15 Months: Training - Day 36

Jack is learning to sit for duration.

Yes folks, Jack is back!  Jack went on a 10 day trip with Ronda and experienced a lot of exciting events.  He stayed in hotels, visited restaurants and even went to a Zoo.  He did fantastic on his trip and was able to do some service dog work while he traveled.  When at the Zoo, Ronda had difficulty going up a hill, which is part of what Jack is being trained to assist with, and he was able to provide the forward momentum work she needed to finish climbing the hill.  She also experienced times when her balance went awry and he was able to assist with her maintaining her balance and not fall.  Great job, Big Boy!

He was also able to attend a graduation and the reception afterwards.  What a busy time for Jack.  He soared through without much issue.  He had a couple of events that frightened him, but Ronda handled the situations properly and he gained confidence.

Today he walked through my gate like he never left.  We had seen each other over the weekend and the moment he'd seen me he jumped up and hugged me.  I am clearly a person he loves and enjoys seeing.  He was thrilled when I just fed him his breakfast, since my Mom was over and we were in the process of making raised beds for my yard.

Today Jack settled into the life of visiting Auntie Charlie by playing in the yard, wrestling with Emma and stealing Max's Frisbee whenever he could.  He was a perfect gentleman and I noted several wonderful changes with him.

Before he left for his vacation with Ronda he was a bit sound sensitive and jumpy when things fell.  He slept next to the tree, less than 8 feet away from the saw horses where we were using a power saw to cut wood.  He just looked when boards dropped to the ground or we dropped a tool.  He even looked when I accidently dropped my grab stick on him - a complete change from Mr. Turtle who would flip over onto his back and flail his legs in the air when things fell around him.

Jack is a very stable dog who I have little doubt will succeed in becoming a fantastic service dog in no time.

Today's Lessons:

Sit

Jack is working on Level 2: Step 1 Sit.  In this step Jack is asked to maintain his sit while I walk up to 5 feet away from him.  At first he had a bit of problems with this step and then seemed to settle in and remember what I was asking.  We had worked on this before and he was close to handling the concept, but hadn't perfected it yet.

Today I worked on a bit of duration while standing five feet away from him. One nice thing to see with his return is he isn't sliding into home like he did previously.  I had him slide into a down only once and after that he had a stronger and more controlled sit.  I do believe he's strengthened his stomach muscles, which has made doing the sit sit for duration easier.

I only got one training session in today, since I had a busy morning building raised bed boxes and caring for my male Dachshund, Dieter, who ruptured a disc in his back.  Dieter requires a lot of personal care when he goes outside.

Instead, Jack got to settle back into the routine of coming to my home and training with a light training day and lots of good play.

Observations

Jack is maturing into a fine dog.  He's still a goofy boy who enjoys playing and is a calm boy who can lay and quietly watch me work.  He is confident when dealing with new situations and gentle when meeting people.  He can be a bit of an alarmist when seeing another dog or person at a distance, but I am working on that.  He isn't when on lead, just when in the yard, but it is something I am working on with him, Max and Emma.

Today I shaved his face down, since his face hair had grown long again.  He's due for grooming and Ronda is arranging his appointment, but until then I decided he'd be more comfortable if he wasn't squinting through the hair on his face.  He's not totally comfortable with the idea of being shaved, but let me do it.

I will have to work on clicking for grooming to make a required part of his life easier on him.  I will include that in his daily training.  I will keep everyone updated on his progress.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	2	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	3	0	1	1	4
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	1	1	1	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