Great training sessions! Retrieve basics,eye contact and resource guarding

7 months 4 weeks old

We've had some great training sessions in the last couple of days, really getting back to where we were before on our retrieve holds (and more!) before I stopped training them in order to concentrate on finishing Level 2. We've got to the point where Knightley will walk three or four steps on cue, take an object from my hand, and hold it with me for at least 10 seconds, 5 of which he is holding it by himself. I then start holding it with him again, then tell him "thank you!" and he gives it to me. The next step is to get him walking more like 4-5 steps in order to get the object, then to let go and have him walk to me to deliver it, hold it together, then tell him thank you. I have managed to get him maybe half a step towards me to give me his dumbell, but I'm going to wait until we have at least a 15 second hold (together) until I push for a couple of steps walk towards me to deliver. Today I did manage to get him to take the dumbell from a stool on cue for the first time. It was the first time he didn't just take it from my hand. So we're definitely getting there!

I'm trying not to rush this, but I'd really really love a trained assistance retrieve a bit ahead of schedule!! I have actually used Knightley to pick up things before, but in that case it is moreso his curiosity. For instance, I've dropped my keys, and I nudged them with my foot and made them 'dance' a bit to get Knightley interested as cold metal isn't hugely fun, then when he picked them up, I praised like crazy and lightly held his collar to stop him retreating to inspect his new toy, while quickly grabbing a treat from my pocket which I exchanged for the keys with again, lots of praise. The technique works to an extent, but only if I can tempt him to pick it up. It needs to be a cued behaviour - in this case, 'get it'. So, it's going pretty well.

Our eye contact, where Knightley needs to keep 15 seconds eye contact with me without me actually looking at him, is going well. We are up to 15 inside, but not outside. Focusing outside is not Knightley's strong point, especially around GEE - ARR - EEH - ESS - ESS ! (Better spell it out right now or he'll wake up as he lies beside me on the bed! That's how much it excites him! Although we are working on it). We did some eye contact work up at the local shops today. He really does find it pretty hard to focus with all those fascinating people around. I think it's a perfect place to work on this actually, but it's going to be hard to get up to 15 seconds in a very high distraction place like the local shops after 5 on a weekday.

The Infin8 halter by Black Dog. It is a martingale collar, with a
figure of 8 halter that wraps around the muzzle. You can start
with the figure of 8 part fairly tight, giving you good control,
then slowly loosen and loosen it, until really the dog is just
wearing a collar. It's a great way to transition from a halter to
a collar successfully. Unfortunately they don't have a tan
option, so as to cause less visual disturbance to Knightley,
so I went with red as dogs see red very badly.

We are working hard on our loose leash - SIGH! I wrote an email to the trainer I wanted to work with, and got a reply saying she is taking a break at the moment.... grrrr. I did talk to a guy a while back about helping me, just not sure if he was the right fit. Maybe I should just try him anyway. I think Knightley *is* learning to give to the leash pressure and fight it less in the face of high distractions. He loses his focus on me though, and if there is something like a possum around (there was one walking along the fence just now outside, Knightley was quivering like a violin string!) I simply may as well not exist and it takes some significant force on his collar to get him moving. I am trying *one* more halter as a training device.... it's one I considered before, the infin8 by Black Dog. We'll see how it goes.

I did make an interesting discovery though. When we are doing public 'assistance dog' training, Knightley automatically goes into 'assistance dog walk', which is a very measured walk, almost a plod lol. Last time we were out practicing our public manners, I tried him with only his collar, and he was actually quite good, there was barely any pulling. Far better than he is just doing loose leash. I suppose there could be a few different reasons for this, but whatever the reason, perhaps I won't actually need the halter much afterall.....

I have noticed something a little worrying in the last week or so - the development of a small amount of resource guarding. He growled at me and did a wrinkly face when I tried to take a bottle cap from him, and I was pretty shocked. He has also been very protective of the food I've been feeding him, which obviously being raw, is very high value, so isn't that surprising. I was pretty shocked about the bottle cap though. I am being very very careful to 'trade', giving good treats for whatever Knightley might have in his mouth (he is a golden retriever puppy afterall, and despite his training, he likes getting things in his mouth as much as possible!), and giving him total privacy when he is eating so he can relax with the food.

Immediately after the bottle cap incident I went and ordered the book Mine! by Jean Donaldson, which is meant to be *the* best book for resource guarding problems, so hopefully I can nip any behaviour in the bud. I've also ordered some new equipment from my custom leash/harness maker, and one of those is a leash belt, with specially made double ended leash, so I think we might do a bit of umbilical leashing to put Knightley in his place., I'm thinking some other techniques from Sue Ailsby's "Leading The Dance" wouldn't go astray either, which is a program for behaviour problems that includes operant conditioning techniques (clicker training, basically!). Follow the link to Sue's page on the link sidebar if you're interested in reading about Leading the Dance. I am not hugely surprised about the timing this has come up - 8 months is a big time of change and hormones for dogs, I was almost waiting for something to happen with my almost perfect pup! If this is all, I will be lucky!

Great training session, good training walk! Great puppy!

7 months 3 weeks 1 day old 

This is an oldish photo, but still demonstrates the variety of
objects I am getting Knightley used to holding. Once I am sure
his mouth is soft and controlled, I will move to personal things
that I might actually drop and want him to pick up. One of the
things I am going to be asking him to pick up is my handbag,
when it's on the floor, so I am going to perhaps reinforce part
of the strap to also give him a target to know where to grip.

Knightley and I had a really good training session today, especially with our retrieve training. I worked on getting him to reach for his dumbell up and down, very close to the floor... then moving it so he had to twist around to grab it, or even take a couple of steps. We are working just on a good hold... getting some good 5-6 seconds quite reliably. I was even able to take my hand off the dumbell for like half a second and he held it nice and securely, like the champ he is! He tends to love holding things - when we go for walks he'll trot along with a stick for 5-10 minutes, so if I can just tap into that frame of mind, I think this part of the retrieve will be sorted. I have started saying 'thank you!' as his cue to give me the object, instead of 'yes!' which is my normal finishing marker. I like the idea of being courteous to your dog. Tomorrow I'll do some work with other objects, like spoons, pencils and the like.

We did some great eye contact work, then finished it up by working on the speed of Knightley's downs. Sometimes he isn't exactly prompt! I was thinking of completely retraining it, giving it a new cue and everything. We'll see I guess. That's what I've done with Knightley's "crate!". He wasn't all that good about obeying the "crate!" cue, so I started retraining from the beginning, then gave it the "box!" cue. It is working much better so far.

We had a great loose leash training walk today. By the end he was really sticking to my side. It takes so much patience though, and completely implacability and unwillingness to compromise. If you let yourself be pulled forward even a couple of steps because you couldn't be bothered, then you have ruined it for who knows how long. Pulling = never ever going forward, must must be the rule. Knightley must always only go forward if he is at my side. If he pulls ahead I walk backwards, pulling lightly on his collar then releasing when a paw moves in the right direction... until he is in the right place at my left side. Then I praise, treat, and proceed.

Anyway, it was a really positive day, although he does have the runs a bit as I fed him raw liver (as I mentioned last time - perhaps it was a bit much) and like quite a few dogs, it just made him a little runny. I should have started smaller, but it's extremely important he has liver in his diet. I thought he likely wouldn't have a problem because he's been having freeze dried liver for many months, but obviously it is a different beastie!

Lots of loose leash, zen, and eye contact

7 months 3 weeks 1 day old

So the hubby got off to England as planned, and made it safely many many many hours later. It has been very quiet since then, and I've done a lot of resting which was very much necessary. I'm still overly tired, just not my normal self.

However, with no hubby to distract me, I've been getting some more training done. We're concentrating on loose leash. A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article (link above near the title banner) about head halters and how I was feeling about using one on Knightley. I had done a lot of counter conditioning to try to get him to accept it, but he just really doesn't like halters. In high distraction areas he doesn't notice it too much, but in lower ones it really changes his behaviour for the worse. He becomes less enthusiastic, almost sullen, and not the normal happy Knightley. I think it is likely due to the quite widely known psychological effect of putting something across the muzzle, which for a dog puts them in a submissive position.... and if they can't get it off, it can be quite disturbing. Some dogs are ok, some are not. Knightley is not. So getting a really solid loose leash is becoming a high priority. The Freedom Harness is getting too tight - Knightley's chest size has really expanded in the last couple of months.... and he can't wear a no pull harness at the same time as wearing his training vest. He needs the loose leash anyway, I don't believe you can call a dog trained unless it is able to walk loosely by your side on a flat collar. So we are doing lots of work, especially at night when the distractions are less. I wish my physical limitations didn't impact the training, but they do - a lot. I asked for advice on one of the lists I participate in and have some ideas to make it easier but it isn't going to be simple.

We continue to work on door zen, but I am going to have to up the ante somehow - to teach him to never ever go out an open door without being released. Throwing sticks might be a good way, Knightley looooves his sticks. Ideally I would work with people, first from a fair distance and then slowly coming closer to the door...... but I don't exactly have any volunteers.

We're also doing a fair bit of eye contact work, getting him to keep eye contact with me for long periods of time outside, and keeping eye contact with me when I'm not watching his eyes both inside and outside. Outside is hard for him in the last one, he finds it harder to do what is asked without me 'joining in' the eye game.

We're starting to get back into some basic retrieve training too, just working on getting him to hold objects. He does it really well outside - it seems to make sense for him there - so I think I'll do more on that outside to solidify it. Getting a really good hold is the first step in teaching an assistance retrieve. I started teaching it a couple of months ago, but stopped in order to concentrate on finishing Level 2. His holds are pretty varied, some are weak and last for a second, some are strong and last for 6 seconds (this is inside). Before I stopped before we had got up to 10-15 seconds, but I am not going to push it. Door zen and eye contact are my priorities for now, as they are the beginning of Level 3 and *this* time I'm doing the level in order!

Knightley has been sleeping on my bed since hubby left, and he is a wonderful comfort. He's a heavy boy though, when he decides to lie only on my feet.

Raw feeding is going really well. He had a bunch of liver today, as well as a quarter of a quicken and two lamb hearts. Some dogs really don't like raw liver, but Knightley doesn't have a problem with it at all! It's usually the first thing to disappear actually. He's a much healthier dog on raw, and I'm about to order some more interesting items at my local butcher as he needs some organ variety now he's had the opportunity to get used to eating raw.

Anyway, it's really late here, so time to sleep!

Halter counter conditioning and a special outing for Knightley coming up!

6 months 2 weeks 6 days old

5th June 2012
Note: If you're looking for information on halters for assistance/service dogs, have a look at my page on dog halters. I have mixed feelings about them, but the best I have found for Knightley is one called an Infin8 made by a company called Black Dog, based here in Australia. It is the mildest, and bothers him the least. You can find it on eBay for a reasonable price. Depending on your currency, it will be cheaper than buying from Black Dog themselves. Now - back to our scheduled programming.

So, over the last couple of days we have continued to work on halter counter conditioning. Lots of treating while making a noose of the twine to put around Knightley's muzzle. Then yesterday evening and again today I attached the twine to one side of a martingale collar and made a loose figure of eight noose around Knightley's muzzle, then attached the other end of the twine to the other side of the collar. At first I would just tie it on lightly, give him a handful of treats, then untie it briefly, then tie it back on and give more treats. This is to give the association of weird thing around my muzzle = treats and mummy loves me praise..... and awww she took it off and the good things stopped :( Then I left it on a bit longer, then I left it on and clipped a leash to the collar, then eventually walked him around inside a bit with it, giving him a treat every step or two.

This morning we went for a short walk outside with the makeshift halter on... and I have to admit, I understand why people get so addicted to halters. He didn't even try pulling to get to frolicking birds. I was impressed. Having said that, I just got back from a short walk, which we did partly in his Freedom Harness, partly just in his flat collar.... and I don't know if the walk with the halter taught him something in that short time, but he was *perfectly* loose. I was very proud of him, we REALLY are getting somewhere. It's the high distraction level we need the halter for though. But if he can learn from the halter so well - if that's what happened today, it may have just been a natural 'leap' of progress that dogs often experience after sleeping on it - I may find he doesn't need to wear the halter for long in order to learn not to rush up to members of the public.

I had some good news today. I've been given two free tickets to our local agricultural/amusement ride/food/entertainment show, and despite the event being marked as 'no dogs', I asked for and have been given permission to bring Knightley with me. This is so he can have the benefit of a day of socialisation that couldn't have more variation or learning experiences all packed together if it tried! I really want him to see horses/cows etc before he is much older, and this is a great chance. Not to mention all the other animals, people, sounds and sights. It's about a week away, so I have a few things that I really really want to work on in anticipation of the day:

• Heel/loose leash - although I will be using our new Comfort Training for the day, (which should be here by then cross fingers) I will need the very best heeling Knightley can do so that he is close and safe by my side, and will hear any cues I give him - although in that high distraction environment it will be interesting to see how many of those cues he obeys!
• Accepting of loud sounds - Knightley so far is really good with sounds, we've had a huge number of big electrical storms recently and he doesn't bat an eye.... however, I'll be using audio snippets to get him used to certain sounds - loud amusement rides especially
• Floor food zen - There will certainly be food (as well as things Knightley would like to think is food, like animal droppings) on the ground, so I have already started work on a reliable 'leave it' for when we are just walking along... there probably isn't time to get it default in a week, but I will get it as good as I can
• Working on a new cue "visit" - Knightley will have new patches saying no pat, whereas previously his patches encouraged patting. For those rare occasions when he is going to be allowed to meet people, I am training a new cue called 'visit', where he must stay in a sit and accept whatever pats are offered. I am gently pulling his ears, sticking my fingers in his mouth a bit, brushing my hands over his eyes, picking up his feet, fiddling with his nails and very gently stepping on his tail (and I mean gently!)..... You just never know how people are going to handle, especially children, and better to be safe than sorry

It should be a pretty amazing experience for Knightley who will be about 7 months old next weekend. I think he is ready to experience an event like this, but do not mistake him for an official 'Assistance Dog trainee' - he is a puppy still, and this is an outing for socialisation, not serious training. Keeping that in mind, it still is a significant step forward, as two months ago Knightley wouldn't have had the maturity for this. He really is growing up and turning into a lovely adolescent dog, without any of the problems that a lot of people report! Will try to get Knightley out in public this weekend for some practice. Looking forward to the show next weekend, I haven't been for many years!

The benefits of raw feeding and a 1 minute down stay!!

6 months 2 weeks 4 days old

So after working on a 1 minute down stay for months today we got there! I really think I can credit the Manners Minder with helping to break the 1 minute mark. Whilst a minute isn't very impressive for an adult dog (my previous dog had to do a 5 minute down stay in his training exam - surrounded with dogs on either side), for a 6 month old puppy I am VERY happy with it!! Puppies just don't have the powers of concentration an adult has, which is why task training for assistance dogs in training only starts when they are at least a year old - when they are more likely to pick up the training quickly and make sensible choices. For Knightley's age, he's doing just fine. Now I need to work on getting it up to 1 minute outside with distractions, which will  be much harder! We can do a 20 second down stay outside comfortably with distractions, we just need to work on increasing that slowly up to the minute mark. Now the fact that the Manners Minder (MM) is battery powered comes into its own, because I can easily take it outside with us, and use it to build his attention span in the face of all sorts of distractions. On the subject of the MMs portability, I am very happy with it for someone who isn't able to move heavy or difficult objects without repercussions on my health. I don't have to reach right down to floor level in order to pick it up, and it is actually lighter than it looks, which would make taking it outside fairly easy for me. It really is a well thought out tool.

Our sit stay actually went backwards today but never mind that, I am sure that was just a bit of a blip......!     It is very rare that Knightley actually breaks a stay, I take stay training very very slowly in order to have him less likely to develop the bad habit of thinking it's ok to break a stay if he's bored. If you increase the time of a stay in leaps and bounds then the chance that the dog will break in one of those those longer periods. If you treat really regularly and don't keep the dog waiting for you to return to him for long, then the dog is getting more feedback that it is doing the right thing and is more likely to continue doing what it is doing because it is getting treats.

Knightley with some chicken thighs.  He
must always wait for release ("go eat!")
before touching his food. It takes quite a
bit of self control to stay away from a bowl
of raw chicken. He's a good puppy.

Raw feeding is going really well....Knightley is definitely loving it! I've fed Knightley a range of chicken cuts now, depending on how much bone he needs for a given meal - trying to keep up the 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% organ (5% any organ and 5% liver) ratios. I gave him a chicken maryland last night, his largest cut so far, which is the thigh and drumstick with bone in, and it was pretty amazing watching him eat it. When you are raw feeding you give the food in as large a piece as you can, you shouldn't cut it up. Dogs have a limited ability to tear off bits if they need to, using their feet to hold the food down and using their molars to cut the food off. Mostly though, the dog will give the piece of food a really good chew, breaking up all the bones inside (amazing to hear their jaw strength) and then if the piece fits, it disappears down the hatch. Amazing stuff. That's more of less what Knightley did with the chicken maryland. He chewed off a small piece first, as obviously he thought it was a bit big for him to swallow straight off, and then systematically gave the whole cut a good chew, breaking down all the bones into little pieces inside the chicken and putting lots of holes in the chicken itself so it became a lot more pliable. Then.... with a swallow, the whole thing just disappears. Raw feeding has several great benefits:

• If the pieces are properly sized, it can give the dog some good exercise
• Managing large and unusual cuts is a good mental workout
• Dealing with bone, meat and organ instead of kibble or wet dog food keeps teeth in top notch condition
• It avoids all the horrible 'fillers' dog food companies put in their dog foods, such as corn by-products, beet pulp, and anything else that the dog doesn't actually digest but could be possibly sensitive to, and is cheap to bulk it out and reduce the cost of manufacture
• It gives the dog some quality meat instead of the worst offcuts the *vast* majority of dog food manufacturers use in their food. Not only that, it is unprocessed, without the need for stabilisers and preservatives.
• You know what your dog is eating, instead of a list of ingredients that you may or may not understand.
• If the ratios of 8:1:1 are properly managed then your dog will be going to the toilet a lot less, with a LOT less volume (as nearly everything you feed is able to be digested), and with a great consistency.

The only drawback at the moment is cost, and that is something that tends to come don over time as you find the cheapest places to buy. Australia has much more expensive chicken than the US/UK etc unfortunately, and you are always meant to start raw feeding with chicken because it is a meat most dogs like but few react badly to, and one that is easy to get in many different cuts. Also, the bones are soft for beginner raw dogs. I have started looking around for alternative sources - abattoirs, farms etc and the like, but it can apparently take many months to get good sources. Once that is achieved, the cost is meant to be quite similar to that of a top quality kibble, and I am already feeding a very good kibble.

Other than our adventures into raw feeding and working on stays, we are doing lots of loose leash as per usual, polishing our 'back up' cue which is looking lovely, and working on door zen a lot too - trying to make it automatic so that he won't go through any recently opened door without waiting for permission. He is doing really well and it is a very nice handy behaviour. The only problem is when someone comes to the front door, it all goes out the window. Door zen???! But this is a NEW PERSON!!!!!!

We'll get there, like we will on everything. :)

Heeling work, relax, stays and counter conditioning

Taking a small break from munching on a bone, still damp from
loose leash training outside. This morning there actually was
some improvement!!! I think there may be a steady dog inside
Knightley who will be able to walk nicely on his normal flat
collar. It's just going to take some more work.

Knightley and I have both come in wet from the rain (what a strange Australian summer it is!!) and I have given him some nice juicy bones to keep his teeth nice and clean, and to let a dog be a dog. I'm listening to him get really into it, it sounds like he's having fun.

I'm still struggling with my health a bit more than normal, which is why this post has taken several days to write, but Knightley and I are able to train reasonably normally. I'm doing a lot of heeling work offleash inside and in the backyard, getting him used to being beside me at all times. He is absolutely great inside and really knows where he is meant to be, but does get distracted outside.

Eventually, in addition to the 'heel' cue telling him to walk at my left hand side, I will teach him 'side', a cue to walk on my right hand side. In shops, especially places like clothes stores where the places to walk can be tight, and what you may want to look at doesn't involve looking over a dogs back, it makes sense to swap your dog briefly to the other side. This is why I will teach the other cue. For now however, we are working on teaching Knightley where I want him. The other thing to consider is, when he is finally starting to wear a mobility harness, he will need to walk slightly ahead of me, whereas in a classic heel position, his head should be equal with my knee. I am guess the equipment itself will act as a cue. Often this learning of equipment and what is expected because of certain equipment is called 'equipment association' and can be helpful - or can be rather annoying because a dog knows he can get away with worse behaviour in a particular collar.

We're also doing loose leash work - basically the heeling but with the leash on, but trying to pretend the leash isn't there. I am keeping the click/treating super regular to try to keep the leash completely loose, even out the front in the street. It works well if I keep up the level of reinforcement and there are no serious distractions. I think we are just about at the standard to pass Level 2 loose leash, but we have some more work to do on his relax and stays, so loose leash will get more work done on it. Yesterday evening we were out in the street practicing loose leash, and the people who live across the road called out to us, calling Knightley's name..... sigh. So much for loose leash. With a serious distraction like that there is no hope! However, I think we may be actually getting somewhere. It wasn't a pretty heel or anything, but we went for a little walk in the rain today and he was quite loose the whole way..... until anything happened that is, sigh.

Knightley on his new bed, with lots of things to play with and
chew around him. He still lies in his crate sometimes, but now
he has the choice. He has grown so much... at first we thought
the size of the crate was absolutely ridiculous, but now when he
is stretched out it is almost too small!!

The house is still in disarray after my brother moved out, but it has meant that instead of being in his crate when we go out every day, I have let Knightley have the run of his pen because that room is yet to be filled with furniture. He is definitely completely house trained, we have no accidents at all... and I think he enjoys the extra freedom of the pen. There are more things to chew on, extra things to lie on, and I have the two doors of the crate open, which he seems to like. He has a new bed too, as he had outgrown his original one, and he is becoming quite fond of it.

In the last three days I have started extensive counter conditioning to get Knightley to accept the feel of a buzzing tool (in this case a battery powered lint shaver) against him voluntarily. This is part of Level 2, and is to make grooming easier (pet clippers), and also in case your dog ever needs to be shaved for surgery. The idea is to get Knightley actually liking the buzzing sound and feel by associating it with food and praise. So I started with just showing him the shaver, and telling him to 'touch' it, so that he reached out with his nose and touched it. This is a good way to introduce a dog to an unfamiliar object. I then turned it on at a good distance from Knightley (far enough away that he was unsettled but happy to stay there voluntarily) and instantly started click/treating him very quickly. As soon as I turned the shaver off, the kibble stopped. I turned it back on, and the shower of kibble started again. By that technique I was trying to get into his mind 'great things happen when the buzzing starts! it isn't scary at all!' He had definitely relaxed about the sound after several repetitions.

After doing that quite a bit, I turned the shaver off, and brought it close to Knightley, but he had become scared of it, so I held both kibble and the shaver in the same hand, which got him nice and close to it again, and he realised it wasn't eating him. As I moved the shaver towards his body, he shied away, but came back for more kibble, and I started click/treating like mad as he relaxed next to the shaver. I managed to briefly touch it to him while it was off and still have him relaxed, and have it on, a good metre (3.3 feet) away and have him only a little tense. We left the first session there.

The second session was more of the same, I just started bringing the shaver closer to him whilst it was on, until it was only 50cm or so (1 1/2 feet or so) away from him. He was happy to have it against him for a couple of seconds while it was off, but was quite scared of it when it was on still. I had to be careful I didn't push him too far - I wanted him to be able to be completely relaxed by the end of the process. I started throwing 6-7 kibble on the floor, but holding the on shaver in the midst of the scattered kibble, so that Knightley had to choose to come near in order to get the kibble, but I didn't stop him from backing off if he felt he needed to. After a few tries of that, he was definitely getting a lot braver.

I have been intrigued by the training technique called Behaviour Adjustment Training (known in dog training geek circles as BAT), which uses small amounts of stress and negative reinforcement to teach new reactions to situations. For instance, say there is a dog who is scared of and stressed out by strangers, and starts barking at any when they come too close. Using BAT, you would get yourself a stranger to train with, increase your dogs stress by going towards the stranger, and judge it so that the dog is stressed but is still calm and not barking.... and if the dog is doing well and behaving itself, you reward it by walking away from the stranger (this 'pleasureable' relief from stress is known as negative reinforcement, as opposed to something like a treat, which is positive reinforcement). It is very empowering for a dog to realise that its behaviour can actually control the environment like that, whereas its barking rarely did what it wanted. Further sessions would involve going closer and closer to strangers, and rewarding good behaviour with a withdrawal... until the dogs stress level would go down and down, as it knows that sooner or later it will leave and be able to relax, it just needs to keep being polite.

I was thinking about BAT as I was doing the third shaver session, so decided to use the ideas involved a little more deliberately. If Knightley let the shaver get really close to him whilst it was on without getting too worried, I would reward him with both treats, and removing the shaver entirely, and turning it off. If he was upset I would concentrate on click/treating calming signals and slowly moving the shaver further away and closer until he settled down a bit. When he really did well and went a step further than previously, I would take it away entirely and turn it off. It seemed to make sense to Knightley, because the clicker coupled with these ideas really made progress. By the end of the session, I was turning on the shaver against him for a second or so, with little reaction. I've done one more session since then, and I think I've nearly completed this part of Level 2. It can sit against him, continuously on, and he is happy to lie down on the couch next to me, just feeling it buzzing on him. Tomorrow I will make sure he is happy to have it all over him - ears, feet, tail etc. He has done very well though, and every bit of handling we work on the better.

You know what, I would use this technique for any sound or sensation I wanted to get a dog used to. This is pretty much how I got Knightley used to being brushed happily, how I got him happily to have his teeth fiddled with and now is just about happy to have them brushed, to have his nails clipped (a big one for many dogs), to get used to a vacuum cleaner, to get used to something like a coffee grinder or dishwasher that makes an odd noise. Of course some of these things you can't physically move around, so for the BAT techniques of negative reinforcement, I would actually move away with your dog for a short time if it had done well, praising and treating all the time. So many of the techniques I use to train aren't just for the behaviour I use them for - they can be used for so so many things and once you realise how adaptable they can be..... you're always going to have an idea to solve a training problem... or three or four....    

Knightley's relax got up to 35 seconds tonight, which isn't bad. We are having trouble making that minute though. He stays lying down, but his head pops out of relax position. We're also having trouble with the one minute down stay at 6m (20 feet).... we get to about 30 seconds or so, before he decides he is bored and there are more interesting things to do. He is better in the sit because it is closer, but still isn't rock solid. He is doing better in stays than many 6 month old clicker trained dogs - from what I have heard..... but still, this is really what is holding us back now - the duration behaviours.

We also did some towel zen this evening. It has been raining today, so Knightley has needed drying off most times he comes in from outside, and somewhat foolishly, from when we got Knightley as a tiny puppy he has been allowed to play with the towel when being dried, the favourite being tug. Sometimes I don't mind, because he really does love the 'towel game' as we call it. Sometimes however, when I'm trying to dry his feet or his ears, I would appreciate a quiet dog. So we practiced him spitting out the towel and not touching it until given clearance to do so (leave it..... OK!). He actually did very well, I was able to drape the towel around his head and everything, without him latching on, which is usually a given. Our zen cue is soooo useful! If you weren't to teach all of Sue Ailsby's Levels, but were to pick and choose, I would go for zen as my number 1 behaviour. Zen creates a dog with self control, who thinks before it acts. I am a huge fan.

Anyway, this has ended up as a huge massive post, congratulations and a click & treat if you read the entire thing!

Knightley is disrupted and distracted!

Well, updates and training may be a bit sparse for a couple of days. My brother is moving out of this house into his own after quite a few years of living with me. My husband joined us in this house a little over a year ago, and as of tomorrow it will just be us two. That will be both nice, and a little weird. I've got used to having the brother around!

Knightley knows there is something serious up, there has been a lot of commotion recently... especially today getting ready for the movers tomorrow morning. I am planning to leave him in his fabric crate in my room (will soon have a much bigger room!) with Through A Dog's Ear on the stereo to help keep him calm and drown out some of the noise of the people who will be in and out of the house. For those of you who don't know Through A Dog's Ear, it's classical music for piano that has been specially arranged to keep dogs calm and relaxed and works very well. I'll just keep it on loop and that should at least help a bit.

I'll be helping with the move, and then I'll be off to my volunteer job... so it's going to be a long day. I'm already feeling rather tired out and quite migrainous. Cross fingers for me all the commotion doesn't bring on a migraine.

Knightley and I didn't get much time to train today, but we did do some loose leash practice, which is still badly needed, sigh..... I put a small pile of treats and kibble on the road outside our house (we live on a very quiet street) and practice walking Knightley back and forward past it without having him pull. I had to do a LOT of c/ting to have a chance of keeping the leash loose. He didn't do too bad. After slowly slowly coming closer to it with a loose leash, I gave Knightley his cue to go ahead and eat the food. It's a good way to teach loose leash, but he kept on getting distracted by what was going on around him - a person in the distance, a bird, a motorbike etc.

We also did some relax, trying to get closer to the 1 minute relax, 1 minute excited, 1min relax, 1 min excited and so on that Knightley and I need to get in the bag for Level 2 Relax to be finished. He was pretty hyped up with all the furniture and box moving though, so we couldn't even get to 20 seconds, which was his previous baseline. I put some good time in working on it though... pushing him to relax when he truly is excited is good practice.

There were quite a few recalls - until he was becoming disruptive and trying to 'help' a little too much, and had to be crated, much to his very evident and audible disappointment, lol.....

That was about it for today for structured training, although I always do random bits during the day, throwing in sudden downs, always requiring sits for virtually anything he wants (I subscribe to the Nothing In Life Is Free school of thought, where anything he wants comes at a price in that he has to do something for me first before he gets it).

So updates we likely be short and to the point, not only do I have some moving to help with, we have a lot of house reorganising of our own to do because of this, as my brother is taking a good chunk of the furniture with him. We are taking advantage of the fact and will be switching things around a bit - and getting a big bedroom with ... wait for it.. STORAGE SPACE! Anyway, this is me going to much needed sleep. Catch ya later.

Working hard on Loose Leash, Relax, Backing up and Recall

5 months 3 weeks old

So, I want to finish Level 2. Back in Sue Ailsby's original Levels, there were 7 Levels... but now in her new revised Levels, there are only 4. So passing Level 2 in the original Levels wouldn't have been much of a milestone, but passing Level 2 in the new ones.... well it isn't bad at all for a nearly 6 month old pup.

We worked on his problem areas today. Loose leash remains an issue. He is pretty good inside. If he feels pressure on his collar he will move towards it without much of a thought. It is rare it even gets tight. So inside, it is going well. As soon as we go outside, and distractions start rearing their ugly head, problems start cropping up. We do ok on a hard surface. For the final step of the loose leash section in Level 2, Knightley has to walk past a treat that is slightly out of reach without pulling to try to get to it, both inside, and outside. Just not there yet. I hope our loose leash training isn't going to hold us up. One of my problems is simply the fact I find it hard to click/treat often, which is one of the keys of loose leash training. With the leash and clicker in one hand, and crutch in the other hand, plus the crutch hand also giving the treats.... I find it very hard to click and treat often. If I could do the normal training set up it would be so much easier to keep up fast treating. I often go without crutches inside, but I have pretty much done all the work I can inside and still see any improvement. The place we need to work is outside, where I need need the support because I can't just lean on some furniture if I need propping up.

This is the area we walk every day. I took this photo very
early this morning, when Knightley and I were having a lovely
walk and meeting lots of other people and dogs. He gets so
excited when seeing other dogs.... the idea of ever having a
loose leash around other dogs seems like a pipe dream.

I think one of our issues with loose leash is I deliberately chose a puppy that wasn't physically sensitive for his future as an assistance dog. On the odd occasion that I have stepped on his tail, he hasn't yelped or anything, he's just looked at me and moved uneasily. I did a gentle paw pinch test during my temperament testing of his litter to find puppies that weren't sensitive (desirable for a mobility assistance dog who will wear a sometimes uncomfortable mobility harness), and Knightley is definitely NOT physically sensitive. So I think a slight amount of tension on his collar he barely feels. I have to give it quite some significant tension before he notices it. Maybe I do need to take it back inside and work with tiny little collar pulls and c/t that when he moves. Try to get him noticing those small sensations, because he doesn't seem to be noticing them at the moment, especially once we get outside. On our walks we use the Freedom Harness we bought a while back, which makes pulling much harder for him - if he really pulls it completely turns him around to face me, because it's a front attach harness. However, he can niggle at it.... not really pull hard like with a collar, but not really loose leash either. So I have been stopping when he starts niggling, which is what clicker trainers call negative punishment - ie you take away the good thing (in this case, walking), and when he loosens the tension by coming towards me, I start walking again. The idea is he realises that every time he starts trying to pull a bit, he doesn't get anywhere faster, in fact, he stops.... so he stops trying to pull entirely. Obviously when it comes to pulling Knightley is a bit of a bone headed dog, because while the idea is obvious, Knightley doesn't seem to like this idea. He does so love his walks though, that I put up with the small niggling pulls he does in his Freedom Harness, in favour of focusing on getting absolutely no pulling in his collar. If I didn't walk Knightley at least once a day he'd turn into a raving lunatic dog.

Actually, the other reason loose leash is so hard for us, which I haven't mentioned yet, is I walk very slowly, and that is the hardest for a dog to keep loose and be patient. It was always hard with my previous dog Clipsy in his early training. I can't just say "hey, ok, that's good enough, I'm a special case so I've passed Level 2 now yay!!"... I really do have to just plug away at this, even if it holds up progress. At least everything else will become polished if that's the case.

Knightley happy and excited on his walk this morning. He
does excited very well! I do a lot day to day that focuses on
turning him into a calmer dog, including Karen Overall's
Relaxation Protocol.

We did several sessions of practicing Relax today. For the relax behaviour the dog lies on his side with his legs sticking out to the side, and must be floppy and actually relaxed. For the final part of Level 2, Knightley has to be able to relax for 1 minute, then be excited for 1 minute, then relaxed for 1, excited for 1 and so on. You get the idea. Knightley gets excited easily, especially if there are yummy treats being offered (and to think, this is the puppy who wouldn't take anything except for roast chicken.....), so that part of it is easily done!! Doing a relax for a full minute after being deliberately excited is a bit harder. Especially if he has to do it again and again. So today I tested him to see where we were up to, and he could do about 20 seconds of relax after being deliberately excited, without getting restless. So that's our starting point. Tomorrow I'll work on increasing that to 25-30 seconds... as much as I can really without him losing interest and sliding backwards instead of progressing. I did actually test his relax today by picking up his foreleg from the floor just a bit and dropping it back down.... let me tell you, he is definitely floppy. It was rather amusing.

We started working on the 'back up' cue yesterday, and he grasped it very quickly. I started by luring it. I got a treat and slid it from his jaw line towards his neck, so that he backed up a couple of steps in order to try to get it. I quickly click/treated that, and repeated it maybe 6-7 times. I then stopped using the treat, but still used my hand in the same place, and since he had got used to being rewarded for stepping back, he continued to step back. He was a bit all over the place though, not going directly backwards, so I made a bit of a chute between my knees and our coffee table, lured him part way through, and then did the same motion to get him to go back. That made him go directly backwards nicely. We did that maybe 20 times, and I wasn't having to actually touch his head anymore, he knew what I wanted. I then stopped clicking after a coupled of steps back and just waited. He had a bit of a teenage tantrum for a while, barking at me... basically saying "YOU BLOODY IDIOT... HAVE YOU JUST GONE BLIND?!?! CAN'T YOU SEE I JUST DID WHAT YOU WANTED??!! WHERE ARE MY TREEEEEATS??!?!?!" I waited the tantrum out, and sure enough eventually he shut up and tentatively took a couple of steps back. I clicked and gave him a jackpot of treats. He really knew what it was about then. I started putting the cue to it then, "back up", by saying it as he was doing it, then c/t'ing as normal. Then we left the session there. Today I revised a bit with the chute, but then we took it to the middle of the room, and he definitely knew what I wanted, was backing up a good 6-8 steps. What a fantastic puppy to learn that so quickly. Now I need to proof it - ie re-teach it in different rooms, on different surfaces, outside, with distractions... and then we can say it is officially learnt. The only thing left to do then is to back it better, so that he can walk further backwards faster, and to use it in day to day, and for tricks... like walking up stairs backwards.

Our final focus for today, is the same thing we have been focusing on for days... our recall. I have been calling him to me unexpectedly for days, and giving him big rewards. It's definitely paying off. His recall isn't rock solid yet, but it's so much better than a week ago. I need to try to remember to also make it fun, not just give a great treat. Knightley seems to love it when I laugh, and he tends to be a funny puppy... so I'll try to have some funny times when he responds to a recall... as well as stuffing him full of yummy treats.

Speaking of treats, I got some new ones in the mail today, which I had ordered off ebay. Knightley LOVES them. He could smell them loud and clear through the packaging when they were delivered and tried to 'help' me unwrap it. It was his lucky day because one of the bags of treats inside had torn and when I opened the main package quite a few treats fell out. My furry little vacuum cleaner did a great job sucking them all up! At least I've found some great motivation for training, but he seems to like them so much he can't concentrate and just barks at me, or jumps up on me. Mental note: must must do something about that jumping up problem.

For everything other than being a disruptive vacuum cleaner, Knightley is doing just great and Level 3 is just around the corner....

So much in Level 2 but nearly there!

Zen

5 months 2 weeks 6 days old

Well, we are getting kind of close to finishing Level 2 of Sue Ailsby's Training Levels. We have a little more work to do, but compared to the HUGE amount of training contained in Level 2, we are close. The photos in this post come from over the last three months of training since Knightley was a little baby pup. Here's where Knightley and I stand.





Zen = complete, can leave treats alone on the floor in front of him for 1 minute.

Focus

Focus (eye contact) = complete except for using it through a car window which should be simple to polish off

Come

Come = not complete, we are getting a lot better, in a controlled environment he is good, but the final steps are coming 12m (40 foot) and proofing it everywhere. He is good at home, but on public grass I can't hope for more than a 75% response which isn't good enough.

Down

Down = not complete, but very nearly there, just have to do final steps that ask for a distance of 6m (20 feet) stay for 1 minute whilst walking around and talking, also being able to step over him and do it with kids around.

Sit

Sit = complete


Lazy (loose) leash = not complete, great inside at all steps involved but needs more work outside. Fine on a hard surface, but on grass he gets distracted.


Target = complete

Go to mat

Go to mat = complete, although may need a refresher







Tricks = not complete, have started training a new trick, should be finished and proofed soon

Crate

Crate = complete in his day to day crate, not complete in his portable crate



Handling = not complete, all complete except for the fourth step which is allowing clippers, pills, thermometers and toothbrushes. Need a little more work there.

Distance

Distance = complete 




Jump = not complete, nearly all done, just have to introduce him to some new jumps, then make put a mat and jump side by side and ask for cues one by one to test cue recognition

Relax

Relax = not complete, nearly done, just have to make sure he can go from excited for 1 minute, then relaxed for 1 minute, to excited for 1 minute etc. We've done it for less time but haven't pushed it to 1 minute.



Communication 2 = not complete, have only just started this one, Knightley will back up on cue, will move out of my personal space, but won't move out of my personal space automatically to my left yet, he doesn't yet know how to untangle a leash from his own front leg, nor from a pole if he got tangled in one. Of everything, the most work to be done is here.

Homework = not complete, I have to list 10 reasons a dog might not "obey a command".

It's actually really good for me to summarise it, so I am very clear what I have left to do.


While I am rather close to finishing, the last minute of doing all the little bits to finish may take longer than I expected. Normally you are expected to do everything in order, but that was not so much the case in Sue Ailsby's older levels, which is what I started Knightley on first. So that's why I'm a bit all over the place. Level 3 I will follow through as she suggests.

Looking ahead at Level 3, I have been doing a surprising amount of it already - quite as an accident though, simply as a consequence of pushing Knightley just a bit further on my own. For example, Level 3 sit is made up from mostly teaching your dog to go from a down to a sit then doing it at varying distances from you. We've done LOTS of that, so that will be very easy. Zen 3 is to wait to go through a door until the dog gets an invitation - we do that already. Focus (eye contact) starts with holding eye contact for 15 seconds, we can do up to 25 seconds with no problems. If you've been reading my blog much you will already know I have already been doing Level 3 retrieve - more than half of the steps involved - and I don't think it is going to be all that hard to polish it off. The amount of distance we were doing for the 'distance' behaviour was already Level 3 standard when I thought it was Level 2 (book is written all in feet and I'm very much a metres girl!) Also, some of Communication 3 we have already done, like paw targeting. So I have a headstart for Level 3, when I fix these last outstanding Level 2 behaviours.

I'm proud of my puppy. Myself too actually, as this is the first clicker training I've done, and it appears I'm not bad at it.

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....

Loose Leash Walking and come!

5 months 2 weeks 2 days old

So Knightley is a hungry boy, but he's quite a well boy. He's very close to being his normal self and that's a relief. You can tell he is getting better when he starts trying to jump up on us again (must fix that) and eat my hair (must fix that or maybe cut that? down to small of my back...). Anyway, it means we can really get back stuck into training, which is exciting. I am enjoying clicker training so much.

Whilst at a cheap $2 type store the other day I tried out a clicker there and actually liked it. It's a box clicker, like a couple of mine, but it has a button on it, making it easier to click when fumbling for it. My iClicks are great for indoors, but I find training outdoors I need the box clickers for the extra volume. iClicks are so soft! At first Knightley wouldn't even pay attention to them, and I stuck to using 'yes' for a while. But then I ordered a couple of box clickers and I think a bit of extra volume helped, or he liked the resonances more or something, but either way he responded to it much better. Now we can also use the iClick with no problem. I just ordered a couple more cheap iClick ripoffs from eBay because you can never have enough clickers! They are small enough that they get lost so very easily! Anyway, the new box clicker even has a volume setting, so it's a good buy for $2, and will be great on our walks etc. Oh and I do believe clickers are better than using a word marker. I notice a significant difference in learning when I use clicker in comparison to a word.

Knightley lying down beside the path on a early morning walk.
He's got on his Freedom Harness here, although you can't see
it very well. I am doing a lot of work so that all his walks will be
in his flat/martingale collar, but I will still be safe from being
pulled over due to extensive training that keeping no pressure
on a collar is a *good thing*.

Speaking of that particular clicker, I used it quite a bit both yesterday and today, doing a lot of Loose Leash Walking (LLW) work. It is one of Knightley's weakest skills, simply due to lack of work on it. He pulled so much in a flat collar, despite the techniques I was using (wasn't up to LLW in the Levels) that I bought the no-pull Freedom Harness so that we could go for walks and I wouldn't have to risk getting pulled over. I find walking Knightley tiring, quite painful but rather enjoyable, and the tiring and painful aspects are made worse when he is in a flat collar and it turns into a training exercise. Instead of my normal two crutches I use day to day, I find I just have to use only one, because I need at least one hand to both hold the leash and clicker if we are training (or sometimes I use 'yes' instead of a clicker). The other hand both holds on the crutch, and throws treats to the ground while I rest my weight on my elbow. Tricky and tiring but I have little choice.

So I've decided I will stop concerted training on my walks, they will be entirely clicker-less and I'll simply always use his Freedom Harness and manage any attempt to pull in that (it is still possible to pull in it, just much harder) with simply stopping until he release the pressure, known in operant conditioning circles as negative punishment. I instead intend do a lot of training walking back and forward in the street near my house, where I can manage my environment a little better and return to the house whenever I wish. It also means I can do a lot more about turns, which is always a great testing to see if your dog is truly with you... the leash can be loose loose loose as you are going along together on the straight, but as you do a 180 turn, if the dog just continues walking straight and doesn't turn with you, you aren't working together yet. Once that is perfect, then we will again start some very short walks on WOW IT'S SO EXCITING IT SMELLS SO SO SO GOOD... grass.

In one way you can look at almost constant loose/tight/loose/tight as a great learning opportunity, but it just is a bit too much at this stage. He needs to take it one step at a time until he has the leash manners great in the street, and then we can move on.

We've also been working on his recall/come quite a bit, another of his weaker areas. It's funny, here I am training a dog and I seem to focus on the exciting things, and leave the things that any person really WANTS in a dog relatively (in comparison) untouched. Knightley is pretty good about responding to his come cue during training sessions, but when I ask for it cold.... not always so enthusiastic. So I have to work on making come the most fantastic thing in the world in the training sessions. I am careful not to ever use the actual 'come' cue unless I am very sure he will obey, and I have been like that from the beginning. I want it to be a cue that he leaps into, and that he never hangs back from. So making sure that he has never not come is a good precaution to take. Anyway, I am asking for it cold throughout the day and giving a huge party every time he happily comes. I'm seeing improvement already, so I'll just keep on working at it. I want to get this rock solid, and then start introducing distractions.

Anyway, just great to pretty much have the dog back. His movements are looking fairly ok, his antibiotics continue, and I'm sure it will be completely back to normal soon. Yay. :)

Allergy season, job offer and Knightley nearly 4 months old!

17 weeks old

I've been working on a long update for a while now, but I've had pretty bad hayfever for the last week or two, and haven't been on the computer enough to get it finished once and for all. So this is just a quick update to say that I'm alive, and so is Knightley!

Knightley a few days back. He's definitely growing up quickly,
but I am happy with his weight. I want him to grow slowly
because it will give his joints a good chance of being sound.

He is to turn 4 months old in four days, or 17 weeks tomorrow, whatever measurement you prefer. He has now got at least 8 adult teeth, and a wide stripe of adult coat down his back and is also loosing his fluffy puppy coat quite quickly. When he weighed him three days ago he was 14.9kg (32.8lbs), which I am happy with. He has also developed a rather annoying barking habit - rather suddenly. Which I really hope will be very temporary. I am dealing with it as best I can, but I am finding it hard to understand why he is barking in many of the situations. That makes it hard to fix.

With the hotter weather I have discovered that he rather loves the water, but the longer post will have more on that. I can't wait until we take him swimming somewhere for the first time. I think he will love it. 

His loose leash walking (LLW) is finally coming along quite well on walks, although when he is excited it still suffers.  Last weekend we took him to our local fresh food/gourmet food/butcher etc markets and had coffee outside at one of the cafes there so he could get to meet lots of people including small children, and for the first time go to a very busy public place. However, for the majority of his time there, LLW was almost an impossibility. I have ordered a Wiggles, Wags and Whiskers No Pull Harness from the US, which will help me control him when he is excited in public. It is definitely to the point that he could pull me over, and this harness is meant to be the best of the no pull harnesses in terms of shoulder joint mobility and sheer practicality. I am looking forward to receiving it.

Lastly, I have had a bit of a triumph in my personal life. I had to quit work when I got sick three years ago, but in the last four months I have been volunteering at my local Arts Centre, helping with concerts, exhibitions and special projects. Rather unexpectedly, they have asked me to take a part time paid position with them. The idea of my volunteering was that I would get up the stamina to work once more, but it is wonderful that the place I so enjoy volunteering at appreciates me enough to pay me what I would do for free!! This is a very positive step in my life, towards a happier and more active future I hope. Hopefully with Knightley by my side as my Assistance Dog. If he doesn't turn into a barking maniac!

Knightley's love of water, LLW, warmer weather and allergies (mine, that is!)

Knightley going crazy pawing the water in the tub - I'm
having to hold onto it, otherwise he likes to tip the water
out. What a crazy pup I have.

16 weeks 2 days old

So, with the onset of a rather warm late spring I decided to get a tub from the laundry and see if Knightley was interested in dipping his paws in it. He had often been a bit naughty and stuck his paws in his water bowl and tracked water all over the kitchen, so I had suspicions he was going to like it, but I was blown away about how much. He pawed at the water with both front paws as if it was his last act on earth, emptying the tub eventually. The first time he did it, I laughed until I nearly cried - I just hadn't expected it. So after every walk, I'd cool him down by putting some water in the tub and letting him go at it. Dogs get most cool (other than from panting, and some heat exchange through the pads of their feet and their nose leather) from cooling down the bottom of their chest, and the way Knightley splashed the water with his paws drenched his chest, so it was a great way for him to cool down after a hot walk.

He loved it so much that my husband and I went out and bought him a much bigger paddling pool, which I had wanted to get for him for summer anyway. We also bought some plastic netting so that later I finally was able to stop Knightley going places in our yard I didn't want him to go, but he of course really wanted to go! Anyway, the padding pool was a complete hit. Whenever he is let out the back, he goes straight for the pool, even if it a rather cool morning. We have it put on top of an area with pebbles, near the taps, and to encourage him to explore the depths of the water I eventually found myself throwing in the biggest dark coloured pebbles I could find. It was very impressive what he did next, and really showed his problem solving and intelligence better than any other demonstration I have seen.

Knightley learning to put his head under the water and
blow bubbles through his nose. Now he just does
it for fun. I definitely have a water dog on my hands!
I can't wait for his first swimming opportunity.

The pool had ledges in the corners, so the water wasn't as deep there, was barely there at all. Knightley pawed the pebble to the corner, then up the wall of the pool, and onto the ledge, where he could easily pick up the pebble without having to put his face under water. I had seen quite a few videos of dogs fetching from bowls of water, or touching objects at the bottom of bowls of water, and knew they had to blow water through their noses to be able to do it, and that it was a bit of a learned skill. So the next day I put just a bit more water in so that it just covered the ledge by a couple of centimeters. Enough that he had to put his nose under the water in order to pick up the pebble once he had pawed it onto there. After doing that a couple of times, suddenly he didn't bother with pawing it onto the ledge, and just put half his head under the water to pick up the pebbles instead. He would pick up one, dump it out of the pool, pick up the next, dump it out, then the next and so on. I would toss them back in again and again. I have taken some great photos with my new dslr camera of bubbles coming from Knightley's nose as he trawls around on the bottom of the pool. Sometimes he seems to do it just for fun, not to pick up anything in particular. I tell you, I have a water dog on my hands! Not to mention a very very fast learner!

Despite lots of good stuff going on with Knightley, we are having some trouble with excessive vocalisation - ie, barking. I have moderately successfully taught a 'quiet' command, but it unfortunately doesn't last long yet. His barking seems to be caused by one main theme - frustration. If he wants to get to a dog but can't, he'll bark, if he is in his pen while we are eating but wants to be with us, he'll bark, if I'm making his food (thought I had dealt with this one but it has come back) he'll bark on and off to tell me to hurry up and feed him. I hope I can get a handle soon on his vocalness, because sometimes assistance dogs wash out from simply being too vocal. The funny thing is, he seems to have separation anxiety *when* I am still in the room but he can't get to me, like his pen or crate... but if I crate him and leave he is just fine. I have heard of this so I'll have to read up on it. It is odd though.

Loose/lazy leash walking (LLW) is beginning to come along quite well. He isn't exactly walking beside me, but he isn't pulling much anymore, and that is pretty good for a 16 week old puppy I think. Despite that I think I'll still get a no pull harness for public occasions because excitement causes him to forget all our work, and he nearly pulls me over. Birds often cause that forgetfulness too, but we continue to work on it - both on his collar and on harness. I tell you what, I am glad we don't have little critters like squirrels here in Australia - I can see how tempting they must be for dogs with strong prey drives!

The warmer weather hasn't been good for my walks with Knightley, partly because it just isn't good to be out in that heat for dogs (or me!), and partly because it has been causing just awful hayfever for me. I hope this summer isn't going to be a hot one if I am going to be particularly affected by my walks with the dog. Having Knightley in my life has changed my routines so much, in mostly a very positive way, and our walks together are one big change.

Knightley's final puppy shots, LLW and learning new skills and tricks

15 weeks old

So this week Knightley had his last puppy shots, which should now make him safe from parvo. While I have been socialising him that has been the big one I have been scared of, but now this shot is done, and give it a few more days to work completely.... then I can relax about it. A friends dog was very close to dying from parvo when he was a pup, I was pretty scared that it would happy to Knightley. The memories of my previous dog, Clipsy, are still surprisingly fresh. He died in 2000 from a long and protracted battle with a progressive heart murmur like so many poor Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. By the end of his life he was taking almost as much medication as I do!! So I guess I am just scared of having a very sick dog on my hands again.

Knightley's coat, having lost the majority of his cute puppy
fluff, now has a stripe of coarser fur down his back which is
the beginning of his adult Golden Retriever coat. Golden's
have a double coat, his existing puppy coat will be the
undercoat, and this new coarser fur coming in will be the
protective overcoat.

Parvo is one of those illnesses in dogs that scares me. As does the prevalence of cancer in Golden Retrievers, but it does tend to be less in the English type of Golden Retrievers than the American type. Here in Australia we generally have the English type - they tend to be a bit larger, heavier set, often of lighter coat. The American type looks like it comes greatly from 'field lines' by and large - often quite slight in build, a great deal of energy and drive, less feathering (coat), and the coat is often darker... even red in colour. Knightley is definitely starting to get his adult coat, so far it isn't going any darker (usually it darkens a bit to match the colour of the dogs ears), but I guess we'll just see. You can see here in the photo to the right that most of his 'puppy fluff' has gone, and he has this stripe of coarser fur down his back, that is the beginning of his adult coat. I was open to him being a more golden coloured golden, but I would be rather pleased if he stayed cream too! Anyway, it is a great relief to have Knightley fully vaccinated. One thing to worry about less. I am such a champion worrier.

Knightley's paws compared to my palm. They are so huge,
and even bigger when he is standing on them, then they truly
are the same size as my palm. Doing paw targeting with such
big paws on still what is only just a medium sized dog is kind
of odd!

So after a bit of a hiatus in learning new skills, apart from a bit of paw targeting, we are learning a few new things. We also have a bit of fixing to do... I've mucked up some behaviours just a bit by accidentally creating some unwanted behaviour chains and expectations. For instance, Knightley is getting good at paw targeting - but because he seemed better at doing it in a down position, I let him do it from a down about 2/3 of the time. Now as soon as the lid I use for him to tap with his paw comes out, he automatically goes into a down. To get him to paw target it in anything but a down, I have to keep him moving back and forth with nose targeting (touch), then paw, then nose, paw etc. Otherwise he just lies down and uses his paw that way. Speaking of paws, his are pretty massive - in the photo here you can see they are nearly as big as my palm, especially when he's standing up on it, not lying down as he is here. Another problem I had but have mostly fixed, is for a while I was practicing a lot of 'puppy pushups' where you ask for a sit, down, sit, down, sit, down and so on. He got so used to it he used to pre-empt the cue. Grrrr. So I started being as random as I could be, sit, touch, zen, down, touch, sit, down, sit, touch, down, zen etc. That seems to have *mostly* fixed it, although Knightley seems to slide into a down if I leave him in a sit for a short while. Sit stays are not going to come easily!!

I have started to teach the "bang you're dead" trick, where when you say "bang!" with the fake 'gun' hand movement, and the dog flops into a down on its side with its head on the ground. Knightley is getting the on the side bit, but only sometimes manages to put him head right down. Also the speed isn't quite what I would expect from something getting shot.... more like a stoned turtle....... Still it's a start, and it's very cute when he gets it right. I throw a party and he gets a treat jackpot.

We are doing lots of Loose/Lazy Leash Walking (LLW) training, but damn it is going slowly. Barely perceptively moving, one might say. Instead of taking Knightley out the back to do his business, I take him out the front on a leash, so that he doesn't get as excited by going out the front anyone. I'm also handfeeding him his meals occasionally out the front, and making them extra yummy so that he can't resist. So he is definitely taking food better in close proximity to the house, and there has been some improvement on walks too I think, which will help with the ability to train outdoors and eventually master LLW.

This is the Freedom Harness, by
Wiggles. Wags and Whiskers. It is
considered the best harness in terms
of letting the shoulder move freely.

The vet and vet nurse expressed concern the other day that Knightley may pull me over with an excited lunge, as he is now getting to that size and strength. They also referred me to a trainer who does sessions on Saturdays, who gave me a call as soon as I got home from the vet. Both vet AND trainer tried to push a halti on me. I think they were a bit surprised at the vehemence of my reaction, and a bit baffled when I explained it by saying that how it sat on the muzzle had psychological effects on the dog. I have looked into getting the Freedom Harness by Wiggles Wags and Whiskers, but will have to pay an obscene cost in postage from the US it seems. It is a no pull harness that doesn't constrict the shoulder joint, as unfortunately many no pull harnesses do. The plan would be to use that for a month or two as a tool to *train* Knightley, in conjuction with further clicker training, and training on the flat collar. It would just help make me be safe on our walks.

Anyway, I had a great chat to the trainer about all sorts of dog trainer type stuff. She had done the dog training course I am interested in, so that was good for some insights. She says that I should feel free to 'use and abuse her' for the training of Knightley, eg if he needs some distraction training that week, come and use her class as the distraction. Or if I just want him to have some socialisation, I can bring him along for that. Her class is being held in a field, so I don't think I would find walking around in it, doing heel work etc all that easy or good for me, but she said I could sit that out. Apparently they let the dogs off to just run around, so that sounds great for Knightley. I am volunteering today, so won't be able to go to this session - but maybe next weekend. I look forward to it. From my rather lengthy chat to the trainer, we are on the same page on quite a few things - although not haltis - and it was good to talk to someone who knew her stuff. The previous guy at puppy class was just a little clueless and stuck in his ways.

I went a bit nuts and took a huge series of photos with my new camera yesterday, so here is one of the best of them after tiring him out playing with the flirt pole. My Knightley a touch over 15 weeks, 13.5kg (29.7lbs) and a full 43cm (17 inches) at the withers. He has also lost several teeth now, possibly helped by the amount of tug he loves to play!

Knightley, chewing on the ball attached to the flirt pole. His accuracy
in chasing and speed has improved hugely over the last couple of weeks.
Gone is that baby puppy clumsiness, he is on his way to becoming an
adolescent dog.