Fantastic public access training and teaching the family to walk Knightley!

10 months 1 week 6 days old

Today I needed some prescriptions filled, and the shops are not at all far away and Knightley needed some public access work so off we went together. He behaved like a dream!! I can't actually believe what a good boy he was. First I went to drop my scripts off (I had like 7 to get filled, yes I take a *lot* of medication), then I had about 15 minutes to use up while we were waiting. So we went into the supermarket to do some training. He was such a good boy. I had his halter on really loosely (the Infin8 is very different to other halters, it acts more like a mix of a collar and halter and as you slowly loosen it, it becomes even more like a collar), but he didn't try to pull at all and heeled very nicely. There was a bunch of onion peel on the floor in one place and I saw him eyeing it but told him to 'leave it' and he instantly ignored it. What a good puppy! There was very little sniffing, and he ignored the people completely! Wowsers. Despite the fact I am doing very little public access work (I decided that once a week is enough until he reaches a year of age when I will start taking it more seriously) he is still learning from each trip we do together.

Looking a bit lonely in a stay, doing some training
in the supermarket. Maybe he's worried I'm about
to leave him?? I don't know. Each time I put him in
a stay he seemed to get a little mournful. Maybe I
need to work on me leaving him as a wonderful
 thing - rather than me coming back to him.

I did some basic obedience practice inside the supermarket. We were there at a time that wasn't too busy, so the aisles were relatively empty. We did basic sits, wait then recall from the end of the leash, stay with me walking around him in a circle, and then stay with me dropping the leash and walking a few metres away. All perfect. Then I went out of the supermarket and into what is still an inside area but was not very populated, and we worked on down stays where I stepped over him, and worked on stepping near his head and tail without him shifting. All once again perfect! GOOD BOY! I was so happy with him. We left it there and went into the chemist to wait for my prescriptions, where I let him 'visit' with one of the assistants there. He was very grave and gentle and stayed sitting - yay! One of the problems I have is with him flopping down on his back for a tummy rub from a sit or down when I allow visits. He got lots of praise and a treat for staying in a sit. Then into a down stay under my feet while I sat and waited for my meds.

After everything was done I took the handle of his vest, and he walked nice and slow and loose home. I am training him that only if I put pressure on the handle is he to lean into the vest. Otherwise he isn't to pull. Even without him pulling it still helps with my balance overall.... it just makes me feel safer. I am just so much more confident with Knightley - and he is only beginning to work for his living!

Anyway, soon after we got home Knightley and I were off to my parents place for an afternoon with my parents and brother. Knightley had a great time exploring their big backyard, getting into all sorts of trouble. He decided that tearing up weed mat is a LOT of fun and kept on returning to do it again and again throughout the evening whenever he went outside. I think we encouraged him a bit because the first time he did it was so funny - I think in his doggy mind he was trying to help as my mum was trying to pick up bits of weed mat. My parents will be looking after Knightley for one night in July and two in August as we have a wedding to go to in Sydney in July, then we are going to a company weekend for my hubby's work in August up at the snow. We went last year just before we brought Knightley home (have a look at this old post from last year if you are interested in seeing snow in Australia! Yes, it does exist!) and it was a good weekend. Maybe next year we'll take Knightley when he has his permit. It is becoming more and more likely in my eyes that Knightley will indeed become a fully functioning assistance dog. Unless there is a big personality change we are on track.

Anyway.... back to what I was talking about.....! So, as my parents will be looking after Knightley, today we all took him for a short walk, and I had his Easy Walk harness on him to make it relatively easy for them. They all had a go, including my brother, and it went pretty well really. I showed them how to walk backwards if Knightley pulled to get him back into a rough heel position so that he will learn he can't get away with pulling with them. It helped that Knightley was pretty tired already from our trip to the shops and doing training there, and then romping around their garden. They may not find it quite so easy first thing on a morning! I also went through quite a few of Knightley's basic cues with them, although I think providing them with a 'cheat sheet' is a good idea. When we got back Knightley eventually flopped down and slept. I am pretty sure that he will have a good time with my parents and will get quite spoilt. They are quite fond of him, and as long as they keep up the exercise I am sure he won't cause too much bother. A tired dog is a good dog! My mum is also keen to do all the raw feeding stuff while she has him under her roof, so that's good. I believe she is also quite keen to get the food too, although I did offer to bring over weighed, bagged food to make it easier. We shall have to go on a shopping trip and get enough for the three nights he will end up spending under their roof.

I need to have a raw food shopping trip myself actually. I've nearly emptied our freezer of food for Knightley except for a few bags of bits of turkey. I have no red meat left and no organs. So it's definitely time to do some shopping! Maybe a bunch of beef heart, and some ox tongues would be great. Lamb necks are really cheap too, give him great healthy red meat and take him ages to eat so they tire him out! This is an vital consideration because Knightley has sooo much more energy than he used to! I used to wonder if Knightley would ever actually have the stamina to be an assistance dog, but I guess it was just puppy energy.... puppies are always going 100% to 0%. Speaking of not being a puppy anymore, the leg continues to raise, but only very occasionally and only against trees!

My final bit of news is I've set up my new sewing machine and have started playing with it. I have also ordered my fabric to make my prototypes, and bought a few more bits and pieces at a sewing store last week. Once the fabric, webbing and clips/D rings/O rings/etc arrive I'll be good to start on my first vest. It will be a mobility harness/vest, as Knightley needs a new one, so that will be my first priority. The sewing machine is extremely easy to use and I'm very happy with my purchase.

So today was a really good day. Knightley is coming along so well and I am bursting with pride!

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.

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. :)

Preparation for halter, socialisation work, crate and stays

6 months 2 weeks 3 days old

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heeling work, relax, stays and counter conditioning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy 6 month birthday, Knightley! Amazing progress

So, Knightley turned 6 months old today. Time sure has flown! He is becoming much much more easy to care for, taking far less time and attention than he used to. I know a lot of people start having trouble around this age, but so far I am extremely happy with his behaviour. We'll see how the next couple of months shape up. A lot of adolescent dogs are given up to pounds and rescues or even abandoned during that trying age, because their owners just don't know how to handle them. I think by getting a sound general obedience background from an early age, Knightley's trying behaviour should be at least minimised. So far, apart from separation anxiety (which may be somewhat my fault), he is as good as gold.

Knightley very happy (and dirty!) at the dog park. He is getting
good training there to sit infront of people to get attention and pats
instead of jumping up. I haven't seen him jump up on a person
once, although I can see him visibly tempted with the kids that go
with their parents! He really loves kids and they tend to excite him.

One of his more annoying habits was jumping up on people when excited, but I think I have got that fairly well under control now. The cure was simple, but took consistency and treats on hand all day. Basically when he was excited, and it was likely he would jump up, I would start clicking (or saying yes! if I didn't have a clicker on hand) for him keeping all four feet on the floor. If he jumped up, I would freeze and become as boring as possible, until the four feet were on the floor again. I counted 1-thousand 2-thousand after the front feet dropped down, then click/treat and LOTS of praise. I specifically want him to sit to say hello to people, so I am asking for a sit often when I come out in the morning, or come home from work. Now he knows that is what I want, so I click the instant he sits down, and the praise starts.... which is what he really wants in this particular scenario. Usually I focus on treats as the reward, but when he is just itching to be patted, why not use that as the reward? It certainly works, he knows if he wants it, he behaves. Now I just have to take the behaviour into public, because occasionally he lunges at people to jump up on them, so that they'll pay attention to him! Not particularly desirable for a dog who will hopefully be an assistance dog.

We did more nose work today and he is loving it. I had two cotton bags next to each other on the ground, and I'd throw some kibble across the floor, making sure some got into places where he had to sniff them out... then while he was busy I would hide a couple of kibble in one of the two bags. He knew his job was the find kibble and got excited every time he smelt something, his nose working over time. I'd then ask him to sit, pick up and open the bag so he could shove his head in, nose going a million miles again, and snaffle all the kibble.I want the sit to become part of a behaviour chain to signal 'hey mum, I found something!' instead of him just pawing and mouthing at the bag, trying to get to the kibble.

Soon we might start work on something other than food, maybe a cloth with a bit of vanilla on it, or something. Vanilla is often used to mark items for assistance dogs, to make them easier to find. Eg, handbag, sunglasses, or even a phone. All you need is a cue tip with some vanilla on it, and to put a small stripe down part of it where it won't rub onto everything else easily, then just let it dry. You don't want the vanilla to come off onto everything around it, you want it to stay localised to only the object. Some people put snap-lock bags inside their handbags with some scent on it, so the scent very much only stays with the handbag. Then the item has a big scent flashing light on it, so if the dog is asked to 'go get handbag' or similar, it will be much much easier. Knightley obviously really enjoys using his nose, and giving a dog an outlet like with nose work games, even as simple as I am doing, will decrease random sniffing when you don't want it. You can also train a 'sniff/nose to yourself' cue pair, if you have a sniffy dog training to become an assistance dog. This is important in stores where there may be fascinating animal smells, or interesting other scents... and it is *not* considered professional for an assistance dog to start being distracted by the smells - which is where the 'nose to yourself!' cue can come in. I'll just focus on giving him some fun for the moment though.

Learning relax a couple of months ago. It is interesting to see
how he has changed since then! His chest is much deeper,
and he has started getting his 'feathering' (the longer fur
goldens have on their tail, back of the back legs, back of the
front legs, chest and stomach). In a couple of months he is going
to look quite adult, and very handsome, if I say so myself.

We did some work on Knightley's 'relax' today, and it's coming along well. He has to be able to hold the position for a minute, then be excited for a minute, then relax again and so on. He will stay in a relax for about 25 seconds and lift his head up... see me, and then flop back down. We were up to about 45 seconds, which is getting close.to the target. It's rather amazing seeing Knightley going from excited, tugging and running around me, to splayed out on his side all floppy and relaxed in a couple of seconds. It seems this training thing actually works!! Relax is quite obviously a useful command, mostly as notice that I won't be moving for a while, so why don't you have a snooze. Eventually, that is what the relax cue will become.

We did a bit more work on stays, getting the sit stay where I walk around him, and the down stay at a longer distance as I actually do things and take my eye off him. Sit stay is fine unless he is getting a bit bored, and then the long 1 minute sit stay doesn't last and he slides into a down..... There is no stand stay in the Levels, but I have been doing it anyway, to get him generalised on what stay means. The more positions I can do it in, the better, and it will actually help with the individual stays sit and down stays as he really internalises the cue. I practice stay in relax and on your mat, as well as the normal ones. Actually it has been very useful in the relax position, as Knightley has now become a joy to groom. He was the normal baby puppy, trying to chew on his brushes and combs, but now he just likes there in a stay, letting me do what I need to. I just need a cue for him to change the side he's lying on, and I'm set!!

He's also getting great at other handling as part of Level 2, for example he is very happy for me to lift up his lips and poke around his mouth now. I do have a doggy toothbrush and toothpaste for him, but he's been pretty wary of them. It's kind of ok for now, he gets a LOT of freeze dried bones to chew on, especially kangaroo tails and water buffalo forelegs (HUGE! we jokingly call them dinosaur bones)..... but these are his adult teeth for life, just like with humans, so I am working on stroking his teeth with a finger as I lift up his lip. He is being a very good boy about it too. I need to train him to tolerate the sound and feel of something vibrating like clippers on him (never know when your dog will need surgery), and then that part of the handling is pretty much done.

In four months Knightley has really come amazingly far, both in training, and in his maturity. He is turning into a much calmer dog, and remains happy and willing to work. He is confident in new environments and with new people, but still submissive to other dogs (which is what I ideally want). He is very smart, and seemed to just get a brain boost a month or two back. He also loves training, and takes a lot of satisfaction in doing a job right, like closing a door. I am very impressed with him so far.... his breeders obviously did a good job socialising the puppies as he is a nicely balanced dog that is scared of virtually nothing. If he continues like this, we have a good shot at getting him up to working standard by about 18 months. Needless to say, I am thrilled.

Down stay work, nose work games and a Manners Minder!

5 months 4 weeks 2 days old

I've been writing this for a number of days now, but the last three days have been busy!!! So, finally, here is my entry - with only an hour or so to go until Knightley 'turns' 6 months old!

So in order to pass Level 2, one of the few remaining things we need to get good is a down stay at a distance of 6m (20 feet) for 1 minute, whilst doing things, talking etc. 6m is by far the longest distance we have done stays, so I have been taking it slowly so far so that we only have successes - not frequent failure by pushing Knightley to long stays at a large distance before he is ready. Today we got up to 25 seconds, which I am happy about. I also practiced doing stays where I stepped/hopped awkwardly over him, both with my crutch and without. He was rock solid, although a little spooked at first. I asked my husband to do it with him later, because whilst I do 99.5% of the training, sometimes it is good to have other people do things that require trust like the stepping over. However, Knightley kept on breaking the stay when my husband tried to do it, so there is more work to do there with other people to make it rock solid.

In a down stay. This is not a 'perfect' or really, even good position
for a down stay, even though it is a down by definition. The
dog isn't meant to be lying out to the side like that. However,
Knightley's down stays are likely to be used in the course of his
work, and I want him to be comfortable. When I ask for a down
out of the blue, his position is better. It is when I ask for stay he
settles down a bit. I don't mind a bit because I am very unlikely
to be doing obedience with him - and even if I did, I can easily
retrain him.

Sue's Training Levels are really so good for preparing an assistance dog for advanced training - Level 2 contains lots of little behaviours that would be very useful for an assistance dog. Obvious things like closing doors and cupboards with his nose, people stepping over him during a stay (more common than you would think in public), floor food zen and floor zen in general (assistance dogs need to learn self control so they don't eat any food in public or don't start sniffing everywhere in a store). Then there are generally helpful things like an automatic down/relax on the dogs mat - very useful for appointments or at work (you can even teach your dog to see the leash as a mat, for a portable mat you can carry with you easily and have your dog relax and snooze wherever and whenever you want!).

I've been playing nose work games with Knightley's food most evenings, and he is getting good! We started out with popcorn (very easy to smell), just throwing a bunch on the floor and saying "find it!", then diverting his eyes and then throwing it and telling him to find it, then diverting his eyes and putting some in more tricky places, out of eyesight, around corners etc. This latter part is what starts the sniffing and moves away from just using the eyes. We have moved to treats and kibble now though, he doesn't need the super smelly popcorn (BTW - if you use popcorn make sure it is completely free of butter/salt/sugar etc, just absolutely plain, but still freshly popped). I can put a kibble inside a cotton bag and he'll find it now, and I can hear his nose going 'whuffwhuffwhuffsniiiffffsnifsnifsnifsnifsnifswhuffwhuffhwuffsnifsnisnisnisnisffffff' the whole time he is looking for his treats.... it is SO cute!!! They say 20 minutes of nose work is equivalent to a 1hr walk in terms of tiring your dog out, so that is one of the main reasons we've been doing it..... as I haven't been super well recently and Knightley has been missing out on his frequent walks. I read this article recently (can't remember where) that said that all dogs - but *especially* working dogs - should have a hobby. Something that will motivate them and give their brain muscles a good work out and if they are a working dog, isn't at all related to their 'job'. You obviously wouldn't do this as a game with a drug detection dog, for instance!

A dirty Knightley being told to calm down with the boxer who
caused all the filth teasing him in the background.

We have been continuing to take Knightley to the dog park while I haven't been in great shape. Today my husband got off work early, and came to pick me up after I had finished with the dog in tow, and we stopped off at the dog park on the way home. Unfortunately I had been to a fancy lunch with a couple of people from work, and wasn't really in dog park clothes..... and a dog park in Australia in summer = dust bucket. Never mind, the clothes will recover.... It wasn't just me who got terribly dirty either, Knightley got as filthy as I've ever seen him. There was an 8 month old boxer pup who Knightley kept on play fighting with... and unfortunately Knightley was the one who ended up on his back 'defending' himself and getting so dusty when I patted him clouds came up from his fur. The dog saliva then turned to muddy marks on his lovely cream fur and he definitely didn't look like the refined pedigree dog he is.... quite a few people were laughing at how filthy he was.

A happy dirty dog. Notice his big white adult teeth now.....
I think his canines have come through as much as they are
going to. It makes him look so much older now. Just the
doggy wisdom teeth he'll get a year old to go now.

He had a great time like usual though, although he couldn't stop bothering a *very* male fully grown boxer, who didn't particularly like it. It is interesting watching dogs interacting, they only have a few minutes together sometimes to establish pecking order.... but they certainly seem to manage. Knightley is very very submissive, but bugs the more dominant dogs a bit too much. One day he's going to get a big telling off, or maybe hopefully he'll just learn slowly from the corrective snarls and other body language. He's so friendly with both people and dogs, he just doesn't get that other dogs don't want to play sometimes, sigh. It's so funny watching him visit *everyone* in the dog park, one by one.  He is such an attention seeker, and everyone is always charmed by his doggy grin. Today he just got so mucky we left. I put him in his paddling pool to get the worse of the dust and saliva off. The water certainly went and interesting colour!

Preparing to leave the park. We can tell when he's run his
restlessness off, because instead of trying to greet everyone
and everydog, Knightley comes and lies down next to us. He
is a little too attached to me sometimes I think, hence the agony
(for him) of having me in the house when he can't get to me. It is
even worse when it's both the hubby AND me....

One last interesting thing. I have ordered something called a Manners Minder. Some of you will know what it is, but others won't have heard of it. It is a remote controlled treat delivery system, that allows you to treat the dog when you're not even in the room, or if you don't want to approach the dog and give them their treat. It is extremely versatile and is a tool serious clicker trainers LOVE playing with. Instead of *clicking* when your dog has done something right, you press the remote, and the Manners Minder makes a beep noise, then releases a treat.  One of the main reasons I have got it is that Knightley is having problems with separation anxiety when we are in the house with him, but he can't get to us. He barks and barks for quite a while, and is definitely not happy. The Manners Minder would allow me, from up to 30m (100 feet) away, to give him treats when he goes quiet... and with something to focus on, he is likely to be less interested in pining for us. I did have to order it from the US unfortunately, which meant big postage because it is quite heavy. I do think Australia needs a special positive reinforcement online store, with lots of clicker stuff and the hard to get to things like the Manners Minder. Until then my stuff will have to wing in from overseas. I can't wait to get the Manners Minder though, it is going to be very useful and very fun and will be by far my most expensive training gadget.

Getting close close close to passing Level 2. Keep an eye out for my 'homework' that is part of Level 2, which I will be posting here: "10 reasons a dog might not obey a command". I'm working on the reasons.... it is harder than you think!

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

5 months 3 weeks 6 days old

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Improving rapidly with food, back into training with a hungry dog!

5 months 2 weeks old

So far Knightley has eaten two small meals, both chicken and rice, with a little kibble. He was going NUTS when I started preparing the first meal - he hadn't seen that dog bowl come out for about 30 hours, and for a growing puppy who'd been losing his meals via diarrhea for a couple of days previous anyway, he must have been absolutely and completely famished. I didn't even try to stop him barking at it, I knew it would be futile. He often barks just a little when I am preparing his food... I have worked on it, but I need to do more concentrated work obviously - because this time he was barking loud enough to wake the dead! Definitely more spark there!!

The first meal I just hand fed without training much, just a bit of zen. I hand fed to stop him gobbling it quickly, so his stomach would have time to get used to eating again, and he'd be less likely to get an upset stomach from it. After no bad reaction to that meal, I gave him another one later, but this one we did a little training with it, as his previous meal had almost taken him back to himself in terms of energy. 

His reaction times were great (sharpened by hunger and the fact he loved the food), and we went back over old ground of Sue Ailsby's Training Levels, refreshing cues, doing a little bit of shaping, closing the cupboard doors, doing some 'go around' with a soda bottle, then with absolutely nothing there, with was new for us (look up 'distance' in the glossary to find out which behaviour I am talking about). We did some more zen too. His zen is getting really good these days, we are getting closer to passing L2 zen, he just has to stay off a treat on the floor for 1 minute just using his willpower now. He has gone 30 seconds. We need to take it outside also, as like I've mentioned before, his brains fly out his ears outside. I'd rather he ate less random garbage, dirt, sticks, grass etc when we are out together, I will work on zen in an outdoor setting for specifically that reason. 

We also did a bit of relax, working on putting to the cue to the behaviour. I can cheat a bit here because I've already trained 'bang', which is the trick where the dog is meant to fall over and act dead in response to being shot. While I want more duration from relax, and want him to let go of his bodily tension some more, I do like the position he goes in for bang - lying on his side, legs all out to the side, head on the ground. This is what I want for relax, so I am using the hand cue for bang, whilst telling him relax as he does it. I tested it once or twice, and he reacted to just the verbal cue! Yay. Next session I will start putting a new 'relax' hand cue to the behaviour, and then we'll start working on truly completely relaxing and duration, but it's a good start.

Knightley in a sit stay giving good eye contact nearly two weeks
ago during our day down at the lake where he had such a wonderful
time. I am a bit biased but... isn't he just the most gorgeous puppy?!

We also worked on stays a bit during the afternoon with a bit of plain kibble. His stay is getting really good, but I am very careful to increase it by a second or two at a time only. To pass Level 2 he needs to do a 1 minute stay at 3 metres (10 feet) from me for a sit, 6 metres (20 feet) for a down. He can do 30 seconds at a distance of 3 metres whilst at home (with no distractions) for the both of them. It shouldn't be too hard to increase that. 

Duration behaviours are meant to be the one thing that is 'harder' with clicker training, rather than traditional training, but I have to say, I haven't found that at all. Even when he was a little puppy he could do 10 second stays. We haven't worked on them a great deal because they were never a trouble spot, or I think he'd be up to that 1 minute mark already. We also use the 'wait' cue, as well as 'stay' - although 'wait' is not in the Levels. I use wait in a situation where I am not going to return to Knightley to release him. Stay means stay where you are, always just stay don't move don't do anything until I return to you and say you can. Wait means don't move until I give you my next cue or release you to move. I find wait a VERY useful cue, and an easy one to train. 

I use it every time I feed him - I usually use his meals to train, but leave him a small amount to eat from his bowl to ensure we keep his bowl manners. I ask him to get in his crate and he goes into a down (a requirement in Level 2). I tell him to wait, then put the bowl in the crate with him but slightly out of reach. I wait 10 seconds or so, then tell him 'Go eat'. I also use wait in sitatuions like when I am going through the baby gate and he obviously wants to come with me. I'll put him in a wait, then go through the gate, and release him once I have gone through (I plan to train this with a better solution, using the concepts of zen, just haven't got around to it yet... so much to train!!). It's just a very useful cue. As is stay of course, but I like having both.

Anyway, it's great getting back to our training. Hopefully tomorrow he will nearly be back to his normal smarty pants self. Late this evening outside he picked up a big branch, tried to carry it inside with him, and was generally very proud of himself, tail wagging happily like a flag.... That's more the Knightley we all know and love. Had to disappoint him with the branch though.