Mike's Doghouse

As I’ve said in a previous post, Mike will eventually have a long list of tasks, commands, and cues (yeah, there’s a difference) under his belt, er, collar. For now, though, we are working on the basics of good manners every dog should know.

This Tuesday we go to our first Basic Manners dog training class. Lorna and Sam will be going, too. We went last week without the dogs to meet the instructor and get our first homework assignment. We were to come up with a list of things things we wanted to teach or encourage and things we wanted to stop or discourage. (I talked more about the first class already) I started Mike’s list a few days ago.

Stuff to Teach/Encourage:

loose leash walking
off
down
come
drop it

Stuff to Stop/Discourage:

Stick eating
jumping up
calmer pre-meal behavior

We didn’t make it to the dog park in Asheville the other day but we did go to downtown Weaverville to eat outside at one of our favorite restaurants, Blue Mountain Pizza. We took Mike and Joella. Jo did very well, as always. Mike on the other hand, well, walking on the leash is going to be a top priority. I don’t walk fast anyway but it took a very long time for me to get from the truck to the tables on the porch. Each time Mike pulled or lunged, we came to a stop. I didn’t say anything, just stopped. If he didn’t turn to look at me or at least ease on the leash, I twitched it to make him move toward me. When he did, I said YES and that he was a good boy and we took a step. Sigh. Rinse, repeat. On our way back, with him having sat and watched the world go by and lost some of his excitement, he and I actually go to where we could go about four steps before we had to come to a stop. But this time, it wasn’t that he was lunging with excitement. No, the crazy pup was chasing leaves, seed puffs, and whatever else was blowing in the wind! It was funny as heck but still, when he pulled, we stopped.

As for the others, most of it he is slowly getting, except for OFF. We realized he hadn’t a clue what that meant. Since he is in the crate at night, and we keep the gate up to the bedroom, he doesn’t get up on the bed that often. He does get up on the recliner, though, and that is where we will work with teaching him OFF. It is difficult for me to teach him DOWN so I can only work on that on good days. Up on the bed, he is just too excited for me to work with him. COME he is getting good at. I am really impressed! I can say “Mike, Come” and he will…if he hears me. We also use “Mikey Mikey Mikey Mikey” (saying it very excitedly) and he will race from where ever he was.

As for what to discourage, oy, the boy has got to stop eating sticks! And bark! And walnut shells! And dirt! And styrofoam! And anything else he can find outside! It’s why he’s not out playing more. If we let him out unsupervised, he eats nothing but that stuff until his poop looks like particle board material. Even when we are watching him, he still eats quite a bit before we get the stick or whatever away from him. We call this process (pulling stuff out of his mouth, often quite far back in his mouth) Dumpster Diving. Jumping up is becoming a problem. He is bigger now (way bigger) and has the weight behind him to do damage. We’ve discouraged it, of course. It’s just time to get all serious about it now. And meal times is getting downright dangerous. He sits when we put his bowl down and waits until released. But prior to that? He’s a maddog. Starting in the morning, we will be working with that. I will get up and hold him back during the entire process, keeping him in a SIT STAY until Lorna puts his food down. Mike eats last which means each of the other four bowls going down involves a lot of “back off Mike” “stop Mike” “Mike it’s not yours” etc etc. He used to have this cute jump in the air and pivot so he is facing the opposite direction thing going when Lorna came toward him with his bowl. Not so cute now that he is over 40lbs and way way taller.

Oh, and as a side note, the medication for his urge incontinence seems to be working. Now we are just backing up and working on house training as if we’d not done anything before. He’s not drawing pictures, but he still gives no notice he has to go. We started using the timer again today and I’ll continue it tomorrow. We will also be using the new crate more. It is big enough he can move around and he likes it in there. He still insists on sleeping in the smaller crate in the bedroom. Anyway, here’s hoping the house training actually starts to take!

Phew! We finished!

And we start the Basic Manners I class in a few weeks.

Lorna went with us to see the other puppies. It was enlightening for her to understand why I am so tired at the end of a class. And it also got her to see what class for her and Sam will be like.

It was sad to realize we’d most likely never see these other pups again, to see how they turn out. I wish them all well and health as they grow and live and love.

…was canceled due to possible bad road conditions. We got a decent snow Tuesday/Wednesday and while the roads were clear, there was the threat of ice forming after it got dark. And with it being the last class, the instructor felt it would be nice if all the dogs could be there so we’re doing it next week.

We are to work on getting the pups out to new places and new things. I may be getting My Truck back today so hopefully Mike and I (and Joella) can go somewhere. Mike’s not been to the dog park yet.

Meanwhile, Mike is doing good. He SITS and WAITS until released when we put his food down. He sits and waits when we take his leash on and off. He’s not grasped DOWN yet, though. He is good with his RECALL although I’ve not worked that much with him on it. Same with STAY.

I think we’ve crossed over a hurdle. There are two reasons why.

Mike’s been on antibiotics for a (possible) infection. Today was his last dose. He went from making multiple small puddles to making single big ones. And today is the second day in a row we’ve not had any (major) accidents. We are still keeping the water up but once we have a few more days in a row accident free, I’ll start putting the water back within reach again. I think the infection has cleared up and Mike is now more capable of understanding what his body is telling him.

The second reason is we think Mike just wants to go out into the dog lot like everyone else. I don’t think he liked going out front, alone, while everyone else got to be off the leash and running around. A few days ago, I took him out the front door. Then, after he’d urinated, we came back in, went through the house to the back door, and went outside with everyone else. Almost every time, he and Sam would go charging across the dog lot and after a minute or less, Mike would stop, wander around for a few seconds, and poop. During the day, he and I still go out the front door except for the first time in the morning, we all go out the back. He gets to burn off energy (after being in his crate for several hours) which prompts him to do his business outside. Then, after dinner, Lorna takes them all out the back again.

We were supposed to see an animal behaviorist Friday but there was a scheduling error. We need to reschedule but we’re debating about whether we need to or not. We probably will, just to get some more input into how to best handle Mike’s late-blooming potty manners.

Regardless, we need to finish repairs on the back dog-ramp so that I feel safer going out there. The top part is safe enough but the second part is steeper and quite “interesting” to use. It kills my knees which is why I only go out there once with him. We decided to not use the front gate because we want to keep separate the “this is for play” and “this is for doing your business”. Mike has to be supervised outside not only to reinforce the behavior we want (doing his business outside) but also because the little snot eats sticks, wood, and mushrooms.

Not much to say this time. Mike and I didn’t go. Lorna was home sick with a cold and the cold weather had me in a lot of pain. The thought of going to class was just too much so we stayed home. The instructor, the wonderful Gail, sent me an email with the homework and handouts attached.

We’ve only got one more class left and we’re to work on some sort of trick. Heck, I just want Mike to tell me he has to go outside! DOWN would be nice, too. But we will work on a trick. Not sure what, yet. Any ideas?

Joella likes to lay on her back so we tagged it with “Dead Bug”. When we tell her “Dead Bug” she (sometimes) will roll over onto her back.

We had another good class. This time, the big pups were in the back with the smaller pups up front. This gave me a chance to see them. A couple of Dachshunds, a Poodle, some little mop things, Duke the Aussie Blue Heeler, and one or two others. I don’t see the fascination with the wee dogs. My mom has a tiny Yorkie pup now. I’ve not met it yet but have seen a few pictures. I’d be afraid I’d break the pup!

I digress. We worked on some loose leash walking some more. Mike’s good at this as long as I have the treat in my hand. In the restricted environ of the indoor dog class, there’s not much to distract him from the fact I have food. If we were somewhere else, he’d judge the other stuff more important. I didn’t get up and walk with him much as that’s a painful thing for me to do. We worked on attention stuff within our little space. Like Joella, Mike likes to watch whatever is going on around him. But, again, I had food so was deemed slightly more important.

We also played a cool game called “Pass the Puppy”. We sat in a circle (I remained in my chair while the others sat on the floor) and the pups were passed to the left until our pup had gone all the way around the circle. Mike was a hit and didn’t seem concerned about who was holding him. He stole a toy, though. Mike is probably the smallest “big” dog there. There’s Jessie the Akita, Sammy and another (Sarge?) German Shepherd, Max and Lexi the Rottweilers, and Clint the Lab. The idea behind the game was to get the dog used to being handled by other folks. New experiences for pups are always a good thing as they form a base of what is Good (happy, safe, fun, pleasurable, etc) and what is Not Good (fearful, painful, frightening, etc).

And we started the process of teaching DOWN. Oy, what a mess Mike is! He loves to SIT. But he’s not grasping the concept of DOWN. I may have to get him up on the bed and work there since bending over so long is not easy for me. Have I mentioned that Mike’s new name is PITA?

Mike and a few other big pups got a new harness. It is the Easy Walking Harness from Premier. It is different in that the leash attaches at the front, not on the top. This helps to control the pup and make it clear to them where their attention needs to be. It is remarkably easy to pull a dog back with this harness. And it is much easier on the neck and throat. Mike hurled (vomited) during class. It could have been from him lunging on the leash to get at Max (who sat on one side of us). I am not a fan of the Gentle Leader (also made by Premier) because it looks so much like a muzzle. When one is walking a Rottweiler, one doesn’t want to have others think the dog is wearing a muzzle.

We have some new homework and Mike and I will work on it starting tomorrow. It’s been a crazy few days and hopefully it will calm down now and he and I can get to work.

I also want to take the time to sing the praises of the teacher of this class. She’s good! Her name is Gail Hubbard and she is one of the owners of A Good Dog’s Life. She gives good advice, knows the different breeds, and has been very helpful with me and my physical situation. Mike and I will be going to the next level of classes (Basic Manners I) all the way through to getting Mike his Canine Good Citizen certificate. Finding a good dog trainer is just as important as finding a good dog. A Good Dog’s Life is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. If you are looking for a trainer, go to the APDT site and do a search.

Mike and I had our second class last night. We did good! Mike was a demo dog for one of the segments and I was so proud of him! It was on teaching a prolonged SIT and the beginnings of STAY. He did well for the demo, even got up twice so she could demonstrate how to respond. Nice of him, wasn’t it? She demonstrated the way to physically put the pup in a sit, but that didn’t work well with Mike since that’s not what I do (I can’t get down there). She must have realized this and did the lure (hold a treat and raise it up over the dog’s head so that he must sit in order to still reach and see it) instead which got him into a sit much faster and easier.

The class was divided into two open areas this time. The larger pups were in the front and the smaller ones were in the back. They were given the chance to play twice, which was fun. Mike is used to playing with the much larger Sam and wound up on top most of the time. He was gently disengaged and redirected elsewhere.

The Akita pup (Jessie) was there, which was cool. Akita’s are naturally dominant and when he and Mike met, the instructor said they would make excellent playmates since Mike isn’t too willing to be knocked down. There was no fighting between any of the pups which was great.

The difficult part of the brief play times were that there are a lot of pups there with black backs! Two Rottie pups (Max and Lexi), two German Shepherds, and Mike. When they were in a pile, it was difficult to figure out quickly which pup was which!

We worked on maintaining our pup’s attention before and after each playtime (yeah, Jessie is cool but I have the treats, Mike!). We also worked on prolonging the SIT and introducing STAY and we did some loose leash walking. Well, everyone else did walking while Mike and I kinda stuck to our little area.

When we arrived, there were various stuff around the edges of the room. There were raised boards, some short standing tables, a knot of hoola-hoops, and some PVC pipe. The idea is to introduce the pups to it to get them used to strange things and surfaces. Mike did all of it rather well. He wasn’t phased by the hoops at all. He didn’t like the wobble table but that’s understandable.

I’ve not read the homework but I think it is more on the SIT, STAY, and loose leash walking with some other stuff tossed in such as doing training sessions in different locations. We may take Mike to Lowes or Home Depot this weekend. As a Service Dog in Training, I can legally take Mike with me anywhere I go but because of his urinary problem, I won’t be doing it to that degree just yet. Instead, we’ll go to places that accept all dogs.

Mike is one tricky pup.

House training is still on going with some great progress and still very little progress.

I purchased an elastic dog collar that has 4 huge bells on it. The pet supply store had them on sale from leftover Xmas stuff. I can’t imagine putting this on a dog as the noise is way loud. Anyway, I was going to take off the bells and hang one or two on the door but they make enough noise as a group that I can’t miss it. I even hear it all the way in the kitchen!

When we go out, we shake the bells and say something along the lines of “do you need to go outside?” “ready to go outside?”. The idea is that when he needs to go, he will ring the bells. He can’t reach them without standing with his front paws on the door. He’s managed to take it off the doorknob twice but usually just nudges it with his nose. He has already learned that ringing the bells and/or whining gets him outside. Big step considering we’ve not worked on “touch it” yet!

However (with Mike, it seems there’s always a “however”), what he wants is to go outside and eat sticks, walnut shells, pecan shells, leaves, dirt, bark, packing peanuts (long story), and almost anything else he can find. He loves to hunt down and carry huge floppy gross mushrooms, too.

We’ve stopped the long walks and instead stand in one place with him limited to with about 5-8′ of that spot. He must do his business there or back inside we go. If I know he needs to do his business but he’s too interested in the other stuff, we go back inside and he goes into his crate. 20 minutes later, we go back outside. Eventually, he will either do his business outside or I get impatient and we go back in where he promptly poops in the living room.

As with any dog training, most mistakes are the handler’s fault. Mike doesn’t have accidents, I do.

And while we are on the subject of Mike’s weirdness, here’s another for you. Mike will chew on anything made of any material. He will even chew on my chair. He’s pulled out some cosmetic tubing ends, roughed up an adjustment knob, and he has left his mark on the metal frame. The below image is the frame above the rear wheel. That’s tooth marks on the metal.

link to bigger image

Mike and I went to our first Puppy Class last night. We both came home exhausted! It is a large class, I think around 13-14 puppies. There’s two German Shepherds, two Rotties, a Poodle, a Lab, two little fluffy somethings (Lhasa Apso maybe?), a smooth coat Dachshund, a wire haired Dachshund, a little collie of some sort, a Cattle Dog, and Mike. I think I’m missing a dog or two. Anyway, a huge difference in sizes and in ages. One puppy, an Akita, couldn’t make it so the group playtime was postponed until next week.

The room was divided into little sections by these PVC expanding fences. A cool thing, by the way, these fences. Each pup had its own section to be in. Mike did fairly well in seeing the boundaries, although he liked to stick his nose/head through. He was a big distraction to Max, the male Rottie pup who was on one side of us. Mike was not the biggest and he was not the smartest but he was one of the quietest. There was a lot of whining and barking scattered about. Him being the quietest was odd since here at the house, he is quite mouthy! He barks, growls, yaps, etc as he plays with his toys, especially his fave toy, Sam. We call him Mr. Squeaky because of the noises he makes in the morning when he is in his crate and trying to wake me up.

When we first went in, we went to a table where Gail Hubbard, the instructor, sat. We showed the vet record with the dates of Mike’s vaccines and were handed a stack of paper and a clicker. We have TEN pages of stuff to read today, including a page full of homework. TEN pages! In the class, we worked on name recognition, getting their attention, and the basics of clicker training. A lot of it was stuff I already knew, although it was cool to hear it vs reading about it. We also worked on the basics for SIT, which Mike and I have already been working on. Here is the thing I learned that I didn’t know about: dogs move in the direction the touch/pressure is coming from. Meaning, if you push on a dog’s butt to make him sit, he’s only going to push upwards, against that pressure, vs willingly go down. Instead, Gail demonstrated with the Lab pup how to get a dog into a sitting position. She tucked the tail down, and lifted up, not push down. The dog sat on her hand. It was not a fight of wills and the dog got praised for doing what comes naturally.

The main problem with the class is my own abilities. We had to do a lot of “get up and walk around” exercises. Since the truck is still out of commission, and since my powerchair doesn’t fit in Lorna’s Subaru, I had my crutch. And since I needed both hands, I didn’t use it. By the time I was done, both knees were burning and my lower back was pissed as heck. The lower back is better today but my knees are not happy. As soon as I finish some internet stuff, I’m going to transfer to the recliner and pack both knees in ice for a while. I’m not sure what I am going to do to get around this for the class. I can’t spend the next day (or two) in such pain. I will just have to do everything sitting down and hope Mike figures it out anyway. We do all the training at home with me either in my wheelchair or in a chair in the kitchen. I will send an email to the instructor and ask her to help me come up with ways to do the various training methods from a sitting position. And, while I am sitting in the recliner, I’ll re-read the Teamwork books.

Linkages:
A Good Dog’s Life – where Mike and I go for class
Clicker training and Karen Pryor’s website (the “inventor” of clicker training)
Cool PVC fences – not exactly what they had, but close
Teamwork I (training your dog as a person with a disability) and Teamwork II (training your own service dog) dog books

I dislike the term “commands” but that’s what they are. With Joella, it is always a “request” that Her Highness then determines is worthy of fulfillment. She will do what I ask/tell her in terms of SD work. Basic obedience, though, is iffy at best. It is a mistake I will not be making with Mike.

Somewhere, I have a longer list of the commands Jo knows. Borrowing heavily on Marley’s list, here’s Joella’s SD commands:

1. Let me have it
2. What have you got
3. Get it
4. Bring it here
5. Get the other one
6. Get my shoes
7. Where’s Lorna
8. Back up
9. Get behind
10. Get your leash
11. Get in truck/car
12. Get in the house
13. Go around
14. Turn around
15. Look at me
16. Touch it
17. Open it/Pull it
18. Get Under
19. Take it

And her obedience requests:

1. Up*
2. Off
3. Down
4. Lay down
5. Out
6. Outside
7. Hurry up
8. Are you done*
9. Wait
10. Sit
11. Stay
12. Easy*
13. Leave it
14. Drop it
15. Gimme a kiss

(* are those that are also SD related)

I know there are others but that’s all I can think of right now. Mike will be taught all of those plus some others. Joella stinks on her recall (coming when called) and her Stay is almost as bad. Mike and I will be going to a series of dog classes starting this January. First there will be 5 of the Puppy Obedience classes followed by Basic Manners 1 and Basic Manners 2 (both are 6 weeks each, I think). Along the way, we’ll work on SD stuff but I want to make sure Mike has a solid obedience/manners footing. Mike knows “sit” and we are working on “down” and “out of the room” (used after meals). He knows “outside” means to go outside but he’s not made the connection that it means to do his business. He still is not house trained, dangit!

I have made a spreadsheet of the above commands with the word/phrase, what it means, and the reasoning behind it.

Commands list in OpenOffice.org format (.ods) and Commands list in MS Excel format (.xls). Let me know if you need it in another format; OpenOffice.org saves in several others. I will update the spreadsheets as Mike learns more or I remember more of Jo’s list.