We are settling into some version of routine in our days. We have stayed home most of the last three days. Rosanne sleeps through the night just wonderfully. She pees immediately each time we go outside for a potty break (always on leash - POTTY FIRST, PARTY SECOND) and I have learned that she likes to do poopies in a far corner of the yard. After the pee, I then walk her to a corner so she can wear back and forth a bit while I stand in one spot and then she poops. Good girl!!
I have learned that, any time she is put into a crate, she falls asleep. I am making use of that information to put her down for nap times rather than expecting her to fall asleep wherever she happens to be. She has learned to play quietly in the Puppy Palace when I need her to be stashed there and I have learned that sudden intense whining signals an urgent need to pee.
We are both learning as we go along each day! I **love** this process. She teaches me; I teach her.
After morning potty time, we have office time. The office is set up so she can't hurt anything nor can she get hurt by anything. With the baby gate at the door closed, she can meander about while I work on the computer. She has a variety of chewies and toys. I can reach down, grab a toy and have a play/training session periodically.
Marcus has always been the office dog with me. Joey prefers not to be closed into this room with us. And so far, Marcus has been a wonderful office companion for Rosanne. He does his adorable sphinx down and just watches her constantly. Sometimes she'll approach him reaching for his chin and he'll raise his lip at her. This is soooo wonderfully appropriate on Marcus' part and, of course, Rosanne listens to that signal. And this is a wonderful thing for Marcus because, with other dogs, his signals are "wimpy" and not listened to. To have an opportunity to practice communicating with a dog who listens to him is a really good thing for Marcus.
I have had several types of training sessions with her:
* sessions where I click/treat anything I like
* sessions where I pretend to ignore her and capture her lying down with a click and treat placed off to the side so she has to get up
* sessions where we play with a toy and I capture downs or cue her to turn when I say her name
Rosanne had the experience of her first bully stick. Though she doesn't make much of a dent in chewing it, she does enjoy the attempts. I refer to bully sticks as "cigars" and Rosanne really has the concept of "cigar" down pat (see video). I really enjoy group cigar sessions as everyone is busy chewing and enjoying themselves. Joey, recovering from dental surgery, made short work of his bully stick - Yay! nice to see him enjoying these again!
Notice when Rosanne freezes for a second in the second scene of the cigar video. Joey took a small step towards her and she did a freeze for a second. Joey very much wants to have that bully stick but he moved in incredible slow motion towards her. She finally got up and moved further away. Also watch for the scene where she wiggles the bully stick just like a cigar. It's hilarious! :)
Joey is warming up to Rosanne. They have had nose-to-nose sniffies a few times and yesterday Joey got to running with her a bit - for about 2 seconds. Later, they had a bit more running with Rosanne really want to be in the lead. Joey force-barks at her less now so she's less put off and is confident in making play overtures to him - little play bows and downs, little run-bys. She's winning him over! :) He's now getting a bit bouncy and chasey with her.
Our video sessions for captured downs are not going well. Despite trying to limit the distractions, there is only one place I can video - on the deck. Every tiny little leaf or dried grass becomes very interesting when I am trying to wait her out for a captured down. Play sessions for capturing downs work much better with a puppy!
Friday night I taught a class at the Gym which had only one attendee - a new student, first time in class, and her four-month-old Schipperke (Mickie). I took both Marcus and Rosanne with me to class; Rosanne to be in her play pen to watch and Marcus to be the demo dog. Once I realized we had a young puppy in class, Rosanne became the demo dog. Wow! her first class working gig!
My intent for all of my dogs is that they assist me in earning a living, i.e. be teacher's class dogs, demo dogs, play rehabilitators or whatever skill I discover the individual dog has. Rosanne, at her young tender age of 11 weeks, is already on the payroll. I love it! :)
In class we did a little bit of puppy following with lots of click/treats (prelude to loose leash walking) based on a Clicker Solutions article by my friend, Heather Christenson (who was Lindsay Neuman at that time) - Loose Leash Walking.
We also did Check-Ins (capturing head turns in the handler's direction) followed by adding a cue to those head turns, the dog's name (Name Game). Both puppies were stellar at these behaviors AS LONG AS there was sufficient distance between them so that they were not in each other's Attraction Zone. The Attraction Zone is a big imaginary circle around your puppy. Stuff outside the zone isnt' close enough to be interesting. Stuff just inside the zone is too attractive to resist.
And we got both puppies started on hand targeting - always a fun and usefull skill!
Not caught on video was Rosanne having a round of chasing her tail - and catching it too! I hope she does that again when I can grab the camera. I am sure loving those video snapshots!
I also learned that we can not have group potty breaks for a while. The stimulus from my next door neighbors' yard is often too much for Marcus to handle. While I can work with Marcus, calling him away, treating his response, I can't do it with Rosanne in tow. And, horror of all horrors, on this particular potty break, big stuff happened over there, Marcus got hysterical and frantic at the fence, Joey ran about and barked excitedly and then Rosanne started to bark too. ACK! I cannot have that! So back to big dogs out to potty separately from Rosanne's potty times (and better watchfulness on my part that, if big stuff is going on in that yard, we stay in until it's over). The fence is just lattice panels that I put up and so the noises, motions, barking dogs, people dragging stuff about is very salient.
Saturday I put Rosanne in her Puppy Palace while I took a phone call from Auntie Megan. Rosanne was quiet the whole time while in there. This is a huge leap forward for her! I occasionally came back in and gave her a rabbit ear or some treats. She has come a long way in being able to be calm and engaged when not having all of my attention.
Today, while playing with her, she gave me a big open mouth chomp on my hand. Ah ha! NOW we can get bitey-bitey games going! I think she's become more rested from her trip. We had a nice round of bitey-bitey with me working on extinguishing the really intense bites. We are now in full bite inhibition training!
Yesterday Auntie Lynn reminded me that I have a trip coming up this week. ACK! I didn't really think about it being so soon. I soooo hate to leave her already. Friday she'll go stay with Auntie Lynn and Big Cousin Ziva for *four* days. I come home for a few days and go away for the very next weekend (for four days) again. I am going to miss this munchkin so much.
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