Week Three

At home:

Monday at Lily's

Today is Dale's first day back at work since Landry's arrival. They arrived at Lily's at 515AM. Today will be spent establishing a routine. We have a crate with Landry's bed, an x-pen with Lily's mat, the front patio for play and a potty area to learn about. Landry must learn to toilet on a hardscape. No grass at Lily's.

Outside to toilet every 15 minutes.

Landry's breakfast in my pockets w/a clicker.

Began shaping Go to Mat in the x-pen using his HV soft cheese treats. Eventually switched to HV for going to and kibble to reposition him off the mat. First, the GO TO and then the BE ON. Will Flip.

Nap in covered crate: 650 AM. Play w/Lily in patio 730 AM. Playing w/pink toys and sleeping on pink mat in x-pen 840 AM......but he's all boy!! Nice morning. In and out. Leash/collar work. Alone time in front patio. Had fun playing and exploring. Back in the x-pen (my computer is here) and using C&L leaving the room and returning. He is getting used to being left. Needed to vacuum up a broken shell in the DR so Landry was exposed to the Dust Buster, first at a distance and then closer, until I could leave it on the floor beside the mat and he paid it no mind. Check that off the list! Then I dremeled Lily's nails right by the x-pen. Another short GTM session. Half his bkfst kibble gone and he's full. End of training......and it's only 10AM! ! !

In the afternoon we introduced CRATE and LEASH: L2: Step 1 (giving to collar pressure). What a great little dog!

Tuesday at Lily's

Getting used to the crate. Getting used to the x-pen. We are learning 2 house rules: no teeth on skin ever and no jumping up on people ever. Imagine 70# instead of 17# and both become "no brainers".

Today is a mellow day for all. Landry arrived with an empty tummy. And I determined whatever training would be done "a handful at a time" with kibble. That way Landry isn't overfed, the sessions stay short and, hopefully, he stays In the Game.

Lily is amazing me with her calm demeanor around Landry. Yes, they play (and tug) but she is controlled and kind. She is still over the top when Dale arrives, but with Landry she is a good big sister. They have had several good play sessions today. And a few races the full length of the sidewalk - Lily in the lead but Landry in hot pursuit.

We shaped SIT, GO to MAT and CRATE. We took a different mat into the front patio, so, because we changed things about yesterday's behavior, today we made everything else easier. The Come Game is coming along nicely and he is understanding the verbal "puppy, puppy, puppy". I swear that he is already automatically turning and heading back. But what slows it down is that Landry picks up the treat and chews it thoroughly before continuing. It's an endearing trait, actually.

Follow Me both on leash and off is coming along. Tight leashes don't go anywhere and there are very few tight leashes. Again, tho, in "explaining" LEASH, I am superimposing a Lily sized dog at the end of the leash. In reading Stitch's Blog, Lazy Leashes was learned from the instant a leash was attached to Stitch's collar. We want the same for Landry. Tomorrow I will begin again with Step 1 of LEASH: Level 2 (giving in to light collar pressure). And I will use treats.

ZEN continues to get better and better. I think today he actually made the connection of staying off of my hand to get the treat that is inside. I am not showing him the treats. He knows they are there. And I am beginning to add Duration. 3-seconds seem to be our plateau today for duration.

In the early afternoon, I began to formally teach WATCH: Level 2. Step 1 is Clicking for Contact. We began inside the x-pen. I used his HV soft cheese treats and he was definitely In the Game.

In reviewing Stitch's Blog, we are behind on teaching DOWN, so need to seriously get going on that. Work toward a 10' Go to Mat and begin RETRIEVE. Other than that, we are right up to speed with Stitch and Lily by the third week of training. Dale and I each have a fresh set of "Blog Cards" which will help us stay on track. Time for Dale to pick up a dumbbell.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Like Lily before him, Landry shows a propensity for gardening. Gardening is perhaps his most favorite thing next to leaping. Digging and pruning are his specialties. And drinking out of the birdbath. And exploring the many jungles in the yard.

This morning he had a nose-to-nose conversation with the shorthair puppy in the closet mirror. Dale informed me that he regularly converses with that same puppy at his house.

Wednesday at Lily's

New "house rule" of the day: no racing up and down the stairs. Now it's on leash only on the stairs. By invitation only. Again, it's adorable watching this tiny little thing racing up and down the stairs, but I only have to look at Lily to imagine how big Landry's going to be very soon, and then.......not so cute a trick!

New toys in the x-pen. Traded out the pink snake, green bone and ball in the sock for a "Y" and a noisy ball in a ball. He LOVED the "Y". All dogs do!

Determined to get a good start on DOWN today - and we did. By capturing it on the tan mat. Did 3 sessions of DOWN on the mat. When Dale came to pick the little jackrabbit up, he did 5 downs on the family room carpet. Tomorrow we will work on DOWN when I am seated in a chair.

Starting to jingle the bell on the front door every time we go out for a toilet break. Continuing to consciously have a loose leash when the leash is on, inside and out.

Working on longer OOS while Landry remains in the x-pen. I have work in the office today. It is a necessity.

With Dale here, we did two-person Come Game and Landry was so into the game that we were able to add the cue 20' apart. Landry already has a default SIT built in to his recall.

Now we are both back on track with Stitch's Blog. Dale and I each have a set of Blog cards. The only thing that we haven't begun yet is the retrieve. I have gotten out Lily's dumbbell and have ordered one for Dale.

Landry's eye contact is so good we were able to play The Get Lost Game. I keep my eyes straight ahead of me and wait and he comes to meet my eyes....with a combination of "Where's my puppy?" and "Puppy Puppy".

Thursday at Lily's

Adding cue to CRATE: Level 1. Every morning when Landry arrives, he and Lily play hard and have added run and chase back and forth down the sidewalk. Then, Landry is crated for 45 minutes or so while I have my second cup of coffee. The first 3 days I covered his crate. This morning, I "half" covered his crate. Tomorrow I hope to not need to cover the crate. This morning he calmly walked in to the crate, curled up at the back, and fell asleep. Ta Da!

Time flies! A neighbor came by and needed a ride to the ER so all 3 dogs went in to their respective crates ("Landry, Get In!" and he walked right in). No cover. Not a sound. When I returned 30 minutes later, peace reigned. Everyone was napping and remained crated for another 30 minutes.

Moved the crate outside and re-taught from the beginning.

Has Landry ever caught on to DOWN!!!!! He and Lily were playing Puppy Pushups: Sit/Down/Sit/Down. He Sits from a Stand or from a Down. He Downs from a Sit and sometimes flops into a Down from a Stand.

Introduced the dumbbell, touchables (lots of metal); he is coming from the house and the yard on "Landry, Come!" (I always have a HV treat in my pocket). Even comes now from out of play w/Lily.

Landry gets several hard play times every day. Running. Jumping. Hopping. Tug. Steal the toy from Lily.

We continue substituting Sit for jumping up, both in the x-pen and out.

Friday at Lily's

Lots of play w/Lily this morning. I am going to be out twice today and Landry will be crated. Plus, I'm tired. We have accomplished a lot this week. A day off is good. Plus, he will have the weekend training with Dale.

A day of play, however, does mean an opportunity to establish "house rules" - NO jumping on furniture in the house. That in itself will keep me busy. Up and down the stairs w/me 3X on loose leash. Recalls from upstairs on "Landry, come!" Keep HV treats & clicker in pocket.

Watching them play, I realize that Lily can put Landry's entire head in her mouth!

Introduced LEASH: Level 2: Step 2 (off leash). 2 sessions. This will be fun to watch develop in Landry. Both Dale and I will continue this entire Level now while Landry is so young and impressionable. May he never know a tight leash.

One hour in crate alone. An hour play break and then two and a half hours in crate alone. No accidents. No noise. I returned home to a quiet house.

Did have an accident in the x-pen after having played outside for 15 minutes. I thought I had begun to recognize his "I have to go out" sounds, but I guess I don't. Back to toileting on schedule.