Day 10 -- Time for Goodbyes

Oh Sia, it's been so much fun! She has worked hard this week. She's learned a lot despite being afflicted with an adolescent mind right now. I know she will be excited to see her family tomorrow and they will definitely be excited to see her. We have lots to show them. She's a good girl!

Sia has big feet to grow into. The mistakes she makes are a perfect opportunity to teach her. Mistakes often give us a chance to clearly define things for dogs so they have a very clear understanding of what we are asking of them. She has a lot of work ahead of her but, if anything, she's a hard worker and LOVES to work.

We hope she comes back very soon. She will be missed by more than just me...

Day 9 - Jump for Joy

Sia met a new friend today. His name is Brutus and he's in training to be a service dog.

Sia enjoys having someone new to play with and I like having a new dog to test and see how we're doing on her training and it's good for her socialization. I was very pleased to see that she did quite well with her recalls and paying attention when Brutus was around. She is turning on a dime on her recalls, even when in the middle of a game of tug with another dog. I'm very pleased with her progress.

So it appears as though she is generalizing her recall pretty well. But I did learn one thing she's still needing to generalize a bit more. She is no longer jumping on me and, when we met new people in a different location, she did well and rarely tried to jump. When Caroline from City Dog Country Dog came over tonight we found that she was quite willing to jump and be mouthy with her. So someone new coming into a familiar environment was exciting enough that she had a harder time controlling those impulses. We worked through it and practiced a lot throughout the evening and she was much improved. Knowing that someone new coming over is extra exciting for her allows me to prepare the next time. I can keep her on a leash until she's ready and I can be ready with some high value treats to keep her attention on me. Or, if I don't have time for that, I know that I need to put her in a crate while the visitor is present.

One thing is for certain, everyone who meets her just loves her.

And even with a new, fun dog in the house, she curls up with her first crush at my house, Sinbad.

Day 8 -- Coming Together

Sia is a bright, enthusiastic worker. But one of her biggest challenges is her impulsive behavior and distraction. As you can tell from the smudges on the door, she's asked to come into the house in ways that might not be appropriate. She's worked really hard this week on sitting for what she would like. I've taught her to do this by withholding her reward until she complies. In this instance, the reward is coming into the house. I will stand by the door and wait for her to sit before reaching for the door handle. If she gets up, I pull my hand back. If she's really struggling, I might turn away from her. She's a smart cookie though and it doesn't take long before she sits and waits for me to open the door. After just a week of practice she might put one paw on the door and then quickly remembers that she needs to sit.

I love that she is so into people and enjoys what she is doing. These are good traits for a working dog. One of the really nice side effects of using more positive methods with training is the relationship you build with your dog and fostering a happy, enthusiastic worker. It may be more work in the beginning but it's well worth it in the long run and there is not nearly as much maintenance needed when she is a fully trained adult dog.

The girl works hard and plays hard...and sleeps hard. She is definitely sleeping more these last few days. It's amazing how working a dog's brain can cut down on that excessive energy.

Day 7 -- New Years Day

In sticking with the "new beginnings" theme of the day, we worked on generalizing some of Sia's commands. Dogs do not generalize meaning that when they learn something, it doesn't necessarily mean that they know in different locations or under different circumstances. So, if she knows bed and one particular bed in one particular location, I need to also teach on a wide variety of other beds. That way she knows that "bed" means to go lie down on any bed or mat I have indicated to her.

When I am working on generalizing a command or taking it to a different level, I need to continually evaluate whether we are working at the right level or under the right circumstances. If she is not succeeding at something, I need to look at my own handling skills to determine what I need to do differently to help her be successful. For instance, when we were working on generalizing the "down" command, we were working in a different location (outside as opposed to inside). She was struggling a bit and I was having to rely on a physical cue when she was previously doing it on a verbal cue. When I stopped to think about what might be causing her to struggle, I realized Sinbad was close by (not in the same area but she could see him). This was enough of a distraction for her that she was not able to work at the level we normally worked at. It was too much for her to deal with the distraction AND the new environment at the same time. Once I removed Sinbad from sight, she was able to be successful again.

Although tired from the previous days festivities, Sia was able to muster up enough energy to do her training and to play a bit today.

And she is doing excellent with her recalls! She is easily and quickly coming out of play when called. I can also call her from different rooms of the house and she will come running. Even when she is playing with new dogs, which is a much higher level of distraction. Good girl!

 Sia was very happy to curl up with Sinbad at the end of the day. It mattered not that there was a much larger dog bed nearby that no one was using. She'll be well rested for our next day of training!

Day 6 - Happy New Year!

Oh Sia, she didn't quite make it to midnight but she tried. All of our hard work paid off! She did great at the small New Years Eve gathering. She was very polite and only tired to jump a couple of times. There was food on the tables and counter tops and she did very well. Her recalls were excellent even when she was distracted by new dogs. She did show a little bit of sound sensitivity to the faraway fireworks (nervous pacing) but was easily redirected to get her mind off of the sounds. She was a big hit and everyone fell in love with her.

We had great opportunities for socialization. She met new people and new dogs. She was a little unsure of this Norwegian Elkhound. But this was a perfect opportunity for her to get more comfortable with Enya. Enya was in a crate so she couldn't approach Sia. It's important to never force a dog into a situation where they are fearful so I let Sia approach the kennel at her own pace. She would stretch as far as she could to get close to the kennel without moving her feet. Eventually she went up to the kennel to meet Enya on her own.

In addition to new people and new dogs, it's important to get dogs use to new sounds and new objects. Sia had this opportunity at the New Years Eve gathering as well. Listening to someone play a musical instrument sure peeked her interest. Although she was unsure of it, she didn't back away which is good. I don't make a big deal out of new experiences for the dogs, I just want them to experience it on their own. If I see a dog getting too uncomfortable I will either remove them from the situation or I might run them through some easy commands to help build their confidence and get their mind on something else.

All in all it was a good night for Sia! I think she's off to a great start for the New Year!!

Day 5 - Prepping for the Holiday and More

Sia works on her retrieve every other day. It's a process that she seems to enjoy quite a bit but it can also be very stressful for a dog so I want to make sure we're going at a nice, easy pace. This will help her have a much more solid foundation too. But all this hard work has another benefit...it also serves to burn off some of her energy. Anything where a dog is having to use her brain to think and process things is going to help with her energy level. And Sia has a lot of energy. As we are getting prepped for the upcoming holiday, I want to make sure she is well exercised before we join in on the festivities.

Sia helped me with food prep for tomorrow. This was also our practice time to make sure Sia is keeping her paws off the counters, especially when there will be a lot of food on the tables. She gets lots of rewards when she make appropriate choices in the kitchen and around the dining room table. We've been putting in some extra effort on her jumping as well. There will be new people and new dogs for her to interact with tomorrow and I want to make sure she is behaving politely. I will instruct everyone before they meet her how to handle it if she jumps. Anyone touching or talking to her when she jumps will just reinforce that behavior. I want everyone to ignore her and turn away. The more people do this, the faster she will learn that jumping on people does not pay off for her.

I also want to make sure she is giving clear signals when she needs to go to the bathroom so we don't have any accidents. If I can't keep my eyes on her throughout the evening, I'll put her in a kennel so she doesn't go to the bathroom in the house. She gives pretty clear signals (circling at the door, whining, and pacing) but if I get distracted, I might miss those signs. But I also know her schedule pretty well now so it's my responsibility to get her outside when I think she might need to go to the bathroom.

So we'll continue with all our normal lessons tomorrow and have the added benefit of some extra socialization in the evening. I think Sia will do well and she'll enjoy visiting with new people and new dogs (although I think she's still hoping for a kiss from Sinbad at midnight).

Day 4 -- Self Control vs. Drive

It's a fine balancing act between teaching self-control and encouraging drive to work. Sia has great drive so we don't want to squash that at all. But she needs a little fine-tuning on her self-control. This is very normal for a puppy her age. I can use the environment and natural consequences to help teach her. For instance, when she is excited about her dinner, I stop preparing the meal if she puts her feet on the counter or on me. I stop and step away from the food. She will quickly pull it together and sit to get me to continue preparing the meal. If I go to let her out of her crate and she paws at the door, I close the door and stand up. When she is calm and not demanding, I can let her out. Sia is learning to "say please" for a lot of things she wants by sitting. Sit to go out, sit for a meal, sit before playing with other dogs, etc. She's learning that by having a little bit of self-control, she gets a lot of things that she wants.

She is progressing well with her "leave it" exercises. She will leave a pile of treats on the floor but I'm going to keep my hand close by to cover it up in case she dives for it. I don't want her to get reinforced for eating things off the floor. This is particularly important for a working dog. First, I don't want her pulling on the leash to get food off the floor. Second, not all food is ok to eat. Lastly, people do not want to see working dogs eating food off the floor when in public. If it is just a treat I dropped on the floor and she leaves it, I will pick up that treat and reward her with it. It takes a lot of self-control for dogs to leave food items so it's good to heavily reward them for that.

On the flip side, we want Sia to be enthusiastic to work. I really like to see enthusiasm with recalls. She is starting to come much faster when I call her and she can come even when she is playing with another dog. We'll continue to build on this until she can come in times of really high distraction.

A really nice side effect from our recall work is that Sia is starting to check in with me even when she is playing with another dog. I'm going to reward any random check in I get from her because I want her to be really tuned into her people. It's a big deal when a dog chooses to check in with you when there are other fun things happening in the environment. This is particularly important for Sia as she tends to be a bit distracted and we want her very focused on her work.