12 Month: Training - Day 5

Jack has a sense of humor and makes me laugh daily.

What a difference a week can make for a dog just settling into his new home.  Jack is more confident and happier than ever since he's settled in with Ronda.  He arrived this morning around 7:45AM and was happy to see me and bold as brass as she passed him into the yard.  We chatted a couple of minutes, catching up on his busy weekend, and then watched as Ronda drove off.

Last week this process of passing from her to me left him stressed and worried and he would stand against my fence and whine as she left.  Today he watched, saw she was leaving and gave a mental shrug as he turned and walked with me.  He's no longer touching me to feel safe and he's wagging his tail and ready for our daily adventures.

I went in and prepped the food for the day.  For both Jack and Emma I fill their daily allotment of food into their bowl and work on it throughout the day to increase the number of training sessions.  Emma eats 1 1/2 cups of food a day and Jack receives 2 of his 3 cups of food a day.  He'll slow down as his last growing phase completes and most likely drop back to 2 to 2 1/2 cups of food a day.

The biggest problem I have is Jack is so curious and has not concept of personal space that he interferes with training the other dogs currently. I had gone through this with Emma previously and had to teach all the dogs to give Emma space and Emma to give them space when I worked with them.

The first part of that lesson is teaching him that other dog bowls are not fair game in my home.  I patiently set the Dachshunds bowls down and then pushed Jack away from Attitude, whose bowl he was about to put his nose into, and was pleased to see him lay down and ignore her bowl.  This is the first step in learning food bowl Zen and he's getting the idea.  He was still very close to her and would sniff and touch her with his nose, but he wasn't trying to eat her very appealing food while she ate.

The other problem is he loves to try to steal Emma's kibble when I am training her.  Max has already established his position in the house without much effort.  Today, when Jack went to check out what Max was doing while I trained him, Max lifted his lips and told Jack he was way to close for Max's comfort.  Jack respected this direct and appropriate communication and gave Max the space he asked for.  Thus, Jack doesn't try to steal Max's kibble as I feed it to him and Jack sees me tell Max he's not allowed to be close when I am training Jack.  This places me above Max, whom Jack respects, and thus when I tell Jack he can't have the Dachshund's food, he respects me boundaries.

On the other hand, Emma and Jack have not settled into who is in what position.  Jack stands over Emma while she's training and she doesn't tell him not too, though I am working on Jack hearing me when I tell him it's not okay.  Emma on the other hand will go and lay quietly out of the way while I train Jack.  In this case, that sets Emma in the "little sister who can be picked on" status in Jack's mind.

I do not believe in pack leadership, but leadership is a part of dog raising.  A dog that doesn't respect the human caring for them will not follow arbitrary human rules which in the dog world make little sense.  To establish respect I must show, in a force free way, that following those silly rules results in rewards.  I hold the key to resources the dogs want.  I am the one with the thumbs that can open the door when they want out or the door that has the toy bin behind it.  I am the one that can provide the food they need for the day and affection they desire.  I am the one that can provide what they want to make their life happier and easier and all I ask is they follow the rules I set.

My job as their leader is to make the rules understandable.  I must set clear boundaries and clear expectations.  If I raise my hand to signal a sit it will mean sit every time I do it and a reward of food, praise, affection or a chance to go outside is given.  If I give the signal for a down again that signal means that particular body action and my part of the bargain is giving the rewards the dog desires - be it a kibble or a chance to go outside.

I do not have to roll the dog on his side, frighten him or hurt him to gain this leadership.  I just need to be consistent in my behavior and rewards to the dog and maintain control of the primary resources they desire.

Right now Jack and I are negotiating.  He enjoys working for his food now because he's hungry enough for it.  I am consistent in what I ask of him and I do not punish or correct him, but ignore behaviors I don't desire.  To teach Jack that I want him to wait while I work with Emma I must first teach him what I want.  I want him to find a spot, be it a mat or a piece of floor nearby, and lay quietly when I work.  I reward that behavior with kibble and praise at this point.  In short order he'll understand my rule of training and give the respect I ask of all the dogs.

To do this I am teaching him about Mats and Down and Zen.  All of these items are needed when learning how to give space and wait for a reward.  It won't take long before Jack and I are working together as a team to get the rewards he desires.

Today's Lessons:

Zen

Jack is working on Level 1: Step 2 Zen.  In this step Jack is asked to wait 5 seconds before I click and drop the treat.  I am dropping the treat directly between his feet at this point, since I am still working on setting up the household to respect I am working with Jack and they cannot steal his kibble also.

Jack is still putting his nose on my hand, though it is very brief, before pulling his nose away.  He's not making eye contact at this point, but I will work up to that stage as we build duration.  Since he's still touching my hand, something I don't want, I work with him on Step 1 to build up his understanding of the game I am asking him to play better.  If he moves to my hand I gently remove it from his nose touch and then click when I see him pull his nose away.  Jack is quickly getting the idea, but sometimes forgets and licks my hand and we start again at zero and work back up to step two.

After a weekend of not working on Zen with me, I stayed at Step 1 for the morning lesson.  I will start adding duration during his mid-day lesson and hopefully work up to 5 seconds by the end of the day.

Jack has a fundamental understanding of the cue Leave It.  I dropped Medication today and Jack went to put his nose on it.  I said, "Leave it" and he pulled his nose away and backed up.  Jack is still learning the verbal cue for Leave It.

Retrieve

Jack started some Level 3: Step 1 Retrieve.  I was working with Emma on Retrieve when Jack reached out and took the pencil in his front teeth. I saw no reason to discourage this behavior, since one of Jack's primary tasks will be retrieving objects for Ronda, so I would reward him for taking the pencil in his mouth.  He got up to putting the pencil behind his canines and holding it for a second.

In truth, Jack is trying to steal the pencil and I know it, but it is a behavior I can shape into a task and don't desire to discourage at any time he's willing to try.  In short order he got the idea to take and then release the pencil, which is exactly what I want.  He tends to hold and tug on objects he has in his mouth and working on this now, when he's willing to participate, is okay and will give him a working task for Ronda sooner as he continues through the learning process.

Jack has no verbal cue attached to this behavior yet.

Sit

Jack is working on Level 1: Step 1 Sit.  Jack started to display Sit as a tool in his toolbox on Friday and I was pleased to see the first time I cued a sit he did.  Technically this means he's passed the step, but I want to work a bit more on it until he's consistent with the hand cue.  To do this I have began Come Afters with Jack on this step.  I am cuing him to sit when I am standing, which is how I started him, and again when I am sitting, which changes the picture.  Jack is sitting on cue 50% of the time at this point, thus needs more practice with this step.

I am also working in different rooms and different directions to build on the concept of Sit.  I have started attaching the verbal cue Sit to this behavior for Jack.

Down

Jack is working on Level 1: Step 1 Down.  In this step Jack is asked to do a down on a hand cue while I am either sitting or standing.  Jack has just begun this step and doesn't fully understand it yet.  He did several downs, but after getting into a down he gets stuck and doesn't get back up.  Since he's along and large dog, tossing treats doesn't always work, since he can just lean and get the treat without getting up.  I will need to work with soft treats and lure him into a sit, down and stand repeatedly until he understands those cues.

Jack's down Cue will be Flat when I am attaching a verbal cue to it.  Jack has no verbal cue attached to this behavior yet.

Observations

Jack has grown comfortable being in my home and is showing signs he's understanding some of my rules.  He's not as pushy about my plate when I eat, now giving me a Zen behavior of laying and ignoring my plate while I eat.  He's not putting his nose in everything and seems to have sated his curiosity about my home.  He also is no longer glued to me when I move through the house.


The two filed trips I have attended with Jack have been positive and show his growing confidence.  He's attached to Ronda and shows he trusts her to protect him.  Ronda told me she took him out for a field trip over the weekend also.  She got a new phone and left Jack in her car when she did.  She said he honked the horn once, but didn't damage her car while she got her new phone.

She also took him to Big R and he was curious and explorative in the building, but not frightened.  I will have her and I take him to the Big R later this week with Emma and work on both of them doing Level 1 behaviors in a new location with a new distraction.

Jack is shaping up into a loving, calm and confident young dog.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	2	1	1	1	1