20 Months: Training - Days 313 - 317

No, she's not learning to water the lawn!  She decided
to sniff the faucet.  Silly girl.

Monday

Emma arrived when I was training Malcolm, which put his training on hold for about 40 minutes while the household settled in for the week.  Tomorrow the household will be disrupted again when I take in another board and train client for a seven day stay.  Buddy, a 6 month old Labrador puppy, will be staying with me while his owner recovers from surgery.

I had a doctors appointment and couldn't train Emma right away.  Since I had already prepared her meal while training Malcolm, I fed her a portion of it to keep her stomach from becoming upset.  I wouldn't get to her training until after my appointment.

I left her with Dieter and Malcolm loose in the house for an hour and half while I was at my appointment.  I am very happy to report Emma has been consistent on being left alone loose in my home at this time.  I would later leave her not once, but twice, loose in the house while I was away walking Max first and then Malcolm.  She was perfect both times.

Today we worked on her Turn Down task.  I took her into the bedroom this time and we worked on the bed.  She had way too much fun with the training and you'll see the goofy, funny, lovable Emma that I work with daily.  This is a side of Emma the camera never seems to capture.  The playful Emma.  I am so happy everyone finally gets to see it!

The video speaks for itself, enjoy!

Emma - Turn Down Part 3

Roadwork:

I have a new board and train pup arriving tomorrow for a seven day stay and knew today would be the only day I could escape for an hour or so and work Emma in a new location for her roadwork.  After walking Malcolm and Max on their normal route, I packed up the power chair in the van and loaded up Emma for a trip to Riverfront Park.  Please visit Malcolm's blog post for the weekend for pictures of the park and some history on it (his Sunday write up) for those who don't live in Spokane.

On weekends the park is packed with families and people.  On weekdays it's a quieter place and perfect for Emma's first ever trip to the park with me.  We took the same route as Malcolm, only we stayed for only a mere hour due to Emma being at a different level of public access training.

Our entry on the big bridge had her worried a bit.  She was showing some stress on dealing with the sounds of the river raging below, even with us in the middle of the bridge, but was taking treats without issue.  I was pleased to see her start to relax when I scanned ahead and saw a trigger stacking event about to happen. On our left was a jogger coming at us, on our right was a skateboarder coming toward us.  I parked directly between them, got Emma's complete attention and fed her through the two passing us.  She glanced over her shoulder at the jogger, but quickly looked back to me.

I treated her for looking but not touching people as we passed.  I treated her for skateboards, bicycles and dogs and joggers.  I treated her for walking nice beside the chair and for crossing onto new footing.  I took her to the fountain (no ponies or train today) and she was completely comfortable with the fountain.  She looked at it for a bit, more worried by a dog nearby than the fountain and then sat, looked at me and gave me the famous Labradoodle smile with a relaxed, open mouthed pant. We headed for the statues.

She sniffed each statue and had no problem meeting any of them.  She was calm and happy and giving me the Labradoodle smile.

We crossed the wood bridge and there was two dogs who weren't well controlled by their handlers.  I watched how the dogs were behaving, decided we could pass with distance and was treating her on a 1-2-3 Treat past when one of the dogs tried to pull to her and the owner was following - I took her lead to bring her closer, gave more distance and sped up the chair and got her past without contact.  She was shoulder checking for a few feet and then set into trotting along with me.

We check the seagulls and ducks, no geese in the water today, and she was very very very very very interested in them.  We'll return to counter condition to them and learn to ignore them.  She lost her footing when a bird flew overhead and she followed it with her head.  I had to laugh at her silliness.

We stopped by a screaming child and some bicycles and watched birds and after a bit of worry and stress she suddenly sat and gave me the Labradoodle smile and happily took her treats.

We went to the reflecting pools and looked over the edge of the bridge.  She was curious and after a few seconds looked back to me smiling!  I was flabbergasted with how well she was doing and was tickled to the bone too.

We crossed to the narrow bridges and as we approached I watched her body language.  She was at first a bit worried by the sound, but with careful treat delivery she relaxed and we entered the first narrow bridge without problems.  We stopped and looked at the raging falls until she relaxed, sat and gave me the Labradoodle smile!  OH MY GOODNESS!

Then we trotted along the narrow bridges like she'd done it all her life.  When we got to the same metal plate that upset Malcolm I slowed and watched her.  As soon as she put her foot on it she jumped and spun to look at it.  I took her back and let her explore it and she walked on it the second time.  Fantastic!

We left the second narrow bridge and she did her only drive by sniffing when someone spoke to her - will work on that.  We crossed to the same side of the street as the van and a couple with small dogs got out of their car.  She was concerned at first, but with careful treat delivery and stopping to chat for a few minutes she decided to ignore the dogs and gave me the Labradoodle smile while she sat next to me.

This is the bridge we crossed!

We then went to the van and the only real serious stress signs I saw was when I pulled the ramp out.  She stood behind my chair and watched and relaxed after a couple of minutes.  I loaded her in the van, she laid on the bench seat while I loaded the chair and ramp and we headed home.

She played like a trooper, didn't eat (not surprised, I had just fed her 1 cup of food on our outing) and settled in for a rest when it was time to come in.  No overt fallout from our trip!

She was not hypervigilant or fearful or over threshold the entire time.  What a remarkable change in her - all the months of counter conditioning, confidence building, desensitizing and careful re-entry into the world has truly paid off and she's starting her journey with a newly found level of confidence.  I am so proud of her!

Buddy

Tuesday

I mentioned yesterday that I have a new board and train arriving for a seven day stay.  His name is Buddy and he's a 6 month old Labrador mix.  He's not as far along on his training as the rest of the household and hasn't spent anytime with me outside of a few lessons very early in his life.

Today I picked him up at 5:00 PM and brought him home for his stay.  Since I knew this would be stressful for Emma I wanted her training this morning to be fun and light so she would have the emotional energy deal with my expected long absence and his arrival.

This morning we worked on her "Say Your Prayers" trick.  I have never taught this trick before and thus Emma and I are feeling it out together.  I know what it looks like, but not how to get there.  I am working on figuring out the parts with her.  She's a trooper and willing to try the different approaches with me.  It's been a lot of fun, but I do need to solve it soon to get it all put together.  She enjoyed herself and I see another trick developing out of it.  The more the better, they can make her handler laugh on his hard days.

Emma - Say Your Prayers Part 2

Today was a busy day for me and Emma spent a longer than normal period of time loose in the house while I was away.  She managed a 4 1/2 hour stay in the house without any damage to the house.  Thankfully tomorrow has no scheduled appointments and I can spend it with the dogs here and give them my full attention.

Emma is not bothered by Buddy.  She said her hellos and went off to do her own thing.  Since Malcolm is totally focused on playing with Buddy she is no longer the target of his demands for play.  She relaxed and enjoyed the evening in the yard cuddling with myself and Ronda, chewing on bones and barking at everything she could think of.

She's now curled beside me while I type up her daily report.  Tomorrow should prove interesting with three trainees in the home.  Hopefully I'll be able to take all out for a quick trot with the chair to work on roadwork and get some solid training in.

This morning I did shower Emma.  Her coat had that feeling human hair gets when it hasn't been washed for two days.  First thing in the morning I removed her collar and cuddled with her for a while and then slowly prepared myself and her for the shower.  When I had the water running I called her and asked her to enter the shower.  She did and waited for me to enter and close the door.  This is a huge change for her - she's been hiding when I prepare to shower in the mornings and over the past week she's decided to remain and even offered last week to join.  I am glad to see she's becoming comfortable with showering.

After her shower and rub down, which she loves, she stayed by me as I dried and danced and smiled at me.  I do believe she's learning to enjoy most of her grooming!  I let her go outside to play so she could mostly dry before I used the dryer on her.  She stood calmly while I dried her and is no longer showing a lot of fear when being brushed, but still is uncomfortable with her face and head being groomed, but we are closer to her finding grooming a bonding experience instead of a torture that must be done for her own good.

After her grooming she played and promptly got grass and other debris in her coat.  Sigh.  At least she had fun.

Tomorrow I hope to have a better training and bonding day with her and the other dogs.  It should be interesting with the new addition for the week.

She loves to explore the yard - and eat it.  She really
loves to eat the yard.

Wednesday - Friday

Poor Emma just doesn't do well with change.  On Wednesday I noted a change in her mood.  I had crated Buddy to keep him out of the other dogs bowls when fed and put her food in the kitchen like I normally do for the small amount of food I feed her before I train her.  She sniffed it and looked at me with that shy nature of hers and then after a minute or so decided to eat.

I knew then I would have to work on shoring up her confidence again and set aside any new training for the week.  For me, Emma's emotional state is far more important than her training.  If Emma is fearful, stressed and worried all the time she won't do well in her everyday life.  She'll also suffer long term health issues.  Making her comfortable in her skin is far more important to me than if she learns to turn a bed down or pull open a door or any other task she's to learn.

The video attached is my working with Emma to build her confidence.  When I was training Malcolm, Buddy was clawing, banging and climbing the x-pen.  I knew I wouldn't be able to work with Emma with Buddy doing that, so I crated him and moved her as far away in the kitchen as I could.  As you'll hear, Buddy didn't take to crating well and he was able to see me.  This was day two with Buddy and now on Day 4 he is quieter in the crate, can see me alone in the kitchen and not cry and handle my taking Emma into the office and not break down, but on Wednesday, Buddy was fully protesting his confinement.

Emma -  Confidence Building

On Thursday she refused to eat and the old, low to the ground, head down and back roached with her tail tucked and her face taunt had returned.  She was stressed badly and I knew she wouldn't eat in the presence of the other dogs.  I took the time to pet and love on her and put her bowl up for a bit.

I had suspected this would happen, which was why I went to confidence building.  Instead of making her wait for her dinner I decided to work in a different area of the house after she'd had some time to relieve stress in the yard.  She went out with the dogs with such force she launched my crushed cans off the porch.  This behavior is typical of her being extremely stressed, so I gave her a good two hours to play.  She chewed on bones, ate grass, barked at every tiny thing and explored.

I then took her into my office and worked Level 1 behaviors and desensitizing her to Buddy with her breakfast.  She ate it all and was in a great mood by the time we left the office.  Buddy was clawing and crying at the door, but for her that was less worrisome than if he'd been climbing the x-pen or screaming in his crate and rattling it.

John and Yoda came over and Emma played in the yard while we trained.  After they left I tried to cuddle with her, but she wasn't feeling it for some reason.  Even though I invited her into my lap while I tried to rest between John leaving with Yoda and Vanessa arriving to clean the house, she only settled for a minute or two before crawling out of my lap and laying down behind my chair.

She enjoyed loves from Vanessa and played while she cleaned the house.  After that we left for Ronda's house and she played in Ronda's yard for 3 hours.  It was this play time that really seemed to relax her and she finally was able to climb in our laps and settle by the end of the night.

On Friday she again wouldn't eat, so I set her food aside to work with her after playtime.  She did good on her Level 1 behaviors in the office with the door shut and this time all I heard at the door was deep snuffling of Max's nose along the seams.

I let her play for a long time in the yard and noted the wound up, out of control energy that comes when she's having a bit of fall out.  I called her in, groomed her (though later it wouldn't look like it) and spent time cuddling her and sending her to play before my client consult.  Ronda and I had discussed it and I felt leaving her in the house during my consult wouldn't be the best thing for her.  Instead, I sent her to Ronda's to play with Jack and Buddy.

Ronda reported she ran, explored, played Catch Me If You Can, wrestled and had a good time.  Whenever Buddy got to wound up Jack quietly split him away from Emma and would engage him in play.  She played solo with Buddy and Jack each and the three of them played together well.  She was in a fantastic mood when I picked her up 3 hours later.

When I got home, completely numb from exhaustion, my neighbor kids came over to do small chores for a chance to play Kinect.  Both are pre-teens and Emma happily climbed in their laps and soaked up hugs and kisses and loves.  She was happy as all get out when her family came to pick her up.

She did have problems with leaving the gate to jump in the van, but with a bit of encouragement she got in.  She's not comfortable with their new van yet, but should soon learn to enjoy it as long as they reward her with affection and high value food rewards while she rides.

It was a rough end to her week, but she did improve on her confidence in many areas.  She just doesn't do good with big changes.


Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	3	Completed	2	Completed	2
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Tricks	Communication
Step	1	3	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 3

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	3	Completed	2	1	1
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	4	0
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Retrieve	Communication
Step	Completed	2	Completed	Completed	1

Level 4

	Zen	Come	Retrieve	Target	Relax
Step	Completed	0	Completed	0	0
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	5	0
	Handling	Communication
Step	Completed	0

20 Months: Training - Days 308 - 312

Emma is finally getting used to the camera.

Monday

I have been having a horrible time sleeping lately.  Last night I worked until 1:00 AM on making the media to plug into Emma and Malcolm's blogs and had gotten the last two videos for Malcolm built and was trying to publish the second to last one when Comcast had an outage with the phone and internet in my area.  It stopped me in my tracks and I threw up my hands and headed to bed.  I had saved the files to disk for later upload, but without the internet I couldn't even update Malcolm's weekend blog.  It's almost midnight  now and I just published the two blogs Malcolm had in the cue and am starting his weekday blog.  I still have Emma's blog to complete.

Thankfully, the past two days my neighbor has been silent.  He's been playing his music late most nights.  Though not blaring loud, he has his bass set so low that he's creating low frequency sounds and no matter of sound buffering nor how low he plays it, it penetrates and vibrates long into the night.  If he just turned off the bass itself he could play his music without disturbing people, but he loves that stupid thing and when I do finish my work at night I can't sleep because of it.  My sleep thus has been disturbed because he normally starts playing it about now if he decides he'll play until 2:00 AM.  I can't sleep because I am waiting for the sound.

So, my start on the morning was rough.  I had slept poorly and woke several times between going to bed and my alarm going off at 6:00 AM.  At least I remembered to set the alarm this time!

I was weighing whether I would shower Emma this morning and came to the conclusion I wouldn't.  Though the day was cold and wet, I felt she would be okay playing in the yard and airing out for a good part of it.  It wasn't a penetrating cold, just chilly.  She had been groomed on Friday and I didn't feel another bath so close to her last would be good for her.

I wasn't sure what time she would arrive and was pleased when her owner called at 7:30 AM to inform me she would be late due to an unforeseen absence of Emma's handler's caretaker.  I thanked her and went about taking care of the kitchen, getting my shower and feeding the boys.  I want to thank them for the call because it made my morning go much better knowing about when she'd arrive.

A while back I started to train Emma to pick up items and put it in a "bucket".  The bucket at the time was a small laundry basket no more than a foot wide and it freaked her out.  She was afraid of the laundry basket, refused to get close to it, much less put anything in it.  In past blog posts I talked about clicking and treating for interacting with the basket without even trying to get to the final goal.  In the end we got past the basket itself and she struggled with the idea of holding her head over it to put something in it.  We moved past that and built a rough start to picking up and putting things in a basket.

Her owners have since been working on it and she does carry her handler's socks to a basket and put it away at night.  Thing is, it would be nice if she expanded that skill to picking up her toys or his items and putting them away on cue.  The trick is building a chain in which she picks up all the items on the floor and puts them away in a single cue to conserve her handler's energy.  I started building that chain this week.

I filmed it so you'll see how she's doing.  I am pleased that the "bucket" no longer frightens her.  She's even putting her head into the bucket I used to get treats and pull toys out.  I started with toys and worked to clothing.  She is picking up each item well, carrying it to the bucket and targeting the bucket with good accuracy.  She is a bit hesitant at times, but as her confidence grew that faded.  I have attached the video of her training.  It's a slow process to build a chain, but Emma is making it look easy by the end of this lesson.  It does not mean she has it just yet, but she's getting the idea.

Emma - Clean Up

Our day ended going to Auntie Ronda's.  Malcolm, as you'll hear in Emma's video, was in a mood today and bugging the crap out of Max.  Max was also in a mood today and Emma seemed to join it.  It was an undefinable thing that said if I didn't get some energy burned off I was going to have a long and difficult day with the three of them.  I know why Malcolm was off, he's having a hormone flush as he enters a new phase in his growth, is a teenager and a young high energy dog with more energy than the sun right now.

I called Ronda and asked if she wanted us over and when she said sure we headed her way.  On the way out I went to let the dogs go from the gate to the van off lead.  This training has been in the works from the day Malcolm came into my life also.  I have a full blown protocol for the dogs going from gate to van and van to gate off lead.  It is a skill I want my dogs to have and is not a "required" skill for a service or even pet dog.  It is a vital skill in my book for any of my dogs.

Yesterday, while I was unloading the van from the groceries I left the latch for the gate down and let the gate rest in a closed position.  While inside and putting some of my groceries away the gate blew open.  I stepped out to find both Max and Malcolm standing beside the van waiting by the passenger side slider.  This is why the training I do for off lead loading into my van is important.  I am bordered by two busy streets - one two blocks away and the other one block away.  I don't want my dogs setting off for the hills if an accidental escape happens.

The protocol goes like this:

I take the dog to and from the van on lead a minimum of 100 times before I ever let them off lead.  They must have recall with distractions and distance as well and the 100 times between van and gate gives me time to train that.  The 100 times also sets a default pattern for the dogs.  It's like driving when tired and thinking you need to stop at the store and finding yourself home before you realized you missed your stop.  It's that type of auto-pilot.

Once they have the first link in the chain trained, I start the second link - Van to Gate.  To do this I ensure there are no cars, people, dogs or small animals nearby before opening the gate and then releasing the dog from the van.  If the dog jumps from the van, on cue, and runs straight into the yard we have done enough repetitions; if not, I need to back up and build the default behavior.  Recall is vital here since if the dog doesn't enter the yard on auto-pilot, I need to be able to recall them and direct them into the yard.

I do this type of release to the yard 20 times.  After that minor distractions (never cats, cars or kids) are permitted while they proof the behavior.

I then go to the next link - Gate to Van.  I open the passenger side slider on my van for the first 1/2 step of training this.  I want them to exit the gate and go to the open door without hesitation.  I normally load the dog up on the driver side, but in this instance they are very aware of the open door because it's an automatic door and I open it with them at the gate.  If they go from gate to van I got it, if not, we need to back up and work going to the van from the gate more.

I start proofing the behavior (go to the van when out of the gate, go to the gate when released from the van) by leaving both the van door and the gate closed.  I do closed gate first and once they are solid at waiting for me to get around to them, I then do the van door closed.  When the van door is closed they default to the driver side, but wait patiently for me.

This training, which Malcolm is in the proofing stage now, is what kept both my dogs by the van.  I am basically teaching them that if they are out of the gate they go to my van - end of statement.  It's a default safety feature for the dogs.  Emma knows it and is proofed on it.  Max knows it and is proofed on it.  Malcolm is 3/4 the way through the training right now and it appears he's got it well enough he didn't wander off.  I am so very glad I taught this behavior to them!

So, today, when we got the gate and I popped the door I was fully ready to let the dogs out and into the passenger side of the van.  Then I saw the neighbor cat, closed the van door and walked each dog individually out to the van on lead.  I don't expect the dogs to ignore the neighborhood cats, especially an impulsive 9 month old German Shepherd.  Max can and does recall off of cats when I miss and he sees them, but it took me two years to train that and both Emma and Malcolm don't fully have that level of recall.  Emma is very close, I can recall her when she's running to bark at most things; some are just to distracting and where I am working on with her recall right now.

Emma was first and she made me laugh.  I keep claiming she's half Lipizzaner horse and today she demonstrated that.  She bolted out the gate when I cracked it open and then sat back on the lead bucking and rearing at me like a wild colt on a lasso.  I had to tell her to stop because she was winding herself up and loosing her mind.

Once loaded we headed over to Ronda's.  When I turned the corner I normally do to go there Max started to get excited.  When I turned the second corner Malcolm and Emma did too.  They were in full blown spin, bark and whine mode by the time I pulled up at Ronda's.  I got out of the van and stood at the gate with the dogs still in the van and waited until they calmed.

Having them jump out in the hyper excited mode which they arrived in only makes for a higher level of excitement the next time we arrive.  I have decided they need to be calm and happy to get the reward of play at Ronda's.

Max was the first to calm down and I released him from the van, Ronda opened her gate and he calmly walked in.  Good.  I also, by the way, proofed this behavior at Ronda's house for the same reason - if they escape at Ronda's house I want to ensure they are defaulted to my van.  Had I not proofed it here, when Emma leaped out of my van last week when I was dropping Dieter off, she could have run into a busy street only a few hundred feet away.  Instead she ran straight to Ronda's gate without second through of going anywhere.

Emma calmed second.  I let her out and Ronda opened her gate and Emma sauntered in calm and quiet.  Perfect.

Malcolm took forever to calm in the van.  Once he did I took him out on lead and walked him to the gate and spent almost 15 minutes outside of the gate until he calmed down enough to enter.  We both knew I wasn't going to get perfect calm, but we got past leap on Jack's head, scream and go into hyper mode and re-engage brain stage of calm for him.  He finally sat, for a brief second and I opened the gate and in we went.

He wound back up and I spent another 5 to 10 minutes inside on lead while he overcame his desire to jump on Jack's head and finally gave me a second sit.  I then released him and he trotted off and went into proper play mode.  It was a lot of work, but well worth having the dogs enter with self control as compared the mad rush that normally occurs.

They played for about 3 hours. Emma was so pent up on energy herself she joined Jack and Malcolm in wrestling, Catch Me If You Can and rips around the yard.  She explored and even went to bound onto Deva's back.  I think she thought it was Max she was about to pounce on, but about 2 feet away from Deva's rump realized who she was, reared up and stomped her feet and did a quick course change and ran off.  Ronda and I laughed at her.

She cuddled with both of us also.  She had great time and soon was content to hang out with us and sometimes go off and explore.  She was also soaked from the wet grasses and the downpour of rain that came.

The worst thing that happened to her is Jack peed on her while she was sniffing the grass.  We had to laugh at her.  She was sniffing as Jack raised his leg and peed on her hip.  Her head snapped up, she shot away from him and then spun staring at her hip.  She did two or three spin and then flopped in the grass and rubbed Jack's cooties off of her.  Yes, we cleaned her up after that.

Malcolm was at a full run for a good 10 minutes before he slowed.  Max was also at a full trot or run for 10 minutes before he slowed.  They were really wound up!

Malcolm played with the dogs on the other side of Ronda's fence (playing fence chasing) and Catch Me If You Can, Wrestling, tug-o-war and ran like a mad dog.  His big What The Heck moment for Ronda and I was when he stood in the pool and peed in it.  Apparently it was the pee day!  Ronda and I dumped the pool after that.  Malcolm actually didn't slow down or calm down for 2 hours.  The adults spent most of that time telling him to cool it.  They did it properly and not in a way that would harm him.  Once he calmed they all ignored him.

When we got home the dogs ate and all fell soundly asleep.  It was a great day!

She was groomed on Friday and looks really good.

Tuesday

I finally got the blog posts I had been working on published last night.  I worked until past 3:00 AM to build the media and plug it in.  I experimented with Emma's videos and created new opening credits and end credits and added music to them.  It was the music that would cause me a problem in the end.  I need to find a piece I like that is free domain use so that YouTube doesn't block my videos from being embedable.  I ended up providing links to the two videos I created for her, but they aren't available on mobile media (tablets or phones) and this isn't acceptable for future videos.  I will have to find a solution that works all around.

With as late as I went to bed, staggering and mentally exhausted, I decided not to set my alarm.  I had written up Malcolm's Monday entry but not Emma's and knew that if I didn't get more than 3 hours of sleep I would be good for none of the dogs.  I woke close to 9:00 AM and the dogs were still sound asleep when I did.  We got a late start, but it was a good morning.

I fed Emma half her breakfast and planned on training her for the second half when my IPad reminded me I had a client consult at 11:00 AM.  I went in to shower so I could head out for the appointment.  Ever since I started showering Emma on Monday's she's started to hide behind my recliner when I strip to shower.  Mind you, this is not good for the ego when the dang dog runs from you when you are naked.

Today as I stripped I looked to the bathroom door to find Emma watching me with her head lowered and crouching slightly.  I told her she was okay and I had no intent to bath her.  She wagged her tail and took a few steps into the bathroom.  This is good to see.  It did bother me that she ran to hide when I went to shower in the mornings.  I opened the shower and turned it on and to my surprise Emma crossed the bathroom and stepped right into the shower stall and turned to watch me with the water falling on her rear.  I laughed at her and said she was welcome to a shower if she wanted.  She stepped out and then turned and stepped in.  I smiled at her, took off her collar and told her she could choose to shower or not.  She stepped out and stepped in one more time.  I was tickled and amazed - I've had to carry her into the shower with me until this point.

I stepped into the shower and slowly started to close the door while watching her.  She moved to step out and I told her she could go.  She offered a new behavior and I like it, but I had no requirement she bath with me.  Giving her the choice to enter and exit today should make future showers easier for both of us. I would rather she stepped in under her own power than my carrying her in.

After my appointment I returned and let the dogs play for a bit before training Emma and Malcolm.  Emma had been crated for the first of 3 outings for the day and I always give her time to really blow off steam after a crate session.  She does well in the crate now, but she needs to release stress when let out.  It's a needed skill, but she's not totally comfortable being in a crate.

Today I brought out my big laundry basket and worked with Emma.  Her confidence is much better than yesterday.  She quickly picked up and put items in the basket.  The trick is teaching a more advanced part of this.  If she's asked to put something like shorts or pants or a shirt into a basket she doesn't fully get it in.  I worked on her picking up what is hanging out of the basket and push it into it.

She is starting to get the idea, but we have more work this week on really cementing it.  I am using a pair of men's summer shorts to train this and once she's good with that I will add a shirt and then pants.  Once she's persistent and understands the steps we'll build on the chain until she can "Clean Up" on a single cue and really get the job done for her handler.

Emma - Clean Up Part 2

After training her I left to go to my Tuesday appointment with Spirit, another client dog.  I left Emma loose in the house this time.  I have found multiple times in the crate really upset her and we end up with a lot of fallout for a day or two.  Leaving her loose prevents that and I do want her to be a reliable dog loose in her home if needed.  I was gone for about 2 hours and she was excellent.

I had spoken with Ronda about going to Home Depot with her when she went later in the day.  Malcolm and Jack will be working together when Ronda and I go out on our adventures and we want to train both boys to work with us and ignore the other when suited up.  Emma is not up to entering non-pet friendly stores just yet while we work toward her public access goals.

I called Ronda when I got home and we arranged to go a short time later.  I let Emma play in the yard and have fun while I ate some food.  She loves to curl up on the dog bed on my new patio and chew on bones and I could see her happily chewing away from where I sat.  After a bit I suited up Malcolm and headed out.  I was gone for another 2 hours and Emma was loose in the house again.  She was spot on and did fantastic.  She was even calm and happy when I returned.  Emma has gone a long way on this training and I am very happy with her.

Training her to be comfortable alone in the house is important.  There will be times she needs to be left behind and if she doesn't know how to handle it she'll have a hard time when it happens.  Taking the time to leave her or Malcolm behind when I run errands, do public access runs and client consults helps both learn to be comfortable alone as well as with me.

She ate dinner with gusto, played hard and is curled against my leg sleeping now.  It was a good day for Emma.

I love play day!

Wednesday

Nothing much happened today.  I needed to edit video so I didn't spend the entire weekend doing so and find music that was royalty free for the videos I am making.  I also wasn't in the right mindset to train the dogs and realized that early. Both the dog and the human have to be in the game and though I am certain both Emma and Malcolm would have been, after my marathon day yesterday I wasn't.

Instead they have enjoyed a day of rest and playing in the yard and I have enjoyed a day of taking it easy and working on computer related material.  Nothing much happened, but we had a good day doing it.

She loves to watch the neighborhood.

Thursday

Since Emma's handler can't use his arms in a meaningful way and has spent his life depending on others to do tasks most of us take for granted, I am working on training her some simple everyday tasks to help him and while doing it teaching her to learn.  This last part will permit her to pick up a new task on the fly in only a few minutes.

When Max learned to learn he was able to pick up a new task in only a few minutes and need only a couple of days of work to proof it.  One of the tasks I taught him in about 3 minutes was to flip the dishwasher door to me so I could close it.  By the time I taught him that task Max had already learned to problem solve, be persistent and shape with fluency.

Emma has been learning to shape, building persistence and problem solving skills.  She is almost there, almost on the cusp of becoming a remarkable dog who can pick up a concept in a few minutes and fly with it.  The video for today shows just that!

We are working on learning to pull the covers back for going to bed.  Once she understands this concept we will work on her pulling the covers up and make the bed.  For her handler this will be the first time he can do something for himself with his bed covers.  Over time her owners can train her to put his covers back on him at night when he kicks them off, but for now, let's just learn to turn down the bed.

There is a lot of good in this video.  While watching you'll see Emma started uncertain why I had the basket upside down beside her and she was tentative about the lesson.  As the lesson progressed though you'll see she improves in confidence quickly which results in improved interaction with the blanket.  It was a wonderful progressive curve.  Very proud of Emma's progress now - she's starting to fly with her task training.

Emma - Turn Down

Can we visit Auntie Ronda next week?

Friday

After such success on Thursday with the Turn Down task I wanted to revisit it and really build it up.  She is doing so well on it.  As the video will show, she really got the concept and after sleeping on it was doing an even better job of moving the blanket and pulling it back for the size of the "bed" I had her working with.  I was very pleased with that progress.

Her family enjoys church and church related events and I felt one of the tricks Emma should learn is to pray.  I have a picture of the trick in my head, but trying to solve it on the edge of the basket didn't work.  I'll work on it again with a chair and lure her head into position and build up her duration, but I believe if Emma could "pray" with her handler it would be a bonding between them that he'll enjoy.

So, I spent the end of her lesson working on learning to pray.  I need to break it down a bit more for her, but she is making a real effort to solve the muddy picture I gave her.  It was a good end to a long week and she was clearly enjoying it with me.

The good of this?  She is offering putting her feet on something that even a month ago would have frightened her badly.  She's making efforts to solve problems, even when she's not sure what I want she kept trying and didn't just give up.  This is the beginning of persistence and lovely to see.  The face she's offering behaviors when I am not clear is a sign of problem solving.  That too is wonderful.  Emma is becoming a true thinking dog that can learn quickly and on the fly.  I am glad to see this development.

She spent 20 to 30 minutes loose with Max and Dieter while Malcolm and Yoda worked on a lesson.  She is no longer causing damage to my home when left between 30 minutes to 2 hours, though 2 hours is the outer most limit I would trust her alone at this time.  She is still making a racket when I leave, though it quickly quiets, it tells me she is not fully comfortable being alone in the house.

The week was productive and I'll continue to visit the tug tasks that Emma is working on.  She has been on a long and difficult journey getting here, but the past few months of working on confidence building, tug task work and more has lead us into a new frontier in Emma's training.  I am excited about this new development.

See ya next week!

Emma - Turn Down Part 2

Emma - Say Your Prayers

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	3	Completed	2	Completed	2
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Tricks	Communication
Step	1	3	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 3

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	3	Completed	2	1	1
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	4	0
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Retrieve	Communication
Step	Completed	2	Completed	Completed	1

Level 4

	Zen	Come	Retrieve	Target	Relax
Step	Completed	0	Completed	0	0
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	5	0
	Handling	Communication
Step	Completed	0

19 Months: Training - Day 303 - 307

She's waiting for the ball to be thrown!

Monday

Resting yesterday and ending with such a fantastic public access outing re-energized me.  I woke this morning feeling more human and not nearly as foggy. Since it is Monday and normally I plan to bath Emma on Mondays to remove the perfume scent from her coat, I took the time to clean up my kitchen.  Yes, again it looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off and I had dead food in the fridge to be removed.

It was a quiet start to our morning with the boys calm for the most part.  Malcolm was clearly feeling the strain of not getting a lot done during the week.  He's been cooped up with the weather and as a result I was seeing a lot of tiny behaviors that tell me he's going out of his mind.  He was stealing socks, washcloths, potatoes on the porch and more.  He was sneaking cat food from the bowl and raiding the cat box, something he hadn't done in a long time.  All of these tiny behaviors combined with his poking Max into grouching at him and pestering Dieter as well as running and being a nut job in the house off and on told me he badly needed to burn energy.

I hadn't been feeling good for days and had neglected his need to be a pup and run and play with friends or just burn off excess energy.  Bless him, he's laid by my side as I've slept off migraines and curled quietly for hours in the house while I did my best to regain my strength and reduced my pain to a functional level again.  At almost 9 months of age, it was a lot to ask of him and he came through like a trooper.

Emma, during the weekend, had traveled with her handler to Montana and spent the weekend in a hotel.  I knew she would need a day to process her adventure and recover herself, so today was a perfect day to set up a play date.  Her owner called at 8:17 AM to let me know she was running a bit behind and would arrive shortly.  Emma arrived at 8:45 AM and was in great spirits.  I had worried about her mood after a long weekend away and was very pleased to see she was doing well.

She did great working with her owner on remembering to walk loose lead.  She's now leaping back into heel position when her owner stops and continues to reconnect and focus on her as they walk up the ramp.  Today was the best ever hand off to date.  She walked up to me and made one attempt to launch at me to say her hellos, stopped when she felt the lead and then walked up to about one foot from me and sat and remained calm.  Excellent work Ms. Emma!

I let her and the boys play in the yard for a few and then brought the crew in for breakfast.  At first I thought I would get some training in, but decided that Emma would do better to have the day off, so everyone got their full meals.  I then took Emma into the shower with me and bathed her.  She doesn't like it much yet and when she saw me preparing to shower she went to hide.  I went to her and carried her in with me and gently washed her.

She loves, and I mean loves, to be towel dried.  I had wrung her out in the shower stall by running my hands through her coat to remove excess water and then gently squeezing her coat to get even more out.  I then took the towel and began to towel her off.  She leaned into it, did a wiggle and squirm into the pressure of my hands and smiled up at me.  When I stepped out of the shower with her she stayed at my side and let me use a second towel on her and ate up the rubbing down.  When I went to dry myself she kept pushing her body against my legs and putting her head into the towel as it hung down and would look up at me with big brown eyes and a doggy smile.  She simply loves the feel of being rubbed down with a towel.

I gave her about 20 minutes to recover from the evil shower and got myself ready for the day.  I then pulled out the blow dryer and dried her.  Malcolm, the goof, rushed in and played with the end of the hose.  He likes to put his mouth over the end and poof his cheeks out.  I laughed at him and gently began drying Emma.  As I blew the hair on her feet he went to bite the "toy" I was blowing and stopped when he felt her leg.  I asked him to leave, but this was too much fun and he played with the air with the tip of his nose.  He did the same when I was drying her ears and I had to tell him not to bite her ears.  He put his nose on my finger tips as I used the hose, poked her in the cheek and muzzle and generally was a pest the entire time.  I kept sending him away, but he was completely engaged with the blower.  Malcolm loves the dryer.  Emma does not.

She did much better drying this time.  I had never used one on a dog that needed their ears and head dried before and after our last adventure with it I contacted some friends who have coated dogs that need blow drying also.  I got some great tips on how to make it more comfortable for her and help her become more comfortable with the entire handling process.  She will have to be groomed all her life, including bathing, clipping and blow drying and if I can make it easier on her in general then I will.  Today she laid down while I blew her coat and wasn't shaking nearly as bad as she did last time.  A few more times of gently working her with the dryer and she should be more comfortable with that part of her regular care.

I gave her another twenty minutes after the drying and then brushed her out.  She is much better about this and it's becoming, for her, a bonding experience.  She's always hated being brushed and it's been a long road to make it more comfortable for her and reduce her stress when I brush her out. I am seeing regular improvement.

I called Ronda and asked if she wanted to watch Emma and Malcolm while Max and I went to a client consult.  She agreed, since Jack was in dire need of burning off energy too, and I ran them over.  I was away for 2 hours and when I returned I had two happy, tired and content trainees in Ronda's yard. I stayed for another 2 hours while Max ran off some energy and Malcolm, Emma and Jack had a great time playing.  Malcolm and Jack are an excellent play match and for a long time it was just Malcolm and Jack playing while Emma happily cuddled or explored every corner of the yard.  At one point Emma engaged Malcolm in a game of Catch Me If You Can and she outran him like a bandit.  She was so happy and full of life as she flew around trees and through the yard with Malcolm laid out and chasing her.

We ended the day with everyone exhausted.  I brought them home and fed them and watched as each and every one of them went to their corners and dropped off to sleep.  It was a well spent day letting Emma recharge her batteries and burning off pent up energy in Malcolm.  Somedays, you just have to let them be dogs and learn through play.

Check out that intensity!

Tuesday

Last night Max, after two hours of play, collapsed in the living room and slept hard.  When it was bedtime he struggled to his feet and did the old dog walk to the bedroom and folded onto his bed.  I am seeing more of that.  Today, he was still struggling to stand and when we went into the yard later he seemed to get his energy back and played, but tonight again the stiff and sore walk was back.  When I went to let him out for the last potty run he laid by the crate and just watched me.  Once the first dog up and at the door, I now have to call him and ask him to go out.  He really struggled hard to stand and then lumbered out like he was an ancient dog.  My heart is breaking.  My once athletic boy who could go all day long and be ready for a full night no longer can.  I may have to make the very difficult call and retire him now, long before Malcolm has finished his training.  Max is tired and stiff and sore and is partially retired as it is.  He helps when I truly need a sound dog at my side, but the time is coming that I will be announcing his final working day.  Tonight, I feel like curling up in a corner and just bawling.

I had intended to return to working in tight spaces and work on task work with Emma, but when looking at my call log I saw I had a call from someone needing information about service dogs.  I had already fielded two of those calls during the morning and knew I had a client consult with Spirit in the afternoon.  Talking on the phone wears me out and by the time I called the client who had left a message I was already feeling drained.  We ended talking for over two hours about her needs and what we could do to help her locate a trainer in her area.  She is on the East Coast and a trainer closer to her would be a better option than working remotely, but I stated if we can't find a trainer in her area, I would work with her remotely.  I did suggest reading material and means of building a task list for her dog and other strategies to continue her journey.  She's on a great start, just needs the guidance to finish her dog's training.

By this time the half meal I had saved for both Emma and Malcolm weren't going to be used for training and I simply accepted it.  I fed them both the last of their food for the morning and rested for a bit and let the burning and rubbery feeling my arms had from holding a phone so long abate before cutting up treats for Spirit's consult.

I left Emma crated and Malcolm, Max and Dieter loose when I left for about 2 1/2 hours.  It may seem like I am not teaching them anything when I have to leave them behind to do a consult, but the truth is, I am teaching them a vital service dog skill - how to be alone.  I have been, since he was a baby, preparing Malcolm for the times I would need to leave him home when I went out and he's doing very well with it.  Emma, too, has been prepped from the start and she's had on and off difficulties with it.  Max, when I adopted him, had serious separation anxiety.  It took 3 years to build Max up to being alone and not having major breakdowns.

By leaving them for periods of time throughout their growing, Emma and Malcolm are learning that my or their handler leaving them behind is not a bad thing.  I had, for a time, worked on Emma being loose in the house, but had an incident in which she ate my floor.  I have been crating her since, unless I take one of the dogs out for a walk, which is within her tolerance level.  Right now, Emma is up to 30 minutes loose in the house without causing damage to my home.  Malcolm is up to 3 hours without causing damage to my home.  Max is up to 4 hours without causing damage to my home.

When I left today for the client consult I had a chorus of song from the house until I hit the end of the ramp and then the dogs went silent.  Later I would need to return to the house to calm them when I went to do roadwork with Malcolm.  There is still a level of stress in being left behind and once one dog howls the entire house joins in.  I have more work to make my trainees comfortable with my absences.

My visit with Spirit was fantastic.  She was 100% better than last week.  Her handler did a great job of doing her homework and Spirit is now eating with gusto and has even added the weight she needed to her frame.  She was in a fantastic mood, not mouthing me at all and barely doing so with her handler, and her jumping is 1/8th of what it had been the previous week.  Fantastic job, Team.

I worked with Spirit on Zen, Target, Sit and Focus today.  She has a hard time with Focus and is easily distracted.  For a 12 month old dog, I am not surprised by this and so have assigned Focus and It's Yer Choice to her handler as homework.  It was lovely working with such a sweet girl who is truly intelligent and willing to learn.  I look forward to Spirit's lessons.

On my way home though, I could feel the amount of energy I used working with Spirit.  I was sore, my legs and arms felt heavy and drained and weak. Thing was, today is the first day in many that we have had warm and dry weather.  When I got home I let the dogs out to play and struggled with ever increasing weakness in my legs and arms as I picked up the yard before I stopped and let it go yet another day.  With the yard picked up I sat for a bit and considered what I could do with Malcolm and Emma, who truly need me to pick up my game, and ensure they learn something new today and practice important skills.  Roadwork came to mind.  It was one of the few things I could do and no longer be on my feet, which was vital at this point.

Roadwork:

I took Malcolm first and left Emma loose in the house with Max and Dieter.  Where earlier in the afternoon it was Malcolm and Max who gave a bit of a fuss when I left, this time it was Emma who cried out and started Dieter and Max howling.  I was still getting ready to leave the yard and just wheeled back up to the door and told them to cool it.  Emma is not comfortable being left loose in the house and I'll back down and build her up to the 30 minute mark again.

When I returned home I exchanged dogs and hooked Emma up.  She was very excited, but ready to go.  She wanted to lead the way at the beginning of the walk, but with careful treat placement where I wanted her head to be she fell into place and was spot on and trotting like a pro beside me.  She had no problem with traffic, is up to every 7th to 10th line in the sidewalk for reinforcement, but remains every car coming from behind for treats.  This is her second roadwork this year and I don't want to rush her on traffic training just yet.

We had a bicycle approach from the front while we were crossing the bridge.  I treated her for looking, for every 3rd line in the sidewalk on the bridge (which she continues to have no problems with) and again when the bicycle directly passed us.  She barely blinked and continued without breaking stride.  She is aware of curb cuts and the chair and safely enters and exits them now.

She heard a dog bark and perked up, but didn't jump or react to it.  I treated her for each dog bark we heard and she settled back into simply loving going for a walk.  I decided to do the "Tunnel of Dog" now knowing the bottle neck at Stompy Feet's house.  The Springer was no longer out, but the German Shepherd across the street was.  She never even looked at him as we passed.  Dancy Feet continued to sleep.  We stopped about 10 feet before Stompy Feet's house and I watched her to see if we'd continue forward or go back and take a new route.  She is just gaining confidence and I don't want to flood her.  She was alert, but not fearful, so we continued.

I took her down the center of the street to give more space and watched her closely.  She was concerned about Stompy Feet, not the dogs to my right.  She never even glanced at them, just watched Stompy, who appeared loose and went at speed with me by the house.  She took a single treat during our passing, but never ducked, darted or reacted.  When we passed she puffed up and trotted with purpose on the rest of the walk.  The second German Shepherd on my right didn't even phase her.

It appears Emma's concern is for dogs that appear loose and a few more times through that area should help her feel more confident before I find the next route for the two of them.  She crossed the bridge home without issue and was in fantastic spirits the rest of the night.

Overall, the roadwork was a fantastic success and both Emma and Malcolm really shined tonight.  Emma's confidence is clearly improving and her fallout after a stressful event is next to zero now.  The worst I am seeing is she's digging in my gardens.  I can go through an entire weekend without my gardens touched and 5 minutes in the yard and Emma's dug up my raspberries, rose bush and front garden by the roses.  Not sure why, but she's got something against my gardens.

It was a good day.es here

Emma loves cuddles.

Wednesday

I was exhausted last night when I entered the blog post for Emma and Malcolm.  To save time I just wrote the front end to cover what both dogs had done and then wrote up their individual training in a single post and copy and pasted.  Today I cleaned up the mess I made of that and entered the beginning media for the blogs.  I still have a ton of video for this week to edit, but it's almost 1:00 AM and I am just writing up Emma's blog post after having finished Malcolm's update for the day.

I was so tired, as a matter of fact, I didn't set the alarm like I normally do and all four dogs permitted me to sleep and wake on my own.  It was almost 8:00 AM when I did wake and Emma was laying by me and staring at me as if I had stopped breathing at some point in the night.  Even with the late start, she didn't go over her excitement level and was quiet as we padded to the front door and started our day.

She's in a fantastic mood this week and doing well.  Though we've had highly excitable moments, they've been moments and not days.  She is truly enjoying her roadwork and today really worked hard on her training.  It's a non-definable quality regarding her, but I can sense her confidence is bolstering and she's handling life better overall.  Whether she had been a service dog in training or not, I would have spent months building confidence with her because she should have a right to live without constant anxiety and fear in her life.

Today I setup the x-pen in a line along the counter so that it was a very narrow "hallway" for her to work in.  She had an exit on both the front and the back of it and each entry was met with a quick and invited exit to relieve pressure off of her and give her a chance to review what had just happened.  I mixed half of her breakfast with Ajus powder (small amount), water and a small spoonful of moist food to make a slurry of yummy high value kibble.  Since I was asking for a very difficult behavior I needed to raise the value of her breakfast and this was the best way to achieve that goal.

At first she didn't even want to enter, but with slow and careful reinforcement for approximations to the final behavior (walking through the tunnel) she did offer the behavior I asked.  I then slowly worked on her doing Sits and Downs in the confined space.  She was worried, again, about Malcolm so I sent him to his crate for the lesson and sent Max out of the room.  Dieter stayed, but she is less worried about him.  When he was in the way I sent him away and she worked hard with me by the end of her lesson.

At first she was very slow with her Sits and couldn't do a Down.  She would back up to give herself some open space for her Sits and eventually could do them in a more confined space.  I was alternating the Sits and Downs and low and behold, she offered a down in a confined space all on her own!

I saw her confidence improve as we worked in each 3 minute Round and by the last one she was doing very well.  I am going to give her one day off from this type of lesson and review it again on Friday before we leave for her grooming appointment.  Overall, Emma did fantastic today with learning to work in confined spaces and is building her confidence yet again.

For some reason I can't embed the video:

Emma vs The Maze - Part 1

Yoda came today and after letting everyone say hi and wind down from first meeting I let Emma loose in the house with Max and Dieter while we worked on Malcolm's CGC behaviors.  I will soon be training Emma to do CGC practice also, since she too needs to pass it before passing her PAT for her graduation.  For her CGC, she'll need to pass it with her handler, but giving her practice to achieve this goal will make it possible for her to do so.  The only areas I am worried for her is walking through a crowd and meeting a friendly stranger and grooming.  She's a bit shy in those areas, so I am approaching her training for CGC by building up confidence and will then do practice runs on the CGC with her also.

When I left with Malcolm to work with John and Yoda I could once again hear Emma yowling behind closed doors.  Next week I'll work on her being calm when we first leave.  She is quiet and waiting at the door when I leave, but I may have to run the camera when I go and see what all of the dogs are doing behind closed doors to find out what I need to work on to improve her ability to be alone.

After we returned from training, approximately 30 minutes later, she was in good spirits and my house was in one piece.  At this point, I am not ready to leave her loose in the house for longer than 45 minutes.  John and I visited while the dogs played in the yard.  Emma got loves from John and did her own thing.  Where once she was in the fray of the play, she now prefers to do her own thing.  She enjoyed a good bone and sniffing about and just hanging out.

Roadwork:

It was a nice day today and we spent most of it outside.  I had decided to take both Emma and Malcolm out for roadwork and was preparing the treat pouch when Ronda called and told me she was doctor ordered to go on walks for her recovery from surgery.  I told her the length of our route and offered for her to join us.  Jack came to visit today!

Emma and Malcolm were over the top excited to meet him again (even though they saw him Monday) and after some play I put up Emma, Max and Dieter in the house and set out with Malcolm for the first walk around the route.  Emma again protested.  Got to work on that.

When we returned she was hyper excited and barked and bounced around me reconnecting.  Once she calmed and Ronda was settled in, Emma and I went on a solo walk around our route.  Ronda can only go around once and so she stayed and watched the dogs while Emma and I went out.

Emma went from my house to the far side of the bridge and into the neighborhood we walk without a single treat.  She is checking in with eye contact and is walking like a little trooper with the chair.  She is turning well with the chair and with a slow enough turn stays in alignment with it as it turns.

Once in the neighborhood she could hear dogs barking in the distance and not react.  She is walking very nicely with the chair.  I did give her rewards for ignoring dogs barking as we passed.  About halfway through our route there was a big dog barking and running his fence on the other side of the road.  Emma watched him, never slowed and didn't react otherwise.  She is handling barking dogs well, if I can get her to look away once she notes them she'll be less likely to upset dogs she's passing.

A couple was out working on their yard.  They know I train service dogs and are wonderful socialization people.  I stopped and offered her the chance to say hi.  She went to them with caution and put her nose on their fingers and then turned to me.  This is a marked improvement to her previous "go say hi" exposure.  They didn't push petting on her and she did all the work of touching them (her choice) and then backed up to me without fear.  The caution may slowly fade with time, but if it doesn't we'll just keep her okay with seeing strangers and recommend not having her petted by strangers.

We went to the Tunnel of Dog and the chocolate Labrador that had been out when Malcolm and I passed was still out.  We went to the far side of the road and passed with only mild curiosity from her.  She ignored the Springer in the next fence over also.  When we got to Dancy Feet he was up and looking at us, but didn't react to our passing.  She ignored him.  She never looked over at Stompy Feet today.  I was doing a 1-2-Treat pattern as we passed and she was solid and not showing signs of fear.  The Doberman on the other side of us was out and barked at us and she never looked at him.

Once again, passing that "tight spot" in our walk seems to have improved her confidence.  She was puffing her chest and walking taller when we left the neighborhood and started back home.  A bicycle was coming toward us on the sidewalk.  She was okay with this and when the man hopped off the sidewalk and passed us she had her back to him.  She jerked a little but quickly recovered.  She walked along the bridge back home without issue.  I gave her a reward for every 3rd car that passed us to continue fading treats.

We entered our home neighborhood without incident and returned home with tired but smiling.  That's the big thing about these walks.  She has this big silly dog smile on her face and is clearly enjoying every minute of the walk - even those moments when I challenge her idea of "safe" when passing new dogs or strange objects.  While on the walk there was one of those mini bikes (the annoying ones that I wish was never invented) running the neighborhood and it either approached behind us, passed from the front of us and at one point zoomed by us from behind and she never blinked.  She is totally loving the walks and finds just going rewarding.  This summer should really get the miles on her to build up her confidence that she needs!

We ended the day with cuddles and play in the yard.  She ate her dinner well and zonked out when I closed the door for the night.  It was a good day!

The Tiresome Fivesome reunion tour.
Left to Right (Back to Front): Emma, Dieter, Max, Jack
and Malcolm.

Thursday

Play on Monday, roadwork on Tuesday and Wednesday, working on tight spaces on Wednesday and then a fun filled day of play and practicing staying with someone other than her handler.  I had a scheduled appointment for grooming for Max and Malcolm and had intended to take Emma with me like I always do, so hadn't done any morning training.  I fed her and the boys their breakfast, let them play in the yard for a bit and packed up what I'd need for working with Pi, Max, Malcolm and her.

She was thrilled when I harnessed up Dieter and grabbed leashes.  She was raring to rush to the van each time I took something to it before packing up the dogs and I had to ask her to wait at the gate until I was ready for her.  She was in a fantastic mood and really having a great day.

I had, the day before, realized that it was going to be over 70 degrees and without the air conditioners installed for the season yet, my  house would range between 85 and 95 degrees inside.  I had pulled some of the plastic down for the season so I could open a window to get a cross breeze when the front door was open, but with me gone for hours, Dieter was at risk of overheating during my absence and I asked Ronda if she would check in on him.  She said she would, but it would be better if my senior dog stayed the day with her.

I loaded all four dogs into the van and headed to Ronda's before leaving for my appointment with Max and Malcolm.  I had off loaded Dieter and put him in Ronda's yard when I went to leave with my 3 charges and that was when Emma launched out of the van and ran to the gate and looked back at me.  Ronda just opened the gate and let her in and we agreed she clearly wanted to stay and it was okay.  It changed my plans for her, but in truth, I think she had a much better day staying with Ronda than she would have at Haute Paws just hanging out with me.

Ronda said she explored her yard for a long time, never blinking when I pulled away.  She got a good play session in with Jack.  She loves to run and she truly loves to run a figure eight around Ronda's trees in the back of her property.  She had gotten on a good game of Catch Me If You Can with Jack and ran so hard and so fast he stopped playing.  Ronda told me she made three more loops before she realized the game was over and ran back and enticed Jack to play again.

At one point she fell asleep with the rest of the dogs (Ronda's 5 and my 2) and napped for a while on the deck with them.  She cuddled, played, explored, got loads of treats for recalls from the fence when she decided to bark at something and had a grand time.  This is a big change from the same little dog I dropped off and would just sit in Ronda's lap watching for my return and clearly worried.  She trusts I will return.  She trusts that Ronda won't hurt her and she trusts that she's safe in Ronda's yard.  The fact she is overjoyed to go there now tells us she loves her dog days at Ronda's.

When I returned she was overjoyed, bounced like a manic ball at me and was in great spirits.  It was a great day for her and as it came to a close she flopped against my ribs and fell into a deep sleep completely content.

See ya next week!

Friday

Spa day for Emma.  Normally on the mornings I take her to her groomer I don't worry about training her, but with migraines and two days off this week, I decided it was important to revisit the tight spaces lesson before the weekend.

I fed my three boys and fixed up her breakfast with a bit of moist food and water and made a kibble slurry out of it.  I set up the x-pen and worked the lesson.  I filmed it and you can see the results below, but this is what I noted:

• Emma didn't have as big a boost in confidence as she did previously, but a nice progression on it.
• She volunteered to enter the space and even volunteered targeting the x-pen.
• She still has serious latency on her Level 1 behaviors, but with each pass through improved.
• She offered extended time in the tight space and had to be asked to step out to relieve pressure so she could try again.
• At one point she pushed past Dieter to get to the spot we do the cues and didn't retreat like she had early in the lesson.
• Malcolm was loose and for the most part sat behind me watching, but when he did get in her space she would quickly retreat.
• In the end of the lesson his being in the space with her did not result in a retreat.

I do believe she had a confidence boost between the earlier lesson in the week and this one, but not one as dramatic as the week before.  I think overall it will boost her confidence to try harder things and really test her abilities and therefore, believe it's now time to start putting it into a working real life lesson.

After getting her training done I packed up Malcolm and her and headed to the groomer.  She has one of the best groomers in town who takes a lot of effort to build her confidence and make the experience positive for her, but they are running a business and need to get her bathed, dried and clipped whenever she comes in.  Emma is just not comfortable with any of it and has become reluctant to stay in the building when we enter.  She tries to leave by pulling toward the front door and ends up shaking.  I think I need to work on her going there on NON grooming days and really building a positive association with the building.

Her groomer is not doing anything to make her fearful, it just is.  With some extra work on teaching her to be okay with the entire grooming process I believe we can make this required part of her care easier on her.

It was a busy week and one in which a lot of fantastic things happened for Emma.  Next week promises to be a good one.

I can't embed this video either:

Emma vs The Maze - Part 2

Level 1

	Zen	Target	Come	Sit	Down
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 2

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	3	Completed	2	Completed	2
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Tricks	Communication
Step	1	3	Completed	Completed	Completed

Level 3

	Zen	Come	Sit	Down	Target
Step	3	Completed	2	1	1
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	4	0
	Jump	Relax	Handling	Retrieve	Communication
Step	Completed	2	Completed	Completed	1

Level 4

	Zen	Come	Retrieve	Target	Relax
Step	Completed	0	Completed	0	0
	Focus	Lazy Leash	Go To Mat	Crate	Distance
Step	0	Completed	0	5	0
	Handling	Communication
Step	Completed	0