Don't faint, it's a new post!!! Temperament testing the litter this weekend!

Knightley: 1 year 2 months 3 weeks old
Possible puppy: 6 weeks 1 day old

I know, I'm a very bad girl. It has been so very long since my last post. Hah, that sounds quasi-religious.

The reason, once again, is Oz Working Dogs. When I started it I was rather tentative about its prospects of suceeding, but now it is very obvious that it is taking off in a big way. Especially this last week I have been working very hard - probably too hard - and I'm exhausted. I am stocking all sorts of things now, toys, first aid, dog cologne, and making quite a few vests, capes etc. I am happy that I am making others happy with the equipment.

I've also had several bouts of sickness since my last post, including one big whopper of a migraine coupled at the same time with some sort of flare in my primary illness - fever, bad rash, joint pain - which had me as close as going to a hospital as I've been since I spent my 29th birthday in ICU. After that horrific experience I swore I wouldn't go back unless I was half dead. Last week made me reconsider, but I did get through it.

The good news is that Knightley and I have been getting back into training some more. We're working hard on his recall, and it's improving - even at the dog park, gasp!! He's very good at coming at home, even when he is doing something fascinating outside. We continue to work on Level 3 of the Sue Ailsby Step to Success Levels, but without the urgency of before. If I get a new puppy, I plan to take him back to the beginning with the pup. Sometimes I realise how much Knightley does know, especially the indoor manners that are so useful in turning a dog into a nice companion.

Ready world??? Here we come!!

So the big news is the litter of puppies I talked about in my last post are old enough now for temperament testing to see if they are up to assistance dog quality. While temperament testing gives you just a guide of how good the puppy could ideally be when it grows up, it is a valuable tool to rule out puppies who are definitely not going to make it. I am very excited to meet them. The breeder has continued to send photos of the puppies daily - to the point I feel like I already know them somewhat. I'll also be temperament testing some of the girl pups. One of the families getting a pup has a high functioning autistic child, and they're getting a girl. The breeder wants my input to make sure they get the right pup. I've had a chat to someone who is very involved in autism assistance dogs, and with my own knowledge of temperament testing I think I'll be fine to find the right girl for the family. Or maybe two, and then I'll get the breeder to judge which one the child bonds better with.

A small part of their awesome puppy yard, completely with pipes
to crawl through, little seesaws, all sorts of things that blow in the
wind, balls, toys, objects hanging from ropes... just so many thing
that contribute to making a scare proof well balanced pup.

We leave for the trip up to the breeders later today, and it is a long drive - about 7 hours including breaks.... so we are splitting it up there and back over three days. First day will be about 4 hours driving or a bit more, second maybe 5.5 and third 5. Not a bad split. We'll be testing the litter on the second day. I am pretty positive about finding a good prospect in this litter - even perhaps two. These pups have been brought up extremely well, with an amazing expansive puppy yard filled with all sorts of interesting objects. Compared to how the first litter I tested (very very timid litter) was brought up it is just completely and totally different. These puppies have every chance of being amazingly well adjusted dogs. The breeder doesn't let them go until they are 9 weeks old as she vaccinates late, which is fine by me as an extra week with their litter and mother is good continued puppy education and socialisation for the pup. They are a touch over six weeks old now, and will be just about 6.5 weeks old when I test them. 7 weeks is meant to be ideal, but next weekend just wasn't going to work out. They'll only be four days off the ideal, so I think that will be fine.

If there is a puppy in the litter for us, we will have a few purchases to make as I have held off getting things like a crate, bed and mat, although I will be able to make all the leads, collars and harnesses that I desire. The main thing I want, with the whole of my being, is for this puppy to be healthy. If we had another pup with hip dysplasia I would find that extremely hard to accept. We will get PennHip done on this puppy, early, so we know what we are working with.

The puppies exploring the spray from a hose leak. It's so wet!

Knightley will be staying with my dad while we are away, as my mum is also away down on the coast. So I think that will be a bit challenging for him!! He's hoping to engage my brother as a helper to tire Knightley out and babysit him a bit. It's a good idea. My brother lived with us when we first got Knightley, and even though he has grown up a LOT from the lanky adolescent he was when my brother moved out, my brother is still more familiar with him than my parents.

So this weekend is make or break time. Cross your fingers and toes for me as I desperately want to get back on the assistance dog train!!

Will give you the news soon internetland, as to whether Knightley has a new best friend.

Basic training, bit of a break from public work, and dog over-friendliness

9 months 2 weeks 3 days old

So over the last couple of days since the weekend I've been continuing to refresh Level 1 of Sue Ailsby's Training Levels. I am trying to get Knightley's new down (cue is flat!) more solid, so that it will last a lifetime and always be solid and prompt no matter where I ask for it. His previous down I trained with quite a bit of luring, which is why I think it got slower and more reluctant when he was a bit stressed. This time I am trying to train it with mostly shaping and capturing - much better techniques for training a long lasting well trained behaviour. When it is perfect inside, I will start shaping it all over again from the beginning in the backyard and then out in the street and then on the grass with lots of smells around which is Knightley's big challenge place for getting focus. I've also been trying to inject some fun into our training, throwing toys and playing tug in between a few reps, keeping the session high energy and trying to treat often. The more fun I can make training these behaviours, the more fun these behaviours will seem to Knightley later in his work.

We're having a little break from public access socialisation. I don't want to push Knightley too fast, as much as he is coming up to 10 months old, I don't think we should be going out too often in public until he is around a year old. I think the 2-3 times a week we were doing was just a bit too much for this stage. I will stick to once a week for at least the next month, and continue with basic training and a little task training.

The area where we walk every day at least once a day. It's
great for bumping into other dogs, and as a bonus it's lovely
at this time of the year (autumn), and the weather is simply
beautiful, although very chilly overnight! Canberra has by far
the coldest overnight temperatures of the large Australian cities.

I am working on keeping him calm and working on zen on and around grass, and practicing walking with a harness and assistance dog style handle (loose, without forward momentum help) along our normal walk path. The main reason I am practicing along there is because a lot of dogs use the area for their walks and it's a great opportunity to get over his dog over-lovingness. It is the main thing he really needs to work on for his public access permit. When he has to pass a dog (eg tied up outside the shops) he will try really hard to turn around as I walk past to continue watching it, and will pull towards the dog the entire time. Last time we had to past a dog I had him stop near the dog, put him in a sit and fed him treats as he sat there slowly becoming more and more calm. When we walked off he was lovely and calm. I just need to do that a lot!

I am thinking a lot about the trouble I am having with getting access to the public transport here (buses). My request to be able to use a stationary bus in the bus depot has been denied so I am out of luck completely. There are a couple of possibilities in terms of maybe trying a different bus line based across state lines, or even challenging the bus company.... but sigh, it is unlikely those will be good fixes. It is absolutely ridiculous that when Knightley gets his permit he will be allowed on, but I don't intend to get the permit until Knightley is about 18 months old (or more if it takes longer). However, he really needs experience on a bus before he is that old as having him help me use public transport once again was one of my big aims, and the longer he goes without going on the bus the less relaxed he will be when he finally can. The very obvious solution is that I really push forward on the public access training and get our permit before task training is complete. I think I could probably be ready to submit an application for the permit in about three or four months if I really worked at it - and be happy that Knightley was going to be very professional in his behaviour. I could at least demonstrate some assistance retrieve tasks and a little forward momentum/counter balance (and not mention that I wouldn't be using that until Knightley was mature physically). However, I don't know whether it's the right thing to do just to make my training easier (it would make everything easier, not just the buses), as I wouldn't be using him as a working dog for maybe another 5-6 months after getting the permit.

It's hard to believe he is coming up to 10 months old. I frequent a Golden Retriever forum and there are so many nightmare stories about what their puppies start doing in the period between 7 to 12 months - the teenage months really - that I really thought Knightley would probably start going nuts too. This is especially the case because unlike the vast majority of dogs on there Knightley is still intact (he will have a late desexing at about 18 months in order to let his joints fully mature), so has the extra hormones playing havoc during this teenage period we are getting through this period very well. Apart from the very small amount of resource guarding (primarily when holding a large hunk of raw meat, bones and kibble don't do it) nothing has changed during this time period, for which I count myself lucky. I am also thankful the temperament testing I did has proved accurate and the good training foundation I laid down and the masses of research and reading I do continues to teach Knightley be a well mannered (most of the time) member of our little family. He really isn't looking like a puppy anymore though! Whenever I talk to people about Knightley they are surprised he is only 9 months old. I see him as not much of a puppy but not an adult, but he'll always be my fuzzy baby puppy at heart.

Wonderful public training, retrieving awkward objects, hubby back!

8 months 1 week 4 days old

Firstly, for those who missed it, I have a brand new Facebook page, at https://www.facebook.com/DownunderAssistanceDog. Do go ahead and join the page to get my updates about what Knightley and I are up to on a day to day basis, especially when I don't have the energy for a big post here. Also, if you ever want to contact me for any reason, it's a great way to do it.

I'm trying out a new 'thing' on my blog... bolding important phrases and words, so that you can scan an entry and see what is important, what has happened, and get the training messages quickly. Gimme a yell if you hate it!

The last couple of days have been pretty full on for both me and Knightley! Hubby came home from his 3.5 week trip to England on Easter Friday, and Knightley went to the airport with us having got permission to take him inside. It was his first time to the airport, and was his first time for several other things. He'd never been on a lift before (that went REALLY well! My dad and I repeatedly told him what a wonderful dog he was while we were in there), he'd never been on super polished floors and he was great with those, he'd certainly never seen moving baggage and that gave him pause.... but he was fascinated, not scared! I think he wanted to jump onto the baggage carousel too. He'd never heard loud announcements, and his head whipped around at first when the first one came over the PA system, looking for the source of the sound. Which obviously he couldn't find..... With strange noises and dogs, it is best to just act as if the noise is completely normal and then your dog will accept it as normal too. If you go "oh poor dog, I know, you just got a big fright, are you ok??", then your dog is likely to start getting an issue. Just act as if the noise is normal and your dog will believe it is. Once Knightley saw that I believed the announcements were no threat, he started more or less ignoring them. My husbands plane was late, but Knightley was pretty good (not ideal, shifted around a bit too much) and just rested in a down by my feet. All the work with down stays and relax has been worth it! Once again I felt like a bit of a tourist attraction, with soooo many people looking at Knightley. I can see that when Knightley is fully trained and with me all the time I will get a lot of attention from him. He gets a lot of comments about how beautiful he is, and I would have to agree. :)

Knightley was very happy to see hubby, but wasn't completely unprofessional in his welcome. We did have a bit of a slip up.... everyone was clustered around getting their bags and hubby got his smaller one and threw it towards us. It landed with quite a bang and obviously shocked Knightley quite a bit.... to the point he let out a small rather surprised bark! I was amazed... he hasn't barked before in public like that. So I told him to 'leave it!', and immediately turned around and we walked away from everyone. So that blotted his perfect record. As we were leaving I stopped at the only patch of grass outside and gave him his pee cue, and it worked immediately. What a good dog! A family was right beside the grass and saw me with Knightley, and was completely amazed. "Oh wow.... how did you do that....??! I wish my dog did that!" the mother said. I just responded that it was part of his training and was indeed very useful.

Learning to pick up my sunnies (sunglasses) where I want him to.
 I don't want him to pick them up on the lenses and leave slobber
so I am spending some time teaching him where I want him to put
his mouth. He seems happy enough to play along! When I
compare his behaviour to how he first was when I started retrieve
training there is a *huge* difference. There is almost no comparison.
He's such a good good boy.

That night after hubby came home he went to bed rather early, so we did a bunch of retrieve training with some semi delicate objects. We practiced getting Knightley to pick things up in certain places on the object. For instance, I don't want him to pick my sunnies (sunglasses) up by their lenses.... for while they are not expensive sunnies, I don't want to be seeing through drool when I come to pick them up! So I want him to learn to pick them up on the long arm thingo. So I got him to hold them first maybe 6-7 times, in the place I wanted him to pick them up. Then I started lowering them towards the floor. I would very deliberately offer the part I wanted him to hold, so that he never took the wrong part.

Retrieving a lid, which he has got a lot better at. He struggled
with anything flat at first, but now he seems to be able to
manage most of the time. He will hold it for a good long time
until I am ready to take it, and will hold it with me until I tell him
'thank you!' and then finally, he will let go. It really does come
quite naturally to him. We are slowly starting to very occasionally
do a retrieve without a treat reward, although I will do something
else instead, usually play with a toy or just make a huge fuss of
him.

However, if he did (he has on other objects), I would just wait it out until he released the object and not reward him for it, then give the retrieve cue again ('get it!') with my hand over everything but where I want him to hold. I'd do a couple of short holds, not even letting go, offering the object, then 'thank you!' and he releases, then treating him. I would slowly reduce what my hand covers until he is still holding the right place despite being offered the whole object. Then I'd start letting him get some good long holds by himself, then start  lowering the object towards the floor again before each hold until it was on the floor but I had one hand on it. If at any time he wouldn't reach and hold it on cue, then I would go backwards a step or two and make it easier for him. This is one of the keys of dog training!! Don't be afraid to go back a couple of steps when things aren't going quite right.... or even right back to basics!

Then I put the sunnies on a flat surface at his chest height, all folded up except for one arm open, and asked him to get them. He did, then swung around and gave them to me. Very nice. We did that several times, and then I slowly opened out the sunnies, only paying for retrieves where he picked it up via the arm. Then I put it on another flat surface, close to the floor, with the arms open, and we did a couple more retrieves... and then the floor. Next time I will work on having him things up that I drop before the session... which is our problem at the moment. He will pick things up after I nudge them a bit with my toe to show him what I want picking up... but it takes a little while, and a fair bit of encouragement.

The last several days I've been at the National Folk Festival, with stacks of venues with all sorts of amazing performers from all over the world, awesome food, all sorts of stalls selling clothes, jewelry and all sorts, and lots of lovely food. There's one more day to go and then it's time to recover! I've spent most of my time in my wheelchair getting pushed this year, as my health took a little dip pre-Festival (see post about coming back from shops with Knightley). However, I got permission to take Knightley for public access training and socialisation, so he's gone with me for a couple of hours on one day and a few on another, and while I've had Knightley with me I've walked with my crutch slowly. He has been a VERY good boy!! He has experienced lots more firsts, like at the airport, such as applause, live music, walking beside me in a wheelchair (wasn't for long), lying still for events (needs practice) and having a grass floored venue that must be treated as a normal floor (if you're a regular reader you know that Knightley is a massive grass fan!! It was hard....).

What a fantastic learning experience it has been. I have really seen what Knightley and I need to work on in the coming months. Lots of zen, zen, zen, zen, until it is default and matter of fact. There was quite a bit of food on the ground, and Knightley was good at the beginning of the Festival, but then once or twice ate something from the ground... which is a *huge* no no (there was so much though!). That rather spelt doom. He obeyed me if I told me to 'leave it'... but there was so much stuff on the ground that I couldn't keep saying it continuously, and unfortunately it being the beginning of autumn here, there were leaves on the ground too which *looked* like food, so he wanted to check out every little leaf too. So default food on ground zen is something we need to work on badly. If he hadn't got himself that one or two pieces of food originally then I think we would have been ok, but after that every leaf was a potential snack, sigh. Anyway, lots of work to do!

I can't decide whether to take him back for the last day or not. Every day is another learning experience, and he isn't getting too tired because he is dozing a bit during some of the performances - especially the ones in the dark venues. Also, the last day is a lot quieter than the others. However, I don't want to burn him out as these are some big experiences for a young dog. Either way he is going to have a good long break from any public socialisation and training. Lots of walks and dog park visits for the foreseeable future I think.

Good boy Knightley!!! What a dog!

8 months 1 week 1 day old

So, I went up to the shops this morning (I live very close to my local shops) with Knightley, to get a prescription filled and do some socialisation training. However, I pretty seriously overestimated my energy reserves, because on the way out of the shops after I'd done what I needed to do, the efforts of the last couple of days caught up with me. I started having some serious trouble just putting one step in front of each other and my body was cramping up and in serious pain. I had hooked the foam handle to his training vest before we left, not to use it but just so Knightley could get used to its presence. But when I started to go into exhaustive collapse, I needed Knightley to help get me home. Someone came up to me just outside the shops and asked if I needed help - obviously I looked pretty bad - but I said my dog would help me get home. Unfortunately it got harder the further I went. The great thing is, he did help me. I used the handle and he gave me a little pull the whole way home. He was slow, and very patient as I was stopping really often. Whenever I stopped he leant against my leg and looked up at me. He really knew what was going on. I think if he hadn't been with me I could have had a bit of a panic attack which happens occasionally in situations like that where I feel utterly helpless. When we finally got home I gave him a big hug and told him thank you like a hundred times. He just panted gently, looked up into my eyes and wagged slowly.

What a good dog!!!!! I can't use Knightley to pull me much at all until he is at least 18 months old and he has stopped growing, otherwise I could risk damaging his joints. But when I am desperate for a bit of help, he's there for me. He was wonderfully behaved inside the shops, and we did a good bit of backing up in real world situations, which went really well too. I am just feeling so lucky to have him in my life today, and he gave me a glimpse of what is to come in 8-9 months.

We had a fantastic retrieve session last night as well. He is making great progress on picking up things like lids straight from the ground, which takes some precision and practice as it's quite tricky. I just have to stop him pawing them, as he does that occasionally to try to get them in a better position to pick them up. I am really proud of what he has achieved.

My legs are still absolutely killing me, so I think I'm going to have a rest now.

A full on but successful couple of days!!

8 months 1 week old

Well, the last few days have been pretty busy, and there are more busy ones to come! Despite being very busy and being utterly tired out, it has been a really successful couple of days.

The big personal news is I did a TV interview yesterday, about the project I've been working on for the Arts Centre I volunteer at (soon to be a casual paid worker).... and then in the evening we had a great launch of the results of the project, which went very well. I felt I did terribly in the TV interview, and through an awful strike of fate, I don't have a copy of the interview recorded so haven't seen it yet. However, friends who saw it say I came across well and was "clear and concise". Pretty crazy considering my first sentence contained virtually nothing but "ah um" and a few "err"s. I did get better as I went along though, and it wasn't live so they could at least pick the best bits. It was a good experience, and if I do ever have to do it again (let's hope not!!!) I won't be as crazily terrified.

I haven't been doing all that much training, I gotta say. The hubby gets back from England on Easter Friday morning, so that will be just great to have him back. It feels like the house has been just me and Knightley for a good while. Knightley is definitely going to be cranky at losing his spot on the bed though!

We did go to the dog park this afternoon though, and Knightley got incredibly dirty playing with a 10 week old puppy in the dust and dirt. I tried to brush it out of him when I got home, but I just couldn't get enough out to make me anything like happy to have him on the bed - and I want to make the most of our last time nights sleeping together! That, and I have permission to take him somewhere a bit special soon (it's a bit of a secret), and I want him clean for it. So I sucked it up and decided to give him a bath. It has been a good while since I actually washed him in our actual bath, during summer I was able to do it outside, and then the last time I did it at a self serve tub in a pet shop. He did pretty well though.... last time he was washed I gave him heaps and heaps of treats as counter conditioning, and I think that has helped change his perception of getting washed. The only problem this time was he hated the slipperiness, so I think I'll get one of those rubber mats you suction to the bath, and then he'll be much happier. Dogs hate slippery surfaces. He's still drying off a bit, I gave him a good towel off, and a brush, and now I'm just letting him continue to dry. He's going to look and smell lovely though. Until the next dog park romp, that is!!

Anyway, after several days of being far too busy, Knightley and I are going to take tomorrow pretty easy. The National Folk Festival (lots of traditional Irish/English/Scottish/Australian/American/Canadian/European and more music + lots of yummy food + entertainment + shops to buy jewellery, craft work, musical instruments.... and mulled wine in the cool evenings....) starts tomorrow evening, and I have a season ticket, as I try to do every year - although last year I couldn't as I was going overseas for my wedding. I'll be going to the opening concert tomorrow night with my mum, and can't wait for the Festival to start.... it's a truly wonderful event, with people coming to perform from all over the world. The other exciting news is Knightley may be going on Monday, which is by far the quietest day. I have approval to take him for socialisation and training practice. I should really work hard some more on his retrieve in the next couple of days and actually make use of him while I have him with me. I can't wait for the Folkie!!! (even though it absolutely and completely exhausts me) I can't wait to have the hubby home!! YAY!!

Public socialisation, hubby off to England and a lack of posts!

Well, I know I haven't been posting much at the moment. I usually work on my posts in the evening just before sleeping and the last week or two I've just been so tired I start falling asleep as I do it! My body has had a hard time getting over the virus I had, although the autoimmune rash I had is more or less gone - for now. We've also been a bit busy with house maintenance and my husband is about to leave for a 3.5 week trip to England, where he comes from and where we got married last year. So things have just been a bit tiring.

A week ago or so the hubby and I took Knightley on a trip to the inner city of Canberra for the first time. It was raining pretty heavily, but we tried to stay undercover when possible. We did end up getting pretty wet eventually though! Not good considering I was feeling pretty 'ordinary' as we Aussies like to say. (Ordinary = not great at all, with connotations of rough swearing Aussie blokes eg...' that's pretty bloody ordinary!' .... and just so you know, bloody doesn't count as swearing here. Right, that's your lesson in Aussie slang for today.....) Anyway, I had him in his vest which tells people not to touch him, as I want him to get used to not approaching people when in public, which he is getting quite good at. We wanted to go to a specific clothes store but it meant crossing a pretty major road that bisects the centre of Canberra's inner city - by far the most cars Knightley had seen together. He did absolutely fantastically though. I'd taken a big fat treat pouch so as he sat by my side waiting for the opportunity to cross I stuffed him with treats as cars wizzed by in front of him, splashing puddles of water around as they went. The idea of feeding when cars are going past, or for instance if we were in a quiet part of the city but stumbled upon a huge noisy truck, is to associate these things with good feelings, so when he seems them again he will feel good and certainly not scared. Fear is the number one reason assistance and guide dogs don't all make the grade. This method of association is called classical conditioning.


So we crossed the street and continued towards the store. When we got there we were all three of us a bit bedraggled at this stage, so the hubby asked if Knightley and I could come in, instead of waiting outside. He explained that Knightley was being socialised, and they were absolutely fine with it. It was great to get out of the bad weather, and Knightley was very well behaved. It was Knightley's first time in a clothes store - in fact it was only his second store ever after a book store at our local fresh food markets - so I took the opportunity to familiarise Knightley to it. We wove in and out of the racks of clothes, although  I often had to ask for him to wait, then I would go ahead, then release him to follow me, as the passages between some of the racks were pretty small. It was good practice. I wonder if I could get that automatic, or get it on just one cue. It's interesting how doing just a little tiny bit of public access experience gives you so much to think about.

After that we walked back to cross the busy road, and it was still pouring. The cars zoomed past in front of Knightley's face, spraying water everywhere, and I really - like his amazing performance at the Sideshow Alley - couldn't believe he could be so sanguine in the face of such a new and rather intimidating experience. I have been careful to slowly ramp up the intensity of his experiences with cars, but still, I was impressed and so proud.

Knightley under the table at the fast food place. We need
to work on getting him to curl more tightly so that if he has
only a very small area under a table he will still fit. The most
common technique is to use a hula hoop and then smaller
hoops until the dog is used to curling up tightly.

We decided we needed to eat after that, so asked if we could bring him into a fast food restaurant and get out of the rain. I trained him to do an 'under' command when he was pretty young, where he gets under any object its possible to get under on cue - a seat, table, chair, bench etc. We need to work on getting him to curl up some more, at the moment he is just doing it in a relaxed down on his side.

Nevertheless, he stayed in a down the whole time, and just shifted around once. So I was very happy with him, and we were able to eat our meal and pretty much forget that he was there. After finishing eating we walked around the busy shopping area, getting him exposure to the crowds  that had come to get away from the rain and do some shopping. I noticed a small change in the way he was walking and guessed he needed to have a pee stop, and as soon as I found a place and gave him the command he went immediately. I *LOVE* having cues to empty him out, I think they are the most useful of everything I have taught him.

Knightley on a good relaxing walk having had a new stressful
experience. It is important you let your dog process these new
experiences by giving them lots of rest time, and simple easy
walks. You can see the shaved patch on his leg where they
gave him the injection to make him throw up. It's beginning to
grow back but still has a good way to go.

It was a very successful outing. After any big new experience I give Knightley a good day or two at home doing nothing much, just thinking about what he has gone through. So we didn't really do much for the rest of  the week, just normal walks - especially when the rain finally started slackening!

Then this last weekend I took Knightley to our local shopping mall. He has spent a good deal of time outside it, but has never gone in - I assumed he wouldn't be allowed.  But I phoned up the information desk to ask nevertheless, and amazingly enough, they are fine with dogs in training coming in. However I am well aware that Knightley isn't particularly ready for public access training - that generally doesn't happen until assistance dogs are ready to do their jobs at around 12-14 months old. All I wanted from the experience was to introduce Knightley to shopping centres at a young age, and make it a positive experience. There are two entrances/exits quite close to each other, so I was able to go in through big glass sliding doors, have a short walk through the shops and people, past a group of children (one of whom screamed 'DOG!!!' but Knightley just looked around then ignored them), stop for about a minute with my husband, then left my husband to walk towards the other exit, and through the other glass sliding doors.

I praised Knightley to the skies and gave him several handfuls of treats once we were outside. A woman waiting outside smiled to see me giving him so much attention, and I explained it had been his first time inside, and he had been pretty much perfect. She was quite interested, asking questions about Knightley, so I got Knightley to meet her. He is getting better with not rolling over and asking for a tummy rub from everyone he meets, but it will take more work to make it perfect. He was very well mannered though, letting her touch him, but not trying to solicit attention. If anything he was too grave and collected for a 7 month old puppy! We spent some time outside in the quiet in a quiet area so he could relax, and I gave him more attention and treats.

We went back in and walked towards the other doors again. I really like the fact that seeing Knightley brings a smile to peoples faces. Having a rather cute dog in a place where they just don't expect dogs is just something that seems to make many people smile, and in this day and age, the power to make perfect strangers smile is pretty awesome! We found a seat near the doors, as we were waiting for the hubby, and I had Knightley go into a down against the seat (assistance/service dog etiquette is to have the dog under any seats, but this seat was solid, so Knightley couldn't get under it). He just watched people as they went past, and for every person that went past, I gave him a few treats, once again creating that positive association that I talked about previously. It was a fantastic outing, and once the hubby came back, we all three walked together nice and calmly back out.

We've been doing quite a bit of work on loose leash - more than before. I've been using the Comfort Trainer  halter in public and for some of our walks, but I am starting to phase it out some. Our loose leash is great inside, is pretty solid on the road, but once grass and smells come into it, and things like birds...... he loses the idea of keeping the leash loose and following me. I am wondering whether to get either the trainer I talked to many months back, or perhaps a different one which I kind of prefer the look of to help us... as getting this solid is very difficult, made harder by my problems with not being able to treat/click etc easily as one hand has to do everything as my other hand has my crutch. Sigh, we'll see.

Anyway, the hubby leaves for England tomorrow, and we have quite a few things to do to prepare this morning, as well as a blood test for myself. I think Knightley is going to be back sleeping on the bed with me while hubby is gone as 3.5 weeks is a long time..... we've only been separated once since hubby moved to Australia, and that was for 4 days for a conference. I think Knightley will miss the hubby too, but will be happy with the sleeping arrangements. Oh well, time to get moving and do what needs to be done today. That's all for now!

What an amazing dog I have!

6 months 4 weeks 2 days old

I am so very impressed with this gorgeous dog. The visit to the show went ahead despite some very humid/occasionally drizzly weather. It didn't seem to affect the crowds much, there were still a lot of people there! So, this is how the day went.

We got there and were able to park in disabled parking nice and close to the entrance, but it involved walking through 'sideshow alley' to get in, which was full of very loud amusement rides, blaring music, people on microphones trying to sell tickets to various rides and games and so on.... intimidating for some people when they are just coming in, let alone a 7 month old puppy. We could have walked around and gone to another entrance, but we decided to see how Knightley would go. I hadn't fed him the previous night and morning so as to reduce the likelihood of him leaving little presents throughout the show for me to pick up, and to also give me the opportunity to give him heaps of treats throughout the day to help him overcome whatever scary and strange things he may come across. I had got a bunch of stir fry beef from our wonderful local butcher and had slightly cooked it (didn't want to handle raw beef all day). I wanted a very high value treat for whatever we were dealing with was particularly strange or stressful. I also took several handfuls of his old Canidae kibble I still use a bit for training and the like.

The first thing we came across as we went through the gates was a ride with little cars swinging around pretty quickly. Not too crazy but not too sedate. I stopped quite a way back and just let Knightley look at it. He looked pretty relaxed, considering he had never seen brightly coloured flying spinning cars, but I fed him a few pieces of beef to reinforce that loud fast moving things = good. Things were going well, so we took a couple of steps closer, stopped and l fed him a piece of beef. He was quite relaxed still, looking around himself with interest, watching the people go past him into the show... so I started walking towards the ride, keeping up constant praise and giving him a piece of beef every several steps. He was fine! We kept on going until we were past that ride and fully inside the amusement part of the show. I kept up the constant praise with beef, but was slowly winding the beef back as he was doing ok. I watched his body language very carefully, just in case we needed to try to find a less chaotic place, but his tail was up  (even wagging some of the time!), ears were forward not pinned back, his gait was free and easy and he wasn't crouching at all and his eyes were interested, bright, curious... not rolled to the side as a scared dogs eyes are. He looked very good. He just walked steadily beside me.

We did have a couple of issues in this rather crowded section with people patting him without reading the RATHER VISIBLE sign on his new vest, but they were pretty much gone before I could say anything. However later in our time there, there was more patting which I addressed - I will obviously need to come up with a default response to that because I didn't really know what to say to ward them off.

Knightley with the handle attached to his vest looking all
official. What a lovely looking dog he is if I say so myself.

As we had planned we headed for the arena which was much quieter and I was able to sit down.. There were horses in the arena getting presented with ribbons and Knightley watched them curiously but he was ok with them from a distance. However, with the various livestock that had been in the arena there were a lot of flies around and Knightley really hates flies - he can't stop himself from snapping at them, and I'm going to have to try to desensitise Knightley to them because Australia has a lot of flies and getting agitated from snapping at them is no good for an assistance dog.... I'm just not sure how to go about it because you can't just magic up flies when you want them! So as Knightley couldn't settle down there we decided to keep moving. However, because of the problems we had been having with him getting random pats by people, we decided to attach the handle to his harness so I could just hold it very loosely (he isn't allowed to take any of my weight until he is 18 months old) and we hoped it would make him look more 'official' as Australia doesn't have many assistance dogs and the harness handle makes him look a bit more like a guide dog and would make people think twice.

Knightley sitting happily beside me. He was extremely good
at his sit stays, I was so very impressed considering all the
distractions. 

We moved into again a more crowded part, moving through food stalls and lots of stalls selling things and Knightley was doing amazingly well, I just couldn't believe it. He walked patiently and happily by my side, even helping me through the crowd by going for gaps when they appeared.

There was a collection of fire fighting equipment - a modern truck, some older vintage trucks and cars and a smashed up car with those car cutting and separating hydraulics. There was a fireman there in uniform so I asked if I could introduce Knightley to him, as assistance dogs need to be great with people in uniform. You never know when you may be sick or could hurt yourself when you are out somewhere with your dog and need the care of paramedics. Also a working dog is more likely to come across policemen and women so it helps if they are happy with being around them. Some dogs take a particular dislike to people in uniform so I just need to make sure that Knightley's interactions with people in uniform are positive. Later in the day he got to say hello to a policeman, and he was very friendly with him.

We headed into the art exhibition - last year I had two paintings in it - where my dad has won a 1st prize and a 2nd prize. I allowed Knightley to meet the coordinator of the exhibition who was a dog lover and Knightley rolled over for a tummy rub (must stop him doing that!). He was a little more excited in the exhibition for some reason, maybe because it was quieter, was inside and was carpeted. We moved on through a bunch of stalls, bought a few things and Knightley remained so amazingly good. It was like being with a rockstar... so many people pointed at him or commented how cute he was, or said something about 'assistance dog in training'. Knightley didn't even try to get pats - I think there were just so many people he wouldn't have known where to start! Every half an hour or so I allowed him to meet someone - only at my invitation though.

Knightley just before he had his snooze. He spent most of the
day panting, but we gave him water every 20 minutes or so
to keep him as hydrated as possible, and the beef I was giving
him also helped keep him hydrated.

We then went into the cake/flower pavilion which also had some food stalls  - we bought some awesome spices and had some of these rather tasty honey puffs we found at a local festival recently and were pleased to see again.  We sat at a table and I had Knightley go underneath and rest. I took his halter off while he snoozed for a while under the table. I was impressed at how he was able to settle down - I think it was partly because all the noise and crowds had taken quite a bit of his focus and he needed some time out. We stayed there for maybe 20 minutes and he was asleep or half asleep most of the time. When we got moving he was definitely more perky.

There was a lot food on the ground as we walked around, and while I have been doing a fair bit of food zen training, it obviously wasn't enough because he did manage to sneak a bite of a potato chip/fry on the ground, and I had to be on the look out for food from then on. Sometimes he responded well to my leave it cue but if there was half a bucket of chips on the ground around us I had to tighten the leash to prevent him him from scoffing them all up. It was too much to expect him to do perfect zen in a place like that, it was too big a test for him at this stage. Still, he did quite well, but there is a long way to go before he could be professional in a place like that. It will be interesting to see how he behaves there next year, assuming we go.

One of the main reasons I wanted to take him to the show was to get him to see some animals as I had read a story somewhere of a fully trained service dog going nuts at a horse in the course of its job. I really don't want Knightley to run into a police horse or something (or even just one of the cows we have near here as Canberra is scattered with grazing land) and have Knightley freak out. So we headed towards some cows, and I didn't really anticipate that much trouble with them. At first Knightley was ok and then one moved and turned its head towards us and Knightley started barking, so I turned him around quick smart and we retreated. I tried several times more, giving him pieces of beef with every couple of steps he didn't bark, but we really didn't make any headway. The cows we had been approaching were in a shed, so I decided to try with some outside instead. I tried the same technique, slow approach with treats every couple of steps, then about turn when he barked.... but it just wasn't working. So I tried a more BAT technique (behavioural adjustment training) by simply pushing him into actual stress by approaching until he is just about to barking and then turning around and walking the other way, relieving the stress. Then doing it again and getting just a bit closer. It didn't seem to be working though, we couldn't get much closer and we were getting barks. So instead I moved ahead of him and called him to me. That worked a lot better. He would come to me, then dance back and look like he wanted to bark but then come back to me. We did that for a while until he was quite a bit closer, and then went back to the shed. My husband helped there by calling Knightley to him. We got close to the entrance of the shed, much closer than before... and decided to leave it there. We are hoping to go away for a weekend down to a farm which will give us more of a chance to meet animals. This was a good first step though and was good experience for me doing trial and error training.

Knightley looking completely gorgeous but very
tired at the end of the day. I was so so proud of
him for all he did.

By this time Knightley was starting to get tired so we started to head back to the entrance, but stopped to buy a couple of show bags of chocolate (Knightley also had some treats bought for him!). He was rapidly losing his remaining energy at this point and kept on lying down whenever we stopped, and wouldn't get up despite encouragement. My husband had to pull on the handle of the vest to get him to stand. Once he was standing he was happy enough to keep going, but once he got settled he was reluctant to move. We walked back through the amusement park part of the show to get out, and while walking past I talked my husband into playing a lucky number game where getting a lucky number got you a choice of a rather large stuffed animal. He completely failed on the first card with four numbers, but on the second card he won. There was this cute huge dog he could have chosen, but instead chose this 4 foot tall banana with dreadlocks and an evil grin (will try to get a photo of it later). Couldn't believe it when it was MY idea for him to play the lucky number game.... the banana was ridiculous!!!!

We got back to the carpark and got home and both Knightley and I were absolutely exhausted from our day. We collapsed into our respective beds and slept the rest of the afternoon away. Now it's the following day and Knightley seems completely recovered but I've finally come down with some sort of virus after a few days of a sore throat. Nevermind, yesterday was worth it!

Show tomorrow, lots of training and compliments!

6 months 4 weeks old

In the last three days Knightley and I have had three compliments about how good his behaviour is; the most recent being today when we were up at the shops getting him used to his new halter, and two dogs tied at the pub started barking at him very reactively. I am teaching him to ignore distractions like that, so that every time he looked away from the dogs (and he spent most of his time not looking at the dogs and only glanced at them occasionally) I c/ted him. A couple were walking towards the shops, so they could see what we were doing, and called out to me "that's very impressive!", so I went over to talk to them. They thought Knightley's behaviour was great. It really makes me feel good to hear that.

We took Knightley to one of the pet shops near here to use their dog wash today, and he was pretty good there too. I have been training him so that if I stop and stand still for around 5+ minutes he can go into a down and just settle down to wait for me. He did that today while we were talking to one of the shop attendants, and she was sooo impressed. It was there that we actually went for our puppy training, and they remembered Knightley from when he was an 11 week old tiny little fluffy baby. What a difference to now, when he is very close to being 7 months old.

On Friday I picked up his first padded assistance dog vest from the post office. I ordered it from Activedogs from the US, as well as a couple of other items, and it looks really great! I am completely happy with it. The management at the show we are going to tomorrow are letting us take Knightley on the condition that he is clearly marked as not a normal young pet dog, but as an assistance dog to be (hopefully!), so that is the main reason I have this vest a little ahead of the usual time scale.

I think we're going to have to go earlyish in the day because it looks like it will be a warm day, and I don't want Knightley overheating. He will quite likely be stressed enough from all the strange things already there, and that increases the likelihood of overheating, so going early is a good idea - if I can drag the hubby out that early!!!!!

We've been doing more work on his zen, lots of food zen and animal zen - bird and dog mostly. I know he will be seeing all sorts of animals at the show... I meant, they even have pig races! But I hope the work we have done on zen carries over to the other animals, mostly horses and cows, because there are are definitely a lot of those there. They are one of the main reasons I wanted to take him. I've heard of mature working dogs bumping into a horse for the first time and totally flipping out. I really want Knightley to see some bigger animals before he gets any further in his socialisation and training to prevent that type of reaction later down the line.

The Comfort Training halter is in the country and should be arriving imminently but hasn't got here yet. However, I decided that I really wanted a halter for our day tomorrow, so I ended up buying a Gentle Leader for tomorrow. We've done a bunch of counter conditioning today to get Knightley used to it, to the point he happily puts his muzzle in the loop now, whilst wagging his tail expectantly. I will take it off regularly tomorrow as he won't have ever worn it as long as I'll be asking him to.

I can't wait until tomorrow, it should be a fantastic learning experience for Knightley. I'll just have to be careful to watch him carefully for signs of stress and give him lots of breaks from the crowds. It should be fun for me and the hubby too! Be prepared for lots of photos!

More days of socialisation, planning the show trip and the antibiotics continue

6 months 3 weeks 4 days old

So yesterday Knightley and I went into our town centre. Canberra is a city which was very deliberately designed from the very beginning, and is made up of five main 'satellite' cities - each a smaller city in its own right. There is a main CBD area, but we have yet to take Knightley down there. Instead, yesterday Knightley and I went into the centre of the satellite city that we live in, which is fairly busy and built up but not overly so like the CBD. There is a lot of traffic and lots of people to practice not jumping up on.

We had a really successful time, about two hours, we'd walk around, then we'd relax, then walk around again. There's a park near where we were that we could have some peaceful time in, time for him to smell, do his doggy business and have a lie down. He really did very well. At first he was trying to pull, but about half way through he started to get that pulling meant going backwards and not getting to where he wants to go. Things went well after then. We spent quite a bit of time around the major shopping centre as there were lots of people there, and also random rubbish and occasional food on the ground to practice not eating. Knightley's behaviour was good, I was very happy with him. The only real thing I would change is Knightley's behaviour when he's getting attention. He doesn't try to jump up on people anymore - neither on people patting him nor passers by - but the thing left that is somewhat annoying but rather cute, is he very often rolls over onto his back to get a belly rub and partly because he's a reasonably submissive dog. I have started to teach a behaviour called 'visit' to try to combat this, and to keep him calm when my mum or dad come over. For 'visit' he sits and gets patted, possibly ears pulled, possibly feet picked up, fingers stuck into mouth..... all the things a small child may accidently do in a second being corrected. So I get him in a sit and every time I do something a little unpleasant to him I give him a really great treat and make a big fuss of him. Visit is starting to become a really good thing, but it will be a while before he can hold the position in a high distraction environment and before it will cancel out the urge for submission and tummy rubs!

There was quite a bit of garbage and food on the ground, the most of tempting of which was half an uneaten banana, which was a great opportunity to work on our default 'leave it'. It took about 15 passes by that banana until Knightley didn't go for it, and then he got a big handful of treats! There were lots of other things that Knightley ignored, and some things he went for and then listened to my 'leave it' cue and stopped mid grab, and some things he did unfortunately grab the tempting item. The vast majority of the grabbed items he happily gave up for a treat, although with a very few of them he was more stubborn.
       

Knightley at our local shops today. I have patches on his
harness that read "In training: Please pat me" because I've
wanted him at this young age to get lots and lots of contact
with people of all shapes and sizes. However, he is about to
'graduate' to a "Don't pat me" patch, as I want him to start
learning to concentrate on me some more, and less on trying
to get pats. He's still a long way from being an official
Assistance Dog trainee, but I can slowly start to train some
of the basic public manners.

Today we had two visits to our local shops for more socialisation and getting used to as much bustle as the local shops have to offer in preparation for our weekend escapade to the big agricultural/food/amusement rides/entertainment etc show. I've been reading about how to introduce Knightley to the show when we get there. As soon as we reach the main centre of the show we should start trying to find a nice quiet place for him to unwind, away from the noise and people so that he can start processing what he has just seen so that he doesn't get overloaded with new sights, sounds and smells and start going over threshold to where I couldn't reach him. Then periodically throughout the time we are there, we should return to the same spot for 15-20 minutes to let him unwind away from the crowds. I might do some massage, and also take some toys. If a dog can play happily, especially if they get really into it, then they aren't all that stressed. So, play would be good to see. I plan on not feeding him the night before, or the morning of the show (we are likely going on Sunday as we think it will be less busy, although Sunday looks like worse weather) so that I can use food to shape him to explore things that may spook him.

More of Knightley up at the shops. Wanted to point out that
he is panting, even though it was not a very hot day. It was
quite humid however, and a day can be quite cool but only has
to be humid for a dog to get really very hot. Humidity effects
dogs more than purely heat, but both together is a killer -
literally in some cases.

Another issue for the weekend will be the heat. The forecast puts it at 30 C (86 F) for Saturday and 28 C (82 F) for Sunday. While it won't be too bad for us humans, for a dog that is quite hot, especially if that dog is going to be walking around in the sun. Dogs really don't cope with heat well, as they can only lose heat through their mouth/tongue, nose leather and foot pads. They do of course lose some heat just through their body and wetting or applying other cooling packs to the dogs abdomen can be quite effective in cooling a dog down. It isn't the dog's back or neck that you should be concentrating - many of those dog cooling products are largely gimmicks that don't work much at all. Really the only place that works for cooling a dog down nicely is to apply cooling to its stomach and chest, also getting their underarm region. When we've had particularly hot days this summer, although it has largely been a cold wet summer, I've used a little spray bottle to spray Knightley's chest and stomach to cool him down. This gives a surprising amount of relief, he always perks up after a good spraying. I think I will take the spray bottle with me. The other thing that is essential is that Knightley stays very well hydrated. A dog's main cooling system relies on them having a nice wet mouth, so I have to make sure he keeps drinking throughout our time there. I have considered what to do in order to pump as much liquid into Knightley as possible and think I will boil a chicken carcass the day before, then boil it down some more to get a more concentrated stock. Then I can take a small bottle of it with me and all I need to do is add a tablespoon of the stock to Knightley's water in his portable water bowl and he'll be keen to lap it all up. It's important you don't go crazy with giving too much water on a hot day, but considering all the distractions that will be around I think the stock is a good idea for getting him interested in drinking when he might be a bit more interested in what is happening over there.... or over there.... or there...!

We continue with the antibiotics for Knightley's lump and I *think* .... maybe....... it is a bit smaller. It certainly isn't bigger. Please please please be an infection , that would be nice and simple. The antibiotics are a five day course, and after that period I was to call the vet if the lump hadn't gone or seriously shrunk..... so that's Saturday. Cross your fingers for us.

Worried about a lump on Knightley and more socialisation

6 months 3 weeks 1 day old

Knightley has had what looks like a little hot spot (a fungal infection that develops after a dog gets wet and doesn't dry quickly enough to stop the fungus from forming - Golden Retrievers are particularly susceptible to it) on one side of his muzzle for the last couple of days, and I have tried hard to keep it as dry as possible, although there was little else I could do. The common household remedy suggested for hotspots online isn't available in Australia (Gold Bond Medicated Foot Powder - the stuff used for athletes foot, the powder keeps it dry and also treats the fungus), but it seemed to be slowly getting better, and it was tiny anyway. I had noticed a very small mark on the other side of his muzzle, it just looked like the fur was slightly thin there, but had paid it no heed because the hot spot (or whatever it was) was so much more obvious. Anyway, today the pinkish spot looked a bit worse, so I actually felt it. Imagine my surprise when it was actually quite a firm large lump - about the size of a baby pea. This has pretty much freaked us out. Golden's get a LOT of cancer (hubby is calling this the 'c' word) and I have to say, this is what I thought when I finally actually *saw* this lump properly. He is surely too young though? I have heard of a year old, but 7 odd months? The lump is pink and shiny and the hair has fallen out on top of it. I am going to phone the vet as soon as they open tomorrow, and get an appointment. Cross your fingers for us, let's really really just hope it's a simple benign lump that won't even need any intervention.

Before the hubby and I started getting stressed about the lump I first took Knightley up to the local shops for some socialisation and training (they are very close, so it's an ideal socialisation trip). It is like a mini mall, a complex of shops built into one building, so we took a walk around the whole building. We stopped at the entrances in order to just sit and watch people going in and out with a nice loose leash, and also get even more used to automatic doors (we've done this quite a bit already). We did some nice heeling, and I asked for a range of cues in a quieter place in the shade. It was pretty hot! It makes me aware how hard it would be for him to work at this time of the year for a good chunk of the day, unless he was inside. There's a sports bar that has tables outside and serves alcoholic beverages I go past on my way to and from the shops, and today there were two dogs tied up outside it and they go quite aggressive as Knightley and I went past. On the way there Knightley found it hard to focus on me, despite repeated 'leave it' cues that only worked for a couple of seconds..... the dogs really looked and sounded legitimately aggressive and Knightley doesn't have much experience with that, so I wasn't surprised he had trouble focusing. However, on the way back, the dogs did the same thing, but Knightley virtually took it in his stride. He did turn to look at them once as we were leaving, but a 'leave it!' go him back to heeling nicely. I was impressed! If he can have one new experience on every socialisation trip then I am happy.

He actually had two, as the party I mentioned in my last blog entry was a birthday party, and there was a big shiny banner blowing around in the road this morning when I was walking him up to the shops. Knightley was very suspicious of it, I think mainly because with the wind moving it, it looked potentially alive. So we backed up to where he wasn't acting spooked, and every time he looked at it I said yes! and gave him a treat, then took a couple of steps forward. Before we knew it, he was happily standing in front of it. Then a big gust of wind blew it around and he danced back several steps in surprise. So I picked up the banner, and cued 'touch!' and suddenly he forgot his issue with it and came forward and touched it with his nose. I gave him a whole handful of treats, and he completely relaxed. When we returned it was still blowing around (the hungover party-ers did surface and clean up eventually), but Knightley completely ignored it. Success!

Anyway, Knightley and I had a hour or so to recover from the heat, and then he, hubby and I went out to the local fresh foot markets, which we have been taking Knightley to since he got all his shots at 14.5 weeks old. It has been a while since we last went though, so I was interested to see what would happen, especially in light of yesterday's cafe practice. We went to have coffee at one of the cafes there, and after sitting down, Knightley immediately went into a down of his own accord. I was really really happy and impressed with him! I guess he remembered the down jackpot from yesterday.... either that or he was still tired from the walk to the shops. Either way, he got another jackpot. He did get up several times - there was a potato chip (fry to you North Americans) that I kept having to remind him to 'leave it' as it was within reach of his down and really must have been quite torturous to lie next to - but it was good practice and he always went back into a down, usually of his own accord. I had his 'please pat me' patches pinned to his harness, and he had some good attention, and he was nicely polite - although he rolled over for tummy rubs to one of the people sigh. I have to work on him remaining in a sitting position. We walked along the length of the markets, past people eating and having coffee, and Knightley didn't try to jump up on them or bother them - although he was pulling a little, sometimes suddenly. This is the situation I need the Comfort Trainer for, just until he learns that not pulling is a universal requirement.

A short time later we were walking past a particular book shop at the markets that I know to be a friendly shop, and I asked if I could come in briefly with Knightley. The young guy at the register said sure, so Knightley and I walked around the shelves. He was really great! The leash was nice and loose and he was very polite and didn't overtly sniff anything. I got him to sit and down - the down took two repeats of the cue but not too surprising in such a new place. Overall it was a great visit to the markets. It was at the end of the markets that we realised that the mark on his muzzle was actually quite a significant lump and started stressing, so it ruined a good outing a little. Nevertheless, it has been a productive weekend in Knightley's socialisation, and he is doing great!                                                                  

Preparation for halter, socialisation work, crate and stays

6 months 2 weeks 3 days old

As our Comfort Trainer halter is currently winging its way towards us from the US, I thought I might get a headstart on the counter conditioning. This is very much necessary with a halter, so that the dog can happily wear it with little to no effect to its personality and creativity, and without it bothering the dog physically. A lot of people buy a halter for their dog and put it on immediately, impressed when the halter causes the dog to become slow, withdrawn and in the worst cases, depressed. The main cause for this psychological effect is the noseband of the halter - where it sits just below the eyes. When a dog is displaying its overt dominance to another, it sometimes will hold the other dogs muzzle in its mouth, putting pressure in many of the same places a halter puts it. It is hard wired into a dog that this pressure = dominance, which is why you see the psychological effects to halters. Some dogs won't be too bothered. These are the emotionally robust and physically insensitive dogs, however even then they certainly aren't going to like it.

In order to have a dog wear a halter with a little inhibiting effect, you have to do a lot of counter conditioning, and that is something I can do before the halter actually gets here. I plaited three strands of twine into a width of thick string that will be very similar to the width of the noseband of the Comfort Trainer. I then settled down for a clicker session. I held the plaited string out to Knightley, and if he ignored it, he got a click/treat (c/t). I formed a large loop of the string and slowly started moving it towards Knightley's head and muzzle. After every c/t I would withdraw the string as well. This is using the ideas of a technique called Behaviour Adjustment Training (BAT), which is a very geeky dog training technique that involves negative reinforcement (a feeling of pleasurable relief from stress, eg walking away from something stressful as a reward). By with drawing the string as well as c/ting, this let Knightley know that if he behaved nicely, the string (which he didn't much like) would eventually go away. Slowly I increased the time the string stuck around, and also started touching it to Knightley's muzzle and the rest of his head and chest, c/ting if he remained calm. I had to use my zen cue (Leave it!) a couple of times as he thought eating the string would be a good idea lol.

Knightley getting used to having a loop of string around his
muzzle. He did great in his first session of counter conditioning
in preparation for his Comfort Trainer halter. If he is well behaved
the string goes away, and over time I increase the amount of time
and also add a little more pressure. With simply great results.

Eventually I placed the string across the top of Knightley's muzzle, below his eyes - where the halter noseband will sit. I didn't have it in a loop at that stage, I just wanted the feel of the string across the halter to be brief and to link it to food and praise and a quick withdrawal before he tried scratching at it. I kept up a stream of encouragement and praise whenever I put the string across his nose. He was doing well, by and large not trying to bite it (must have been so tempting for my playful puppy), so I put it back into a large loop. I put a kibble in my hand, and put the loop in front of it, so that if Knightley wanted the kibble, he would have to put his muzzle through the loop. He seemed happy to do this, and I didn't try to force him to stay with his muzzle in the loop longer, or to tighten it or anything. We did this several more times until any reluctance had disappeared. I then started c/ting for putting the string under his muzzle, just holding it there for a second before a c/t. At this stage I thought to myself - ok, he's happy with a loose loop around the whole muzzle, he is happy with some pressure on the top of his muzzle and with pressure on the bottom. He knows it isn't going to hurt him, he knows it isn't for eating, and he knows if he is quiet and well behaved the string goes away. After this mental recap, I figured Knightley was ready for the next stage. Forming the loop again, I lured Knightley's muzzle into it the same way, but this time I tightened it a little as he was eating his kibble. Before he could get upset, I released it. We did this again and again, and I was able to holding the loop with gentle pressure for a couple of seconds without Knightley making a fuss - enough to take a photo at least, which wasn't easy let me tell you!!! We left it there for the evening, and I was very very happy with that progress. Slow is fast when it comes to counter conditioning - which is what they call this process.

After writing about my socialisation and public access training plans in my last blog post I felt pretty inspired, so today Knightley and I took a walk up to our local shops. He did great! I focused on a couple of different things:

• Not pulling towards people in order to say hello (if he pulled, we backed up until he was in heel position and was under threshold again)

• Not picking up any leaves, garbage or food from the ground (he did pick up some plastic covered with leaves at one stage, but when I told him 'leave it' he dropped it. Good boy!)

• Staying calm - or at least calming down when asked (we sat down on a bench a couple of times and I had him go into a down - he relaxed nicely, I would like to practice having him calm when people pat him, but there is a lot of work to do there)

• Obeying basic cues (we ran through the basics, especially focusing on our eye contact cue ... he found it difficult with all the distractions but we were able to get up to about 8 seconds with no problems - we can do 30 seconds at home though!)

• Being neither seen nor heard (the ideal for an assistance dog is that no one ever notices that it's there, so we focused on heeling nicely, being quiet and being invisible - I did notice several people startle when they realised there was a fairly large panting dog just lying there)

So far so good! There is a lot more work to be done of course, and I am looking forward to having both the halter and the vest, so that people will leave him alone in public. That will make a lot of difference to our training.

I decided a couple of days ago to do something about Knightley's 'crate' behaviour. He is very eager to obey if, and generally only if, I have some nice food. If he knows I don't have any food, he certainly isn't eager to get in the crate, and when he does get in, it is very slowly and sometimes he doesn't even go into a down once he is in - and that is absolutely *required* as part of the behaviour. So, I decided to teach the behaviour again, from scratch. I didn't actually teach 'crate' very well, it was my earlier days with Knightley, and I have learnt so much since then. We are putting a new cue to it - 'box' - and I have shaped it from the beginning. It is looking like it will be a faster version of the cue, and Knightley is always going into a down at the end of the behaviour chain. I think this is one of the very best things about clicker training (and something that more 'traditional methods' completely fails at!), that if you don't like a behaviour that you have trained, that you can train it again completely from scratch and get it better the next time around.

The last big thing we worked on yesterday - apart from loose leash, which is a given! - is our stays. We are getting really really close to properly passing Level 2 now. The Manners Minder (MM) is definitely helping. Knightley gets a bit bored in a sit stay and used to slide down into a down... so I put the MM on top of something so the chute was more at his mouth level and it wouldn't tempt him to go into a down when the treat came out, but would instead *keep* him in a sit. It worked very well, and I slowly walked around the room with Knightley in a stay, at first giving a treat at 10 seconds, then 15, then 20, then 25 - which took us to 1 minute 5 seconds. I then returned to him and gave him a big chunk of dried liver. Then we tried again, starting at 15, then 25, then 30 and returned to him. I then did some shorter sit stays, about 10 seconds. It's important to sometimes make it easy, not always just hard hard hard, or the dog will give up. We then started again, 15 seconds, then 25, then 35, then 40... which added up to a whole lot more than 1 minute, although of course he was getting reinforcement. He did almost break in that last one, his butt did come off the floor, but I quickly said 'sit!!!' in a deep authoritative voice and he sat back down.... and I hit the treat button twice in a row on the MM and praised him gently as we were at a distance from each other and effusive praise can make a dog break. We did another set of times, and got up to 45 seconds with no treat in between, which is our longest sit without him sliding down... but if you look at the amount of time between me giving the stay cue and returning to him, many of those times it was well over a minute. So I was very happy with our progress. We worked on our down stay in much the same way, and then later in the day did it without the MM. We got up to 50 seconds at the required 6m (20 feet).

So Level 2 is getting so very close to being done.....! I am going to try making a video of some of the things in Level 2 - there are too many things to get them all in, but we'll have a go. 

A trip to the dog park, a little training, slowly getting better

5 months 3 weeks 6 days old

Well I'm still not well, but I am feeling a little better I think. I think I have been pushing myself a bit overall, and last Thursday/Friday was just the final straw, trying to balance everything. The pile has finally come falling down. Unfortunately the timing is pretty bad! I have very definite commitments at the Arts Centre I volunteer at this week, and they aren't something that can be put off. Nevermind, I will just try to minimise the hours and rest as much as I can.

The hubby and I did manage to take Mr Knightley to the dog park again for some fun and exercise, since he isn't getting his normal walks at the moment. He had a really great time, solid socialisation with both people and dogs, and is starting to develop some manners around adult dogs - one of the main reasons we are taking him there. He's learning that if he bugs and bugs adult dogs to play, they may just turn around and tell him off. Twice when we've been there now there has been a guy with two muzzled rottweilers, and the first time he bothered one of them a bit, it started to lash out at Knightley. I was certainly glad it was muzzled, although it did back off quickly. The next time he visited he stayed clear though - there was no bothering. He still needs to learn to be nice to the little dogs as well as the big dogs, although he seems to have stopped both running and jumping over the little dogs! There were two huge mastiffs, as well as an alaskan malamute this last time, and he was extreeemely polite to them, it was quite amusing to watch.

I do have to bite my tongue at the dog park though. There are people there who in my opinion are doing absolutely the WRONG thing to manage behavioural problems with their dogs..... but who am I to offer advice? Especially as from what they can see I am just the normal pet owner. I have felt like asking "and is that technique visibly improving matters?" several times though. Must control myself, although if I see those two terrified Italian Greyhounds being made to come to the park once again it will be very hard........ their owner has obviously received advice from these trainers/dog walkers who come to the park that repeated visits will cure them of their issues.... but IMO it will make them worse. Wish I could say something.... I know exactly what I would do to help the poor creatures (one of which tried to bite Knightley it was so terrified of him) but it isn't right to butt in if actual dog 'professionals' are helping her.

Knightley today on his new bed doing 'on your mat!' training.
He's such a good boy these days with his training, so quick
and willing to please. I am very proud of him!

I have officially crossed off two behaviours on my Sue Ailsby's Training Levels Level 2 'to do' list and we're working on a third. The first is a behaviour where you have a jump and a mat next to each other and using cues you ask for your dog to either jump over the jump or lay on the mat and actually get the one you asked for consistently - testing cue recognition. Knightley had no problems with that, and we have been continuing to work on getting him used to other mats, even things like cotton shopping bags.

The second behaviour to tick off is recall. For a while I have been taking Knightley out the front to do his business, which I started doing to lower his excitement levels every time he went outside the house. It has worked extremely well - going outside is now matter of fact for him and I think it has helped our loose leash training, and also helped him take treats outside. At first he wouldn't eat food outside at all because he was completely over threshold, but now he is happy to eat his dry kibble, partly thanks to taking him out so often. However, I've been feeling rotten the last couple of days obviously, so have just been letting him out the back, giving him his cue to go as he goes past me, which works well. I give him a couple of minutes, then call him back in. His response to the call in is pretty impressive, considering he can be as much as 40 metres away, out of sight around the other side of the house. Sometimes I have to call a couple of times, but he certainly does come. So considering Level 2 only asks for a 12m (40 feet) recall we are definitely able to tick that one off. We've also been doing some hide and seek at a distance of about 20m (66 feet), and he's been loving that... and the hide and seek was also on the Levels too. So recall is done too!

We did some work on the 6m (20 feet) down stay, which is further than I have been usually doing down stays, but I am taking it up slowly to the desired 1 minute. At the moment we are at 20 seconds, which isn't bad. He didn't once break his stay today, so that is great. I want him to think that stay is never to be broken. If your dog is breaking stays often then you are doing stays that are either too long, with too many distractions, or too far from you. Take it slowly, and whenever you make something harder, re-teach the whole behaviour. We haven't done much stay work outside, so when we finally do go outside I will be starting from 1 second standing right next to him - without a cue. Only once he has grasped what I want will I add the cue again and then start making it harder - slowly. If you can set your dog up for success in his training - like me taking his stay training slowly so he doesn't break a stay - then he is much more likely to succeed in the end. If I had jumped up to 10 seconds straight away, then he would have likely broken, and then I would have been fighting the idea that he can break a stay if he wants for much much longer.

It is very important with clicker training - and probably all dog training - to always set your dog up for success by keeping it easy at the beginning. You can increase the difficulty of a behaviour once your dog understands later. Make it as easy as possible for you dog to succeed in training every new behaviour. This is such an important thing to remember, as well as behaviour re-teaching - which I sometimes forget about too and just expect Knightley to do a 1 minute wait outside because he can do it inside even though he has never done it outside. Then I get annoyed when he doesn't do it..... and then DOH! it hits me that I needed to take a few minutes to explain it again. Unfortunately that little mistake will put Knightley backwards. So make sure you re-teach your behaviours whenever you change anything like difficulty, distance, duration, place, surface or distractions.

Anyway, hopefully the posts will be a little more frequent once again now. I swear my body picks the worst times to collapse in a heap! Over and out from me.

A trip to the dog park, a tired puppy

Knightley soon after we came into the
enclosure. He was so excited to see that
many dogs to talk to, he was literally
jumping over the small ones. The red and
white cocker is the one that didn't want to
play with him!

5 months 2 weeks 3 days old

Well, today we went to the dog park for the second time. However, the first time we went was timed carefully on a weekday so that there would be next to no one there (only two other dogs!) so as to introduce him to it, and to adult dogs a bit. Today's visit was on a Saturday, although we tried to go at a time when it wouldn't be too chaotic. Still, there were probably about 15-18 dogs at one time. Knightley was a very happy boy, didn't know whether to talk to the dogs or the people!

Visiting dog parks can be controversial for assistance dog prospects, and even active assistance dogs. This is because one traumatic incident (a fight, I mean) can wash out a dog from training or active duty. It can sap their confidence and lead to problems with other dogs, even with people. However, I have been to this dog park before with a friend and it has always been a very positive experience. Knightley is amazingly confident and bounces back in the face of any slight scare (if he went into a fear period or something of the like, naturally we would completely avoid the place). Most of all however, I think the gains in this situation are worth the very small risk taking into account what I just said:

• We don't really know any dogs of our friends, so it's not like we have better prospects for Knightley to associate with. He needs the socialisation.
• Knightley really needs to learn some dog manners. He's pretty rude sometimes, just a bundle of puppy insistence and energy. Adult dogs will teach him some.
• It is fantastic for draining some of his rather boundless energy! 
• It is great exercise for him, he runs around like a mad thing. 
• We do a lot of training, it is important he has a release where I have little expectations.

So despite the small risk, I think it important we continue semi-regular visits there. Thankfully it is very close, so we are lucky to have such a great dog park so close to us.

As soon as we got into the main park section, Knightley started trying to play with two cocker spaniels (photo above). One of them was happy to play, despite its small size, but the other one was very stand offish. Knightley had obviously just turned off his brain though and wasn't reading dog. I was happy to see a dog telling him 'no, I don't want to play with you, you rude puppy' by a quick snarl and lunge, but the owner was quite annoyed with her dog. I did tell her several times that I didn't mind at all, and that is why we were there mostly, to help Knightley learn the language of 'dog' better. The cocker would have sent several messages already to say 'stay away I am not interested in playing', but Knightley ignored it repeatedly. It took about three snarls before Knightley started leaving the cocker alone, although you could tell he soooo wanted to play with him - forbidden fruit I suppose!

Knightley running around, as happy as can
be. He got rolled several times in all that
dust by a big strong Blue Heeler whilst they
were chasing each other and probably
 needs a bath still. It's just lucky he's
kind of dust coloured!

We practiced some recalls while we were there, using up some of his upset tummy boiled chicken food every time he came in. He did pretty well. I would call his name and only use the word 'come' when he was actually moving towards us. The amusing thing is he responded when other people called their dogs in! Oh well, more attention and exercise for him I suppose. I did wonder when I was getting ready whether the other dogs would dance attendance upon me for having chicken and some kibble in my treat pouch, but it seems all the dogs were too busy smelling other things, except for one very 'nosy' chocolate lab, who is in the photo on the right with Knightley. He just looked at me with a doggy grin, and a few times reached out with his nose towards my treat pouch. Oh, he sure knew what was going on.

By the time we left Knightley's gallop and trot had turned into a slow walk, and he was completely done for. We had another couple of small walks later in the day to practice loose leash while he was nicely tired - a great way to do it!

We went via our local shops whilst on our walk, my husband was with me that time, so while he went inside the shops, Knightley and I stayed outside practicing some basic commands, including 'up' (paws up on a high surface, or if possible, whole dog up!) which isn't a Training Levels behaviour, 'relax' which was great to do with distractions, and his normal sit, down, stand, touch, shake, hi-five, heel etc. He did very nicely. He got rather excited when meeting a young child, probably less than two years old even. We need to work on kid zen, as they do get him excited as a rule, and I don't want him jumping up on a young kid and knocking them over. I plan to institute a new meeting people plan, which we could hopefully have him do for young kids too - but more about that in the future.

Anyway, it was a great day for the pup. He was completely and thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day. I have an interesting non edible treat lined up for him tomorrow which arrived in the mail today. I bought it online as a get well present for him... so we'll see what he thinks....