Week Five: 13 wks old

Can this be Landry's fifth week in San Diego already? Well, the calendar doesn't lie.

At Home:

Monday at Lily's

This week the "non-negotiables" will hopefully begin to be default. No running through the house. No dogs in the kitchen. No dogs on the furniture. No teeth on human skin. No jumping on people. House training.

We played Hide n Seek for the first time this morning. (COME: L1: BMO) He gets it! One time he even ran to find me carrying a toy bone in his mouth. Caught this on Flip.

Played Touch the Scent Stick for the first time this morning. (TARGET: L2) And hope to introduce Landry to the Alley Oop today, too.

He met Cameron with tail awagging. New mulch in the garden. Yum. Something new to dig up and to carry.

Introduced Landry to frozen washcloths this morning for teething. He LOVES them!

No visit on Tuesday.

Wednesday at Lily's

MILESTONE: Landry saw cats for the first time in his life....... the "devil cats" that live next door. All 3 of them. At the same time. As he and Dale were leaving and on leash. I will let Dale add the details.

Today we worked on LEASH: Step 2: off leash, Sit and Down (verbal cues and then, separately, handsignals) and Puppy Pushups, Target (hand target and touch stick target; walking left and right to touch), Zen, The Come Game (one person), Crate and No Jumping.

Introduced the Two-Ball Fetch. Landry played ball with Cameron.

But we had some real breakthroughs today. I am beginning to be able to read Landry's "I need to Get Busy" signals better. I caught him assuming the position upstairs in the hall and managed, with an "Uh Uh" and running to lead him downstairs to the door, to get him outside to deficate. This afternoon Landry was in the x-pen and I was training Lily beside it when Landry began standing on the x-pen and scratching at the post. Unfortunately I didn't read that "sign" correctly and he peed on the floor. Sue says "Listen to your dog" and I will do better, Landry. I promise.

Dale and I both need to train CRATE and GTM more, instead of just using the behaviors. Because Landry "Gets In" his crate so easily and willingly, I have a tendency to only use the cue when I want to put him in his crate for a while. Same with COME. We need to play (train) this behavior with him, using the highest value treats, to keep Landry's eager response to the cue. We each have fallen into the trap of not making it fun any more. And Landry is such a willing, quick learner. A word to the wise.........

MILESTONE 2: Landry went home today wearing a "big boy" collar. Well. I guess I should modify that, since the collar was PINK. Neon PINK. Landry Man has outgrown the puppy collar that he arrived in and Dale wanted to order a larger one. Should he get a small or a medium? I keep extra pink collars for Lily and Shayla (mediums) so I took a new one and made it as small as it could get and it was a perfect fit for Landry. No doubt Dale will get him out of pink as soon as possible.......although real men wear pink.

Thursday at Lily's

550
Just crated Landry and am enjoying my second cup of coffee.
He has pooped and peed.
Trained The Come Game (pupper pupper)
W/Landry down on the mat and Lily down on the floor
played Zen. Introduced Floor Zen w/me seated on the floor with them.
Two Ls have played tug w/the sock ball and have raced at least a mile
up and down and up and down the sidewalk.
While heating coffee in microwave (3 min)
played get in the crate 3 times.
Get In. Toss in a treat and close the door. Door closed for 10 seconds
open the door, he waits, Let's Go and he gets another treat and
then he and Lily play more.
When my coffee was made, we played Crate again and this time
he also got the frozen wash cloth and the door stayed closed.
Turned all lights off. Nap time.

Lily and I left the house for Balboa Park at 740 with Landry in his x-pen and Cameron asleep in his room. Cameron is Landry's playmate for the morning. First time that I have left Landry in the x-pen when away from the house, but I didn't want Cameron to forget L was here and if he was in his crate and quiet, that might happen. Apparently the two of them had a fun morning together.

Returned home at 11 with Cathy, Karen and Jan. All Landry saw of them was their legs, but he certainly was aware that these were dog trainers, because their pockets were full of treats! Landry, Jan and Lynn played The Come Game, which included Landry's default Sit.

Time for toiletting, a romp, a new frozen chew towel and then, into the crate while all of us, including Cameron, went to lunch.

Dale got off work early and picked Landry up early so the day was perfectly timed.

Friday at Lily's

Brief play period with Lily after Landry arrived this morning and then we all went back to bed and slept until 8.

Landry and I have had quiet time alone this morning. After an unusual yesterday I want him to have as much free time as possible today. I filled my treat bag with his breakfast kibble mixed with some Core treats and a clicker. I will wear it all day and we will "Train on the Fly".

My CRITERIA for today is to be on the ready with clicker and treats, but to only work when he comes to me (which is often) focused and involved. So far we have reviewed Sit, Down, Go to Mat, Crate, Watch (up to 3 solid seconds of Eye Lock) and Open Hand Zen. Work on CRATE without having to stay in it so we don't lose his wonderful willingness to enter. A few seconds of this and a little of that.

Every time I see Landry heading my way I turn that into a recall exercise and say, "Landry, Come!" He comes to me and sits and gets a special HVT.

Like Lily before him, Landry is developing into a proficient gardener. His specialty seems to be roots and bulbs. He just brought me this root........with the entire fern attached.

Landry is in his x-pen; Lily is on the outside observing and quietly interacting with him. Landry is standing w/his front paws on the side of the x-pen and the two of them are having the most interesting, silent discussion on bite inhibition. Where is my Flip when I need it? Landry is definitely teething. Starting to be interested in electrical cords, furniture and shoes.

Out for a toilet break and a romp with Lily. Run, run, run. And hide. Then run some more.

1030. Fell asleep in the x-pen.

More play. More COME......when he is already running to me full speed anyway. I'm keeping those yummy treats in my pocket. He and Lily really enjoying playing tug with his sock ball.


Default behaviors: sitting on recall - A+, sitting at door (in and out) - B (only because of my consistency, or lack of it), no jumping on people - N/A (Dale permits it, I don't) ... training issue.


MILESTONE: Landry is selecting the metal toys from the toybox and playing with them!

Just a good, low key day all the way around.