Posts filed under ‘Training’
Nipping, Mania and Buffy.
Side Profile.
We were warned by Tracey that things get worse before they get better. Phoenix has been quite “nippy” over the past few days so we’ve stepped up the rewarding all good behaviour routine. She now knows “Sit” and “Stand” and is learning “Off” (to get off the furniture).
She has to be monitored and offered things to do all the time she’s awake, otherwise she gets bored. So we keep trying new things with her and make sure the plastic bottles keep a-coming. Luckily, Phoenix is sleeping a lot and is also easy to calm down. The manic episodes after the evening meal have begun, but we’ve found getting her to sit and then rewarding her, brings her back down to earth again. It must be frustrating having all that puppy energy but not being allowed to romp around outside for longer the ten minutes at a time, as otherwise your legs go wonky and your hips fall off. It’s the Uber-Suck as Buffy would put it.
It’s OK the Washing Machine’s Safe.
Puppy Gurus Logo.
The first Puppy Gurus training session. This was for human companions only. We left Phoenix on her own for two hours which is the longest she’s ever been left so far. We’d been building up periods of isolation from a couple of minutes up to about half an hour. We’d heard tales of dogs left alone destroying sofas and gnawing washing machines in half so were unsure what to expect.
In the event, she slept through the whole period and was just waking up when we got back and starting to tuck into a chicken wing.
Tracey gave out a lot of info, which has to be read and will be tested next week. Nobody mentioned homework…
Heel, toe, heel, heel, toe.
Alert.
Training to walk to heel has been going on for about four days and Phoenix is beginning to get the hang of it. She’s still over stimulated by the outside environment so it has to be a balance between letting her explore new things and keeping her attention on Tim and the walk. Best way around this has been to walk her at dawn and dusk when there’s less info available to her and she can can focus on the task in hand. However, there were still enough stops to investigate badger and fox trails.
Phoenix has graduated from her PVC blue baby collar* onto her first proper clip collar which is doing the business with the flexi lead making heel training easier because it was impossible for her to ever pull on the lead. So Phoenix has the freedom to move around and the choice of coming back to walk to heel without getting into a tangled mess.
Flexi leads aren’t normally advised for training purposes but for heel training it’s proving to be invaluable.
*actually it’s soft felt but it looks like PVC.
Should we have called her Chewie?
Puppy Sarcasm?
Let’s talk power chewing – God the power chewing. If it moves, chew it, if it doesn’t move, chew it, if it neither moves nor doesn’t move, chew it anyway, just to be safe.
When we first met Phoenix at three weeks old, the first thing she did when Tim sat in the welping box was to come over and chew his foot and it hasn’t stopped since.
Our favourite chewing episode was discovering the shredded front cover of “The Power of Positive Training” in pieces, which must have been skilfully selected and then stolen while our backs were turned, in order to wreak a terrible hypodermic-tooth filled justice on it. Perhaps this is Phoenix’s first attempt at irony?
On the plus side, the plastic milk bottles come along brand new everyday, so it’s like an ongoing Christmas for Phoenix. Second to bottles are carrots; – busting with vitamin C and oh so crunchy.
Return of the Party Animal
At large.
Today’s puppy party was thrown by Tracey B. the “Puppy Guru” lady. She is very cool, and kept a crowd of eight eager pooches under tight (but gentle) control. Tracey is a strong advocate of positive training methods, she’s an animal behaviourist and a member of the International Positive Dog Training Association. Her brand phrase is “respect, kindness, harmony”. The basic principle is you reward every piece of good behaviour and ignore or interrupt any undesirable ones and NEVER punish your dog.*
Tracey also works with violent teenagers using the same techniques so, respect due!
Apart from a spaniel, Phoenix was the largest dog there, this didn’t stop her getting out and about and pressing the flesh though- she was polite and enthusiastic and remarkably self controlled. She did struggle during the early part of the party, as the dogs were let off the lead one at a time over the two hours, for around ten minutes.
No problems in the car – now definitely established as the provider of good things and the vet as her favourite place EVA!!!
*I love the fact that nothing is ever the puppy’s fault, it’s always the owner who’s to blame for not thinking ahead. It’s a very “oy vey iz mir” approach, but it works.
Gotta love those ears!
Love those Ears!
First ride in New Sling.
Did we mention the baby sling? Well, it came a few days ago, and today we took Phoenix out to our nearest town, Torrington, as part of her socialisation programme. Phoenix can’t go on the ground until her second set of injections have taken effect.
Not many people around, the wind was strong and she found this a little disconcerting – ears a-flapping. We met a labrador and human friend, after checking his vaccinations were in order, they had a brief interaction which went well for everyone.
Today was also the day Phoenix discovered the joy of empty plastic milk bottles. Despite an array of expensive designer dog toys, she prefers to hurtle around with an old milk container in her mouth. This must be a variation on the “kid prefers the cardboard box to the toy inside” routine.
Ice is Nice.
Walking on Water.
First journey around the land – we live on five acres of land which is planted up with around 1900 trees and shrubs. There’s also a river and a woodland. This was the first time our pond had frozen up – Adam took a chance and walked out into the middle. Phoenix decided it looked like fun and slip-walked her way out too, causing mild heart attacks all round. The words “hip dysplasia” and “astronomical vet bills” echoed in our heads as Phoenix effortlessly glided over the ice. Luckily, she soon wandered onto land again.
Phoenix is more or less toilet trained now – apart from an occasional accident. It’s been the use of the crate that has regulated her bladder,we were unsure about the whole crate thing as it seemed like we were caging her up, but she has found it a place of safety and comfort, retreating whenever she needed to. A bit like a den in the wild.
This, along with clicking and treating at the right moment, in the right place, has worked really quickly and really well.
She seems to be a smart cookie this one…but then we would say that wouldn’t we?!
Party Animal
Tim trying out new sling indoors.
First attempts at “stacking” using the clicker and treat method – as a preparation for Phoenix’s big turn in the (future?) show ring…show-biz is calling.
… we had a semi hunger strike on our hands. Phoenix took a look at her biscuit based breakfast and basically refused to eat – where’s the good stuff? Y’know the meaty stuff. Biscuits no longer working as a treat – not cutting the mustard anymore. Luckily we’d already stocked a freezer up with her specialist raw food. We made a 50/50 blend of raw food and biscuit, mixing them up. This was accepted without any problem.
There were only a couple of other dogs at the puppy party – organised by the lovely nurses at the vets in their own time – seven were expected and only two turned up. A springer-spaniel called Sasha (who barked a lot – an unfortunate trick which Phoenix immediately took up as her own. Arf and indeed Arf!). The other party animal was a beautifully trained 14 month old rescue border collie belonging to one of the nurses.
Sasha was quite timid and over-awed by the whole thing and also by Phoenix’s confidence and bouncy demeanour. Phoenix and the collie had an intensive play session and as usual she gave as good as she got…
Sleep update: not much of a problem, a bit of a howl at night but then all is well.
Chewing: oh, the chewing! We have been following the advice of Ian Dunbar (“Before and After Getting Your Puppy”) who says you should allow your dog to bite you in order to give appropriate feedback as to the intensity of the bite, so they can gradually soften the bite pressure. This is called bite inhibition. She seems to be softening her bite: only mouthing gently…
Car Frolics.
Phoenix, Indi and Annabel
Phoenix met Meg, our neighbour’s border collie as well as Eric (our nearest neighbour and Meg’s human companion). Tim took Phoenix out in the car for four very short runs to desensitise her, this, combined with nibbly treats, led to a calmer and more accepting attitude, Phoenix has started to associate the car with good, rather than bad things.
Vet Visit.
Phoenix at six weeks.
Today, Phoenix went to the Vets for her first injection. Only the second time ever in the car: she still wasn’t crazy about it. She didn’t mind being in the car, it was the sight of the landscape speeding by that tipped her over the edge. Treats worked well to distract her.
Once we got to the vets, she loved it. Everybody made a huge fuss of her, staff and visitors. Carolyn the vet, noted on her record that she was a “lovely and extremely well socialised pup”. Phoenix was microchipped and, like her injection, she didn’t notice it happening at all, being much more interested in the biscuit bribe that the vet offered her.
Phoenix was given a clean bill of health, the vet commented that Phoenix was big for her age and wasn’t she actually ten weeks old rather than eight weeks!
Phoenix was invited to two puppy parties.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 