Apollo comes home tomorrow!

Knightley: 1 year, 3 months, 1 week and 6 days old
Apollo: 9 weeks and 2 days old

Apollo on the right. This was taken yesterday after three pups
had already left to their new homes.

Well, the day is just about here, that Knightley gets a new little brother. I'm very excited, despite the fact I have a triple bacterial infection, sigh! But tomorrow hubby and I drive up to Sydney to pick up our ball of fluff and sharp little puppy teeth. I could have pneumonia and I'd still be going!

I'm going to give him a couple of days before we start training in earnest, but the first couple of days will be dedicated to house training and general manners. I am so looking forward to see what happens between him and Knightley. They should be well matched in personality.

Apollo a couple of days ago. This and the following pic are our
formal puppy pics from the breeder! He looks good.

We still have a bit of puppy proofing to do, but I've set up our 'dog room' back to how it was when we got Knightley. Currently we don't have a big crate for Apollo - he's got a little fabric one, and we have a big fabric one too.... but I haven't got around to getting a wire crate for him yet. I will though, it's useful and that's where I feed Knightley, and I'd like to have Apollo with his own. It'll make sure there is no squabbling over nice fresh raw food. I'll have Apollo sleeping beside my bed in his little crate for the first couple of weeks until he can hold his bladder all night, but after then he'll spend nights in a wire crate - so I'll have to get one before then.

Apollo age 9 weeks, face shot!

Definitely looking forward to diving into Sue Ailsby's levels from the beginning again. I'll have to get my books out soon and re-read level 1. From what I can remember it teaches a basic sit, zen (leave it), down, come and target. While you are supposed to do the steps in order when doing 'the levels', I found working on target really helped Knightley 'get it' as regards clicker training. I'll be interested to see how the first training sessions go with Apollo. I'm a much more confident clicker trainer, for a start, and I'm also really really hoping for a more food motivated pup! It was always so hard to get Knightley enthused in his training because he really doesn't care much about food. Hoping for a massive food drive with Apollo.

I am thinking of getting a dehydrator so that I can make my own jerky for Apollo (and Knightley) our of the lovely beef hearts I buy in bulk. That way if I need some extra good treats with Apollo, I can use raw food, or even a little cooked with parmesan or garlic. That is the only problem I've found with raw feeding - finding treats that don't cost the earth for your dog, but are good nutritionally. I feed a lot of beef heart - they come from near here and are from grass fed beef, so I am reassured about the quality. Knightley loves them raw.

That's the other thing I'm looking forward to with Apollo - starting him on raw from day 1 with us. He has already had a reasonable amount of raw in his diet, although it has only been minced beef/chicken. It's much better than nothing, but doesn't offer all the great benefits of feeding a proper raw diet. I plan to use a bit of Artemis dry food in addition (very high quality grain free stuff - I don't believe in feeding dogs grains). Eating raw should slow down Apollo's growth and make hip dysplasia (HD) less likely. I do wonder what would have happened if I had fed Knightley raw from the beginning - would his HD be as bad as it is? It would probably be a little better, even though I did a slow growth plan with Knightley.

I'll be starting Apollo on raw chicken - just a whole chicken cut up into Apollo sized chunks (about 180g, four times a day). Because he's had some raw already, and because he's so young, we won't have to stay on plain chicken for long. Hopefully he'll be eating beef heart by the end of our first week together with no tummy repercussions (heart, while it is counted as muscle meat and not organ, is quite rich for a dog not used to it).

Anyway, tomorrow is going to be very interesting, especially seeing them meet each other. We'll be going up and back to Sydney in a day, so we'll be back just after dark tomorrow. I'm pretty excited!!!

See ya later internetland, will try to upload some Apollo and Knightley pics soon - hopefully showing how well they're getting on!

A wonderful day, a horrible migraine and a very good dog!

9 months 3 weeks 2 days old

Yesterday was my 1st wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful stunning day and my husband and I had an absolutely wonderful day from the beginning of the day to the end. We started out with wicked but gorgeous pancakes at a restaurant in the inner city for brunch, then took the pup to the dogpark, then off to a fancy dinner and finally ended the day with a movie snuggled on the couch (with Knightley bizarrely watching the movie too!). I hope all our anniversaries are as lovely as yesterday was! Of course today I am completely and absolutely exhausted beyond measure, but it was completely worth it.

Anyway, I am still trying to get rid of a migraine I got on Saturday - as well as a autoimmune/autoinflammatory rash I've had on my face for five or six days now (when biopsied they came up with 10 possibilities, most likely was something rare called lupus tumidus.... but who knows really, sigh). Hubby and I had some shopping to do and I have been sticking to the once a week public outing rule with Knightley until he is a little older and ready for more intensive training, so we took Knightley with us as his weekly trip. The migraine reared its ugly head virtually as soon as we got to the shopping mall (maybe the lighting?) as hubby and I split up to do our separate shopping. By the time we met back up I could barely open my eyes and I was using some of Knightley's natural guiding instincts (going around things or people, or stopping when there was an obstruction) because I was in such a bad shape. Thankfully after hubby rejoined us, Knightley followed hubby and I was virtually able to close my eyes and let the pup lead me through the mall.

The migraines that hit suddenly virtually blind me with photosensitivity, and sometimes, like in the case of this one, give me auras too.... which makes my vision even worse. I really hoped that Knightley was going to be a natural alerter, and tell me when I was going to get one of my sudden migraines, but so far, he isn't giving me any signs I can see. I am thinking that it may be worth training Knightley to do some basic guiding techniques so if I do get a very severe migraine while out I can rely on him to help me to safety. I don't know much about guiding though, in comparison to the research I have done about mobility assistance dog training... so I guess I have a lot of research to do. Mainly the biggest concern is that I don't want him to guide all the time - only when I am such a bad way. Ideally he would just know when to do it, but if not, I would just give him a cue. I just don't know if you can turn guiding on and off like that?? Anyway, he was a very very good boy, and I really don't know if I could have got through the mall alone without him. Even when I was with my hubby, it meant Knightley could lead me and not hubby, who went off to bring the car closer. I was proud of my boy, who is nearly 10 months old, wow!

Where Knightley and I walked this morning. It's a fantastic area
to walk your dog... lots of paths, lots of open grass areas, and
the storm water drain which runs with clear water after rain
(which we haven't had for weeks...) that Knightley gets to splash
around in and run up and down the sides of the drain. We
meet heaps of dogs on our walks too. The weather has been just
stunning over the last couple of weeks as we get to the end of
autumn. The bluest skies you could ever imagine, but some
cold nights well below zero already - and it isn't winter yet!

So, I took a lot of breakthrough medication and much more on Sunday to be able to enjoy my anniversary, but without the breakthrough the migraine is still quite fiercely hanging around. No where near as painful as when it first hit, so perhaps my migraine abortive partially worked, but I am pretty immobile for the moment. Although I did manage to take Knightley for a little walk this morning before it just got too painful to move much, and yesterday's running around doing things caught up with me. I think a doctor appointment may be in order. I refuse to go to the hospital, because I am just too complicated for them.... and I then always end up getting admitted which I **HATE**!! Then comes then scans just in case it's my immune system attacking my brain and so on and so on.... arrggh... I more or less swore to myself after spending my 29th birthday in ICU that I would not be admitted to a hospital unless I was almost literally dying. Thankfully I have been less sick since then anyway, so it hasn't been all that hard to stick to.

Oh, and I've found my perfect training treat! Easy to rip up and free! Knightley tends to eat a fairly lean diet - lots of beef heart, some pork which sometimes is fatty, turkey and occasionally chicken which sometimes has skin, sometimes doesn't... and ox tongue which is very lean. Consequently I supplement with fat from the butcher which he gives to me free as unwanted trimmings. Good fat just pulls apart in your hands easily, so instead of just adding it to his meals, I feed his fat as treats now. He loves it, and it is higher value than his regular meals - which I have a hard time topping these days. His 'flat' is going well now, but I don't use it yet as every day usage - I want to make sure it is absolutely great in every single situation I can think of using shaping and basic operant conditioning, and then slowly fade the treats when it is learnt so I end up with a 100% reliable down. Unlike our last one which slowly grew less reliable and slower over time because I lured too much and faded too fast.

Speaking of raw food, Knightley now only eats one meal a day, and that is working a lot better for us than morning and night. While I was planning on keeping him on two meals a day until 1 year old, he just became uninterested in his morning meal, whilst he will happy eat the whole day's worth at night. Today it was an entire turkey leg which he efficiently cracked and chewed and basically completely devoured. Flesh and skin are natures way of flossing an animals teeth! You should see Knightley's beautiful glowing teeth - he often gets comments at the dog park.

Anyway time to sleep and hope this silly head settles down. *waves*

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. 

Level 2 Homework: 10 reasons why a dog may not obey a command

6 months 1 week 2 days old

This is part of Sue Ailsby's Training Levels. As part of each level you need to do homework, and for Level 2, you need to list 10 reasons why a dog might not obey a command. I've thought about this before and I knew finding 10 things would not be easy. This first couple come to you quickly, but after that..... Well, we'll see!

I have written comments after the reasons in italics, which spell out clearly what I can learn as a trainer from each reason.

1. You may not have your dogs attention when you give the cue

This is especially the case in high distraction environments, where your dog just won't hear you unless you focus him first. However it is applicable everywhere. It is worth saying your dog's name first and maybe doing a few seconds eye contact so you both reconnect before asking for what you want.

2. The connection between behaviour and cue may not have been made yet during training

It can take many repetitions of the cue word and hand signal whilst the dog does the behaviour to have the dog remember it. Some dogs learn cues quickly, others need a lot of repetition. If your dog is consistently not responding to a cue, consider this possibility.

3. You may have upped distractions too quickly in training so that a cue your dog could normally respond to becomes background noise

When teaching a cue, you go through a stage called proofing, where you expose the dog to more and more distractions as you continue to ask for the cue. It should be a gradual increase in distraction level - if you increased the level too quickly the dog will just become completely oblivious to you.

4. Your dog could be sick or just tired out and feel unable to respond

Sickness, heat, being thirsty or hungry, exhausted.... all these things will cause a dog to potentially 'misbehave' . You and your dog are a partnership, be aware of how it is feeling and its needs, and don't work it if it isn't feeling up to it. If it isn't responding to the most basic of cues, that in itself can tell you something about the dogs wellbeing.

5. Your training session may have gone too long and your dog may have lost interest

All dogs have a finite attention span. For puppies it is very short, sometimes only a couple of minutes. For a fully mature working breed it can be about an hour without a break. You should make sure that your dog isn't worked past the point that it still wants more. Once training becomes a chore it becomes either ineffective or actually can do harm to previous training.

6. If you are still at the stage you are training with treats, the treats may not be of high value enough for a difficult cue
                                                                                                                                                                 

When learning cues, treats are always used for reinforcement... but for some more difficult behaviours, more interesting treats must be used. If you are outside in a high distraction area trying to train loose leash and kibble just isn't cutting it, try exchanging it for real meat. Change the treat for every individual situation as necessary.

7. If you have faded treats for the particular cue, you may have done it too early while the cue was half learnt, or done it too suddenly leaving the dog unsure

When you stop using treats with a particular cue, it needs to be done slowly and systematically, not just suddenly cutting the treats off. The dog could become uninterested in working for you, or just confused because it isn't being rewarded for something it is usually - so thinks it is getting it wrong.

8. You yourself may not be feeling well, or may not be in the mood to train and your dog might be reacting to your lack of enthusiasm

Our dogs pick up on our moods and our wellbeing extremely sensitively. If you don't feel like training, don't train. If it's just a random 'sit' that your dog isn't responding to in the course of the day, remember that you being not yourself could have a great deal to do with it.

9. The dog might substitute another 'new' behaviour for the older cue you asked for, because you had been working a lot on the new behaviour and it is used to giving it so doesn't really think -

This happens quite often with a dog who knows sit and then learns down and starts thinking sit means down too and forgets about sit because of the shiny new down.  It is important when concentrating on a new cue that you don't train it to the exclusion of everything else. Continue to train your old behaviours as well as new, so that your dog doesn't start getting confused.

10. The dog could be actively 'rocking the boat', being cheeky, trying to get away with things it knows are pretty naughty

This is especially applicable during adolescence, as the perfect puppy disappears and the evil teenager from hell appears in its place. During training and during the day at any time, you must always act as leader in your house - not boss, but leader. I operate on a Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF) policy, so that anything good that Knightley wants he has to do something to get it, even filling the water bowl he has to go in a nice polite sit stay until I have finished. This is about respect, which transfers into our training.

EXTRA ONES!!! WHEEE!!! (after racking my brains for days, I have more than 10!!!)

11. The dog could be scared - of the environment, the handler, other dogs... anything.

Some dogs have serious fear problems, and when the fear and shyness takes over, cues become a low priority. There are good techniques in clicker and positive training which can build confidence, like Look At That (from the book Control Unleashed) and BAT (Behaviour Adjustment Training, which I have mentioned before in another post). A good resource for dealing with a fearful dog is http://fearfuldogs.com/

12.  The dog might not be getting out for enough exercise, which can turn them into tightly wound springs - unable to concentrate on the task at hand

All dogs need exercise, as well as the mental stimulation of getting outside. An adult dog needs one good significant walk each day, and a smaller walk too. You can substitute something like time at a dog park for one of those walks, but dogs must get out - for both the exercise and the stimulation of sights and smells. If they don't get this, don't expect an obedient dog

...... and I think that will do. I've actually learnt from doing this, which was of course was rather the point! I am sure the more I thought about it, the more I could come up with, but this is certainly a good chunk of the the main ones. I will think more next time when Knightley doesn't do what I say.

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

5 months 3 weeks old

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Pup recovering, a short early morning walk

5 months 2 weeks old

Well, the pup seems to be recovering. He has a bit more spark today, he's interested in more attention and so far is spending more time with me. Yesterday he lay down in a different room, which is very rare... usually he stays in sight of me at all times.

Knightley still looking a bit sad and sorry for himself the
morning after the vet visit. He is happier than yesterday
though.

He's actually chewing on a toy right now, so that's really good to see. He's still a bit... well, I think serious is the right word for it. I think you can see what I mean in the photo. I think he's getting hungry too, he seems to be sniffing around quite obsessively for crumbs of any sort. Ooh, I just got a wag. Yep, my boy is going to be just fine I think. A little patience and we'll be back to our walks soon enough. We did go for a short one this morning - VERY early, at about 5:30am. I got up super early to give him his next antibiotic and take him out just in case his tummy was hurting him. It was a beautiful morning outside, although the coldest and windiest we've had for a while, which was actually quite refreshing! I was inspired to take him for a short walk because he seemed to have a reasonable amount of spark and hadn't been for a walk for two days. He did well, wagging a fair bit of the way, keeping a nice loose leash, just being a good boy and forgetting about his ouchy tummy despite the lack of food in his world. He is less happy inside the house, I guess the walk helps him forget out the stomach cramps.

The annoying thing is even if he starts to feel better later in the day, we can't train! I mean, I could try using toys as rewards, instead of treats, but I don't think he'd be quite up to tugging or running after a ball.

The other issue this no eating rule has brought up is FADING TREATS. Now, I am not one of those trainers who don't even want to fade treats. We faded treats for sit pretty early, and faded them for down probably too early. However, I hadn't started trying to fade treats for getting into the crate, and sometimes at night he just doesn't want to get into his crate. If he knows I have treats, that's fine, he'll obey the cue. But, I have discovered, if he thinks there is absolutely no food in the offing, he will jump in the crate, then jump out immediately. A cheeky way of doing what I want without actually completing the whole behaviour. I need to start keeping treats in my pocket to surprise him with - or wear my treat pouch ALL the time so he doesn't know when a treat is coming, since a good chunk of my clothing doesn't have pockets. It was the same at the vets yesterday... there were several behaviours I could have had him do to make him more manageable, but without treats to get his attention in a place as exciting as the vets.... well it was useless even trying. Giving treats only occasionally for behaviours is meant to be very effective, based on the gamblers principle... eg will I get one this time? Maybe I will this time! I'll try again because maybe it will be this time?

Anyway, the pup will be allowed to eat again late today, and he's only had one lot of diarrhea today and it was small. So all is looking good. I am going to work harder on his zen when out and about with me so he doesn't eat random things, so that it reduces the likelihood of this happening again.

WOW!! Closing a cupboard door, and confidence building

5 months 1 week 4 days old

My Knightley, starting to look more grown up. These
adventures really help me realise he is definitely growing up
mentally. I am lucky I have such a quick smart dog.

Wow, like seriously..... wow. I am in shock. Knightley is one seriously smart puppy. I wish I had recorded the training session that we just had because it was very serious testament to how far Knightley has come. We were working on paw targeting, and as I mentioned in my last post, a checklist for the new Training Levels have recently become available which has shown any gaps I may have as for a long time I was training from the free levels online, not the books. The behaviour I had to catch up on was to get Knightley to close a cupboard door with his paw. Pretty advanced really, and I hadn't even transitioned him from paw targeting my hand, or a lid on the floor, to a vertical surface. So last night I did a short session, recapping what I did with him about a month ago - and he got that very quickly.

Update 5 April 2012: Just wanted to say that While I trained Knightley to close cupboards and doors with his paw first, I then trained him to close them with his nose. The nose close is actually more useful because it doesn't have the potential to mark furniture, but both are good to have the dog know. If a public door is not moving because it is particularly heavy, a paw swipe may get it moving, and then it can be closed by nose the rest of the way. I am not sure which way around it was better to have trained it, but I was happy with training it this way. I just had to do LOTS of nose targeting and no rewarding for closing with paw for the nose to stick as a cue after I had taught paw first. Now if nose isn't working after several goes he will automatically swap to giving it a single whack with his paw to get it moving, and I am happy with that. Nose targeting technique is quite similar. Send me a msg on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DownunderAssistanceDog if you want more details on training a nose cupboard/door/drawer close.

I'm just going to quickly go through the training prerequisites if you want to go ahead and train the cupboard close as it assumes that your dog can paw target an object. Something like a yogurt or tupperware lid is perfect, if it's clear that is better still, but make sure the lid is tall enough from the ground so that you can fit a treat under it. To start give your dog several treats, either clicking a clicker first or saying 'yes!', so that he knows when you click (you can even use the click of a ball point pen), or say 'yes' that he will get a treat. 


You then show him a treat, and very obviously put it under the lid on the floor. Make sure your dog can't flip over the lid, you may have to hold it down. He'll try to lick it, bite it, but most of all, he will try to paw it. The *instant*! he paws it, or his paw even moves towards it, click/say yes, lift up the lid so he can get the treat from under the lid and then give him a second treat from your hand. Some dogs will get the idea very quickly, even if new to this type of training. Sometime it will take some persistence. After a while, stop lifting up the lid for the treat, and simply hand him the treat from your hand only. Then remove the treat from under the lid entirely. 


Once he is pawing well, hitting the lid every time and knows exactly what you want you can add the cue! I use the word 'paw!'. As his paw connects with the lid say 'paw' and click/say yes. You have to say it quite a few times for it to stick. Eventually he will wait to hear paw before he does it. Then you can start putting your hand underneath the lid, still very close to the floor, but slowly higher and higher. You can use this method to teach 'shake' and 'hi-five' very effectively. Then replace the yogurt lid with a large sticker. Then start reducing the size of the sticker slowly until he will simply target your hand - and it is all done! That should all take maybe 5-6 sessions for a fairly smart dog, although it will vary widely with attention span, prior training etc. Always end your sessions on a high and keep them short.

So, this is how I trained Knightley to close my kitchen cupboard door. First I got a big white sticker, stuck it to my palm, and had him paw target that. Then I put the palm with the sticker next to my leg and asked him to paw that. He seemed to think I was asking for a touch or something, or maybe he just wanted to eat it (he tries to eat most things in the world afterall!).... because I got some paws, but some 'eat the sticker'. So that didn't work quite right. So I did some sticker zen. I know I've talked about zen a lot, but I may not have been absolutely explicit as to what it means. Zen basically means 'calm down, centre yourself, leave it'. My cue for zen is 'leave it', for instance I will put a large treat in front of him - say, a nice warm sausage - and tell him 'leave it', and he will back up slightly, sit, and look right at me. No fuss, no upset...  just a calm dog accepting what I wish, with heaps of self control, which is why it is called zen. Anyway, so he had tried to eat the sticker, so I told him to leave it, and every time I flapped the sticker in front of his face, whilst telling him leave it, and he successfully did it, I gave him lots of treats. Once I had established it was not for his mouth/nose etc, we went back to paw targeting. This time we were good. He was pawing my hand rather painfully, well done! good pup! (lol)

So, then I took it another step forward and put the sticker on my leg, but left my hand next to it. Not very different, and after a few hiccups, he was targeting my leg. Very slowly I started pulling my hand away, and didn't pause with cues and treats, until he was confidently tearing my leg to pieces with his nasty little nails, lol! We stopped there that night. All that took maybe 5 minutes, and was a very successful recap.

Then this evening we did our very awesomely cool session. I had new treats, we had got some fresh 'all natural' pre-prepared dog food in chicken, rice and veggies to use as training treats because they came in little nuggets, and this was the first time I had tried it, and they were a HIT. I started with him targeting the sticker on my hand, then my leg, and then I stuck it on the bottom of the couch... low enough so his paw could get to it. This was the really big moment, the massive huge mental leap. What leap, says Knightley, whapping the couch with his paw!!! And again, and again, and again! Wowsers! I was sitting there grinning like an idiot!

Learning to close the cupboard door. That's my amazing
puppy!

So, keeping in mind the behaviour is to actually close a cupboard door, we then moved into the kitchen, where I briefly retaught what we had just done (dogs need to relearn new behaviours when they move rooms/places). He confidently pawed my leg on cue, so I stood closer and closer to the cupboard and then put a fresh sticker right on the cupboard at about the same height. He didn't see it at first, so as I cued paw, I tried pointing at it, and he tried to paw my pointing hand... sigh.... but I persisted... patting the sticker, showing it to him, and then cuing 'paw!' again. Finally there is a half hearted wave of his foreleg, and I treated him like he did the most wonderful thing in the world. I gave him tiny treats for any wave, big treats for contact with the door of the cupboard, then eventually only treats for contact. I was actually handing him the treats at first, but found that tossing the treats aside gave him a few steps to centre himself on the sticker/door and put some force behind the whack.

After that change he started doing some really good whacks, and I was thrilled. I then wondered whether he could actually close it, although the doors do need a reasonable push to close. So I open it a touch, and we start trying. Tiny treats for soft touches, big treats for solid hits. Eventually only c/t for solid hits, which frustrated him for a while and he started his annoyed barking. Then he realised when I had stopped giving him treats if he didn't hit it and started putting his effort into actually pawing it solidly. Suddenly, *bang!*, the cupboard door closed, and Knightley jumped a little - I think I did too.... and I absolutely stuffed that dog full of treats, told him he was the very best puppy in the world, and he started wagging madly!!! We worked at it more until he managed to close it another three times, then stopped on a high. I was completely thrilled and completely blown away. Moving from a horizontal paw target to a vertical is meant to be a big leap... let alone manipulating that object!!! It showed me once and for all what Knightley is capable of. I am still almost in shock. He isn't meant to learn that fast!!                                                                                                                                                          

Getting a wash with some nice new 2in1
very natural shampoo after his swim. He
still doesn't like it very much but he is
tolerating it. I should really put my skills
to actually making him actively like it.
Now THAT would be a challenge!

Anyway, onto other topics. Earlier that day I went over to my parents place with the specific mission to get him over his reluctance for getting into the pool. His first trip over there he had been so eager to get in he had conquered any misgivings and jumped in, but the second trip over there he only jumped in once as he was just not happy with launching himself. Once he was in he always really enjoyed himself, but he didn't like having to jump. So I fed him a very small breakfast and saved the rest up in order to lure him into the pool.

At first I just fed him for leaning over, using the marker word "yes!" instead of clicking, trying to help him feel that leaning towards the water wasn't something to be afraid of. There are some steps that he hadn't realised were there previously, so I started to lure him with food and his Wubba (which he adores) at the steps, giving him treats whenever he leaned over again. I also took off his life jacket so he would feel freer to move and less encumbered. He was obviously pretty hungry because he was leaning further and further out until eventually, suddenly, a foot went over the edge and there was one on the first step. I shovelled buckets of food into his mouth then used his Wubba to lure him off the step. He grabbed hold of the Wubba, had a bit of a tour of the pool, then eventually climbed out at the steps.

That was pretty much how the session went, with me trying to make him feel more confident about getting in the pool, giving him treats for getting his feet on the steps, sometimes treats for getting in too if his head was far enough out of the water. After a few dips in I put his life jacket back on to save him some energy and because I noticed his strokes weren't as smooth and calm without it. Eventually he started to tire, but I was very very pleased with his progress... he even jumped in once after a big palm leaf. I'll keep working on it the same way, and will put a cue to it when it's a solid behaviour. There is a deeper step on the other side of the pool, so my aim will be to have him getting in there eventually - and then back to just jumping in.

I gave him a wash with my new lovely 2in1 pet shampoo, which is very natural, biodegradable, a natural fleaicide and very very good for sensitive dogs. Not to mention perfect for easy washing after a swim. Then that night we had the amazing success with the cupboard door.

As the days go by I am more and more sure about my choice. His focus is well ahead of other puppies his age... I just need to work on it outside the house, because his brains fly out his ears when we go outside.... What a day though. One to remember.

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

5 months 1 week 2 days old

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Making a frozen dog treat; a dogsicle!

A layered frozen dogsicle!

5 months 1 week 1 day old

I have been making these frozen dog treats for Knightley for the last week or so, inspired by other ones I have seen online. It has been particularly warm weather... summer is really starting here downunder, and I think he has appreciated the cold treats, especially because he is on the very end of teething and his teeth are just finishing coming in. I put him in his crate to eat these, so that he can't make a mess. He really enjoys them and I know that he is getting hydrated too. Any left over stock I keep in the fridge, dilute and add to his food in the morning and evening to extra hydrate, and occasionally a diluted drink of it during the day. A dog is much more able to manage heat if they are well hydrated due to the way they do heat exchange with panting and hot wet breath from their lungs. Do be aware that being very well hydrated is not as big a help for your dog if you live in a very humid place, although it certainly won't hurt. Thankfully here we are pretty dry, as is most of inland Australia.
For you northern hemispherers, keep this in mind for your next summer... or try it now anyway!

Shopping list to make Dogsicles

Chicken carcass
Good quality dog kibble
Pumpkin (I used butternut, but whatever will mash well)
1 or 2 Bananas
Optional: wholemeal rice

Method

1. Pan fry the chicken carcass in the stock pot until browned for extra flavour for your dog, then add enough water to cover or nearly cover the carcass, and bring to the boil. Add any herbs you may want at browning stage, for instance parsley helps give fresh breath to your dog.

2. Make ready containers that you can freeze easily, and will contain a suitable amount. You want to give the liquid room to expand as it freezes, remember. You may also wish to do a range of sizes of dogsicles, some for a quick treat, some to keep them busy for a good while. That amount of kibble (1 cup) was enough for 10 of those cup sized dogsicles.

3. I freeze mashed pumpkin in cubes for when my puppy's stomach is upset, but for those of you who don't! Cut or peel off the skin of your pumpkin, then slice it into small pieces - the smaller they are, the faster they will cook. I cook it in the microwave with a little water, checking after every minute or two its cooked. Steaming the pumpkin would keep more of its nutrients. I drain about 90% of the water, then mash it up with one of those mashing implements - a fork would do. I usually freeze them into ice cubes - it is so easily to add a small handful to my pup's meals to harden up his movements... and he loves the taste too! Add a teaspoonfuls-worth of the mashed pumpkin to each treat.

4. Measure out your kibble and add it to your treat container. It obviously depends upon the size of the kibble concerned, but here I am using about 20 kibble, but for smaller treats in the past I have used 10 or so. This kibble is Canidae's All Life Stages.

5. Take the chicken carcass from the chicken stock, and if you feel inspired to hot messy work, get any chicken flesh you can off the carcass to add to the dogsicles. Ladle the stock into the treat containers, so that the kibble starts immediately swelling with the hot liquid.

6. Divide a banana or two into small sections and pop those sections into the treats, and from there they go straight into the freezer. Like pumpkin, banana is full of goodness and minerals for your dog, and it's also great to eat when frozen - like a dog version of ice cream.

7. Freeze until solid, it will be several hours at least due to the warm stock - of course it depends on the size of the treat.

Optional, add a spoonful of steamed rice to each dogsicle after step 5, so that it goes pumpkin, kibble, rice, banana/stock - just one more layer than in this photo of my finished dogsicle.. It should be wholemeal rice to keep this treat healthy. If you don't want to preserve the layered effect, you can stir the dogsicle to mix the flavours up - but it's so striking layered!



You could get creative with all sorts of ingredients, but do make sure it is ok for dogs to eat first, and remember whatever you feed your dog during the day should come off his meal allowance later.

A lake swim, a hissing swan and more training!

4 months 4 weeks 1 day old


So today Knightley, hubby and I had a trip down to Lake Burley Griffin, named after the American architect who came up with the basic design for Canberra. We had a nice walk with Knightley and he got lots of attention (awww look at the cute puppy!!), including being an international tourist attraction and getting on video camera! (we were in the tourist centre of Canberra, right near the Parliament House)

A photo looking down on Lake Burley Griffin. There is a lot of good walking
around the lake - you can see the path alongside the lake, which we also
followed for a short while. The park beside the lake is very pretty, and stays
green even throughout summer.

We continued to walk around to a part of the lake that had a sort of shingle beach, next to a short pier. We'd just seen a Newfoundland and a Chowchow (both shaved for the summer! they looked so strange!) go swimming in the same spot, so we put Knightley's long line on him and threw some sticks in for him - he needed to cool down a bit anyway. Of course he didn't have his life jacket on, but didn't really need it this time as he didn't have to plunge in and could just walk. He struck out strongly from the shore, and brought in the sticks every time - although not always to us!! I was very pleased with his swimming, he definitely is a water dog in the making. I would love to take him down to the nearby coast (about 2.5 hours drive from here) to see what he would make of the surf!

Not my photo I am sad to say. Illustrating the firey temperament
of the black swans. When that big guy starting hissing at
Knightley and my big puppy boy couldn't help himself and
started barking back I thought it was time to beat a hasty retreat.
As we walked away another 6 or so other swans came up to
join the nasty tempered one.

Anyway, eventually our activity and levity attracted the attention of some rather large black swans (only found in Australia) and one came along to check Knightley out. I reeled him in as the swan came closer, and Knightley started barking at it from on the beach. The swan didn't like that and started hissing a warning. Frankly I wouldn't have liked the swan to have a go at Knightley - those things are BIG and I'm sure they can do a lot of damage. I certainly couldn't see any cygnets around, but the swan was certainly acting protective and I wasn't going to stick around as it was attracting the attention of the other swans in the area.

So we went off and played 'throw the chunk of wood for my retrieving obsessed puppy' and did some recall practice between the hubby and I inside a rather cute pavilion on the park grounds. It was pretty hard to get him to pay attention to us as he was just too interested in the world around him. However, we were good little dog trainers, and made the distance shorter until he was successful at that, and then with every successful recall between us (what Sue Ailsby calls the 'Come Game' in her Training Levels), we increased the distance slightly. We were mostly doing it to dry the pup off!

So it was a good outing for Knightley. My husband and I are both on holiday from our respective jobs at the moment, so we have a bit more time to get Knightley out places. It's a little freaky to think that in a years time he may be getting close to being able to do his 'job'. I was rather worried at the beginning, when he wasn't showing food drive or desire to be 'in the game', that we had chosen a smart puppy full of drive, but one that would be very hard to focus. My worries have been proven completely off base, he is really maturing of late, and his duration, patience and focus skills are really really improving. Not to mention he's like a different dog with food drive, partly due to my hard work. I truly think, discounting any major personality changes, that he has a very good chance of 'making it' as an assistance dog.

We've been doing some more retrieve training, basically just focusing on getting him to hold objects for longer, and to be a bit more calm about it! For some reason it really really hypes him up. Anyone out there got some ideas for calming down a dog in early stages of retrieve training?!?! I have thought of doing it after Karen Overall's RP sessions with Knightley, which certainly do calm him down.

Other than the retrieve stuff, I am following the new Training Levels books through as they come without skipping ahead, which means I am about of half way through level 2. I am quite uneven though, some Level 2 skills Knightley and I can do nearly all the steps involved..... but then others we pretty much have to start at the beginning. Only when it's video-able (not that I necessarily would) would I say that Knightley and I had passed Level 2. It shouldn't take very long though, he is learning very fast! The temptation is to push him frankly, although if anything I should slow down and take the time to enjoy our ride together because this special growing up time is only going to happen once.