LUNA IS AN AKC STAR PUPPY GRAD!

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

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 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.

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!

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!

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.

FIRST GROUP CLASS TRAINING SESSION - POSITIVE PUPPY PLAY AND SOCIALIZATION

Learning appropriate play response to a variety of other dog sizes, breeds, play styles, reactivity responses and learning to share space and resources is crucial to any pup.

But owners of giant breeds need to be sure that they expose their pups to small breeds early on in my opinion so they develop a gentleness and don't decide that Whack-A-Mole is a great way to interact.

Luna has met and interracted with a variety of dogs ranging from the Mastiffs Qui and Hoodoo, to Rebecca's little ones Izzy, Lilo and Laney (Boston Terrier, Frenchie and Frenchton) and of course she has my guys - a Collie, a Giant Schnuazer mix and the Scruffermutt Fizz. 

She is pretty well versed in every size, shape, hair type, infirmity, age and play style by now but it is important to keep building those skills.

Tonight she attended my group class with Dusty, a 9wk old Collie pup and Luna, a 1yr German Shepherd.

Here is a clip from the social interaction and play portion as well as a bit of the GO FIND game.

MORNING WALKS AND OFF LEASH TRAINING SESSIONS

Living rurally has many advantages and one of those is the ability to safely be able to work on off leash skills with the dogs on our morning walks.

Luna gets a chance to practice many skills on these walks - environmental exploration, handler focus, off leash recall, listening around distractions and other dogs - all very important foundation skills for any dog but especially service dogs in training.



She gets to learn not to eat deer and bunny poop - unlike her adorable hairy sister!

She gets to practice listening in a highly distracting environment which means that when we begin doing her public access work - she has already developed a foundation of listening even though her nose says there is something very interesting just over there...

By establishing these behaviors now, she has a huge leg up on other behaviors later.

WHAT IS NARCOLEPSY?

NARCOLEPSY is an often misunderstood condition that I have seen joked about and very rarely taken seriously outside of those who suffer from it. People think someone is just being overly dramatic, complaining about being tired all the time - or that it is funny to have them fall asleep in public.

There are pranks and videos that circulate regularly at the expense of these people who want nothing more than to just live as normal a life as they can with a condition that effects every hour of their life - waking or asleep.

There is a well written, easy to understand article here as well:
https://www.medicinenet.com/narcolepsy/article.htm

I recently had this great little video come across my FaceBook feed that does a wonderful job of explaining part of what this little one is in training for.  Plus the illustrations are AWESOME!

I hope this gives you a little insight into the work this little one will be doing.

TRACTOR SUPPLY SOCIALIZATION & POSITIVE EXPOSURE OUTING

One of my favorite places for early positive exposure and socialization outings is our local Tractor Supply.

The staff are amazing, the store has enough traffic to make it interesting but not overwhelming and they are happy for me to bring in my new babies and work with them there.

We will do a lot of our early pet friendly Public Access behavior training here. Every trainer handles public access training differently in terms of when and where they go, but for me personally, I don't take pups into non-pet friendly places until they are completely housebroken and have some good core skills in manners and obedience.

Which is why when Luna has a potty accident in Tractor Supply, it wasn't a problem. We had a clean up and moved on, and in all fairness to her, I now know that I was right thinking she was getting antsy because she might need to potty, but I waited too long to respond... Completely my fault there honey!

All too often, I see handlers dragging puppies through Walmart before they are ready and between the lunging, barking fake service dogs and the overwhelming nature of Walmart on its own - it is not a wonder that these puppies develop nervous or anxious behaviors and often burn out or even wash out from service training completely.

Socialization and Exposure are NOT the same thing... And negative exposure can be worse than no exposure. How you introduce a pup to new things - especially around their fear period time frames - makes an enormous difference in how they perceive the world and cope with stress.


Please, if you are unfamiliar with fear periods, socialization protocols, how to create a positive exposure experience (it's not about the treats), how to read canine body language and how to desensitize and counter condition behaviors... Get with a trainer who knows!!

But back to our star...

She did beautifully meeting a variety of people including men in hats/sunglasses and some with beards, people who came down to her level and some who bent over her and she just took it all in stride. She is learning to keep her feet on the floor and offer a Sit when greeting people and she did so almost everytime with no prompting from me. Very proud of that girl!

Then we did some tough stuff - exposure work to unusual sights (giant stuffed dog) and sounds (construction toys) which she did so well at also.

She breezed through the visual one and showed me, we will need to work a little on the auditory one.

Exposure to scary things is an important part of training but has to be handled delicately.  I use her response to decide whether we are ready to try again.  If she will still approach and interact, take food and isn't shutting down - it is okay to push that little bit.  There is a fine line between desensitizing a puppy to something and overexposing them which can create a lasting impression that you then have to work much harder to change later.  Keep your sessions short and productive instead of trying to force the issue and stop before they get stressed.

We couldn't leave empty handed so she got a selection of new toys and I may have cleaned out a bit of their treat clearance bin... LOL  She also got a new bed for the car which she promptly put to use!  All that work tires a baby out.  Which is good news on the containment frustration issue - she slept all the way home!

CONTAINMENT FRUSTRATION - DAYS 4-6

We have been working on Luna's frustration levels in regards to being contained in the car, behind a baby gate and in the crate.  She is making fabulous progress in under a week.

I am using a system of capturing and shaping her OFFERING behaviors such as getting into the crate, choosing a calm body language like Sit or Down, choosing to remain in the crate on her own, not stressing over the door being closed, not stressing over me going out of sight and finally her remaining quiet at lights out.

This is a long video (11:30min) but shows how we worked through it.  She has gone from literally hours of fussing to the occasional few minutes in less than a week.

I'm very proud of her!

PLAYTIME & RESOURCE GUARDING OBSERVATION

The girls are a pretty even match right now, but Fizz will have to use her speed soon as Luna is already double her weight.

We've had a lot of rain over the last few days, but Fizz doesn't mind.

LUNA, she is not loving it. I am actually going to get her a couple of sweaters and hoodies tomorrow.  She will play in the rain some, and it is good exposure to get her used to wearing things so when she gets her first training cape it is not an unfamiliar sensation, but it is also because she gets the Chihuahua shakes right now if it's wet or cold and I want to make her more comfortable.


I'm watching them play this morning and something interesting in the second part of this video is I noticed some minor resource guarding behavior and stopped filming to go interrupt. No idea what she thought was valuable - I couldn't find anything up there, but the body language changes are very distinct and readable which is a good thing.

Resource guarding happens when a dog finds something innately valuable and defends it again other dogs/people/pets.  Some dogs have no desire to guard anything and others seem to guard the very air itself.  This is not a behavior you want to let develop as it can lead to reactivity and behavioral issues that quickly spiral out of control if not addressed.

She didn't do anything wrong here, and it is certainly nothing to worry about but it is interesting from a canine communication standpoint.  She is very clear in her language to Fizz that she doesn't want to play - no matter how much Fizz tries to instigate play.

Can you tell what I am talking about?

Can you identify when she is playing and when she is defending whatever it was up there?

Do you know what signs to watch for in your own dogs play and how and when to interrupt?

CONTAINMENT FRUSTRATION - DAY 1-3

Containment frustration is a common thing for a lot of dogs.  Whenever they are behind any type of barrier - in the car, behind a baby gate, in a crate - and they don't want to be there - they can certainly let you know with no shortage of vocalizations.  So what do you do?

First, it's important to understand WHY this is happening.  Most barrier issues stem from one of two places - frustration (over excitement or boredom) or anxiety.  Not all - but most. 

While there are certainly similarities in how you handle it - it is important to identify the CAUSE instead of just lumping it as a bad behavior and throwing a cookie cutter solution at it.

LUNA started the week VERY frustrated at any separation.  The car ride home was a tribute song to her people and the first night in the kennel was very, very long.  Neither of us got much sleep!

So why do this?  Why kennel her?  Why not just let her out?  How can you listen to that and not SAVE THEM!!

The answer is threefold:

• All dogs need to learn to cope with stressors but especially Service Dog candidates.  Trust me - there is a difference between a panic cry which would be addressed and general frustration. 
  
  Just like the divided camps of letting babies cry it out in the cot - trainers are divided on this issue as well.  I fall in the middle.  I will let a pup cry if it is a much higher level of frustration than actual distress and do not open the door if they are in an all out tantrum.  This WILL teach them if they cry longer, harder, more intensely - you will give in and let them out.
  
  Obviously if you live in an apartment or have a living situation where you can't allow this to happen, you have to have a different plan but in my case here, my dogs and I are the only ones effected.

• I honestly believe ALL dogs should be crate trained, regardless of if you are going to use a crate as part of their daily routine or not.  If the first time your dog ever goes into a crate is at the vet or the groomers - this is VERY stressful for them.  I include crate training in every dogs life, just like any other part of the HAPPY HANDLING series for vetting and grooming.  This is the same reason I believe all dogs should be taught to wear a muzzle - if the first time they ever have to is when they are in pain or shock from an accident - it causes a huge amount of stress.

• Luna will not be sleeping with me, as much as we both may want it.  People ask how can I let a dog go after they have been with me for so long, and this is one of the ways that happens.  Imagine how bonded she would be to me if I spend all this time training and living with her but create no coping skills for independence.  She can sleep with Daishia to increase their bond and sleep in her kennel to facilitate independence during her training here.

Her first day - she cried the majority of the ride in the car, anytime I closed a gate between us and for almost 2 hours that night, then anytime she woke up. A very long and unsettled night for all of us.  Gryphon actually came and stood by the bed staring at me like - Moooooom - Do something!

Keep in mind - this is perfectly understandable - she is away from her littermates for the first time, away from home and everything she knows - she has been in the cars for days and like an overstimulated toddler - she is just overwhelmed.

It will get better as we work on it.  If she is out WITH me, she settles and sleeps beautifully.  She has adopted a spot in the kitchen and will go there to rest whenever she gets sleepy.  She fell asleep chewing her cow ear the other night.  She just wants to not be separated which is understandable.

Day 2, we had 45min of crying and were starting to see breaks in it of up to a few minutes instead of a few seconds.

Day 3, we are seeing improvements again - I think in about a week or so we should have this much more under control!