Last night Rosanne accompanied me to the Gym for my Start Right class. There were three young dogs in class, all girls. Rosanne was an excellent teacher's dog: she demonstrated Name Game, Following the Mum (prelude to loose leash walking), how to play tug and click/treat for a good pull on the toy. We had a great class with everyone being very active! The puppies and young dogs were all distracted and all over the map at the start of class, then totally focused and engaged by the end of class. Rosanne was not quite all there, a little less "all there" than she usually is. Maybe she was still sleepy from the car ride.
I found a really good occupier/chewie for her - a little piece of bully stick stuck in the end of a small Squirrel Dude.
MYSTERY FOR THE DAY: Why do other trainers reinforce one's puppy for having feet up on them? This is becoming a regular thing when we go to the Gym and I need to find a nice way to explain the Rules for Puppies - FEET ON A PERSON GETS YOU NOTHING, FEET ON FLOOR GETS YOU EVERYTHING.
After last night (two different people were petting her while she was standing up on them), she's up all over me this morning - a situation I have not had since she arrived. Do I put a sign on her X-pen? I really really do not want this reinforced and NOW is the time to stop it, not later when these same trainers decide it's now annoying to have her jumping on them.
Jumping on people is so easy to extinguish if you set the rule in place and *always* follow it. It's so much easier to never let it get started than to fix it later as a teenager.
LITTLE TIME WITH JOEY: Rosanne had a little yard time with only Joey this morning. Here's a video of where they are so far. If Joey only knew how much fun Ziva gets from playing with Rosanne, he would probably want that same fun. But right now, she's a pain in the tuchas for him.
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LISTERINE RINSE: A friend of mine suggested rinsing Rosanne in Listerine to help with the itchies. She's a breeder and says that puppies often have bacteria on their skin and the Listerine will knock that out. So, OK, I did it. I made up a pitcher of 1/3 listerine and the rest water and drenched her in it while outside on the grooming table. We'll see if that works or not!
VISIT TO AUNTIE LYNN: We had a visit with Auntie Lynn today. Rosanne had eaten a full breakfast this morning and, as a result, was not much in the mood for training. She fell asleep (as usual) during the car ride to Lynn's. She was NOT in the mood for any training when we got there. She was either:
a) not interested in me because of the Listerine dip b) not hungry because she ate a bowl of food for breakfast c) still sleepy from the nap in the car
She was just rather not herself. We hung out for a bit - she saw the goats in Lynn's pasture and barked at them, but would not take treats in order to do some goats = good things. When I picked her up, she wouldn't lick my face like crazy. I could be a big giant poisoned cue now - representing the evils of Listerine.
She played with Ziva for a bit. She had her leash on and Ziva got really into hauling her around by the leash (it's attached to a front-attachment harness). It was extremely hard to video as they kept dashing about pretty quickly.
Rosanne met Lynn's other dogs, Liam and Jake, so as to be ready for her coming 3 1/2 days staying with Lynn and company. She started to loosen up a bit and was eventually back to her licky, snuggly self. She enjoyed the Trader Joe's meatballs for some Mine! training with Lynn. She also laid on my lap for a long time, just relaxed and snuggly which is the first time for that.
After we got home, I did not feed her lunch. She had a nice long nap. After she woke up, she had about 20 minutes of chewing while I was on the computer. This seemed to get her fully awake as she was *ready* for some training!
We did a bunch of tugging with the pink octopus, working tug into left and right circles. We did a big bunch of rapid click/treats for standing. I even paused for a count of 2 seconds, then cued "sit" while she was still on her feet - twice! Wooo hoooo! Learning stimulus control!
After that I went back to the computer, looked down and discovered her first ever offered down. Wow! Click/treat! We then worked on offered downs for a bit with her giving me several. Some were a sit first. When nothing happened as a result of a sit, she pounced into a down. I accepted those this time but next time we will work on only downs w/o a sit first. For now, it was important that she understood belly-on-floor as a possible opportunity for click/treat.
I guess it's fair to say I learned two things today:
1. Rosanne needs to wake up slowly from naps.
2. Rosanne isn't likely to want to train if she's eaten a meal in a bowl. I'm going back to putting her meals in a bait bag and using it as reinforcement for desired behaviors.
This morning we did four training sessions in a row during our morning office time. For these training sessions I used the Access database I created, logged her sessions, then created a report of the training sessions so far today. Here are the details of those training sessions: ========================================================= Start Right : SIT LEVEL 2 SESSION GOAL: Cue sits and get response SESSION SETUP: I am sitting at my computer. Using puppy kibble. I WILL CLICK FOR: Butt starting to lower to ground. SESSION DATA: 10/10 successful. Cues were given before she could offer a sit. SESSION NOTES: She often sat immediately but a few times she moved a step or two beefore sitting. Response to cue was excellent. I believe she's had this on cue prior to coming to me. NEXT TIME I WILL: Give the cue when she is standing still and vary my position.
Start Right : SIT LEVEL 2 SESSION GOAL: To vary my position when cueing sit and to click for standing. SESSION SETUP: In office, sitting, standing, bending over, 2 different places in the space. Using puppy kibble. I WILL CLICK FOR: Butt hitting ground when cued and standing when not cued. SESSION DATA: 10/10 with good response, one offered sit. Twice added in a hand touch (cued). CTd several times in a row for standing. SESSION NOTES: she is very quick to offer sits. I did manage to cue several times while she was standing for a nano-second. The use of hand target gave her something to do and stay on her feet which helped. We need a LOT more work on this!
Start Right : DOWN LEVEL 1 SESSION GOAL: Capture downs while playing with the pink octopus toy. When I release the toy for her to have, she tends to lie down with it. I am offering the toy to play with her only when she is on her feet (i.e. not sitting). SESSION SETUP: Sitting in office chair. Using puppy kibble. I WILL CLICK FOR: lying down. SESSION DATA: 10 treats counted out. 7 times she laid down with the toy after I let go of it. 3 she didn't, she eventually sat.
Start Right : NAME GAME LEVEL 2 SESSION GOAL: To reinforce turn when she hears her name. SESSION SETUP: Sitting in my office chair. I am placing the treat 2 or 3 feet away so she is turned away from me to eat it. Using puppy kibble. I WILL CLICK FOR: Head turn SESSION DATA: 10/10 responses to cue "Rosanne" SESSION NOTES: She had awesome head-whips some times and not so awesome other times. NEXT TIME I WILL: Use higher value food for this. Try to click first part of head turn.
I have to find an easier way to get information from the report! I had a lot of re-formatting to do in order to post the above in a blog. Will work on that! That was four good little training sessions in a row I must say.
One of the important things to note here is the importance of stating out loud or on paper *ahead of time* what you will click for. Too many times we tend to get sloppy with our criteria in a training session and end up confusing the animal. State the criterion and then follow through by clicking ONLY for that criterion. If it turns out that your animal is getting it wrong three times in a row, abort, make a new plan, state a new criterion (split behavior into a small chunk) and start anew.
After the last one, she was way too intent on chewing up the throw rug in my office so she had to go back to the Puppy Palace. I'll have to change out the throw rug to one without fringe. Plus get better chewies for the office. Or put her on the waist leash tether.
VET LOBBY VISIT
We had a second puppy visit to the vet's lobby today. Rosanne got to meet (and be held by and cuddled by) two more vet techs. My other two dogs board at the vet's when I travel. The two today know my other dogs quite well and were very disappointed that Rosanne would not be boarding there this weekend.
She now weighs 8.8 lbs so apparently I am feeding her enough. I have been wondering about that because I use her food for training. I try to religiously measure it out and get her puppy kibble into a separate bait bag. But the reality is that a lot of other training treats get mixed into the bait bag or get fed to her. Plus I grab whatever I can reach for the other two dogs. Thus, I end up not really sure if she's getting her full 1/4 cup three times a day.
Today I counted out a 1/4 of her puppy kibble - approximately 100 pieces. That will help somewhat. When I do measured training sessions, I'll know how much I have used. It's the "on the fly" training that takes place all day long that I really don't have a handle on as far as quantity.
Friday, I am leaving for Modesto for a seminar and will be back on Monday. It really pains me to think of leaving her so soon. I will have barely had her for 10 days by that time. She will be in *good* hands, though - she'll be with Auntie Lynn and Big Cousin Ziva. Lynn better send me video clips! :) Lynn does board-and-train and sends the owners of the BNT dogs video clips of their progress so surely a worried puppy mum will get a couple, right?
This afternoon we had a visit from Jane Sinclair and her 6.5-year-old PBGV, Maizy. Jane and Maizy were students of mine a few years ago. And it was Jane who tweaked me about the announcement of Rosanne's litter on the PBGV performance list. I saw the notice but thought, no, I can't do a puppy now. A week or so later, Jane forwarded the announcement to me asking if I had seen it and wouldn't this be a good thing for me? Eh, I gave it a second look and, well, you know the rest - little Rosanne Rosannadanna is here! Rosanne has really blossomed into full feistiness today. Suddenly she's more grabby, more squirmy, more active. Ha! she must have been resting up for the last three days and is now ready to take on the world. Here's a video clip of Jane trying to have a cuddle with Rosanne who is having none of it.
Rosanne and Maizy had some running about the yard. Mostly Maizy was off investigating stuff at the edges of the yard while Rosanne was practicing 50-foot recalls back to me. Boy! I love seeing that little dog running full tilt towards me! Rosanne followed Maizy around a bit and, much like with Joey, could not quite get full play going. There is a real cute scene in this video of the two of them doing tandem behavior ("I'll be your best friend" as Sue Sternberg calls this).
Jane brought us prezzies which was so nice of her - a food enrichment toy (Treat Stick) for Rosanne and a big glass slab photo holder with a photo of Rosanne in it for me. Jane, thank you so much - that was really thoughtful of you. Jane and I have tentative plans to meet up at the local lure coursing practice later on this month and see what the two PBGV girls make of chasing a plastic bag. I'll probably take Joey too. He's done it once before and I know he would love a good outing and a good chase.
Rosanne busied herself in the yard, when Maizy wouldn't give her attention, by attempting to bring me my cane. Perhaps she's a future assistance dog!
Well, all of that was very tiring so we came inside and Rosanne had a big long nap in the Puppy Palace. The Puppy Palace has a 36" wire crate on one end of it (Joey's crate). She took some toys in there and feel asleep in the cushy cuddler that I put in there for her. Yay! she can take a nap where she is rather than having to be put in her crate.
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.
We finally had a quiet day at home and are now developing some routine. Rosanne sleeps through the night very nicely - for which I am very grateful! This morning she started whimpering around 6 am. I ignored this and went back to sleep as the whimpering was not of the intense "I need to pee right now" type of whimpering.
Yesterday morning I did pill time for the older dogs (pills wrapped in raw turkey burger) and started Rosanne on the important lifetime skill of taking pills. She got a piece of kibble wrapped in turkey burger. How fun to be doing Pill Time will all three dogs!
We then retired to my office for morning computer work. This was an especially nice time for me as I was able to get a lot of work done. The sliding glass door was open to the closed off deck. Marcus was in the office with Rosanne and me so he and Rosanne had a couple of hours together in close quarters. The baby gate was closed on the office doorway. Joey chooses not to be in the office when the baby gate is closed.
Rosanne played with her chewies, found a sticky note to play with, came and sat soliciting attention from me. She had a lot of cookies for coming towards me, lifting her head off the ground, choosing not to put feet up on me and so on. I am feeding all of her meals via on-the-fly reinforcement. Marcus, of course, got plenty of treats for maintaining calmness with Rosanne present.
After feeding the big dogs and then having a group potty break, Rosanne and I went for a ride. She immediately fell asleep in her crate in the van. We didn't go very far - just to the vet's office (River's Edge Pet Medical) to have a puppy visit to the lobby.
I love my vets and their staff. They are so good to my dogs, so supportive and caring. I couldn't ask for a better vets' office. Rosanne and I were greeted by one of the vet techs and, as it turned out, they were on lunch break. The whole office was very quiet and only one tech was available for puppy greetings. The tech played with her a bit and took her onto the scale for a weight (7.6 lbs). Rosanne was entered into the computer as a new patient. The software actually had Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen in the list of breeds! Rosanne is the first PBGV in their practice. :)Rosanne was a little less than her outgoing self at the vet's. Her nap time (which is serious business) had been interrupted and she was a bit sleepy.
She fell asleep on the way home. It's only a short drive so again her nap was interrupted. We returned to work in the office. She immediately discovered (for the first time) the open soft crate tucked in under one of the desks, crawled in and took her nap there. Whew! I was glad to learn that naps did not have to be in the van.
We had a big long play session for the first time in the big back yard. Joey was very much into fetching frisbees. He did not even care about stealing Marcus' frisbees (very unusual). Joey is a bit off since Rosanne's arrival. He's clingy to me and mostly looks quite uncertain about what he should be doing. Right now we're in the office and he's actually in here with us but standing in the middle of the space looking miserable. I have asked him to do the occasional hand-touch and verbally mark him and reinforce with at treat.
In yesterday's play session, Marcus (who is my supreme master of fetching) was not all that interested in running after his little frisbees. He preferred to stay very close to the Symbol for Treats (i.e. Rosanne) in case treats should be forthcoming. Marcus did, however, fulfill his usual role of bringing Joey's dropped Frisbee on home to me. He's the man for clean up duty!
Marcus and Rosanne had a lovely Ba Boom! session in the grass. This is a game where I call out "Ba Boom!" and drop a big handful of treats and kibble for the dogs to forage in close proximity to each other. It's a very good exercise on several levels - keeps the dogs actively engaged in natural acquisition of food, allows the dogs to learn to eat near each other, helps the young dog learn communication signals from the older dogs and helps "inocculate" against resource-guarding.
When playing group foraging, it's hugely educational for all concerned - humans and dogs. How do they decide which dog goes for which treat? It's all very subtle but it's all choreographed between the dogs. This is what makes this game so good for teaching puppies to read signals.
Joey was not interested in the Ba Boom! game. I think he's still sorting out his place in the scheme of things now. If I were to anthropomophize: perhaps he's not sure about stepping up to the puppy raising task. At this stage of Joey's puppyhood, BJ had taken over completely. And, for BJ, it was reflexive, as if he couldn't help himself, he simply HAD to make sure the puppy had proper schooling. All of that was a complete shock to me as I had never seen anything like that from BJ prior to the day I brought Joey home.
BJ was junior to two Beardie bitches (Brady and Maggie) and both of those girls had left for the Bridge only three months before. Knowing BJ's nature for the rest of his life (a very good peace-keeper, play group monitor, communicator, teacher dog), it is no surprise his talents were not revealed while Brady and Maggie were alive. It was not his place to take a leadership role. But boy! did he ever step up!
Joey being in the office with us right now (though he's still just standing next to me) is a big step for him. He occasionally reaches is nose down to sniff the puppy but that's all so far.
After the big back yard session, we all had an afternoon nap. I put Rosanne into her night-time crate and she was out like a light. Good! Now she has three ways to take a nap - in the van, in a crate or finding a crate on her own to go to sleep in.
****************************************************************** TRAINING: I did a video session of training with Rosanne - capturing downs. I sat in a chair on the deck with Rosanne's leash under my legs. She had enough leash to move around a bit. We were out on the deck and I pretended to read a book ignoring her. However, I was watching her surreptitiously. :) Each time she laid down, I clicked and set a treat down for her just far enough away so she had to get up. I set the treats down instead of tossing them because she's not yet able to track the motion of a tossed treat very well.
The downs were very far between. Sometimes she sat and rolled over into a sort-of-down in order to scratch herself. I clicked those but only after she had finished scratching and settled into the down. There were a couple of times that two downs happened relatively close together but not enough that I can yet claim she's doing downs intentionally to get a click.
It's the intentionality that I am watching for as I want her to learn that her behavior causes good things to happen. This is why I mark/treat her for all of the good things I see her do that I want repeated. *******************************************************************************
We have worked out group potty sessions, group foraging sessions, group nap sessions. We have even worked out group TV watching. Rosanne is on my lap, Joey curled up on the floor next to the couch, Marcus at my feet. I do so love it when all of my dogs are within two or three feet of me! Later the dogs rotated a bit with Marcus up on the back of the couch, Joey at my feet and Rosanne in my lap. After I put Rosanne to bed in her night-time crate, we had adult time. Joey got to take up his usual place draped across my body as I watch TV (really as I fall asleep watching TV).
We had a lovely restful day at home with everyone learning new ways to get along and to get to know each other. Will add video clips later today.
Wednesday, Sept 29, 2010 What a full day little Rosanne Rosannadanna has had! And a day chock full of learning experiences it was. I am, quite frankly, exhausted. (I am actually writing this entry on Thursday morning - no way could I get computer time yesterday).
Three major events: Morning: to My Dogs Gym to be with me as I taught the 11 am class. Afternoon: to Auntie Lynn's house for meet-and-greet, play time, video work. Then home for a nap. Evening: Back to the Gym to attend pet manners class as students.
Rosanne has adapted to being on leash now. Last night she seemed as if a leash was a totally foreign concept. I'm using Marcus' front-attachment harness for her and it's actually too big for her. She's consistently peeing right away when I take her out on leash. We have a family rule for puppies: POTTY FIRST, PARTY SECOND - all potty excursions are on leash. I stand in one spot until she goes. Then, the leash comes off and she's free to do what she likes - which at this point is to hang around me.
Last night her intro to Joey was not great. Joey did the Beardie bark at her to get her to move and she stayed back under my legs as I sat in a chair. This was in the small yard off my office. Joey bounced around trying to engage her but she just watched. After a bit, she came out and walked around ignoring Joey. Joey gave up and we had simple ignoring of each other.
Marcus was actually better with her in the introduction. He sniffed her appropriately and she allowed it. Later in the house Marcus barked and charged at her when she was in the Puppy Palace (exercise pen) and she fell over and squealed. Marcus then had a series of treat-treat-treat for looking calmly at the puppy in the Puppy Palace and we had peace after that. This morning (Wed), Joey and Marcus pretty much ignored her when we were all outside for potty breaks. And she rather ignored them too being very focused on me. ****************************************************** TRAINING: NOISY GETS YOU NOTHING, QUIET GETS YOU EVERYTHING - this is a phrase from Emma Parsons. Rosanne whimpers when put in the Puppy Palace and whimpers when I approach to see her or let her out. Nothing happens for noisy puppies; quiet puppies get lifted out, door opened, pets and lovin'. She is incredibly smart and has nailed this game when I am nearby. ****************************************************** AT THE GYM: I unloaded all of her gear and set up the X-pen for her to use while I teach my class. While walking about outside with her in the baby sling, she fell, jumped or slid out onto the asphalt. She never made sound! She shook herself off and appeared to be OK. Sheesh! That was scary.
She did not sleep while I taught class. Mostly she sat and watched everything. She chewed a Kong and chewed her dried rabbit ear. Class attendees were a 5-month-old Golden Retriever and a one-year-old Golden Retriever. The two class dogs were quite curious about her and I allowed them, one at a time, to come check her out at the X-pen watching VERY carefully that none of the dogs became subject to barrier frustration. I'm not fond of dogs greeting through gates, fences, X-pens, etc.
After class the Goldens had a play session while I carried Rosanne around watching them play. I did put her down for a little bit. The one-year-old had swiped Rosanne's Kong from the Xpen and she was totally focused on that. Rosanne bounced around, did play-downs, chased the two dogs a bit, they over-faced her a bit, not bad, she went back for more. I did lots of "puppy, puppy" call-outs when she was interested in the dogs with perfect head-turn responses, verbal marker, gallop to me for her treat.
At one point, Rosanne gave the five-month-old a cut-off signal. The five-month-old did not read that signal and continued over-facing Rosanne. We ended there. People she met: Judi, Brooke, Neil, Susan, Jim Dogs she met: Laney(1-year-old), Bailey (5-month-old)
VISIT TO AUNTIE LYNN: Oh! Did she ever have a great time at Lynn's house! Lynn's 11-month-old Wire Haired Vizsla was a very good puppy raiser for Rosanne to engage with. Every time Rosanne gave a cut-off signal (lie down, roll sideways), Ziva respected that and stopped forward motion towards Rosanne. THIS is what I call a good learning session. I'm not fond of puppies playing together but prefer instead for my puppy to learn one-on-one good communication skills from an older dog with good skills. Ziva had a really cool way to invite play with Rosanne - she dangled a toy from her mouth and would try to get Rosanne to grab it. There were very brief moments where both girls had hold of the toy but I could not get video as it was mere nanoseconds long.
I took lots of video and lots of video snaps which I will roll all together into one clip. Rosanne is a master at carrying obejcts around. We played baby-fetch with a pine cone - she's a fetcher! Wooo hooo! Lynn and I both commented on how good Rosanne looks when she runs full out. She looks beautiful! Auntie Lynn thought Rosanne was quite cute - they greeted and cuddled and played with a toy. Oh boy, new friends! This is a good thing as Auntie Lynn will be puppy-sitting Rosanne soon while I go off to do a seminar and then a workshop.
We had a really long and very nice play-learning session with Lynn and Ziva. I did "puppy, puppy" call-outs and added in a few "Rosanne" call-outs too. She responded with head-whips to either, got marked and treated. I love to see her little gallop towards me! THIS is what you want for socialization with your puppy - one person and/or one dog at a time, focused engagement with the person or the dog, and really getting to know the person or the dog. Yes, the barrage of strangers oohing and aahing and petting is probably good but I prefer interaction and engagement and learning sessions.
Thank you, Auntie Lynn, for such a nice greeting time! Lynn and I did a film session for one of our training videos. The subject of the video included distractions so I walked Rosanne on leash in and out of the video clip while Ziva was demonstrating the training task. I haven't watched the video yet; I do hope it's good! Rosanne has been in Oregon less than 24 hours and already I am putting her to work. I have always said that all my dogs are working dogs and they all participate in the earning of funds. She joined the workforce a bit sooner than I had expected!
Treats used: Roll-over (salmon type) and bits of her food. People met: Lynn Dog met: Ziva
We had a much needed afternoon nap. I settled everyone down, laid on the couch with the TV on and fell asleep as did Rosanne (in her crate). She fussed and whined with a vengenance when she heard me get up - she had to potty! Good girl.
BACK TO THE GYM: What a wonderful surprise! Auntie Barbara was at the Gym. Barbara's father was a PackMaster or Master of Hounds (I forget the correct title) for a hunting pack of Beagles when she was a kid. So she loves hounds (though she's a Beardie person as an adult). She took Rosanne and carried her all about, lovin' her up and having a great time. Rosanne is a cuddler and a love-bug with everyone and she definitely enjoyed being Barbara's little princess. Auntie Barbara helped fix her harness so it wasn't quite so big too. Rosanne and I sat in on a Start Right class. We did not do what the class was doing. We worked on conditioning the relationship between click and treat. ***************************************************************** TRAINING: I worked on click/treats for anything I wanted to see more of - looking at me, lifting nose from ground, doing puppy downs, running towards me. Rosanne offers lots of sits but I am not marking and reinforcing those. I don't like sit as a default behavior. I find it annoying to try to train a dog who just sits, sits, sits when it doesn't know what to do. I don't reinforce sits in a new dog or puppy until quite a ways down the road. I want a good training history of being on one's feet, doing things, offering behaviors, etc before working on sit. She does have adorable little sits I must say! ********************************************************************* People she met: Barbara, Shirley, Lynne
Dogs she met: Kona, 6 old month BC, and one of Barbara's Beardies
AT HOME: I thought I had Rosanne safely tucked into the Puppy Palace so that I could do a little on the computer in my office. Rosanne got out! I didn't know she was out until I heard her screaming. Marcus had charged her, pinned her down while "attacking" her (no contact, just intimidation). Joey was there but did nothing to split Marcus off. BJ would have clobbered Marcus before he even charged the puppy. There's a reason BJ had very strong limits on Marcus!
After separating everyone, we had a 15-minute-round of treats for everyone while I sat on the couch, Rosanne next to me, Marcus on his little bed on the couch, Joey in front of me. Peace has reigned since then with all dogs being in the office with me and all being civilized. Joey does know it's OK to read the riot act to Marcus and has had to do so several times since BJ left for the Bridge. So I'm not sure why he didn't step in. He's a splitter by nature. Maybe he's a bit bamboozled by this little creature that is so new. She is none the worse for the event though and everyone is co-existing quite peacefully since then.
HOLY COW ! This little girl is a go-go-go energizer bunny! She is incredibly inquisitive and in motion constantly until *crash*! she's asleep. At Delta cargo they put her little crate on the counter. I took the metal ties off of it, opened the door and she jumped into my arms and proceeded to plaster my face with licking. I carried her around while taking care of paperwork, got out the camera and had a bystander take a little video of her in my arms.
I took her out to a tiny little triangle of icky dirt and scrubby grass (industrial parking lot, ugh). No go, nada, nothing. She drank a little water though and ate a little bit of food. I had dug up Marcus' (Havanese) seatbelt harness so had her on that in the front seat in a small dog cuddle bed. Oh my, she chewed on the bed, wiggled around, whined while I drove and massaged her with one hand. Twenty minutes of freeway driving, wham! out like a light. We arrived home around 9 pm or 9:30 pm. She met her brothers, I finally got lunch (which was dinner by this time), fed the boys, Rosanne finally peed. Whew! I thought I would never get this gang settled in. I put her in her little crate up on a table next to my bed and went to bed to watch TV. I heard a little thump-bump from the crate. She had fallen over sideways, flat out asleep. She's still asleep so the boys and I can have a little alone time. I discovered my video camera does a thing called "video snap" - takes a 2-second video, kind of a photo with motion. I got some cute video snaps of her chewing on a Kong which I'll post tomorrow. Boy, figuring out who, what, where and when was a bit taxing but we got it all worked out eventually.
***************************************************************************** TRAINING: Not only is Rosanne adorable - she's very cool! I had her in an Xpen in the living room while I ate my dinner in front of the TV. Then, to let her out of the Xpen, all my old habits kicked right in. DOORS DO NOT OPEN WHEN THERE ARE FEET ON THEM. Each time I reached to open the door, she would stand up against it. I would stop moving, she put her feet down, I started moving in again. *THREE* times was all it took for her to figure out that Feet on Floor Causes Open Door. She is soooo much different than Joey at that age. ****************************************************************************
I'm so glad she's asleep so I can not only rest but can now organize my strategy. I have a feeling I am going to have a hard time staying ahead of her. We have a big day tomorrow as I have two commitments at the Gym (training center) plus a visit to Auntie Lynn's house for some video work.
