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.

Dogsicles, hot weather, another pool swim and teenage tantrums

5 months 1 week old

So it has been pretty hot here the last several days, continuing around 35c (95f), which isn't all that pleasant. It means having to be careful with your dogs, as dogs deal with heat less well than us humans. I've been giving Knightley regular 'dogsicles' to keep up his liquid supply, and keep him a little cooler.

To make dogsicles all you need is some chicken stock (best is to just boil a chicken carcass, then you get heaps, cost was 70 cents AU), a few kibble, maybe 8-10 per dogsicle, then I added a frozen pumpkin cube to each dogsicle, which I use when Knightley's movements are a bit runny. I then filled the small cups I was using as my containers up with stock. I let it sit for a bit, then added a couple of small chunks of banana to each cup, then into the freezer. The kibble swells up hugely and floats to the top, the banana kind of sits in the middle, and the pumpkin makes a layer on the bottom. Knightley is loving them... I get him to go into his crate, then put him in a wait, put the dogsicle on the floor of the crate, then close the crate door, and only then is he allowed to eat his lovely dogsicle. It keeps him busy and well hydrated, and is a good healthy treat for a hot summers day.

What are you doing point that thing at me?? I'm trying to relax
here you know!

Because of my migraine I wasn't well enough for our normal family New Years Day BBQ, but did manage it the following day, and once again Knightley got to swim - although he was a bit more hesitant about jumping in this time! It was one of the hot days, and it was pretty amazing seeing how tired he was, reluctant to move from lying around on the cool tiles... until he got in the water and suddenly he was all ready to go. Just those couple of degrees cooler makes all the difference for dogs and us humans.

Still dry, looking at us in the pool, but really reluctant to
jump in this time... I wasn't sure why, may have to train
a cue to jump into something for next time. He really
wanted to swim, but didn't want to take the plunge.

Here in Aus, at least in the more southern parts (not the tropics, where you do tend to find it), air conditioning is not all that common -

Having a good game of tug with my brother. Finally now
his adult teeth are in (except for the teeth that come in when
 he is 1) he can play tug again without bleeding on all his
toys!

Happy at last, having a good old chew, nice and wet, keeping
a watch on us all.

people occasionally have one room in the house air conditioned, but very very rarely the whole house. Both dogs and humans have to cope... but generally we only have one week, maybe two up around the 35-39c (95-102f) range, and these are the weeks where both dogs and humans risk heat stress/stroke (I've had heat stroke twice). Most of the time however, it isn't all that bad. Nevertheless, it does make me think about what I would do for Knightley if we do become an Assistance dog team. Of course I just couldn't take him out on days *that* hot, but even for the low 30s it is quite dangerous for a dog that needs to walk around and can't just lie down and pant. Anyway, for the last two days when Knightley hasn't had access to a pool, I had had a tub for him to splash around in, and have also been spraying his belly and armpits (or 'forelegpits'??) with a little handspray of water to keep him cooler. Keeping him hydrated is also incredibly
important because a dog can't stay properly cool without a well lubricated mouth (ie lots of icky drool/saliva) coupled with the ability to pant.

Anyway, so he perked up nicely during his swim, and had several good long tours of the pool. He's a great swimmer, good long strokes, nice and calm... although he does tend to forget where the steps to get out are and get a little worried when he can't get out.

His in crate behaviour is going really well these days, absolutely no barking, occasionally a touch of whining... but nothing like it was before. But - he still barks quite a bit in other situations. I asked for advice about his barking and getting overexcited while I was trying to teach him retrieve as part of Sue Ailsby's Training Levels, and someone else labelled it as a tantrum. I think that is pretty much right. He just can't control his displeasure and whenever something happens that he doesn't like he resorts to barking:

• food not coming fast enough = bark, 
• he can't understand what I want him to do = bark,
• I'm eating something and I tell him "leave it" which in that situation basically means 'back off, this is mine' = barkbarkbark, 
• he sees another dog and I won't let him go over and say hi = bark..... 

and so on. He voices his protest. I hope further work on distance, stays, zen and watch will help him develop his patience, because that is what is needed. It is actually quite perfect that I am up to where I am in the Training Levels, because it is starting to focus on behaviours where the dog has to start doing things for longer in order to get their reward. In otherwords - cultivate patience.

I also like Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol for cultivating patience, and Knightley and I are still working on Day 1 (of 15 days)- we're not rushing it. It involves basically just sitting for certainly periods of time, sometimes walking away from him, sometimes counting aloud, sometimes softly clapping aloud, sometimes just sitting for a good 20 seconds or so. That is day 1. Knightley is ok at it, he just tends to slide into a down when he gets bored. So once he has stopped doing that, we shall proceed. It definitely does relax him though, which is the object.

A very very happy dog.

Thankfully my migraine is receeding, so Knightley and I are slowly getting back to our normal training schedule. I'll see what damage a few days absence has done!

A story in photos: a lake romp

5 months 5 days old

So my migraine continues, although it isn't as bad as it was, whilst the weather here is very hot: 35c (95f). I had to skip a New Years Day BBQ and swim over at my parents place, but managed it today with the help of some rather strong painkillers. Knightley also got to swim, although he has lost his nerve for jumping in the pool - he only did it once! So I may have to come up with a strategy for getting him to jump in again, instead of having to lift him in. Once he was in he was very happy, so it's just the take off.

Anyway, I am lying here in bed on my laptop, overheating and feeling pretty bleugh. Just had a cool shower, and just having a shower always exhausts me, but I needed to cool down because I hate the heat more and it tends to make my migraines worse.

Instead of a long wordy blog, I'm going to do a photo blog of our lake adventures - the lazy way out! This is pretty much exactly as it happened, down to the bird bones Knightley found and proceeded to devour. Even though his puppy teeth are out, his adult teeth are still growing in just a bit more, and he still has the urge to chew everything in sight, sigh.

Remember you can click on any of the blog images for larger versions.

Oh wow, what kind of awesome place is this mummy, I can eat all sorts of
disgusting things here then go for a swim and see what I can find there!!
Ohh, bird bones!

Oooh it's so wet and so fun and what, are those DUCKS over there?!?! But
they should be in my mouth!! Wow this is such an exciting place,
maybe I should get out and shake all over mummy then look very cute
so that she'll still love me. I get a kick out of little tricks like that!

I know you're quite wet now mummy, but seriously, you have to love this
face I made especially for you....!! OK enough faces, time to FLY!!!

If I flap my ears fast enough I'll take off right??? Right mummy???
Why are you just laughing at me?!?! I am being serious here! There is
very serious puppy investigation going on! Hmm. I think I might be stuck
 in here, that bank is STEEP.

OK time to try jumping out and maybe will eat duck poo on the shore,
get a run up first and..... WHEEE!!! How clever am I?

Well, there was actually no duck poo up there, so
I think I'll just sit here for a bit and watch the world
go by. I know, I know, I'm a beautiful, gorgeous,
stunning, cute Golden Retriever! Just about everyone
I meet tells me that! If I didn't have such a huge teenage
puppy ego I would get sick of hearing it!

Oh boy, why does mummy always point that weird black thing at me? This time
she keeps on saying that "watch" word again and again and making clicking
noises but I'm not getting any foodies! And the fun has stopped too! Meanie
mummy rinsed me off and then we had some tug with a towel and now she
is being very boring and keeps holding her head, sighing and muttering something
 like "the things I do for you, puppy". Dumb mummy, I do so much for her.... it's
always sit, sit, sit all day!

Mummy messed up my coat all weird and funny so it would dry faster! Grr!
But you can see how it doesn't look much at all like a puppy coat anymore,
not a speck of fluff to be seen... I'm becoming all man baby! Well... a dog
man... wouldn't want to be a human man like daddy! He always seems to be
getting bossed around by mummy again and again... much like me actually...
sigh, the lot of a puppy!

There were people in weird floaty things I stared at for a while that mummy
 told me were kayaks and rowing boats, whatever that means. Mummy also said
the name of the lake was Lake Ginninderra, and I may be smart but she did
have to spell it for me here. I just sort of woof randomly to spell most words actually.

Zzzzzzzz. Later that evening. A very very very tired puppy.

Knightley had been quite calm and simply enjoying himself until two women walking by asked to pat him, and proceeded to hype him up incredibly, leaving with the mild comment "he's quite excitable isn't he?" Sigh. I had kept him on his long line for our time there.... our recall isn't good enough with that many distractions, although we got good opportunity to practice whilst there.... and pre-stupid-women he had kept the line loose and just wondered around me, keeping calm but very happy. After the women revved Knightley up ("OOOeeeee you're so CUTE!!! OOHHH we just need to PAT you, you adorable thing!! Oh you're SOOO cute jumping up on us!! HAHAHA ooohhhh such a cutie!!!!! Do you sit puppy???? Sit Sit sit SIT sit SIT SIT SITSITSIT!!! Oh he sits!!! HOW CUTE!!!!") he just went into crazy zoomie mode, pulling for all he was worth, and I think that sealed the fate on my threatening migraine, along with me pushing myself too hard, too much heat and sun, and a bad sleep the night before. I *should* have taken him away from those two when I saw what they were doing to his mental balance, but I was just so tired out by that stage.

Anyway, Knightley had a really great time. The annoying thing is there are nice little beaches around the lake, yet dogs are not allowed within 50 metres of them. So I had to try finding places Knightley could get to the water, whilst carrying all sorts of stuff, and with my crutches........what a pain, both literally and metaphorically!

I had a look at dog friendly beaches and nearby accommodation on the NSW (New South Wales, Australia's most populous state) South Coast. Whenever we go down to the coast, that is the region to which we go generally, as it is the closest. A weekend down there with Knightley sounds great, although we may want to wait until the summer school holidays are over and the coast empties a bit! I'd just love to see what he makes of waves.

Another 35c (95f) degree day tomorrow, and it is taking its time cooling down tonight. Poor Knightley isn't liking the heat much, but he's surviving. It is so important that we look to our dogs during particularly hot days, dogs just don't manage heat as well as we do. Anyway, sleep calls me. So much for photos only, I can't help myself!

Happy New Year!

5 months 4 days old

Well, I seem to be lucky enough to have got myself a migraine from over eager dog walking/swimming on the last day of 2011. The things I do for that dog! I am on migraine preventatives and they are working pretty well these days, they keep them from getting completely full blown generally. Not this time though. :(

So this is just a message of good wishes for this year, for you and any four footed friends you may have in your life.

Big post on Knightley's migraine causing adventures at our local lake, Lake Ginninderra, coming up later.