All posts tagged “When Pigs Fly”

Obedience for an SDit

The obedience practices also continue now that we’ve hit 4 months old, and new things are added, like alerting to and going around an obstacle (guiding). I’m working hard to get my pup ready for a Canine Good Citizen test, to enter into some therapy work: this is both socializing and sensitizing a puppy to physical differences.

By this age, I’ve got a good idea of what is easy for him or her, and what will need more attention.

The usual commands I know I’ll need most from a service dog will be down stays and come, and that absolute neccessity: the glued to my hip loose leash.

Now however, I’m adding wider distance between us in a down stay, and the distractions are getting harder to ignore when I want them to come. At this point I’m looking still for attentiveness!

But there’s a whole slew of tasks like brace front I will also need, and intend to be default behavoirs (lingo for them doing it without needing a command). Some are natural actions like the counterbalance–you lean one way, they lean the other–which can be easily “captured” by simply click and treating when they do it on their own.

Other mobility tasks are not natural actions, such as a brace: they must hold still under pressure on their shoulders. Dogs would normally move away, so I will need to build first a tolerance of the pressure, as well as increasing the duration they will hold the position.

All the commands my little SDit will learn or improve are still based upon attentiveness. They need to deepen their awareness of my body’s movements, my emotional state, and that means the games we played when they were 2 or 3 months old continue!

Special training classes like my own trainer has, “Rock Solid Recall”, and the CGC test preparation classes can be very helpful, first in having a professional who might catch things I miss, and also in providing a new approach to keep their interest up.

Four months old or so begins a new puppy development period, where they are becoming more independent, and wanting to think for themselves. The most helpful book I’ve found for keeping the interest and attentiveness during this developmental stage is “When Pigs Fly”.

I actually want a dog to think, to problem solve without being so dependent on me for direction. This is because there will be times when I need them to “take over”; to guide me to an exit if a migraine has interfered with my vision, to insist I sit when fatigued or dizzy and find a chair for me.

So when my 4 mo old suddenly turns “impossible”, I find another set of games for the same commands that is something new and exciting to them.

There’s a great saying I heard once that fits the puppy stubborn stage perfectly: “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape”!

Beginning Targeting

This is a “funny”, though I’d not teach a Dane to bop a kid on the head. But dogs and puppy already know how to target in their instincts: find their stick, find their favorite place to snooze and the like.

But by targeting, trainers mean a pup can find an object or place and touch it, down on a mat and the like on command.

I’ve been playing find it games with the little tot, which is a baby version of targeting. With the little ones, we have to build upon their ability to identify objects, places, and people before we can send them to them for a reason, right?

Later on, instead of just touching it, they will learning for example to sit, and wait on that mat. We want them soon to actually do something about that object or place. Those of us who are training a service dog want them eventually to learn to pick up the little trash bag and go to the dumpster with it, or have a nice down stay on a mat when we go eat out.

The first step of targeting is learning what the object’s name is, and next is to find, now we want them to touch!

HAND TARGET

One of the most useful targets to target is the handlers hand: this becomes an alert, or to reach up and feel that there is an overhead obstacle for the sight impaired. And it’s a terrific way to redirect a pup’s attention from that loud bang to paying attention to you.

I’m using Sue Ailsby’s Training Levels, http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page26/styled/ and she’s got a great obedience plan laid out in little baby steps for forgetful and sometimes in a hurry me!

Karen Pryor’s website also has a simple to follow and excellent article about targeting. http://www.clickertraining.com/node/546

So simple to teach, with an open hand and a treat between your fingers. When the pup touches your hand to get the treat, click and give them that treat and a few more. Do this a few times, then offer an open hand without the treat. If they touch it, click and give them lots of treats and affection. That what you wanted!

Keep practicing the open hand touch a while, the add in a twist. The hand moves a little. If they follow, click and jackpot with the good stuff they like.

Once reliable with a little move, try a bigger move. This little guy here may not be a Dane but he certainly has the idea of hand targeting! The more they follow your hand, the more reward they are getting.

Some dogs don’t like to get on the scale at the vet’s so when they are following your hand, have them step on something like a small board. Make them follow your hand to get on the couch, or up on a chair, or climbing the deck stairs.

As they get better, have them target your spouse’s hand, your kid’s hand, your neighbor’s hand, then a stranger/volunteer’s hand. Many training centers will have targeting classes you could go to, for both a targeting practice and more work on working in distracting places!

OBJECT TARGETING

Once a pup has the idea of touching your hand, the touching needs to be transfered to an object.

This may already be a habit for a pup that’s been playing find it games. You can go about teaching object targeting lots of different ways.

One way is touching the object yourself and clicking/rewarding them for following your hand to touch it. You can put a treat on a chair to lure them to it, and click/treat when they touch the chair.

You can tap their favorite squeaky and click the very second the nose touches it. Real fast you’ll need to lure their nose to the treat so they don’t pick up their toy! But it works. Then you continue teaching them to touch things they know.

Once they have the idea, you can up the ante, like poor Kenai up there with his soda pop carton dropped in the tub. You can combine your find it games of every possible object with this targeting. There’s a great book called “When Pigs Fly” that encourages a pup to touch and mess with objects. It’s one of my favorites.

WHAT’S NEXT? AND WHY?

A very useful target is their bed at home, a mat you can take with you to class or in public. Once they can find it, you can begin teaching a down on that mat as your training progresses.

That mat comes to mean down and stay, it is used for nothing else. That’s a bit in the future, unless you have a furry little Einstein who can’t stop learning!

But while the little one’s learning to target, be thinking about tasks you’ll need or want from them as they grow. I’ll add again a document list of find/touch/bring objects for you to get ideas from, and tailor to your own needs.

find touch bring list

Find It Games

One of the great dogs at Service Dog Project.org.

Retrieving is a major part of most service dog’s lives, but they have to be able to have associated a word with the object, be able to find it, to pick up, carry, and bring it. That’s 5 steps to something as seemingly simple as a fetch.

In the words of some wise person, the more moving parts something has, the more things can go wrong! So I start first teaching the words of things. Step two is this: the find it. Find it games are just fun. They can exercise the puppy, be done almost anywhere there are things they recognize, an provide countless opportunity to interact and get praise.

Having taught my new puppy a few words those first few days at home, I break out the clicker and start the find it games to reinforce what they’ve learned, to pay attention to me and my voice, and have way way more fun doing things with me (for me) than doing their own thing.

FIND IT BIG OBJECTS:

Go to the kitchen and look at all the things a puppy can identify easily: fridge, dishwasher, sink, table etc.

Once they know the words, I can ask them to “show” or “find”. This is called targeting by trainers.

I let a little pup just go to the item, but as they get older and I am thinking about the picking up, I’ll want them to touch it.

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/546 has a great how to article on teaching targeting, and interestingly applies it to building curiosity and confidence in shy dogs. So this find it stuff is life long useful for tasks as well as socializing!

If they go right to what I asked for on their own, there’s a click and lots of praise, play, and treats. If not, I’ll give them a bit of a cue, even walking towards it if I need to. Then I walk away with them, and ask them to “show” or find it again.

I do this for only a few minutes at a time with a little 9 or 10 week old, then we go on about other things. We’ve still got to fit socializing outings in there, a nap for wore out me and thee, maybe practicing our numbers by sorting laundry.

Later I’ll go to the bathroom, so they can find the tub or the sink or the towels. Maybe tomorrow it’s the bedroom (bed, closet, dresser) and later the kitchen, or the bathroom and later the living room (coffee table, sofa, front door).

At the same time they are finding what they know, they are also mentally mapping where things are in our home. The ability to map a place will turn up later in guide work, so the faster they can map the less often they have to go there to be familiar with it.

As they start going out to other people’s houses, they can “show off” their smarts for even more praise by playing find it there too. Or hey, how ’bout a find it for their favorite bones in a small pet store?

Every new word you teach them needs to wind up in a find it game until it’s set in their long term memories. Right now they just need to identify and go to it. When they’re older they will be maybe having to go from the kitchen to the garage for something they can’t easily see but know where it is once they have mentally mapped our home.

FIND IT SMALLER OBJECTS:

I take 2 or 3 items they know and place them together where the puppy can see them all and have room to move around them.

A better purpose for the living room than watching the boob tube…

I will say the name of an item, and hopefully the pup goes to it for a click and reward. If not, I’ll lure a time or two as a reminder of what each item is.

When they are reliably going to the item I ask for, I then place the items a little farther away from us. I’m wanting them to go away from me to find it. Over time that farther and farther away becomes a search–the dishtowel is in the hallway instead of the kitchen.

Eventually I want to be able to start combining simple find it with opening to find, searching to find, the pick up games, and bring it games. Needless to say, if I can get a pick up and bring during the find it game, the game becomes a buffet of the greatest foods on earth!

Here’s a big list of items in a document you can play the find it games with find touch bring list. How many and what you teach is up to you, and I certainly don’t think a pup will get all of them by 16 weeks, or even by adolescence. But what’s happened is they’ve learned how to learn!

And a lot of other good things too!

1 Comment

by greatdaneservicedog on March 15, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in clicker training, Great Danes, puppy training, service dog

Tagged "When Pigs Fly", clicker training, Great Danes, puppy development, puppy training, service dog training

Posted by greatdaneservicedog on March 15, 2012

http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/find-it-games/

Selecting Just The Right Pup

I am afflicted with incurable Dane love, this I know. So a future puppy I would pick to owner/train as my next service dog would naturally be a Great Dane. Aside from a life long love affair with the breed, they also have the size and physical strength for what I need in an SD.

I won’t say I’m fat (I am), I’ll just call it “well insulated”!

I began to formulate a guideline for myself, for choosing a future Great Dane service dog in the last post. The place I started was knowing 1) what I would need from an SD, 2) what I would want but could do without from an SD, and 3) how breeders can give a puppy a head start before they are 8 wks old and coming home with me.

This post is the next step: selecting the puppy that is just right for what I will be asking of them. When I go to pick a puppy, I will be looking for is first and formost a natural attentiveness. Other vital criteria are curiosity, tenacity, calmness, and quickness to learn. Most all puppies have that, but I’m looking for those things in near raucus abundance.

Puppies change, going through stages of development just like humans do. So a puppy will not be the same “person” when they are an adult. Just because a puppy can learn a sit or a down fast doesn’t mean they will do it so easily later on.

An 8 wk old puppy hasn’t been “trained” yet, so what is most visible about them is their innate nature.That is why when I look at a puppy, I am watching for inborn habits, the deeper personality traits that will later result in a behavior that I have “trained”.

The next posts will be how to build, encourage, and shape each of these traits in a new puppy once they are home with me. But they gotta have the tendency to build on, and I have to recognize them in an 8 wk old puppy. As well as “catch” the subtle red flags of a tendency that would make training them harder.

ATTENTIVENESS:

A puppy that would rather play with littermates than hang with me isn’t going to have the innate desire to attend to my needs and wants 24/7, which is an essential part of the work drive of an SD. If the most commonly seen side of a puppy you’re considering is his backside, think again. I spent a huge amount of time trying to build on my late Kenai’s attentiveness, with limited success. Take it from me, you don’t want to consider a puppy that isn’t a “people person”! The puppy that leaves a good romp with his or her littermates to come see me is the single most important quality I’m looking for. There isn’t much you can’t teach a dog that wants to interact with you.

After all, how do you train a dog that isn’t paying attention? So the puppies in the litter that happily and repeatedly come to me, or follow me, even paw me for attention make the candidate list right away!

CURIOSITY:

Puppies are naturally curious little tots, and that’s exactly what a future service dog needs to have. A willingness to pick up, mouth, swat around, and generally interact with anything in their environment morphs into a dog that will have a big skill set.

Selecting canned veggies at a store, pulling out a pan lid, putting dirty clothes in a washer, or finding a bench in a park without my direction are not typical activities of a companion pet. But a puppy that’s willing to adjust to the taste and texture of metal, willing to get their nose into a cabinet, or plays hide and seek can learn those tasks more easily.

Tugging games later become opening the fridge, or hauling a hamper to the laundry room. They will be inclined to pull up covers to help make a bed, or to open and close doors with a strap. Nosing toys around is where I can start to teach how to turn the lights on or off in a room. Or hitting the automatic door buttons, and even the elevator buttons. A curious puppy enjoys knowing they can affect their environment, and likes to do it.

CALMNESS:

What I don’t want is a super high energy puppy, a nervous and shy puppy, or an easily excited puppy. I have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Lyme disease, and fibromyalgia (FMS). The pain and exhaustion of those conditions means I can’t properly exercise or provide continual activity to a very high energy dog.

Nor will I have the energy for the extra socializing a shy pup will require. A sensitive puppy has potential as an anxiety or medical alert dog, but my physical limitations kinda rule out an extra sensitive little one. Most Danes are sensitive to their person’s emotional state anyway, so why go too far in that direction if it makes more work for me?

An easily excited dog will have trouble remaining calm and focused in higher stress environments like shopping malls. Which is precicely where I need them to be calm and focused. I do encourage and reward puppies for being calm and quiet, but again, it’s more work if they’re turning into Scooby on you!

So a confident, chilled out fella is the man for me. A puppy that is happy to lay at my feet when nothing’s going on is what I want. His working life will have long down stays while I eat out, or watch a movie. He will have to enjoy the frequent naps and lay down times I need, too.

One thing I’ve noticed about my past Danes in particular is noise sensitivity, so I watch specifically for startling or lack there of. Socializing helps with that, but I’d like most to start out with a bomb-proof pup.

TENACITY:

Opening a knob handled door is not an easy business for a dog. I don’t necessarily need a dog to, but wouldn’t it be great if they could open a closet door to get the blanket for me? It makes an exellent example for the need of a service dog to be willing to keep at it until they “get-r-done”.

Many SD tasks are what trainers refer to a “complex behavior chains”; in other words, there are many different skills involved in completing a task. For a knob door, they have to use their mouths, tighten their jaws around it, turn their heads far enough for it to release, and pull to open.

Some dogs will naturally put all those steps together. Others will have to be taught and rewarded for each one individually, until they are ready in their own minds to make the chain happen in order. (That’s called shaping, btw).

Like attentiveness, tenacity is an integral part of an SD’s work drive. A certain amount of stubborness is good, at least when it comes to mastering what they want to do.

INTELLIGENCE

I’ve posted in the past about how some breeds learn and understand differently than others. Some by repetition, and some by figuring it out themselves. These are generalizations of course, but overall, a Great Dane tends to happily learn a bit “on their own”.

By that I mean, left to themselves they will make associations, learn habits, and problem solve without your guidance. After all the breed was created to hunt without human assistance. A great book about training a dog with those habits is “When Pigs Fly”.

But having put so much emphasis on choosing a naturally attentive puppy, I should be able to avoid much of the difficulty I had with my late Kenai about changing his attitudes and associations with situations. Once he made up his mind, that was kinda it if ya know what I mean. (Told ya attentiveness is essential!).

So a pup that learns quickly, both on their own and equally well from me is a very good candidate. Even an 8 wk old puppy can learn a sit in just a few tries. Their memory and quickness improves over time but they can learn the basics really fast at that age.

I would like a puppy that is smart enough to problem solve on their own, to initiate or offer an old behavior in a new place or situation. If they need a little direction at first, that’s fine, but a pup with inititive and a willingness to try what worked “over there” is ideal.

To test for that in a new pup, I simply teach a sit with a reward, then move somewhere else to do it again. After maybe 3 sit lessons, I go to another place and look at them, waiting. If they pop a sit, I reward it really big and get myself some soft, fat baby love. (Best part).

****

The next posts will go into more detail, and I’ll be trying to “put together” everything I’ve learned and read over the years now. But this is a big enough order for a little 8 week old!

2 Comments

by greatdaneservicedog on February 22, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in anxiety, Great Danes, puppy training, service dog

Tagged "When Pigs Fly", Choosing a Dog, Chronic fatigue syndrome, clicker training, Dog, dog training, great dane, great dane puppies, Lyme disease, Pet, Puppy, puppy socialization, service dog

Posted by greatdaneservicedog on February 22, 2012

http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/selecting-just-the-right-pup/

She’ll Be Back..by Lisa Harmon

gravity even gets the young and beautiful…Kenai 3 yrs

I couldn’t pass up this pic–it’s how a Dane looks from a bed’s eye view, having a nap with you. Unless of course, you’re Mom; she gets sasquatched instead of napped with. For some reason, Kenai thinks Mom snoring is an invitation to do a bull elephant smush.

So the only things we are using the baby gate for is to keep Brown outta Mom’s room overnight, and if someone comes to the house, we secure them both in the back hallway to keep the 300 pounds plus from being underfoot.

That’s something to work on, BTW, when their trainer comes today. Seperately the boys are managable, but together they just won’t stop pestering.

The exercise is doing them tremendous good, even though they do get a little gimpy by nighttime. They are loose together all the time now, and the indelicate sniff n lick is lessening in frequency. Strangely, Kenai is the most persistant ’bout it.

This morning I put a turkey in the oven for the guys, a little variety of taste. They don’t seem to be tiring of chicken, even though I am. I get a 10 pound bag of leg quarters for $5.49 at the store, and have to debone it before it goes in the goodie bowl.

They are still getting some of the Bravo raw, and now that we’ve moved, they’ll be having more of it again. I didn’t care for the idea of shifting 200 pounds of meat if I could help it! Shifted enough as it was.

As far as the unpacking, I have only one more box of clothes and a couple small boxes of decorative things. Kenai’s finally gotten used to the rattle of hangers, enough so that I can put them on the bed with him and hang clothes without him hiding out in the utility room.

The living room is cluttered up again, so before Lisa comes (trainer) I’m going to move it out to the garage. I hate not having room to move around, and it’s all soooo easy to trip over. The boys already got in trouble for knocking over a potted plant in a rush to bark at the door.

Need to make some room!

Every morning now Kenai goes looking for Andy. Andy and Beatrice have been taught by their humans to stay at home, to Kenai’s sorrow.

But Andy usually has at least one wander a day to come mark the outside of Kenai’s playpen. Kenai marks then the inside, naturally.

I don’t usually allow my dogs to mark, but it seems to increase this now-timid boy’s confidence. So I’ll let him mark, but only here at home, never in public.

BB met his neighbors too, as he went back and forth with me carrying in the groceries. The three were cool with each other, thankfully. Kenai wanted out to get in the middle of it in the worst way! But alas, he was left inside the playpen to watch.

And it seems my two princesses aren’t the only boys who don’t care none for a thorough bath!http://servicedogsandme.blogspot.com/ Spirit’s face gave me such a laugh!

As an aside: One very good sort of “entry level” explanation of socializing puppies is at this clicker training site: http://www.clickertraining.com/node/2184

The boys’ training session went pretty well, considering we hit all their triggers. Well all but one, since we had no men around. It seems BB is the wildest when it comes to the door bell, and Kenai is the worst about respecting space in and out the door.

With Kenai, he was reacting less and less to the doorbell as we practiced

let him lick the butter as the bell rings
hold his collar so he doesn’t chase about
reward not barking
release to chase about (he doesn’t realize the ringer is right in front of him)

Unfortunately it didn’t work with BB at all–when the doorbell rang he clamped down on the butter stick as well as my poor slime covered hand. Wouldn’t let go either. We tried then just “flooding” him with the sound as it rang and rang, but no dice.

We’re going to have to desensitize Beebs, by using a recorded doorbell at very low volume and reward for a lack of response. Then gradually increasing the volume, doing a bit of a dance to see how loud we can go without reaction.

Kenai’s piggy puppy disposition (“When Pigs Fly” by Jane Killian) made its usual appearance in how quickly he tired of the repetition. He got it fast, then got bored. The “name game” learned from a book called “Control Unleashed” lost its appeal rather quickly.

Keeping his attention, particularly since he isn’t food motivated got to be a creative enterprise! He learns predominantly by association, many of which are made without my even recognizing them. Oy, but he’s a subtle one to figure.

BB did great with the down/stay at the door when someone knocked, no bell. He’s pretty good at down/stays, and just revels in his “good boy” after-love. The look on his face was like “I did it! I did it good, did ya see?”. He is so happy to please, and learns mostly by consequence. As per usual, they are on different operating systems!

We worked them individually for the most part: one inside one outside. Putting them together just seems to scatter their concentration, and ramp up the energy level. Whew, but these guys’ll be work. At least they’ve cooled off with so much more exercise.

They cried when Lisa left!

She’ll be back my wee wumps, to play some more tomorrow…

1 Comment

by greatdaneservicedog on April 11, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Kenai

Tagged "When Pigs Fly", clicker training, control unleashed, dog behavior, dog food, dog training, great dane exercise, great dane play, Great Danes, littermates, puppy socialization

Posted by greatdaneservicedog on April 11, 2011

http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/shell-be-back-by-lisa-harmon/

A Great Furry Philosopher…by Lisa Harmon

The Great Furry Philosopher? “Humm. It is my considered opinion, after much contemplation…” Kenai 2 yrs old

Kenai is feeling pretty good, I think. (Oh Lord, he’s running me ragged) It would seem my golden grizzly is out of hibernation…He’s gaining muscle mass, and making a BB-quality pest of himself about going outside to play.

He lays by the sliding glass doors and whines, pining, longing, his young heart hearing the call of the wild. (Or is that the turkeys?). He lingers by open windows, sniffing. He stares out at the field, intently watching for anything of interest to a boy. Anything at all. Really. Anything. Moving grass is enough.

Spring fever is aptly named!

And speaking of fevers, I found the first tick of the season, a rocky mountain spotted tick. Glad I put on their Advantix not too long ago. It’s that time of year again, folks. Having a pup get really sick from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever AND Ehrlichia, not to mention my having Lyme Disease as well, please find a good flea/tick/biting insect treatment!

That’s the public service announcement for today. Just a reminder. Sick sucks. Ounce of prevention. That sort-o-thing. You get the idea.

We now have BB on the itsy-bitsy steroid dose and raw diet. He started the vomiting, hives, and the whole she-bang earlier this week. His hives are gone, his scrap piles are improving, and he’s only vomited once since. Hopefully he’ll do as well on this regimen as his bro, and hopefully my checkbook will survive. No bets on the latter…

I’m considering a fibro treatment from a Dr Paul St Amand, laid out in a book called “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia”. I’m not sure about it, it’s a “cure” kind of book. But at least this offered “cure” is cheap–some of the alternative treatments out there are as killer pricy as the boy’s food. The Lyrica prescription I take is $154 a month.

Anyway, I may try it since all it requires is taking Mucinex and not using any products with salicylates (asprin). Course nearly all herbal products, cosmetics, toothpastes and the like contain salicylates. Maybe I’ll just give a go.

I’ve been running ragged, with Mom’s inner ears acting up. (I probably got the problem from her). All the boy’s feeding, exercise, vet trips are on me, and she has to be driven everywhere. There went my yard work…darn fatigue. I may have energy for 3-4 things a day, and there’s 20 things that must be done.

All that means Kenai’s been on the go, and getting very upset about all the attention I’m giving little bro. He actually snorted at me when I came back from feeding Beebs the last time. The Golden Butt snorted at me and flopped on the couch rather than say hello. Oy. I think my next dog has to be just too dumb to care…

BB is naturally enjoying my attentions, running him out to whiz every 4-5 hours. He doesn’t have to go on a leash, thank God. He just gallopols over to the spot, lets it leak, and I let him run around a little bit before giving him the “go to the door bud”. He eats like he’s fasted 40 days and 40 nights, no fuss about what’s in the bowl. Isn’t that lovely!

Okay, Kenai don’t think any of it’s lovely. Except the car rides. I don’t leave him if the weather permits. But he don’t share me willingly. Brat.

One of the big things I’m watching Kenai for is a return to his old relaxed and self-assured personality. He’s much calmer, though the confidence is maybe 25% returned. He’s got alot of muscle to gain yet, so it could be awhile.

When I feel he’s really well and healthy, I’ll assess him and see if our long missed trainer will “start over” with him. We’ll start literally at the beginning: socializing. Reaquainting him with various sounds, environments and such.

It won’t take long to know if he would be an SD candidate again, or if it would take too much work to get him “there”. If he can, then we dust off the “When Pigs Fly” and “Control Unleashed” clicker training books and get to work. If not…

I knew this was a once in a decade shot: Kenai was my only love for the duration of his life, win or lose in the training department. Rehoming wasn’t an option, neither was bringing another dog into our lives to replace him. Either would devastate his boy heart. It was me and him or bust from the start.

Cross the toes, paws, eyebrows, and shoelaces for us!

Speaking of training, I need to check back in with our internet friends. As the fatigue worsens and the demands on my strength increase, I am sad to say my world is getting smaller and smaller. I hate that part of the fibro/fatigue. You triage your life half to death, and can’t keep up with people you care about.

Do I sound whiney? Hope not. I have a tendency to have high hopes that get thwarted by interference by other people! What the heck, I should keep the hopes high just for spite…grin. Hope all is well in your worlds.

2 Comments

by greatdaneservicedog on April 9, 2010 • Permalink

Posted in Kenai

Tagged "When Pigs Fly", chronic fatigue, clicker training, control unleashed, dog behavior, dog training, fibromyalgia, Great Danes, littermates, service dog training, tick diseases

Posted by greatdaneservicedog on April 9, 2010

http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/a-great-furry-philosopher-by-lisa-harmon/

What It’s All About, Alfie…by Lisa Harmon

Okay, this post is taking longer than expected to get finished too–what’s up with that? Frustrating!

Trainer/breeder Jane Killion is considering writing a “Pigs Fly” puppy book! Raising a piggy pup requires a thoughtful approach from the start if you intent the pup to excel at higher obedience work. Learned that in about a month from Kenai.

“They” say we ruin our first dog as SD owner/trainers, at least that’s what I’ve been told (accused of?) by some of the more professional and slightly condescending SD owner/trainers. Perhaps so, considering how sideways Kenai’s training’s gone. How much his health has affected is hard to tell.

I knew from the start this boy was all over different, and found out fast I didn’t understand how to work with him. Hindsight reveals many a flaw in my early training of Kenai, and massive black holes here and there in my aquired “skill set”.

I’m not sure I’d take it as far as “ruined” though–maybe “they” just weren’t willing to expend the time and effort undoing their earlier mistakes. Granted it can be a pain to undo, but the undoing is very much a learning experience too. That’s what it’s all about Alfie–learning.

To have a Pigs Fly puppy book would make things remarkably easier for folks though, easier than the trial and error, durn that didn’t work method Kenai’s had to put up with. Not all dogs learn the same way, anymore than kids do. Doesn’t mean they don’t have gifts to offer us.

My piggy pup had his training time last Friday, or should I call it, almost training time. With Kenai pretty much out of commission, our training times are more about play than tasks; it’s what he can give me. While I wait for him to get well, I’m hoping to use BB as my guinea pup starting this Friday.

Training focus shifts from teaching the dog to making a trainer out of me. That way I’ll be ready when Kenai is. BB’s time I hope will be Lisa watching and teaching me: timing, body posture, shaping, reinforcement etc.

For Kenai we focus on play, and the foundations for later formal training are being laid that way. Whatever works. Kenai wasn’t terribly enthusiastic last week, being slightly on the blah side, but we did get a few rises out of him!

“It ate my ball!!” Kenai had to walk on the yellow mat to get his ball back, and with the ball under it, it was all shifty and not solid.

Kenai’s a terra firma sort of fellow, with the habit of picking the solid ground for himself, and leaving me with the shifty…not a good idea!

He piddled about with it, refusing two or three times, then having Lisa on one side and me on the other as ‘barriers’ he walked on the shifty mat.

Yay! he did it, got his ball and had a few moments of playtime with it. Then it was do it all again!

That earned him a good long game of keep away with Lisa, complete with butt bumping so “you can’t reach” and trotting about all smug and happy with his boy self.

We also continued his tight space work, this time, making him walk between rows of chairs to come see me, to get his toys, and being the Kenai that he is, he backed out. That was okay for awhile, then we decided to do a turn around between the chairs.

Oh so disquieting “mom”, lemme just back up! But he finally did it, and had his fun games with the “greenie meanie” monster toy (by his back foot in the pic above left). Greenie meanie made it funner, you see. After two more turn arounds, he got a really nifty reward:

Quintessential Kenai, looking out the window. I must have a hundred pictures of him looking out windows! Surveying is part of his doggy duty he thinks. What a boy.

He wasn’t too enthusiastic, sore legs and upset tummy, so we didn’t really push him to do too much. There were some name games, with tushie rubs and chase me’s for his rewards.

He’s remarkably good at the name games, considering he and I haven’t practiced them much recently. He’s a smart boy–he remembers, even if he tried to pretend otherwise.

And I’ve found a way to let him run loose in the field!! If I walk around the garage while he runs, (no critters around of course) then pull the car out, he comes. Guess a car ride is a high enough value reward?

I may be playing with fire, but he misses the room to stretch out his legs as much as I miss seeing him happy being loose. As long as he continues to come to the car, I’ll continue trusting him that much off leash.

Today is BB’s accupuncture appt. He doesn’t seem to get the same relief that his brother does for some reason. Maybe he hurts more? But it does reduce his anxiety-based behavior a little bit. A little bit with BB is a big relief for us!

Well, I’d better get this post up before something else interrupts and postpones it! Yeesh. You’d think the stars were against me or something this month. Too bad, I’m gonna keep the chin up and the clicker clicking anyway.

3 Comments

by greatdaneservicedog on September 15, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in Kenai

Tagged "When Pigs Fly", clicker training, dog training, great dane adolescent, great dane exercise, littermates, veterinary care

Posted by greatdaneservicedog on September 15, 2009

http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/what-its-all-about-alfie-by-lisa-harmon/

Toy Times and Learning Sideways…by Lisa Harmon

Ball? What ball? I don’t see one, do you? Kenai 21 mo

My apologies for getting this post up later than I normally would. It’s been quite the week, running about and none of it for fun, save Kenai’s training time Friday when I got this pic.

I came across a new SD blog, http://servicedogteam.blogspot.com/. I enjoy seeing how other’s lives have been improved by the assistance of a dog. Amazing creatures, dogs, so wholehearted in all they do. This dog’s name is Emma, and it suits her gentle energy.

Kenai had his accupunture treatment Saturday morning, with a twist. Dr Reggiere decided to try an old school technique since he moves about and doesn’t want to be still. Both he and BB move just enough that keeping the needles in long enough can be difficult.

So she injected the points with a small amount of b-12. Not only will he have the effect of the needle (accupuncture), the subcutaneous fluid puts a tiny bit of pressure on the point for a couple of days (accupressure). We’re hoping that prolongs the good effects.

Kenai much prefers this method! Stick, squirt, done. He held perfectly still for it, and quit the whining he did while waiting for her to come in the room. He’s been very whiny, and it’s even getting on my nerves. Insecurity I think, some boredom. Who knows, but it’s starting to grate.

Bless his heart, sometimes he stands at the window and pines away for a long hard run through the field like we did when he was little. He has such a “call of the wild” in him and can’t indulge it, now that he’s taken to chasing and not coming back. The kennel is so small for those long legs.

What I wouldn’t give to have the dough to fence in an acre or so of that field. Then he could run free in a big way, while I sit in the shade. Ah dreams. Maybe when the vet bills die down we could start saving? I’d love that. (So would he)

***

As I was surfing about I discovered the “Smart Dog University” blog, Talos’ blog on my links, is associated with Karen Pryor’s Training Academy! I knew she was a fantastic puppy raiser, and now I know why! No wonder I’ve been so impressed, right?

In my happy haste I shot off an email before surfing long enough to see the requirements for admission at the Acadamy. Crash. Ya have to already be a professional trainer, vet tech etc to apply, which of course, I’m not.

The chronic fatigue bars me from being a full time anything, save for a full time napper. And crowded conventions, big classes etc just aren’t safe for me, setting off a bad case of the wobbles and/or migraines.

That leaves me with read, read, read, which I’m prone to do anyway. I think I’ll pick one or two articles at a time from good training sites, and see what I can do with them. I’m fairly good at some things, like capturing, but more than rudimentary shaping eludes me.

Mostly because I’m chicken to dive in and get my set-in-his-ways boys stuck in a mistake? Capturing a natural response with a click and treat is much easier! But not everything you want comes naturally to a dog, so it’s “shape up” if you want a certain behavior.

Partly I have trouble thinking four or more “steps” ahead too, which is the essential part of shaping. Shaping reminds me of another game that can be difficult: chess. You make this move, I make that one, always thinking about the end game.

My consistency could use improving, and I’m terrible about variable reinforcement. Maybe I could start following the boy’s trainer Lisa around? Does she need a free part time assistant? Pretty please, with a milk-bone on top?

Of the two boys, BB is the easiest to see results with. He’s my instant gratification, and the mistakes I make show up quick enough to undo. Once Kenai makes up his mind this is how to do it, he don’t change his mind without an act of Congress or memo from Jesus. BB willingly adjusts–he’s not a pigs fly pup.

One thing I have started with Kenai is a head pat reconditioning. He’s shy of having his forehead reached for right now, so I’ve taken to pat/click/treat over and over for several repetitions. Once he stops moving his head away from hands, I’ll have to reinforce only occasionally.

That’s built a bit on the name games of “When Pigs Fly” by Jane Killion. Rather than “priming” the clicker, I’m priming the head rub in a way. Head rubs should begin to mean I-likes rather than I-don’t-likes. I don’t want him too outgoing, but when it’s okay to be petted, at least don’t shy away!

Wednesday morning was a toy time from boy heaven for Kenai. He has no idea that play is “training”, a sideways sort of learning for the both of us. We had a really energetic game of tug, with my big backside on the couch to make it harder for HIM to win.

Then we played hide and seek around the couches, complete with “BOO” and mini zoomies. All to improve his desire to find me when I call his name. Not to mention the great good fun of watching a boy be happy with his puppy self, discovering the hiding “momma”!

We had some major keep away with anything I could steal from him. It goes in the shirt, it hides behind my back, it goes this way and that…I had him dancing, playtime freestyle! Boy wrinkles everywhere while he tried to anticipate my next move. Ha ha, made ya think–variable reinforcement practice for me.

After about 15 min of rest, I introduced him to the joys of plant saucers. Not only do they fly faster than the brown boy streak, they turn upside down and require strategy for a thumbless soul to pick up. There were baskets to peek in, blankets to root under, an empty rice container to chase all over creation…

After much more rest this time, it was wake up Grammy time. Since he’s been blah about his messing with sasquatch games, where he and Mom chatter like noisy jays, a new set of boy wrinkles was in order. A wild tail ball!! It’s a motorized ball that wiggles and wanders, with a fuzzy tail sticking out of one end.

Should’ve had the camera! Hilarious. He’d corner it, or step on its tail, but the moment he picked it up you’d think he’d bit into a lemon. “It wiggles in my mouth, ma!” Spit it out with big eyes, chase it down, pick it up, spit it out, snort and sneeze…I laughed myself silly at him.

Friday I came across one of the best all-positive techniques for putting an end to the ever frustrating drag-your-human-by-the-leash game. http://www.clickertraining.com/node/541 . Not to copy it here, the basic point is to click/reward when the leash is loose, and lure the dog to get (keep) his body position where you want it.

Like most no-correction techniques, the beginning stages are slow going for most dogs. It takes awhile for it to dawn on a dog that pulling gets no reward but not pulling does: the opposite of what they’ve learned. It takes just as long or longer for cross-over trainers like me to get the idea that a slow start results in faster progress later on!

The only thing that I’d add to this article is variable reinforcement, I mentioned earlier. We humans are creatures of habit, so we unthinkingly create patterns. The dog can learn we treat on step 3, 5, and 7 regularly but rarely on 4 or 8. They then learn to loose leash on 3, 5, and 7 but not on other steps because we don’t reward those steps as much.

The idea is to mix up the step you reward on: 5, 2, 6, 3, 7, 3, 5, 1, 4, 8, 5, etc. deliberately. You build up the numbers as the dog learns, such as step 25, 14, 2, 11, 20, 8, 31 etc. The dog doesn’t know when you will reward, so they pay attention all the time. And the treat is dropped either slightly behind you if the dog’s gone forward, or at the side of your foot to keep them in position.

***

Kenai’s Thursday puppy puncture was the standard needle only, and he went from (oh my) cowering and shaking in the corner to tail up happy in about 15 minutes. I asked for another tick titer, since he’s doing worse overall, and Dr Reggiere thought it was a good idea.

Oh my boys, get well soon! I worry ’bout you when I’d rather be having fun with you.

This post is a bit too long already to write about the Friday training session with Lisa, so I’ll get that in the next one. And I won’t wait so long to get it up, either!

1 Comment

by greatdaneservicedog on September 12, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in Kenai

Tagged "When Pigs Fly", accupuncture, chronic fatigue, clicker training, disability, dog behavior, dog training, great dane adolescent, great dane play, littermates, tick diseases, veterinary care

Posted by greatdaneservicedog on September 12, 2009

http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/toy-times-and-learning-sideways-by-lisa-harmon/

Four Legged Magpies…by Lisa Harmon

kenai looking regal, 20 mo

Kenai watching the heavy equipment filling our yard, 20 mo

We still had the “tonka toys” in our yard to entertain Kenai and BB until Tuesday. The recent level of noise made the post on http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/what-do-barks-mean/ appropriate reading!

It was about dog vocalization, ie barks, whines, grunts, yips, whar-whars, and such, as a form of communication. The boys are communicating like a pair of magpies recently, with all the backhoes and heavy equipment!

Of my two, BB is the most vocal, perhaps because I’ve discouraged Kenai from vocalizing in public. Even a play bark from a Dane can get us tossed, service dog vest or not. BB is very, very vocal relative to his brother. He sometimes sounds like a coon hound, the hound of Harmonville.

I know that monkeys and some other animals have specific calls for specific predators, but in terms of the domestic dog the research is tending towards the conclusion that they are communicating emotional content rather than specific information when vocalizing.

Back in May of last year I had a whole post about Kenai’s puppy whining, and pretty much came to that conclusion without actually putting my finger on it. I can beat around the bush right good, huh. http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/puppy-talkby-lisa-harmon/.

Whining is Kenai’s most common vocalization, for begging, anxiety, frustration, excitement, loneliness, and even mild indignation. He often combines pitches, adds snorts, ends in whimpers, or increases/decreases volumes.

He’s not a big barker at home where I’m more tolerant of it, though I actively discourage barking if it becomes a repeated and persistant thing I don’t want. That said, the second most common vocalization for Kenai is barking.

Play barking and yips in particular with Mom is a daily thing, at home at least, and has its own intrinsic sound. When playful, he has variations like “whar-whar”, almost mimicking syllables, and no whines.

He has an “excited” bark for critters he sees outside the window when he’s really wound up, and wants to chase. Mostly he whines his excitement, but once in awhile I’ll get a “lemme chase” yip or two.

Anxious alarm barking at home is just a bit more frequent than I would like, but it certainly does relay what he’s feeling. I’ve never heard a “leave me alone” warning bark come out of him, and he’s certainly been in situations where I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear it.

Growling is a very rare sound from Brown, even in play. Alarm/anxiety growls are what I’ve heard most in terms of growling. Strange men outside, that sort of thing. I’ve only heard Kenai give a deadly serious hackles up growl twice in his 20 mo of life. Once for coyotes and once at an out of control BB brother.

But he’s got a variety of growls, if rarely used. He’s growled a few times in frustration at his brother, when the little wumps makes too big of a pest. Not often, but it has happened and mostly when they were pretty small. Kenai has an amazingly high tolerance level.

Honestly, I’ve never really tried to deliberately categorize the wide variety of vocalizations Kenai has. Anyone who’s spent much time with their dog, though, has a solid visceral understanding of what their pup’s got on their mind from the sounds they make.

I can instinctively know he’s begging for playtime or something without consciously recognizing the pattern of vocalizing. I can be wrong, but typically I know what’s on his mind. How much visual cues are involved in my recognition, I don’t know. Guess it doesn’t matter, so long as I know, huh.

***

This is from Kenai’s latest smash n grab game; empty soda pop bottles rank high in the doggie toy currency! “I’m a little stink pot, short and stout, here is my handle (the tail of course), here is my snout…”

We have lots of errands to run, hopefully all done today; the vet for a weigh in, hardware store, get a necklace fixed, and the puppy store for food. There’s plenty of things for a boy to see and do on that list.

Once we get hot water again, we can go. The propane line got severed by the backhoe, so no hot water for showers since last week. They say troubles come in threes, but I think its more likely they come in 10′s and 20′s…

The pups don’t care if I smell, which is really nice. They’d be happy to avoid baths for the rest of their furry lives. Unfortunately, a bath is coming for them, poor dears. They don’t get honest to goodness foam up rinse off baths very often, not really needing them.

I do give them “baby baths” regularly: a warm washcloth with a tiny bit of doggie shampoo for the majority of oils and such, followed by a hypoallergenic doggie wipe. They get damp, but not soggy, and don’t fuss about it much. Wonky ears, but no real fuss.

The problem with cleaning up the pups is cleaning the car follows–dog hair is tough to get out of upholstery. The best way I’ve found is a rubber glove to loosen the rubbed in hair. It really does work–just glove the devil out of the back seat, then run the sweeper on the piles.

Then a good scrubbing with a nature’s miracle soaked rag to clean the dirt and slobber off the seats, and the car smells as good as the freshly washed boys. I have the feeling the car likes it better than the boys do…when this fit of cleaning will happen, I don’t know, but it is on the docket. Right after a shower!

***

I’ve used their “puppy practice” as a stress reliever this week, a fun and exciting counter to the noise and commotion that’s had them all on edge. Goodness how they love their clicker. BB would dance on tippy toe for a click, the funny boy.

Wait/name is a find me game, and I’ve been hiding farther and farther away, clear across the house. They get to run to find me, and run back to the living room afterwards. Kenai’s regularly offering ‘in the crate’, knowing it will get him a treat without fail, and sometimes 2 or 3.

BB is master of the down now, and even down/stays when there’s a treat in the offing. He’s allergic to being still, so that’s quite an achievement for him. He’ll hold it if I’m standing over Mom, leaning on her, laying on her lap. The greatest good-boy though is I can walk around him and step over him.

Kenai’s been enjoying the Pigs fly games, regularly nose nudging objects for his click n treat now. I try to stay behind him, so he has to come to me for the treat, then return to the basket. The idea is to convince him he doesn’t have to be facing me for a click.

We’ve continued to try straightening his body position, with “come brace” in particular. It was the most affected by his belief he has to face me for a treat, and most important to get the body in the right place. There’s been improvement when he has room to swing out the tush, yay.

All of this is at home, of course. He’s still in a weird, intense fearfulness state. No point in trying to work with him in public right now; Kenai is way, way too skittish. When he gets like this he seems stuck in a permanent flight response, and even walking down the sidewalk is very stressful.

That bizarrely intense fear has to be related to either the tick borne diseases or the intestinal problems. Maybe both. The vets are at a loss about what exactly is wrong in those boy bowels, and how to fix it. We ever get his platelets up, normal, and stable there’ll be a visit to endoscopy.

Well, today will be full, with car rides and another especially loved event: the cardboard carton shred. I save the soda cartons until I have 2 empty ones, then let ‘em have at it. Kenai’s the big shredder. BB just wants to play keep away and tease with them.

Yikes, so much to do!

4 Comments

by greatdaneservicedog on August 12, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in Kenai

Tagged "When Pigs Fly", clicker training, dog barking, dog bath, dog behavior, great dane adolescent, great dane play, littermates, pancreatic insufficiency, service dog training, tick diseases

Posted by greatdaneservicedog on August 12, 2009

http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/four-legged-magpies-by-lisa-harmon/

Kenai’s New Grammy Bed…by Lisa Harmon

kenai looking out the window, 19 mo

Why is the car leaving without me? The car isn’t supposed to leave without me…Kenai, 19 mo.

Kenai’s been having a different sort of week this week. We’re sleeping in the living room–he’s so scared of coming down the stairs from our bedroom I decided it was better for awhile, until this fear of stairs goes away. It will, when he’s feeling better.

It’s not such a good idea for me to be standing on steep stairs for 5-10 minutes at a time either, coaxing him, not with the weird world-crawl to the left from inner ear troubles I’ve been fighting since last fall. And he really is afraid trying to go down them. Why continue the trauma, not when he can’t seem to help it?

So we are now unwilling night owls, since Mom watches TV until after midnight. My alarm clock puppy still wakes me up at 5:30 am. It’s working out okay, and we still have our morning time together. We will hang out, maybe play a bit, maybe have a practice. It’s just the two of us.

Kenai’s tick disease titers came back crazy bad for both Ehrlichia and rocky mountain fever, so the first 6 week treatment was not effective. Seems like all the doxacycline did was make it mad! That explains the neurological signs and phobias. Like the stairs.

Boy has to go through some more antibiotics, and lets hope to heaven the doxacycline works this time because it’s pretty much the only drug for tick diseases. If this is drug resistant…no, I’m not even going to follow that thought trail. Nope, don’t like the destination it takes me to.

On a better note, there’s a new forum for people whose dogs have pancreatic insufficiency, at http://www.epi4dogs.com It it open to owners, vets, vet techs, researchers and pretty much anyone who deals with the disease and its complications in pets.

And on a happier note…my ENT doc says what I have isn’t quite yet the progressive Meniere’s syndrome!! It’s endolymphatic hydrops, a sort of pre-Meniere’s stage. If I cut out sodium in my diet right away to 17oo mg or less a day, I may not have the hearing loss I’ve been anxious about.

I might anyway, but the odds are in my favor if I’m a good girl. (that does that happen on blue moons…) The results were a big surprise, but a good surprise for a change. The past 12 mo or so have been, shall we say, strenuous?

While we on the topic of strenuous, Kenai’s outside time wasn’t. He doesn’t run too hard these days unless his brother is outside with him. He stood at the kennel door waiting for his bro, and when he didn’t come, gave me a quizzical look. Didn’t like my answer, either.

Told ya he didn’t like my answer; BB’s not coming to play. Stick out my tongue, boy, he isn’t impressed with me as a playmate is he?

***

Wednesday morning I decided to give a go at the pre-shaping exercise in the book “When Pigs Fly” by Jane Killian. We’ve been “on vacation” since May, it’s probably time, huh? I put down an empty basket and click/treated for a sniff. Then I waited for him to start offering behaviors to click.

I waited. Finally I tapped it with my foot so it turned over. That got his interest. Any sort of interaction with it, even a puppy peek got a click/treat. The treats seemed to actually disrupt his touching and interest in the basket. (He cuts out the additional effort, goes straight to the source of treats?)

Kenai just doesn’t have much interest in the basket. Probably since it doesn’t bark or give him a chance to chase. Oy. But this was just the first day. I decided I wanted to play with it! Picked it up, “trotted” around as strangely as I trot, and other such silliness.

The next time we pulled it out, I used by body to play keep away via bumper butts and see if that got a rise out of him. “You can’t have it, na, na, na, na, na, na!” The hope was he’d wanna mess with it when I let him have a turn. Oh yeah…that did the trick. Now it’s a trophy!

An empty rice jar had good results too, and he was just jumpin’ for his click/treats. Mr Don’t Touch My Nose was rolling it around with his nose like nobody’s business. I continued to click/treat for anything he did to it, wanting to wait until I choose what behavior to “shape” and encourage.

But the saddest sorrow ever to strike Kenai’s puppy heart is the untimely demise of Mom’s waterbed Wednesday; the magnificently unrivaled comfort of his “grammy bed” is lost, hidden for all time beneath the waves of squirting waveless waterbed tubes. But…

Thursday night the new “grammy bed” came, so we were able to return to our grammy bed naps together, me and Brown, Friday afternoon. Oh the luxury of a good extended snooze with a dog as long as I am tall!

But little boy got cold, durn air conditioner. (I forgot to turn off the fan, shhh). He never lets me cover him up, and yet he not only held still for it, he dozed off under the covers. Guess he was really cold.

At one point he thought Mom was going to come see him, a thing a good as peanut butter, maybe better. But she didn’t, and Mr Stoic just hunkered down again waiting for the cold to be over.

I decided a bit of time outside would warm him up better, so we headed for the kennel. Had to go past our “stink-holes”, the two trenches where the septic tank’s lateral lines were dug up looking for the blockage. County didn’t come out to okay the plans, lazy buggers. We waited all week.

So I pour a concentrated liquid called “Blue Lagoon” by a local company ,Aire Master, into the awful mess, to control the smell. Think I’ll call the guys and let them put a bug in the county’s ear Monday. We’ve got open sewage in those trenches, and have for 11 days now.

I digress, though. The kennel warm up was just the two of us again, so it was mostly Kenai walking the perimeter with his nose to the ground. That’s okay; when he’s hurting its best not to have him running too much or too hard. Walking around is still moving, and he’s still outside.

He paused in his sniffies for a jolly ball flinging session, and I caught his attention right in the middle of it. Ha! I’m not usually so quick with the camera. Gotcha, puppy guppers!

Talos the SDit candidate had a much more fun outside time than Kenai the other day: his “mom” gave him an opportunity at lure coursing for some go-get-ems.

Oh Kenai would excell at that…he leaps fallen trees, bounds over barbed wire fences, sprints a straight away like a cheetah, and will either jump over or devastate any obstacle if a critter chase is in the offering.

I wonder if they can move those lures fast enough to outpace his giant stride?

Talos is very lucky in his selection of a “mom/trainer”; she knows her stuff. I check her site regular. But poor little guy (yeah he’s big but still little), got himself stung by a bee or wasp. Fat toe pup, snoring off the benadryl instead of being the demo boy for the session. Medical leave, right?

That’s the report for our week, funny and frumpy both. I’m hoping for a quiet, boring weekend just the four of us. With any luck?

1 Comment

by greatdaneservicedog on August 1, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in Kenai

Tagged "When Pigs Fly", chronic fatigue, clicker training, dog phobias, Ehrlichia, great dane adolescent, great dane exercise, great dane play, littermates, lure coursing, Meniere's, naps, pancreatic insufficiency, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, veterinary care

Posted by greatdaneservicedog on August 1, 2009

http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/kenais-new-grammy-bed-by-lisa-harmon/

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lisa harmon
Having become disabled in my 30's, I began a new and unexepected life journey, chronicled on a blog. The need for tenacity, maintaining a stubbornly positive outlook on life, and the determination to focus on what I can do, have been the most important lessons disability has taught me.
I decided that training my own Great Danes to be my assistance dogs was one way I could have a fuller, more independent life. The experience has taught me more about life, love, and respect than any other endeavor of my life. There has been amazing triumphs, and deep sorrows but I wouldn't trade one moment of it!
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Saying goodbye

It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are." -- Cheryl Zuccaro
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Romans 12:12

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (NIV)

All posts tagged “When Pigs Fly”

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I couldn’t pass up this pic–it’s how a Dane looks from a bed’s eye view, having a nap with you. Unless of course, you’re Mom; she gets sasquatched instead of napped with. For some reason, Kenai thinks Mom snoring is an invitation to do a bull elephant smush.

So the only things we are using the baby gate for is to keep Brown outta Mom’s room overnight, and if someone comes to the house, we secure them both in the back hallway to keep the 300 pounds plus from being underfoot.

That’s something to work on, BTW, when their trainer comes today. Seperately the boys are managable, but together they just won’t stop pestering.

The exercise is doing them tremendous good, even though they do get a little gimpy by nighttime. They are loose together all the time now, and the indelicate sniff n lick is lessening in frequency. Strangely, Kenai is the most persistant ’bout it.

This morning I put a turkey in the oven for the guys, a little variety of taste. They don’t seem to be tiring of chicken, even though I am. I get a 10 pound bag of leg quarters for $5.49 at the store, and have to debone it before it goes in the goodie bowl.

They are still getting some of the Bravo raw, and now that we’ve moved, they’ll be having more of it again. I didn’t care for the idea of shifting 200 pounds of meat if I could help it! Shifted enough as it was.

As far as the unpacking, I have only one more box of clothes and a couple small boxes of decorative things. Kenai’s finally gotten used to the rattle of hangers, enough so that I can put them on the bed with him and hang clothes without him hiding out in the utility room.

The living room is cluttered up again, so before Lisa comes (trainer) I’m going to move it out to the garage. I hate not having room to move around, and it’s all soooo easy to trip over. The boys already got in trouble for knocking over a potted plant in a rush to bark at the door.

Need to make some room!

Every morning now Kenai goes looking for Andy. Andy and Beatrice have been taught by their humans to stay at home, to Kenai’s sorrow.

But Andy usually has at least one wander a day to come mark the outside of Kenai’s playpen. Kenai marks then the inside, naturally.

I don’t usually allow my dogs to mark, but it seems to increase this now-timid boy’s confidence. So I’ll let him mark, but only here at home, never in public.

BB met his neighbors too, as he went back and forth with me carrying in the groceries. The three were cool with each other, thankfully. Kenai wanted out to get in the middle of it in the worst way! But alas, he was left inside the playpen to watch.

And it seems my two princesses aren’t the only boys who don’t care none for a thorough bath!http://servicedogsandme.blogspot.com/ Spirit’s face gave me such a laugh!

As an aside: One very good sort of “entry level” explanation of socializing puppies is at this clicker training site: http://www.clickertraining.com/node/2184

The boys’ training session went pretty well, considering we hit all their triggers. Well all but one, since we had no men around. It seems BB is the wildest when it comes to the door bell, and Kenai is the worst about respecting space in and out the door.

With Kenai, he was reacting less and less to the doorbell as we practiced

let him lick the butter as the bell rings

hold his collar so he doesn’t chase about

reward not barking

release to chase about (he doesn’t realize the ringer is right in front of him)

Unfortunately it didn’t work with BB at all–when the doorbell rang he clamped down on the butter stick as well as my poor slime covered hand. Wouldn’t let go either. We tried then just “flooding” him with the sound as it rang and rang, but no dice.

We’re going to have to desensitize Beebs, by using a recorded doorbell at very low volume and reward for a lack of response. Then gradually increasing the volume, doing a bit of a dance to see how loud we can go without reaction.

Kenai’s piggy puppy disposition (“When Pigs Fly” by Jane Killian) made its usual appearance in how quickly he tired of the repetition. He got it fast, then got bored. The “name game” learned from a book called “Control Unleashed” lost its appeal rather quickly.

Keeping his attention, particularly since he isn’t food motivated got to be a creative enterprise! He learns predominantly by association, many of which are made without my even recognizing them. Oy, but he’s a subtle one to figure.

We worked them individually for the most part: one inside one outside. Putting them together just seems to scatter their concentration, and ramp up the energy level. Whew, but these guys’ll be work. At least they’ve cooled off with so much more exercise.

They cried when Lisa left!

She’ll be back my wee wumps, to play some more tomorrow…

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Kenai is feeling pretty good, I think. (Oh Lord, he’s running me ragged) It would seem my golden grizzly is out of hibernation…He’s gaining muscle mass, and making a BB-quality pest of himself about going outside to play.

Spring fever is aptly named!

That’s the public service announcement for today. Just a reminder. Sick sucks. Ounce of prevention. That sort-o-thing. You get the idea.

Anyway, I may try it since all it requires is taking Mucinex and not using any products with salicylates (asprin). Course nearly all herbal products, cosmetics, toothpastes and the like contain salicylates. Maybe I’ll just give a go.

Okay, Kenai don’t think any of it’s lovely. Except the car rides. I don’t leave him if the weather permits. But he don’t share me willingly. Brat.

One of the big things I’m watching Kenai for is a return to his old relaxed and self-assured personality. He’s much calmer, though the confidence is maybe 25% returned. He’s got alot of muscle to gain yet, so it could be awhile.

When I feel he’s really well and healthy, I’ll assess him and see if our long missed trainer will “start over” with him. We’ll start literally at the beginning: socializing. Reaquainting him with various sounds, environments and such.

It won’t take long to know if he would be an SD candidate again, or if it would take too much work to get him “there”. If he can, then we dust off the “When Pigs Fly” and “Control Unleashed” clicker training books and get to work. If not…

Cross the toes, paws, eyebrows, and shoelaces for us!

Do I sound whiney? Hope not. I have a tendency to have high hopes that get thwarted by interference by other people! What the heck, I should keep the hopes high just for spite…grin. Hope all is well in your worlds.

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Okay, this post is taking longer than expected to get finished too–what’s up with that? Frustrating!

Trainer/breeder Jane Killion is considering writing a “Pigs Fly” puppy book! Raising a piggy pup requires a thoughtful approach from the start if you intent the pup to excel at higher obedience work. Learned that in about a month from Kenai.

I knew from the start this boy was all over different, and found out fast I didn’t understand how to work with him. Hindsight reveals many a flaw in my early training of Kenai, and massive black holes here and there in my aquired “skill set”.

To have a Pigs Fly puppy book would make things remarkably easier for folks though, easier than the trial and error, durn that didn’t work method Kenai’s had to put up with. Not all dogs learn the same way, anymore than kids do. Doesn’t mean they don’t have gifts to offer us.

Training focus shifts from teaching the dog to making a trainer out of me. That way I’ll be ready when Kenai is. BB’s time I hope will be Lisa watching and teaching me: timing, body posture, shaping, reinforcement etc.

For Kenai we focus on play, and the foundations for later formal training are being laid that way. Whatever works. Kenai wasn’t terribly enthusiastic last week, being slightly on the blah side, but we did get a few rises out of him!

“It ate my ball!!” Kenai had to walk on the yellow mat to get his ball back, and with the ball under it, it was all shifty and not solid.

Kenai’s a terra firma sort of fellow, with the habit of picking the solid ground for himself, and leaving me with the shifty…not a good idea!

He piddled about with it, refusing two or three times, then having Lisa on one side and me on the other as ‘barriers’ he walked on the shifty mat.

Yay! he did it, got his ball and had a few moments of playtime with it. Then it was do it all again!

That earned him a good long game of keep away with Lisa, complete with butt bumping so “you can’t reach” and trotting about all smug and happy with his boy self.

We also continued his tight space work, this time, making him walk between rows of chairs to come see me, to get his toys, and being the Kenai that he is, he backed out. That was okay for awhile, then we decided to do a turn around between the chairs.

Oh so disquieting “mom”, lemme just back up! But he finally did it, and had his fun games with the “greenie meanie” monster toy (by his back foot in the pic above left). Greenie meanie made it funner, you see. After two more turn arounds, he got a really nifty reward:

Quintessential Kenai, looking out the window. I must have a hundred pictures of him looking out windows! Surveying is part of his doggy duty he thinks. What a boy.

He wasn’t too enthusiastic, sore legs and upset tummy, so we didn’t really push him to do too much. There were some name games, with tushie rubs and chase me’s for his rewards.

He’s remarkably good at the name games, considering he and I haven’t practiced them much recently. He’s a smart boy–he remembers, even if he tried to pretend otherwise.

And I’ve found a way to let him run loose in the field!! If I walk around the garage while he runs, (no critters around of course) then pull the car out, he comes. Guess a car ride is a high enough value reward?

I may be playing with fire, but he misses the room to stretch out his legs as much as I miss seeing him happy being loose. As long as he continues to come to the car, I’ll continue trusting him that much off leash.

Today is BB’s accupuncture appt. He doesn’t seem to get the same relief that his brother does for some reason. Maybe he hurts more? But it does reduce his anxiety-based behavior a little bit. A little bit with BB is a big relief for us!

Well, I’d better get this post up before something else interrupts and postpones it! Yeesh. You’d think the stars were against me or something this month. Too bad, I’m gonna keep the chin up and the clicker clicking anyway.

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My apologies for getting this post up later than I normally would. It’s been quite the week, running about and none of it for fun, save Kenai’s training time Friday when I got this pic.

I came across a new SD blog, http://servicedogteam.blogspot.com/. I enjoy seeing how other’s lives have been improved by the assistance of a dog. Amazing creatures, dogs, so wholehearted in all they do. This dog’s name is Emma, and it suits her gentle energy.

Kenai had his accupunture treatment Saturday morning, with a twist. Dr Reggiere decided to try an old school technique since he moves about and doesn’t want to be still. Both he and BB move just enough that keeping the needles in long enough can be difficult.

So she injected the points with a small amount of b-12. Not only will he have the effect of the needle (accupuncture), the subcutaneous fluid puts a tiny bit of pressure on the point for a couple of days (accupressure). We’re hoping that prolongs the good effects.

Kenai much prefers this method! Stick, squirt, done. He held perfectly still for it, and quit the whining he did while waiting for her to come in the room. He’s been very whiny, and it’s even getting on my nerves. Insecurity I think, some boredom. Who knows, but it’s starting to grate.

What I wouldn’t give to have the dough to fence in an acre or so of that field. Then he could run free in a big way, while I sit in the shade. Ah dreams. Maybe when the vet bills die down we could start saving? I’d love that. (So would he)

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