I can't believe it has been almost 5 weeks since I have posted. My life has been very hectic and stressful. In addition to my normal issues of fighting my MS, working full time, going to doctors, teaching genealogy classes and training Willow. My life got crazier. My husband had surgery to remove some skin cancer on his back and we found out they didn't get it all the first time so he has to have another surgery on November 12th. My father got pneumonia again and nearly died and I found out his lung cancer is now stage 4. Our family is devastated. But enough of the sad stuff.
Here is some of what i have been doing with Willow since I lasted posted. We continue to work on our foundation behaviors (Sit, Stay, Down, Off, Come, potty on command, touch, leave it, loose leash walking, heel). Some days she is a star student and an absolute genius. Other days she looks at me like she has never heard the command before. It must be her age and the preteen or teenager in her. Overall she is getting a lot better. In fact last week I went to my local PetsMart and one of the people who came to talk to me there was their trainer. She was asking a lot of questions and of course wanted to know what I was doing for training. She asked if we could go into the training area and if she could see me work with her. Then she asked if she could work with her. She said she was extremely impressed because most 4 1/2 month old dogs do not respond as well or as quickly as Willow does. That makes me feel good because that morning was a particularly difficult training session. It was like Willow had forgotten everything she ever knew. She did better in the afternoon.
We have also been working on public access. I have been picking smaller places that are less busy for the most part. We have gone to two places that she doesn't want to go into so I don't make her. They are Quizno's and Papa Murphy's. The places she has really liked going into are of course PetsMart and PetCo, the local health food store, Taco Time, Subway, Maverick, Home Depot, Walmart, and the doctors office. When we do the public access I have been setting a timer so that I stay in no longer than 5-10 min at a time. She is getting so much better when we are in these places. She will actually sit quietly beside me part of the time and also walk with a loose leash part of the time.
I am hoping to have a friend tape us training a couple of times so that I can post to this blog.
Halloween was a real eye opener. When the first kids came my husband had a hold of her leash. She doesn't listen to him very well so she nearly pulled his arm off trying to get to the door. He wanted me to put her in her crate for the night but I wanted to see if she would do better for me. So when the next batch of kids came by I had her leash (short leash). She pulled a bunch but not enough to turn my hand red so for her not bad. She got excited to answer the door every time the doorbell rang or someone knocked. She had no fear of the costumes. She and the kids and their parents had a great time saying hi. I was also impressed that she didn't try to jump on any of the kids or adults. She did remarkably well.
I will post pictures in the next post.
Till next time my friends...
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
New Places, New Faces
Where have the last few days gone? Life has been so busy. Let's get up to date on what's been happening on the training scene.
In the last couple of days Willow and I have had a couple of adventures. I am continuing to take her new places and having her meet new people.
Some of the places we have gone are walking in the neighborhood, the local park, the IFA Store, Maverick, and standing outside at Costco. She has been able to meet short people, tall people, fat people, skinny people, black people, brown people, old people, young people, little kids, infants, etc.
She is becoming pretty comfortable going to new places. She really likes seeing the people even when I don't let them pet her. Something I am noticing is she walks much better when I walk her and use my cane rather than the walker. It's kind of odd but the walker seems to bring out the puller in her. Whereas using just a leash she will walk loose leash 75 - 80% of the time.
Sunday our home teacher and his son came by. Willow did good with them. We had a little trouble getting the son to understand that you don't want to reach your hands up to a dogs head. With Willow she thinks you want to play and will try to grab your hand. When she did this to the son he got scared. We need to work with him more especially since they are thinking of getting a dog of their own.
Monday was a good day. Willow played nicely in the office most of the day while I worked and so she only had to spend a minimal amount of time her crate. I gave her a treat last night and let her sleep with me. She thought she had died and gone to heaven and she settled right down and went to sleep.
Today was my birthday and I took the day off work. Willow and I had a very busy day. We started by going to my neurologist. Willow was a huge hit at the office and did very well. She did get a little antsy in the exam room while we were waiting for the doctor to come in so I worked on her training. I was quite happy that she would still give me focus attention, respond to her name, and do the hand and sticky note touch, even when the tech and later the doctor were in the room.
After the doctor visit we went to Home Depot so the employees there could meet the dog they helped raise money for. Again, she was a huge hit and she behaved like such a little lady. I was so proud of her. Especially since there were so many new and strange sounds there.
From there we went to the Ma & Paw Bakery and bought her a bully stick. She loves it! Then I took her to the Utah Dog Park where she was interviewed for going to doggy daycare. She did really well and ended up staying the rest of the day. When I picked her up tonight she was so tired she fell asleep in the car.
She and I are calling it an early night tonight because we are both so tired.
Till next time friends....
In the last couple of days Willow and I have had a couple of adventures. I am continuing to take her new places and having her meet new people.
Some of the places we have gone are walking in the neighborhood, the local park, the IFA Store, Maverick, and standing outside at Costco. She has been able to meet short people, tall people, fat people, skinny people, black people, brown people, old people, young people, little kids, infants, etc.
She is becoming pretty comfortable going to new places. She really likes seeing the people even when I don't let them pet her. Something I am noticing is she walks much better when I walk her and use my cane rather than the walker. It's kind of odd but the walker seems to bring out the puller in her. Whereas using just a leash she will walk loose leash 75 - 80% of the time.
Sunday our home teacher and his son came by. Willow did good with them. We had a little trouble getting the son to understand that you don't want to reach your hands up to a dogs head. With Willow she thinks you want to play and will try to grab your hand. When she did this to the son he got scared. We need to work with him more especially since they are thinking of getting a dog of their own.
Monday was a good day. Willow played nicely in the office most of the day while I worked and so she only had to spend a minimal amount of time her crate. I gave her a treat last night and let her sleep with me. She thought she had died and gone to heaven and she settled right down and went to sleep.
Today was my birthday and I took the day off work. Willow and I had a very busy day. We started by going to my neurologist. Willow was a huge hit at the office and did very well. She did get a little antsy in the exam room while we were waiting for the doctor to come in so I worked on her training. I was quite happy that she would still give me focus attention, respond to her name, and do the hand and sticky note touch, even when the tech and later the doctor were in the room.
After the doctor visit we went to Home Depot so the employees there could meet the dog they helped raise money for. Again, she was a huge hit and she behaved like such a little lady. I was so proud of her. Especially since there were so many new and strange sounds there.
From there we went to the Ma & Paw Bakery and bought her a bully stick. She loves it! Then I took her to the Utah Dog Park where she was interviewed for going to doggy daycare. She did really well and ended up staying the rest of the day. When I picked her up tonight she was so tired she fell asleep in the car.
She and I are calling it an early night tonight because we are both so tired.
Till next time friends....
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Puppy Train and Play
Tonight was Puppy Train and Play. Willow has such a good time there.
Tonight we worked on Doggy Push-ups, Walking on a loose leash, Staying at our side, Paying attention to Mom, and Scarecrow.
Doggy push-ups are where you have the dog sit, then lay down, then stand up, and repeat. When your pup begins to anticipate what is coming next mix it up a bit, do lay down, sit, stand, or whatever order you feel like doing. Of course you click and treat when they do each piece.
Similar to this is what I call Doggy Squats. You have your pup sit, then stand, then sit, then stand. This strengthens the back legs. Both Doggy Push-ups and Doggy Squats have the added benefit of being fun your pup and of using up some of their excess energy.
Walking on a loose leash and staying at our side while we walk is accomplished by teaching your pup that you are the most interesting this in the world. You do that with food. When your pup is walking beside you with a loose leash treat. When they wander away, stop. When they come back to you treat and start again.
For the paying attention to mom I had the hardest time because you are supposed to sit quietly with your dog in front of you and not say anything. When they look at you, you click and treat. This teaches them to look at you without being asked to. The hard part is not talking. I never seem to stop talking. My husband is always asking me to please talk a bit less because he can't get a word in edgewise.
Finally we worked on Scarecrow. Scarecrow is where you put the leash on the floor and step on it. Show your pup you have a treat in your hand and then hold both arms out like a scarecrow. When your dog stops looking at the hand with the treat and looks at you , click and treat. This can also be quite hard if your pup is really concentrating on the food. It may take them awhile to get the idea and your arms may get really tired. You may have to start with if your dogs eyes move away from your hand click and treat that and gradually work up to the full turning and looking at you thing.
At the end of class our pups got to have play time. The big pups went outside and the little pups stayed inside. I took a little video of Willow and Indigo playing. One of these days maybe I'll learn to take the video with a steady hand and smooth movement.
Till next time friends...
Tonight we worked on Doggy Push-ups, Walking on a loose leash, Staying at our side, Paying attention to Mom, and Scarecrow.
Doggy push-ups are where you have the dog sit, then lay down, then stand up, and repeat. When your pup begins to anticipate what is coming next mix it up a bit, do lay down, sit, stand, or whatever order you feel like doing. Of course you click and treat when they do each piece.
Similar to this is what I call Doggy Squats. You have your pup sit, then stand, then sit, then stand. This strengthens the back legs. Both Doggy Push-ups and Doggy Squats have the added benefit of being fun your pup and of using up some of their excess energy.
Walking on a loose leash and staying at our side while we walk is accomplished by teaching your pup that you are the most interesting this in the world. You do that with food. When your pup is walking beside you with a loose leash treat. When they wander away, stop. When they come back to you treat and start again.
For the paying attention to mom I had the hardest time because you are supposed to sit quietly with your dog in front of you and not say anything. When they look at you, you click and treat. This teaches them to look at you without being asked to. The hard part is not talking. I never seem to stop talking. My husband is always asking me to please talk a bit less because he can't get a word in edgewise.
Finally we worked on Scarecrow. Scarecrow is where you put the leash on the floor and step on it. Show your pup you have a treat in your hand and then hold both arms out like a scarecrow. When your dog stops looking at the hand with the treat and looks at you , click and treat. This can also be quite hard if your pup is really concentrating on the food. It may take them awhile to get the idea and your arms may get really tired. You may have to start with if your dogs eyes move away from your hand click and treat that and gradually work up to the full turning and looking at you thing.
At the end of class our pups got to have play time. The big pups went outside and the little pups stayed inside. I took a little video of Willow and Indigo playing. One of these days maybe I'll learn to take the video with a steady hand and smooth movement.
Till next time friends...
Friday, September 19, 2014
Wow! What a busy few days this has been...
It's been a busy few days since my last post. I have got to make sure I post more often.
Well let's see if I can recap some of what has been happening...
Wednesday was a quiet day at home. We only got in 2 good training sessions where Willow was paying attention. The rest of the time she was in puppy land and didn't want to come out of it. I should make her work more.
That night was Puppy Train and Play class. Willow sure loves that class! She wants to spend all of her time on the play portion! After a false start or two she began to pay attention and did a good job on the training. We began to work on recall last night. That was fun. Allie and I took turns calling Willow to us. She quickly figured out what we were doing and after a few times she was like, "ok it's time to go to someone else, I need a change of scenery". She can be so funny.
Yesterday we didn't do a lot. I was on a clear liquid diet in prep for my colonoscopy on Friday. It gave me a massive headache and I was very lightheaded. So besides having to work all day I also did a lot of playing with Willow and tried to practice some of her behaviors in our play. After work I took her to my friend Kaylynn's home. She was watching Willow for me since I had to do my evening prep and be up at 2 am to finish my colonoscopy prep. then head in for the procedure. I am so glad it is done and the doctor said I don't need to go back for another for 10 years! Whoo Hoo!
When I brought Willow home she was exhausted. Not only did she spend a lot of time playing with Nacho but she also played with 2 of Kaylynn's grandkids. They wore each other out! She slept for 2 hours when she got home. This evening we spent playing and I tried to get a couple of sessions in but Willow was not co-operating. I think she was still tired because all she wanted to do was lay around. She didn't want to play but she did want to chew on her antler.
Well tomorrow is another day.
I received an email from Amazon today that my cookbooks will be arriving on Monday. I am so excited! 2 years ago I finished a cookbook for family members that was a collection of recipes from both sides of my family and both sides of my husbands family. It came out really well. So well in fact that when I needed to have money to train Willow I obtained permission from the family members to reprint the recipes and sell them as long as I took out the family info, pictures, and stories. So I redid the book added in some new graphics and some quotes, designed a nice cover and now I have a cookbook that is available on Amazon in the Kindle format as well as a paper format. I will be using all of my royalties towards training Willow. I only need to sell 500-1000 to have enough money. But it will be worth every penny. Willow is already shaping up to be a great dog and as she grows she will become a great service dog.
The recipes in the cookbook go back to the 1880's and possibly earlier and come up to our current day. I have called it "Family Favorites Through the Generations, From our Family to yours"
Here's a link to my book...
http://tinyurl.com/pqzg22y
Till next time my friends...
Well let's see if I can recap some of what has been happening...
Wednesday was a quiet day at home. We only got in 2 good training sessions where Willow was paying attention. The rest of the time she was in puppy land and didn't want to come out of it. I should make her work more.
That night was Puppy Train and Play class. Willow sure loves that class! She wants to spend all of her time on the play portion! After a false start or two she began to pay attention and did a good job on the training. We began to work on recall last night. That was fun. Allie and I took turns calling Willow to us. She quickly figured out what we were doing and after a few times she was like, "ok it's time to go to someone else, I need a change of scenery". She can be so funny.
Yesterday we didn't do a lot. I was on a clear liquid diet in prep for my colonoscopy on Friday. It gave me a massive headache and I was very lightheaded. So besides having to work all day I also did a lot of playing with Willow and tried to practice some of her behaviors in our play. After work I took her to my friend Kaylynn's home. She was watching Willow for me since I had to do my evening prep and be up at 2 am to finish my colonoscopy prep. then head in for the procedure. I am so glad it is done and the doctor said I don't need to go back for another for 10 years! Whoo Hoo!
When I brought Willow home she was exhausted. Not only did she spend a lot of time playing with Nacho but she also played with 2 of Kaylynn's grandkids. They wore each other out! She slept for 2 hours when she got home. This evening we spent playing and I tried to get a couple of sessions in but Willow was not co-operating. I think she was still tired because all she wanted to do was lay around. She didn't want to play but she did want to chew on her antler.
Well tomorrow is another day.
I received an email from Amazon today that my cookbooks will be arriving on Monday. I am so excited! 2 years ago I finished a cookbook for family members that was a collection of recipes from both sides of my family and both sides of my husbands family. It came out really well. So well in fact that when I needed to have money to train Willow I obtained permission from the family members to reprint the recipes and sell them as long as I took out the family info, pictures, and stories. So I redid the book added in some new graphics and some quotes, designed a nice cover and now I have a cookbook that is available on Amazon in the Kindle format as well as a paper format. I will be using all of my royalties towards training Willow. I only need to sell 500-1000 to have enough money. But it will be worth every penny. Willow is already shaping up to be a great dog and as she grows she will become a great service dog.
The recipes in the cookbook go back to the 1880's and possibly earlier and come up to our current day. I have called it "Family Favorites Through the Generations, From our Family to yours"
Here's a link to my book...
http://tinyurl.com/pqzg22y
Till next time my friends...
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
09/15 & 09/16
The time just seemed to get away from me yesterday and I didn't get a post in. Yesterday was my first day working from home and dealing with a puppy. Though in all honesty I didn't have her a lot of the day. Willow had a vet appointment and ended up spending the day at the vets. She had a blast and they are all in love with her. The vet gave us great news. Willow's UTI is all cleared up! YAY!!! We had a good time playing before going to the vet. While at the vet's she played extremely hard. They had something like 7 puppies there that day and they all got along great and played great. According to all the tech's and the vet Willow had a great time. I know she was sure tired. They actually had to wake her up to bring her to me. That's just not like her. Apparently Willow and another pup were playing and they both fell asleep while playing. Training was a little tough yesterday. Willow's heart just wasn't into it. She would respond to sit, touch, or her name 2, maybe 3 times and then just lay and close her eyes. So I decided the one 5 minute session would have to do. She was just too tired to concentrate. She slept REALLY well last night and she slept in this morning.
Today was a good day. We both slept in a little and so we were running late. I barely got started on my work on time. I decided to do an experiment this morning. After she had eaten and gone potty I brought her into my office with me. She did wonderful for about 45 min. She was chewing on her antler and a couple of her stuffies (stuffed animal chew toys). She lay down right next to me and was very quiet and mellow. Then she started getting restless so we took a quick trip outside to potty and then because she still seemed tired I put her in her crate for awhile with a small milk bone and her toys. Checked on her 5 min later and she was fast asleep. Came back in 2 hours and woke her up. We went for a short walk, played in the yard, did some more training on touch, sit, down, off and then came in and chilled in the office for another 45 min. Went back outside to potty, came back in had lunch, back out to potty, rest time in crate. Then spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between being outside, training, working in office, and crate time.
I have noticed that she is most active first thing in the morning and later in the evening after it begins to cool down. Willow definitely doesn't like the heat.
This evening we decided we wanted to go to Quizno's for dinner so Willow and I went down to get our food. At first when we went in she seemed a little unsure of herself but as we were turning around to leave other people started coming in and she got so excited to see them that she forgot to be nervous. There was a tall heavy set gentlemen who wanted to pet her and I let him. There were also 2 young women who looked at her but wanted nothing to do with petting her. And that was fine. Willow got her first taste of not being able to have everyone make a fuss over her. When she tried to pull away from me to get to them (or so I thought) I redirected her attention. I called her name and since she turned her head towards me I clicked and gave a jackpot treat (a small piece of cheese). Every time I could get her to look at me I clicked and treated. I wanted to reward her for looking at me with major distractions around. Three people in the restaurant, One of whom brought food from Subway and sat the bag on the floor (that's what Willow was trying to get to) plus there were all the yummy food smells from Quizno's. It was enough to make your mouth water, let a lone a little pup. I was very proud of her today.
Till next time...
Today was a good day. We both slept in a little and so we were running late. I barely got started on my work on time. I decided to do an experiment this morning. After she had eaten and gone potty I brought her into my office with me. She did wonderful for about 45 min. She was chewing on her antler and a couple of her stuffies (stuffed animal chew toys). She lay down right next to me and was very quiet and mellow. Then she started getting restless so we took a quick trip outside to potty and then because she still seemed tired I put her in her crate for awhile with a small milk bone and her toys. Checked on her 5 min later and she was fast asleep. Came back in 2 hours and woke her up. We went for a short walk, played in the yard, did some more training on touch, sit, down, off and then came in and chilled in the office for another 45 min. Went back outside to potty, came back in had lunch, back out to potty, rest time in crate. Then spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between being outside, training, working in office, and crate time.
I have noticed that she is most active first thing in the morning and later in the evening after it begins to cool down. Willow definitely doesn't like the heat.
This evening we decided we wanted to go to Quizno's for dinner so Willow and I went down to get our food. At first when we went in she seemed a little unsure of herself but as we were turning around to leave other people started coming in and she got so excited to see them that she forgot to be nervous. There was a tall heavy set gentlemen who wanted to pet her and I let him. There were also 2 young women who looked at her but wanted nothing to do with petting her. And that was fine. Willow got her first taste of not being able to have everyone make a fuss over her. When she tried to pull away from me to get to them (or so I thought) I redirected her attention. I called her name and since she turned her head towards me I clicked and gave a jackpot treat (a small piece of cheese). Every time I could get her to look at me I clicked and treated. I wanted to reward her for looking at me with major distractions around. Three people in the restaurant, One of whom brought food from Subway and sat the bag on the floor (that's what Willow was trying to get to) plus there were all the yummy food smells from Quizno's. It was enough to make your mouth water, let a lone a little pup. I was very proud of her today.
Till next time...
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Sept 14th
This still feels a little weird writing about my experiences with Willow. Laurie assures me this will be very useful, especially on those days when she is being a little stinker and it seems like we are starting all over again.
This morning was great. When we went outside for the first time I let Willow play a bit after she did her business and while I cleaned up her little presents in the yard. Boy for such a little thing she sure can produce some MEGA stinky pooh! While outside I decided to water a couple of planters and that's when the fun began. At first Willow didn't want anything to do with the water and that was fine but the little drops of water coming off the end of the hose and sprayer were just too much for her to resist! She came up right beside me and began trying to catch the drops of water. It was funny. It got even funnier when she realized that the spray was lots and lots of drops of water. She began running under the spray and jumping up and trying to get the drops. Every so often she would drop into a crouch and then proceed to roll in the grass under the spray. She was having a blast and I was laughing so hard I nearly wet my pants! She can be a real hoot sometimes. When I turned the water off Willow gave me this really disgusted look. She would look at me and then look pointedly at the hose as if to say "Turn the water back on, I wasn't done having fun yet." But I had to get ready for church and we still needed to do some training and have breakfast.
Willow only had one accident today and that was totally my fault. She had been doing so well that I forgot to set the timer to remind me when it was time to take her out and I got busy making dinner. Of course that is when she would have a problem. But we went outside and she did her business again and then we played a little and I had my husband watch her while I finished getting dinner ready.
We did 5 short training sessions today. Willow was having a real difficult time concentrating. We worked on her name, touch, sit, stand, and sit to touch and stand. We also spent a bit of time playing with toys today and I was finally able to get her to play with some toys. Her current favorite is the large Hedgehog that grunts and squeaks. She also likes the tennis ball that squeaks and the Minnie Mouse Water Bottle toy. She is beginning to get the idea of go get it. we play with Hedgehog and I tell her to go get it when I throw it. She will go chasing after it and then she will do one of two things. She will either start wrestling with it and making it squeak and/or grunt or she will bring it to me to throw again. I praise her lavishly and she gets a jackpot/high value treat for bringing it to me.
There were a couple of times today when Willow just wanted to lay beside me and chill. She would take one of her chew toys and just chill. I really had a chance to enjoy her today and not constantly worry about her pottying in the house and being super active.
Today on our walk Willow met 5 men (a short and heavy, a tall and skinny, a bald guy, a young guy, and an old guy); she also met 3 women (Short with long black hair, Tall with very straight blonde hair, older with curly gray hair) and several children one of which was very scarred of her. I am continually amazed at how well Willow walks on a leash for being so young. 95% of the time she walks with a loose leash. She walks better than any of the older dogs I have had. I never expected that. I am also amazed at how quickly she recovers from being startled. I try hard not to give her reinforcement of startled or scarred behaviors but I am only human and sometimes I mess up. I notice that if I am very matter of fact and pretend like it's no big deal she usually acts that way as well. I try to remove her from those situations as soon as I can.
Tomorrow should be interesting. It will be my first day working from home, I have a meeting with Laurie to develop our training plan for Willow and I, and Willow gets to spend the day at the vets because she needs to be checked to see if her UTI has cleared up and because of working I won't be able to pick her up till about 4:30 pm and will have to drop her off at 7:00 am. My vets office encourages the pet parents to leave their pets there all day so the staff can play with them and the pets can learn that this is a good place to be and these are good people. It actually makes exams easier on everyone.
Well, I have rambled enough for today.
Till next time...
This morning was great. When we went outside for the first time I let Willow play a bit after she did her business and while I cleaned up her little presents in the yard. Boy for such a little thing she sure can produce some MEGA stinky pooh! While outside I decided to water a couple of planters and that's when the fun began. At first Willow didn't want anything to do with the water and that was fine but the little drops of water coming off the end of the hose and sprayer were just too much for her to resist! She came up right beside me and began trying to catch the drops of water. It was funny. It got even funnier when she realized that the spray was lots and lots of drops of water. She began running under the spray and jumping up and trying to get the drops. Every so often she would drop into a crouch and then proceed to roll in the grass under the spray. She was having a blast and I was laughing so hard I nearly wet my pants! She can be a real hoot sometimes. When I turned the water off Willow gave me this really disgusted look. She would look at me and then look pointedly at the hose as if to say "Turn the water back on, I wasn't done having fun yet." But I had to get ready for church and we still needed to do some training and have breakfast.
Willow only had one accident today and that was totally my fault. She had been doing so well that I forgot to set the timer to remind me when it was time to take her out and I got busy making dinner. Of course that is when she would have a problem. But we went outside and she did her business again and then we played a little and I had my husband watch her while I finished getting dinner ready.
We did 5 short training sessions today. Willow was having a real difficult time concentrating. We worked on her name, touch, sit, stand, and sit to touch and stand. We also spent a bit of time playing with toys today and I was finally able to get her to play with some toys. Her current favorite is the large Hedgehog that grunts and squeaks. She also likes the tennis ball that squeaks and the Minnie Mouse Water Bottle toy. She is beginning to get the idea of go get it. we play with Hedgehog and I tell her to go get it when I throw it. She will go chasing after it and then she will do one of two things. She will either start wrestling with it and making it squeak and/or grunt or she will bring it to me to throw again. I praise her lavishly and she gets a jackpot/high value treat for bringing it to me.
There were a couple of times today when Willow just wanted to lay beside me and chill. She would take one of her chew toys and just chill. I really had a chance to enjoy her today and not constantly worry about her pottying in the house and being super active.
Today on our walk Willow met 5 men (a short and heavy, a tall and skinny, a bald guy, a young guy, and an old guy); she also met 3 women (Short with long black hair, Tall with very straight blonde hair, older with curly gray hair) and several children one of which was very scarred of her. I am continually amazed at how well Willow walks on a leash for being so young. 95% of the time she walks with a loose leash. She walks better than any of the older dogs I have had. I never expected that. I am also amazed at how quickly she recovers from being startled. I try hard not to give her reinforcement of startled or scarred behaviors but I am only human and sometimes I mess up. I notice that if I am very matter of fact and pretend like it's no big deal she usually acts that way as well. I try to remove her from those situations as soon as I can.
Tomorrow should be interesting. It will be my first day working from home, I have a meeting with Laurie to develop our training plan for Willow and I, and Willow gets to spend the day at the vets because she needs to be checked to see if her UTI has cleared up and because of working I won't be able to pick her up till about 4:30 pm and will have to drop her off at 7:00 am. My vets office encourages the pet parents to leave their pets there all day so the staff can play with them and the pets can learn that this is a good place to be and these are good people. It actually makes exams easier on everyone.
Well, I have rambled enough for today.
Till next time...
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Bringing Willow home
On Sept 3rd Willow had her first vet visit with me. The vet office I am using is the Animal Care Center in West Bountiful Utah. The vets there are wonderful and caring! She saw Dr. Pam for her check up, shots and worming. Willow also went to her first puppy training and socializing class that evening at the Utah Dog Park. The class is led by Laurie, of Side by Side Dog Training. Willow and I had a great time. On Sept 6th Willow was diagnosed with an UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) and started on antibiotics.
On Sept 10th Willow went to her 2nd Puppy Class and seemed to really enjoy it, I know I did. On Saturday, the 13th (Today) Willow came home.
There was a boy about 12 yrs old in a cul-d-sac that we walked by. He was on a skateboard and she was fine with that. She was wagging her tail and being her usual happy self but stopped for a rest (we were on the way home and she was getting tired). All of a sudden the boy made a circle around the cul-d-sac and went up his skateboard ramp and did a big jump. that startled Willow and she took off and yanked the leash right out of my hand. Now the yanking the leash out of my hand was my own fault. I had become too complacent because she was doing so well I was holding the leash very loosely in my hand. It took nothing for her to pull away. We must have looked quite the site, me with my walker chasing her across the street into the park, the kid behind me and Willow deciding it's a game. After her first startled reaction and my trying to chase her and catch her she decided to play. So I know she wasn't overly traumatized. In fact she went right up to the boy to be petted. That's how I caught her. The little stinker. So lesson learned. She doesn't like airborn skateboards. She's also not overly fond of lawn mowers. The rest of the day was uneventful. We just did playtime, crate time, training, food.
More next time...
Welcome to my training journal for Willow
My name is Jacqui and I have Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Here is a link to the National MS Society. You can find lot's of good information here about MS.
My MS affects me in many ways. The major effect is on my balance. I feel like I am walking on a small ship most of the time and in the last 6 months I have begun to have a real problem with drop foot on my left side.
Another way that MS affects me is that it sorely tries my patience! I have never been overly patient and now I am having to learn to be patient with myself. I absolutely hate it when I stumble, fall, trip over my words and when my thoughts just won't work well together. I have never had these problems before and often I find myself saying "Why ME?"
While researching treatments and ways to slow my MS progression and ways to keep from having to use a cane and walker all the time I came across articles that talked about Service Dogs for MS patients.
When I saw my doctor I asked her about it and she said a balance/mobility service dog could very well keep me out of a walker and/or wheelchair full-time for a couple of more years. I absolutely adore dogs so I thought this would be a very good idea. I immediately began researching where to get a dog and the costs involved. That was very depressing. Because I am a large woman the agencies that give out dogs for free would not consider me for a mobility dog. Mostly because most of them use Labs and Golden's which would be too small. The agencies that would consider me wanted $30,000-$50,000. Way more money than I have and way more money than I would be able to raise.
So I began to look for an adult dog at local shelters and online trying to find one that was the correct size, temperament and personality to be a service dog. That's when I received another rude awakening. Many of the rescues would not even consider me for their dogs because I wanted a dog to be a service dog and they felt that dogs should never have to work. Rescues have had enough problems and needed to live a life of leisure and not have to work. The ones that would consider me had dogs with so many problems I didn't feel like they could ever be a good service dog.
That brought me to the next phase of my search. I finally decided to look for a puppy so that I could get the breed that I knew would work for me size and temperament wise. I put this off for a long time because I have absolutely no experience with puppies and I have never done the potty training thing. I knew I would have to have a great trainer to work with. The breed I chose is the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. I got Willow on August 30th and she is beautiful. She is currently 13 weeks old and her birthday was June 10, 2014. No she isn't named after the movie. Willow is just a name I like and the name of my favorite tree. The breeder I got her from is Blue Hill Swissy's. To find out more about the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (GSM Dog or Swissy) go to the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club of America they have a lot of wonderful information on the breed.
The purpose of this blog is to journal my successes and failures with training Willow. I will have help along the way. I am working with a wonderful trainer, Laurie of Side by Side Dog Training. She is a local trainer in the Salt Lake City area.
Welcome to my journey!
My MS affects me in many ways. The major effect is on my balance. I feel like I am walking on a small ship most of the time and in the last 6 months I have begun to have a real problem with drop foot on my left side.
Another way that MS affects me is that it sorely tries my patience! I have never been overly patient and now I am having to learn to be patient with myself. I absolutely hate it when I stumble, fall, trip over my words and when my thoughts just won't work well together. I have never had these problems before and often I find myself saying "Why ME?"
While researching treatments and ways to slow my MS progression and ways to keep from having to use a cane and walker all the time I came across articles that talked about Service Dogs for MS patients.
When I saw my doctor I asked her about it and she said a balance/mobility service dog could very well keep me out of a walker and/or wheelchair full-time for a couple of more years. I absolutely adore dogs so I thought this would be a very good idea. I immediately began researching where to get a dog and the costs involved. That was very depressing. Because I am a large woman the agencies that give out dogs for free would not consider me for a mobility dog. Mostly because most of them use Labs and Golden's which would be too small. The agencies that would consider me wanted $30,000-$50,000. Way more money than I have and way more money than I would be able to raise.
So I began to look for an adult dog at local shelters and online trying to find one that was the correct size, temperament and personality to be a service dog. That's when I received another rude awakening. Many of the rescues would not even consider me for their dogs because I wanted a dog to be a service dog and they felt that dogs should never have to work. Rescues have had enough problems and needed to live a life of leisure and not have to work. The ones that would consider me had dogs with so many problems I didn't feel like they could ever be a good service dog.
That brought me to the next phase of my search. I finally decided to look for a puppy so that I could get the breed that I knew would work for me size and temperament wise. I put this off for a long time because I have absolutely no experience with puppies and I have never done the potty training thing. I knew I would have to have a great trainer to work with. The breed I chose is the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. I got Willow on August 30th and she is beautiful. She is currently 13 weeks old and her birthday was June 10, 2014. No she isn't named after the movie. Willow is just a name I like and the name of my favorite tree. The breeder I got her from is Blue Hill Swissy's. To find out more about the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (GSM Dog or Swissy) go to the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club of America they have a lot of wonderful information on the breed.
The purpose of this blog is to journal my successes and failures with training Willow. I will have help along the way. I am working with a wonderful trainer, Laurie of Side by Side Dog Training. She is a local trainer in the Salt Lake City area.
Welcome to my journey!
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