Flat Collars Blow – At Least For Those Of Us With Back Problems
Posted on February 25, 2009
Filed Under Mistakes, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment
i tried training liame using his flat collar. friends… i really did try but the little knuckle head is so powerful that he really hurts my back when he pulls on his leash. so instead of using the gentle leader head halter we have switched to the gentle leader harness. i made the switch because i am tired of getting approached on the street and getting asked why my dog is wearing a muzzle. it shows you just exactly how clueless the general public is even in seattle when something wraps around the top of the pivot point of a dogs mouth and they are still asking you if its a muzzle. anyway, the gentle leader harness is perfect. it fits under his vest and people never know he has it on. i know in order to be able to pass the service dog exam he has to be able to walk on a flat collar but at this point my back cant take his enthusiasm and his desire to explore everything while my eyes are on something else.
To Puppy Park Or Not?
Posted on January 25, 2009
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Mistakes | Leave a Comment
we went to the dog park today and something kind of frightening happened. liame almost got attacked a couple of times by three different dogs. once while we were walking towards the water, once while we were at the water and once as we were walking back towards the car. we have never had a day like this before. it was like every dog in that place was out to get my little boy. guide dogs for the blind doenst allow their puppies to go to dog parks. i think its because they can get attacked and can be scarred for the rest of their life. i have been pretty lucky in that liame has never been bit at the dog park. i specifically did not take him to the dog park while he was still a little pup because every single time another dog got rough with him in his puppy classes it was always a dog that had been to a dog park or a dog daycare and had been in an altercation with another dog. todays incidents are making me rethink my decision to go to the dog park with liame. maybe i should take the advice of the guide dog organizations and keep liame away from uncontrolled doggie interactions.
Leave It, No, Leave It, Watch, Leave It Liame! Liammmmme!!!
Posted on January 21, 2009
Filed Under Class, Major Steps, Mistakes, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment
we have started switching to walking around on a flat collar. since one of the classes i have been assisting in had only a few dogs in in amanda has allowed me to train liame while the other dogs are training. this has given me the opportunity to work on not pulling on the leash and ignoring food on the ground. basically we spend our entire hour walking around food, waiting for him to look up and me and then giving him a treat from my pouch. im trying to get him to make the connection that if you want food then look at me rather than going after it like a madman while its on the floor of the supermarket. do you know how embarrassing it is to have a dog repeatedly try to eat a single piece of food off of the floor in a grocery market while you are going “leave it, no, leave it, watch, leave it liame! liammmmme” oh so embarrassing!
Managing Without The Training, Pay And Authority
Posted on January 9, 2009
Filed Under Mistakes, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment
i knew once they started bothering me about my attendance and instituted their “tracking” system it wouldnt be long. i did a job, a job none of the other retouchers wanted to do. i got hired on to do retouch work and ended up managing the entire job from start to finish. i was the reason why we made our deadlines and the customer never really complained. i was in and out of my seat being a detective, doing the dirty work, tracking down and resolving problems before the customer even knew that they existed. because i volunteered to do a job that needed to be done and that no one else wanted to do because they were “real retouchers”
“Service Dog In The Building!”
Posted on January 3, 2009
Filed Under Firsts, Mistakes, Service Dog Laws, Tips and Tricks | 1 Comment
we went to the seattle aquarium a couple of days ago. right before we were about to enter the aquarium the front desk clerk made what i would have assumed was a general staff announcement that there was a “service dog in the building.” i didnt understand it at first and thought it a little insulting but then it occurred to me that even though liame had been introduced to all types of environments that the penguins, otters and octopus might be a little taken aback by the fact that there was this furry predator staring them down. sure enough when we came to the octopus tank, the octopus started squirming around in him tank and tried to hide behind a rock. according to the attendant the octopus had barely moved all day. when we came up to another tank which happened to be really long and at liames level, he spotted a fish swimming really fast in it and tried to chase it down the wall. telling him to “leave it” worked but it bugs me that i have to be so reactive all the time. i wonder if his age is causing this impulsiveness or maybe its because he is the product of champion hunters? when i picked out liame i knew i needed a dog that would be an active participant in my life, a dog with a lot of energy and drive to encourage me to get out of the house. guide dogs have such passive personalities that they seem to be more like an assistive device rather than a living breathing animal. i know they select their breeding stock so that they turn out that way. sometimes though liames constant on the go, inquisitive personality makes me wonder, did i screw up and get a dog with too much drive?
Management, Management, Management
Posted on January 1, 2009
Filed Under Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment
oh labs. oh labs. oh labs and their desire to eat everything while they are puppies. the special of the day yesterday included large clumps of my hair. typically it takes me a couple of weeks to schedule a hair cut at the school that i go to but yesterday they had a cancellation and i got in within a hour of calling. this of course meant that i was totally unprepared for the situation that unfolded. now that i have had time to think about it, i think my mistake was placing liame into a down stay to the side of me. normally when i go to get my hair cut he sits directly in front of me so that i can keep and eye on him. sitting directly in front of me allows me to see him and prevents too much hair from falling into his personal space. on this occasion he was to the side of me so i ended up not being able to keep an eye on him because the stylist wanted me to face forward. when she finally did start cutting my hair wads of it ended up right in front of his little curious puppy nose. i told him several times to leave it with no avail. it was too much for him to handle. about half way through the haircut another stylist came over, cooed at him, watched him eat hair, laughed at him ignoring my “leave it”s and then offered to clean it up before he decided to get up and move around to the other side of the chair. how gross and embarrassing. normally i would have been prepared in the situation with a yummy rawhide or meat stick to try and get his attention away from the hair but alas, since the appointment was made last minute i didnt have any of these puppy management tools. so next time i go get a haircut i need to either place him in the front of the chair or provide him something other than my hair to entertain him.
Crate Training Is Working
Posted on December 12, 2008
Filed Under Major Steps, Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment
it looks like the crate training i have been doing with the alarm barking and the attention behaviors has worked wonders. i only had to use the technique for a few days and all of a sudden, liame is starting to become a model service dog when it comes to people coming into my work area. one of my coworkers came into my cube this morning and said that he actually missed his daily liame greetings. i reminded him that i know he is cute and irresistible but he is training to be a service dog and for him to greet you without me giving him permission before hand is absolutely inappropriate. he left my area sulking. i felt kind of bad for it because being a dog lover i would feel the EXACT same way (MUST GREET ALL PUPPPIES – bad mary, no donut).
today i have a review with my boss and i am scared. i had to take an anxiety pill last night to get some sleep and one this morning to just make it through. its sad that im getting the equivalent of dentist anxiety because i have to talk with my new boss for half an hour. liame is still not picking up my strange anxiety ridden behavior yet. i really need to start training him to do so.
Attention Seeking At My Desk
Posted on November 20, 2008
Filed Under Mistakes, Service Dog Laws, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment
since i can remember, liame has been rushing people who approach my desk in anticipation of attention from them. since this type of attention seeking behavior is inappropriate for a service dog i have been extremely embarrassed by it. prior to a week or so ago, i would verbally reprimand him and tell him to go lay down. this would work for a few seconds but he would end up slowly creeping towards the person trying to get a whiff of their pants or shoes. although this sniffing behavior was not technically a greeting in human terms it was another inappropriate behavior – ie you cant have a service dog go sniffing some random stranger in the grocery store. seeing that this behavior had started to become a pattern (greet, retreat after reprimand, crawl back while i was talking) i had to come up with another solution. thank god i still have the crate because as you can see in my previous posts it has become a useful tool to get liame to stop doing inappropriate things. so as of today, when liame goes to greet a visitor in my cube he will immediately be placed into the crate. and since this behavior has two components, an attention seeking dog and a willing puppy loving person who bends over to pet him i have placed a sign on my computer asking people to refrain from petting him. i hate to do it but people have gotten lax in ignoring liame.
I Really Can Train Dogs
Posted on November 12, 2008
Filed Under Care, Firsts, Mistakes, Things That Make Me Smile, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment
last sunday the most amazing thing happened. i finally realized that i am a dog trainer. liame would play fetch at home really well but at the dog park he would come within about 5 feet of me and then conveniently drop the ball IN THE LAKE. argh!!!! after numerous failed attempts at calling him to me in this high distraction environment, i had an epiphany, i need to somehow communicate to him and motivate him to stop directly in front of me. so, the moment he got close to me, i turned around in the opposite direction and ran away from him. this turned a game of fetch into an even better game, chase. it worked like a charm. when i eventually stopped about 20 feet from the shore of he lake, liame caught up to me and dropped the ball. we repeated the game of fetch and chase until we both were exhausted. in all honesty, i dont think i have ever had so much fun at the dog park as i did on sunday.
Yet Another Episode Of Alarm Barking
Posted on November 9, 2008
Filed Under Mistakes | Leave a Comment
we had another alarm barking incident yesterday. we went to see a live improve “unexpected productions” performance and while one of the performers was making rapping noises and hiding behind the curtain liame started barking at him. i couldnt use my technique of placing him in his crate because it wasnt there and i couldnt feed him treats because it would just have been rewarding him for the behavior so the only thing i could come up with at the spur of the moment was to place my hands over is muzzle and tell him no. all of my training says that it was a bad idea but in that moment it was the only thing i could think of. i have to think of something else to do when i cant use the techniques listed in my previous posts.
keep looking »Recently
- Flat Collars Blow – At Least For Those Of Us With Back Problems
- Renewed Sense Of Optimism
- Yes, I Frequently Give Commands To Random Strangers
- CSDT vs CPDT
- Elitist
- To Puppy Park Or Not?
- Leave It, No, Leave It, Watch, Leave It Liame! Liammmmme!!!
- Back To The Surgeon
- I Cannot Fail
- Managing Without The Training, Pay And Authority