Blog9weeks

STITCH

the weBlog of a Service Dog, competition dog, pet and friend In Training

THE THIRD WEEK HOME (9 weeks old)

Bonding	Cost of puppy: One return flight from Saskatchewan to Detroit $527. One puppy $XXXX. One hiking boot - $135. One living room mat $79. Toys $28. Puppy food $19. Vaccinations $XXX (I get billed later). Flea shampoo and spray $11. Vitamin C for puppy vaginitis $4. New collar and lead $13. Puppy airline carrier $53. All the stuff I already own that I would have had to buy like crates and dog beds and clippers $700. Puppy head on shoulder, PRICELESS. Cost of puppy: three late nights and early risers. Gates and closed doors all over the house. 13 flea bites (where the heck did THAT come from?). 17 pee cleanups. Three gags from thinking about cat poop. 5 scabs from sharp teeth. 412 trips to the back door. 1 hour per day training. 1 hour per day thinking about training. 2 months shut in, can't associate with other dogs. Puppy looking into eyes, PRICELESS.
	Best puppy quote so far: Husband muttering in bed: "Too bad dogs can't talk." Good grief, why? "Because if they COULD, Scuba would already have told that puppy to SHUT UP."
	Yes, she's really a PWD. I gave her a piece of black fake fur in her crate to sleep on. This morning she wants to sleep near me, so she drags her fur out of her crate, into the living room, near my chair, then curls up on it and goes to sleep. Dear little Tat.
Working to make food happen Stay	Well, that's exciting. Usually I feed them with their dishes close to each other. Scuba wouldn't think of trying for another dog's food, and she's being very polite about teaching Stitch this as well. Table manners. This morning Scuba can only find one dish - the other one must be out in the yard - so I feed Scuba first. Stitch really wants some breakfast, thinks of going for Scuba's, changes her mind - what to do, what to do - then spins, stares at me and plunks her butt down on the floor. Good plan, puppy! I give her some from my hand while waiting for Scuba to finish. Since Stitch is doing such a good job of sitting for food, when I feed her, I explain Stay. When I move the dish toward the floor, she gets up, I move the dish back up. She sits. I move the dish toward the floor, she gets up, I move the dish back up. She sits. I move the dish up 6 times. The 7th time I start to put it down, she looks away from it, then stares right into my eyes as I put it down. I don't make her stay with it on the ground but tell her to get it. We'll save that for another day. This is a big deal idea for her and I want to reward it immediately.
	She just pulled a magazine off a shelf. She's got her front feet on it and she's skating around the tile floor on it, pushing with her back feet and growling like a mad fool. Might be time to teach her to use Scuba's skateboard...
And speaking of Scuba, today we're officially a family. I don't know whether the puppy is acting more like a polite adult (doubtful!) or whether Scuba's finally gotten used to the little twerp, but this morning Scuba offers her one end of the tug toy. They play for nearly half an hour, running, growling, tugging, rolling, chasing. Stitch should sleep well tonight!
Getting back to the Levels	I need a little more focus. In spite of knowing where I'm going, I'm starting to feel disjointed, so tonight I dig out my Training Levels. These worked so well on Song and Scuba. They're simply a list of many things a dog needs to learn in order to end up being a dog that knows what she needs to know. My visualization of training starts with Basic Training - sit, down, come, be handled, ride in a car, stay in a crate, table or mat training, retrieving, learning to be shaped. From there, any dogsport or job is a tangent off the main body of training. For instance, if I want to teach this dog agility, she'd already be able to get in the car, go to a trial, relax in her crate, walk on a loose lead, come when called, be comfortable around other dogs and people, pay attention to me, want to work with me. All I'd need to teach her would be the actual skills of agility. I put the Levels up HERE - I'm going to start going through them.
Retrieving	Another retrieving meal. No fuss this time, she's ready and willing to work. Runs ahead of me to the training couch. We progress almost immediately from touch to grip. As expected, her grip of the bar is lightning fast. This can be a frustrating time for trainers - being told to wait for a longer hold when the longest hold is a fraction of a second. The answer is to wait for TWO holds - BANG say what? where's my treat? BANG turns rapidly to BANG you stingy bag BANG and from there to Baaang Baaang and finally we get several nice holds of a couple of seconds each. And the last handful running to touch the dumbell on the floor. Good pup!
Puppy vaginitis and house-training	I've been giving her vitamin C twice a day for three days for her puppy vaginitis. Amazing what it's done to her frequency of urination - WAY down, and with it, her number of accidents - from four a day to none. Of course my increased vigilence has SOMETHING to do with the accident decrease, but nevertheless.
Retrieving Shaping Bigger training treats	Another retrieving meal. We get THREE good BANGs on the dumbell, then some excellent 2 to 3 second holds in the correct position. I forgot how quickly dogs learn to retrieve. Then I put it on the floor and she forgets what we were doing. We have to start back at the beginning. She's looking all around the room, obviously In The Game but totally blank on what to do next. She offers me a Down. I click her head turning toward the DB, then again. The third time is "Oh, yeah, NOW I remember!" and she runs to it. By the 8th click she actually picks it up! What a rush! I get three of those and quit - don't want her picking it up, actually, as she isn't steady on how to hold it correctly yet. But the behaviour's there when I let her go that far. Ee hah! Her yellow fluffy toy is near us, so I shape her to go to that - a new experience as the only thing she's gone to so far is her dumbell (and the dog bed, but that's much larger and farther away). Very good, she's definitely into shaping. I've got some Big Puppy dog food I'm going to open for training sessions. I don't mind treats that go down easy, but these kibbles are so small I have to give her three of them or she's not sure she's even gotten anything. Her performance really picks up when I hand her three in a row after every click, and many times if I only give her one, she looks on the floor to see if maybe she dropped it.
Nearing Level One	I've GOT to stop working on retrieving for a minute and practise other things - a One Trick Pony isn't the point, right? One more meal to practise, and then tonight when Ron gets home from work we're going to challenge the first Training Level. I think we need a little more work on Down and hand Zen.
Big training glitches	Good thing I practised - typical kennel blindness - she doesn't have a CLUE how to Down anywhere but on the mat in the living room. Can't do it in the kitchen or the bathroom or outside. She's got a good handle on hand Zen but doesn't have any idea what I want when I asked her to leave a treat alone on the floor. Well, that's what the Levels are for - to point out all the different things you can miss while you're training!
Pass Level One	All right! Passed Level One. She thinks the Come Game is the best thing since sliced bread. About the 4th call, she even starts anticipating the next call, and galloping between us. Amazing how a 10-lb puppy can sound like a cavalry. Zen - she thinks lying down and looking away is probably the safest way to stay away from food in hand. Sits very well, her cue is Park It. Down is also very good, she folds up her front legs with the paws underneath, like a llama. Perhaps it's catching. Target is no trouble, she likes that. Level Two is a whole new step, where she actually has to start listening to cues rather than just responding to body language and hand signals. Upward and onward!
Crate training	Last week I explained to someone how to teach a puppy to go in a crate. This isn't something I've thought about with Stitch, it just happens, but this morning I notice myself putting a cue on it (Hit the Rack), which means she's trucking right into the crate when she sees the treat. We have a special treat that's very high value and used ONLY for going in the crate. I get the treats, Scuba goes automatically into her crate, gets thetreat, door closes. Stitch sits staring at me, willing the treat into her mouth. I show it to her, she runs into the crate, I hand it to her and close the door. We're doing this probably five times a day. Once in a while the door stays closed. She has a 15-second hissy fit (if she's tired) or a 3-minute hissy fit (if she isn't) and then falls asleep. If it's a training run, I let her out when she's been quiet for 30 seconds.
Pushing our luck on the crate	She doesn't have a very good day. I'm having a Discussion with the gov't - you've been there. I have to go into town, do stuff, come back out, check stuff, phone somebody, go back into town - ALL day. So she goes in the crate, sleeps, I come home and let her out, then five minutes later she has to go back in her crate again. She goes into the crate readily enough each time, but gets more and more peeved each time to realize that she can't just eat the treat and come back out. She's behaving well about getting out, though. Obviously she's awake when I come into the dog room, but not whining or pawing. I let Scuba out first, still Stitch is quiet. When I open the door, she waits a second, then comes out cheerfully.
Retrieving Report on bigger kibble	We work on retrieving again. I ask for three bites on the dumbell bar. She's ready to work, but three is a bit much. She decides maybe I mean dumbell Zen, and tries looked away from it. I have to take it away, wait a sec, then present it again several times before she goes back to trying a little nibble. From there it's only five clicks back to three touches, and very good quiet holds. The bigger kibbles are working much better than the smaller ones. She still doesn't chew most of them, but at least she's noticing that she got something.
Retrieving Catching the Down Evil brat	One last session on retrieving today. I've obviously been going faster than Stitch can go. At this point I can tease her into taking the DB, but that's not what I'm looking for. I've pushed too hard. Tomorrow I'll start back at the beginning with getting her to volunteer touches on the bar. NO retrieving tomorrow, only touching the bar. I also step back from luring the down. Lure it five times, then wait. She turns her head in each direction, jumps sideways, turns a circle, whines, backs up, and finally lies down. I don't have the clicker with me so I just say Yes! and roll a kibble onto the mat so she has to get up to get it. Swings her head a couple of times, then lies down again, Yes! She's so fast! I'm not confident enough that she's going to actually go down that I can get a cue in, but the last 4 kibbles I manage. What an awesome little brain I'm discovering. I should keep her away from Scuba. At 4 months, Scuba took a bedspread out through the dog door. Here's Stitch at 10 weeks. Today Scuba had to bring in three shoes, a dish cloth, and Stitch's crate blanket.
There's also a clicker outside in the gravel. I don't have my shoes and am just directing the cleanup from doorway. Scuba can't find the clicker, so I pick up a bit of gravel and toss it beside the clicker to show her where it is. She goes and picks up the bit of gravel and brings me that - well, it WAS the last thing I touched! Meanwhile Stitch ducks around her, picks up the clicker, brings it back and gives it to me. What a pair!
She needs a blanky in her crate	Another bit of Puppy Trivia, filed under Things That Put Puppies To Sleep. Yesterday was a bad day, puppy in the crate a lot, rain coming down in heavy, drenching sheets so nobody wanted to go out to pee, let alone the puppy. Somewhere in between rainstorms, she dragged her crate blanky outside again. When it was time to put her to bed, it was pouring again, I was exhausted, so I gave her her cookie in an empty crate and shut the door. She gave us the longest yap she's done so far but finally went to sleep. Then this morning Ron let them out at 6:30 as usual and left them in the dog room with access to outside, as usual, and the little twinkie yapped on and off until I got up at 8. I let her in the living room, she pranced around for a minute, then headed straight for the big soft dog pillow under the table and crashed. SO: puppies sleep better in the dark. Puppies sleep better on soft. Duh.
Retrieving Down and Sit cues	MUCH better retrieving session today. We work on JUST touching it. To keep me from getting bored, I move it around a lot - to my left, to my right, up high, down low, backwards. She LIKES movement exercises, they're more fun than thinking. By the tenth click, she's not touching anymore, she's grabbing almost every time, with the bar in perfect retrieve position. I'm very careful, though, I VOWED to click touching only, so that's what I'm clicking. If she grabs, great, but I'm clicking every single bar touch (I draw the line at touching the bell). By the end of the session she's very happy to be playing with the DB. Then we try offered downs again. She's much more into it and knows what's making the click happen. I get to use the cue Down about 20 times and a couple of times I jump in where I shouldn't and I'm pretty sure she downs in response to hearing the cue. Then some Park Its, and we're done. 90 kibbles in half a cup - the new kibbles are 3 times the size of the old ones, much better. Excellent session. We're halfway back into the living room when she runs back into the screen room and starts offering me sits and downs again. EXCELLENT session.
Things she can chew on	Making a list, checking it twice... towels, yes. llama leashes, yes. empty envelopes, yes. halters, yes. shoes, yes. toes, yes. her own tail, yes. rug, yes. felt pen, no. electric cords, no. Scuba's paws, no.
Shaping Go To Mat and adding the cue Eye contact	In the living room this evening. I sit on the couch and aim to get her back to the dog bed. She remembers Down from this morning and I have to start back at the beginning with clicking her for turning her head, as she's offering me downs left and right, then I toss the treats across the floor to get her moving. Nine treats to get her thinking about the dog bed. Another 20 and she's on it to stay. Three times I toss the kibble on the bed, the fourth time on the floor to get her off the bed. She chases it down, grabs it, takes a step toward me, startles and runs back to the dog bed. Another 10 and she's trying to reach the ones on the floor leaving her back feet on the bed - quite a stretch! Another 20 and I feel good enough about it to ask for more. She thinks about getting off, and then lies down. Bingo! Gold star for default behaviour! I'm using the cue Hit The Rack, and she's running for the bed and lying down. The last 25 I want to work on eye contact, but it's tough to get started. Given a quarter of a second, she runs for the dog bed. I switch to Zen, which gives me a tiny look to build on. By the time we're done, she's giving me 4-second eyelocks.
Scuba's moved right into the big sister role. She offers the puppy everything she's picked up all day, including tennis balls and dog dishes. She's trying to figure out how much "tug" she can put into the game without tossing the puppy through the air or making her let go. She resorts to giving the puppy a long tug toy and then vigorously shaking her end and growling, while the pup shakes hers and growls too.
Leash work	We're going away for a long weekend. Scary stuff, for me at least. Cooped up in a trailer for five days with the twerp. I start getting frantic about all the stuff she doesn't know yet. Breakfast is leash work! First glitch at the front door. She got creamed by it a couple of days ago, trying to run through it when I didn't expect her. She doesn't want to go through the door, so I carry her and put her down in the yard. Start clicking immediately for loose lead. This goes very well. She's obviously much older and more clicker-savvy than she was the first time we went for a leash walk. She's watching for consequences. When she gets to the end of the lead, I back away from her and she comes back immediately. Mostly I'm clicking for HAVING the leash loose, not for tightening it and THEN loosening it. Another pitfall I'm noticing that I AM falling into, however, is only remembering to click for the loose lead when she turns to glare at me for not clicking. This would be great if we were working on heeling, but we're not, we're working on loose lead. A particular button of mine - heeling is work, a competition behaviour that happens in competition or when I need total control - like intersections, or walking past rank dogs or dog-shy people. Loose lead, OTOH, is a default behaviour for going places in your life. It doesn't require looking at me, or a particular position, or a command. If the leash is short, the dog is near me. If the leash is long, the dog is anywhere around me. No pulling, no lungeing, just two buddies going somewhere together. I catch myself clicking for looking at me about five times. Argh. Most of the clicks, though, are for real, actual, loose lead walking. Trucking right along within range of the lead. After awhile she gets the rips and figures out that if she hangs back to near the end of the lead, she can then rip forward at full speed, turn just before she hits the end in front of me, and do a full circle with a 12' diameter without actually tightening the lead. Gosh, pups are fun! MUCH less nerve-wracking for me to have her on lead. It's been raining the last few days so we have to stay on the road, which leads right by Rapid Fire's pen, so he walks with us most of the way - a great distraction. And she pees on lead - just to remind me, no doubt, that we're going on a trip and I haven't worked on peeing on lead! At any rate, a very nice walk. The only kicking and bucking we get is when she hooks the lead under her foot, and that's OK, I don't want her scared by this in any way but I want it to be annoying so she figures out how to prevent it eventually. Her trot is brilliant, long, low, smooth. Makes me think about show rings. And then she gets creamed by the front door on her way back into the house. Dang.
She plans her future	Have I mentioned that Portuguese Water Dogs are countersurfers? You may think, as I did before I got one, that this couldn't possibly be a breed characteristic, but you'd be wrong. Consider the recently-produced PWD cookbook. It's called DON'T TURN YOUR BACK! Stitch, all of 10" tall, sits in the kitchen all by herself, staring up at the counter. Occasionally she growls, and then flings herself at the dishwasher. She bounces off, sits, and resumes her gaze at the unreachable (for now) heights. How nice to see such faith in the Holy Grail in one so young...
Learning to do stairs	She follows me up the stairs to the second storey. She stumbles once, but the stairs are carpeted and she does fine. Unfortunately, the view from the top is a bit more daunting than she had planned. She does the whole classic creep-to-the-edge, growl, back up, whine, come-forward-again-just-to-check thing. Going up and down stairs is pretty ugly for me, and not something I want to do twice, plus I have an armload of laundry for Scuba, so I have to figure out how to get her down under her own steam. Finally I kneel on the stairs, facing up. The laundry and I present enough of a barrier that she can't see down the stairs far enough to scare herself, and with my face so close to her, she pretty soon works up the nerve to plunge over the edge. She needs me in front of her for about 2/3 of the trip down, at which point she gives me a jaunty wave, passes me on the inside, and goes off to kill a boot.
An interesting week. We made a lot of progress in several different areas. I'm quite nervous about how we'll get along on our trip, though.		PREVIOUS 8 Weeks Old	10 Weeks Old NEXT