Day 89 (12/04/17): training with Sherry and at home, outgrowing her gear

We drove down to Auntie Sherry's again, to record Rally-FrEe with Chimera. Terra had to wait in a side yard while we trained and you can hear her whining loudly on the video. What a sad dog.

Terra got training time, too. I put on her "in training" vest, asked her to wait at my side, and rewarded her for ignoring Sherry. Separately, I pulled her collar up her neck and held my hand at the top to cue her conformation stay, and rewarded her for ignoring Sherry reaching out with her hand. Finally we did a ring gate exercise - I cued "let's go," we walked through the gates, and then she got a treat! This helps establish a positive association with entering a training ring.

Back at home, we practiced nose work. Our intro class at FDSA finished up a couple of weeks ago. We were progressing through the material quite slowly, and were still on week 2's lectures. So I signed up for another gold spot in this term's 101 class. I really want her to be a nose work superstar!

We practiced hand stacking. It's time for me to learn how to properly stack her instead of just practicing moving her legs around. I need to set up a mirror so that I can see how she looks from the judge's perspective.

We did the bucket game, and she's pretty much got the idea that she should ignore me touching her and just look at the bucket. I'm just doing touches on her back.

We did chin targets, and again she's learning to just hold the target while I very lightly touch her head. Having a hand move right in front of her is still a challenge.

Put on a head halter for a few seconds between treats. Right now I can control her with a back clip harness 90% of the time, but I might as well train it as another cooperative care exercise just in case.

Terra was on the cusp of outgrowing the training vest, so I ordered a new one with labels that say specifically "service dog in training." We'll see how comfortable I can get her to be in crowds and around noises. It's a big "if" right now, but we'll take it one day at a time.

She's outgrown her puppy collars, but I already had three adult sized collars on hand, purchased before I even brought her home. She's also outgrown the medium sized Balance Harness. I don't have a large one on hand, so I switched her to an extra-large Freedom Harness. (Funny how different sizing is between brands.) I'm still using the back clip since she usually doesn't pull hard.

Days 81-87 (11/26/17-12/02/17): visiting friends, CVS, trial, mystery injury

11/27/17:
Terra's weight was 82 pounds.

I took her into the CVS next door to the vet's. She did very well walking around and showed only minimal interest in sniffing merchandise. We even went down a junk food aisle, with me holding the leash very short just in case, but she followed me lead and just walked straight ahead. We worked particularly on "wait," which is difficult for her because she has a lot of momentum to stop! I sat down by the pharmacy to practice settling in public. I cued her to sit and then lured her down. At first she fussed but, as usual for her, she then gave up and just watched the world go by.

On our way out we stopped to let a couple of ladies pass by. They stopped in front of us and one asked if Terra was "friendly." I put my hand out in a "stop" signal and replied, "She's in training and I need her to focus right now." The lady nodded by stared at Terra and then started to make kissy noises. I quelled my rage - I HATE it when people call out to my dog or otherwise try to get its attention without permission - and stuffed a treat into Terra's face. I then side-stepped to my right and gave a leash cue, Terra did a beautiful side-step to join me, and we walked out with the treats continuing.

A friend commented that in the future I should directly address the person's behavior rather than the dog's needs, ie, "don't interact with her." That's a good suggestion. I fell into the trap of using language that is understood by dog nerds but not by ignorant non-dog people. But I am also, clearly, training my dog to ignore people doing that, as some bullies will intentionally try to distract a dog just to be mean.


11/30/17:
We drove down to visit Sherry and act as decoys for a leash reactive client of hers. Terra got excited and pulled toward the other dog when it was just 10 feet away. Otherwise she happily walked around and sniffed as usual.

I wish this photo hadn't been washed out by the sun because her face is so cute!

Taking a break in the bushes.

Om nom nom.

In the evening we visited Rachel for another craft party. Terra pooped (actually had diarrhea) in the back yard shortly after our arrival, but had to stay on the tether for nearly two hours until she finally peed outside. Then she got to be in the house off leash, but was so tired that she just slept on a dog bed until we left.

I had Rachel help me with a short training session. First I put on Terra's "in training" harness and cued her to wait at my side. I rewarded her for staying as Rachel approached, as Rachel said hello, and then as she used the lilting "talking to a dog" voice. It was hard for Terra because she loves Rachel! We need to practice this a lot more with a variety of people so that she will be able to confidently ignore the public.

Then I had Rachel hold a small handful of treats and I practiced hand stacking Terra. It's one way to make a positive association with a conformation "judge" approaching.


12/01/17:
Chimera has his first AKC agility trial today. Since it was on a Friday, the entries were small. I let Terra sleep in the car all morning. She would be in a different position every time I checked on her, but was always sleeping soundly. Finally, after Cai's second run, which was the last run of the day, I brought her out. She wanted to sniff every tree and post we walked by to get information about the other dogs. She wanted to say hello to almost every other dog that passed within 10 feet. I was happy to see her so curious. A loud noise dampened her enthusiasm for a few minutes, but she recovered enough to practice touch, chin, stand-stay, and IYC.

Sometime today Terra hurt herself, probably while playing with her Malinois friend. I think it's something around her back, hips, or hind legs but she didn't respond negatively to me handling her. She's been a little slower to get up and occasionally whining as she does so. At one point she stood up and then hunched over. She still wanted to play with the Malinois but would sometimes get pissed off if the other dog jumped on her back. The Malinois went home so I no longer have to deal with puppies who are desperate to play but have to be kept apart. I'll keep an eye on Terra tomorrow and see how she recovers.

Day 65 (11/10/17): vet visit, Sherry's, training

Terra is 5 months old today!

I expected her to be tired out from yesterday's eventful day, but she was full of energy.

She came along to Chimera's monthly chiropractic appointment. She loved on everyone there. Very happy girl.

We stopped by Sherry's and she got to play with a few other dogs in the rain.

Worked on getting barking on cue. She started getting excited/playful as soon as I started jumping around with Cai and having him bark, and demand barked or "talked" at him 5 times. I'm confident now that I'll get the barking on some sort of cue. The question is, how long will it take to get rid of it when I no longer want it offered?

In the evening we did training and saw a break through with the mat: she consistently went directly to the mat and sat down immediately. She's also quicker to get up when I say and then signal "free."

Chin target: clicking for holding still while I move my free hand around in front of her head.

Paw target: very consistent, quick response now. Starting to raise the target into the air, which requires extra coordination and body awareness, so is a challenge.

Bucket game: just started. The beginning is just like her stand-stay training with a visual target so she picked it up quickly. Lowering the bucket to the ground will be a challenge.

Day 47 (10/27/17): PetCo, downtown, formal training update

We went into PetCo for about 15 minutes. This was Terra's first time in this location. We ran through some of her skills: eye contact/IYC, stand-stay, chin target, hand target. We did some walking around, including into a pen that they use for training, which has a narrow entrance (intimidating!). I am impressed with how responsive Terra is to small amounts of leash pressure, which I still haven't gotten around to actually training at home with no distractions. I am adding the cue "wait" when I want her to stop forward movement. She often, of her own accord, then backs up so that she is closer to me and lined up at my left side. OMG looooove

In the evening we went downtown, for the last street fair of the year. We mostly stayed in the park adjacent to the fair, watching people come and go and listening to the noises. There were a few times she experienced trigger stacking (ie, someone coming toward us plus a loud noise plus barking dog in distance) but overall she did well, as usual. Practiced eye contact and chin target.

Curling up with her snuggle buddy in the car.

Considering chasing her tail.

Our formal training stalled out while I was down, so let's figure out where we are:
IYC/eye contact: fairly solid when I have a closed fist with treats inside at eye level. Can contrast with hand target (two fingers sticking out and cue "touch"). Progressing to placing fist closer to her head and making contact, a la Sue Ailsby's "no hand" for conformation. (Teaches dog to hold still while you handle them even if you are holding food in your hand.)

Touch: fairly solid nose touch to two fingers pointing out. Cue is "touch." Mostly using this to gauge her ability to focus among distractions.

Stand-stay: Goes into solid stand reliably. Cue is the two finger "touch" leading quickly away from her nose and up. Will hold for about 5 seconds unless around distractions. Working on being able to step in front of her as if assessing her stack while she holds focus on the hand. (After that I'll add more of my own movement, then handling.)

Chin target: fairly solid on placing her chin in my hand, and because she enjoys the contact, she often rests her head heavily on it. Awww. Adding duration, currently at 2 seconds. Working from both stand and sit.

Paw target: using a plastic coaster. Reliable in placing her paw on it when I hold it on the floor. If my hand is not touching it, she does a swipe instead of a place. I'm backing up to get more reinforcement for deliberate placement rather than swiping. (After that I will move on to using the paw target for body awareness exercises.)

Mat: usually places all four feet on her new, large mat. When I add duration she naturally sits and then lies down (because she is lazy) and I reward that.

Hand stripping: doesn't seem to mind stripping her ears. I keep it short and use high value treats after every tug. I need to introduce her to the bucket game.


I want to teach her to bark on cue, but I don't want to reinforce barking when she currently does it (when she wants out of her crate or when she's on the other side of the baby gate and wants attention). So I'm experimenting with having her with us while I practice barking with Chimera.

Recap Days 35-46 (10/15/17 - 10/26/17): food, socialization with dogs, people, & places

It's been a while since I updated Terra's blog because I've been in a depressive episode and couldn't keep up. Some of her training has fallen behind, but I've continued to take her out and about. She has more energy now and needs more play and training and exercise to settle easily at bedtime.

Her weight as of yesterday is 61.5 lbs. She's small for her age, but she's growing and looks and acts healthy. She's lost a bunch of teeth and her adult molars are coming in. She's having trouble chewing and I've been grinding up all of her raw meat. I stopped giving her meaty bones because she was chewing them up the bare minimum needed to be able to swallow giant chunks, and then wasn't digesting them properly. I hope to add them back in once more of her adult teeth come back in. In the meantime she's getting bone meal mixed into her meat and organs and other supplements. I also mix in chicken broth or a small amount of bacon grease with warm water to encourage her to eat it all. Otherwise she doesn't want to eat when there's a change of protein source.

Here are the highlights of our adventures for the past 12 days:
My pushy Belgian Malinois client stayed for five days. When Terra was younger and less confident, I had been very worried about having this dog stay with me again. But this was good timing - the girls loved each other and Terra was just as pushy to play with her. At first I had to hover and referee to make sure the Malinois wasn't knocking Terra around. The more I intervened and prevented her from punching and jumping on Terra, the calmer the play was and I could relax somewhat. I'm looking forward to having them together when Terra is larger and less vulnerable. They'll be good playmates.

We visited Miki and her two little kids again. Once again Terra kept wanting to approach and lick their faces. They were not as into it. I'd love to get her around some kids who are older and dog-savvy.

Her vaccinations are all done other than rabies, which I didn't want to give at the same time. The tech was great - massaged her shoulders and slipped the needle in quickly. I play-wrestled with Terra's head while she did it, and the pup didn't even notice.

Took a second trip into Lowe's and two into PetSmart. She's more confident every time. The last trip to PetSmart, we were able to do rapid-fire training on hand touch, chin target, eye contact, stand-stay, and walking at my side. We also took a break to sit/lie on the floor and look around.

Chimera had a Fast CAT trial and of course I took Terra along for socialization. She had some brief moments of being overwhelmed but really settled in. She wanted treats and play and pulled toward people standing nearby to get petting (particularly women, but also a few men). Met an adult female Wolfhound and they sniffed each other's privates but were not as excited to see each other as I'd expected.

We've had some negative experiences around men, when they approached too close too quickly. Sometimes it's hard to stop people in time. I need to get faster; my natural reticence to engage with strangers gets in the way.

Had another session of puppy class. We were able to participate in an exercise in which we paired up and practicing approaching and walking past other owners and puppies. I had string cheese, which seems to be her highest value treat so far. We skipped the play time at the end because I'm worried about Terra playing too rough and scaring another puppy, and harming its socialization. She gets plenty of social time with other dogs at home and when visiting friends, and currently her social skills are just right for her age.

Went to Cai's Agility class and hung out in a heavy duty x pen I brought. She wasn't worried about being there but got upset when I would walk away (whining, demand-barking, and pawing at the pen). She also dug holes in the gravel. Next time I need to bring a thick mat and fresh chew, and a separate crate for Cai so he doesn't steal it.

She loves to dig - she's also tried to dig holes in the wood chips in the yard (doesn't get far because there is landscape fabric over the ground) and in dirt while we were on a walk.

When she's bored or wants something she sometimes raises her paws and scratches at the wall. Noooooo bad puppy!

Visited Auntie Agnes yesterday and played nicely with little Frankie and was much more comfortable walking along busy Mission St. Peed three times in the condo and didn't pee when we took her outside to a quiet area. She's banned from visiting again until she's potty trained/more comfortable peeing in public. She does get agitated and pace just before peeing indoors but it's hard to recognize because she also walks all around the place because she's excited and wants to check things out and play. I can tell when she's about to poop because she raises her tail up a few paces beforehand.

Day 33 (10/13/17): Sherry's again

Today was similar to the day before. Terra waited in the car while I trained a boarding dog with Sherry's help, then they switched places and Terra got to run around the big field with some other dogs. Before we left, I asked Sherry to practice two things with her: hand touch and stand-stay. Terra nailed both of them. Woohoo!

Day 31 (10/11/17): bath, training, Home Depot

Terra got a bath. She smells so much better now.

SO SAD

WHY DID U DO THIS TO ME

The fur on her back was sticking up afterwards.

SAD DOG

She now consistently goes to the mat and stands and looks at me. I'm jackpotting for sits on it. She also plants herself into an awesome stand across my body, facing right (as for conformation). I've started adding my movement to the picture. Working on getting her to place her chin in my palm rather than me putting my palm under her chin. In nose work, she consistently puts her nose by the tin when I'm holding it at head height (and I have treats in the other hand at head height). Now we're working on lowering the tin (and treats) to the floor.

We went by the vet's for another weight: 56.5 lbs.

After that we headed to Home Depot. My favorite way to introduce a dog to stores is to visit a plant nursery, or go into the nursery area of Home Depot/Lowe's/OSH. They tend to be more open (plants on tables rather than aisles that completely block your view) and look like a blend of outdoor (more familiar) and indoor spaces. Terra immediately walked into the nursery, letting her nose lead the way. I had to pull her away from a few plants she wanted to chew on. We headed into the store proper after a few minutes.

I stopped in a little open area just to the side of the door. Terra was overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds and smells and started circling around me, trying to take everything in. I waited until she stopped, and because standing is tiring, she sat and then laid down. I squatted down and pet her for a while, letting her continue to process.

When I felt like she was ready to walk around, we headed through the aisles. For the most part she was leading the way into new parts of the store. Sometimes I guided her down specific areas (mostly to avoid people or animated Halloween and Christmas decorations). Sometimes people scared her and she wanted to retreat, but she doesn't always choose the best direction to go, so I have to use the leash to interrupt her and encourage her to turn in a different direction. Sometimes people made her only slightly anxious, and by putting a hand on her shoulder, I was able to get her to just pause and wait for them to go by. So there was some negative reinforcement for both walking with me, and for standing at my side. There were also times that she didn't react to people, and a few times that she wanted to approach - even, one time, a man!

We stayed in the store too long. After 35 minutes she sat down and gave a couple of yawns. We left as soon as she was ready to walk again. I'd give this trip a B-; there was still a lot more good than bad.

Day 28 (10/08/17): puppy class take two

We finally returned to puppy class! We had missed the previous two weeks due to scheduling conflicts. Our first time "in class" had required staying VERY far from the dogs and people, and just doing our own thing. Terra has made so much progress in the meantime, that we were able to (slowly) make our way over to the gathered puppies and owners, put a mat down, and join in! Terra hesitated when she saw the big group, but then was willing to proceed without any help from me.

We didn't participate in the exercises, as Terra couldn't focus with all the activity going on. We spent half the time just walking the perimeter and sniffing around. We hung out on our mat, though Terra sometimes pulled toward the nearest pups. I'm very happy that she's now willing to approach other dogs after just a moment of checking them out... but now I need to be careful that she doesn't develop leash frustration!

Toward the end of the hour, rather than being tired out, Terra was more settled and able to give me more focus. She turned down the peanut butter and berry flavored Bark Pouch, but was eager to eat the Real Meat treats I got from Jodi. We did hand targets, a teeny bit of stand-stay, IYC/eye contact, and a little walking at my side.

I didn't have Terra join in the off leash play that the instructor does at the end of the class. I'm happy that she is more comfortable with dogs, but she's getting plenty of social time with the boarders and when we visit friends with dogs. When we're in a class or trial setting, it's work time and not play time.

A few women and two men approached over the course of the class. I had them all stop at a distance that Terra still found comfortable (about 10 feet) and let her approach them. With the women she was very quick to approach would get into their personal bubble. She was hesitant with one of the men and sniffed him but kept her back end oriented away from him. The second man had a disability and his speech was different from "normal," and his body language was more stiff and still than most. Terra approached for a moment but then backed up, then backed up more, and I turned her and led her a few extra feet away at that point. I'm guessing that it was the body language that alarmed her.

One more thing about her socialization with people - they all wanted to give her treats as she approached, and I let them despite a voice in my brain saying "noooo." I should have listened to it instead of giving in to peer pressure. What I got was a puppy that started to approach people to mug them, without being more comfortable in their space thanks to it. God damn it, I know better! I was being too nice/polite. Next time I will say, "don't give her any treats, but you can get down low and offer petting."

I love this bright yellow patch on her cheeks.

First tooth lost!

Day 26 (10/06/17): growth assessment, great trip to park, food, training

Chimera had his monthly visit to his amazing chiropractor, and I took Terra along for socialization. She was ready to greet everyone at the clinic. It was all women on staff, and I'm sure she recognized the setting as similar to our regular clinic, where she's comfortable. You couldn't tell that she's normally shy with strangers.

The doctor noticed that her front feet are a bit "easty-westy" (turning out to the side), and said that it's because her bones have grown but the muscles and tendons haven't caught up and aren't strong enough. She said to cut back on the extra portions I was giving her. She also said that otherwise she's looking good, and not to compare her growth to her siblings, but just look at the dog in front of me. I'll keep bringing Terra along on Cai's appointments, so Dr Wallace can watch her growth and keep an eye on things for me.

At twilight I got her out to Arroyo Park in Davis. She showed a big jump in her comfort level with people walking toward us and passing us. She still sometimes retreated and/or hid behind me, but other times she stood her ground and air scented and wagged her tail, and a few times she even stepped toward the strangers!

We also cuddled and wrestled and ran around. So much fun!

On the way home.

I still gave her a small amount of bacon fat with the organ meat in her ground meat at breakfast. At dinner I skipped it, and added her supplements instead. (She hasn't been getting the supplements since the diarrhea.) She seems to really like the fish oil, and I added some water from cooking chicken. She ate it all with gusto.

Training updates:
Stand-stay: still switching up duration between 1-5 seconds to get her really solid on it.

Mat: she finally would step onto the mat with her front feet, then pause and look up with that "where's my click?" look! Next step is adding duration.

Chin rest: just started this. Easy-peasy because she LOVES physical contact. Rather than shaping or luring, I just placed my hand under her chin and gave multiple rewards in a row. I'll keep repeating this until I see little movements of her head toward my hand.

Target stick: mostly review; she will now follow it easily in a circle.

Touch (hand target): adding the verbal cue and getting her to look for it and follow it.

Nose work: still at the first step of choosing to place her nose by the tin while I hold food in the other hand. I had been using a treat toss to reset and switch hands, but she started staring at the floor rather than offering duration at the tin. After two sessions with no reset treats, just lifting my hands away to reset, she had some duration.

Day 24 (10/04/17): training progress, visiting Agnes

Training is still progressing in baby steps, but I saw progress in multiple skills today. She's getting the hang of deliberately working for the treats. I got a little bit of duration at source in Nose Work, and more consistent duration of 4-5seconds in stand-stay. She was going to the mat with more intent rather than looking like she happened to wander on it. (I'm still working on getting her to go to the mat and then pause on her own.) We worked on IYC with eye contact while she was lying down and I kneeled in front of her, which was a new picture for her. The best one was that I got great nose touches to my hand target with both hands. I would toss the reward away and she was quickly returning to earn the next one.

We wrestled on the floor when training was done.

Today's field trip was to visit Auntie Agnes in San Francisco. She lives on a busy street and the number of people around was overwhelming for Terra, especially when they were walking right toward us. But as soon as we got off the main street, she was didn't react negatively to anything around her. She even peed on the sidewalk, though I had to stand and let her circle around me for a couple minutes first.

Once we were inside the apartment, she immediately relaxed and started exploring. Agnes' little dog, Frankie, was excited and zooming back and forth. The first few passes made Terra uneasy, but soon they started playing and were both running back and forth. So adorable. We did have to institute breaks as Frankie would wind up rather than correcting her as Chimera does.

When Frankie had had enough, he jumped up onto the couch next to Agnes and settled down. He growled when Terra got too close, and she definitely understood that message. She wandered around a little bit and found toys and chews, then settled on the rug and fell asleep. Such an easy puppy.

Amy said, "She looks like a muppet." She really does.

At the end I asked Agnes to practice the hand target, and Terra quickly recognized it and did 4 successful targets in a row. Then Agnes tried to do the stand-stay but Terra didn't recognize the cue and tried to just get petting or walk around. Thanks Agnes for helping do a little generalization for us!

Food-wise, Terra is back on 100% raw and doing well. I added a quarter of a daily portion of chicken liver and pork kidney to her breakfast and dinner. She didn't like the organs, which I've heard is fairly common. I minced them finely and mixed them into her breakfast and she just left a few pieces of organ in the bowl. At dinner I chopped a less finely, and she ate around it.

Day 23 (10/03/17): nose work, grocery store, playing with Cai

Terra was still tired out all morning and afternoon from her long play session with Beedo yesterday.

I added a half portion of chicken liver and pork kidney to her breakfast. I had to mince it and mix well with the ground chicken meat to get her to eat them. She left a few pieces at the bottom of the bowl once she had eaten all the chicken meat. Cai didn't want the organs either.

I took her to the grocery store. First we walked around the sidewalk at the perimeter of the shopping center. She was happy to explore but was slightly overwhelmed by all the new - she would sometimes walk in a circle around me to look at everything. She did not react at all to the cars driving by at 45 mph. (She has never reacted to traffic.) Then we sat down at a table a little ways from the entrance to the grocery store. We watched people going back and forth for an hour. (Okay, I was on the phone for much of that.) She mostly laid at my feet. Once a man walked by very close, and she didn't react as she hadn't noticed him coming. Later a woman passed at the same distance, but Terra saw her approach and the woman made eye contact. Terra stood up and hid behind my chair.

Two young women approached and asked to say hello. I held up the "stop" signal, then said that she's shy and if they stood over there (about ten feet away) and called her, she might choose to come over. They did, and she went up to them almost immediately! She went right into the personal space of the woman standing a tad closer, and licked her face and turned herself sideways to her. When the second woman leaned in closer, Terra sniffed her hand and then backed toward the first woman. I think the combination of two new people was too much for her, and she had already identified the first woman as friendly and safe. After a little more petting from the first one, she returned to me with a happy wag. Yay!

After dinner, I left her and Cai in the kitchen as I took the boarding dog out to potty. I heard Cai's play sounds coming through the window and was very confused. I walked in to find them both making happy faces. I put the boarding dog away, and turned around to find this!!

I had not seen that coming! Cai had been making a few affiliative gestures toward Terra, like doing a slow hip check when she was lying down, but I didn't expect to see full on play so soon.

I let them play for a few minutes, then removed Cai when he seemed to be tiring out. Mostly Terra toned down her play when he would correct her, but she clearly still wanted to continue when he was ready to chill. I gave her a new toy from Auntie Sherry, then she alternated chewing on a bully stick, smoked beef bone, dental chew, and the ladder to my loft bed.

We got some good training time in today. We did 3 short nose work sessions, still doing IYC with treats in one hand and the hot tin in the other, and rewarding the dog for putting their nose near the tin. She definitely gets the idea, though she still sometimes gets distracted by the treats. At first I was using itty bitty pieces of chicken so that she wouldn't spend a lot of time chewing - she thoroughly chews even the tiniest treats, like Tiny Zukes or even pea-sized bits of cooked chicken. But a lot of them were dropping onto the floor, so I switched to the Bark Pouch. She was much more motivated then! Also made more mistakes due to the allure of "berrylicious peanut butter." The downside was that I got some licking of the tin, since she would put her nose to it before she had finished licking and swallowing the goop on her tongue. We'll do a few more sessions at least of step 1 before we progress.

We practiced with the mat, and while she is going straight to the mat after every reset toss, she will keep walking rather than stopping on top of it. She then loops and goes to it again. I'll continue with putting multiple treats down on the mat and see if it clicks... Maybe a raised platform would be better, but I don't have one big enough!

We had a nice session of nose touch to target fingers and tossing the reward away. I need to focus on creating clean loops and short sessions to build a good work ethic, as her tendency to do a loop around the room every few reps slows everything down.

So sleepy.

She often sleeps with her eyes slightly open and the third eyelid showing. Creepy.

Day 22 (10/02/17): playing at park, new people and dog, nose work

Terra weighed in at 49.5 lbs on the vet's scale. She said hello to a couple new staff members. She happily walked up to one standing but was wary of the two sitting in big black rolling chairs.

We drove to Cooper School Park. We arrived at 2:15. Terra walked and sniffed around under her own initiative. She hid between my legs when a man walked by 15 feet away, and retreated farther behind me when he called out "hello doggy." She resumed exploring. She laid down on the grass.

At 2:30 the elementary school next door ended their day. I hadn't known that was coming and was worried, but Terra handled it better than I'd expected. She watched the kids walking by from her shady spot in the middle of the park, and sniffed the breeze. She didn't show any overt stress signals, just curiosity. At 2:37 she stood up and resumed sniffing around. She even wanted to approach three kids playing nearby (I didn't let her as it was not a controlled enough situation).

At 2:45 we started playing, switching up between jaw and paw wrestling, running, cuddling, and resting. We both had a grand time. Twice more she tried to approach the three kids, with her tail wagging higher and faster each time. But I don't want to let her interact with kids I don't know at this point in time.

At 3 pm we returned to the car. Terra spooked when a girl came around a corner and turned right toward us. She tried to run directly away but I used the leash to steer her off the side instead.

She went into her crate for a nap. More demand barking put through extinction. Ugh.

I had invited a couple clients to come over with their six month old Dalmatian, Beedo. I particularly wanted Terra to meet the boyfriend, and then the pup. We were outside when they arrived, which gave Terra a good sightline and plenty of warning that new people were approaching. She quickly went up to the fence to say hello to the girlfriend. She backed away for a moment when the boyfriend came up, but he talked sweetly to her and put his fingers through the fence, and she tentatively came up to sniff his hand. When they came into the yard, again she approached the woman but retreated briefly from the man. As the minutes went by, she was willing to get closer to him, and at the 25 minute mark she came all the way up and pushed into him for a cuddle.

Soon after that, I had them bring Beedo over. Terra came right up to the fence to sniff him. As he came through the gate, she let him sniff her but tensed and slightly tucked her tail, and then walked away for about 30 seconds. She came back and they sniffed each other again. Beedo wanted to sniff all around and wasn't pushy with her. After a couple of minutes she wandered off and found a big wood chip to chew on. Then Beedo did the same.

It wasn't until Terra went all the way up to the boyfriend, and then placed her paws on his shoulders, that Beedo thought about playing with her - she had been too quiet before. Now he pawed at her head and shoulders. Terra responded in kind - "oh, we're playing now?" And they were off to the races! They ran around and around the yard, and wrestled. They played for an hour (with self-imposed breaks).

Kangaroo-puppy!

I signed up for a gold spot in Nose Work 101: Introduction to Nose Work at the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Class officially started yesterday and my vials and scent q-tips arrived today. I had ordered a kit with the NACSW scents (birch, anise, clove). I hope that the AKC scent sport will take off locally and there will be more opportunities to trial, but for now I'm just assuming that we'll do NACSW.

The first homework assignment is an IYC-style targeting exercise: hold treats in one hand and a hot tin in the other, and reward the dog at source when they choose to check out the tin. Terra startled at the strong smell. She did quickly choose to move toward the tin rather than futilely nosing at my treat fist, however she's not at all "drivey." She will do a few reps of one behavior, then take a lap around the room and drink some water, then sniff the floor, then either return to work or just lie down. That's okay - her ability to focus and desire to stay in the game are slowly increasing over time. It just doesn't make for snappy video.

We also practiced stand-stays and we can sometimes get to 4-5 seconds. She is rarely manding in confusion. But she will walk off and sniff around every few treats. Gotta keep it short and sweet, and give breaks before she decides to take them on her own.

Day 20 (09/30/17): two more people, crate barking, play, farm animals

The boarding doodle when home this morning, so no more easy way of tiring the puppy out, haha. A new boarding dog got dropped off but she is initially scared of new dogs so I have to keep them separate.

Terra was in her crate and the bedroom door was closed when the dog's owners arrived, as I wasn't sure if they had brought their dog to the front door or left her in the car. This worked out great because Terra heard them come in but it was a less intense moment. The dog was in the car, so I had the owners bring her supplies in, and when I brought the crate into the bedroom Terra was excited and wanted to come out. She immediately approached the owners, did mildly tentative sniffing, then got some petting but wasn't quite as into it as she has been other times. I bet if they had given her treats she would have felt even more friendly and wanted more petting afterwards, as that's what's happened before. As it was, she just settled down on the floor after a moment, but was nice and relaxed.

She had to spend more time in the crate than usual for the afternoon and early evening, and boy did she give me an earful. When she was having diarrhea, she learned that she could wake me up by whining and/or barking and I would take her out. That was useful then, but now she needs to UNlearn it. She quiets down quickly if I am outside of the house (as when I walked the boarding dog around the orchard), but when I'm home she thinks that the barking will work for her.

I gave her a frozen kong I'd made with Honest Kitchen and a "seal" of peanut butter. She loves the PB but only bothered to get part of the HK out. It's not so interesting since she gets it all the time. I have a few more kongs in the freezer but next time I'll put more unusual things in them - I didn't want to go wild at the beginning since I was still nervous about her tummy. Fortunately all has been well on that front. It seems like the roundworms really were the problem (probably combined with stress), and not the food change by itself.

We played tug and she was pulling hard until some blood appeared on the toy and she switched to just regripping and chewing on it. I hope I find her baby teeth! Cai swallowed all of his except one.

We did mat shaping again, and this time I had Cai in the room lying on his mat. He did perfectly; he didn't get up even once. I also had her follow the target stick around my body, to introduce the concept of following the target to learn another behavior (ie, right finish, or circling around)

She tried to play with Cai while they were outside together. She barked and pawed at him. He usually hates this and corrects strongly, but he seems to have formed an attachment to her and only gave half-hearted corrections, and didn't bother moving away from her when she stopped. A few times he even jumped toward her head with his front paws up, which was a play move. I was quite surprised.

We took a walk around the front of the house with Terra on a long line and deciding where to go (as long as she didn't try to eat goat or cat poop). She saw the goats, chickens, and cats. She was mostly relaxed and curious. She just got spooked when the rooster flew up into a tree, making loud ungainly flapping noises, and when one of the goats lowered her head and took a few steps forward in a clear threat display (which she never follows up on).

She pooped while we were out. So far Terra has pooped on asphalt, gravel, wood chips, and grass. No weird substrate preferences here!

Spoiled puppy.

What a goof.

No idea how her ears turned into corkscrews.

Growing!

She loves this rubbery toy.