STITCH

the weBlog of a Service Dog In Training

I'm out of town until Monday night. Tuesday morning the alarm rings and I'm still groggy but I've got that hair appointment I didn't get to last week, and Stitch is invited. Argh. I haven't touched her in a week and now we're going to a place she's never been before where she has to behave pretty darn well. I'm NOT looking forward to this.

She's excited when she realizes that she's going somewhere. I stuff her breakfast in every nook and cranny of my clothing. She sits to have her collar slipped on and walks very nicely on a loose leash to the car, then jumps into the car while I'm getting her soft crate into position, back out, and into the crate. So far so good.

She's normal until she gets out of the car. Wow, city sidewalk! Her country bumpkin jaw is hanging down. There's construction nearby with lots of banging and air nailers and a big tarp flapping in the breeze. She bumps the end of the leash maybe 10 times in half a block, and she's MUCH too busy gawking to be able to eat anything. Still, the leash errors ARE just bumps, not yanks or pulls, and she understands that she's walking with me - or sometimes under me - rather than behind me or back in the car. She's not secure, but it really appears to be a bumpkin-gawking situation rather than a fear problem.

She drops to the ground when she realizes I'm going up 10 steps to the front door. I go down and offer her a handful of kibble. She decides it might be time for some breakfast and immediately feels good enough to attempt the stairs. They're very difficult stairs - totally carpeted, wide and shallow. A blind Chihuahua wouldn't have trouble with them, I don't know what made her think she couldn't handle them, but with a dozen kibbles under her belt, she hops right up.

Another bumpkin moment in the waiting room, but they're all dog lovers here and I'm handing out kibble to people as fast as I can. Pretty soon she's flossing teeth and washing chins for everyone in the building. Finally everyone goes about their business and she settles down beside my chair with a loose lead and watches the world go by. Everyone is amazed at how well behaved she is (yes, ESPECIALLY me!). She walks back to the car on a loose lead and bops up into her crate.

On the way home we stop at the vet's for some pills for Scuba - a place she already knows she likes. I couldn't have asked for a better outing.

For supper we do some retrieving. We start with taking it from my hand and holding it while I hold it and let go. I try handing it to her when she's a little way away from me and having her bring it back to me, but this doesn't click with her. She stands and looks at me, holding the dumbell. When she decides to come to me, she spits out to the dumbell to walk.

I try tossing the dumbell 5' away from me. NOW it makes sense. With no more discussion, she runs out, picks it up, brings it back, and holds it while I reach slowly for it. She doesn't release it until I click.

I toss it here and there and way over THERE and she runs to get it and brings it back. After about 5 reps, she starts giving me a very nice Front with a sit and holding the DB until I click. Lovely.

I ask her to retrieve a canvas bumper with a rope attached, but that REALLY doesn't make sense to her. I settle for doing some plain holds with the rope. I get a tiny tug that could be turned into a good pull later, but for now I ignore it and just click the hold.

It occured to me while I was away that I haven't done any more Comes with her than the easy stuff in the Levels, and that her Come is about the only thing that I'm not exceptionally happy with. She almost always comes, but always with a look in her eye that says she's made a DECISION to come. I want her to just COME and be glad when she arrives.

All day I've been using up the remains of her breakfast that I didn't use at the hairdresser. I wait until she's busy rummaging in the bedroom or some other place she doesn't need to be, then call her and give her a handful. So simple an exercise. By the third call, she's tripping over herself to get to me faster than she did last time. No more thinking, just coming. I'm happy.

Before breakfast I read through Level Four. One thing seems excessively easy - Retrieve. One thing seems excessively difficult - Stand from Sit, 10' away from me, on one cue, and with no food.

We start with testing the retrieve. I have two objects - scent articles - one wooden and one metal. I hand her the wooden one, she takes it correctly in her mouth and holds it. Good girl. I hand her the metal one. After licking it twice (in case there might be Cheez Whiz on it, I guess), she takes it and holds it correctly. Retrieving done.

Now the Stand. She has a very good Sit from standing up OR lying down. I got the sit from down by luring it enough times for her to be familiar with the plan, then asking for it and gently bumping her front foot with my toe. Not exactly pure shaping, but it worked. Another thing I tried was asking for the Sit and then leaning slightly toward her. Same result, and she seems to have a good solid spot in her brain for "Sit from Down".

I start the Stand by luring it a few times with her nose going down/back to her throat. She's very good at this and her back feet pop out into position. The first few times she sits again as soon as she gets the click. The fifth time the principle of laziness takes over and she starts remaining standing. At this point, I start giving the cue to Stand (Outstanding!), wait a half second, then tap her foot with my toe. X14 for the first spontaneous Stand after the cue. I work once giving her the cue from Sit, then X5 giving the cue while she's already standing, then ask her to Sit and start again. Once in a while I throw in a Down, then a Sit from Down, then the Stand from Sit. It's great. Her success rate is up around 90%. Very nice beginning. The Level Four Stand no longer looks impossible. Or even particularly difficult. What a great puppy.

The further we get into a trained retrieve, the more fun her play retrieves get. Up to this point, she has always dropped what she was carrying if I called her. Today she brings it with her. Further, she has picked up several things specifically to bring with her when she's coming in the house or into another room.

We have a large hard rubber ball that she's been a bit leery of when it's moving. This morning she chased it as it bounced away from her, and caught it in mid-bounce. Shocked, I threw a fuzzy toy up in the air, and she caught it as well. Now she's picking up the rubber ball and dropping it, again and again, watching it bounce. She's made a big step in manipulating her environment.

Stitch has her trick class tonight. I've nuked a couple of 5 yo freezer-burned wieners, cut them up and put the bits in the go-to-class container along with Kibbles & Bits and her regular kibble. This mixture is a HUGE hit. She pays total attention for 50 minutes. After that she's still able to watch, sit, and come, but her higher thinker is retired for the night.

Before class starts, the instructor and I play the Come Game with her. When the rest of the class arrives and while they're still galloping around before class starts, I walk her twice the length of the room on a loose leash with the other dogs randomly going past. And that finishes off Level Three.

When I left home last week, I was thinking of her as a fluffy little baby puppy. If I took her out, it would be a wrestle and a major event requiring preparation, concentration, and giving up a lot of MY priorities in order to take the puppy with me. Being gone for a week has given me the chance to see her as she is today with new eyes. She's a young dog lacking somewhat in experience but with a good handle on a lot of skills.

Oh my for holy cow. Finishing a Level is SO rewarding/exciting/invigorating for me. Then looking at the next Level and seeing that the behaviours she already knows will work smoothly into the harder behaviours in the next Level. Then noticing that she might be ready to test for some of things at the new Level, and suddenly we're not BEGINNING the new Level, but partway through it already.

Stuff we've checked off already: Come 40' through milling dogs, Finish - swing with handler pivoting left, Handling muzzle & teeth by handler, LLW 80' through milling dogs, Floor Zen 30 seconds, Retrieve - 2 objects in mouth, 1 metal, Down from Stand with no treats, Sit from Down with no treats. 101 Things To Do With A Box - she was useless at this 2 weeks ago, but we're playing it in our trick class and she's getting good at it. Still not very inventive, but I'm comparing her to Scuba. Yesterday in class Stitch was turning her box over and over, and balancing on it, which wasn't easy because it isn't a very large cardboard box and it jiggled a lot with her weight.

What we do this morning (in a veritable flurry of enthusiasm):

Ask her to go in the crate, close the door (*I* close the door, in case you were wondering), leave her for 2 minutes in utter silence. PASS.

Ask for Eye Contact, she gives it to me brilliantly. X10, then I start pivoting right. She looks down the first time and finds me again when I stop. I click that, then click X5 for Contact and turn again. This time she holds my eyes as we turn X10. She's doing so well at that I try turning and taking a step for the first time. No sweat. In the space where we're working, I can only go about 4', but she's acing it. X10. While we're playing pivot, I do some left pivots and click her tail for moving faster than her head. She's forgotten this a bit, she's holding contact and stopping dead when I stop, but we play around with it a bit and it starts to come back. X10.

I ask her to follow a very short stick target. She can follow it well for about a foot. When it becomes "obvious" that I'm leading her around me, though, (trying to get some distance on it), she forgets about it and finds me eyes. Dang, she's broke now! Puppy puts too much effort into making contact. We work X20 on short follows.

I ask her for Stand from Sit - the behaviour that, three days ago, I'd NEVER NEVER NEVER get. She was good at it yesterday but that was the first time so I'm not expecting much. I give her a voice cue alone once just to prove she doesn't have it, and she pops her back end up. Wow! We work on it again and again, I move back gradually to 10' away from her, I sit down and stand up and turn my back. Accuracy is 100% on a voice cue alone. X20. I'm terribly impressed

To finish off, possibly just because she's done so unexpectedly well at Stand from Sit, I ask for a Sit, tell her to Stay, walk 20' away, and do a 1 minute Stay. She stays. Not like "what are we doing here", not like "I'd rather be somewhere else" but a nice, solid, watchful, working-duration-to-make-a-click Stay. No thought to lie down or stand up (which I was expecting since we'd just worked on that). She holds the Sit all the way back and ALMOST holds it as I go around behind her. I work around her a couple of times with a kibble in her nose to hold her and she starts to see that she can stay even when I'm behind her.

What a great morning. What a great puppy.

Supper begins with a Sit-Stay and a Recall with a crummy Front. Good Sit-Stay and very nice fast Recall. X2, then we work on the Bullseye front diagram X 20. She's nice and close 90% of the time. When she doesn't get clicked, though, she's developing a default lie down. I don't get the impression this is a quitting-type lie down, but actually a default behaviour. I need to click a lot for motion behaviours inthe next month, but considering what a wild child she was before, I can't say lying down as a default is a bad thing.

To get her up and going, we do 30 heeling Eye Contact from in front with a turn and walk one step every fifth time. Then left turns X10. Her contact is coming along very well.

We do some retrieving with the wooden dumbell, and throw in a couple of Stays while I toss it, a Get It cue, a nice clean pickup, fast return, and only slightly crooked front with an excellent hold. X15.

To finish up, I ask for a couple more bullseye fronts and she loses her mind. If I blink she Stands. If that's not right, she Downs. I CANNOT get her to Sit for more than half a second without her popping up into the Stand again. She is totally disconnected from voice or hand cues. "You MUST want a Stand. I INSIST!"

Finally I cross my arms, look at the ceiling, and count to a hundred while she offers me everything she can think of. Finally she stops and I ask for Sit X5 and a retrieve, and then we stop. Goofy child.

An interesting breakfast session. I found a longer target stick yesterday. I ask her to touch it a couple of times, she does. X5. I move it slightly away from her, and she tells me she wants to work Go To Mat. I move away from the mat and present the stick again. She stays on her mat. I give Scuba a kibble, and Stitch comes over to touch the stick. X2 and she lies down on the floor with her head down (her standard Go To Mat position). Won't come when I call her, won't get up to touch the stick. Hmmm. An interesting theory, small but mistaken child, that holding your breath will get you what you want. I give Scuba another kibble and put the stick and Stitch's breakfast back in the pantry, close the pantry door, and do some laundry.

Five minutes later, Stitch is giving me a to-die-for stare (or glare, depending on your interpretation) and following me all over the house, occasionally clipping my heels with her paws. Finally I ask her if she's hungry. She says she is, so I go get her dish and the stick.

Boy, can she touch that stick! She can chase that sucker all over the living room. X15.

Now I WANT to work Go To Mat, but I don't think that would be a great idea for this morning. Instead we do bullseye. She's dead on, her toes almost brushing mine, with her eyes glued to mine. X30, four in a row I toss the kibble behind her so she can come front again. Five and six I toss behind me through my legs so she can go through, then come around to find front again. Boy, can she front!

As long as I've got this lovely contact, we work on the heeling about turn and step. She's a little slow, but she's not being sluggish. I TAUGHT this to her slowly, so I'm going to have to speed it up soon. Perhaps on a tile floor the day before I leave on vacation is not the best time to ask for speed. We also do some left pivots and work on getting the lateral motion back in her rear end. She's trying hard, just not quite sure what I want.

Then we do a bit more work on her Sit Stay while I return around behind her. I ask her to Sit, tell her Stay, walk out a couple of steps in front of her, then come back to her. One kibble for stay-as-I-approach, one for stay-with-me-beside, one for stay-with-me-behind, one for stay-as-I-come-around-the-corner, and several for stay-with-me-in-Heel-position. X10. Then we move on to one kibble for approach, one for behind, and one for Heel position. X10. Then we do three in a row with no help, just c/t for staying while I return around behind her into Heel position.

And that reminds me of Stand Stay, so we do five more Stand from Sit, then I ask her to Stay. She does. In fact she looks like she knows what I'm talking about, so the second time I ask her to Stand and Stay, I walk all the way across the kitchen to get some more kibble, and she stands. And I walk all the way back and give her a couple, and she still stands. We do shorter Stand-Stays X5, and I'm so impressed I quit and give her the rest of her breakfast free.

LIFE BEHAVIOURS :

Behaving well at hairdressers - greeting AND relaxing.

Coming when called.

Caught a ball for the first time.

SKILL BEHAVIOURS :

Retrieving!

Crate.

Finish.

Heel.

Stand from Sit.

Follow target stick.

Next

5.5 Months Old

PREVIOUS

21 Weeks Old

SKILLS THAT WERE USED:

Loose leash again to the car, hop into crate, ride politely, relatively loose lead on city sidewalk, polite talk and loose lead at hairdresser.