20 Months: November 4th - 6th, 2013

I saw a lot of this during the week.

Jack has been feeling as left out as Emma lately.  I hit a wall this past couple of weeks with my Borderline Personality Disorder, which I have described in both Emma and Malcolm's blogs.  To say that my mood was bad is to minimize the level of pain, exhaustion and overload I was in.  I needed to step back and take it easy and so I reduced the amount of training I was doing with the dogs overall and even stopped and just worked on Emma's emotional health instead of goal oriented training.

I had given Jack the week before for bolstering his emotional health, but this week I decided he needed work on basics and start working on getting his training finished.  He's got one task developing into a reliable task and a second that needs working on to finish his task skills for his owner to start working daily with him in public.  What he needs is a polish on his basic skills and public access skills.

I worked on basic skills and let his owner work on building his current task skill for the week.

Monday

See who's learning Sit/Stay.

On Monday I spent the day working on Zen.  Jack is a mugger when he's not working on Zen as a lesson and will try to steal treats from your hand and loose focus until the treats are taken fully out of the picture.  This won't do.

I worked Zen until he was watching treats rain around him on the floor, but the moment I went to train Malcolm he went to steal food from my hand again - so I just pushed my hand into his nose until he chose to move it way and rewarded the choice.  I didn't hurt him, but I did make it clear I didn't want him taking food from my hand.  That single lesson bled over into all of his training for the rest of the day.  He ignored the food in my hand, focused on the lesson and made great progress.

He is working on Sit/Stay and managed 10 seconds with me 15 feet away from him.  NICE!

Tuesday

Yes, Jack, even you aren't
allowed to rough house
with the puppy in the house.

We continued Zen and Sit/Stay.  He is doing better and better with it and I am very pleased.  When I decided to work group Zen with Malcolm he decided not to join.  That was okay, I could work with Max and Malcolm alone and better train Malcolm the idea.  A treat fell by Malcolm's ribs and for a bit Jack tried to sneak it, then stopped and put his head down behind me.  When I called the session to an end Jack saw Malcolm stand and walk away from the treat and looked up to me for permission to have it.  It was a huge break through!  I was very pleased.

He continues to be stuck at a solid 8 seconds at 15 feet and a weak 10 seconds at 15 feet, but he is improving with his posture and focus when training a Sit/Stay.  He was able to handle me standing still better than walking around him, but once I showed him both were the same thing he was solid for a good 5 seconds before breaking his Sit.

Wednesday

Ah, poor Jack, I still love you.

I hit a wall emotionally and physically.  I spent the day giving Jack hugs and loves with Emma and Max and Malcolm.  I was too tired to deal with training and in too much pain to really move about.  My house was in disrepair and I was in a volatile mood, which meant I had to take time for myself or start becoming the crazy woman who lives in the single wide trailer.

This was the best thing I could have done for the whole household.  The playtime I scheduled for them went extremely well and Jack enjoyed his outside time, but wasn't up as up as he could be.  He had an abscess in his in his shoulder I had been heat packing and squeezing several times a day and he wasn't feeling good.

Since he wasn't feeling good he also was more sensitive to my moods than normal and he is naturally aware of when a person is in pain and wants to comfort them.  He does this by moving in and putting his face in your face and then moving closer the more upset you get.  It can be maddening when you just want space and he just doesn't get it.  Looks like I need to teach a "I heard you" cue so he backs off and gives space when desired.

This was sending poor Jack into a spiral and I felt bad for him.  He wanted so badly to comfort me, to get comfort from me and to do what I wanted, but what I wanted didn't fit into his world view of how to deal with someone who is in pain or upset.  Poor baby was acting shy and like I had physically struck him simply because I wanted him to settle down by me and not touch me.

Thankfully his week would end with his owner and giving her the comfort he wanted to give me.  She had surgery on Thursday and he spent the rest of the week with her.  It gave me time to recover myself and be ready for his return on Monday.

I am hoping on his return his mood will be improved and he'll be feeling better overall.  I do want to polish his skills and get him working for his handler as soon as possible. Here's hoping for a fun filled weekend for Jack.



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	1	0	0
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Retrieve	Communication
Step	0	0	Completed	2	0

Level 4

	Zen	Come	Retrieve	Target	Relax
Step	0	0	5	0	0
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	0	0
	Handling	Communication
Step	Completed	0