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

9 months 2 weeks 3 days old

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

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

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

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

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

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

Great public training but things to learn, Knightley full of beans!

9 months 2 weeks 1 day old

Knightley's current vest. I don't like the fact it has a strap
parallel across his chest as that has been proven to restrict
the shoulder joints of dogs. I want one with a Y shape. Overall
 he just acts like he is a  bit uncomfortable and is starting to be a
 little 'equipment shy', in that when the vest comes out, he goes
away, which is definitely not what I want.

So today we had a great trip to our local shopping mall. This was the third time we have gone in. The first time was about 5 minutes, the second time was maybe 10 minutes, but today was probably 40 minutes. It's important to ramp up times in big new places with lots of varied experiences, or the dog can get overwhelmed by the experience. We also went to the food court area to give him practice lying under tables. He did get up twice but I put him straight back into a down. We also need to work on getting him to curl, rather than just go into a down. I have a feeling the reason he was getting up is he finds his vest rather uncomfortable to lie in. It is starting to get a bit small for him in the girth department, and while I could just get a girth extender I would rather get a vest-harness that is more comfortable for him in terms of the style, and less constricting of his maturing joints. I found one I really liked but it would have needed a small adjustment to make it useable, and the people selling it wouldn't do it and were quite rude in their reply too. I have since found a vest/harness at http://www.servicedoghouse.com that I like, but once again I would like an adjustment. However, as they make all their vests from scratch I hope that they will be amenable to it. So far at least, I have received very good customer service from them in comparison to the first place I tried.

Overall his behaviour was very good. The food court was very noisy, we even walked past a toddler having a pretty full on tantrum, and Knightley was completely sanguine. So the distraction part of a PAT would have got a big tick! The only trouble came in one of those $2 type stores, with a feather boa, which Knightley thought looked like the perfect toy for him, and started going for. He definitely longed to plunge his mouth into all those feathers, and I had to tell him 'leave it' repeatedly, and give him a bit of a pull away from them. Oh, he really wanted those feathers! It would actually be a good place to practice in, lots of tiny bits of rubbish on the floor, some narrow isles to practice close heeling next to me turning this way and that.... it was a good experience for him, but once again.... sigh... shows how much work there is to do.

Another thing I really truly must do is teach a tail tuck, but I think it can wait for another month or two, until we start really trying to train for his permit. When he sits next to me, his tail streams out behind him often into the path of traffic walking past. And Knightley has *quite* the tail these days, let me tell you! You can see what I mean in the photo I posted above. I know some people manually move it out of the way with their stick or crutch, but Knightley always gets up from the sit if I do that. I suppose I could just teach him not to move if I do it, but I would rather teach him to move his own tail. That can be harder for some dogs than for others, but Knightley has great back end awareness, so I hope it won't be too hard.

The last several days he has really been full of beans.... galloping everywhere instead of trotting, and wanting to play, play, play. It's like he has lost his puppy sleepiness and has suddenly discovered the boundless energy of late adolescence. I'll play a long game of fetch and he'll go lie down for a bit, but then 20 minutes later he'll be pressing another soggy toy into my hand! Or we'll go for a walk, and I'll make sure he does lots of running around and then we come back, he has a short snooze and then he starts barking at a speck on the wall. Crazy dog. He hasn't been going to the dog park anywhere near as much of late because it is getting dark so much earlier here as winter is coming, and I think that is contributing to the amount of energy he has. Unfortunately the dog park doesn't have floodlights, so if you don't get there by about 5:30pm then it's just too dark. So if you're working until 5, it's pretty much impossible, even taking into account we live close to both our works and the dog park. He got a good romp there this weekend, but that will likely be it until next weekend.

Knightley's raw feeding continues to go well, but I have swapped him over to nightly (!!!) mealtimes only, as he wasn't all that interested in eating in the morning and would just hold the chunk of meat in his mouth for half an hour doing nothing, until I eventually managed to take it away somehow. So it was obvious he was ready to eat once a day. That seems to be working out well, and if he seems particularly hungry during the day I'll either do a training session or give him a raw egg. I tell you what, he really loves beef heart. He could eat that every meal and be a happy dog! Too bad it wouldn't be balanced though.

Going to have some chilly nights this week, all below freezing. Knightley seems to be enjoying the nip in the air, but I'm not! Anyway, that's all from us here downunder. I hope everyone in internetland is well.

Knightley's assistance dog permit, public transport, strides towards loose leash

9 months 1 week 4 days old

Working on sit stays outside. Inside these things are easy - outside

Well FINALLY today, after about 11 sporadic months of investigation, calls to different government departments, agencies, various call centres and more I finally hit upon the right person for the question. I had been trying to find out how to get a public access permit for Knightley here in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT, a region somewhat like a state that surrounds Canberra, the capital city of Australia), which is not exactly organised when it comes to assistance dogs. The only mention on the internet of assistance dog access in the ACT is to mention that to get no holds barred public access here your dog must have a permit. So this time I hit upon the right person after like five call transfers and half an hour on hold. All I need to do is when Knightley is fully trained is completely document his training (videos would be helpful apparently), get signatures from any trainers who may have helped me, and get a letter from my doctor saying that I would benefit from an assistance dog. Then I send it into Domestic Animal Services and they assess my training, and they hopefully give me the permit.

My beautiful Knightley, definitely growing up with a very
male Golden Retriever profile. You can see his yellow ACT
tags on his collar. He will get special assistance dog tags if
given the permit.

I will do it properly as if with a program, and keep a full training journal, as well as do the videos. I won't start keeping the journals for maybe another two months, until he is 11 months old. As there is no official format for this application, I will let both IAADP (International Association of Assistance Dog Partners) and ADI (Assistance Dogs International) be my guide, in terms of training standard and training amount. Both IAADP and ADI recommend a minimum period of six months of training, and I can see Knightley being mature enough at 17 months, so I shall start officially training in two or so months, and Knightley's status in my header will change from "Puppyhood" to "In Training". In my mind he will start being a Assistance Dog in Training then. In North America, where assistance dogs are called service dogs, they called them Service Dogs in Training, but you often see the acronym SDiT. You don't actually see ADiT for some reason. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.... the recommended number of training hours overall is 120, of which 30 hours should be devoted to public outings. Theoretically you can count hours before the six months starts, but I will only be counting those after then. Knightley and I have a lot of work to do.

My good boy. Going well for his age but still lots to learn.

Looking at the IAADP website, the "Manners" section of assistance dog minimum training standards for public access is currently our main concern. Obviously Knightley's task training is the more important part of his training for his job, but I already have a good start on the task training, and the harder tasks can even come after Knightley has got his public access. Which is why all the public access training is so important, and not at all insignificant in its own right. Some of it is improving already, and some of it is not a problem.... but other things aren't so good. Here are the required manners in full, from here, with my comment in red.

Manners: a dog must acquire proper social behavior skills. It includes at a minimum:

A slow(!) recall back to me. Knightley tends to be a fairly steady
dog and I don't mind that, so long as his reactions to my cues are
instant. I would like a bit more dash, but that just aint my boy.
In addition to manners and task training, assistance dogs should
know basic obedience: sit, down, recall, heel, and stay.

• No aggressive behavior toward people or other animals - no biting, snapping, snarling, growling or lunging and barking at them when working off your property. (easy)
• No soliciting food or petting from other people while on duty. (no soliciting food fairly easy, but when people reach for Knightley's head, he leans towards them for pats.... so work to be done there)
• No sniffing merchandise or people or intruding into another dog’s space while on duty. (he occasionally sniffs, and he's quite hopeless around other dogs, LOTS of work there.)
• Socialise to tolerate strange sights, sounds, odors etc. in a wide variety of public settings. (easy, done this since a young age, will continue to expose him to new situations)
• Ignores food on the floor or dropped in the dog’s vicinity while working outside the home. (not good at this! he will leave the food on cue, but will not ignore on default, heaps of work here)
• Works calmly on leash. No unruly behavior or unnecessary vocalizations in public settings. (pretty good, some leash work, not unruly but barked on two occasions in public before, need to make him ok with hubby walking out of sight)
• No urinating or defecating in public unless given a specific command or signal to toilet in an appropriate place. (very good with first command, not quite as prompt with other, one time he had an upset stomach in public and whined and looked at me constantly until I got the message and took him outside, is a good boy!)

A life with this beautiful creature by your side, who would say no?
I know this is not considered a task, and you are not allowed to
have a dog with you for this reason, but Knightley makes me feel
so much more -able-, just having him with me when I am out. He
takes the dis out of dis-ability just by boosting my confidence.
Yep, I love my dog quite a lot. If he were to fail now as an
assistance dog I would be absolutely beyond consolation.,

So, I have something real and tangible to aim for now, which is great because my training has become a little fuzzy of late. I will focus on training that would be part of a PAT (Public Access Test) if Knightley was going to take one. I really like these examples from IAADPs PAT (taken once again from here).

 ( 1 ) safely cross a parking lot, (yes) halt for traffic, (yes) and ignore distractions; (sometimes)
( 2 ) heel through narrow aisles; (fairly well)
( 3 ) hold a Sit-Stay when a shopping cart passes by (yes) or when a person stops to chat and pets the dog; (sometimes flops down for a tummy rub)
(4 ) hold a Down Stay when a child approaches and briefly pets the dog; (yes but sometimes rolls over onto back)
( 5 ) hold a Sit Stay when someone drops food on the floor; (yes) hold a Down Stay when someone sets a plate of food on the floor within 18" of the dog, then removes it a minute later. [the handler may say “Leave It” to help the dog resist the temptation.] (if I can say leave it, yes, if not...)
( 6 ) remain calm if someone else holds the leash while the handler moves 20 ft. away; (yes)
( 7 ) remain calm while another dog passes within 6 ft. of the team during the test. This can occur in a parking lot or store. Alternatively, you could arrange for a neighbor with a pet dog to stroll past your residence while you load your dog into a vehicle at the beginning of the test. (NO!)

So I think I'll do some concentrating on PAT type training for a bit, to get him ready for more public access outings in a couple of months time. Our public outings have been mainly only to our nearby shops, which I have permission for. Unfortunately, I have no rights of public access until he is fully trained, so wherever I take him I must get permission first but I have found businesses to be very accommodating so far. I have taken him very briefly to our big shopping mall, to an office supply store, and we went to that factory outlet mall the other day as well (where I had my first access challenge). That's about it so far though, apart from poking our heads into my work the other day for about 2 minutes so he could get a handle on the floor.

Anyway, that is enough talk of Knightley's permit and his training towards it. Recently we have finally made some strides towards a reasonable loose leash, especially when Knightley is 'working' in his vest. It does partially dissolve under stress, but it is a good start. I have found it very hard to click and treat whilst outside while holding a leash and a crutch, so it has taken me much longer to train than I had wanted. Looking back I would have done it differently from when he was even a baby puppy. When he was a baby I would stop if he pulled, but I was happy enough to have him out of heel position. Now I realise stopping still gives the dog quite a bit of satisfaction, you really must BACK UP as it swings the dog's head away from whatever it wants to get to. If you just stop, it can stare and continue to pull to try to get to the thing it wants. Not good. Also being simply happy to have him not pulling, but not have him in heel position has created a dog who is much harder to now GET in heel position lol. I should have insisted on it from the beginning. There are SO many things I will do differently with my next dog. Poor Knightley gets to be on the receiving end of all my mistakes!

I had some unfortunate news yesterday. Our public transport service (buses) won't allow Knightley to ride until he is fully trained, not even for training purposes. I've been talking to a guy from there for a few days, as I wanted to get him on a bus before he was much older just to get him used to the motion, and lying under my legs etc. The younger the better really - once passed six months that is. But they won't allow him on there until he has his permit, which is completely daft because that means he will theoretically be fully trained and won't have been on a bus. I then had a brain wave and called the guy back and asked if I could take him on a bus while it was in the bus depot. It would allow us to practice getting on and sitting down in various different seats, and would also show the permit people that I had taken my training seriously. Still, I was mighty annoyed. How stupid that a dog has to be fully trained before it can touch a bus, but to be fully trained it should really have experience ON the bus! The world is a silly place.

On that note I shall leave you all.

Good trip to shopping centre, annoying people, retrieve training great!

8 months 2 weeks 3 days old

So today Knightley, husband and I had a short trip to our local big shopping centre. I just wanted to buy some socks, and have permission to take Knightley in, so we made it a training visit.

As I was about to cross the road to enter the building, for the second time now someone thought I was blind and was worried I was about to walk into some cars. I had Knightley in his vest so I guess they just assumed he was a guide dog. Assistance dogs here in Australia are still pretty few and far between compared to places like the US and Canada. Anyway, so we crossed the road after arranging to meet my husband inside (so I wouldn't have to walk in from the parking lot, even though I have a disabled parking pass, it would have meant a significantly longer walk). Knightley and I walked in nice and smoothly through the sliding doors. I know some dogs have problems with sliding doors, but when Knightley was a baby puppy I spent a lot of time hanging around some sliding doors near our small local shops, so he got really really used to them. Now he just doesn't seem to notice. So he walked through smoothly. I do notice though, when we change surfaces from outside to inside (eg concrete to polished floors or carpet), he sometimes tries to start pulling. I don't know why this is - maybe it's partly coming into an area with lots of interesting people. What I need to do is find some sliding doors with a surface change underfoot that aren't used very much, and go in and out and in and out, rewarding him when he sticks with me, and backing up if he tries to rush ahead.

Anyway, we got inside and there were quite a few people around, it being a Saturday morning. So I stuck to the outskirts and walked slowly around with him. As he settled down to his usual assistance dog plod we started to walk more in crowded areas. I stopped several times and asked for sits and the occasional eye contact. I also got him to hold my sunglasses several times, which he did nicely. We then went into the shop I wanted to go to, which is where the hubby joined me. He did sniff a bit at some clothes as we went past, which wasn't great. I think I may need to train a 'no sniff' cue, as he tends to be a 'nosey' dog. I found the socks I was looking for and hubby went to buy them so I could concentrate on Knightley. We did a nice smooth exit out of the shop and continued our slow walk around the area. He is great on polished floors, doesn't mind them one bit.

I do however have problems with him when people reach for his head (despite a no touch, in training patch on his vest). He will ignore touches on any part of his body except for his head. I tend to fairly sharply say 'leave it!' and that stops not only Knightley but also the people who were about to touch him. It isn't exactly tactful, but I am really talking to Knightley, and that is his cue! However, I need to get him to the point where the cue isn't needed and he won't respond to people reaching for him. It makes me really annoyed that people do it despite three patches saying no touching. Also kids that aren't under control of their parents, and who just come over and start touching him... that drives me mad too. Knightley is a young dog and just starting this type of training. He is certainly not un-distractable at this stage, and I wish parents would heed the patches on his vest because Knightley has a lot to learn still and having kids like that just doesn't help at all. I guess sometimes they figure that 'special' dogs are never going to hurt their children, and it won't hurt the dog to be patted by a child. Knightley isn't doing much for me now obviously, but over time I hope he will do more and more. Having him distracted will impact upon that work, and having him distracted now will mean he doesn't get the practice focusing in public like I want him to.

We then walked back to the car, through the shopping centre. He walked very nicely with his plod plod plod wag wag wag. It's nice when I see him in a reflection and can see how much he enjoys being out with me in public places by his general body language. Judging by how he is at this young age he is going to deal wonderfully well with the stress of public access work, although he isn't doing much at the moment obviously, compared to what I would see as ideal for our future together. Still, the reason a lot of assistance dogs don't make it to the end of their training is because they can't cope with public access stress, and Knightley just loves it at the moment. He is also the most bombproof dog I have ever seen, he's literally afraid of nothing. We took him through a carwash with us today and he just lay next to me panting gently eating the treats I offered. He was absolutely fine, not a moment of worry.

We continue our retrieve training. I'm getting him to hold things in public. A couple of days ago outside the shops we did some work with the dumbell. Just holds, with and without me. I'm not asking him to pick up anything yet as I am re-teaching it from the beginning, as you should whenever you significantly change a behaviour. He is doing good holds though. I am trying to get him to pick up my crutches at home - not entirely, but just raise one end so that I can snag it. However, he really is quite wary of them for some reason. I am focusing on nose bops for now, to get him used to touching the crutches, as well as some more standard classical conditioning (eg scattering food around the crutches, holding a crutch behind my back, bringing it into view and feeding him treats, hiding it away and the treats stop). He is certainly improving, but as soon as the crutches move suddenly he becomes a little more shy. I can't remember ever accidentally hitting him or putting one down on a foot or anything, so I am not sure why he is so wary. Anyway, I'll work at it.

I'm also getting him to pick up the handle of my handbag, and that is going a lot better than with the crutches. We do sometimes have problems as he stands on the handle strap and then finds he can only pick up it a few cm off the ground! I could shape him to pick it up elsewhere on the handle, near the bag itself, but then when he picked it up he would have to take quite a bit of weight of the handbag itself, which isn't good for a dog. So I'm not sure! We'll work at it. Maybe I can teach him not to stand on the handle strap.I'm also starting a wallet/purse retrieve, but we're starting with a nose bop. I'd like to actually use a cheapie replacement to train with so that Knightley doesn't ruin mine! I think his mouth is quite soft (he is a golden retriever, after all!) but I haven't actually tested it with an object. The classic test is with a raw egg, but if he breaks it he may decide he likes that test and break them deliberately if I try it again. He gets a raw egg 4-5 times a week afterall. I could do a boiled egg I guess, but there must be other ways to test how gentle his mouth is.

I am actually using him to pick up stuff for me as a reasonable matter of routine now. I am motioning with my feet to what I want him to pick up (assuming I didn't just drop it, in which case it's obvious to him). I'd like to start training a laser pointer retrieve, but that's certainly not going to be child's (or puppy's!) play. It would be very useful though, especially if I were in a wheelchair and couldn't use my feet.

So things are going well, except I am very very tired at the moment and sleeping very poorly. It's lovely to have the husband back here though, life is so much fuller and easier with company and a helper. Although I still miss not having Knightley on the bed!

Very stressful and upsetting night

Knightley ate a pill of my migraine medication this evening and hubby and I freaked the hell out. We very very quickly phoned the emergency vet, and I was struggling to hold back tears as I spelled out the medications name. They said a vet would phone me back in 20 minutes as they were dealing with several emergencies.

Both hubby and I instantly got onto google and read up on the med Knightley had eaten in the meantime. We were extremely relieved to find it was one that was actually *given* to dogs, but he had eaten a dose about 4-5 times more than he would have been given. We partly relaxed, but still worried and monitored his behaviour closely as per the emergency clinics instructions.

However, it was nearly an hour later and there was still no phone call, so I called back. I don't know what they had done with me, but I immediately spoke to a vet. He basically said due to the amount of overdose, Knightley needed to be made to throw up, and perhaps there would be other treatments. I wasn't sure whether to take him there or not, as because they had not phoned me back and I had had to phone them eventually, I knew a good part of the medicine would have already been absorbed. But the hubby and I discussed it and we decided since the vet was pretty adamant it was the right thing to do we better do it, just in case. Knightley seemed ok, just maybe a bit quiet - although that could be due to my intermittent tears of guilt (even though I didn't know where the medicine had come from).

So we jumped in the car and drove for half an hour across Canberra to the emergency vet surgery. Virtually as soon as we got there they took Knightley out the back and gave him an IV injection to make him throw up. They couldn't specifically see a green pill in the vomit, but hopefully any lingering stuff came up. Where they injected got bandaged up with this adorable bone bandage. They also fed him a 'slurry' of activated charcoal to absorb any lingering toxins in his stomach and intestines, which he didn't seem to like very much but was well behaved nevertheless. A huge bill later he was emptied of stuff and we were out the door.

He seemed more sprightly on the way home, which was good to see. It is going to take a while for the fur to grow back on his foreleg where they shaved it to get to the vein.

I am going to work harder at keeping my medications away from the front part of the house completely, and will start looking into training a default 'leave it' even if I am not with him. We were lucky that this medication wasn't all that toxic for dogs, but if I am not more careful, I may not be so lucky again.

Show tomorrow, lots of training and compliments!

6 months 4 weeks old

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 months 3 weeks 4 days old

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A successful public outing, and training to prepare us for the show!

Today was great! I misplaced (let's be frank...... lost!) my sunglasses recently and I am very very picky about sunglasses. I get migraines very easily, and one of my triggers is very bright light, so I never ever leave the house without my sunnies on. They also have to fit really well... if they press on the wrong place then they will actually trigger a migraine, sigh! So for the last two days, every time I have been outside the house I've had my eyes half closed! I am sure they have just fallen down the side of something, but that doesn't help me now. So, the hubby and I had planned to go out to our local fresh food markets today and take Knightley, and do some public access type training in advance for next weekend... but because of the missing sun glasses we went out to a nearby small casual shopping district - a site that used to be one of the regions earliest farms when this area was settled by Europeans. Anyway, there is a great shop there that sells everything to do with the sun - and being sun sensitive because of the lupus I have bought a lot of there over the last couple of years. There is also a great restaurant that has generous servings, the food is very tasty and has a bunch of outside tables. Hubby and I wondered if they would let us have Knightley at those tables, as a socialisation/training exercise - even though he isn't officially a Assistance Dog in training and won't be for another 5 or so months. Hubby checked as soon as we arrived and they said yes, but we went to get the sunnies first as Knightley was pretty excited at being in a brand new place. It was definitely the right thing to do, by the time I had chosen a pair of sunnies and we got back to the restaurant, Knightley was heeling quite nicely and had calmed down a lot.

It was a little hard to find the right table for us to sit at, and they were small cafe tables - very hard for Knightley to lie under one because it had one support in the middle that then branched out into multiple legs. Lying under the table is what is expected of an assistance dog, and I have taught him an 'under' cue, but GAH sometimes the table makes it hard! Not only that, there were heaps and heaps of flies, kids running around and playing on the nearby playing equipment, flocks of tiny little sparrows going after leftover crumbs and larger Australian magpies stealing big chunks of the leftovers. Of course for a nearly 7 month old puppy this was all shouting 'COME CHASE ME!!!!' and at first he did get pretty restless. I had been asking for downs, but it just wasn't going to happen... mostly because there seemed to be more flies down there for some reason and they were driving Knightley kind of mad. He couldn't keep from snapping and driving at them, although my zen 'leave it' cue stopped him for a short time, but not for long. Knightley has always been a fly snapper. Then there was two quiet-ish barks in protest at the whle situations - mostly at the flies and the sparrows, which was hopping around only a couple of metres away (6-7 feet or so) and rather driving Knightley mad who had never been that close to birds before. However, no matter the reason, it was unacceptable and I quickly took Knightley away from the table (thankfully our food hadn't yet arrived!). We went to a slightly quieter area and I asked for a sit and eye contact in order to re-establish our connection a bit and calm him down. Once away from the pesky flies and the frustrating sparrows, Knight calmed quickly, and we went back to the table. This time I decided I would be happy with a sit if it was a calm sit, and was right by my side, partly under the table (out of the way of waiters etc) and so that's how we preceded, much more successfully too. Our food came and we were able to eat without worrying about him. He started relaxing more and more, and then suddenly went into a down under the table. I had some treats with me, and quickly jackpotted (lots of treats in a row) him for this... to do it of his own choice was really great! He stayed in a down for the rest of the meal. What a good puppy. For a puppy to overcome the distractions and to have ended up nigh on perfect is more impressive than an adult dog that does it all the time IMO. I was very happy with Knightley, and it gave him great experience coping with distractions - there certainly will be a few next weekend!

Practicing 'on your mat' with the Manners Minder. He is actually 
mid treat in this photo - the little red light on the Manners Minder   
comes on when the mechanism is working to deliver a treat...
which is why Knightley has his hungry maw in the treat bowl part.

This afternoon and evening we practiced training behaviours I want polished for our outing next weekend. We did a bunch of 'on your mat', both with the Manners Minder (MM) and without. The MM is so very very good at extending behaviours like Knightley's 'on your mat'. I'd really like to get this very very good in the next week, and be able to take a mat with us next weekend and have him rest on the mat whenever I want him to just have some time out from everything and have a bit of a snooze. I know he will find it tiring, so a extra portable bed would be great. We'll do a lot of work on this, although I am not really happy with any of the mat options I have, so I'll be looking out for a new harder wearing no slip mat.

We also did a bunch of zen exercises with a left over cooked chicken bone (which seemed to smell nearly irresistable!) and with a large disposable cup lying on the road (there is a big party at a house in our street and someone left the cup on the road) which had the benefit of being a complete unknown. The chicken bone was sooo tempting. He was fine when it was in my hand, and was able to stay away from it with no problems, but as soon as it went on the floor........ We used the MM again for this. At first I had to pull him away from where the bone was, and I stopped using the cue because it just wasn't working as the stimulus of the bone was too much to overcome. When he stopped fighting the leash and trying to get to the bone (loose leash work still to do!) I would turn away with him towards the MM and press the remote in all one movement - so really he was being rewarded when he stopped trying to get to the chicken bone. 

Working on zen with an ultra attractive chicken bone. My foot
 is ready to cover it if Knightley tries to go for it, but once he
gets to this stage he is pretty reliable. I love zen, I think it is
what makes the difference between a bratty uncontrollable puppy
and a nice dog to live with. Note our lovely loose leash!

Slowly he realised that a) he wasn't going to get to it even if he pulled b) stopping pulling often gets him treats in the past and this seemed to be the case here again and c) he was getting to eat something anyway, even if it wasn't the chicken bone, and it was much easier to get the treats, no pulling and choking. Eventually I put the 'leave it' cue back in, once he understood the exercise, and continued using the MM for the treats. I could have just done it myself of course, but I liked being about to walk in little circles and have the treat there immediately without fumbling for it or having to bend. It really is great for anyone with any mobility issues at all. I can't even imagine how wonderful it would be for trainers in wheelchairs! We finished the session off by doing a few 'leave its' with the bone in front of Knightley within his range - although I had my foot ready to cover it if absolutely necessary. 

Later we worked on the cup on the road, which was easier... although in that case we had curiosity to combat instead of greed! At first we started a good 4-5 metres away, and instead of using a 'leave it' cue, I made kissy noises to attract his attention, and he then got a treat when he focused on me instead of the cup. After doing that several times, I made the noise then said 'leave it' which worked very well! He got his treat and we moved on. After a few more repeats, I just used the cue. Every time we went past we got closer and   closer and he was able to 'leave it'. I figured disposable cups - or similar - are something he may have to deal with next weekend, so I will grab some out of the cupboard and continue to work with them.

So it was a good day for Knightley and I. Lots of new things experienced and learnt - he's going to need those skills in adaptability and flexibility next weekend! Really can't wait to see how he handles it.

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. :)

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.

Zen, recall practice and crate improvement

5 months 2 weeks 5 days old

I am beginning to see the truth in what Sue Ailsby says, in that zen is the foundation for all training. Zen, when used in this context, basically means doggy self control - especially on cue. Like when you don't want your dog to follow you through a door even though he really wants to go, or you are eating food on your lap that he wants to steal, you can use your zen cue (mine is leave it) and he should retreat from whatever he wanted to go through or after. Saying leave it in front of an open door will stop Knightley in his tracks and he'll just stand there waiting for me to say our release word. The more you teach and use zen, the more it becomes a part of your dogs day to day impulse control. It helps him become a calmer dog, a thinking dog who considers consequences. I am definitely becoming more and more of a fan. It helps with other duration behaviours too, especially watch (eye contact), stays, wait, relax and so on. It should also help with our loose leash walking too - eventually - as he slowly conquers his urges to investigate every smell and spot near him, despite a tight collar.

Knightley doing a zen on a small pile of
kibble. I've trained him to keep eye contact
with me when staying away from food etc

It is impressive how well dogs can generalise the cue, because usually dogs are very poor generalisers. For instance, if you teach sit indoors all the time, and then suddenly expect your dog to sit outdoors for the first time ever, it is very likely he won't have a clue what you're talking about. You need to re-teach cues whenever you change the situation significantly - if you change the place, difficulty, duration etc. However, when it comes to zen, dogs generalise 'leave it' very well indeed. I can use the cue to stop Knightley from sniffing a patch of ground, from chewing something, from being too interested in our food, from eating food on the floor or even on his paws when in a down, from trying to mouth a comb or brush when trying to groom him.... the list is endless. I used Sue Ailsby's method for teaching it from the beginning, which from my description hopefully you can see was pretty successful. You can use her free online Training Levels to train zen, although I very much recommend her books, as they have a lot more information than the free Levels.

We continue to do LOTS of recall practice. I really want this to become solid. Some of the little tricks for getting a dog to come to you I can't do due to my physical limitations... for instance, dogs being predators it is nearly irresistible for a dog not to chase you if you run away a little, whilst calling. Once your dog associates the running with calling and coming, then you can start phasing out the running away, and your dog will still come. The other thing that can be very useful, but that I can't do once again, is to get down on all fours, or at least get your hands on the floor as you call. It is signals play to your dog, and if you call as you do it (once again to make the connection that call = fun) it is almost guaranteed to get your dog to come to you. Once he is close to you, drop a treat to your feet. This will mean that he never jumps up on you when he responds to a recall because he'll be aiming at your feet instead. It's a good idea to carry around some treats (I just use kibble) in your pocket during the day so that your dog never knows when he'll be rewarded for doing behaviours like sits and downs. Behaviours that we are actively working on, like recalls, I treat every time.

Doing a Level 2 behaviour - 30 seconds down inside the crate
automatically upon the cue to enter the crate. He only leaves
upon me giving him his release cue. What a cuddly looking
puppy!

We've nearly passed the Crate section of Level 2, which requires Knightley to get into his crate on cue (crate!), lie down automatically, then lie there for 30 seconds until I say the release word - whilst I do things around the room. I now just have to take it to different rooms, and teach it to him all over again in his portable fabric crate, which he isn't very good in!

In the new Levels books, you are meant to do all behaviours in order, but that is a change from the old Levels, where I had worked on pretty much all behaviours at once. So I am trying to finish the earlier Level 2 behaviours, before going on and finishing the later ones. Then I can go onto Level 3, yay! I can't wait to get done with Level 2, and it isn't all that far off now. What an awesome puppy I have.