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.

Which Hand?

Posted on November 25, 2008
Filed Under Firsts, Things That Make Me Smile, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

i think liame has finally learned a little bit of self restraint so today we tried to work on the “which hand?” command. first i told him to wait. then i let him sniff one hand and then the other. i then asked him “which hand” and he placed his paw on the hand with the treat. we did this another 30 or so times with a success rate of about 90 percent. yea!!! he and i have finally figured it out! the “which hand” command has nothing to do with service dog training, i just thought it would be a fun parlor trick to train him and show off to my friends (and possibly clients) how smart he is.

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.

WARNING: Too Much Information For Most Readers

Posted on November 16, 2008
Filed Under Tips and Tricks, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

so that post i made about my work complaining that i was always sick, turns out there was something wrong with me… my nose was almost completely blocked.  the turbinates were so inflamed and my septum was so deviated that i only had about 15% capacity of my nose to breath out of, which for me meant that i wasnt ever breathing out of my nose.  which also meant that every drop of mucus that was made was staying up there and turning into a culture medium for bacteria and viruses.  that was why if i had even a hint of a stuffy nose, i would immediately get a sinus infection and then bronchitis.  so surgery was on the 10th and my nose is killing me.

and now, back to the normal puppy talk.. if you ever get surgery and you have a lab puppy in your household, make sure you have enough pain killers on hand to deal with the pain that comes with puppies accidentally bumping surgical areas.  its bound to happen and its going to feel like someone stuck a knife in you.  who knew a dog that looks so cute when sleeping could inflict so much damage?

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.

More Alarm Barking

Posted on October 30, 2008
Filed Under Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

we have been having a problem with alarm barking lately with liame. in the last week liame has alarm barked while wearing his vest when:
- the doctor knocked on the door to ask permission to come into the exam room
- a noisy cart went by my cube at least 50 feet away from him
- several people have come into my cube and startlingly stating my name
this is sooooo inappropriate behavior for a service dog. the last couple times he has done this i have told him “nope” and he has gone up to the person because i have been so startled by this recent behavior that i havent had time to think about my reaction. i think this is only reinforcing it so as of today, when liame alarm barks while his vest is on at work, he will hear a “nope” (his no reward marker) and then go immediately into his crate. its the only thing i can think of doing at this point to try and nip this in the butt.
additionally we will be doing some counter conditioning. while he has his vest on i will be knocking on various surfaces and feeding him treats after the knock if he doesnt bark. if he does, he gets the same “nope” no reward marker and no treat. hopefully the combination of these two treatments should slowly reduce the alarm barking.

24 Commands And Counting

Posted on October 28, 2008
Filed Under Class, Firsts, Things That Make Me Smile, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

today we learned the command “open”. having mastered the commands “take it” and “tug” we chained them together to produce “open”. this is the first opportunity i have had to chain a command. i think i like it! i want him to be able to do the “get me a beer” party trick one day to show just how special he is. so far, these are the commands he knows:

sit
down
roll over
shake
high five
bow
turn around
back up
touch
go lay down
off
leave it
take it
drop
wait/stay
come
heel (well most of the time)
thats enough
open
focus
tug
get it
nope
no

Bowling Alley As Training Opportunity

Posted on October 26, 2008
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Firsts, Major Steps, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

today we went bowling with the university of michigan alumni club. neil asked me to not make him go because he wasnt feeling good but i told him that i couldnt bowl without him since i needed someone to watch liame while i threw the ball. i was absolutely flabberghasted at liames behavior. he was friendly, wasnt afraid of the loud noises and (this is what was amazing to me) “stayed” as instructed while i went up to the lane, grabbed a ball and threw it down the lane. a retriever did not go after the ball, now thats a small miracle in and of itself. i guess those sessions i have been having in the parking lot with him working on his distance stays are paying off. the only real thing we had a problem with was liame stealing food wrappers off a table at his level. he has SUCH a problem with trying to eat everything in his line of sight. i need to figure out a way to be more proactive rather than reactive when it comes to this eating things off the ground, tables, chairs, etc. so as it turned out, i really didnt need neil after all. both neil and i wore our michigan shirts and as we arrived at the alley i realized that we had a u of m bandana from neils mom we could have put on liame. darn it, that would have made him an even more popular attraction at the bowling alley. i wish a few more drunk and stumbley people would have approached him, it would have turned this into one of the best training opportunities we have ever had.

The 2 Things That Have Saved My A$$

Posted on October 10, 2008
Filed Under Care, Things That Make Me Smile, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

#1. some people think crating a dog is evil. i used to be one of those people until i read about the science behind how it replicates the den like environment that they would have in the wild. i started crate training the day i got liame. i followed all the rules by trying to make it a very pleasant environment for him to be in and tried to never used it as a form of punishment. i thought confining him to a crate for the last 3 days was going to drive both him and me insane but in all honesty it really hasnt been that bad. i let him out go to the bathroom and he goes right back into it willingly. its absolutely amazing - its like he really does like his crate!

#2. consistently training the command “leave it”. knowing that my dog was a lab and that they are notorious for putting anything and everything into their mouths i always asked for us to do a leave it session in every single one of his puppy classes. we have continued the leave it training even though we are not currently in classes. we also use the leave it command prior to every feeding so that he knows that he is not to touch his bowl until i say its OK. how it relates to this surgery is that i have been using the leave it command for when liame starts scratching his bandage or licks at his stitches. he immediately stops scratching and looks at me like, “ok i stopped, wheres my treat?”. the command was never intended to be used to stop him from scratching but somehow has transferred over to this behavior. i dont know if i would have enough self control to leave something that itches alone. how amazing is my dog?!?!

Today Liame Goes Under The Knife

Posted on October 6, 2008
Filed Under Care, Class, Mistakes, Tips and Tricks, Todays Mood | 1 Comment

both my mother and liame are scheduled to have surgery today and i am surprisingly much calmer than i should be. last night i stayed up way too late and took some photos of liame - just incase. i know. i know. he is getting so skinny i have started calling him my little gazelle. he bounces around the house like a little baby deer dancing in an open field. its so very cute.

my canine studies instructor has given members of the class the opportunity to be assistants in 2 of her classes. this will give me a great opportunity to work with other dogs and learn how to motivate them with more than just food. it will also give me the opportunity to make up for the leash popping i did to liame the first month or so i had him. i read about it in the monks of new skete book and in all honesty really didnt know how ineffective it was until i was fully engrossed in my classes at ahimsa. the monks made it seem like it was going to work quickly, in all honesty, it didnt work AT ALL no matter how many times i did it. assisting in this class also gives me hours towards my CPDT. since ahimsa used marker training and that isnt the focus of seattle dog works, its going to be interesting to see the difference between her methods and those taught at ahimsa. christine has an amazing wealth of knowledge and a great sense of humor, something which was grossly missing in all of the classes i took that were not led by amanda brothers of side kick dog training.

update: he made it!!!!!! they took bone fragments out of both elbows. more info to follow at a later date.

keep looking »