Week Six: 14 wks old

GOALS for the week:

• Zen. Zen. And more Zen
• Zen in everything.
• Level 1:
• Before Moving On
• generalize
• Default behaviors: Sit
• Hide n Seek: Come
• Floor Zen: Duration
• Target: walk to touch
• Touch stick
• Handsignals
• Level 2
• LEASH: L2: Steps 1, 2 (on leash and off; left side and right side)
• Crate and GTM: in and out
• Watch: The Get Lost Game
• Down Stay: Duration
• Target
• Retrieve
• Introduce L2: Distance (go around)
• 10 sec Duration
• Come: latency
• generalize

Monday at Lily's

MILESTONE: Landry passed Steps: Level One this morning. Cold.

MILESTONE: Landry passed Steps: Crate: Level Two, Go to Mat: Level Two, Come: Level Two this morning. Cold.

Now we will go back and re-teach Level One from the new book.


Dale is going to teach DISTANCE: Level Two to Landry from scratch. And when he thinks Landry is ready, he will tell me and give me the homework of reinforcing it when Landry is here.


Dale and Lily are doing a good job of teaching Landry bite inhibition - each in their own way. I'm not feeling any teeth at all (knock on wood!) And our method of reinforcing "no jumping on people" is showing positive results. The difference between last week and this is hugely noticeable.


Today we got 6 solid seconds of Down Stay. Our goal for the week is 10 seconds of duration on Zen, Watch, Down Stay, Go to Mat and open door Crate. Thinking of every behavior as a ZEN behavior - self-control - and Duration is a perfect example of self-control.

Dale and I are using Sue's words as our LEASH mantra:

Where people go wrong with teaching loose leash walking is that the loose leash is only a priority once in a while. What they need to learn from Song is that you cannot reward the behavior you don't want sometimes. You have to never reward the behavior you don't want. You can't say, "Well, he almost made it to the car yesterday on a loose leash, and today I have to get groceries and get home before supper so it won't matter if he pulls today."

Also, when removing Landry's leash, we are then placing a small handful of treats on the ground and slowly walking away. Using NO release words. We don't want Landry to learn that there is any difference between the leash being on or the leash being off.

Tuesday at Lily's

When Dale drops Landry off in the morning, Landry has not had his breakfast. This morning I started playing a new "come" game with him - to build latency into his recall. I hold a handful of kibble in my hand, call "Come!" and, when he arrives, place a small pile of food onto the floor directly in front of him. While he is eating (and he does so rapidly), I move 5 or 6 feet away and call "Come!" again. He races to me for the food on the floor. We do this over and over and over. I can hear him chewing so know when to call him again. Sometimes I can even get around a corner before I call. Sometimes I turn my back and he comes around in front of me. He is quickly In the Game and I definitely have his attention.

Landry isn't too interested in food today. Could it be that he is teething? As a result, our training sessions have been few and short. The distractions in the backyard took him over his threshold today, too, and he was unable to do his Level 1 behaviors.

I am leaving all of his crates open so that he has the freedom to go in and out. He went into his small "truck" crate and dragged out his bumper, took it out into the front courtyard and jumped up on the chair and just mouthed on it. I have started putting the bumper into the x-pen, too. Chew. Chew. Chew.

Wednesday at Lily's

Lily went to the vet yesterday. One of the two locations of her biopsies is not healing and has become infected. So no free play between Lily and Landry until it does. This will definitely change our routine. We will make the most of it and maximize the opportunity.

Landry has been outside in the side and back yards, free play. From time to time I am going to the front door, "Landry, Come!" The first two times he came racing, slid into a Sit, and got 4 or 5 HV treats one after the other. "Go play!" I went inside and closed the door. The third time, however, he came running but stopped around 5' away and wouldn't come to me. I went inside. Next time it was back to "Pupper. Pupper" No go. I stopped the game. When it was time for him to come in I went out saying nothing. He came to me. I put on the leash and we C/T into the house.

Ah. Inside the house was Lily! Landry forgot that the leash was on. Run! Ooops. He hit the end of the leash. Run the other way. Ooops. He hit the end of the leash. And then. He kept the leash loose! And got to nuzzle Lily as his reward. Then into the crate and sound asleep in half a minute.

From 1130 - 1230 Lily and Shayla were crated and Landry had some free play time. As I made my lunch, I C/T him for not coming into the kitchen, using the small Natural Balance bones, broken in half. I used the same technique that Sue uses when introducing the "drop on recall". I don't think he gets it yet, but he is stopping and sitting on the edge of the carpet. Kitchen Zen.

I realize that Landry's shaping experience is lacking, so decide to do some shaping "nonsense". I am shaping for turning his head to the right. Not to teach left and right. Not leading to any behavior. Merely C/T for turning his hea to the right. It was our first free shaping session ever and he didn't "get it", but we have to start somewhere. There's more to shaping than shaping to get a particular behavior or concept.

During the day I am continuing to call him to come to me, merely for a HV reward.

This afternoon I leashed Landry and opened the front gate. My plan was to a) determine Landry's "world" threshold maintaining a Lazy Leash and, hopefully, b) to see if we could C&L up to 5 steps doing Level 2: Step 2. Wouldn't you know it? The cat was resting in the flowers. I don't think Landry actually saw him, but he knew that he was there. Also, there was a fern the captured Landry's interest. He was definitely over his threshold and unable to play the game. We will do more of this tomorrow morning when he is hungry. Zen. Zen. and more Zen.

NOTE to Lynn and Dale: Think of EVERY behavior as a Zen behavior!

NOTE to Lynn and Dale: Spend much more time on Leash: Step 1 (giving in to collar pressure).

Thursday at Lily's

Today was "crate day" at Lily's because Lynn and Lily left at 730 for training at Balboa Park. I actually got part of my breakfast in a BOWL this morning! And then I was crated until 11. Lynn and 3 trainers came to the house and played with me. (see video) Then I was put in my x-pen, where I played and slept until Dale came and picked me up.

Friday at Lily's

Landry arrived at 5, without having had his breakfast. He played on the front patio all alone, chewing on his bumper, until 530.

Interestingly, I brought him in the house, prepared to have him work for 1/3 of his breakfast, but, again, he was not interested in food. I put up his kibble and got a small handful of HVT. From 6' away I called, "Landry, Come". He was laying on the tan mat. He thought it over for a few seconds and then walked over to me and sat for a treat. From there he went to the pink mat. I changed my position in the room, but remaining close, called him again. Once more he thought it over and then came to me and sat for the treat. End of training. End of food. One of our goals for the week is Come latency. He "should be" hungry, but he isn't. Now he's running and playing by himself with toys he has taken out of the toy basket. We will wait and see when he becomes hungry.

630 and I bring out the kibble again. NOW he's ready! We start playing Hide n Seek with Come. The only way I can get away from him to call from another location is to put 6 - 7 kibble on the floor when he comes. And he comes running! We hide in different rooms. And he comes from inside to outside and vice versa.

Then we do all of Level 1 for more breakfast. Then, while he is Down and eating the kibble I walk over him from front to back. Then we begin Down, Level 2, where he does the behavior and I reach to the bait bag on the counter to get the kibble. Then we do GTM on different mats.

Then Crate. Then we quit, while he is still In the Game.

I am pleased to see him select metal objects from the toy box as frequently as he selects any other toy. "Metal Day" has paid off!

I am in the kitchen having my breakfast of Coke and Goldfish. Landry comes to the very edge of the carpet and sits. C/toss a Goldfish to him. He comes back to the very spot and we do it again. This goes on 4 or 5 times and, as he is returning, from the kitchen I say, "Down". And he immediately drops into a Down. From a good 6' away from me. "Seize the Moment". Repeat and repeat and repeat. He drops into a down on the cue. I move further back in the kitchen and soon he is giving me Downs from 10' away. Oh, you cute Level 3 puppy!

715 and the natives upstairs in their crates are getting restless. So Landry and I do Crate and release 6 times and the 7th time the door closes for real and Landry remains crated for his morning nap and I go upstairs and release Lily and Shayla.

I told Dale that I would make up for yesterday with a lot of Landry interaction today. Without intending, Landry is learning a great Zen lesson right now. He is crated. Lily and Shayla are free. Lily and I are within 10' of Landry's crate and Lily is playing with the toys. Suddenly, Lily remembered the sock ball upstairs in the bedroom and raced to get it. Oh, how she wants to play. So I remain in the chair and toss the ball into the courtyard for her. Landry Man is doing a pretty good job watching all of this quietly from inside the crate. That's not easy for any dog, much less a little puppy like Landry. Crate Zen. Difficult Crate Zen. Good for you, Landry Man.

I am going to put Lily in the yard and release Landry from the crate as a reward.

I have begun playing the "Introducing Gun Blasts" music on my stereo while Landry is playing in the x-pen in the next room.

Landry is learning something this week that I wish Lily had learned....to entertain himself alone in the yard. He is learning to be comfortable in his crate and in the x-pen while I am interacting with the other dogs. Not a done deal yet, by any means, but he is handling all three well.

We reached our weekly goal of 10 seconds of duration in both the Down Stay and in Level 1Zen. Introduced Floor Zen (Level 2) and he immediately stayed off of the treat for 5 seconds. Only got 5 seconds of Eye Contact (not Eye Lock yet) but we are working that both in the house and outside. Dale gets Eye LOCK at home. Landry is beginning to understandDuration.