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.

Renewed Sense Of Optimism

Posted on February 17, 2009
Filed Under Things That Make Me Smile, Tips and Tricks, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

yesterday as i was going through my email i accidentally stumbled upon an email from 2001 responding to a job posting for a assistant training position for paws with a cause. it gave me a renewed sense of optimism that i really am doing what i am supposed to be doing. sometimes i feel very overwhelmed with the idea of opening up a non profit training program and that there is so much to do and never enough time to do it.
in liame raising news it appears that the hours and hours of time we have spent trying to get liame to look at me when he sees food on the floor is starting to pay off. i am now getting this behavior in the grocery store and have started expanding the behavior into just paying him treats for him randomly looking up at me and watching me. it is creating a wonderfully attentive dog when i am paying for the behavior but he goes back to his old self once i am distracted. i really need to learn how to fade out rewards properly or else im going to be stuck walking around with my training belt full of food for the rest of my life!

Elitist

Posted on January 30, 2009
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Service Dog Laws, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

yesterday i went to the dog park and met the regional guide dog coordinator for the seattle area. it was nice getting to talk with her about service dogs and how they are raised. she brought her guide dog puppy drop out to the dog park for some socialization and running around. apparently she doesnt like the guide dog organization forbidding them to bring their puppies to the dog park either. i ended our talk by handing her my card and maybe she will contact me. in all honesty i wont hold my breath though. most people who have service dogs from the big organizations dont think that dogs that were not trained by their organizations can be service dogs. personally i think this is a somewhat of an elitist philosophy but i can understand why they might have this view. i cant tell you how many times ive been into a store and had my dog aggressed at by an unmarked “service dog”. there is part of me that wished there was an official national organization that certified service dogs by access and task testing and proof of medical documentation. even though i took advantage of the loop hole in the law that allowed me to train jasper as my service dog, i think it would be beneficial for all legitimate service dog teams to be guaranteed safe access to public environments. it only takes one bite from an aggressive dog to ruin a service dogs career, the life of the person who uses it and years of training.

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!

Back To The Surgeon

Posted on January 19, 2009
Filed Under Care, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

we went back to the surgeon today. apparently liames elbows are still swollen. he is still having difficultly getting up from a lying position but once he takes those first couple of steps he bolts around the house like there is nothing wrong. i told him about us going to magnuson and him going out into the water and how he wont go out past his chest. he said that i would have to wait until the summer and have him follow me out since he doesnt even want to follow other dogs out. ive noticed that when he gets up from a lying down position i can hear his joints pop. the surgeon seemed to dismiss it but its got me a little worried. he joints didnt pop until after the surgery. i cant pinpoint where in the front portion of his body the popping is coming from. i hope this doesnt mean more surgery and the the possibility of dropping him from the program. i have had fun raising him and would feel really bad about having to train another dog.

“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.

Awe Mom, Do I Have To?

Posted on December 23, 2008
Filed Under Things That Make Me Smile, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

weve been stuck indoors for the last several days due to the unusual amount of snow that has completely crippled seattle. our hill has turned from a street into a sledding hill. no cars have come down it in days. since i couldnt get my moms present out in time i had to give something to her digitally. so i sent her the photo you see to your right. i sent it to her local walmart store’s photo department to be picked up by her after she got off work. she went gaga over it. arent they cute? it had to be a photoshop job because we only had one set of antlers. i thought it was going to be a difficult shot to get liame to stay still with them on his head while i backed up to get the shot but liame seemed to be fine as long as i kept rewarding him with his treats. he is such a food whore and in all honesty, i thank god every day for that fact. i dont know how in the heck i would motivate him at work if i had to keep a squeaky ball in my pocket.

Snow Rules!

Posted on December 16, 2008
Filed Under Firsts, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

liame had his first experience with snow on sunday. i was kind of concerned that he wouldnt want to walk around in it but it didnt seem to phase him at all. infact i think he found it rather exciting. he kept freezing, shoving his head down into it, digging his nose around, taking in its aroma and then bounding around in complete and utter joy to the next spot where he would repeat the same sequence over and over again. his response to the snow also illustrates how important it is to make sure your puppy experiences everything you can introduce it to during its first developmental window and that those experiences are all positive. all the exposure training we did during those first 10 weeks has laid a foundation for an inquisitive, confident, happy, 1 year old puppy.

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.

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