Fantastic retrieve training, paw targeting and my favourite new halter

8 months 3 days old

Knightley holding his dumbell nicely. He can
hold things for 15-20 seconds easily on cue,
and when we are on a walk he will happily hold
a stick for 5 or even 10 minutes. He's definitely
a holdy dog.

So, I am happy to report that Knightley is still doing just awesomely with his retrieve training. I am getting good solid long holds, and we are working on him picking up all sorts of objects for me. He has problems picking up things like plastic lids which are too flat for him to get an easy purchase on. Maybe he needs to use the technique they teach for dogs to pick up credit cards with using their tongue to lift it a bit. Maybe I'll try clicking for seeing tongue contact tomorrow (wait until I see his tongue contact the plastic, then I click/treat immediately before he has even picked it up, so that he learns to use his tongue with certain objects). Either way, he often can't get it up, and starts pawing it frustratedly. It sometimes happens with pieces of paper too, leaving the paper worse for wear!! With everything else though, he is doing really well. His holds are in the correct place, just behind the two canines, as you can sort of see in the second dumbell photo. Dumbells are good practice for picking things up, because they kind of force him to pick it up in the middle (good practice for balancing awkward items), and are comfortable for him to hold because they are purposely made for this, and fit nicely behind his canines.

Showing the correct hold position, directly behind the pair of
canines, which is a good secure position to hold something,
and is comfortable for the dog.

It's important that I don't do too much practice with the dumbell. People that were training for obedience and not assistance work would just use the dumbell and nothing else, but in my case it's real world items I want Knightley to pick up. I don't want to do obedience or dogsports, I want him to make my life a bit easier. So we do gloves, spoons, pens and pencils, plastic lids and containers, pieces of paper, letters, his leash (I will train that to a specific cue) and really anything I can think of. He is doing very well and I am very happy and proud of him. It is amazing how fast he has picked it up since I started concentrating on it. It does show the temperament testing I did on him did seem to get it right!

The Infin8 halter from Black Dog. The black part with the two
D rings is where your leash clips onto. You can clip the two
D rings together, or undo the clip to take the collar off very
easily. The thick red part of the halter is the other side of the
adjustable collar that goes around the front of the dogs neck.
The thin red part is the adjustable strip that you wrap under
your dogs muzzle, then over it, then back under it and clip it
to the clip you see in the bottom of the photo. It makes a figure
of 8 when you view your dogs head from below. 

 I am very happy with the new Infin8 halter I got for Knightley. It is my firm favourite out of the Gentle Leader (a rather heavy handed, overly firm halter) and the Comfort Trainer (better, but still bothered Knightley quite a lot). For those of you who have tried halters and think your dog just can't tolerate them, take a peak at Black Dog. They are an Australian company who ships overseas, make a bunch of fantastic quality dog gear, aimed at dogsport people, and I am truly impressed with their Infin8 halter. It is different to any halter I have ever seen - really it's a mixture of a collar and a halter, and it allows a transition back to a collar better than any halter I've seen before. It is a clever design too, when your leash tightens, the collar tightens (it is a martingale collar), and the figure of 8 halter also tightens (also almost a martingale.... one side of the halter is on a running O ring). As soon as the tension is released, the nose band becomes quite lose, as does of course the collar part. The leash attaches to the collar.

Knightley with the Infin8 halter on. I got the red colour
because dogs see red very badly. If they had sold a tan
colour I would have got that, but the red has been fine,
actually. Visual disturbance is one of the reasons
why dogs don't like halters.

When your dog has been wearing the halter for a while you can start to loosen the long muzzle strap until it is extremely loose, and the dog is reacting almost entirely to the collar pressure. It doesn't matter at all if the looseness causes the noseband part to come off as the dog has a secure collar on as part of the halter. When
the dog is used to functioning without the noseband doing anything much, then it's time to slowly go back to your collar. This is partly why I think this halter is so superior - it actually helps your dog learn to walk on a collar, as well as give good head control.

Knightley with only the collar part of the Infin8 halter done up.
The part that goes around his muzzle is shown laid out with the
clip at the end. You can see the martingale D rings at Knightley's
neck where you clip the collar to. These things are what makes
this halter so different from others I have seen and used.

It's actually quite impressive how much more Knightley likes this halter than the other two. From the beginning, there was very very little pawing at it. With the GL and the CT, if I took the leash off him and left him alone he would begin pawing at the noseband until he got it off. With the Infin8 he just completely leaves it alone. So, I will continue to use it until Knightley is not pulling at all around children, other dogs and birds, and then I will slowly loosen the noseband until it may as well not be there. Then I think I will transfer him to a martingale collar from Black Dog. Why, you may ask? Well, firstly I *love* the quality of the halter, and they have lovely martingales too. But if I get a red martingale, it will nearly be identical to the halter, just minus the long wrap around bit. So it could well evoke those no pull memories. I like the safety of martingales too. When they first came out, people used them as a sort of more humane choke collar.... using them to leash pop, but doing less damage to the dogs throat and trachea. These days they are basically seen as a collar dogs can't get out of, even if they try to back out, because they tighten if the dog puts pressure on the leash. However, unlike a choke chain, they can only tighten so far, and they are made of comfortable nylon. The martingale that is part of the Infin8 has great shiny black nylon (see first photo) which means as soon as the dog releases the tension, the collar and halter are instantly loose, and much looser than a normal flat collar. It is great feedback for the dog. So, that's the plan.

The other thing I've been doing is refreshing Knightley's paw targeting. I was quite cryptic before about training an assistance skill I don't need but that would be fun to have. What I am going to do is train him to turn on a foot light (one of those ones that has a round switch that you turn on with your foot) with his paw. We haven't been doing much paw targeting for a while, so at first it was just basic stuff, getting him to target my hand, then a plastic lid, then eventually the switch. He isn't putting any weight on it yet, which he is definitely going to have to do... and I'm not sure how to do that, so I'll have to think about that.

A little bird told me about this documentary (which I am going to watch soon) that talked about the fact that 75% of successful guide dogs are 'right pawed'.... ie like humans, dogs too often have a dominant paw. I knew Knightley had one but couldn't remember which one it was until I did a bit of testing and observations.... and it is indeed the right. I guess this is a good thing, although assistance/service dogs need quite different skills to a guide dog. It's interesting that dogs have a dominant paw though. I always found it hard to get Knightley to paw things with his other foreleg, so I had wondered, but I thought it could have been due to my training just getting him stuck in a rut!

Hubby back in 6 days! Knightley is going to be happy and unhappy all at once..... he's going to lose his sleeping platform lol.....!

A halter for short term, some new Level 3 work and a big puppy!

6 months 1 week old

Knightley a couple of weeks ago with his Freedom Harness
on. I chose the Freedom Harness because it is said to be the
best for not obstructing the natural gait of a dogs shoulder.
Many other no pull harnesses sit right over the dogs shoulder
joint. The Freedom Harness has been a great tool for teaching
loose leash walking and has made out walks much more
pleasant. I just think I need a halter to train some public manners
but I don't want Knightley wearing it for long, no matter which
I choose.

I've been thinking in the last couple of days about getting a halter of some sort for Knightley. For a while I was quite adamantly against head halters for dogs, and I am still not particularly approving. I think they can have quite a negative affect on sensitive and submissive dogs because of the way it wraps around their muzzle - which is a psychologically sensitive place for dogs. Especially for clicker dogs, it can stifle their creativity by putting them into a rather zombiefied state of mind. I also think they tend to become a crutch, like so much training equipment that is 'too easy'. Training equipment is for *training*. It is something you use for a month or maybe even six months.... but in that time you transition back to a *FLAT COLLAR* once your training equipment has done its job. That is what my Freedom Harness for Knightley has been for, and has by and large done a very good job. Recently on our walks there has been virtually no pulling, and I have started putting a leash on his flat collar as well as the harness so he gets used to not pulling when having a leash on the flat collar. Soon I will leave the harness on, but only have a leash on the collar. The association of not pulling whilst in the harness will help keep him nice and loose on his leash.  However, despite a LOT of progress, when we go into public, especially particularly exciting places, a front attach harness is not enough to stop the pulling, and my thoughts are perhaps a halter for a short time, for the anti pull and calming effect would be welcome for the training benefit.

My favourite option at the moment, a Training Halter by
Black Dog - an Australian company who makes top
quality equipment.

I have been looking at the different possibilities, and there are certainly quite a few these days. Of course, the halti was the original, but it is the least favoured these days it seems. The Gentle Leader is the most common, but there is quite a bit of talk of cornea irritation around the place, and I am not sure if it's the one for me. The one plus is it comes in Knightley's coat colour, which is an important thing to try to get for a head collar - or at least another colour not easily seen by the dog as it is less irritating visually. The Snoot Loop seems quite popular in the serious dog training circles, but it is hard to get in Australia, so I would have to order it sight unseen from the US. Not convinced. I am considering going for one of the halters made by an Australian company called Black Dog (they do international orders). They do two different designs, both of which are a little different from the 'average' dog halter design. The Infin8 is a halter that wraps around the dogs muzzle and clips onto a martingale collar. Instead of attaching your leash underneath the dogs muzzle, you attach it to the collar part. Certainly different, but it encourages transition back to a collar quickly. I like that part, if it actually does work. The other one is called a Training Halter, and is a bit more traditional, although it is meant to move a bit more freely with the dog and avoid any cornea irritation. It is somewhat similar in design to the Gentle Leader though, it just has more parts that move independently, which is probably a good thing. I think this may be the one for me. Here's a link to the Black dog halter page.


So anyway..... after working on Level 2 for what seems *FOREVER* and being so very close to finishing it, I decided to move onto the beginning of Level 3.

This morning we reached a 1 minute relax for the first time!!! Yipee! Granted it was with no distractions, inside.... but it's a milestone. I need to start doing it outside some more. As with any training you need to set yourself up to succeed, so I will make sure that Knightley is nicely tired out when I really try to lengthen his times outside, so is more likely to really relax and maybe snooze. After a walk, or a trip to the dog park would be ideal.

Our sit and down stays still aren't up to a minute, and I haven't finished the homework for Level 2, although I am close there - watch out for it as I will post it here!

Other than that, we've finished, and we're bored just working on the same thing all the time. The beauty of Sue Ailsby's Training Levels is that every Level teaches similar behaviours, although there are new behaviours in each Level, especially so in Level 2 which is packed with new stuff - Level 1 is very basic. The fact that the behaviours are all similar, and that they go in the same order each time means that you can almost finish a level apart from one or two things at the end of the last level, and safely go onto the beginning of the next level without bumping into stuff that you're not ready for. Sue recommends that when following the Levels in her books, to go through then as written. For instance, the first behaviour in Level 3 is zen. Within zen Level 3, there are 6 steps, each building on what you have already done, and also 'comeafters', which is kind of like proofing and bonus points.

After Zen comes focus (watch), which we are also good to go ahead on. Both Knightley and I work better learning multiple new things at the same time, so I will work on zen and focus until all steps there are done - or very very close to, before going on with Level 3. This is not how I did Level 2 as I was using Sue Ailsby's free online Training Levels when I started some of the Level 2 behaviours, where she doesn't suggested you go through in order, and doesn't have anywhere near as many things to train.

Anyway, we did some great work on Level 3 zen and focus. We have already been doing door zen before now - where he doesn't go through a door until asked to, but Level 3 gets you to do it for longer, then as you walk in and out the door carrying things (eg getting groceries in from the car), and then eventually with someone at the door, but still with Knightley controlling himself and waiting for a release before he would be allowed to go out (or not). We got up to the part where I could go in and out the door carrying things and he would just sit there. At first we did it with an internal door, and then leashed at the front door. He did great. I know with a person it will be much much harder. He goes nuts with people at the front door.

Focus was great too! It is wonderful doing new things, I think Knightley really got into it too. Usually when we do our eye contact work it is from a pretty close distance, but Level 3 builds on the short distance and gets it longer, and the time longer too. It then asks for your dog to watch your eyes while you actually don't return the eye contact. Knightley was already fine with the 15 seconds asked for step 1, then the 2 feet and 5 seconds for step 2 was great too, step 3 was 5 feet and 10 seconds and that was great to see him doing that  - although whenever we do stays he usually keeps eye contact so we have practice at that. You might notice whenever you initially increase the distance you lower the time. This is because whenever you make something harder for the dog, you should make something else easier. Just because Knightley can easily do 15 seconds of eye contact when he is sitting right in front of me, at a distance of 5 feet, I would only expect him to do 10 seconds - and that is after teaching him to do only a mere 5 seconds at 2 feet. When I moved Knightley out to 5 feet I went from 1 second, going up second by second. Every time you change something in a behaviour and make it harder, you should re-teach it like that. By re-teaching Knightley every time I made it harder, I was spelling it out for him, "yes, this is the same thing you did when you were right next to me, but I don't expect you to do it for quite as long as you did then, because it's a bit harder when you're further away."

The last focus step we did, since Knightley had had no problem with the previous ones, was using (in this case) a large glass door at night so I could see both Knightley and myself as we did the eye contact exercises, although a mirror would have been as good. The aim of the step was to get Knightley maintaining eye contact with me for 10 seconds *while I wasn't looking at him*. We started with normal eye contact for a second, then I would quickly glance at him looking at me in the window's reflection, then back at him then click/treat! Then it was two seconds at him, one full second window, then two seconds at him, window then back at him and c/t. Then one second him, two window, one him, two window, one him c/t. Then one him three window, then one him four window, then one him five window....... and then....... Knightley noticed his reflection.......... sigh. He kept wiggling around, wanting to watch me in the window not the real me! Or himself..... Sigh! And it was going so well. It was all I could do to get 5 seconds watch with me right next to him. So we did some simple sits, downs and relaxes and ended the session on a good note with some scenting games which he really does love!

Over the last two days we've done some more work with the shaver, and he's good with it on his feet, tail... everything except his head - which is pretty understandable! I'll be taking that one a bit more slowly. It is amazing what counter conditioning like that can get a dog to stand. Speaking of counter conditioning, if I do go ahead with a halter, I will be doing a fair bit of counter conditioning in order to make wearing it a pleasant experience, rather than an aversive one - as many dogs find them unpleasant.

We weighed Knightley today, on the way to the dog park... and was quite surprised at the weight he has put on since he was sick and got weighed at the vets. Let's just say it was good I gave him he extra 1/4 tablet for heartworm this month!! He was about 24.2kg, which is about 53 pounds. So, at a guess he was maybe about  23.6kg when he turned 6 months old (52 pounds or so). A recent thread on the Golden Retriever forum I participate in (link in the right sidebar) had a lot of people reporting their dog's weight at 6 months of age. Knightley is on the lighter side for a male still, which is good news, as all along I have a) been trying to slow his growth with a 'slow growth plan' to increase the likelihood of good joint formation and b) have tried to keep him lean, again to make sure his joints stay as good as what his genetics have given him. Extra weight in a puppy can be a contributing factor to hip dysplasia. I was very rigorous when selecting lines that had good hip scores and finding breeders I believed in. If Knightley had significant hip dysplasia that would spell a complete end for my plans for him. I'll find out in about 6 months when I get his hips x-rayed. Until then it's more of the same, keep him lean, not too much jumping, stair climbing, no weight carrying (eg a backpack) and no pulling weights. Anyway.....I was happy with that weight, many male GRs are a good couple of kg (4-5 pounds) heavier at this age, although he has put on a couple of kg in the last three or so weeks - a faster growth rate than it has been for a long while. He really is looking much older, I can barely remember that fluffy fuzzball we had those first few weeks!

Knightley, gorgeous fluffy fuzzball at 8 weeks old. I loved that puppy fluff,
 and was heartbroken when it all fell out at about 4 months old, leaving him
looking like a lab.

The closest I had to a similar position already taken and very recent! No more
fluff, although his coat is definitely starting to grow longer and get some
'feathers', especially his tail! He hopefully won't be mistaken for a lab ever
again!