Barking's Of Texas

Too Much Too fast.
Since taking Texas out to parks and such like, can be a difficult affair by myself, when a friend of mine brought over their dog, I decided what a great time to work on Texas's "On Leash" reactivity.
I was sadly mistaken.
I should have stopped while I was ahead, but I really wanted to work this as we hadn't had this opportunity, with a strange dog, that wasn't going to live with me.


First mistake, Pompeii and Bubbles had been out interacting with the dog earlier, Pompei was enamored and was following said dog all over the yard. So as I was getting Texas geared up (treats, clicker, harness...) they were also getting geared up. To bolt. And as soon as Texas and I attempted to leave the house, the both dash out as fast as possible. Now Bubbles and Texas feed off of each other, and while Bubbles doesn't have the same "issues as Texas", she does like to hear herself bark. So her barking set Texas off much as faster then had he been by himself. And before I knew it there was a tangled mess of dogs, and humans running every which way.


Once I corralled Bubbles and Pompeii, and got Texas back out, it was pretty hopeless. Even walking two yards (literal peoples yards) away was still too close. This part of the "reactivity" is much harder to work with, as I don't have many people with dogs that are willing to work with this. I'm beginning to think i need to start making friends with some local trainers. :)) 
Oh well. 
Back to the Drawing board.

I completely forgot about my commit to post this this week. I keep telling my dad I'm slightly ADD but he doesn't believe me. :)

This week we have: 
Zipper has come so far in the last two weeks, I amaze myself sometimes. I'm going WOW I just taught her how to do that! look at me! And then other days I'm scratching my head going how in the world can I teach her not to: _________________!?!?! While this pup is growing on me, I am ready for her to move on to a new home, and get my life back. :)

• Name Recognition - WOW this dog picks up things superbly fast, once session just clicking and treating for her name, and you say she's in your lap, and so proud of herself. 
• Off Leash Recall - We haven't used the word "come" just yet since her name recall is so good. 
• Potty Training: Improving daily, I think we only used the puppy pads once today!!! 
• Door Manners: Working on stage, she will still bolt if she gets the chance, but is responding the verbal and phsycial cue "stay".

But here's the most important part of this monologue. (Is it called a monologue if its writing?)
Adoption Status:: PENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The family just needs to get an appointment...*the ADD monster strikes again* to do a home visit and have an appointment made to have her spayed!! *happy happy happy dance*  I posted an album of her on Facebook within hours I had people calling me and emailing me about her! 

Texas - Since Zipper has arrived I've notice him starting to revert back into old behaviors, such as insessant barking, and marking indoors. Not good. This week I started teaching a new trick of walking on my feet, unfortunately he doesn't really like standing between my legs, with me leaning over him, so its not working out too well.

Pompei - Still very much in love with Miss Zipper and I'm constantly having to seperate them so I can have a moment of quiet, because its play, play, play and bark, bark, bark ALL THE TIME!!! Driving me over the edge a little bit. But lately we've been working on him not dashing out the door whenever it is opened. This is something that could be problematic for his future blind person, as they won't know that he's not a runner. So i want to make their new life together as easy as possible.

What about Bubbles you ask? Well......um.... OH SnAp!?!
Did I give her dinner?
Yikes.

*dashes off to feed her "poor starving dog"

Here's to hoping this will become a weekly feature around here!

Anyway I have to admit that there are times I get into a rut, in my dog training; Especially with the dogs that I have permanently or am raising for a year. When I worked with Wilderwood Service Dogs,I was bringing in a new dog monthly which kept me on my toes constantly. I was doing everything from re-teaching basic commands, potty training, loose leash walking to the "fun" commands, such as teaching them to close doors and etc..

However with the Guide Dog Foundation, we have a list of basic commands we teach them, and that's all. At 3 months Pompeii had 75% of those commands down, and now I knows all of them. So there is no "fun" per se in running through his commands, nothing to mix it up, or challenge him. Bubbles is confident with her "comes", "go potty", "lets eat", and "sit" commands and has no use for doing actual WORK for her food.Texas on the other hand lloooveeeeessssssss training. Except that his mom has run out of ideas..had run out of ideas. However having Zipper has cranked up my creative training juices and we're pulling out the ol" clicker and dusting it off.

Why Food or Clicker Train?
Why do I use a clicker you ask? Well all it does is MARK the BEHAVIOR (sit, down, stay, etc) we want the dog to do, lets him/her know it was GOOD and there is a reward coming. I use the clicker to teach the dog the behavior and then fade it out quickly once the dog knows the cue word.

I know many people want to shy away from clicker/food training due to the fact: "I don't want to have to carry treats around allll the time."Who said you did? Once the dog has the behavior down pat, we do what we call random rewards. You call the dog, they come. you pay them with a treat.
Next time, you call your dog, you pay them with praise, the next time with a toy, the next time with a treat. We all know this works extremely well for dogs, because once they get something good for a certain action, they will always TRY and see if it will work again. (Hence why pulling, garbage digging, counter surfing are such hard behaviors to break.)

Here's how I see. Raise your hand if you would continue to go to work, if your boss only paid you the first three weeks of your time, and then never paid you again. Yet this is what a lot of people are expecting out their dogs...

We introduced Zip to the clicker last week and she's loves it. Next we're working on default leave its. Here it is demonstrated by a favorite trainer of mine, and then we'll do our best to mimic it.



Our Turn! I think we got the jist of it...Please ignore the random commentary!



Next Up - Leave it On Cue...or the name game, cause she really doesn't know her name....

STAY TUNED!