Week Seven: 15 wks old

GOALS for the week:

Zen. Zen. Zen.

• no jumping on people
• no dogs in the kitchen
• no tight leashes

Level 1

• begin retraining using Steps to Success

Level 2

• Leash: Steps 1 and 2
• again and again and again
• Watch (Eye Lock) and The Get Lost Game
• Distance (Dale)
• duration
• RETRIEVE
• focus on getting a good start

Monday at Lily's

Began training Level 1 ZEN from Sue's new book. Flipped Step 4 and WWWW.

Uncued WATCH and the Get Lost Game. He is so good at this! Have to be careful, though, to keep the treats behind my back so that it is EYE Lock we are getting and not TREAT Lock!

Tuesday at Lily's

Wow! If I don't "write as I go" it's lost and gone forever!

This morning I put Landry's entire breakfast in my bag and off we went with Leash: Steps 1 and 2. He was definitely hungry this morning and 2 or 3 kibble at a time kept his interest.

We are only going 5 steps and turning. I want the leash to remain loose and there are many distractions on the long sidewalk (orange dates and ferns). He pulls and gives in to the pressure and then we back back back.

Hide and Seek from upstairs to find me in the family room. H&S from the family room to find me in the dining room. This time he ran upstairs. Nope, she's not there. Ran downstairs and, as he was running I did, "Puppy Puppy" to give him a hint. Two great recalls. We called it a morning on this behavior.

Then fun stuff. Crate into the tunnel in the front courtyard. Got that one on Flip. What a smart boy!

Landry has finally had all of his shots and is good to go public. This afternoon Dale, Landry and I are having a coaching session. We are going to a seldom used parking lot on base beside the flight line and play the L1 On the Road game. See if his attention threshold can handle this. Once we find Landry's threshold, we will do this daily.

More WATCH and the Get Lost Game.

Wednesday at Lily's

Started the morning off w/all L1 behaviors in a different location. Worked on "no jumping on people" w/me obviously carrying the big kibble jar and moving all around the courtyard. LEASH: L2: Step 1 (giving in to collar pressure to Landry's right side). LEASH: L2: Step 2 going up and down stairs, on leash. Carefully. CRATE in different location. Exposed Landry to an open umbrella on the floor. It is one of those umbrellas that "snaps" open. This afternoon we will open and close and open and close. COME to Turkey Log (Hide and Seek).

As soon as I am up and dressed, we will practice walking to the car. If we are successful, off to a parking lot to reprise yesterday's outing.

Thursday at Lily's

This morning we are off to FD training class where Landry will be challenged to walk from the car to the classroom on a lazy leash. He will play in an x-pen quietly during the class. A morning of socialization. Long ride in his "truck crate" to and from (hour each way). A new public experience. Lily and Shayla will stay at home.

What an interesting morning we have had. Landry rode in his small crate in the car quietly, after walking on a lazy leash from the house to the car. We arrived at the class site early and he was able to maintain another lazy leash, with the help of some fancy footwork on my part. The whole thing was over his threshold. I am so glad that this socialization is starting now, rather than a day later.

The x-pen was set up and waiting, with his brown bumper, a new soft toy, a well-chewed chew toy and a Kong. Also, a bowl of water from my car. The x-pen was placed beside a floor to ceiling window, giving him a full view of the dog play yard outside. Only Rooster and Cathy were there when we arrived. In total, there was Cathy/Rooster, Patti/Tommy, Jan/Nad, Peggy/Ike and Sadie/Keeper. Mark came and sat beside the x-pen, clicking and tossing treats for 4-on-the-floor. Landry was not interested in treats. He did some verbalizing, but for the most part was quiet. He did a lot of front paws up on the x-pen and only occasionally would he lie down on the bumper and chew quietly.

On occasion, Mark would take him outside and give him an opportunity to toilet. On the return from one of those trips, he got too close to Rooster's tent and Rooster barked and lunged while inside the tent. At that point, Mark went inside the x-pen with Landry and sat down on the floor with him. Landry's tail and body language soon returned to his normal, unconcerned activity.

Landry could not maintain a lazy leash for Mark and refused treats. Despite 3 trips outside, Landry urinated once in the x-pen.

When the class was over (2.5 hours) I carried him to the car. He seemed relieved to be in his familiar crate.

I think he did GREAT for his first time around so many dogs and other huge distractions. I am glad that we placed him in the x-pen instead of in a crate or a tent. The Puppy Class beginning next week will be another excellent opportunity for socialization.

When we arrived back home, I put him in his x-pen here and he almost immediately curled up on the mat and went to sleep.




Friday at Lily's
We had a morning encounter with the "devil cats".
Did some review on Go to Mat and introduced a new crate.
Played with Lily again outside in the yard, racing back and forth.
And discovered that Landry has forgotten how to Sit an Down in the rooms upstairs!
First thing Monday morning we will Re-view, Re-mind, Re-teach Level 1 from the new book as though they were new behaviors.
Have a good weekend, little man.