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| Jack with his, "I need a cup of coffee" look. |
Jack is progressing nicely on both is Retrieve and his play style with the puppy. He's been a bit over excited about playing with Malcolm and I've had to tell him to stop. Malcolm, who is growing in confidence by leaps and bounds, is now communicating well enough that Jack is settling into a more appropriate play style that Malcolm enjoys and can participate in. What a soft boy our Jack is.
Today we worked solely on Retrieve while I tried to get some paperwork done and go through the Levels books and see where Jack and Emma really are within the lessons. I don't teach all of the lessons exactly like the Levels books tells us too, since I have been teaching some of the basics of Communication, Handling and Recall for years. So, some of the stuff I am not "focusing" on in a planned lesson plan but do throughout the day with them as we progress from play to lessons to rest and back again.
Jack had no recall when he came to us, but now races to me from the back of the property. He had no idea how to get out of our way and actually would stop and lean as you tried to pass him, but now moves away when asked and gives space when needed. He also had problems with some handling, such as cleaning his eyes, but now willingly lets us groom and manage him. None of this happened in a formal training session, but did with daily living.
Thus, most of my day was taken up with puppy management, paperwork and a bit of training of the adult dogs. Jack is up to holding a pencil in his mouth for 1 second 50% of the time and up to 3 seconds at least two or three times in a session. He's still jumping about with excitement over the treats, so it's time to rework Zen and build up his Zen skills a bit more.
Tuesday
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| How YOU doin'? |
I have started to change that dynamic for Jack. Instead of correcting him with his name (even getting his attention to redirect him is a correction with such a soft dog) I am calling him to me and praising him for doing what I asked. In only two days of changing how I use his name he's drastically improved in his body language.
This morning when Ronda dropped him off I put my arms out and happily said his name. He rushed up to me and got a treat I had hidden in my pocket for doing so. His "maybe I did something" body language (which was just starting) changed into "I can't believe how cool that was" body language.
In the house when he accidentally made the baby yelp I redirected him to me and then sent him back to play. He is starting to stand tall again. I am so glad to see that. There is a loose dog in the neighborhood and Jack is on the edge of bouncing over my fence whenever he sees him. As a matter of fact all of the dogs in the yard are going nuts when they see this dog, except Malcolm, and I really don't want him to learn this behavior. I am now calling all of the dogs to me and playing LAT with them when the dog is in view. I am up to them seeing the dog 20 feet away and staying mostly calm after I start the game, but once the dog is next to my fence we loose all control. At that point I call all the dogs into the house to calm them down.
This exercise works on staying calm in the presence of their own worst distraction (cats too) and recalling from such a distraction. They are all improving, but I am not happy with the dog being loose in the neighborhood.
Jack is recalling from great distances and does let me clip a lead on him and grab his collar when I do call him. No bad has ever happened when I do this and thus he's eager to play the game. He does settle in the presence of his worst distraction, but it takes time and my keeping his focus. I have some work to do with him on this - he's very excitable outside and very protective of his yard. I am at the stage of implementing the Three Bark Rule. They are allowed to bark up to 3 times and then when I cue them they are to be quiet. I am building the cue in by recalling them and rewarding them for coming to me - this is working well. I am attaching the cue "Thank You" when I start the recall. So it goes:
- See Dog
- Bark at Dog
- I say, "Thank You, Jack Come"
- If he comes to me he gets a reward
- If he doesn't come to me I go to him and repeat my cue and give him a reward.
- We move away from the distraction and give him space to keep his cool.
He is now turning his head when I cue him and about 20% of the time coming when I am over 10 feet away and 60% of the time coming when I am less than 10 feet away. It's great progress in the past seven days.
Since Jack is so excited about food I am reworking Level 1 Zen. He needed a quick reminder to keep his nose away today and on our second session I started to ask for eye contact. I think if Jack knows exactly what is expected of him (he loves rules) he'll do better with his impulse control, but I do need to really super instill some impulse control in him. He doesn't have the best impulse control overall and it is affecting his progression with Sit and Down, which we need to improve on. So, Jack will finish the week really hammering Zen. Once he has a solid Zen I think we can proceed with Sit, Down and Retrieve with better self control and an ability to think.
So, while playing in the yard I decided to add one final training session to Jack's day before his Mom came to get him. What a break through that was! I asked Jack to sit on the new Patio and got up to 4 or 5 seconds consistently for a Sit/Stay with me 2 feet away and at least three times up to 7 seconds and twice up to 8 seconds! Wow! I gave him a break and worked with Emma for a bit and then came back and put him on the ramp and he did five 10 second Sit/Stays with me 8 feet away! WOW! He was stable and focused and able to do the Sit/Stay without issue on the second round. I was very impressed with him!
We then worked with a stick on Retrieve again. He had a good grip and solid 1 to 2 second hold when we started and then he was able to hold and move a step or two to hand it to me! We did this several times. What a wonderful advancement for Jack.
When his Mom came we all worked on calm greeting behaviors. I love working with Ronda because she listens and does what I ask to help Jack better understand what we want. I had him and Emma on leash (been doing this for two weeks) and Emma is no longer attempting to jump on or shoot like a rocket to Ronda when she arrives. Ronda's back has really been hurting her and Jack loves to give Poodle hugs, except when she first arrives he does so with such joy he hurts her. With him on leash Ronda comes in the house and turns her back on him and we give him a second to get his brain back. I let him approach her on lead and he moved to face her and SAT! She praised him calmly and then took his lead. He was perfect after three days of this new greeting method (her turning and not making eye contact when he comes in) and I do believe he's happier and calmer for the new greeting.
We are training Jack to paws up on cue, so whenever he paws up without permission we look at the ceiling and wait for him to paws down. When he does we engage him again and praise him. The paws up on cue will help Ronda dress him in the mornings, but we need to put stimulus control on his jumping.
Jack has also improved on his excited mouthing when he first meets us. He used to gently and without causing any harm or pain mouth our hands or fingers. We have been removing our hands and looking up when he does this and I can't remember the last time Jack mouthed my fingers when he greeted me.
Ronda and I talked about his Zen behavior and the fact it is not solid enough right now to make him able to focus for his other lessons. I have assigned Zen and Sit with duration as his homework at home to build upon what he's doing here. Ronda did a fantastic job with his target and basic Sit/Flat/Come behaviors I know that if she re-enforces the lessons at meals and in the evenings with him he'll be flying with them in no time.
What a great day for Jack!
So, while playing in the yard I decided to add one final training session to Jack's day before his Mom came to get him. What a break through that was! I asked Jack to sit on the new Patio and got up to 4 or 5 seconds consistently for a Sit/Stay with me 2 feet away and at least three times up to 7 seconds and twice up to 8 seconds! Wow! I gave him a break and worked with Emma for a bit and then came back and put him on the ramp and he did five 10 second Sit/Stays with me 8 feet away! WOW! He was stable and focused and able to do the Sit/Stay without issue on the second round. I was very impressed with him!
We then worked with a stick on Retrieve again. He had a good grip and solid 1 to 2 second hold when we started and then he was able to hold and move a step or two to hand it to me! We did this several times. What a wonderful advancement for Jack.
When his Mom came we all worked on calm greeting behaviors. I love working with Ronda because she listens and does what I ask to help Jack better understand what we want. I had him and Emma on leash (been doing this for two weeks) and Emma is no longer attempting to jump on or shoot like a rocket to Ronda when she arrives. Ronda's back has really been hurting her and Jack loves to give Poodle hugs, except when she first arrives he does so with such joy he hurts her. With him on leash Ronda comes in the house and turns her back on him and we give him a second to get his brain back. I let him approach her on lead and he moved to face her and SAT! She praised him calmly and then took his lead. He was perfect after three days of this new greeting method (her turning and not making eye contact when he comes in) and I do believe he's happier and calmer for the new greeting.
We are training Jack to paws up on cue, so whenever he paws up without permission we look at the ceiling and wait for him to paws down. When he does we engage him again and praise him. The paws up on cue will help Ronda dress him in the mornings, but we need to put stimulus control on his jumping.
Jack has also improved on his excited mouthing when he first meets us. He used to gently and without causing any harm or pain mouth our hands or fingers. We have been removing our hands and looking up when he does this and I can't remember the last time Jack mouthed my fingers when he greeted me.
Ronda and I talked about his Zen behavior and the fact it is not solid enough right now to make him able to focus for his other lessons. I have assigned Zen and Sit with duration as his homework at home to build upon what he's doing here. Ronda did a fantastic job with his target and basic Sit/Flat/Come behaviors I know that if she re-enforces the lessons at meals and in the evenings with him he'll be flying with them in no time.
What a great day for Jack!
Wednesday
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| Jack is a lovely boy who everyone who meets him adores. |
Jack worked Zen and the Come Game with Shari. I did the clicking and Shari offered the Zen hand and the treat. At first Jack refocused on me when I clicked, but once he realized that Shari was the one treating him he tuned me out and really started working on the lesson. I started to see a level of understanding in regards to Zen and some real effort in keeping his nose away and waiting. Shari on the other hand needs a bit more work on waiting for the click before offering the treat (said tongue in cheek).
He was more relaxed with Shari after the Zen lesson and when we did the Come Game he was more than willing to play with her. His initial shyness when meeting people quickly leaves once he's had a chance to determine if they are safe to be with. It wasn't long before he decided Brady was okay too and when we went outside to play he played fetch with both Shari and Brady.
Later I worked with him on Sit/Stay and got a consistent 5 second stay (at 5 feet this time) and a rough spurt up to 7 seconds. He seems to do better outside when working this lesson than inside, but we are making progress.
I worked Emma on Down/Stay today and at one point had her in a Down/Stay at the front door with it open. I stepped out after cuing her to Stay and stepped out of her line of sight 3 times. She flew through, but what floored me was so did every other dog in the house. My insistence of door manners has really paid off.
I have been having everyone sit at the door and wait to be released by name recently. I have not shaken up the order in which I release them yet since I am still working on them listening for a specific cue to go by my saying their name and releasing them. It has stopped the "shot out of a cannon" or "and the gates are open!" launch Emma does out my front door. Jack is still struggling with this concept - but he's getting there.
This time I left him off lead when his Mom came to pick him up. Ronda had to do a lot of turning her back on him and reminding him to keep his feet on the floor, but he is a lot calmer than he used to be when she arrives. Emma on the other hand did a perfect keep her feet on the floor with both Shari and Brady and later with Ronda. Very nice. We are starting to get door manners!
Ronda informed me that the night before she worked Zen with his dinner as per my instructions and it took half his dinner before he stopped bopping her hand with his nose. I can see why I am seeing the improvement I saw today! Nice work on doing his homework. She is using his meals to practice important portions of his lessons and with his high food drive it's working well for both of them.
Jack continues to progress, though it's slow right now. I know we'll suddenly have everything snap into place and be flying, but we have to work through this learning and processing point first. It won't be long before I am bragging as hard on Jack as I am on Emma.
Another issue I have with Jack is his alarm bark when he sees people or other dogs. He is a bit of a fence fighter and with his height he's close to going over the fence whenever he jumps up on it. The loose dogs I talk about in Emma's blog are an issue with Jack. Yesterday he had almost no recall when seeing them, but my adding a reward to every recall made a huge impression on his recall today.
He did a recall from 40+ feet when the dogs were in sight or near the fence and did so with speed and almost no latency. He also got less reactive at the fence as the hours in the yard progressed. Early in our playtime in the yard I saw him rush the fence and slam it with his front feet with such force it bowed out by about a foot. It alarmed me and I had to go and get him and remind him I am paying for recall. That was the worst reaction at the fence. By the end of the day he could see the dogs next door and not respond, but it had been a long day of my calling and rewarding before we got there.
I am very pleased with Jack's progress and I know with the continued home education he receives he'll be progressing at a more steady rate soon. Great day for Mr. Jack.
Thursday
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| Nap time at Tao Service Dogs |
It can be maddening when he does it because every dog on the property is suddenly deaf and won't do a recall. I have spoken in depth about the loose dog next door and now there are two (one small), but don't talk much about the one down the street or the times a neighbor has visitors who let their dogs run free too. Jack is reactive clear to 5 houses down with these dogs and it took me almost all summer to get him to see them at a distance and not react. It came back when the dogs right next door started their charging the fence and/or walking in and out of line of sight.
A neighbor across the street has a cat that is always out and Jack reacts just the same - standing on my gate and sounding the battle cry. And for two days he's launched himself into my raspberry bed and stood like a raspberry cane and sounded off at some sight down the street. This I am addressing and we went from 5 times in the raspberry bed yesterday to only once today - nice improvement.
After the running slam into my fence earlier this week, I knew I had to teach Jack how to remain calm when something was outside of his fence and so started the Three Bark Rule or as I call it "Thank You" training.
I must thank Robin, my friend and mentor, whose helped me with problem solving training issues with all of my dogs, but especially the soft natured Emma and Jack. Robin has more experience with Poodles than I do and also has experience with Labradors - each is very different than my beloved breed of choice, the German Shepherd.
Labradors are willing to repeat a single step in a lesson forever as long as they get treats. Poodles like to read the last page of the book before deciding if they want to start - thus repeating a step bores them and they tune out. German Shepherds want a straight line to follow from point A to point B and are willing to take tiny progressive steps to get there. It can be frustrating when working on a specific goal and finding that you are not explaining it to the dog well enough for them to understand.
For me, that frustration has been Retrieve. First with Emma and her sudden fear responses and refusal to train. Robin and I discussed everything in length, coming up with new ways to explain the same thing in a way Emma could join me and feel more confidence. I will say, Emma challenged my skills at splitting to the finest point to get her to progress slowly forward. Jack is a much different creature than Ms. Emma - Jack can't seem to slow down in this joy to train and thus is stalemated in the same spot on the retrieve training.
I gave up the linear approach with Jack and turned the book to the last page for him. I showed him, through shaping, that the goal was to pick up items and hand them to me. We paused after that minor break through, but at least Jack was willing to start the book. We went back to working on holding objects and once again stalemated at him chattering his teeth on the object or going for the grinding bite down in his molars.
Robin to the rescue. We discussed what worked with training her Poodle, Sherman, and how much faster he was getting things with her method than her previous Poodle and other dogs. I let the conversation roll around in my brain and simply did not work on retrieve for the day because of it.
What great insight did Robin give me? She likes to introduce in the middle of a training lesson one new or difficult concept with maybe four or five repetitions and then go back to working material he knows and is simply proofing or polishing up. She then lets him mull over the new idea for 24 hours and most of the time Sherman will return the next day with the problem solved. Sherman uses a LOT of Latent Learning to solve the puzzles Robin presents him with. Could it be I am not giving Jack the amount of Latent Learning he needs to be successful?
So, we spent Thursday working on recalls from distractions and teaching him to turn away from a distraction when I said Thank You and coming to me. With Malcolm having a funny tummy day and us spending the day outside I was in the perfect position to work on Yard Manners for the day.
Jack improved so much by the end of the day that the whole yard seemed to be eerily quiet. I loved it. When his Mom went to pick him up and we noticed Emma with a straw I had dropped from my Latte the day before, we had a "ah ha" moment with both Emma and Jack. I asked Emma what she had and could she bring it and she ran the straw to me from 40 feet away. Wonderful. While I was talking to Ronda Jack took the straw out of my hand, behind his canines, and sat tall and proud holding it for me (the one thing I have been trying to get him to figure out) and then thrust his nose forward and pushed it back into my hand. YES!
Another thing Robin had mentioned was she hides treats all over her person. She has the in many pockets and even in her bra. What the heck, I can do that too. My pockets and bra have been stuffed with treats for two days now. I gave Jack three treats with clear joy in my voice and a huge smile on my face. Little did we know what that single incident would mean for our end of week.
Friday
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| Gentleman Jack. |
I did have a day job as a web developer that produced a majority of my income. That job came to an end in September and my final paycheck was deposited earlier this week. This means I need to find a way to make up the loss of income. A family friend runs a Currier business and contacted me Thursday afternoon and asked if I would do a run for him. It's income, so I agreed.
It took almost 7 hours to do the run and I didn't get to bed before 3:30 AM after arriving back home at 1:30 AM. I was up again at 7:00 AM and was exhausted. When Jack arrived just before 8:00 AM I simply fed the dogs and then let Malcolm play until he got drowsy and put him up in his bedtime crate and crashed on the bed until 10:30 AM. The approximately 1 1/2 hour nap made the difference and I wasn't dangerously staggering about the house any longer.
It was right after I woke that Emma's parents called and arranged for an early pick up. I left Jack in his crate while I ran Emma to meet her family and then Malcolm to the vet for a weigh in (check Malcolm's Quest for an update).
Jack is doing well with his crating, though today for the first time in a while, I noted he moved the crate a bit. He's been sleeping, playing or going to his crate for timeouts when he need a break from the puppy. His crate has become a place of safety for him, so seeing it moved a bit surprised me. He wasn't howling when I returned and he's not frantic when I released him.
I am behind on household chores, the kitchen being one, so I did the dishes real quick. When I was finished I worked with Jack to learn a new skill for his service dog work. I'll have to film it sometime, but I taught Max to flip the dishwasher door up to shut it. I am teaching the same skill to Jack.
Like Emma, I give Jack one new thing to work out over the weekend. Today I introduced the idea of flipping the door up and next week I'll work on his actually doing it. How exciting.
Today I needed to cut treats so I pulled out the liver I had cooked, the chicken I had boiled, hot dogs, and both beef and turkey Happy Howies to chop up. I laid them all out on the counter and went to get the cheese I wanted to add and saw Jack sniffing the edge of the counter. I just waited to see what choice he would make and was pleased when he pulled back and looked to me. Nice.
I had to get something in the living room and watched as Jack again checked the counter and choose not to take the food that he could easily get. This means that Jack has a breakdown with food in people's hands more than he does with food on plates or counters. How interesting.
He decided to hover (as per normal) at my elbow as I cut treats. I ignored him. Whenever he laid down I would toss a treat between his front feet. It took him a long time to decide to lay back down, but after the third time he did he didn't pop back up when I tossed the treats between his feet. Excellent - he's learning if he waits patiently he'll be rewarded. It's Zen in a different picture and the more pictures I draw the more he'll get it.
I bought tripe for Malcolm to train in high stress situations and chopped a little up for Jack for when Ronda came to get him. He's still jumping and if I can use a super high value reward for just when she arrives and he keeps his feet on the ground I may get through to him faster that he's to be calm when she gets him. He was overjoyed to see her, but the moment I started offering tripe he planted to the ground and focused on me. I encouraged him to greet his Mom and she encouraged him to remain calm by doing calm greetings with him. By the fourth "greet Mom" he was solidly planted on the ground and giving nice calm behavior. Wonderful.
Ronda and I were catching up on my trip the night before and events during the day regarding Jack when we noticed he had one of Malcolm's toys and was racing through the yard with it. We were laughing at his antics when he brought it up to us and dropped it. Without thinking I cued him to pick it up and low and behold he did. I tossed it down and we played the pick up the toy and exchange it for a treat game three more times. It was the most beautiful retrieve I've seen him do to date!
We went in and I got an old pair of sunglasses and tossed them down. Jack did another prefect retrieve and then he lost it. He started to play with them on the last retrieve and pounced on them, knocked the lense out and finally got them for me. I told Ronda I wanted her to offer him the chance to retrieve whatever was for him to do so and she was willing to risk him accidentally damaging while he's learning.
At 8:30 PM Ronda called me to tell me he got it. He understands. He's offering retrieves and making the leap. Yep, she asked him to pick up 2 cardboard items and two plastic items. When she was putting up the items he retrieved she returned to find he was picking up clips she had dropped. He dropped them, but she praised him and asked for him to get them and low and behold he did it. He's now at the stage that Emma was 2 months ago, just on that cusp of understanding what we are asking and starting the long process of becoming a fully trained dog with retrieve skills.
At this point Jack is building on success. I asked Ronda to offer him the chance to pick things up, if he doesn't, but shows an interest reward him anyway - over time he'll gain more confidence in his retrieves and blossom. This is a very exciting time.
I also mentioned to Ronda what Robin had told me about hiding treats on herself. Ronda too is carrying treats in her pockets and when Jack does something good he is quickly rewarded. It's improved Jack's performance and I do believe overtime we'll have Jack fully trained with retrieve.
Next week Ronda is on vacation and Jack will not be staying with me. I look forward to Jack's return.
Level 1
| Zen | Target | Come | Sit | Down | |
| Step | Completed | Completed | 2 | Completed | Completed |
Level 2
| Zen | Come | Sit | Down | Target | |
| Step | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | Completed |
| Focus | Lazy Leash | Go To Mat | Crate | Distance | |
| Step | 1 | Completed | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Jump | Relax | Handling | Tricks | Communication | |
| Step | 1 | 4 | Completed | 1 | 4 |
Level 3
| Zen | Come | Sit | Down | Target | |
| Step | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Focus | Lazy Leash | Go To Mat | Crate | Distance | |
| Step | 0 | Completed | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jump | Relax | Handling | Retrieve | Communication | |
| Step | 0 | 0 | Completed | 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 | Completed | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Handling | Communication | ||||
| Step | Completed | 0 |
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