A 'new' down, lifting crutches, a migraine, and a good shop trip

8 months 4 weeks 2 days old

Firstly, just a quick note - the 7th Assistance Dog Blog Carnival submission date has been extended due to lack of entries (mine was the only one!). So, if you have a service/assistance dog, if you raise puppies for programs, if you have a partner with a service/assistance dog, or if you're an interested member of the public with something to say about assistance dogs....  As long as you have access to a blog, and reply to the topic (it has changed a bit with the extension), you are very welcome to participate in the Blog Carnival. If you're interested (you should be!), go to http://playswithpuppies.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/adbc-call-for-submissions-take-2.html

I'm working on training a 'new' down with Knightley. The cue is flat!, which is nicely different from boring down. I am trying to resist luring it (using a piece of food to urge to dog into a down position) as that will make for a weaker behaviour. I did a fair bit of luring around the first time, I have to say, but I was still a clicker novice and Knightley and I weren't very good at shaping together. So now he kinda gets clicking a fair bit more, I'm going all the way back to Level 1, and getting myself a brand new shiny down with shaping. I'm also going to try (and I mean try - with his level of distraction outside), to shape it outdoors as well. This will lead to a super strong behaviour.

I did something similar with his cue to go into his crate. Once again, I had lured quite a bit and slowly as I stopped luring and started treating only, then even faded the treats..... eventually the behaviour fell apart. I mean, the cue still worked about 70% of the time, but I had to repeat myself an unacceptable number of times. So I retrained the behaviour with mostly shaping, and a new cue (instead of crate! the new behaviour was box!). He is much more reliable now, and is faster going in too. So far his flat is a much faster, more prompt behaviour than his old down, although if I need him in that position at the moment I am asking for a down until flat is completely trained.

A couple of days ago some cord loops arrived for my crutches, so that in order to lift them off the ground so that I can then get them (if they fall, or if I am forced to put them on the ground somewhere) Knightley can grab the loops. I have put some work into trying to get him to grasp the crutches themselves, but for whatever reason he has a bit of a phobia. Perhaps I have accidentally side swiped him with one before and now he's a bit leery of them? Or he just doesn't like holding cold metal in his mouth? Either way, these loops will work if all I want is him to lift them up for me. So far he is nicely happy to hold the loops, but we are taking it slowly. He has never really held anything of any weight in his mouth during our sessions - although you should see the size of the branches he likes to carry on our walks!!

I'm recovering from a migraine I got two nights ago. Pretty sure I've beaten it but it wasn't what I needed! I really hoped that Knightley would alert to my migraines naturally, as often I have little warning before they hit - sometimes quite savagely. However, so far I have seen no sign of a natural alerting ability. He certainly reacts to me and my moods when I am especially sick, but doesn't give any warning, unfortunately. I do wonder whether migraine alerting can be trained. I certainly know dogs can be trained to alert for conditions like diabetes and other blood sugar related conditions. I've heard about it for heart conditions too. I haven't actually heard about it for epilepsy though, and that is a migraine sufferers nearest comparison. These days they say migraines are indeed related to seizures. Oh well, in the future I shall look into it.

Last night I took Knightley up to (and inside, as we have permission) the local shops briefly and we really worked hard on getting a nice loose leash and keeping a solid 'service dog walk'. At first I was by myself, but then hubby joined me. It was really quite easy getting him to focus and be nice and loose without hubby there, but when hubby arrived things did go out the window a bit. He often walks a bit ahead of me (I am veeerrry slow) and so Knightley thinks he should be keeping up with his Daddy, not dawdling on with his slowpoke of a Mummy. He got rather frustrated when everytime he tried to rush forward to Daddy, he ended up further away because I would walk backwards. He did get the message though, and he settled down walking beside me, nice and solid, plod plod plod. His sniffing was at a minimum, and he was in general just very polite in his behaviour. I was very happy with him. I have been thinking about teaching a no-sniff cue... but I may talk about that later.

For the next bunch of posts I'm going to spend a bit of time answering some of the regular Google queries that I get. Some of them I already answer a bit in my posts, but I'll do some short posts answering them explicitly because there are obviously people looking for information they are struggling to find - which I can answer. So when I leave my normal format, don't be surprised.

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!

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. :)

101 Things to Do with a Box, a lovely walk and progress with Levels

5 months 1 week 2 days old

So today Knightley and I had a lovely cool very early morning walk - about 5:30am. It has been rather warm here of late, as you would know if you have been reading my blog regularly... so getting out in the morning means you experience the nicest temperatures. It was indeed lovely this morning, pearly light, a gentle breeze, parrots squawking from the trees and most of all, rather cool - so much so I had to go back for a jacket. Such a relief from the last couple of days. I took Knightley out on his long line down to the local sporting oval and we practiced recalls as I let him run around like a crazy thing. It's a very long long line - 10m (33feet), so he gets a good run, and the recalls are a very good test. I am pleased to say that he was probably 95% accurate on his responses to me, which is pretty good. I still wouldn't trust him off leash, as if a bird comes along, his brain flies out his ears... but it's a good start. Sometimes when he is transfixed on something in the house, and won't respond to his name - even appears to not hear me, he WILL respond to the cue 'come'. I have been very careful to not poison the cue (give it a potentially negative meaning, eg by putting him in his crate straight after he responds to the cue, or taking away something from him after he has responded), and to only use it when it is extremely likely he will indeed obey. It seems to have paid off. I will continue to proof it, with more and more distractions... but it is a good start for a 5 month old pup.

Knightley performing his 'under' cue shortly after he learnt it.
Since then I have proofed it with anything it is possible for
him to get under - even my camera tripod!

We did something new today, Knightley and I. We finally tried out the classic clicker game "101 Things to Do with a Box" (Karen Pryor's instructions for the game). Until fairly recently Knightley and I have been pretty awful at shaping, and I do truly think it was primarily Knightley with a mental block. Of course I have a lot to learn as I am a crossover trainer, but once Knightley understood the process, his progress has been extremely rapid. I actually have training the "under" cue to thank for helping him understand. It was a fairly tough ask, shaping wise, and over several sessions he was obviously asking himself "what the hell is this woman clicking for???:"... but eventually he understood and the whole shaping world was open to us.

Anyway, so I got out a box for him to experiment with (very easy as we have tens if a hundred of the things throughout the house at the moment due to my brother moving out) and sat down to see what would happen. What you do with this game is decide every session upon something different you want your dog to do with the box - such as stand in it, drag it, bump it with its nose, thwack it with its paw, two front paws in it, two back paws, turn it over.... and so on. The more creative the dog the better. You can just let the dog experiment and when you see something you like, start clicking it. Knightley was impressively creative, considering it was his first time. He got the idea pretty much straight away, and after he pawed it a couple of times, I decided I'd try getting him standing with his two front paws in the box. 5 minutes later or so, done!

At the beginning he started barking a bit, as he does quite often when I am shaping... but I had a little brain wave, and decided to use the ideas of something called 'micro-shaping', where even a nose twitch or eye flicker can be clicked if it shows the correct intent. I didn't go quite that far, but I did start clicking a lot more for smaller things, thereby giving Knightley more feedback than he had been getting. I thought I was increasing criteria too quickly, or making the criteria too big... but I think the reason he has been barking is not enough clicking and fast treating!! Wow, revelation! So I'm going to focus on fast treat delivery, and not just for shaping.

Sitting in front of an open door. One of the comeafters
for sit. Handy for when you are busy with shopping and
keys etc, to have a dog who will wait quietly until told. I
have him do it when going out also.

As a Christmas Gift Sue Ailsby produced a checklist of the New Training Levels as contained in her books - the ones I got a few weeks back. It has more accurately shown me where we are up to in our training, and we are going very well indeed. We're probably about 3/4 of the way through Level 2, although we have more of what are called the "Comeafters" to do, which are sort of extra bonus proofing to make sure your dog has really truly learnt the new skills. Despite those, we are making fine progress. I have been thinking about retraining down however. His down has always been slow and is probably about 75% accurate at the moment. Not really acceptable. I did too much luring in its training I think, and didn't fade the lure fast enough, which is why I have ended up with an unreliable cue. So I'll see. Maybe even a new cue would help.

I asked for help on the traininglevels yahoo list several days back about Knightley's barking and excitement issues when we're practicing the start of the retrieve training - which is just getting him to quietly hold objects for longer and longer, and is a level 3 skill. I got quite a  few replies basically telling me to go back to where I came from, and that Knightley couldn't do it because that was simply how the levels worked, and if I followed it all in order then by the time I actually *got* to the retrieve training, then he would have been made ready for it by all the other skills he had learnt.

The items I am practicing retrieve holds with Knightley. A traditional
plastic dumbell, a light canvas bumper-like bone, a box clicker, a carabiner
a spoon and a pencil. Enough variation to get him used to all sorts of
things in his mouth, although we do the most work with the dumbell and
canvas bone.

So I eventually became convinced by the argument, including comments from Sue herself... but decided to just give it one last go before I said goodbye to it for however long it would be. Unfortunately or fortunately..... suddenly it had clicked in Knightley's head and he was doing quiet calm holds..... SIGH. Now what do I do?!?! I have continued to train the hold since then, and he is doing even better!! He can nearly do 5 second holds consistently, which is the next step nearly done. GAH!! So tempting to keep on going................ People who read this, what should I do? Be a good little girl and do the levels in order? Or continue training what Knightley can obviously do and is definitely enjoying! The thing is, if he can start to pick up things earlier than the rest of his assistance dog function comes 'online', then that would make my life quite a bit easier. I know I should be taking it slowly, as my role of assistance dog client and trainer do clash and could be influencing me to Knightley's detriment on this... but he has suddenly started to do really well here. Big big sigh. Aaaanyway.

Outward Hound Quick Access Treat Bag. It has been
just great and has really sped up my treat delivery,
which in turn improves the quality of my training
overall. You see it in this photo with the opening
snapped open.

I ordered a new treat pouch about ten days ago or so, from the US, and a couple of days ago it arrived. One of my problems of late has been a delay in between the click and treat, leading to slower training and poorer learning. Part of the reason for that has been my treat pouches, or when I use my pocket, or even having the treats in my lap when I train sitting down. None of them really encourage fast treating. Kikopup on Youtube has a fantastic treat pouch that I have always been taken with because it would facilitate such fast treating. So I set out to look for something similar. I found the "Outward Hound Quick Access Treat Bag" on eBay and absolutely love it. It snaps open to a permanently open position, or can snap back closed, keeping your treats safe. There is a fair range of quick access treat bags out there, so I recommend if you're clicker training and don't have a fast way of grabbing your treats, look at getting something like this one.

Anyway, that's all from me today. You may have noticed I am blogging more often. It is a conscious effort as I think it makes me a better trainer. I notice more what I am doing from day to day, and think about it more. I also get more traffic! So please, if you enjoy reading this blog, do follow it and show me that I have some regular readers. Also, if you would like to hear about a particular part of Knightley's training at this puppy stage, please ask and I would be happy to blog about it!