What could be nicer than taking the dogs for a walk and delivering cards on our walk?
Well for a start it would have been easier if it was not pouring with rain - and probably easier if one of the dogs was not a puppy but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Put leads on both dogs and start walking, remove Molls lead from Chances mouth, after doing this three times move Molly so she is not on the same side of me as Chance. Walk nicely with loose leads to first gate - allow small smug smile, open gate and get towed up the path - apparently lead manners don't apply on someones garden path!! Get cards out find the right one and dodge Chances attempt to grab it to push through letterbox.
Turn to go and realise Molly has parked in a "I am not budging" style - she likes visiting people and it is dry on the doorstep!! Persuade Molly that we have work to do, drag two reluctant dogs back through the gate and walk nicely to the next house.
This time I am prepared for the drag through the gate so insist on some manners. I had not realised the dangers of the decorated tree on the doorstep this time but Chance had spotted it and was already invrestigating. Remove her mouth from decoration, push card through door and start negotiations with Molly about leaving the doorstep. As she gets up to move Chance pounces on the tree again so remove her, get Molls moving and vow never to do this again!!
Put dogs in car and deliver remaining cards myself.
Monday 24 December 2012
Saturday 8 December 2012
Bravery
.... sort of!
Molly and I were invited to a Brave Pets Award Ceremony by Vets Now after her couple of night stay earlier this year. The vets and nurses say they like to invite a few of the people they have seen over the year for a party as they only tend to see the pets when they are very poorly and it is nice to see them when they are fully recovered and to meet the owners when they are not stressed and worried.
All of the pets there had been seriously ill with conditions ranging from Molls pancreatitis through car accidents to eating the wrong stuff. Molly was awarded a certificate, bandana and tag for her collar.
Molly and I were invited to a Brave Pets Award Ceremony by Vets Now after her couple of night stay earlier this year. The vets and nurses say they like to invite a few of the people they have seen over the year for a party as they only tend to see the pets when they are very poorly and it is nice to see them when they are fully recovered and to meet the owners when they are not stressed and worried.
All of the pets there had been seriously ill with conditions ranging from Molls pancreatitis through car accidents to eating the wrong stuff. Molly was awarded a certificate, bandana and tag for her collar.
Friday 7 December 2012
Training Group
To get a bit more motivation to train every day I have joined a facebook training group where all members pledge to update every day. I will endeavour to do my best and copy my facebook posts to here to keep a record!
24/11/12 Made a start today:
Chance - 12 week old lab/collie - aim - to build a strong verbal leave (as well as all the other bits of ongoing training we are currently doing)
Molly - 3 year old cockapoo - aim - to get her to calm down enough to concentrate and listen to what I am asking in the presence of distraction (especially Chance) as at the moment whilst she knows a fair bit that all goes out of the window when I ask her to do things with pupster close and she just gives me a response, rather than listening and doing as I ask her.
24/11/12 Made a start today:
Chance - 12 week old lab/collie - aim - to build a strong verbal leave (as well as all the other bits of ongoing training we are currently doing)
Molly - 3 year old cockapoo - aim - to get her to calm down enough to concentrate and listen to what I am asking in the presence of distraction (especially Chance) as at the moment whilst she knows a fair bit that all goes out of the window when I ask her to do things with pupster close and she just gives me a response, rather than listening and doing as I ask her.
Day 1 - my first goal was to get organised and sort treats both can have to reduce jealousy issues. At the moment I am working with them both around and asking for joint behaviours for sit and down - then individual for leave whilst holding collar for dog not being worked - probably not the best way to do this.
Chance already understands a closed fist hand signal for leave so we have done several short sessions of introducing word and she is starting to respond. Will continue to work on this holding treat in hand to build strong response before moving on.
Molly has been neglected training wise lately due to illness and the introduction of Chance. She is very anxious generally and I think this is what is causing her to stress out when asked to do things with pup close by so she just guesses. Easy first session today with sit, down and leave - all of which she knows very well - and none of which she responds to well at the moment with pup around. Will stick with just these three to allow her to calm and start to listen to what I am asking.
Thanks all - Chance does have a crate so will put her in and let Moll get her confidence up with a bit more distance.
We have had a quick session with the opposing dog crated and Molly did much better - lots of looks over to see if pupster was going to interfere but she was able to focus and listen so will continue to work with the commands she knows so she can get her confidence working near Chance.
25/11/12 This morning Molly introduced Chance to the fun of running through muddy puddles and getting totally filthy in the park. Lots of recalls practice for both and I realised Molly does have a point about Chance and she very much needs to learn not all treats are hers! As a joint exercise we have been doing sitting and waiting our turn - with more distance between them so Molly is more comfortable and Chance learns not to barge in - some improvement already I think.
Individually Molly was a little flat and not as bouncy as she normally is so I just did a few bits with her and left her. Chance is progressing and starting to understand the word leave with food in the flat of my hand and back off. She has also decided that down means to bounce quickly into a down then back up to a sit - so we have been working on duration for that before it becomes too much of a habit.
27/11/12 Opted for bed last night instead of updating!! Molly was still not quite right so having a quiet day. I did need to take both dogs down to the hall though which is a short distance and according to Molly "the most exciting walk in the world" given a choice she would prefer to do this walk at top speed screeching in excitement. Tonight was the first night I have attempted to walk both dogs there - eeeeek. I decided criteria was just for a loose lead - so sniffing fine, mooching fine and anything calm fine. It took a fair while to get there but lots of sniffing and a fair bit of calling Molly back when she wanted to charge ahead and we got there without a single screech from Moll.
Chance did a bit more general work - had a quick practice at sit, down and hand touch as well as walking nicely on the lead practice. Then did some "leave" training and she recognises hand signal straight away is also responding well to the word when used in the context of food in my hand.
Puppy training class tonight with Chance. Officially we did recall with sit (fine) playing with a toy (uneasy with snarly pup next to us so we took a wee break) heelwork (rubbish!) and started to target a mat (lots of puppy thinking) Between times we practiced sit, down, hand touch and watch. Generally pleased with how well she did. Molly seems better today but ran out of day really to do much with her - will teach her mat targetting as well.
29/11/12 Another busy day yesterday and no time to fit in anything for Molly. Chance did some lovely work on her leave though and is now able to do a good leave of her toy when playing tuggy as well as leaving food on an open hand. We aslso did some work on manners and sitting with a couple of other dogs and taking turns to have treats when name said rather than diving in and trying to grab everything.
After some hooligan behaviour by Molly yesterday walking down "the most exciting road in the world" we ventured briefly down it today doing a slow mooch with slack leads. At the moment the walk leads to either a great off lead walk or fun in the training hall so I am going to combine some training on the walk with it sometimes just being a walk there and back rather than anywhere exciting.
Once home we have done a quick session of targetting mat which Chance needs to do for her puppy class - and Molly is doing as something new to do. Molly remembered doing this in the past and got the idea straight away so just need to work on building this. Chance only did a very quick session on Tuesday at class but also got the idea very quickly and was putting both front feet on the mat really nicely.
30/11/12 Molly was far too hyped today to even attempt the "most exciting road" with the pair of them. Instead I had to go to the shops so Molly and I had a nice calm walk around the shop car park - justy to remind her she can walk sensibly.
Done a short session of targeting mat with both dogs - Molly lost interest which I suspect was down to treats not being up to the standard she wanted. Chance really enjoyed her session - she works far faster than Molly and I am going to have to sharpen my clicker skills a lot to keep up with her. We had various stages of pouncing on the mat, digging the mat and trying to pick up the mat - but I was able to finish on a high of a few repetitions of sitting on the mat!!
Molly has just been sick so I guess lack of interest was due to feeling ill
1/12/12 I like weekends!! Started the day with some friends calling round and we then went for a walk over the fields, lots of recall practice for Chance. We have also done a couple of clicker sessions with target mat. Molly is quite sure there is something to do with walking backwards in there sometimes so despite sometimes sitting on the mat she is also giving me a whole variety of walking backwards mat related stuff like her "go to mat and walk back" or the variant "walk back to mat". Chance is more confident that the exercise involves sitting on the mat so is doing well and we now need to try in another location I think. Also done some work on leave with Chance. She is now responding to a verbal leave and can ask her to leave food on my hand. Started tonight with food on the floor and she was learning quickly to sit back and leave it. Had an invitation tonight to go to a neighbours for a cup of tea (life on the edge here!) and was going to say no - but too good a chance to miss to take pup visiting so we will call round quickly and stay for tea if dogs behave!
... and the moral of the story is to be more assertive when I say I am going and leave when I think it is right to rather than be bullied into staying by two lonely pensioners! The best I can say is nobody wee'd on the carpet!! Molly who should (and indeed normally does) decided she wanted to steal or at the very least guard the cakes from Chance and Chance managed to rugby tackle a table knocking over a cup of coffee - oh dear
2/12/12 Another nice walk over the fields this morning - with a friend and her dogs this time so plenty of charging about with some recall practice. We also got to practice leave when Chance got the toy and she was great even with other dogs around. Chance is not as confident as she was with people we meet out and about so this afternoon I took her for a walk to the shops. Had not factored christmas into the equation so was not expecting it to be as busy as it was but we started on the edges and worked our way up to the busy bits. We finished with a look round the pet shop. Chap working there decided to tell me she was going to be an active dog (?) and I needed to teach her to retrieve (?) as well as telling me which dog training club I needed to go to - so after listening patiently for a while we decided to do a demo of our sit, down, hand touch and leave food on an open hand - good puppy Chance!!
Since starting this challenge I have also been doing bits of work with both dogs together - nothing major - just sits and downs - but it was quite obvious Molly had big issues trying to work near to Chance. I have done work individually with each dog crated but this evening we were able to work both together and Molly was calm and listening. Dogs took it in turns and both worked nicely. Chance did sit, down and hand touch, Molly did all those plus spin both ways and was happy and relaxed working close to pupster so huge progress in the confidence stakes for her!
3/12/12 Not done a great deal today as busy with family stuff :( I did have to take Molly to the vets though so took plenty of chicken and took Chance in first to say hello to receptionists and have sit on the scales. Molly is very worried by the vets since being admitted a couple of months ago but did eventually relax enough to take some chicken. Our only other training has been a short session of mat targetting for both and a bit of food bowl manners practice for Chance.
4/12/12 Just back from puppy class. We did sit, down and hand touch really nicely. Recall was fab even with helper trying to distract Chance by talking to her. Heel work was much better than last week. We also did mat target and she did well in new environment going to mat but not sitting. Will do some more work on that. Also did some practice with leave in busy hall and she would leave food in my hand on verbal or visual cue and started to work on leaving food on floor. Molly made do with a nice walk with just the two of us where she walked nicely and calmly.
6/12/12 Last night we did a walk down "the worlds most exciting lane" it took ages as Molly was hyper excited so I think really I need to do more work with her on her own down there before taking them both - we did manage - but not ideal. In the training hall I did some sits and downs with both dogs. Chance went on to do hand touches, recall, and playing with her tuggy with a good leave when asked. This evening we have had a nice relaxed walk up a road which is less exciting followed by Chance doing some work on food bowl manners and wait.
7/12/12 I was off work today so took Chance into the office for a walk round to meet people. She was initially a bit cautious but everyone was great and did not force themselves on her so she soon got her confidence up and enjoyed herself. She was nice and calm walking nicely on the lead too so pretty good all round I think. This evening I took Molly on her own for a walk down the "most exciting road in the world" - she did much better on her own so will try to do more practice with just her and add Chance when Molly is slightly less hyper about it!
8/12/12 A bit of a different day today!! Molly was invited to a party held by the emergency vets, tea, cakes and a fair few dogs including one who barked ..... a lot .... and her humans choose to sit right behind us. At one time this would have led to a fair bit of growling and grumbling from Moll but she sat calmly on my lap (don't usually do that but less chance of eyeballing since lots of the owners were just letting their dogs do exactly what they wanted) for around 2 hours only grumbling slightly when the large barky dog almost had its head in my pocket! No other real training done as Chancey pup has a bug and is very quiet and not hungry so I am letting her rest.
9/12/12 Chance had a walk round the shops this morning practicing walking nicely on her lead and passing lots of people. Thankfully she seems to have lost her nervousness from last week so happy to say hello to anyone who wanted to say hello. Not done much else as she has been off her food and very quiet and Molly has been extra grumpy so also not quite right. This evening they are both quite bouncy so we have had a quick training session. Done a bit of targetting with them both and a bit of heelwork, learning for Chance and pratice for Moll - but something I should do more with her as she loves it! Also had a quick practice of leave with Chance - getting better at leaving food on the floor when told now!
11/12/12 Took Molly for a short walk on her own this evening and she walked really nicely on lead and sat automatically at kerbs. She is still finding it difficult to do when Chance is with us so will continue to do short bits of them together as well as giving her individual time. Then Chances puppy class, sit, down, mat target and heelwork all good. We have been doing a bit more practice with heelwork and I think it really showed this evening as she walked nicely with slack lead on my left with no bouncing - good girl Chance. We also did a practice at settle and unofficially we did bits of stay, watch me and leave. We then were meant to play - but Chance just sat and looked at me like she had no idea what play was - as soon as we got home Chance switched to play mode and played happily! Not sure if she is a bit overwhelmed in the environment or it is the fact I have spent an hour calming her down and rewarding calm behaviour that means she does not want to play in the hall.
Chance was eating better yesterday but very tired so no real work done - although on the short walks we are doing with both dogs they are both settling and walking much better together. Molls still grumpy so I suspect also not feeling on top form so lazy day for us all. Chance has puppy class tonight so will hopefully be OK for that.
She had some sort of bug at the weekend and was just very quiet and not wanting to eat. She is getting better and ate all her brekkie this morning so hopefully is almost back to full puppy bounce. Molls has not had the not eating part but has been more grumpy than normal.
13/12/12 I have been really pleased grumpy Molly is playing with the pup so mostly leaving them to it as long as it is good play - realised this week though when I was stood waiting for them to come in and freezing I need to get some controls in there - so this evening we have had several sessions of interupting play to call them in to me, reward and let them play again. I also did a bit of training with them both asking for simple sits, and downs, starting a stay with Chance (although that does seem to confuse Molls so need to get her confidence with that) and starting stand with Chance as we have puppy test next Tuesday which apparently includes a stand as well as sit and down.
No time to post last night by the time we got in. Chances lead manners are coming on nicely, had a lovely walk on our own, then a bit of work in the hall on walking in right position off lead. From being very happy to play tuggy she has now got shyer so took advantage of empty hall to have a nice play with her. Since someone scared her last week she is a lot more wary of people she does not know and generally avoiding them :( Will need to try and fit in lots and lots of positive people experience for her as really don't want her worried about people :(
14/12/12 Chance and I went visiting today - a couple of friends. Chance said a nice hello then settled down happily. I kept her on lead as the house is littered with delicate intricate wood carvings. Lady of the house brought me tea and cake a biscuits for chance and placed on very low foot stool directly in front of us - at Chance nose height - eeeek. I asked her to sit and gave her half of biscuit and then told her to leave when she considered moving towards the other biscuits and was very pleased when she sat back. She had another half biscuit and made no further move towards remaining biscuits, cake or tea. While things were going so well we did down and leave biscuit on floor practice too and she was great. Mostly she settled really nicely - very nice visit. This evening had a quick practice of mat work and stand ready for test on Tuesday. Started to teach Molly to stand with front feet on object - also had a quick joint session of sit, down and touch with both dogs.
15/12/12 Nice walk with both dogs this morning round what used to be Molls regular route. Pretty good lead walking for both of them. Then to the shops to do some loose lead walking around there individually. Chance was great and happy to say a quiet hello to the few people who stopped so all good. The pet shop were having a visit from a rescue so as well as a walk round there we said hello to all the ladies manning that and Chance said hello to a huge white rabbit - her response after a bit of gentle sniffing through the wire was to offer him a play bow!! I did not take Molls to see the rabbit as pretty sure she would have wanted to eat him. Back home we have had short clicker session of mat target for Chance and front legs on object for Molls. Since being spooked last week Chance is getting a bit hand shy at times so we have also had some practice at putting her head through neck of her harness for treats to try and get over that.
16/12/12 More visiting this afternoon and I was really pleased that Chance was quite happy to say hello to everyone - even my cousins husband who was a bit gruff and I thought may have worried her. Read what we are meant to do for our puppy test on Tuesday and had practice of mat target, down from stand and stand from sit and down for that. Also done a few more sessions of getting her to put her head through harness and also through collar. Molly had another session of targetting object with her front feet - very slow progress!! I need to work on stay with Chance and then get a decent stay with the pair of them.
17/12/12 Christmas party tonight at Chances training club - there was only one other puppy there and we were slightly out of our depth but Chance coped with the different environment dogs and people and was able to work following all her usual commands so pleased with that. We did manage a roll over when put on the spot to show a trick - eeeeeek - she is not four months yet - we have been doing serious stuff so far not tricks.
18/12/12 Just back from puppy training class and she worked really nicely and passed her test. Good girl Chancey pup!!!
Fuller report of what we had to do for our puppy test. Sit, stand and down, recall, grooming and handling, leave, target mat, say hello to people under control, settle for 2 mins and loose lead walking. The only blip we had was she is not keen to play in the hall so we had to show our leave with food rather than a toy. Really pleased with the way she did everything though - we had a new dog sat next to us which she coped with fine and generally well mannered and good focus all evening. Not bad for not quite 4 months.
20/12/12 Wednesdays are always really busy so struggle to get much done at all. I did have some time in the hall with Chance though so did a bit of heelwork then played tuggy as she seems to have lost confidence in playing outside the house so too good an opportunity to miss to have some fun and let her have some fun.
21/12/12 Chance has suddenly decided her harness is "very scary indeed" I had been doing some getting her and Molls to put heads through for a treat but she is getting more worried about it so we are going to back track totally and tonight had a clicker session for her to just touch the harness and will try to work on this and just not use the harness until she is coming happily when she sees me pick it up. Molly meanwhile is struggling dietwise at the moment - or rather I am struggling to find low fat stuff she is happy to eat other than chicken and rice and she is a grumpy grouch at the moment so little in the way of training being done with her. Got over a week off work now so hopefully will get properly on track with both of them and get Molls diet sorted.
22/12/12 I had a short but nicely controlled walk with both dogs this morning, then took Chance for a quick wander amongst all the Christmas shoppers and browse in the pet shop. Also had a couple of visitors and thankfully Chance seems to have lost her shyness. Short session of training of harness targetting with Chance - and stage two of eye contact with Molly.
23/12/12 A bit more practice at putting head through harness for Chance and then made a start on attention training. Molly did a bit more work on attention, a bit of leave (which seems to have lapsed lately and a bit of front feet targeting.
24/12/12 A little bit of work on attention with Chance and also getting sit and down on verbal cue as well as visual. Molly had a general run through of her general commands. This afternoon been to a friends and was really pleased with Chance who lay down quite settled whilst dinner was being served despite some being within her reach. Molly (who is an awful lot shorter) was less good so was removed from the area before she moved on from trying to reach the food to trying to guard the food!! More work on leave for madam Molly I think!
25/12/12 Not entirely sure it counts as training as such - but Molly was rehomed from her first home for being aggressive to the new puppy they got (and humans!) and came with pretty large resource guarding issues. Chance arriving has been a challenge and an increase in stress did mean a huge increase in resource guarding initially with toys being an issue and needing gradual introductions. So I was not too sure how new toys would work today .......
26/12/12 A nice off lead walk this morning, plenty of recalls and some nice socialising with some friendly people and dogs. All sorts of breeds so good experience for Chance. We met one pair of dogs I know to be unfriendly and whilst I did not have time to get mine on lead they both came to me and sat for several minutes (!) until the second dog finally gave up and went off to find his owner. This afternoon done some attention work, leave, stay and heelwork with Molly. Chance did a spot of mat target, attention and learning verbal sit and down.
Individually Molly was a little flat and not as bouncy as she normally is so I just did a few bits with her and left her. Chance is progressing and starting to understand the word leave with food in the flat of my hand and back off. She has also decided that down means to bounce quickly into a down then back up to a sit - so we have been working on duration for that before it becomes too much of a habit.
27/11/12 Opted for bed last night instead of updating!! Molly was still not quite right so having a quiet day. I did need to take both dogs down to the hall though which is a short distance and according to Molly "the most exciting walk in the world" given a choice she would prefer to do this walk at top speed screeching in excitement. Tonight was the first night I have attempted to walk both dogs there - eeeeek. I decided criteria was just for a loose lead - so sniffing fine, mooching fine and anything calm fine. It took a fair while to get there but lots of sniffing and a fair bit of calling Molly back when she wanted to charge ahead and we got there without a single screech from Moll.
Chance did a bit more general work - had a quick practice at sit, down and hand touch as well as walking nicely on the lead practice. Then did some "leave" training and she recognises hand signal straight away is also responding well to the word when used in the context of food in my hand.
Puppy training class tonight with Chance. Officially we did recall with sit (fine) playing with a toy (uneasy with snarly pup next to us so we took a wee break) heelwork (rubbish!) and started to target a mat (lots of puppy thinking) Between times we practiced sit, down, hand touch and watch. Generally pleased with how well she did. Molly seems better today but ran out of day really to do much with her - will teach her mat targetting as well.
29/11/12 Another busy day yesterday and no time to fit in anything for Molly. Chance did some lovely work on her leave though and is now able to do a good leave of her toy when playing tuggy as well as leaving food on an open hand. We aslso did some work on manners and sitting with a couple of other dogs and taking turns to have treats when name said rather than diving in and trying to grab everything.
After some hooligan behaviour by Molly yesterday walking down "the most exciting road in the world" we ventured briefly down it today doing a slow mooch with slack leads. At the moment the walk leads to either a great off lead walk or fun in the training hall so I am going to combine some training on the walk with it sometimes just being a walk there and back rather than anywhere exciting.
Once home we have done a quick session of targetting mat which Chance needs to do for her puppy class - and Molly is doing as something new to do. Molly remembered doing this in the past and got the idea straight away so just need to work on building this. Chance only did a very quick session on Tuesday at class but also got the idea very quickly and was putting both front feet on the mat really nicely.
30/11/12 Molly was far too hyped today to even attempt the "most exciting road" with the pair of them. Instead I had to go to the shops so Molly and I had a nice calm walk around the shop car park - justy to remind her she can walk sensibly.
Done a short session of targeting mat with both dogs - Molly lost interest which I suspect was down to treats not being up to the standard she wanted. Chance really enjoyed her session - she works far faster than Molly and I am going to have to sharpen my clicker skills a lot to keep up with her. We had various stages of pouncing on the mat, digging the mat and trying to pick up the mat - but I was able to finish on a high of a few repetitions of sitting on the mat!!
Molly has just been sick so I guess lack of interest was due to feeling ill
1/12/12 I like weekends!! Started the day with some friends calling round and we then went for a walk over the fields, lots of recall practice for Chance. We have also done a couple of clicker sessions with target mat. Molly is quite sure there is something to do with walking backwards in there sometimes so despite sometimes sitting on the mat she is also giving me a whole variety of walking backwards mat related stuff like her "go to mat and walk back" or the variant "walk back to mat". Chance is more confident that the exercise involves sitting on the mat so is doing well and we now need to try in another location I think. Also done some work on leave with Chance. She is now responding to a verbal leave and can ask her to leave food on my hand. Started tonight with food on the floor and she was learning quickly to sit back and leave it. Had an invitation tonight to go to a neighbours for a cup of tea (life on the edge here!) and was going to say no - but too good a chance to miss to take pup visiting so we will call round quickly and stay for tea if dogs behave!
... and the moral of the story is to be more assertive when I say I am going and leave when I think it is right to rather than be bullied into staying by two lonely pensioners! The best I can say is nobody wee'd on the carpet!! Molly who should (and indeed normally does) decided she wanted to steal or at the very least guard the cakes from Chance and Chance managed to rugby tackle a table knocking over a cup of coffee - oh dear
2/12/12 Another nice walk over the fields this morning - with a friend and her dogs this time so plenty of charging about with some recall practice. We also got to practice leave when Chance got the toy and she was great even with other dogs around. Chance is not as confident as she was with people we meet out and about so this afternoon I took her for a walk to the shops. Had not factored christmas into the equation so was not expecting it to be as busy as it was but we started on the edges and worked our way up to the busy bits. We finished with a look round the pet shop. Chap working there decided to tell me she was going to be an active dog (?) and I needed to teach her to retrieve (?) as well as telling me which dog training club I needed to go to - so after listening patiently for a while we decided to do a demo of our sit, down, hand touch and leave food on an open hand - good puppy Chance!!
Since starting this challenge I have also been doing bits of work with both dogs together - nothing major - just sits and downs - but it was quite obvious Molly had big issues trying to work near to Chance. I have done work individually with each dog crated but this evening we were able to work both together and Molly was calm and listening. Dogs took it in turns and both worked nicely. Chance did sit, down and hand touch, Molly did all those plus spin both ways and was happy and relaxed working close to pupster so huge progress in the confidence stakes for her!
3/12/12 Not done a great deal today as busy with family stuff :( I did have to take Molly to the vets though so took plenty of chicken and took Chance in first to say hello to receptionists and have sit on the scales. Molly is very worried by the vets since being admitted a couple of months ago but did eventually relax enough to take some chicken. Our only other training has been a short session of mat targetting for both and a bit of food bowl manners practice for Chance.
4/12/12 Just back from puppy class. We did sit, down and hand touch really nicely. Recall was fab even with helper trying to distract Chance by talking to her. Heel work was much better than last week. We also did mat target and she did well in new environment going to mat but not sitting. Will do some more work on that. Also did some practice with leave in busy hall and she would leave food in my hand on verbal or visual cue and started to work on leaving food on floor. Molly made do with a nice walk with just the two of us where she walked nicely and calmly.
6/12/12 Last night we did a walk down "the worlds most exciting lane" it took ages as Molly was hyper excited so I think really I need to do more work with her on her own down there before taking them both - we did manage - but not ideal. In the training hall I did some sits and downs with both dogs. Chance went on to do hand touches, recall, and playing with her tuggy with a good leave when asked. This evening we have had a nice relaxed walk up a road which is less exciting followed by Chance doing some work on food bowl manners and wait.
7/12/12 I was off work today so took Chance into the office for a walk round to meet people. She was initially a bit cautious but everyone was great and did not force themselves on her so she soon got her confidence up and enjoyed herself. She was nice and calm walking nicely on the lead too so pretty good all round I think. This evening I took Molly on her own for a walk down the "most exciting road in the world" - she did much better on her own so will try to do more practice with just her and add Chance when Molly is slightly less hyper about it!
8/12/12 A bit of a different day today!! Molly was invited to a party held by the emergency vets, tea, cakes and a fair few dogs including one who barked ..... a lot .... and her humans choose to sit right behind us. At one time this would have led to a fair bit of growling and grumbling from Moll but she sat calmly on my lap (don't usually do that but less chance of eyeballing since lots of the owners were just letting their dogs do exactly what they wanted) for around 2 hours only grumbling slightly when the large barky dog almost had its head in my pocket! No other real training done as Chancey pup has a bug and is very quiet and not hungry so I am letting her rest.
9/12/12 Chance had a walk round the shops this morning practicing walking nicely on her lead and passing lots of people. Thankfully she seems to have lost her nervousness from last week so happy to say hello to anyone who wanted to say hello. Not done much else as she has been off her food and very quiet and Molly has been extra grumpy so also not quite right. This evening they are both quite bouncy so we have had a quick training session. Done a bit of targetting with them both and a bit of heelwork, learning for Chance and pratice for Moll - but something I should do more with her as she loves it! Also had a quick practice of leave with Chance - getting better at leaving food on the floor when told now!
11/12/12 Took Molly for a short walk on her own this evening and she walked really nicely on lead and sat automatically at kerbs. She is still finding it difficult to do when Chance is with us so will continue to do short bits of them together as well as giving her individual time. Then Chances puppy class, sit, down, mat target and heelwork all good. We have been doing a bit more practice with heelwork and I think it really showed this evening as she walked nicely with slack lead on my left with no bouncing - good girl Chance. We also did a practice at settle and unofficially we did bits of stay, watch me and leave. We then were meant to play - but Chance just sat and looked at me like she had no idea what play was - as soon as we got home Chance switched to play mode and played happily! Not sure if she is a bit overwhelmed in the environment or it is the fact I have spent an hour calming her down and rewarding calm behaviour that means she does not want to play in the hall.
Chance was eating better yesterday but very tired so no real work done - although on the short walks we are doing with both dogs they are both settling and walking much better together. Molls still grumpy so I suspect also not feeling on top form so lazy day for us all. Chance has puppy class tonight so will hopefully be OK for that.
She had some sort of bug at the weekend and was just very quiet and not wanting to eat. She is getting better and ate all her brekkie this morning so hopefully is almost back to full puppy bounce. Molls has not had the not eating part but has been more grumpy than normal.
13/12/12 I have been really pleased grumpy Molly is playing with the pup so mostly leaving them to it as long as it is good play - realised this week though when I was stood waiting for them to come in and freezing I need to get some controls in there - so this evening we have had several sessions of interupting play to call them in to me, reward and let them play again. I also did a bit of training with them both asking for simple sits, and downs, starting a stay with Chance (although that does seem to confuse Molls so need to get her confidence with that) and starting stand with Chance as we have puppy test next Tuesday which apparently includes a stand as well as sit and down.
No time to post last night by the time we got in. Chances lead manners are coming on nicely, had a lovely walk on our own, then a bit of work in the hall on walking in right position off lead. From being very happy to play tuggy she has now got shyer so took advantage of empty hall to have a nice play with her. Since someone scared her last week she is a lot more wary of people she does not know and generally avoiding them :( Will need to try and fit in lots and lots of positive people experience for her as really don't want her worried about people :(
14/12/12 Chance and I went visiting today - a couple of friends. Chance said a nice hello then settled down happily. I kept her on lead as the house is littered with delicate intricate wood carvings. Lady of the house brought me tea and cake a biscuits for chance and placed on very low foot stool directly in front of us - at Chance nose height - eeeek. I asked her to sit and gave her half of biscuit and then told her to leave when she considered moving towards the other biscuits and was very pleased when she sat back. She had another half biscuit and made no further move towards remaining biscuits, cake or tea. While things were going so well we did down and leave biscuit on floor practice too and she was great. Mostly she settled really nicely - very nice visit. This evening had a quick practice of mat work and stand ready for test on Tuesday. Started to teach Molly to stand with front feet on object - also had a quick joint session of sit, down and touch with both dogs.
15/12/12 Nice walk with both dogs this morning round what used to be Molls regular route. Pretty good lead walking for both of them. Then to the shops to do some loose lead walking around there individually. Chance was great and happy to say a quiet hello to the few people who stopped so all good. The pet shop were having a visit from a rescue so as well as a walk round there we said hello to all the ladies manning that and Chance said hello to a huge white rabbit - her response after a bit of gentle sniffing through the wire was to offer him a play bow!! I did not take Molls to see the rabbit as pretty sure she would have wanted to eat him. Back home we have had short clicker session of mat target for Chance and front legs on object for Molls. Since being spooked last week Chance is getting a bit hand shy at times so we have also had some practice at putting her head through neck of her harness for treats to try and get over that.
16/12/12 More visiting this afternoon and I was really pleased that Chance was quite happy to say hello to everyone - even my cousins husband who was a bit gruff and I thought may have worried her. Read what we are meant to do for our puppy test on Tuesday and had practice of mat target, down from stand and stand from sit and down for that. Also done a few more sessions of getting her to put her head through harness and also through collar. Molly had another session of targetting object with her front feet - very slow progress!! I need to work on stay with Chance and then get a decent stay with the pair of them.
17/12/12 Christmas party tonight at Chances training club - there was only one other puppy there and we were slightly out of our depth but Chance coped with the different environment dogs and people and was able to work following all her usual commands so pleased with that. We did manage a roll over when put on the spot to show a trick - eeeeeek - she is not four months yet - we have been doing serious stuff so far not tricks.
18/12/12 Just back from puppy training class and she worked really nicely and passed her test. Good girl Chancey pup!!!
Fuller report of what we had to do for our puppy test. Sit, stand and down, recall, grooming and handling, leave, target mat, say hello to people under control, settle for 2 mins and loose lead walking. The only blip we had was she is not keen to play in the hall so we had to show our leave with food rather than a toy. Really pleased with the way she did everything though - we had a new dog sat next to us which she coped with fine and generally well mannered and good focus all evening. Not bad for not quite 4 months.
20/12/12 Wednesdays are always really busy so struggle to get much done at all. I did have some time in the hall with Chance though so did a bit of heelwork then played tuggy as she seems to have lost confidence in playing outside the house so too good an opportunity to miss to have some fun and let her have some fun.
21/12/12 Chance has suddenly decided her harness is "very scary indeed" I had been doing some getting her and Molls to put heads through for a treat but she is getting more worried about it so we are going to back track totally and tonight had a clicker session for her to just touch the harness and will try to work on this and just not use the harness until she is coming happily when she sees me pick it up. Molly meanwhile is struggling dietwise at the moment - or rather I am struggling to find low fat stuff she is happy to eat other than chicken and rice and she is a grumpy grouch at the moment so little in the way of training being done with her. Got over a week off work now so hopefully will get properly on track with both of them and get Molls diet sorted.
22/12/12 I had a short but nicely controlled walk with both dogs this morning, then took Chance for a quick wander amongst all the Christmas shoppers and browse in the pet shop. Also had a couple of visitors and thankfully Chance seems to have lost her shyness. Short session of training of harness targetting with Chance - and stage two of eye contact with Molly.
23/12/12 A bit more practice at putting head through harness for Chance and then made a start on attention training. Molly did a bit more work on attention, a bit of leave (which seems to have lapsed lately and a bit of front feet targeting.
24/12/12 A little bit of work on attention with Chance and also getting sit and down on verbal cue as well as visual. Molly had a general run through of her general commands. This afternoon been to a friends and was really pleased with Chance who lay down quite settled whilst dinner was being served despite some being within her reach. Molly (who is an awful lot shorter) was less good so was removed from the area before she moved on from trying to reach the food to trying to guard the food!! More work on leave for madam Molly I think!
25/12/12 Not entirely sure it counts as training as such - but Molly was rehomed from her first home for being aggressive to the new puppy they got (and humans!) and came with pretty large resource guarding issues. Chance arriving has been a challenge and an increase in stress did mean a huge increase in resource guarding initially with toys being an issue and needing gradual introductions. So I was not too sure how new toys would work today .......
26/12/12 A nice off lead walk this morning, plenty of recalls and some nice socialising with some friendly people and dogs. All sorts of breeds so good experience for Chance. We met one pair of dogs I know to be unfriendly and whilst I did not have time to get mine on lead they both came to me and sat for several minutes (!) until the second dog finally gave up and went off to find his owner. This afternoon done some attention work, leave, stay and heelwork with Molly. Chance did a spot of mat target, attention and learning verbal sit and down.
Sunday 25 November 2012
This is mud puppy!
Molly decided as the puppy seems to be here to stay she had better introduce her properly to mud and bog wading - oh dear! I actually chose to go to the park rather than the fields as I thought it might be a bit drier - not sure that quite worked out.
Come on puppy - this way ...
Are you quite sure?
Mum - it's cold ...
Come on puppy - sniffing to be done here ....
What mud? Don't know what you mean.
The grubby result once we got home - before the clean up operation.
Come on puppy - this way ...
Are you quite sure?
Mum - it's cold ...
Come on puppy - sniffing to be done here ....
What mud? Don't know what you mean.
The grubby result once we got home - before the clean up operation.
Friday 23 November 2012
Playing
The very end Chance gets a little too close to the yellow toy and is warned off it!
Saturday 17 November 2012
First Walks
Finally time to be allowed down on the ground and time to introduce her to the collie crew who are Mollys regular weekend walking companions.
We hoped introductions would go OK and I think it is safe to say they went very well indeed with Chance behaving herself really well off lead and all the dogs accepting her with no problem at all.
In fact the puppy appeared to fit right in and even stole the toy a few times and was persued by collies!!
Is it really this way down this muddy path?
Yep - get used to the mud puppy!
Molly, Chance, Grace and Poppy.
Tiny Chance following behind with Poppy.
Pretty Poppy
Chance with her Auntie T
Chance and Molly have their first try on the posing tree.
Leo posing master shows how it should be done.
Sisters having a play.
Heading home with a very tired puppy.
We hoped introductions would go OK and I think it is safe to say they went very well indeed with Chance behaving herself really well off lead and all the dogs accepting her with no problem at all.
In fact the puppy appeared to fit right in and even stole the toy a few times and was persued by collies!!
Is it really this way down this muddy path?
Yep - get used to the mud puppy!
Molly, Chance, Grace and Poppy.
Tiny Chance following behind with Poppy.
Pretty Poppy
Chance with her Auntie T
Chance and Molly have their first try on the posing tree.
Leo posing master shows how it should be done.
Sisters having a play.
Heading home with a very tired puppy.
Saturday 27 October 2012
Saturday 20 October 2012
Homecoming
The scary day arrived and it was time to bring baby Chance home. I took a friend with my for puppy cuddling duties on the way home and we set off to start this new chapter with a tiny little bundle of black fur!
Joint hellos with Auntie H.
Teeny tiny puppy!
Synchronised sleeping.
Its a big scary world out there!
The grass is nearly up to my belly!
Hello big sister - want to play?
Settling for a more gentle getting to know each other.
Joint hellos with Auntie H.
Saturday 13 October 2012
Poorly girl
Molly has had a few episodes where she has been sick or off her food - and generally a trip to the vets for some injections has sorted her out - but not this time. She had been a bit off colour and quiet for a couple of days but started to be sick Thursday night as we went to bed and was sick all through the night. We got to the vets first thing in the morning and she had some injections but the vet warned if she was not drinking by lunchtime they needed to see her again as she would be getting dehydrated.
By lunchtime she was still very sad and quiet and not drinking so back to the vets and they admitted her to put her on a drip. That evening she was still judged not well enough so I moved her to the emergency vets overnight. When I went to pick her up in the morning the vets were not totally happy with her so asked me to take her back to my regular vets for their opinion. We went there and they said I could take her home but needed to bring her back if she was still not well later on. As soon as we got home she was sick - hmmmm. She was exhausted from being in the emergency vets - apparently there was a dog who cried all night and didn't settle - called Molly. We stayed home for a few hours for her to get some sleep but she was still being sick so back to regular vets and then back to emergency vets overnight again.
On Sunday morning the vet reported she had once again not slept but had not been sick overnight until once just before I had phoned! She said it was my choice about picking her up or leaving her there and of course I went to get her. Not a great start when she was sick again in reception as soon as they bought her out but she was being sick less so I kept her out all day.
On Monday I gave her tiny amounts of food every hour or so and she kept that down - very skinny and tired but finally doing better.
She had a blood test when first ill and the results indicated probably pancreatitis - so a huge change in her diet needed to low fat to keep her well.
By lunchtime she was still very sad and quiet and not drinking so back to the vets and they admitted her to put her on a drip. That evening she was still judged not well enough so I moved her to the emergency vets overnight. When I went to pick her up in the morning the vets were not totally happy with her so asked me to take her back to my regular vets for their opinion. We went there and they said I could take her home but needed to bring her back if she was still not well later on. As soon as we got home she was sick - hmmmm. She was exhausted from being in the emergency vets - apparently there was a dog who cried all night and didn't settle - called Molly. We stayed home for a few hours for her to get some sleep but she was still being sick so back to regular vets and then back to emergency vets overnight again.
On Sunday morning the vet reported she had once again not slept but had not been sick overnight until once just before I had phoned! She said it was my choice about picking her up or leaving her there and of course I went to get her. Not a great start when she was sick again in reception as soon as they bought her out but she was being sick less so I kept her out all day.
On Monday I gave her tiny amounts of food every hour or so and she kept that down - very skinny and tired but finally doing better.
She had a blood test when first ill and the results indicated probably pancreatitis - so a huge change in her diet needed to low fat to keep her well.
Thursday 4 October 2012
Taking a Chance
I will freely admit to not being a risk taker and generally let life plod along rather than try new things. So when a friend had a litter of puppies there was no way I was going to have one .......
....... sometimes though other people know better and my friend decided that not only was I having one - she picked her for me and I was introduced to my future puppy. Pups were born on 28th August 2012.
I was not totally convinced that Molly was going to accept a new puppy into our life together but agreed to give it a go and see how we got on.
As Molly was going to the house where the pups were we agreed to do early introductions so by the time puppy came home Molly was at least slightly familiar with her.
Here Molly meets her new sister for the first time. I felt pup needed a name which meant something and as my first ever puppy (I have always taken older recycled dogs) the name Chance just seemed to fit.
....... sometimes though other people know better and my friend decided that not only was I having one - she picked her for me and I was introduced to my future puppy. Pups were born on 28th August 2012.
As Molly was going to the house where the pups were we agreed to do early introductions so by the time puppy came home Molly was at least slightly familiar with her.
Here Molly meets her new sister for the first time. I felt pup needed a name which meant something and as my first ever puppy (I have always taken older recycled dogs) the name Chance just seemed to fit.
Friday 24 August 2012
Testing times
After a good few weeks classes it was finally time for Molly to do her bronze good citizen test. She lined up with another 5 dogs - amusingly the rest were all black and white - four collies and a springer spaniel.
The examiner was Bob Haynes who set a strict level and as a result only three of the dogs passed. I was very pleased with Molly who did not put a paw wrong and especially pleased with her stay as we did them individually and she was clearly not totally comfortable with someone with a clipboard stood closer to her than I was - but she listened to me and stayed - good girl Molly!
The test was on Tuesday night and the following Thursday we went to the Silver class to see how Molly got on with the more difficult exercises. She coped fine with a 2 minute stay instead of the 1 minute she had been used to but was not at all sure about me leaving her 10 paces for a recall. That was the only real problem so when I heard the Silver test was the following week we decided to give it a try. I did some work in the week adding distance to her recall and by the test night knew she could wait if she was comfortable but it was a bit of a lottery!!
Again there were six dogs lined up for the test
Unfortunately another dog moved on the stay and when the handler went back (as instructed by the examiner) Molly sat up so she failed on that part. I was extremely pleased with her though as she passed every other part of the test including the recall and the playing. Altogether she was a confident happy girl who worked her heart out for me and I certainly can't fault that!
The examiner was Bob Haynes who set a strict level and as a result only three of the dogs passed. I was very pleased with Molly who did not put a paw wrong and especially pleased with her stay as we did them individually and she was clearly not totally comfortable with someone with a clipboard stood closer to her than I was - but she listened to me and stayed - good girl Molly!
The test was on Tuesday night and the following Thursday we went to the Silver class to see how Molly got on with the more difficult exercises. She coped fine with a 2 minute stay instead of the 1 minute she had been used to but was not at all sure about me leaving her 10 paces for a recall. That was the only real problem so when I heard the Silver test was the following week we decided to give it a try. I did some work in the week adding distance to her recall and by the test night knew she could wait if she was comfortable but it was a bit of a lottery!!
Again there were six dogs lined up for the test
Unfortunately another dog moved on the stay and when the handler went back (as instructed by the examiner) Molly sat up so she failed on that part. I was extremely pleased with her though as she passed every other part of the test including the recall and the playing. Altogether she was a confident happy girl who worked her heart out for me and I certainly can't fault that!
Monday 16 July 2012
Clicker tricks
Not the best video in the world but we were messing around the other night and I decided to try and get a quick video of a few of her tricks.
I love the way her tail just never stops!!
I love the way her tail just never stops!!
Monday 18 June 2012
BAT
I was lucky enough to go to a seminar by Grisha Stewart about BAT - Behaviour Adjustment Training which is the method she developed to help reactive or fearful dogs. I loved the method and it made perfect sense to listen to and observe the dogs and allow them to approach the scary object then come away repeatedly to get used to it and learn to cope.
Molly does have more than a tiny issue with the vacuum cleaner - in that she is very scared of it and attacks it on sight. It is the kind of issue BAT is very useful for and also a pretty harmless one if I do stuff things up as she already reacts very badly to the vac so I really can't make it much worse. I am therefore going to have a go at using BAT to help her cope with the it.
Not entirely sure how impressed Molly will be as the training generally does not involve food rewards - instead it relies on the functional reward of moving away from the scary object to be reward enough.
Still early days in our training but after several sessions with the vac switched off I have taken the leap to switching it on. Things are slightly complicated by me being on my own so having to do some careful management to put the vac in position but hopefully so far so good!
Molly does have more than a tiny issue with the vacuum cleaner - in that she is very scared of it and attacks it on sight. It is the kind of issue BAT is very useful for and also a pretty harmless one if I do stuff things up as she already reacts very badly to the vac so I really can't make it much worse. I am therefore going to have a go at using BAT to help her cope with the it.
Not entirely sure how impressed Molly will be as the training generally does not involve food rewards - instead it relies on the functional reward of moving away from the scary object to be reward enough.
Still early days in our training but after several sessions with the vac switched off I have taken the leap to switching it on. Things are slightly complicated by me being on my own so having to do some careful management to put the vac in position but hopefully so far so good!
Monday 21 May 2012
A nice weekend
After lots of rainy weekends and misery we had a lovely weekend so made the most of it with some walks over the wedge. On Saturday we had a great walk with the usual collie crew and I realised I can finally trust Molly an awful lot more now and relax when we are out for our walks without worrying about whether she is going to take off chasing things.
On Sunday we introduced Marianne and her dogs to the joys of the wedge, they enjoyed ball chasing, running through the grass and paddling in the streams and a good time was had by all!! Foster dog Jake the ridgeback came too and Molly is not totally comfortable with him so was not quite as relaxed as the day before - but overall it was a lovely weekend with some very good company both canine and human.
Sall waiting for the ball to be thrown.
Jake enjoying a mooch
Molly deciding how muddy to get.
What well trained dogs!!! Sall, Cash, Sydney, Molly and Jake.
Sydney, Cash and Sall do a spot of tree jumping.
Cash and Sall waiting for the ball to be thrown.
After a break we took the dogs for another quick mooch round Coundon Park. Molly led the gang of dogs into the woods and all the rest came out minus Moll. After a few calls we investigated and found she had got the wrong side of the pond, tried to cross over and ended up stranded on a island in the middle. She was trying to get back to us but the water was too deep for her to wade and she was not brave enough to swim. After a bit of encouraging I realised she was not going to come over so had to make my way over to the other side of the pond so she could come back the way she had gone over onto the island. She was a very relieved swamp monster when I called her back and she found the easy route.
On Sunday we introduced Marianne and her dogs to the joys of the wedge, they enjoyed ball chasing, running through the grass and paddling in the streams and a good time was had by all!! Foster dog Jake the ridgeback came too and Molly is not totally comfortable with him so was not quite as relaxed as the day before - but overall it was a lovely weekend with some very good company both canine and human.
Sall waiting for the ball to be thrown.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)