Week Four

At home:




Monday at Lily's
Landry grew over the weekend! He's now 12 weeks old and weighs 23#.


We will begin again with "house rules" - no jumping on the furniture, no running on the stairs, no dogs in the kitchen and house breaking schedule.


We will continue beginning his visit with play with Lily - tugging and wrestling, etc. Taking him to the backyard for his morning "toilette". He arrives with an empty tummy, so we will do some Level 1 review. Dale has worked on sit, down, go to mat, and the Come Game over the weekend, so we will do those.


He surprises me with his down! It's becoming as strong as his sit. And I remember to have a pocket full of HV treats to reward the Come. Another potty walk and then it's nap time in the crate. I walk to within 2' and say "Get In" and, in he goes. We do in and then out three or four times and then close the door and Lily and I go upstairs. One or two whimpers, then silence reigns and he drops off to sleep.


Two accidents in the house this morning, so we will set the alarm for every 15 minutes to take him out to toilet. Twice he has peed on his mat right after going outside. I wonder what that's all about. He has a vet appointment this afternoon.


LEASH: Level 2: Steps 1 and 2. Sit Stay using Chutes and Ladders. We get to 15 seconds easily. He is IN the x-pen and I am standing just outside. This is so successful that we again use C&L for Watch (get to 3 seconds) and to build OOS time, with Lily tethered to a post beside the x-pen.


C/T when Landry sits instead of doing paws up on the side of the x-pen. Then, also in the x-pen, shaping Go to Mat, using a bath towel instead of a mat. It takes a while for him to generalize, but once he "gets it" he gets it.




Tuesday at Lily's
Yesterday there were two accidents. This morning, within 30 minutes of his arrival, Landry peed on the way out of the front door and deficated in the x-pen. So I am scrapping the plans for today and dedicating the remainder of the day to taking him outside, to ONE place and on leash, every 15 minutes to "Get Busy".


On the second outing he peed. On the fifth outing he peed again. Staying on the 15 minute schedule.


As a part of this training, Landry has learned Crate Door Zen. Wait in the crate until your leash and collar are on before leaving the crate. Cue is "Let's Go".


Building a default Sit at the front door to go out and to come back inside.


LEASH: L2: Step 2 on leash outside (off leash and on leash inside). On this morning's Flip of this exercise, you can see that the environment becomes too stimulating and he is unable to maintain focus.


Fed half his breakfast in a bowl in the crate. That's a first. Offering water from a bowl in the crate. He continues to enter the crate eagerly and willingly on cue, "Get In", even though he is then remaining in the crate for 15 minutes each time. Every second or third time I let him pick a new toy from the toybox. No more accidents for the remainder of the day.


Today he was inside on leash and got tangled in the vacuum which was standing in the middle of the floor. It tipped over and frightened him. He ran as fast as he could to the landing at the top of the stairs. I was able to coax him down the stairs and back into the family room with HV treats and eventually, with a combination of the treats and "Touch" my hand, lured him to the vacuum. When he was taking treats off of the vacuum, I figured that disaster was averted.




Wednesday at Lily's
Play in the yard w/Lily for half an hour then in the crate for morning nap. Today we napped for an hour. I awakened him to take him out. After "Getting Busy", we worked on collar pressure (Leash: Step 1) and walking on leash In the Zone (Leash: Step 2). Since he hadn't eaten yet, I followed Sue's suggestion from Stitch's Blog and gave 2 or 3 treats for each click and we had even better success.


With my girls crated, we went into the family room and worked on Retrieve and the dumbbell. First C/T for touching anywhere and then clicking only for hitting the bar.


More on volunteering (shaping) the Down and then adding the verbal cue.


Into the x-pen with a variety of toys of different textures. Later in the morning we made Wednesday "Metal Day", with a variety of metal objects for Landry to explore (see Landry's blog).


I have noticed some significant changes since last week. Landry now struggles when I attempt to hold him upside down. He is needing correction from Lily about proper use of his teeth when playing w/her. I have begun playing The Prize w/him when he runs upstairs to torment Shayla. You run upstairs, your prize is the crate for 30 seconds.


He growled and barked for the first time today when he heard strange people noises from the other side of the fence. He stood in his x-pen, paws up on the sides beside the open window and protected us from harm.


Dale said that Landry was not dependable on his Down at home, so we spent time re-teaching it today and by the end he was responding to both the handsignal and the verbal cue.....going to a down from a stand and from a sit.


Landry will not be visiting tomorrow.




Friday at Lily's
Spent the first half of breakfast on Step 2 of leash, off leash in the yard (and with Lily). Landry has begun running away when he has illegal things in his mouth (like the orange fruit that falls off of the palms this time of year). Lily is a good foil as we walk away clicking and treating HER. We want to stop this "catch me if you can" behavior. Still cueing a Sit at the front door. Into his crate on cue and then crated for a while.....quietly.


Landry's training has a wonderful built-in advantage. Because he trains at Lily's and then trains at home with Dale, his behaviors have been generalized as a normal, built it part of his life! So where Before Moving On has the dog re-learning behaviors in every room of the house (as an example) and....at higher levels, has the dog performing the behaviors for different people, Landry is already doing that. AND......he trains here during the day during the week and then Dale is training him in the evenings and on the weekends.


I will be glad when the season of the fruit from the palm trees ends. All three dogs love them. Landry is big enough now that I don't worry about him swallowing the seed, but he grabs it and then runs away from me to eat it. This is a very independent little guy!


Hackles came up for the first time this morning, hearing a dog on the other side of the fence. No verbalization, though. And then, in playing with Lily in the front courtyard, hackles up again. He
s really feeling all sorts of new emotions.