Always End Your Training Session On A Positive Note

Posted on August 5, 2008
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im trying to teach liame the “which hand” trick. i cant understand what i am doing wrong. he seems to want to slap his big old paw on any hand he can get to and sometimes hop up and hit both hands at once. this wouldnt be so much of a problem if he had soft nails, his paws weren’t the size of frying pans and i didnt have an allergy to dogs. every single time we play this game i end up with scratches and hives and wondering why in the heck do i keep trying to train this trick. yesterdays training session also cemented for me how much my mood is affected by this new little guy of mine. because he just couldnt seem to get it i was so frustrated at the end of our session that i didnt want to return to work or be near anyone. only after i calmed down did i remember that wonderful piece of advice from our 100 or so puppy classes, ALWAYS END YOUR TRAINING SESSION ON A POSITIVE NOTE. i forgot all about these words of wisdom because liame has picked up everything that i have trained him in a session or two (weve been working on “which hand” on and off for several weeks). remember if you dont keep your training fun and positive neither you nor your dog will want to continue.

A More Confident Puppy

Posted on July 23, 2008
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we skipped the last canine good citizen class tonight due to the fact that i was really really really sick. he was supposed to take the cgc test today but heh, its not like he was going to pass it anyway - the little guy cant be alone without me for more than 30 seconds without freaking out. he did something very interesting today too. while i was in the bathroom at work someone knocked on the door and he sprang up into the air and started alert barking. i cant tell if he learned this behavior on his own or has learned it from jasper. alarm barking means that my baby is growing up and feeling more confident in himself. awe, theres part of me that wants him to stay the cute little fuzzy puppy he was, but then theres part of me that is so tired of pulling garbage out of his little puppy mouth.

Should He Have Been A “Service Dog”?

Posted on June 19, 2008
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we started our canine good citizen class yesterday.  there were 5 dogs in the class, of the 5, 3 were dog aggressive and liame wasnt one of them.  the individuals with the dog aggressive pups want to have their dogs become therapy dogs.  i just shook my head in disbelief.  having had a service dog that doesnt pay attention to its owner while other dogs are around i know what they are going through.  i just dont know why they think that the dog will be safe in a therapy type of environment.  i hope they can work through their issues but from personal experience i know that its going to be a tough and almost impossible road. personally i dont think i should have been allowed to call jasper a service dog because he would not have passed the ignoring another dog part of the official test.  its not like jasper was aggressive, he just wants to go play and not pay attention to me.  i know i wouldnt be at the point that i am at without having had jasper serve me, i just know now after having liame, that its important for the service dog community to establish mandatory guidelines for what type of behavior is legally required for a service dog.  i know i will get a lot of flack for this blog but i really do think its important to have a 100% sound dog serving you.

Graduating - Top In Our Class

Posted on June 15, 2008
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today liame graduated 1st in our class at the humane society’s supper puppy class.  i got a certificate and everything.  i was almost beat for first place by a puppy who was several months older than liame and who had already taken the class once before.  i was so proud even though our award was a frisbee.  i wonder when we can start winning ribbons and trophies?

Skippin Class - But For The Greater Good

Posted on June 11, 2008
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we missed class on monday. neil found a stray cat and we had to take it to the emergency animal hospital.

ive been using my lunch breaks to teach liame tricks out of the 101 Dog Tricks book i bough off of amazon (see link above). its a great book because not only does it photographically display step by step on how to guide your dog into doing the tricks but it also has the hand signals for them. we learned “bow” in a single 30 minute session the next day we learned “which hand is the treat in”. some of the tricks in this book are more geared towards adult dogs because they require a great deal of focus, something a 6 month old puppy sorely lacks. unfortunately with most of his training i am still having to lure him into positions because the verbal cue is not enough at this stage (except for sit and down). i know he doesnt have everything down pat yet because sometimes he will go through his repitriore of the tricks he knows until he gets rewarded. its kind of cute to see him try to figure it out and get frustrated.

Graduation

Posted on June 5, 2008
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liame graduated from ahimsa’s puppy junior high today.  it was sort of a bitter sweet moment for me.  for the entire class he had been the star student but for some unknown reason he decided that i was no longer important enough to pay attention to.  maybe he was picking up on my worried energy about our neighbors cat.

Puppy Junior High

Posted on May 7, 2008
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liame went to his first puppy junior high class today and was the star pupil. he sat on his mat like he was supposed to, didnt try to play with the other dogs too much and payed attention to me. looks like he is finally learning some self control. i didnt like this teacher as much as i do the puppy kindergarten one. she seems more strict and unwilling to use other teaching methods (that arent 100% positive). not everyone can be positive 100% of the time and not every puppy can be taught using these methods.
i remember when i first got liame and he tried to get push his little puppy head into the fridge EVERY time i opened it up. no matter what positive reinforcement i used he ignored it because he just liked the fridge too much. i ended up screaming at him and even took a swipe at him in utter frustration - something i will regret for the rest of my life. that didnt even work (cuz it wasent that hard and mommy getting mad didnt mean a thing to him at that point). i ended up searching the web for something to use that would get his attention. i used a squirt bottle filled with water. within three trys and three squirts he never stuck his head in the fridge again. so the moral of the story is 100% positive reinforcement 100% of the time is great for some puppys, but not all of them.

Graduation

Posted on April 14, 2008
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On Saturday Liame graduated from puppy kindergarten (with honors of course).  Its kind of sad for me in a way knowing that I wont be going to school 5 hours a week anymore.  Those 5 hours have been the happiest I have been in a long time.  I got to train my puppy and play with other puppies.  Can someone please give me a job training puppies?  I LOVE PUPPIES!!!!

Puppy Class

Posted on April 5, 2008
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Last week they changed the format of puppy kindergarten.  Before classes were held with the puppys bolted to the wall (with several foot long leashes attached to them).  Apparently the owners went to some seminar and heard that “the other Caeser” holds all his puppy classes off leash.  They decided to change the format from leashed puppys to off leash puppys.  So now instead of the calm pleasurable puppy class I am now running around the room trying desperately trying to keep Liames attention for several hours.  Holy shit its  painful.  Today I took several vicodin to try and get rid of the back pain (i have 2 compressed discs and degenerative disc disease).  Prior to this change up, puppy class was my favorite place to be in the entire world.  Now I am reconsidering it due to the pain level I am left in for several days after class.

 

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