2 Years: Training - February 10th - 11th, 2014

This will make flying easier!

Monday

Jack has a short week with me and I want to build more of his tasks.  He's doing so well with his training I figure we are about 2 months out from his graduating.  I do have some tightening of his retrieve, his tug tasks and his public behaviors to do, but he's doing his job at home and with his handler and he's just building experience now.  What an amazing boy!

Jack will be staying home come Wednesday due to my having a long afternoon of appointments which would leave him crated for most of the afternoon and Ronda picking him up without me.  On days like that we leave him at his home to practice his staying home without people and to reduce the travel Ronda has to do picking him up.  Thursday he flys out with Ronda for a long weekend with her and won't return until the following week.

Today we worked 5 Rounds of Retrieve.  Ronda and I discussed what Jack can and can't retrieve just yet and what she'll need him to pick up for her.  I had worked on laundry and shopping last week with Jack and built on tug tasks.  He had been opening the fridge and taking things out of the dryer for me and I was very pleased with his skills.  Ronda had mentioned he wasn't picking up credit cards or coins yet and I said I would revisit those items and work on them.

Today Jack was more of a "let's see" training session than actually training.  I dropped a quarter and clicked any nosing, mouthing and working on the coin.  In less than a minute he picked it up and put it in my hand.  We did this for a total of 1 minute and then I got out a nickel and he picked it up without problems and the same with a dime.  Coins just need practice in more locations on more surfaces.

I then got a credit card and we worked on that. He can pick one up if he can get the edge.  I can't seem to catch is tongue touching it to lift it yet, but he jumped to the task and worked hard on it.  I put tape on the card to lift it off of the floor slightly and worked on that for 1 /12 rounds.  I then got out a plastic egg and worked on a soft mouth.  His problem is, he crunches things he puts in his mouth and in his excitement can't seem to solve why I haven't clicked.  I used a NRM in this event.  Whenever he bit down or crunched the plastic egg I said softly, "no" and whenever he held it without biting down I clicked and rewarded.  I had him taking it from my hand and not picking it up just yet, but will work it to the floor and get a clean pick up of the egg.  Once we have that he'll be able to problem solve and pick up anything and do so without crunching it.

For the last round I worked on his licking my hand an catching the tongue flick to help him with the credit card problem.  He was getting the idea and I'll put the action on cue to help him solve issues that his tongue can solve.

I want to talk about the NRM.  It's called a No Reward Marker and sometimes a problem, such as his happy "I'll just bite down on this" mode can be more clearly explained with one without loosing his joy of the task.  A soft NRM that doesn't frighten the dog can give the dog information they may need.  For Jack he hasn't, for months, solved the problem of why I don't click when he bites down on something.  To stop the pencil from flipping into his molars I did both an NRM and held the pencil in a way that prevented him doing so.  Once that happened he was able to progress on duration with me.  If ever I saw him flinch or withdrawal when a soft NRM is used (which is rarely used when training overall) I would stop using it.  Jack was upbeat, but I could see the gears working suddenly and each NRM resulted in a softer hold on the plastic egg.  I doubt I will need to use it for another lesson, just this one to get the idea that I didn't want him to "break" the egg.

I don't use NRMs often, but I do use them when my timing is off due to my disability.  It just feeds a tiny more bit of information in without harming the thrill of learning.  Emma cannot handle ANY NRMs and Malcolm hand handle a firmer NRM than Jack; so for each dog I approach according to how they learn and don't use NRMs all the time - only in a final fine tuning stage to feed in information I couldn't due to my timing issues.  It works for me, but may not for someone else and I recommend avoiding them if possible - which I try to do as much as possible myself.

Tuesday

Jack - Task Training

Remember that scene in Jurassic Park III when the
pterodactyl turned to the camera? I am having Déjà Vu.

We had a slow start to the day and I nearly decided not to train the dogs, but decided to do it anyway and I am so ever glad I did.  Amazing things happened with all three dogs that would NOT have had I chosen to be lazy today.

Jack is having a "rough" time again.  Both Ronda and I have discussed it and each time her pain levels rise to a certain level, which they have, he becomes more withdrawn and a little shy and just seems sad over all.  He's highly sensitive and being with her all evening in pain and me all day in pain and being in tune with both of us makes it hard on him.  Play and goofiness for him is an important outlet and we both try very hard to let him just be a dog whenever we can.

You'll note I have attached a video and I actually talked through it explaining what I am doing.  Today I was working with Jack on fine tuning tasks and seeing where we are with certain tasks or skills  In the first section Jack is learning to hold a plastic egg in his mouth without crunching it or splitting and will learn to pick it up without harming it.  Does Jack need to know how to pick up an egg?  No.  Should Jack pick up an egg?  Yes.  Why, because if Jack can pick up a raw egg he can pick up anything without harming it.  So, we work on the plastic egg puzzle and he's making wonderful progress.

Again, you'll hear a soft NRM and if you watch his body language it didn't shut him down or send him into an emotional tail spin, but it did give him information and though you can't see his face, I saw him turning gears and figure out what was happening and change how he approached the problem.  We made progress because of it, which for Jack was important information.  If you watch me with Malcolm and Emma, I am not using an NRM but just giving them more information.  Jack is at a different stage of confidence in his skills and a mild, none threatening NRM simply gives him a bit of information he was missing, where for Malcolm and Emma it would be the same as a slap in the face.

Please don't use NRMs all the time when working a lesson.  If using one the dog doesn't respond well and pulls out of the lesson or becomes shy about the lesson, then stop.  NRMs are a tool that if used improperly can shut a dog down and set them back on a lesson.

Jack will not be returning this week.  He will spend tomorrow at home and fly out Thursday for a trip to the Midwest.  I gave him a big puzzle to solve while he's away and hope to see him solve it by the time he returns.

It's been a fun two days with a lot of progress for Jack.  This end stretch of training is such a joy and I love watching a dog who can and does learn a new task in a matter of minutes because the foundation of learning has been laid.

Have a great trip you two!

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	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

2 Years: Training - January 29th - 31st, 2014

Good boy, Jack!

Wednesday - Friday

I had a bad week last week with my arms on fire and feeling weak and rubbery.  I couldn't stand the feeling of any pressure or even clothing against my skin and my mood was a bit sour because I really didn't feel good.  As a result I didn't get the blog posts written and even though I kept notes on what we did during the week on his FB page, I can't remember any details.  I am heading into another round of brain fog, so these catch up blogs are short and sweet.

Jack worked on Level 3: Step 2 Retrieve last week.  We worked on sharing the hold together without him pulling back or flipping his head around, just a quiet hold.  I can finally position my hands on his face so I am cupping it or just touching under his chin so he has an idea he's doing something and going still.  I did this and got up to a 5 second hold on occasion, but mostly a 2 to 3 second hold with him.  I am not hearing the pencil crunch in his mouth and I am seeing tiny dents in it, but not chips of paint coming off any longer.  He did pull back hard enough to crack on and stopped when he heard the wood break; it was right after that he understood it was a hold and not a tug game.

He is improving on the hold and I can see the wheels turning in his mind.  I am seeing less of the flashy playful side of him and a more serious working side.  This doesn't mean his playfulness is gone, just his work ethic is becoming stronger than his desire to play when working with me or Ronda.  Ronda told me she's noted it the tiny changes when he puts his uniform on.  He's shifting from goofy Jack to working Jack when the snaps are clicking into place.  This is what we had been hoping for, the subtle, but very real, work mode to appear.  I am very happy to hear it is not just with me, but with his handler also.

He has been doing his counter balance work when she is out and she's completely pleased with the difference it makes in her ability to complete shopping events or other errands.  She took him out over the weekend to several stores and she said he was not only spot on, but when she picked me up to go out with them both, I could see he was calm and relaxed and enjoying his work.  Jack is officially a SDiT (Service Dog in Training)!

He'll continue to complete his public access training and polish his task training, but it won't be long before Jack will be a working service dog.  I am very happy with Jack!

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	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

23 Months: Training - January 20th - 24th, 2014

Deva, Jack's older sister.

Monday

Jack lives in a household of five dogs and he's the only male in his home.  He has two German Shepherd sisters - Deva and Sheba, 1 Rottweiler mix sister - Chautzie and one Dachshund sister - DJ.  Jack visits my home and he's one of five dogs who stay with me during the week and he's one of four males in the house.  For Jack, coming here is not really a vacation, but a change in hormones.  Today he brought Deva with him.

Last year Deva had a very serious bought with pancreatis and nearly died.  Both Ronda and I were terrified we'd loose her and when she had to spend up to 48 hours in hospital on IV fluids just to make it through and spent weeks either not eating or barely eating and in the end lost between 10 and 15 pounds before she recovered, both Ronda and I were sick with fear for her.  Then she bounced back, was in great spirits and not hurting anymore and doing fantastic; until this weekend.  Ronda announced Saturday morning that Deva started vomiting at 2 AM and was in pain.  It was a return of her pancreatis and when Ronda fed her that AM she vomited again.  Through Facebook discussions we both agreed she needed a 12 hour break between vomiting and limited water (offered every 20 minutes and kept from drinking too much to prevent vomiting) and stop the cycle that almost killed her last time.

It wasn't so much the flare up in her belly that threatened her; it was the loss of fluids and electorates that did.  She had vomited constantly at the time and threw her whole body into a tail spin.  We needed to stop the vomiting as soon as possible to keep her from doing it again.  Ronda announced that Deva threw up her dinner too and thus another 12 hour break on her belly before trying again.  At least this time she still had her appetite - she completely lost it last time.  When I heard it was back I offered to watch her so she wouldn't be alone.

Deva came this morning with the happy announcement she'd kept her food down all Sunday as long as she had only a few bites at a time every 2 hours and it was boiled chicken.  I asked Ronda what feeding schedule she wanted Deva on today, knowing if she vomited again we'd be on the 12 hour break for her tummy again.  Ronda wanted about a 1/3 cup of food in her tummy per meal and have it introduced at 2 hour to 3 hour intervals.  She handed me canned chicken and brown rice (uncooked) for her meal.  I told her I would take good care of our baby and sent her off for the day.

While I trained Malcolm and Jack I boiled Deva's meal on the stove and then set it aside and let it cool.  I split the amount of food I boiled into three servings and hand fed a portion of the morning meal to her at 9:30 AM.  She held it down and got her second feeding at 12:30 PM after I returned with her and Max from my doctor's appointment.  Deva is a counter surfer and a little destructive when left alone at home and is not properly crate trained (major escape artist) so I just had her ride along in the van with us on my appointment and wait in the van.  Which she does without causing any problems - she doesn't realize it's a different type of crate I guess.  She ate her final meal at 3:30 PM and was clearly uncomfortable and not feeling well, but everything she ate today stayed in her tummy.  Tomorrow Deva will stay home, but I will drop in during the lunch hour and feed her a mid-day meal while Ronda is at work and will probably be doing so all week.

Jack worked 3 Rounds of Level 2: Step 1 Communication today.  I had setup a chair to sit on and the other chair and bar stool made up the chute for him to back through.  Deva, who had been laying in the kitchen when I trained Malcolm before this, was still in the kitchen while I trained Jack.  Jack didn't care and worked the lesson.  For Round 1 Jack was clearly doing the four footed shuffle but at least it's backwards and not in place.  He is taking tiny steps and not moving much, but he is moving.  I started to withhold the click and got bigger movements from him.  He was soon backing almost into Deva and though he's still shuffling his front feet (I clicked too much for the back feet) he is moving his back feet more and with bigger steps.  Round 2 he was starting to move his front feet more and with bigger steps because I had started clicking for their movement.  He was up to 5 steps back before stalling and I had to be careful to catch him WHILE he was moving to keep the movement going.  On Round 3 he was offering backing up and taking up to 7 steps, but the moment I went to introduce the hand signal (sign language for back) he lost his mind.  He started to mouth my fingers and poke me and do the Poodle dance.  He's not ready for the cue yet.

As I stated earlier I took Deva with me when I went to my doctor's appointment.  Jack and Malcolm were crated and when I returned I found a relaxed Jack in his crate, though I got a huge hug (yes, hug, he's a hugger) when he got out.  I let him and Malcolm play for about 30 minutes in the yard while I recovered from my appointment.

It wouldn't be until 2:30 PM before I could train again and after working Malcolm I returned to Level 2: Step 1 Communication.  Tomorrow I'll pick another lesson for the afternoon or morning and let Jack think on what we've been doing.  I am making the mistake of working on one thing only and it's too much for him to take in during the day.  His performance was better because I removed the chute from the game this time.  I wasn't worried about him going through a tight space, he's shown he can, but getting more movement.  He is taking much bigger steps and he's moving back faster now that I just worried about his moving and not moving straight just yet.  We worked 2 rounds and by the end of the second round he was up to 7 steps with an outlying 9 steps back. His average was 5 steps.

Jack will return tomorrow without his sister, but Emma will arrive for the first time this week.  Her first day generally means a slow start to the day.  I am hoping to change that by making some changes in our "training" time in the training zone and just working on her learning to eat.  I will review what Jack needs to work on next and build that up for his trip.  I also need to make a plan for taking him out to work on some self control when passing people and things.  It should be a good week for us.

Hey, what you doin' here?

Tuesday

I was exhausted today and my start on the day was slower than normal.  I hadn't even realized it was 7:45 AM when Max suddenly went nuts at the gate I had up across the bedroom door and all the dogs got riled up.  I had gotten up and let Malcolm, Max and Dieter outside and had Malcolm in bed with me, thus the gate being up, as I tried to stop the spasms in my legs.  I was dizzy, tired and my legs were stiff, spasming and painful and just walking made it feel like someone smacked the soles of my feet with a board.  I now know what is causing this to some extent, but it doesn't make mornings like this any less miserable.

Max exploding at the gate was because Ronda, who had arrived with Jack, has simply opened the door and let him in so she wouldn't disturb me.  We both agreed this was an acceptable way of dropping him off, but I really do try to meet and greet him and Ronda in the mornings to get any updates on appointments or problems or successes they've had.  Ronda was running a bit early and I was running a bit late.

I knew from a message the night before Emma wouldn't arrive until after 9 AM and had hoped to have Jack and Malcolm trained before she arrived, but I was really not functioning well.  I needed another half an hour after Jack's arrival to be mobile and then yet another half an hour to get ready in the morning.  I got my shower and my coffee (one cup not enough this morning) and was considering starting to train when Emma's Mom called and said she'd pick up some papers and be there shortly.  I delayed training for her arrival and decided to do some chores.  I should have known better.

I transferred the laundry, did the dishes (this took me past Emma's arrival) and got myself a bite to eat.  I got the recycling out to the big bin and took the garbage out to the can - this took me to 11:30 AM.  Mind you, every single thing I just listed came with rest in between each task.  I simply had very little energy to give and each time I used a bar I had to stop to replenish it.  Oh, and I had to use my cane to walk with any semblance of safety.

It took 45 minutes to train Malcolm for 30 minutes.  Yep, it was going to be one of those days.  I finally got to Jack and he was more than ready to earn his kibble.  Poor boy probably thought I ran out of food or something.

We worked Level 2: Step 1 Distance today.  In this step he is learning to go around a pole.  Sounds simple, but for some dogs this can be a major issue. I have a small stand for an ash tray I can use as a pole (it's perfect) for training this I got from a friend when his mother passed away.  I have used it to shape Jack to target part of it with both his nose and his paws to teach him to move away from me and to think about shaping as a general idea.  Jack tried all of old things I asked.  He targeted it with his nose, his paw and even checked to see if the target stick I have was on it to target.  In the end I used his target skills to move him around the pole.

For Round 1 I had him go around the pole to the right only.  He was very excitable and wanted to offer a 101 things with a pole to get me to click.  Nice to see he wants to think and work on a puzzle, but I had a plan and gently guided him through my plan until he was shooting around the pole nicely and smoothly by the end of the three minutes.  Right is not his default direction when turning around something, but he got it well enough.  Since I wanted to reset him to my left to send him around the pole one more time I would turn just enough to drop the treat just behind and to my left - this motion made me very dizzy.

For Round 2 we worked solely on his going around the pole to the left.  Once again to reset him I dropped the treat just behind and to my right to get him in position.  He was much stronger on the second round and his movement was more focused and purposeful than the first round.  This meant he was understanding the concept and now offering a single behavior instead of trying to solve a series of behaviors to find the one I wanted.  Nice.

During our break between the second and third round Jack began offering behaviors to get clicks.  He did a fabulous bow I couldn't NOT click and rewarded him for.  Then he did something I was just tickled over - he backed up twice his body length!  This means that backing up IS a behavior he has in his bag of tricks!  YES!  I clicked it and he kept offering it until I could anticipate it and cue him verbally several times (thus attaching the cue) and then I would say the verbal cue BEFORE he backed up and low and behold he backed up half his body length after a brief pause and thought.  After that I verbally cued him and then after a brief pause showed him the hand cue.  He is a bit excitable about hands and he got a bit mouthy with my fingers when I showed him the American Sign Language sign for back up.

During Round 3 I alternated Jack going around the pole to the left and to the right by placing the treat either just behind and to my left or just behind and to my right.  I am slowly building the hand cue and was no more than 6 inches to 1 foot away from the pole at any time.  He was very good at going around both directions and only lost focus at the very tail end when he was getting tired.  I will eventually teach him to directionally go around a pole like I am with Malcolm to make it easier for Ronda to direct him to pick things up as she needs.

Before Jack came to use he was a beloved pet living with the owner of his mother.  He had been part of a liter bred for the family and had, prior to his birth, been designated for a family member.  After his birth his prospective owner was put in a situation where they couldn't take him and he ended up living with the woman who bred and owned his mother.  She clearly loved him and did a fantastic job of socializing him and giving him a strong loose lead skill.  He was 13 months when he came to us and was given to us because all of his siblings were working Poodles. Some hunt, some searh for loose antlers and some do search and rescue; the woman who had him feared he was being ruined by just being a pet dog and wanted him to become a service dog for someone.  During the time she lived with him she permitted him to nibble on her fingers when he got excited.  He doesn't use his teeth, you never really feel them, but he does use his lips and mouths your fingers.

We spent months breaking this habit, but it rears it's head when he gets excited still and when introducing a hand cue his first response it to mouth your hand.  Thus, he was nibbling my fingers and mouthing my hand.  I ignored it and only clicked for him backing up and he was soon not rushing into to play with my hand, but instead offering to back up.  We have more work on the "fingers are toys" mind set he has.

I had to crate him twice today to run and get my medication and care for his sister.  She stayed home, but needed a mid-day meal and I left in the hopes of getting both her meal and my meds in a single run.  I should have checked my email before I left, but had been to tired to even think to do that.  I was pushing myself beyond my limit and knew it and hoped I wouldn't crash physically.  I should know better.

I couldn't find Deva's lunch so I left and go my medication.  When I returned I called Ronda and found out where it was being kept and had to return. I was shaking by this point, so I decided to eat and rest briefly and then went and cared for Deva.  On my return it was clear I had done it.  I couldn't move without my joints flaring and I had no physical, mental or emotional energy left.  I had decided before I left for Deva that I was done for the day, so I dropped the last of Jack's meal on the floor of his crate for him to eat while I ran my errand and did the same with Malcolm with his lunch in his crate.

Tomorrow Jack is staying home due to Ronda leaving at a very early hour of the morning for a meeting and my being so exhausted that I slept the afternoon out until she woke me when she came to get him.  I am happy with how Jack is doing with his training and I do believe the brief break in our training will let him think on and solve more of what I am training him and come back with stronger skill sets.

Do you still love me?  Even if I have food in my eyebrows?

Thursday

Jack returned today for training.  With the end of the week quickly approaching I am starting to hit my wall and slowing down.  Today was an off day for all of the dogs.  I don't know if it was because there is a weather pressure front coming in or Jack's return after not being here for a day or because my taking new medication has changed my scent in some way, but every one of the dogs were out of sorts.  Jack was quiet and polite, but I saw some of that withdrawn behavior I had been seeing prior to my vacation.  Emma was barky and bouncy and Max was a butthead.  Malcolm was wild too.  Dieter was sleeping all day and had to be forced to go outside and I woke this morning to not one, but 3 puddles of pee - including a big one on my wheelchair wheel I can only attribute to Emma (not enough for Max and too low for his aim and too much for Dieter and too high for his stream).  Emma, being the only girl in the house now, learned this past summer how to raise her leg and pee on things and sometimes she marks my wheelchair.

With my energy wall quickly approaching I wasn't able to deal as well with wild child, barking dogs who either got into grouch matches or tried to wrestle and play too much in the house.  I was grumpy today.  I think my grumpy affected poor Jack's normally happy mood.

I am feeling better with the new medication and have a bit more energy and my pain levels today were the lowest they've been in ages, but I still need to take breaks between tasks and tire easily.  The nice thing is, with my energy levels being more stable first thing in the morning, I had all of the dogs fed and trained by 9:30 AM!  This is a world record for me.

Today Jack worked 3 Rounds of focused Retrieve training.  Ronda has five dogs and she's commented several times that Jack will pick up one or two bowls, but not all five like she needs.  I told her I would work a bit with Jack on bowl retrieval and tried previously with no success.  Today, with the gate up, I knew I could get something done with Jack and the bowls.  Ronda had also mentioned that Jack has watched Max pick up the bowls in my house enough that when he does pick up a bowl it is much like Max does and he's following the same cue that Max does.  How funny is that?

I sat in a chair and had Jack target the bowl for 1 minute.  After that I held the bowl at an angle and rewarded Jack for taking the bowl in his mouth and making contact with his teeth.  I did that for 1 minute.  I then set the bowl on the floor and was simply going to click Jack for targeting it on the floor, but Jack picked it up and handed it to me, so we rewarded that behavior for one minute.  That ended Round 1.

Round 2 I set the bowl on the floor and stood.  I had him hand me the bowl and rewarded him each time.  I did this for one minute.  I then got one of the other dog bowls and had him pick up 2 bowls for 1 reward for 1 minute.  I then got a third bowl and worked on 3 bowls for 1 treat - he did fine for 3 rounds of that, but then lost focus or became bored.  Either way, we ended with him picking up one bowl before the minute ended and called it good.

I was exhausted by the afternoon and my mood was not good, which would mean I was not in the game to train, so I gave him the last of his breakfast in his bowl and then had him hand me his bowl when he was done.  He was able, for the first time, to do this in my home.  This is excellent progress for Jack.

Ronda stated tonight he is indeed picking up all five bowls, but he starts to become sloppy on the 4th bowl.  I'll help him practice bowl retrieval in my home in the mornings and fine tune his bowl task.

See ya all later next week!

Friday

What a week!  I have found that if I try to give Jack two training sessions in a day the second one rarely happens and I end up handing him the last of his food in his bowl about an hour before Ronda arrives to pick him up.  I decided today, after seeing the pattern, that I can do all of his rounds in the morning and reward or work with what he knows for the remainder of the day.  This ensures he gets his entire breakfast in the morning and we get in 5 Rounds of training instead of three.

This morning I gave him a break on what we'd been working on and began a new task training for him.  He's been learning tug tasks and after getting the idea for tugging open a cabinet I am now teaching him he can tug many other things.  Today I revisited Level 2 Target and focused on a Come After, targeting a foot.

Ronda has become stiffer and sorer over the last 6 months and I see days in her future where her feet and her hands will be too far away to take off shoes, socks and maybe even pants if she's having a very bad day.  This means Jack needs to learn how to assist on those days and remove those items for her.  This will be a secondary task, but one that on bad days will be invaluable.

I rested my ankle on my knee while I sat in the training area with Jack and got my foot up to near eye level that way.  I then waited for him to glance at or brush my foot by accident to shape him to the foot.  He has been previously taught to target a foot for passing Level 2 Target and I knew it would just be a minor reminder for him to return to that behavior.

He pulled out his best moves and tried backing up and sitting and laying down and even targeting items around the room and finally glanced at my foot and got his click.  He was clearly waiting to find out WHAT I was clicking for and once he found it he was on that and ready to go.  He SLAMMED his nose into my foot with such force his nose smashed up and made him look like a Pug.  I laughed.  Targeting is one of Jack's favorite games!

After a few very solid targets I waited on the next one and low and behold felt teeth scrape my foot.  I clicked for that and increasing mouth behavior for the 1st Round.  On our 2nd Round I loosened the sock and worked him up to mouthing and lifting the sock and starting to pull back on it.  He remembered his tug skills and was on that and was soon pulling with consistency on the sock and even moving it a bit as he pulled back.

On the 3rd Round he and I had a bit of a frustrating run.  He was pulling nice and putting tension on the sock, but not really getting much than slight movement on it.  I tried to encourage him to pull harder or pull more than once to increase his pull and he became frustrated and lost focus.  I thought I had lost him and would need to rebuild from scratch.

On the 4th Round I carefully worked on rebuilding that lovely target on the foot and regaining his focus.  He got it.  He went straight to picking up the sock and pulled it halfway off my foot.  I had it very loose and pulling it free was easy enough, but instead of loosing him in the 3rd Round he had realized I was asking for something more and gave it in the 4th Round.  I would not recommend pushing that hard with every dog, but for Jack it seemed to work this time.

On the 5th and final round I had already had increasing success with him taking, pulling and removing the sock as I put it on a bit more each time during the 4th Round.  He was up to just over halfway with the sock on my foot and pulling with force enough to remove it and was handing it back to me when he did.  I kept putting the sock on a bit more and had it on 99% of the way when he took the toe, pulled hard and with a single even pull and removed the sock and then handed it to me.  We were at the 1 1/2 minute mark and he had some kibble left in his bowl and my hand and I gave him a huge YES and click and gave ALL of the food to him and ended the session.  I was NOT going to get another wonderful pull like that in the remaining time and I wanted to end with him thinking, "What go me THAT reward" and return next week with it that much stronger.

We are done for the day, but I wanted to share a story from the night before.  About 15 to 20 minutes before Ronda came to pick up Jack I was enjoying a Facebook game on my IPad and realized Jackw as standing very still looking in the mirror on my wall.  I stopped to watch him and realized his body was completely relaxed and he was cocking his head one way and turning it another and sometimes moving in and touching his nose to the mirror.  It was almost like he was saying, "Damn, I am good looking" or  "Boy do I need a shave" and I couldn't help it, I laughed at him.  He's such a silly boy!

We had a great week and Jack won't return until next Tuesday after spending a long weekend with Ronda.  I want to wish Ronda a Happy Birthday and enjoy your mini vacation in celebration!

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	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

22 Months: Training - January 13th - 17th, 2014

Monday

In the two seconds to lift the camera to my face he moved the
pencil to his molars. At least he's happy about it.

It's 11 PM and I am just finishing the text for last weeks blogs and starting the text for this weeks blogs.  My days start at 7:30 AM and end sometime after midnight.  Is it no wonder I don't feel like updating the last of the blogs on the weekends?

Jack was groomed over the weekend and looks fantastic.  He was in a silly mood today and our progress from last week, though not lost, was not as far along as before.  This is normal progression and typical for Jack.

We worked three rounds of Retrieve to start his day.  Jack knows how to retrieve, but he tends to get goofy when he does and flip things around or does what I like to call the Poodle Pounce and get silly when doing a retrieve.  It's not professional or practical, so we are working on building a solid hold and a solid and complete retrieve process so he can quickly learn on the fly new items to pick up and new areas to pick up items from.  Eventually he'll be getting items off of shelves and from under things when needed and he needs a solid, reliable retrieve process to make the task meaningful for his handler.

He is still chicken necking between 3 and 5 seconds, but he's starting to not flip the pencil to his molars when we hit the 2 to 3 second range.  I have been gently cupping his chin with my hands and preventing the pencil from moving back when he tries to flip it back and giving him rewards when he stops the effort to flip the pencil back.  This seems to work for him and I noticed we got up to 3 seconds of stillness and focus during out training session.  We are using a new pencil and I am not seeing as many tooth imprints on the pencil.  This is fantastic to see.

For the afternoon Jack was taken on a client consult.  He was warmly greeted in the assisted living place we go to for working with Murphy.  Three older women like to wait for my arrival to meet the new Service Dog in Training and let them practice saying hello to people with varying disabilities.  Jack was tickled to meet the women and did his curled body hello as they met him.  We then went to meet Murphy.

Murphy is a Shitzu learning to do minor retrieve tasks and hearing alert tasks.  Murphy was a rescue and has a lovely temperament, but isn't certain about bigger dogs, so I bring along one of my dogs to introduce them and give Murphy positive dog experiences.  He's met Emma, Max and Malcolm, but not the Tall Cool Drink of Water that Jack is.  He was a bit confrontational of Jack at the door, so I asked Jack to back up and Jack shot backwards without hesitation.  Lovely.

Inside Jack tried to engage Murphy in play, but I redirected him into a settle at my feet.  For the dogs who come to Murphy's appointments it's their turn to practice laying quietly at my feet and learning how to wait until called upon.  They also are demo dogs for different skills we are teaching and are learning to work despite another animal or person in their vicinity and in a home setting.

Jack did well during the visit.  At the end I generally give the dog I bring a chance to visit a bit and Jack enjoyed that moment.  He was a bit jumpy with Murphy coming close to him, but I simply put him back into a settle at my feet and rewarded the position until he was able to see Murphy move toward him and not move.  At one point he alerted to my pain levels increasing and I rewarded that too.  It's a task he gave himself and one we have been rewarding.  What needs to be taught is to tell him when he's done his job and it's over, so I am now rewarding the alert and then putting him back in a settle and rewarding the settle.

Another part of the behavior he assigned himself is he applys pressure to his handler's legs to ease the pain and presses his chest into pelvic bone to change the angle of the spine.  For Ronda, this eases her pain, so we also reward that behavior, but again, an off cue for the behavior needs to applied so he knows when he's done.  I will begin training that too.

On our way out he met the gentleman that delivers medication and warmly greeted him.  For Jack this is new, having been raised by women, and we've been encouraging him to meet and greet men of all kinds to make him more comfortable about them.  If he says, by body language, he doesn't want to meet someone we don't push it, but reward staying with us.  In this case, the man kneeled and I cued Jack to go say hi and he moved in and rested his head on the man's knee.  He accepted the pets with a happy body and was surprised by a biscuit out of his pocket.  It was a good visit.

A woman who moved funny came up and Jack shied away and moved to me.  I reassured him he was safe and let him watch her.  In the end he decided to say hi to her, but he had to have some time to access her.  I had moved him a few steps away to tell him I recognized his discomfort and he need for space.  It's those tiny things when we are out that tells him I have his back and he's able to push himself a little harder to learn how to behave in public. Wonderful.

We stopped in for a quick hi at the smoke shop on the way home.  I had him paws up for a pet, which we've worked on off and on with the clerk to help start his training for paying for or taking things over the counter.  He happily did and put his head in her hands and absorbed her hello.  After that I cued him to settle at my feet between me and the counter and we pretended to have a transaction while I watched him from the corner of my eye.  He put his head on his paws and relaxed on my feet while we did this!  Yes!  It's the behavior we've been training for and it was all done with zero treats on me.  Wonderful!

When we got home I gave him the last of his meal with a round of Retrieve.  He was able to hold still for 3 seconds and got one solid 5 second hold in without any chicken necking.  It was a great session and once again there was hardly any teeth marks on the pencil.  Here's hoping the pencil is in better shape at the end of this week than last week's pencil.

Tuesday

Now that's better.  What a smart boy!

I have found it is easier to meet Ronda outside and take Jack's leash and then wait for her to exit the fence and simply let the dogs out of the house to greet him.  There is more space and less arguments in the morning when this happens.  It's a high energy greeting, especially with Malcolm, and giving them a chance to run and play the energy off outside makes everything so much easier for all of us.

While Jack, Emma and Malcolm have a romp in the yard I feed Max and Dieter.  They appreciate the quiet and brief period of not having rampaging adolescent dogs in the house.  Today I changed the routine a bit.  I took the dogs back into the bedroom for a little bit and curled up on the bed.  It was a bit of a mud wrestling match at first, but everyone calmed for a while and both Emma and Jack got the personal contact they need to feel good for the day.

Normally I have the dogs eating before 9 AM and don't take care of my needs.  Today I decided to wait for a bit, shower and eat and get them a bit hungry before pulling out the clicker and kibble.  I worked Malcolm first because he is convinced I am about to starve him into submission all day long and getting his tummy digesting makes him calmer for the other two.  I then selected Jack for training.  Patient, loving, gentle Jack would wait the entire day without telling me I missed him, so I try not to take advantage of that willing nature of his to wait for my attention.

We worked three rounds of Level 2: Step 1 Zen.  In the book it talks of placing the treat on the floor and then flicking it to the dog when they pull back.  With my back this just isn't as easy as it sounds, so I have modified it to my needs and to help the dog understand.  I started with a version of It's Yer Choice on the bar stool in the kitchen and clicked for eye contact.  Once we completed that I then placed a small pile of treats on the floor and clicked for eye contact and his staying away from them.  He did fantastic on the first round.

For the second and third rounds I decided to up the difficulty because Jack had shown stationary treats are not a major issue for him any longer.  I started dropping treats, first one at a time and then several at a time.  One treat snuck into his mouth somehow (darn treats just jump into a dogs mouth, I swear), but otherwise he had it.  I was able to move up to 2 feet away from the loose kibble on the floor and reward for eye contact.  At the end of each round I cued him to get the food on the floor; it is important there is a "you can eat that" cue for this type of training so you don't confuse the dog.

On the third round I asked Jack to move around stationary treats.  He had a hard time with this (that was when one kibble jumped into his mouth) and I had to help him understand that he could walk past the kibble and not eat it.  Once he got that idea and was able to walk around the kibble on the floor and ignore it, but he would look at it every time and pause for a second making a choice to get a kibble or not.  It was a great session.

One thing that helped was I can now block the other dogs from entering where I am working.  Cherie loaned me an x-pen and I can set it up to block the kitchen and living room and simply put the dogs I am not working with in the room I am not in.  It makes it easier for the dog I am working to focus on the lesson and not worry the other dogs are going to take their food.

I like being able to do more active or more intense levels of training without the dog worrying about the loss of his treats or another dog taking over the lesson.  The x-pen has been a huge help overall.

For our next lesson we worked on Retrieve.  This time I decided to make the concept of what I am asking clearer.  I have waited for Jack to stay engaged even when I don't reward for a hold so I could define I want him to be still when he's doing the hold.  He tends to pull back, lift up, push forward or chomp on the pencil and I just want him to hold and sit still.  I am now waiting for the stillness and rewarding it when it happens.  Sometimes it's hard, just as I am about to say Yes he'll suddenly move or do so as I am saying it, but slowly we are getting the idea.  He did a lot of damage to the pencil while working on the concept, but we did manage to start seeing it.  Let's see if he worked it out by morning when he returns.

When Ronda arrived we reviewed what we were working on and how to do it.  I used Emma to demo the Leave It exercise and Jack the concept of capturing stillness.  Ronda saw what I was asking and understood.  We then had a long discussion of her travel plans for next month.  She is heading back to her family to attend a family event and wants to fly Jack there.  We put together a training plan to prepare Jack for the flight.

We will begin teaching Jack how to move into a tight spot and lay quietly for the flight.  We will go to the airport at least 4 times and practice standing in line and just waiting.  We'll also visit the baggage area and listen to the planes landing and taking off and take in the activities.  We'll talk to security and find out what procedures Jack will need to do to get past security and practice them at home.  We will also see if we can't take him somewhere in town and go through a metal detector and get him comfortable with that concept.

Ronda will talk to her vet to ensure that she has what shots he needs, knows if he needs heart worm meds when he returns and get calming medication in the event he may need it.  I talked about giving him treats during take off and landing to help him pop his ears and that I would show her how to preposition him in the event he stands during flight and an exit plan if he has problems with flying and her possible need to get a rental car to complete her trip.

I will continue to work on Retrieve with Jack, but I am going to start training Jack how to position for the flight and curl up in a tight spot and feel good about it.  Its good she gave me a month to prepare Jack for his first flight.  I am certain that their bond is good enough for the flight and look forward to the report of how he did once she returns.  This is an exciting time for both of them.

Wednesday

Letting the dogs go out and run off the excitement of morning greetings is working.  Emma is in a better mood and out from behind the recliner more and Jack and Malcolm are calmer by the time I call them back in the house.  Jack is a silly boy and the above video will show you some of his silly behaviors while training with him.  I truly enjoy working with Jack.

Jack is preparing to go on his first flight next month, so I have started airplane training.  He needs to learn how to back into a tight space and settle for up to 2 to 3 hours without fear or fussing.  He needs to handle distractions such as noises, people moving around and carts rolling by and he needs to be able to stand or sit beside his human and not wiggle and squiggle all over like he does on his public access outings right now.  This means he needs stay and he needs it now.

So, today's training is working towards that goal.  Round 1 of his training was Sit/Stay with Distractions.  I am flapping a hat above his head in the video.  A flag flapping over head can be a bit worrisome, so I am flapping a hat and making the flapping sound positive for him.  I am whistling and whooping and moving around him and bouncing balls (exciting moving stuff).  As you see in the video, he's doing extremely well.  I am keeping an average click rate of 2 seconds while working with him.  I was very pleased - a month ago none of this could have been done with him.

For Round 2 I setup an aisle for laying in, much like he'd be in a plane.  I wanted to see his comfort level for going into a "tight" spot and laying down and see if he'd turn around if cued.  As you can see, he doesn't understand what I want, so I just left his butt facing the "aisle" of the plane and worked on comfort laying in tight spot and making noises to improve his down/stay.  The results had me laughing at times, but in truth Jack did very good.

Round 3 was used for shaping him to back up into the aisle, which is the preferred method.  I would like him to back in and lay down and settle fully.  I will then increase the distractions and build up his ability to lay still.  I won't be able to build the full flight time, but Ronda is a good handler and should be able to get him to fall asleep on the flight if we get a solid enough idea of a stay before it.

It was a great lesson.  I planned on revisiting the lesson with a second set of chairs to make the rows, but Ronda was sick and came early to pick him up.  I don't know if I have him again tomorrow, but I will make a concentrated plan to prepare him for his flight.  I am so glad she gave me enough heads up to prep him for it.

Thursday

Jack has finally learned to sit properly, not like a drunken teenager.

What a joy Jack is to train!  I was just mentioning in Emma's blog that when Jack arrived we took the time to teach him to eat.  Jack has always loved food and was willing to work for it - even kibble - but what he didn't have was a solid understanding of feeding schedules and the need to finish his bowl when given a meal.  Ronda and I were very consistent in the beginning and in a few days Jack was eating his meals without issue in both her home and mine.  Before that he'd take a bite or two and wander off because he expected his bowl to always be present and he could eat at his leisure.  That had been how it was before he'd been adopted and he didn't have a reason to think it would change.

Teaching a dog to eat raises the value of food for them overall.  Kibble becomes a valuable resource in their life and they are more willing to work with it.  Jack's problem wasn't his willingness to work for food, but his over willingness to do so.  He was food stupid.  He would get so excited about the food we were training with he couldn't learn.  It made his lessons inconsistent and Ronda and I spent all of December teaching him how to think in the presence of food.  We used a combination of It's Yer Choice and Zen to do this and by the time he returned from vacation he was able to focus and learn.  You can see it in his videos.  Food is there, but he's now working to earn it and is able to think through the problem.

That single change has made Jack a pure joy to train.  I love watching his happy, engaged, focused face as he works with me on the problem.  You can see it in the above video.  He's in the game and he's playing the same game I am.  I love it.

Today we continued to teach Jack to back into a tight space in preparation for his upcoming flight.  He is figuring out I am clicking for his feet and is offering other behaviors less.  He is moving two or three steps at times and a couple of times backed up 5 to 8 steps in a single quick motion.  He's not fully there, but he's on the cusp of understanding what the behavior I am asking for is.  We worked for three rounds in the morning and he was improving each round.  I look forward to see how much he figured out about the lesson come tomorrow.

For the afternoon we worked on Sit/Stay for two rounds.  My son Wayne came to visit and do some laundry.  Since he was a novel distraction I asked he just walk around the kitchen while I clicked Jack for keeping his sit.  Jack had a hard time with this in the beginning of the lesson. Round 1 was spent with him popping out of his sit a great deal and doing a lot of looking to see what Wayne was doing.  At one point Wayne went back to work on the laundry and Jack could hear him, but not see him.  It was then I was able to get Jack a bit closer to the final behavior of doing a Sit/Stay and not worrying about what is happening as much.

In the second round Jack was much better about keeping his stay and even dropped into his drunken teenager position.  He was less concerned with Wayne and more focused on me.  It was good improvement.  I have noted a problem with our Sit/Stay and I need to fix it for the trip also.  He can only do a Sit/Stay if he is facing me, not if he is sitting beside me.  I will start this new portion of the lesson tomorrow.

Throughout this training I kept Jack at an average rate of re-enforcement of 2 seconds and was able to move to an average rate of re-enforcement of 3 seconds with an outlying 5 seconds and 0 seconds to keep him focused and engaged.  He was highly successful waiting for the next click and when I threw in the longer ones he would look to me to see if I had forgotten him, but could wait for the click.  It's a lovely change from before when he had zero patience for anything.

Jack is progressing nicely and I am loving training him.  I really look forward to see how cleaned up his behaviors become over the course of the next few weeks before his flight.

Friday

Level 2: Step 1 Communication

Fridays are hard on me.  I have worn myself out over the course of the week and can feel myself slowing down on Thursday and having to push myself on Friday.  After this set of dogs, I am not doing board and train any longer.  It is simply too exhausting for me and I have decided I will work with a client on an hourly basis, but not board and train anymore after I finish this set of dogs.  The only exception would be for a woman who called me in tears needing a dog to keep her safe - health wise she may not be able to care for a puppy during the 8 week to 24 week stage and I stated I could house break, build basic training and crate work for that period to ease the stress of starting her journey with a new puppy.  If that happens, I may have the puppy for 7 days a week and will maintain a blog of the puppy's progress for her.  The stress of starting with a puppy for her could be life threatening and I would gladly give up some sleepless nights to help her get the dog she needs.  It's a special case and an offer I made if that was the choice she made for herself.

So, this morning after getting my shower after Jack's arrival, some food in my belly and my coffee in me so I was actually awake, I had to force myself to train.  I started with Malcolm today and after training him had to take an almost 1 hour break before I could train Jack.  I knew I was exhausted, but with the fantastic progress both dogs are making I really don't want to skip a chance to get even a little training in.

I set the two chairs I have been using when training Jack this week up and worked on him backing up between them.  This is technically Level 2: Step 1 Communication - The dog backs up.  Jack is aware now I am clicking for his feet.  He is very purposefully lifting his hind feet and setting slowly on the floor to test what I am clicking for.  This is good.  The fact he's testing (including trying Sits, Downs and other behaviors) means he's very close to figuring out what I am asking.

I am seeing more movement going backwards and bigger steps instead of shuffling, but today I discovered he's not ready for me to delay the click to get him to give a bigger or more movement.  He got lost when I stopped clicking for every step.  I will have to work it just a bit longer and then give him a chance to get a bit frustrated and give me a bit more next week.

I intended to train him a second session, but my exhaustion after filling out paperwork for my social security disability claim was complete and I just fed him his remaining food.  It was a quiet and lovely day otherwise and Jack was in good spirits.  We got a lot done this week and I am impressed with his overall focus and ability to stay on task when training.  I am very glad Ronda and I took the time to improve his Zen and work It's Yer Choice to get his mind on the game and off of the food.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	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

22 Months: Training - January 6th - 9th, 2014

Monday

Who woulda thunk he'd be such an amazing dog the day I took this?

Jack took two weeks off at the end of December.  He's been training hard with me since he arrived and both he and I needed a break.  I was circling the same lessons and not getting anywhere.  I have been discussing my frustration regarding this with a friend and it too had become a loop.  The break was for me more than it was for the dogs.  I was stuck and needed to step back and work out my problem with working three dogs at three different levels.

It was in a discussion with this very friend that I came to my solution.  Robin, my friend, is working with a more experienced trainer than either of us and he's sharing some wonderful insights.  Each time she learns something new from him she shares it with me and builds up my toolbox.  I would love to go and spend time with this man and learn from him, but that isn't in the cards right now. Instead, I get the benefit of learning from what he's taught Robin and applying those lessons to my dogs.

I have changed the program a bit since last we left.  I normally fed all the dogs first thing in the morning and then worked on lessons individually with the dogs in my charge.  This method had left it a bit willy nilly with their training, unlike when I first started with Emma and used her meals as her treats and had her earn her kibble, but even then, it wasn't structured right.  I worked her too long sometimes and too short others.  It was happening with all of the dogs and I could tell it was either inhibiting their ability to work or not giving them enough information to make the connection with the lesson.

Today Jack earned every kibble I gave him.  He gets a single meal at my home during the day and that meal constitutes his training treats for the day.  One cup of kibble is a lot of training.  The trick is not to try to feed him all of it all at once, but to spread it out over the course of the day and do structured lessons.

Today Jack worked on Zen, Retrieve, Sit/Stay and Focus.  As one knows, Zen is the foundation to all the behaviors needed to become a solid pet dog and/or working dog.  Jack has had struggles with Zen and we've approached it with different methods to help him learn.  Ronda has done a fantastic job with his homework.  I returned to Zen Level 1: Step 1 again today with Jack and was extremely pleased with his focused and calm approach to the lesson.  It was clear from the very first Zen hand that Jack had been working on his lessons at home.

We did 2 sessions of Zen.  In the first we worked solely on keeping his nose away from my closed hand.  He got rapid fire rewards for the 2 minutes we worked.  On the second lesson Jack worked on making eye contact when presented with the Zen hand and attaching the cue "Leave It" to the behavior.  Jack did very good with this lesson and was able to keep his nose away from my hand and make solid eye contact.

We did two sessions on Retrieve today also.  I structured his first lessons to be 2 minutes with a 2 minute break between them and then built up to 3 minute lessons with a 2 minute break between them.  Jack was able to take the pencil in his mouth and hold it without chomping down on it for up to 3 seconds with a bit of fussing and close to chomping behavior between 4 and 5 seconds.  He is starting to hold the pencil more behind his canines than in his molars, though about 3 seconds he starts to move the pencil behind his molars.  I returned to just taking the pencil in his mouth behind his canines and rewarding that for several repeats before asking for duration in 1 second increments again.  I was able to get up to a good 3 second hold, but need to stop his head movement before I push him further on duration.

We did 2 lessons on Sit/Stay.  The first lesson he worked on just sitting in a more upright position.  I had been thinking on what made Jack more likely to slide into a down and not hold a sit for 2 to 3 seconds at a time and what made Malcolm and Emma such super stars at a Sit/Stay.  It is the position of his front feet.  He has them a bit too far forward and he's all sloppy in his sit.  He looks like a pouting teenager when he sits.  So, to start the lesson I asked for sits and only the ones where he had a good posture did he get a reward for.  I will continue this to improve his posture and increase his success at a Sit/Stay.

After that we worked on simple duration.  I stood less than 5 feet away from him and clicked for 3 and 5 second Sit/Stays.  He was solid at 3 seconds, but weak at 5 seconds.  We got one 7 second Sit/Stay, but it was clear I was pushing him too fast by the number of times he slid into a down or stood up.  I backed up on duration and rebuilt up to a 3 second Sit/Stay and rewarded that and ended the lesson.  The second time I got him into a good Sit/Stay position and worked on Distractions.  I tapped the wall, waved my arms and moved my feet while he was watching me.  He did a great job of staying in a sit and only popped into a stand a couple of times.

We worked Focus 2 times today.  I decided to work on eye contact with Distractions.  Jack makes fantastic eye contact normally and can keep it pretty well, but only when things are calm.  I held my arms off to the side and waved them in circles like a propeller and started to laugh as Jack's eye brows danced from left to right as he tried to make eye contact and peek at my arms at the same time.  I had treats in both hands and he was trying very hard to earn them.  He made eye contact finally and I gave him a reward.  The game was on.  I waved them like wings and swung them like an ape and circled them like a ninja - he was able to make eye contact each time.  It was a very fun lesson.

Jack earned his first meal of the day by 2 PM and was able to rest and play for the rest of the day.  He was clearly tired and content after having worked his brain so much today.  I do believe this type of training program will work very well for all of us.  I worked with Jack over the course of 30 minutes and got in 6 three minute training sessions and most of his meal in him in the afternoon after working 4 two minute sessions for his morning training session.  Even if I only work for 30 minutes a day on lessons in the home he'll be getting more one on one time with me than he had prior to our break; and I won't feel so burnt out as I did previously.

Jack will continue working the Levels in scheduled lessons and public access in planned outings as we take newly acquired skills on the road.

Tuesday

Hi, my name is Jack and I have a nose in your face addiction.

This new training method is working well for all of the dogs.  Jack is calmer working for his food each day and more focused on earning it.  We worked Zen Level 1: Steps 1 - 4 for all three rounds.  He is no longer chicken necking when I am asking for duration and is making eye contact when I present my Zen hand, both closed and open.  I have attached the cue for the closed hand and when I rebuilt duration with the open hand attached the cue again. As soon as I say the cue he stops all forward movement and brings his eyes to mine.  This is excellent progress.

Jack and I have been working on calm, focused Zen behavior since he arrived.  He's a snatch and grab dog when it comes to treats in people's hands and when giving a treat to another dog.  He is also a bit food stupid and when food is involved he tends to forget himself and looses track of his lessons.  It's been a slow and painful road to get his self control installed around food and especially regarding food in people's hands.  Seeing this steady progress on Zen and Jack truly working to earn the treats I am offering is wonderful.

Since Jack works for a single cup of kibble a day I am only able to get in about 6 lessons total for the day.  I like to break them up to prevent tiring myself out and give Jack time to process and work on the lesson we just worked on.  On Monday I had worked three lessons switching between what we were working on and thought better of it for our future training sessions.  Instead I pick two behaviors to work on for the day and split them between our morning and afternoon lessons.  This seems to help because Jack's improvement between Round 1 and Round 3 when working a single behavior is remarkable and his return the next day or two days later is even better.

We revisited the other behavior that had been a major issue for us - Sit/Stay.  Jack has been unable to break the 2 or 3 second barrier for months regarding Sit/Stay.  He tends to slide into a down and/or wander off and disengage from the lesson.  It has been a terribly frustrating lesson for both of us.  Over the vacation I returned to reading my Levels Book (reminder, do this sooner) and found a trouble shooting section on the very problem I was having.  I hadn't even thought that Jack's teenage slouch sit could be the problem, but it really was.

I mentioned this to Ronda and asked she only reward sits in which Jack made a good triangle when he sat.  This meant he needed to have his front feet properly under his shoulders and wasn't rocked back on his hips like he'd just drank too much.  She did this over the vacation and I could see the results of her careful reward system for solid, proper sits - Jack is now placing his front feet at an angle that improves his ability to stay in a seated position.

With this part of retraining his sit in place and his Zen improving Jack broke through the 3 second barrier with a vengeance.  We flew through 3 seconds and then 5 seconds and ended the first round at 7 seconds.  I was in heaven with this sudden improvement and his quiet, focused approach to the lesson.  The two minute break made a remarkable improvement and we blew threw 7 seconds to 9 seconds by the end of the lesson.  I wasn't clicking yet at a solid average for our increasing difficulty and would later learn to vary the rate of enforcement better, but I was using a varying rate of enforcement as I normally do to keep him engaged and throwing the longer Sit/Stays in off and on to see how he was doing.

Our third round went up to 11 seconds!  What a remarkable change from the dog that got me so frustrated that I was inventing new swear words when working.  I am certain every dog in the house thinks I am mental because I mutter curses under my breath in a happy sing song.  It's the frustration of knowing that somehow, somewhere our communication was broken.  My conversations with other trainers who have different or more experience than I and taking classes with the dogs has improved my communication with the dogs overall and I am finally not cursing under my breath in a sing song, but enjoying the sudden blast of success we are having.  It's the upcoming plateu that will bring back my special language, I just know it.

Wednesday

Boy they make the beds small here.

Zen is a foundation behavior for all of the other behaviors Jack needs.  Its important to get the first level firmly understood to have it bleed into learning everything else Jack needs to know.  Therefore we started our day with Zen.  I am working Level 1: Steps 1 - 4 with Jack and attaching the cue as we get to the 5 second mark with 90% success and stillness.  Jack had been solid the day before, but this day he was chicken necking between 4 and 5 seconds and doing a lot of body flopping (sitting back on his haunches, raising his feet and being silly) so I dropped the cue and just worked on clicking for stillness.  I varied the lesson between closed fist and open hand because Jack, as a Poodle, needs to advance, but also seems to regress a great deal in his lessons.  It's a strange ballea with him.

We did three rounds of Level 1 Zen and managed to get him still for 3 seconds, but couldn't get stillness for 4 or 5 seconds.  I swear Jack learns in circles more than a straight line.  He'll get it one day and circle back and repeat what we just went though the next and be solid by the end of a lesson and then not have it for a day or two.

For our second lesson of the day we did Retrieve for Round 1.  He's also chicken necking when we work on his hold.  Jack is retrieving objects for his handler and me, but he doesn't have a soft mouth or a solid hold and he's a bit wild with his retrieve still.  I am smoothing the retrieve out, which is happening in stages, and building a solid hold and soft mouth.  The pencil in the picture should display what I mean.  It started as a new pencil and ended a mangled mess.  Each week I start with a new pencil and will know when I have a solid soft mouth when the pencil ends the week as it started.

I can get him to hold still for 0 to 2 seconds when doing a hold, but after that he either pulls back or pushes forward or does both in rapid succession.  I want a still, focused hold, so I am working slowly on getting that stillness at a rate he can handle and process.  In time he'll have it and with that hold a lot of wonderful retrieve abilities can be built up, such as helping with laundry and bringing items over a distance to his handler.

Rounds 2 and 3 were on Sit/Stay.  I decided to work on distractions for most of the the time we worked.  I tapped or banged on the walls, opened and closed cabinets and the fridge and did a funny jig (which with me is very funny) and kept an average rate of re-enforcement of 3 seconds up.  He was fanatic after the first couple of times I had to reset him into a sit.  He's really getting the idea and just watched and earned his kibble.  I ended the lesson with another 11 second stay.  He's really made huge progress since we started this new training routine and I am very proud of him and Ronda for all the hard work they do to continue his education.

Thursday

It's the weekend!

I decided to test Level 1 Zen and Jack passed with flying colors.  I held the first treat of the day before his nose and said, "Leave It" and counted to 5 seconds and he was spot on.  He pulled back, made eye contact and sat on his haunches.  This meant our first lesson of the day was Level 2: Step 1 Zen.  I set the kibble on the floor and would click and treat for his pulling his nose away and eventually making eye contact.  He snuck two kibble, but otherwise rocked the exercise.

For Rounds 2 and 3 we worked on the famous dropping kibble.  He had a harder time with this at first, but then got the idea and would look at the falling kibble and then me and get his reward from my stash to the side.  I pushed a little hard and bounced a few kibbles off of him and he couldn't control his lips and the kibble somehow ended up in his mouth, but that wasn't his fault.

For our second lesson of the day we did 3 rounds of Retrieve.  We have not broken through chicken necking at 3 seconds yet, so I continued to keep his rate of re-enforcement at 1 second and slowly snuck in 3 second holds and managed to get a few nice still ones.  We'll continue to work on this and encourage him to keep the pencil behind his canines and not in his molars.  He also attempts to shift the pencil to his molars at 3 seconds, so I am cupping the pencil in my hands so he can't flip the pencil back and reward when he stops trying to do so.  I am noting a softer mouth is slowly developing.

Jack made amazing progress this week and we got more training in this week than we've done in previous weeks working.  I was not nearly as tired by the end of the day with the dogs and the dogs were in much better moods and more relaxed because of the higher level of mental stimulation.  The vacation I took was vital for all of us and we are entering a new year with a new attitude on training and achieving goals in ways we never did before.  I am very excited about how this week went overall.

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	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