15 Months: Training - Day 37

I see this a lot during the day.

This is Wednesday's blog post.  My week has been so full with building raised beds and caring for Dieter and dealing with server issues with my day job that I am running behind on a lot of basic work for the dogs!  Jack is doing great though and I am very proud with how well he occupies himself when I am busy.

Jack and Emma have been playing hard when we have outside time and learning a lot of new thing while he's here.  He started the week with power saws and power drills while my Mom and I built four new raised beds for my yard and I was pleased to see him sleep through the process.  He has been doing well on letting other dogs eat out of their bowls without trying to help and he's starting to off "other dog training Zen", though it is so very hard to do.

He's also spent the week giving me snuggles and hugs a lot.  He's a very affectionate dog and loves to give kisses or just be held in a hug - something dogs normally don't like, but he hugs back and he loves it.

I also shaved his face. He was squinting through the fur on his face and I finally couldn't take it anymore and took my clippers to him.  At first he and I were playing a dance of "how do we do this" and by the end of the clipping he was reluctant, but willing to let me finish the job.  He and I are now working on "clippers can make you feel happy" by my pulling them out and having him touch them with his nose and giving him a treat.  After three days of this he is wagging the moment he sees the clippers.  I have had them unplugged sometimes and plugged others and done it with them both on and off (he doesn't nose touch if they are on, just looks at them).

But with the busy week our training schedule has been off a bit and he's not working on lessons as often or long as he was before his vacation.  Hopefully next week will be better for both of us.

Today's Lessons:

Zen

Jack is working on Level 2: Step 3 Zen.  In this step Jack is asked to stay away from a treat on the floor for 30 seconds.  Jack's Zen has been his weakest point.  He simply cannot keep his mind around food and he's very very very very hand oriented.  He loves to nibble on fingers when he's excited - though there is not pressure or malice in the act - it is a sign that he has a problem with self control regarding hands.

I have been working Zen in as many ways as I can find to help him keep his nose, teeth and tongue under control.  Jack would be fantastic at Zen if his mouth would just listen to his brain!  In Emma's Finishing School class we were shown a few ways to explain Zen to the dogs and I am using those techniques with Jack to further explain to him what I want.

I am asking him to look to me, not my hand, not the treat, but me when he sees the Zen hand.  I have not added the cue back in yet and won't until he's got total control of himself - Jack simply gets too excited and tries stealing treats out of my hands the moment he smells them.

These new techniques are working.  One is to hold treats in both hands off to the sides at shoulder level.  Jack can look at my hand all he wants, but he will not get a treat until he looks at my face.  He quickly got this idea, since it gave him a clear "what to do" action, and he was quickly locking into my face and eyes and not even looking at the hands.  When I said "Yes" to mark he did right I would feed a treat from the hand he did not look at.

Another technique places the treats on a chair or my knee and again he's not to look at the food, but into my face.  He had a harder time with this at first, but soon had it and was a champ.  Each time he looked into my eyes I would click and feed a treat from the pile right into his mouth.

Taking the second technique further I put a pile of treats on the floor and would only pick up and hand him one when he looked me in the eyes.  Again, the click happened when he focused on me and not the food.  This one again threw him for a loop and he was on his side, sliding into home with tongue in action trying to slurp a treat from under my protective hand.  He got it in the end, but he had a hard time with this concept.

We worked for his entire lunch on this lesson.

Sit

Jack is working on Level 2: Step 1 Sit.  In this step Jack is asked to sit while I walk 5 feet away from him.  Jack has a hard time with this concept.  He wants to get up and follow, something he does naturally with people he likes, and finds my walking away too tempting not to follow me.

He is starting to get the concept and I am starting to see confidence in his sit when I walk away or around him. He is starting to build duration on every 10th time I walk away and we got up to 6 seconds by the end of his breakfast!  Great job!

Observatons

Jack is a sweet boy who loves people in general.  Once he considers you part of his world he's like glue on you. I am one of his "people" and he loves to see me.  He gives hugs and kisses and even just leans into me and rests his head in my lap off and on all day long.  He is the most affectionate dog I have ever met.

He has a hard time therefore being separated from his people.  Learning Distance and Duration will give Jack more confidence and he should come out of Level 2 with an extremely solid foundation in key behaviors of Sit, Down and Stay.

Jack is doing a great job and I am not worried about his progress at this time.

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