13 Month: Training - Day 27

This is more like it - Jack on a mat in a flat away from me.

By Wednesday I am feeling tired and sore after dealing with five dogs and their needs for two full days.  Emma, who was having serious stress issues, required extra TLC during Wednesday, so I decided to do a quiet behavior lesson for Jack to help keep Emma's stress levels down and keep the house quiet enough - she was in hiding for most of the day.

Jack was more than happy to accommodate whatever training I selected, so I decided to advance his Flat behavior.  Read my observations below to find out what I discovered about the beginning of duration with any behavior.

I do want to thank Ronda for calling me on the weekends or week nights and asking me if I think Jack is ready for an outing.  We discuss the length and goal of the outing she's about to take and determine if Jack is ready or not - so far he's been up to 90% of the outings Ronda takes him on.  I appreciate her asking me what she should look for, what she should do and how she can continue to improve on Jack's overall socialization when he's working in public.  Ronda, you are a joy to work with and I appreciate your continued communication regarding Jack's public access training.

Why am I saying this?  Emma is on "bed rest" you could say because she became overly stressed after a prolonged outing on the weekend followed by her class at Diamonds in the Ruff on Monday.  The two back to back events resulted in Emma vomiting after returning from class on Monday and showing high stress signs during training on Tuesday.  Though she may not have shown signs her family recognized on Sunday, the day of the prolonged outing, she was overly stressed by it and it made her sick.  It's a delayed reaction and both animals and humans do it.  I choose to give Emma a full day off from training and just let her rest and play as she felt on Wednesday because she truly needed a "vacation" to recover from her work.

Ronda's communication and careful planning with Jack has not resulted in such a stress reaction and thus is bolstering his confidence.  She's taking it slow and giving him time to process and her choices for outings in public are appropriate for his training level and age.  What a wonderful gift she's giving him - time to process and tiny steps to learn what his role is instead of flooding him with too much stimuli.

Once again, thank you for taking your time with Jack during his early public access training.

Today's Lessons:

Flat

Jack is working on Level 1: Step 4 Flat.  In this step Jack is asked to perform a Flat while on leash.  Since Jack is working on that with both myself and Ronda, I decided to work on Level 2: Step 1 Flat for Jack's morning and midday lessons.

I waited until Jack offered a Flat and clicked and then slowly added duration between clicks.  Each time I added duration I did it in one second increments.  Jack was okay at first when we started this, but then started to pop up and nudge me with his nose, or offer sits and other behaviors he's learned.  Each time he did a Flat I would click and then start the duration count over.  After 5 morning sessions and 5 afternoon sessions I was able to work up to 5 seconds a majority of the time, a fussy 8 seconds part of the time and an occasional 10 second interval.  Jack is learning patience.

I will continue to work with Jack on distance and duration exercises, since Jack has been literally touching me, laying directly beside me or both at all times during the day.  He gives no space when I am working with another dog unless I tether him and I am almost always tripping on him.

Jack needs to learn to give me space and wait patiently when I work another dog before I become overwhelmed with too much personal contact.  I am overloaded by the end of the day with the amount of contact Jack wants during the day.

The distance he's learning with Sit and duration he's learning with Flat will help with both so I can add Go To Mat to his behavior set and start moving him "over there" so I can work and move.

Observations

As I mentioned above, Jack started to pop up and offer behaviors when I delayed my clicks.  This is something every dog I have ever worked with does when duration is started.  Emma went through a "can't stay down for more than a nano second" period herself, as did my own dogs.  The nose nudges, targeting, moving into a Sit or Brace and even offering paws are all behaviors he hopes will lead to a click.  It is the sign the dog is thinking.  The behavior set that I am describing is the dog saying, "What about this?  Will this make you click?  No?  Do you want this?"  This is the dog being In The Game and trying out his toolbox to find what I want this time to get him to pay him.  What a wonderful development with Mr. Jack in such a short period of training time!

I am hoping by introducing duration and distance to get some personal space to myself.  By the end of the day I am so wiped out by not having any all day long I am starting to get grouchy with people and even objects.  It is not good to have all of my personal space stolen!  Here's hoping I can begin Communication with a combination of Mat and Relax to get Jack in his own space and out of mine.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	2	4	4

Level 2

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

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	1	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