Mike’s Doghouse

It seems as though every time Mike and I get ready to start service dog specific training, something happens. He hurt his leg then Joella needed surgery on one of hers, and now I’ve broken one of my own! Will the fun never end?

At any rate, we are working with Mike on stopping his biting. He doesn’t hurt very often but will grab a shirt sleeve or pants leg and get skin, too. We are doing the “ouch!” and turning our back. I don’t allow the rough play anymore, either, which is hard for both of us to give up.

His scent-marking behavior is all but gone. He still marks Jo’s raised feeder every few days and recently found a new spot in the hall way after some things were moved around. Do I trust him to not hike a leg in public? Not yet, because we’ve not had a chance to get out there yet, dammit!

As we play, I use cues like “let me have it” and “get it” and others, getting him used to those terms. He releases an object easily which is a good sign.

Let’s see, what else? He’s going through a growth spurt but I don’t think he will be a big dog afterall. The last time we were at the vet’s, he still wasn’t 50lbs yet. If he reaches 70, I’ll be surprised. He’s a tall boy, just not filled out at all.

Oh, as for his hip injury, it was all soft-tissue like a strain or sprain. He had x-rays taken which were evaluated by an orthopedic vet who said all was great! Joella’s recovering slowly from her surgery. She has arthritis fairly bad in her back legs and we’ve started pain management now. Some days she is a puppy, other days she doesn’t want to move. I can understand that.

Mike’s not been limping since the day after the vet. He sometimes seems to be walking weird, but no limp. We’ve noticed he is growing again, this time starting to fill out in places, like his face. That’s what I like about mutts. Some days they look like one breed, the next day they look like another. Mike’s face seems to change between German Shepherd and Rottweiler. There’s no telling which way it will finally settle although I’m thinking it will be somewhere in the middle. A Rottie with stand up ears, probably. Or a GSD with a short Rottie muzzle.

Speaking of Rotties, Joella is doing good. She’s limping slightly but that’s to be expected.

Maybe Mike is having sympathy pains. They both have injured right legs.

If you’ve followed along, you know that Mike is to be trained to be a Service Dog. He is to “replace” Joella, my current SD who is 8.5 yrs old. Joella is having some difficulty with her back legs and Tuesday (April 21st) she will be having surgery on one of her ankles.

Since Joella will be needing all of my mental attention, Mike’s SD training is on hold for a few weeks. It is Spring and he is happy to be outside playing right now so it will all work out. Starting over won’t bother either of us in the least. He and I start Basic Manners II the day we bring Jo home so we’ll still be working on that.

We’re thrilled Joella won’t be needing the more extensive knee surgery we all thought she’d have. We were concerned we’d not be able to keep Mike calm around her. He likes to sit on Jo which would not have been a good idea. Even with this surgery, we’ll still be keeping him quiet, but not as much as with the other surgery. It may be a good chance to work on SPOT outside of the kitchen, eh?

Good question. I’d done some research earlier. The rule of thumb is that what they weigh at 6 mos is half what they’ll way as an adult. If that holds true, then Mike will be about 80lbs or so.

He hasn’t added any adult bulk. He’s tall, almost as tall as Joella and Sam now. But he is thin and wiry. The last time he was at the vet’s, he barely reached 40lbs. We look at him sometimes and wonder if he is every going to add muscle mass and bulk or will he be a small dog after all.

Here’s Jo and Mike back in mid January:

And here they are from the other evening:

He is almost as tall and almost as long as she is but really does not have that bulk of an adult rottweiler. However, I went to look through Jo’s vet record and saw that in January, 2002, at just 1yr and 19wks old, she was just under 70 lbs. She is about 82lbs now at 8yrs old and had a maximum weight of 90lbs in 2005 when she was 4.5 yrs old. Going by this, we can assume that Mike is not going to start really filling out until he is at least a year. That is typical of Rottweilers and other large breeds. They don’t reach their true adult size until two, sometimes three years of age.

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.