LUNA IS AN AKC STAR PUPPY GRAD!

LUNA graduated her AKC STAR Puppy class tonight. Good girl!

LUNA LUKA LOVE

She chose him - the grizzled, quiet old man dog to be her companion in the beginning, and she still chooses him.  He doesn't play with her like Fizzy will but she loves him nonetheless.

ALMOST 5 MONTHS OLD NOW

It's hard to believe she was ever that little... LOL

She is being very much the Mastiff side of her mix these days - eat, sleep, eat, sleep, sleep, get closer to the heater, sleep some more...

STAR PUPPY CLASS TONIGHT

STAR PUPPY Class tonight 
After class we worked on new obstacles which will count towards not only her LEVEL 3 CONTACT and THROUGH for Dog Scouts but are great body awareness exercises.   We tried the teeter as well but she showed me we need to go back to some rear end awareness exercises for her as she had no clue where her butt was or that she could put her back feet on the object.  She just walked it sideways for the most part.    She hadn't worked on any of these before tonight and after just a few reps - she had it!  Good girl!

LOOK AT THOSE LEGS

TRACTOR SUPPLY TRAINING SESSION

We are working on a variety of things, on and off leash, with distractions as part of Luna's LEVEL 2 and C.L.A.S.S. skill sets.

Reliable SETTLE
Handler FOCUS with Distraction
Off Leash RECALL
Off Leash LEAVE IT
Appropriate People Greetings - 4 on the Floor
TOUCH from a Distance

LUNA MEETS KIKI THE GOAT

This is why I ❤️ my local Tractor Supply. When one of the staff said she had her goat at work, I asked if I could bring Luna down. She said yes and we got to do some awesome training.

LUNA STARTS STAR PUPPY

Luna is doing her first night of STAR Puppy class sessions for her training enrichment. As an Evaluator myself, I can't test her so we need to take a 6 week course under another trainer to certify.

There are 6 other pups in this class ranging from itty-bitty Pittie babies to the boxer you can see beside her.

Here she is practicing her Settle behavior around new stimulus waiting her turn - this is a new place, dogs she has never met, kids running around, people wanting to pet her... and I'm asking her to focus on me and relax...

She's such a good girl and did so very well this week with a tremendous distraction challenge.

WINTER TEMPS MEANS MORE BEDTIME FOR THE GIRLS

These two are never far apart - she loves her Fizzy. 

But there is more than just cute pics going on here.  What does your dog do when you are cooking or eating?  I live in a very small old farmhouse and there is not a ton of room for dogs to be milling around while I am cooking.  The big boys, Gryph and Luka tend to hang out on the beds in the adjoining bedroom and the girls are happy to settle on this bed in the kitchen so they can keep an eye on things but not be in the way.

Teaching your dogs to automatically go to their space when you start preparing dinner and stay there while you are eating can be a huge help and it is a great IMPULSE CONTROL behavior. 

It stops accidents from being underfoot, stops begging and scavenging, prevents counter surfing behaviors and creates calmness and an automatic SETTLE behavior.  Every house can benefit from this!

WE'RE BACK!

We're back but the weather has been quite a mess and Luna says she needs to catch up on her beauty rest by the heater. 

She eventually kicked everyone else off and stretched out!

LUNA is going home for the holidays

I have a friend coming in from New Zealand to stay for awhile and Luna gets to go hang out with her family for a week as well...

Please be careful, enjoy your holidays and we will see you in the New Year!

GROWTH SPURT!

While we were at Tractor Supply practicing some of her LEVEL 2 skills, I had to get her a new coat.  This girl shakes like a Chihuahua in this weather - she is not a fan of wind, rain or snow and we have it all right now!

She's going all leggy!

MILEMARKER: LEVEL 1 TRAINING LEVELS COMPLETE

Our first MileMarker besides basic socialization and exposure training was for Luna to complete her LEVEL 1 CORE by Christmas.  She has done this beautifully.

There are 5 basic criteria here:
COME GAME - Recall between two people
SIT - Verbal and Hand Signal Individually
DOWN - Verbal and Hand Signal Individually
TOUCH - Nose to Palm Targeting
LEAVE IT - In her case, she is already doing LVL 2 - open hand and on the floor

In the FACEBOOK GROUP that I run for this - I have created extra credit exercise for each behavior which we will be doing as well as it is good practice and fun for her to learn the extra skills.

Onto LEVEL 2!

BRIBE vs REWARD

Let's talk about this for a moment.  Getting those treats out of your hand is a very important step of any training but I have a lot of students who ask when they can stop using rewards all together.

Remember - rewards can be anything - which is why I transition from food as the primary to praise/play/access to a resource as we go. 

Luna is learning that BEHAVIOR happens first because it is asked not because there is a great reward offered.  Don't get me wrong - there is a great reward involved but it only comes AFTER the behavior is done - not as a bribe for doing it.

Does your dog need to SEE the treat in your hand before they will respond?  Then you need to work on what is called FADING THE LURE.  Make the reward a REWARD and not a BRIBE...it makes all the difference.

RAIN, RAIN - GO AWAY

Gosh love 'em - the two girls with coats are the ones who want to get in the mud - LOL.  Luna in the other hand - hates the wet!

DINNER MINI SESSION

We have been working on a few things today - one of which is changing Luna over to an older hand signal I used to use for SIT all the time, which is just a palm up motion. This is worked much better for her and her response has gone from being 45-50% to about 90% reliable.

She is also working with Fizz loose in the room learning to ignore distractions, learning FREE which is one of her release cues and learning to differentiate between cues.  For instance if I ask for a TOUCH or KENNEL and she offers a DOWN, she has to listen to and work out what I actually wanted.

Then there is the actual body work.  SIT to a lot of dogs means - put your rear end on the ground.  But what if they are in a DOWN?  Their rear is already on the ground, so what then?  They often have no idea what you are talking about.

I teach SIT as a body position to be in - that it is not important how they got there.  So she will be able to SIT from both a STAND or a DOWN, DOWN from both a SIT and a STAND, and STAND from both SIT and DOWN.  I want her to understand the concept in multiple contexts - not just SIT = rear end goes down.

CHIN REST TASK PRACTICE

Training card from my Facebook Training Levels Group

A CHIN REST is a type of body targeting - teaching a dog to put some part of their body on something in a specific way.  For the base of this behavior, it is their chin onto the handlers palm.

 WHY?

Chin rests serve a multitude of purposes helpful to handlers, vets & groomers.

• Helpful for creating calmness in overly excited dogs
• Helps nervous/anxious dogs overcome hand shyness
• Gives a dog a positive option to do when overstimulated by play or drive
• Helps reduce mouthing behavior in puppies
• Creates a foundation for cooperative care / positive vetting associations
• Forms the basis of some pressure therapy tasks for service dogs

While working the TRAINING LEVELS system, I added bonus skills categories for my group to train including TASKING and PUBLIC ACCESS skills.  This is one of the skills from the tasking category.  At it's base - we are just looking for a calm chin rest in the handlers palm for 10 seconds. Then there are additional extra credit options as you progress.

Luna is just starting to learn it and we practiced a bit while waiting at the vet.  She even offers it a few times on her own.

SECOND WELLNESS VISIT

Luna and I just came from her second wellness appointment and vaccination update.  She was a little rockstar once again.

Initial Weight 11/7/17:  14.8lbs
Second Visit 11/24/17:  21.8lbs
ON TRACK - 7lb gain in 3 weeks

Unbothered by vaccinations, sounds or smells of the exam room or general handling behaviors needed.

Preparing your pup for things they are likely to have happen during grooming or vet visits is a very important part of the socialization process.  You should be able to touch, handle and manipulate any part of their body without fussing.  It is actually covered under the TRAINING LEVELS system we are using in Level 2 but I always start it from the beginning.  It is a great follow through to the ENS (early neurological stimulation) exercises the breeder started for us.

While we were waiting to be seen I shot some video of the exercises we are doing although it looks a little different doing them one handed while holding the phone... LOL

LUNCHTIME MINI SESSION

Mealtimes here are broken into three at this age for Luna.  There are no hard or fast rules for what meal gets what treatment but meals are not just bowl fed and go.

BREAKFAST is usually fed from a KONG - either a frozen or a Wobbler
LUNCH is usually done by training session - so essentially hand fed as we go
DINNER is usually half and half of the above - some used for training and then the rest fed through an enrichment toy or puzzle. This helps her settle much better at night in the kennel.

Here is a mini training session we recently had with her lunch. 

It's important to train the "pup that shows up" - meaning being fluid enough to adapt your sessions and training style to the dog as they are in that moment in front of you, not try to force your expectations on them. 

She was excited in the beginning to train but then she was just like - nope - just feed me now.  There is no point in making her frustrated or me getting angry at her not doing what I asked - besides the fact that she is a baby baby still - making training a chore or something the dog avoids does no one any good so we wrapped it up and she had lunch.

CANINE BODY AWARENESS EXERCISES

I have briefly mentioned this before but I wanted to take a minute to talk about the importance of body awareness and canine conditioning exercises in any dog - but especially in working dogs of all types - whether that be dogs sports, farm life or especially service work that has physical components like Luna will be doing.

It is vital that we keep their bodies at the right weight and muscular development but also challenge them physically as well as mentally to build stronger core muscles, better immunity, flexibility and endurance.  There are tons of products to help with this like the FitPAWS range.

Fenzi Dog Sport Academy offers a class on it:
https://fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/courses/899

And a good article on conditioning and awareness applications to agility work although it applies across the board:  https://www.petcha.com/full-body-awareness-in-agility/

One of the simplest exercises to start this with is just a body rotation / spin circles trick.  We ask them to spin their body in both directions on cue.  This is great for spinal flex, balanced muscle development, rear end awareness and can be a great reset behavior for low stress repetitions between other exercises.  And most dogs love to do it...Gryph thinks it is great fun!

And now Luna is learning it!

THE ART OF SILENCE

https://www.beacondogtraining.com.au/short-article-power-of-silence

Sit...sit...sit, sit, siiiiittttttt..SIT!  SIT DOWN! SIT!

All too often, I see parents of both the 2 and 4 legged variety spending far too much time and energy trying to get them to do something simple and every day like SIT.  How many times do we see pet owners who ask their dog over and over again to do what should be quite a simple command? Do they not know what it means?  Are they blowing you off?  Actually - you have probably taught them that either the cue is 10 repetitions long or that there is no consistency in the cue and they are confused.

We as human beings are a very verbal society and our preferred method of communication is verbal (and for many of us this is accompanied by quite a few gesturing waves thrown in for good measure).

Dogs primary method of communication is NON-verbal. So for them, the constant stream of information can be frustrating at best and overwhelming at the worst.

There are many times when we don't need to put as much verbal energy into a situation as we do. Deaf dogs can obviously learn just as well as hearing dogs, so the verbal component is NOT the key.  By learning when and how to use your voice in training, you can increase the effectiveness of your training by 60% with just this one adaptation.

Much like the old Santa Claus adage, dogs are watching everything you do, and they read far more off body language then the actual words, you say. It doesn't matter if you train your dog in English, German, Russian or a completely nonsensical language - people train in Harry Potter spells, Elvish and Klingon - the dogs don't care.

They don't know the word until you teach it to them, and they really have no preference for what spoken language you are using, but rather the timing, tone and energy level of it.  There is no standard cue you can use that your dog will recognize and immediately follow.  To them, most of the time, we sound like the Charlie Brown teacher - wah wah waaaah wah - SIT - wah wah - DOWN...

SO WHAT DO YOU DO THEN?

TIMING:  When TEACHING a behavior - acknowledge and mark with the word when they are DOING the behavior - not BEFORE.  Telling a dog that doesn't know DOWN to do so over and over as they stand there and look at you does not connect the word with the behavior you want in their mind at all.

Now if you see them in a DOWN - Capture it!! - That is when you say the word - YES! DOWN! - when they are DOING the behavior.

Once they understand the behavior - then you can start asking for it beforehand but they should be at about 80-85% reliability before this.

TONE:  Cues should be given in a CONVERSATIONAL tone.  If your dog can hear a cheese wrapper crinkle from 3 rooms away - they heard what you said right in front of them.  

Practice WHISPER TRAINING - how quietly can you say the cue and they respond.  This encourages focus and relating to the handler vs what can quickly become avoidance or stress behaviors in your dog and you feeling like you have to be harsh or punitive.  If you have to get loud or aggressive with your dog's cues - including things like Leave It - they do not know the behavior well enough.  It isn't a matter of volume - getting louder, more insistent and frustrated doesn't make behavior happen any faster - it just makes it less consistent.

ENERGY LEVEL - I'm not talking about Cesar Milan "energy" here but actual applied volume and movement energy.  The energy level you put into your words does matter.

When you're training something static like a body position - SIT, DOWN or STAND, impulse control exercises like WATCH, LEAVE and matwork or your dog is doing problem solving brain games - you want to put as little verbal energy into that as possible. When you want a calm behavior from your dog - you must have calm hands, calm mind & a calm mouth.

Now, if you're trying to get an active behavior, such as a fast recall or an excited touch - this is where you are going to direct a high level of energy and excitement.  When you want movement, be animated with your voice and your body - this is the time for praise parties and cheerleading.

Your voice, or lack thereof, should always reflect the energy level you are trying to achieve.

Especially for service dogs, I think it's important that you are able to communicate with them as simply as possible and being able to just give a quick hand signal that they can reliably respond to can go a long way to making things much easier in challenging public situations. If you don't have to stop and address your dog multiple times verbally - but can instead just give a subtle hand signal and keep going, you are likely to be much less stressed and in crowded or loud environments, you don't have to worry about being heard.

In the videos below, you can see the beginnings of hand signal only work with Luna. We want her to respond quickly and correctly, the first time a cue is given and be able to focus on Daishia in public no matter what the distraction.

These are taught as separate components to the behavior.

First we have to teach the behavior itself.  That is what I am doing here.  Introducing the beginnings of the behavior, luring her into position with a modified version of the finished hand signal that we will clean up as she understands and then marking and only telling her the word when she is in the desired position.

Hand signals I recommend but you can of course create your own

Then we will introduce what criteria she needs to meet to get it right - our 4 D's:

• DISTANCE
• DURATION
• Under DISTRACTION
• With DIVERSITY 

Then we want to put it on our reliable cue given in a QUIET, CONVERSATIONAL TONE (or even whisper) or SUBTLE hand signal (of which she will have both verbal and hand signal)

No loud, harsh toned verbals - no exaggerated, large body signals - no repeats. 
Then we can call the behavior complete.

Again, this is just the way that I personally choose to train things. This is not, by any means, the only way.

Sue Ailsby sums it up nicely in her introduction to her TRAINING LEVELS system.

QUIET HANDS, QUIET BODIES, QUIET MOUTHS
When a good dressage rider goes through her routine with her horse, she appears to be doing nothing. Her hands barely move, her body barely moves, and any words she says are whispered. This is the ideal for dog trainers as well – quiet hands, quiet bodies, and quiet mouths. Concentrate on what your hands, body, and voice are saying to the dog. He'll learn faster and easier when he's not distracted by extraneous motion and noise.

Here is Luna learning her SIT on signal.  She is a cheeky monkey in that she will sit if she sees/smells the treat in my hand - otherwise she will bark, back off and carry on.  This is not her misbehaving, she isn't being bossy or demanding - she is simply early enough in the learning process that she doesn't have an understanding of how payroll works yet.  She will learn that she still gets paid - in food, treats, play, praise or affection AFTER she does the behavior as we go but for now the important part is to show her HOW to do the behavior and then we will raise the criteria.

Her DOWN is being taught as a foldback down - meaning she doesn't SIT first. There are many reasons for this including to strengthen the difference between the two so when asked for a STAY in a certain position - she can maintain that position.

A lot of dogs taught DOWN from SIT generalize that it's coming and slide into a DOWN when asked to SIT - predicting you're going to ask for that - and then you have to retrain that. Or you can skip the SIT all together as it has nothing to do with the DOWN anyway.

In both of these videos, you can see I am clicking/marking the correct behavior and save the verbal components for praise and telling her what the behavior is called as we build it.

Try it - you might be surprised at the difference it makes!

PROGRESS REPORT 11.6.17-11.18.17

Over the last few weeks, Luna has settled in, gotten to meet and experience any new situations on her socialization checklist and started working on passive skills of calmness and impulse control.

We are working on skills from many different places right now:
PASSIVE SKILLS - just asking general calm behaviors and good choices
SUE AILSBY's TRAINING LEVELS 1 (and a few LVL 2)
C.L.A.S.S (Canine Life & Social Skills) BA/LVL 1
OFF LEASH Focus and Recall Skills

She also got to join my Thursday Group Class to work on some new skills and behaviors around other dogs she had never met.  Overall - very pleased with her progress. She is a wonderful little pup.

TRAINING TIMELINE

People have asked what sort of things Luna will be training on and what kind of timeline I expected her to be completing things in.  It always varies on the dog's individual personality and learning style as well as other developmental factors but this is the schedule of progress I am aiming for with her.

FIRST GROUP CLASS TRAINING SESSION - TRAINING LEVELS - COME GAME BEGINNINGS

https://www.facebook.com/groups/tpptraininglevelsgroup/

One of the first 5 behaviors taught in SUE AILSBY'S TRAINING LEVELS is the COME GAME which basically gets a dog coming quickly and enthusiastically between at least 2 people.

This is a great game for Luna's family to play while she is on her overnights with them and we will be adding all kinds of extra bits to make it more challenging for her.   This teaches her not only to come to each of them, but in the event there was ever an accident or she was hurt, frightened or lost - I would rather her go to someone willingly than run.

I know so many handlers that don't want their dogs to go to other people for various reasons, but I would rather my dog willingly go to someone and be safe than run the streets or worse, get hit by a car because they were never taught this simple game.

Luka is a good example.  He has been with me for years now but came to me as an unadoptable rescue.  He was the last of 6 siblings the rescue was trying to place, had no people skills and did not want to interact in any way, stayed to himself and if he got out - you weren't going to get him back without MAJOR effort on your part. 

He was 7 months old in this picture and already a jaded soul.  It took us a very long time to create a positive people response in him but it is still weak in regards to other people outside of his close inner circle.

This was tested one day when he and 3 of our other dogs managed to find a weak spot in the fence and escape.  They happily gallivanted for much of the day before we were able to locate and grab them.

But Luka, my dear sweet medical misfit who was already going blind and partially deaf, was having none of the catching him business.  He ran from the ACO, the police, the people trying to cajole him into coming.  He was in the woods, crossing rivers, clearing fences like a gazelle and all in the wrong direction.  The more people tried to reach him - the further and faster he went - he wasn't having any of that catch me business.

I finally was able to get him when he realized it was me calling and came to the edge of the woods, stopping long enough to realize a familiar voice but even then it took him about 10 minutes to trust it was me.

He is a prime example of why this early training is so important.  He has come so far with me and my close family and he continues to improve - but to be honest as his eyesight has gone and he has little hearing left - he is more content to just hang out.  He gets around really well for a dog with as many issues as he has (you'll see him in the occasional video cameo) but for the most part - he is an old man at 5yrs old.

We work on his recall passively and it is pretty good if he hears you (and there isn't a deer running in front of him) but it could be better.  Most dogs recalls could.  But that is why this is in the top 5 first things to teach this little lady.  COME saves doggie lives.  I will be adding a whistle cue to her training from this week as well.  I look forward to her progress with this!

FIRST GROUP CLASS TRAINING SESSION - BODY POSITIONS AND REAR END AWARENESS

Body positions form the basis of many more complex behaviors and tell the dog where you want their feet and body to be.  There are 3 base positions - SIT, DOWN & STAND.  As they progress we add criteria to sharpen the behavior.

• DURATION (how long you want them to stay like that)
• DISTANCE (how far away you want them to do it)
• DISTRACTION (yes, still do it even though this exciting thing is happening over here)
• DIVERSITY (that they can do it on a mat, near a hat, with a cat or beside a rat...anywhere)
• FLUID CHANGES (they can go from DOWN to SIT without standing in between or STAND straight to DOWN without sitting
• SPEED (how quickly they respond)
• SIGNAL (hand/foot signal only, verbal only, handlers back turned)

But before we can do any of the more complex things - we have to teach the base behavior.  I really enjoy using Sue Ailsby's TRAINING LEVELS as a structured order of teaching things and have used it for years.  I actually run a free FaceBook training group teaching this for anyone interested in anything from increasing their pets skills to dog sports to service dog work.  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/tpptraininglevelsgroup/

In the beginning of this video is Luna working on understanding her base body positions and basic impulse control around high value food and other dogs.  Several of the exercises she has had no previous exposure to at all (STAND and TWIST/SHOUT). 

I start adding snippets of other criteria from above like Duration and there is obviously Distraction and as she becomes more solid in each aspect, I will separate and build on each part.

Towards the end, you will see I introduced a completely new concept with the spin circles.  It seems weird to think that a dog is not aware of their body, but puppies especially don't seem to know that their hind end does more than wag and follow along. 

When you are going to be teaching things that involve the dog moving their back end like swinging into HEEL position, or backing up into a tight space or from under a chair or even something as fun and simple as a BOW - they need to know they have a back end to be aware of.

There are several exercises you can use to teach this which Luna will learn and tonight we worked on the first which is simply to lure her into a circle and flex her body both to the left and right.  Because she was just trying to back up, a put my hand behind her to stop that and get her to just follow through with the curl.  This will quickly be faded out as she learns it. 

There are many ways to teach this behavior - this one was lured meaning she was following a treat but as she learns targeting this week, I will be changing to following a target instead of a lure. 

We also worked on PASSIVE MANNERS skills at the end - PUPPY ZEN - where we are teaching that to get what we want, we don't mug the hand but SIT instead.  This week we are introducing another two skills - LEAVE IT and TARGET and refining the ones ones she is already working on.