nice job team!  Murphy is now retrieving pens, keys and remotes (if they have a shoe lace attached).  What a fantastic advancement.

During our lesson Murphy picked up his first piece of paper and did well with it.  He is starting to work on metal as an object he can take in his mouth and pick up.

He is still barrel rolling the pen in his mouth, so we are working on a still mouth with a Carry Hold.

Homework:

Hold the pen before Murphy and have him take it and then move your hand to the left or right side of his head and say Yes when he turns his head.  If he drops the pen it's okay, we are working on making his mouth still right now.  If he chews, rolls or crunches the pen do not reward - instead, pick it up and offer it again before him and move your hand to the left or right and say Yes when he turns his head.  If he doesn't chew on it, give him a reward.

When he's good at this, hold the pen out so he has to take a few steps to take it.  When he turns toward you say Yes and give him a treat only if he doesn't crunch, chew or roll the pen.  The next time have him take a step toward you and slowly increase steps to you until he is walking back to bring you the pen.

Have him before you and give him the pen then back up a few steps to encourage him to carry the pen toward you.  Only reward if he doesn't chew, roll or crunch the pen.

Spirit

Spirit started Prozac last week.  She is much calmer in her reactions to sounds or sights outside of her home.  She didn't once go off on a bark fest when she heard something outside of the home, nor did she go into Fool Around when working with me.

I took her outside to work on her walks.  She did some nice sniffing in the yard and then we worked into the street and she was able to work on actual Loose Leash Walking and take treats.  The difference in her ability to focus and train is clear and I am loving it.

She is still Spirit.  She still has her bouncy, loving nature, she's just calmer and able to handle stress better.  I am so glad she's on her way to being a happier dog overall.

I brought her back into the home when things got a bit too busy outside.  A neighbor dog had been barking in the distance and Spirit at first listened, but gave a snort and turned to me for treats.  A neighbor was using a vacuum in her open garage and Spirit watched for a few seconds and gave a snort and went to sniffing the ground.  We worked with those two distractions for about 15 minutes with 30 seconds on and 2 minutes off on LLW work and lots of sniff and explore time.  She did fine until a second neighbor dog, one she could see, came out and barked at her.  She went very still and stood staring and couldn't hear me anymore.  I took her inside at that point.

Later we went out and worked with her owner on how to do the LLW training and talked about doing 5 to 10 minutes on during walks and giving breaks of about the same length.  Doing this during her daily walks should make her more likely to walk nice on the lead and make her walks easier in general.

Homework:

Deliver a treat to Spirit's mouth while she's walking directly beside you and at your seam of your pants.  Do this once per second to start and slowly start extending the number of seconds between treats.  If at any time she moves forward out of position while actually working on LLW training, stop, lure her back into position and start again and increase the number of treats for a short time and then start extending time between them.  The easiest way of doing this is by counting steps - one step/treat and then 2 steps/treat and so forth.

Do this for 5 to 10 minutes while on your walks at least twice during the walk.

Continue crate training with adding duration while you are no in sight of Spirit.

Minnie

Oh how I love Ms. Minnie.  She's been working on her Sit as a cue and learned it nicely.  Her owners mentioned she'll sit if she sees the treats, so I showed them how to use a clicker and how to take the treats off of them.

I worked with Minnie for a short time and clicked then treated each time she sat.  I then started to add the verbal cue.  Once I had a good verbal cue and lots of offered sits I started walking her through the house into different rooms, while facing different directions and cued a sit and click/treated each one.

I then had her owners do the same, but I clicked and they treated.  I had them leave the treats nearby and go to them each time she did her sit.

I then worked on luring Minnie into a down.  I have 3/4ths of a down, which for Minnie is a major accomplishment.

Homework:

Practice with her by cuing her to sit and clicking and then treating when she does.  Once she's very good at Sit, start to ask for two or three sits and then treat and begin asking for sits for things she wants, such as sniffing, getting her leash on or going out the door for her walk.

Continue to work on luring Minnie into a down.

Continue to shape Minnie to ring a bell.

Coco

Update coming soon.

Dakota

Update coming soon.

June 30th - July 3rd, 2014

Spirit

Spirit is still working on her crate behaviors to be ready for her vacation with a board and train facility in August.  I worked on duration for a while and watched to see what she really needed help with.  It's relaxing in the crate.  She goes in fine, is quiet when in the crate, but sits with a level of alertness and tension that tells me she isn't fully comfortable in the crate.  Time to teach her to relax.

I worked for a while on getting her chin down to her paws by shaping it.  We got a good approximation of that while she lay at my feet out of the crate. I had gotten a hip roll, a deep sigh and her offering putting her chin to her paws before I moved it to the crate.  I started with the door open and me sitting before it.  I got her to lay down and offer the chin on the edge of the door, but no hip rolls.  She was spring loaded and ready to go if I let her. 

I worked on shaping the hip roll and finally got her hip over and her chin down with the crate door open.  After a break we went back to it and this time I closed the door and slipped treats to her through the bars of the crate.  I never left the side of the crate, but did get a chin down, hip roll and even once a big sigh.  She's not relaxed, but she's offering the physical behaviors for now and it was a great session.

Her owner will continue to work on her relaxing in her crate and reinforcing body positions that encourage her to relax and become comfortable in her crate overall.

Ziggy

Ziggy is a Rat Terrier who was being evaluated for service dog training.  Due to clear nervousness and difficulties recovering from novel or startling things I have not approved Ziggy for service dog work.  Ziggy's owner will continue to enjoy Ziggy's company as a pet dog.

Buddy

Buddy is working on impulse control and how to relax and settle near his handler.  He is also working on focusing on his handler while working.  We worked on settling at my feet at first and shaping chin down and other behaviors that encourage relaxation.  We also worked on basic impulse control.  On the end of the appointment his handler worked on rewarding behaviors that encouaged more focus and more relaxation on Buddy's part.

We did discuss getting a volunteer for Buddy to help with his training and care two days a week.  I have found a volunteer who'll take Buddy from Friday night to Sunday afternoon and will work on impulse control, basic foundation skills and learning to relax at his handler's feet.  This volunteer is near me, so I will be able to donate time to work with Buddy on the weekends.

Buddy's homework is:

It's Yer Choice:  Buddy must offer a sit to get his dinner, go out a door or play with a toy.  If he tries to steal a toy or food from his handler's hand she is to pull her hand away and look away from him until he sits.  She is to do this as many times in a row until he can sit calmly and wait for the food or toy to be offered to him.

Please review Malcolm's Quest blog post and read the entry for Thursday to see more about installing calm and impulse control into a service dog in training.  There are also videos available which show how to achieve the goal we are working for.

Pay for Eye Contact:  If  Buddy volunteers eye contact pay him with food, toy, praise or affection to let him know you like it.  If he comes to check on you do the same, even if eye contact has not been made - we are working on him finding you to be the best thing since sliced bread, so offering him rewards of food, toys, praise or affection will increase his desire to be with you.

Door Manners:  Teach Buddy how to wait at the door by asking for a sit and reaching for the door.  If he stands, take your hand away from the door and ask for a sit again. Do this until you can open the door and he won't move from his sit.  Work until the door can stay open for 1 minute and you can step in and out of the door at least three times.

Meet People:  Buddy becomes over excited when he sees people he knows.  If pulls and barks to show he desires to greet them.  Work on his walking on a loose leash, quiet and calm and focused on you to meet people he knows.  If he can't take 1 step without getting to excited, then take one step and lure him into a sit.  Wait for eye contact and take one more step and lure him into a sit.  Do this until he can walk up to 20 feet without needing to sit to calm down and meet the person without getting over excited.  If he can only get 15 feet away from someone he likes and stay calm, don't try to get 14 feet away, but stop where he is still calm for that lesson and work to get closer in another lesson.  He doesn't need to meet the person each time he works toward them, just learn to be calm when he sees them and eventually to greet them.

Public Access: Roadwork

2 years

Coco/Malcolm

Coco is a 2 year old pet Miniature Pincer who is working on confidence.  Her owner contacted me to help with improving their daily walks and relieve Coco's overall stress to improve her life.  We have been working with Coco for 2 months now.

Coco has fears of sounds, dogs and people.  She was so worried about her environment she couldn't focus on her handler, tended to try to back out of her harness and was worried all the time.  Her owner knew this was not good for her, so we began with basic focus work and giving Coco coping skills in new locations.  This was achieved by using Leslie McDevitt's Pattern Games and focusing on the ones that easily could be used on walks.  We introduced the Up/Down game, Look At That (LAT) game and Ping/Pong game.  We also started basic skill training with Sue Ailsby's Training Levels: Steps to Succss to continue improving their relationship and help Coco learn to learn.

We progressed from working in the home to her front yard and then to the sidewalk before her home.  Each time I brought one or more of my trainees and/or my personal service dog Max to introduce Coco to neutral safe dogs.

Coco has made remarkable progress due to the hard work and dedication of her owner.  She is focused on her owner, who practices Coco's homework with the household cat and local wild turkeys in the neighborhood to help her understand that all good things come from checking in.

Coco wasn't only happy to see me, but ecstatic. I have built a foundation of trust and respect with this tiny mite and I am truly loving seeing her graciously welcome me into her home with bright eyes, body tall and stubby butt wiggling in joy. She was having mild fear issues dressing in her tiny (TINY) no pull harness, so last week I showed how to lure her into it. She is 90% improved and dresses with a lot less stress now.

Coco and Malcolm walking.

We went to Manito Park this time. It is one step up from our last park walk and was a perfect place to work on bicycles, children and slow moving vehicles. Unlike Riverfront Park, which is crowded and super busy, Manito gives long quiet breaks between groups of people and very few bicycles which are going at a steady, but not racing speed. There are also dogs off and on in the distance.

Coco was worried at first at the edge of the park, so I instructed we go at Coco's pace and let her do all the sniffing, watching and exploring she wanted. We had no set destination nor time limit outside of our appointment time and if we hadn't gotten 10 feet in 45 minutes I was good with that.

Coco quickly decided she wanted to sniff every blade of grass and check out every pee post, so we walked with frequent stops and rewarded her for passing people, seeing dogs, bicycles and cars and listening to children.

She is now curious about strangers and leaned out to sniff several passing people. We rewarded that new curiousity. She saw dogs and didn't worry about them. She never was bothered by the bicycles or cars, even when a pair of bicycles passed right behind her.

She settled by a picnic table and just watched all the people in a distance and we waited until she could focus on her handler more than on the activity before moving on.

On our way back to the van she was strutting! Head up, little body moving like a reigning queen and a pure look of confidence and pride in her body carriage. I wanted to cry with joy at how much she's improved!

Whenever something worried her she looked to her owner without hesitation and was rewarded for it.

Coco and Malcolm checking pee mail together.

She finds comfort in Malcolm's quiet calm behavior with us and wasn't worried the two times Malcolm barked at dogs that were too close for his threshold. I think his confidence is wearing off a bit.

What is truly lovely is in the home she wanted me to pet her, gave me a kiss on the nose and followed me with anticipation of a dropped treat as I walked out.

She escorted me to my van and cried when I went to leave. She was looking at me intently and it was clear she didn't want the Treat Lady to leave.

We will revisit Manito Park a couple more times and then find a new park with a new level of activity to continue to improve her confidence when out on her walks.

Her success is due to her owners dedicated work on the homework. Coco is learning to be a confident girl and her long term health is bright with the reduction in the level of stress she's been experiencing.

6 months

Buddy/Jack

Since Malcolm had a public access outing with Coco and did very well, it was time to take Buddy out.  Buddy has hit a developmental stage in which he barks at things that he is uncertain about.  With careful work on rewarding good behavior and helping him make the right choices he's improving rapidly.

I asked that Jack, one of our graduates, to attend with Buddy as a backup for our outing.  Jack was there to help demonstrate proper behavior when seeing strange dogs and give Buddy someone to model his behavior off of.

Buddy lives with a handler that uses many types of mobility equipment, including a power chair and walker.  He had no problems working with my power chair as we did our walk, which made focusing on his dog issues much easier.

The advantage of roadwork, in this case working in a park, is many things can happen which the dog needs to adjust to and helps them work toward working in an ever changing working environment.  Buddy has had a lot of experience working in buildings, but his problems reside outside of them, so we are bridging that gap by giving him the tools he needs to become a solid working dog.  He has the ability, just needs the training at this time.

Each time we saw a dog, especially one coming toward us, I would stop and feed him several treats as the dog passed and then we'd continue our walk.  He did very well with this and was able to ignore dogs up to 40 feet away.  He has a threshold of about 35 feet, but with careful management he'll learn to let dogs pass directly beside him and not respond.

He is not fearful of bicycles, cars, people or sounds.  He was curious about the ducks and turtles in the pond, but didn't display a high prey drive regarding birds.  He was relaxed and curious about his world and enjoyed his sniffs and trotting along.  He works well with Jack present and is very good with the power chair.

Buddy practicing sitting in a tight space.

At one point we entered the Manito Conservatory to peer at the more exotic flowers and Buddy did a lovely job following the power chair in the very narrow aisles and not sniffing the plants while doing so.  He needs formal training for position and turning, but his overall base training is solid with the power chair.

We explored much of the park and Buddy did well, only barking a couple of times at other dogs, but quickly stopped when redirected and allowed to play LAT.  He's improved rapidly with his issues at barking at sights he doesn't understand or dogs he doesn't know.

Please understand, Buddy is not aggressive toward other dogs.  On the contrary, he likes them too much and his excitement leads to barking to start play.  He needs less time with other dogs on a weekly basis and more time learning to ignore them when out.

After exploring the Maze at the top of the park and the Conservatory by it, we went to the Rose Garden.  It is still very early in the season and none of the roses were out, but it was a nice spot to work around anyway.

Jack's handler recently had surgery and needed to take a shortcut out of the Rose Garden which I couldn't take in my power chair.  We split up and I went around to meet back up.  On our way back to Jack Buddy began barking at him as we approached.  Once we got close enough for Buddy to meet him he quieted.  We will have to do more splits and returns to help Buddy learn not to bark at dogs, both known and unknown, when working.

Buddy watching the ducks.

After that we went down to the duck pond and watched the ducks, geese and turtles.  Buddy was very interested in the birds and even tried to step into the pond once, but he didn't display high prey drive and eventually settled to watch the ducks.

Then our worst nightmare, for both service and pet owner, arrived.  A man with a small dog on a flexi lead made a beeline for us from his car with his small dog a good 20 feet before him while calling out, "He just loves dogs."

I told him we were training and didn't want to meet his dog.  He kept coming toward us and once he got within 10 feet of us Buddy lost his brain and was pulling and barking at him.  This upset me because we had a Golden resting not far away and Buddy had looked at him and not reacted and then tuned him out.  We had been making great progress when this man arrived.

Personally, I don't care if your dog "just loves dogs" the dog you are approaching may not and it's rude to just walk them into another dog's face.  Buddy had been fine, even with the tiny mite tugging our way, until the man refused to believe our dogs didn't want to meet his dog and he set Buddy up to fail as a result.  I was not in a position to easily move Buddy away, I was blocked by water on two sides and a bench on the third and the man was coming on our only exit - I couldn't get Buddy away from the oncoming dog.

Buddy in the Conservatory.

The man stopped and looked hurt Buddy was reacting like he was and then decided to leave.  I am glad, because we would have had to block him physically to stop him approaching any more than he did.  Buddy quickly calmed and we decided then to leave.

I do want to mention a man was jump roping near us and Buddy watched with German Shepherd, Malcolm but didn't react.  He's a solid, nearly bomb proof pup who just needs direction and given the tools to do his job as he grows.  I truly enjoy working with Buddy.