Day two of scary floor training

Say two was a success! We practice our scary floor game in WAGDs bathroom. I had him touch the door for treats (which we have played before) and then I sent him inside to grab a treat and he didn't hunker to the ground. He didn't want to be in there but he added a little speed. Still biting down hard at the treats as if he's going to trip and fall but we made progress :)

Js surface problem

About a year or two ago, we used to go to Petco a lot to shop. I made one mistake. I would always let my little brother carry Jasper's leash as we would walk around the store. When my brother would want to run to another aisle, he would pull Jasper on the leash. A problem occurred. When Jasper was pulled, he would slip on the slick surface. This has now made him very frightened about slick surfaces. So, anytime we are in Petco, Petsmart, or a place with shiny looking floors, Jasper will dig in to the ground and sometimes even make himself slip. So, today I have started a training plan. This is day one.

Day one: I took Jasper to Petco. I clicked and treated him when we first approached the store. I then waited for eye contact. This assures that he's comfortable.  We moved to inside the store. I clicked, but j wasn't concerned with his reward. We stood there until he felt a little bit more comfortable and I fed him. We clicked and treated for just standing there. We had a lot of distractions which made things harder. A man had a long aquarium bulb he was pointing at us while he was asking questions about Jasper. His kids also tried to approach and shied away multiple times. I was using kibble. Generally a high value treat doesn't seem to change things with him but next time I'll try this. 

When rewarding, he was biting down hard, which indicated he was clearly worried. I feel like there was some progress made. He was able to walk a few steps without hunching down too much. After a good four or so minutes, we left. That's all we planned to do this morning. We will try again tomorrow.

J News

Jasper is now 4, almost 5, and it's blowing my mind. I know he will grow to be an old doggy, maybe 12 or 13, but it's really had me emotional lately. I can not believe he will be 5 next year..

I feel as if we are growing even more of a bond.. someone called him a perfect puppy yesterday, and really... he is! I mean, aside from his barking antics fun police stuff, by god, he's a great dog. He's become a lot less social with people, and not in a bad way, but he doesn't care to be pet, he would rather stay close to mom, and that's fine. Most dogs don't like a pat on the head anyhow!

I've been getting so sad lately about losing him one day.. and while that day is far from now, it's just been rattling in my head lately. Jasper has always been close to me. He has helped me through a lot. I had a crappy past, and he always made me feel so much better. At one point in time.. he was all I had.. and I thank him for ALWAYS being there for me. Not ever having a dog, I have experienced so much from in in so short of time. People throw around the word "heart dog" and I never really knew if he would be the "one" I would call my heart dog.. but.. these past few weeks, I feel as though he is. I look forward to the days when he is a senior.. I've always imagine rolling him in a little Radio Flyer down the trails, to the lake, and can not wait to take care of his every need, but I also fear it so much.

I love my JJ.. my best, my sweetest, my heart dog.

Back To Bloggin'

Yep, let's try this again. Let's start focusing back on Jasper... and start tricks again.

let's refresh my memory..

• Sit (working on sit on command if he is very far away)
• Down
• Stand
• Roll over
• Beg
• Speak
• Spin
• Twirl
• Go get leash
• Peek a boo
• Walk backwards
• Shake
• High 5
• Double high 5
• Touch
• Go to crate
• Go to mat
• Cross paws
• Bang! you're dead!
• Weave while I walk
• Swim
• dig on command (he doesn't have a problem with digging, he lives in doors)
• Fetch
• Drop it
• Leave it
• Stay (40 paces ish) ... now WAY MORE..across the field is more accurate
• recall is very good 8/10 ..(no its bad now.. its like 7/10 now) we will work on this
• Heel is so so but he knows how to
• Wipe paws on door mat
• Working on recycling ..he has it down
• Put his toys up
• Show his big butt
• Hold objects in his mouth
• Open a crate
• Close a crate
• Balance a treat on his nose
• Back up
• Tissue Retrieval
• Closing a door
• Opening a door
• Car Manners (crate game stuff) he wont leave without a release
• Head Down
• and a ton more I can't think of right now.....

and what I want to work on is holding a hot dog in his mouth, say his prayers, polish his tricks so I don't have to use my hand as a lure, saying no by shaking his head no, limp, boundaries at parks, and more when i figure it out.

lets do this!

Dog City!

Yes! Me and Jasper have been B-U-S-Y. It's all good though because our job is fun! Sure you may have to clean up accidents here and there, and sure you may have to walk the dog out in the Texas heat but it is so worth it. I mean, Jasper gets to come with me all the time, we get to attend classes and have play time breaks all day.

I am also learning a lot. It is so interesting to see how a dog from different environments pick up on things. You can tell which dogs get a lot of attention and training and the others that just have started the basics. I mean there are some dogs out there that have no clue how to think for themselves. For example, last week, me and Paula wanted to train tricks for class and neither puppy even understood how to target an object at all. They just were not picking up on it, and I mean, eventually they will pick up on it no doubt, but it is so different of how the way "our" dogs train. I mean Jasper and the crew of dogs I know would just "get" it.  These guys need many sessions to just get the basics of it and who knows if their parents will take the time and train it.

Alot of people assume everything will be taught in the matter of 6 weeks and in 6 hours time, one hour each week. Well, unfortunately it is not like that. You have to work with your doggy! :)

So let's talk about Dog City more! This Friday we start our nose work class where Jasper will start basics on scent work for canines. Then we will attend out regular Treibball class on Saturday and then start a therapy dog class soon. Treibball is going great. Jasper just started to understand his placement on a mat and a hoop "base." He needs a better push on his ball but we will get there.

Like I said, things have been busy, but I managed to get some shots of Jasper and his friends up at Dog City. Above and to the right is a Border Collie named Ivie. She is so cute. Everytime I said "Hellllooooo" she would tilt her head and smile. So adorable.

 And the two big dogs are Phil and Prada. The puppy, well I do not know! Cute little guy though! By the way, Jasper's toy drive is much better! I think it is because he is building more stamina and muscle and losing more weight. He will charge after the ball and for the first time ever, we used the clicker with a ball instead of a treat.. talk about faster drive! I will link the video below. It is a session to do with teaching a foundation skill for Treibball.

And here is Jasper about a week ago.. I can see he is losing weight and I can finally feel some ribs without having to dig! Yay!

Shaping Success and Going Back to Square One

Jasper trying to find Boomer

Over the (almost) year, I had learned a lot from training dogs. The first method I knew was clicker. My interpretation for a clicker "back in the day" was something to click once the behavior is happening always, not just when they are learning something new. i.e. if your dog knows sit already... there isn't a point in clicking it, but still reward it if you need to! Anyways that was all I knew. The second method I learned was compulsion. I was the "dominant" one. The lady who introduced me to compulsion had a very fine trained dog however, the look, and the body language in that dog was very slow, avoiding eye contact, and definitely nervous. When the lady told the dog to sit, she would slowly, slowly sit. That just confused me why the dog was so slow to listen to a basic sit. Anyways, she worked as a SAR (search and rescue) dog trainer so she must have known what she was doing. So I went ahead, and lip curled (making the lip press firmly on the puppies front canine) my dog when he herded me or mouthed me so he would feel pain back and stop. I also did the alpha rolls if he jumped or bit as well. Sometimes I would get in his face and just be nasty to him saying STOP, ENOUGH. After a week or two with that, I couldn't take it anymore, I felt hopeless.

Running from Boomer

I stopped with the whole compulsion thing and went back to straight clicker. My pup did very well on it. He was easily lured into things and did whatever I needed him to. Jasper was a pro, he still is a super star but I have learned a couple things lately. I have learned much more about the clicker and a new thing called shaping. I have shaped before, but not shaped every single thing on my dog. Most of the time it was lured, and then slowly faded out. My dog didn't have to think, he was just easily tricked into being lured. Most dogs are lured with food or physically forced (like pushing the dog's bottom down to the ground to sit.) Not only does it not let the dog think for himself, he also hasn't learned anything. It also creates stress and confusion to the dog because he is clueless at what to do. Looking closely, they may even show a paw, lip lick, whine, or look away as a form of stress. It would be like someone telling you all the answers on a test, and then when the teacher asks you a question from the test, you need a constant reminder from the person who told you all of the answers. Just like a dog who will only sit with a lure, or hand signal, but not respond to any verbal at all.

Jasper, Ricky, and Lucy

I am training Jasper's siblings "Ricky" and "Lucy" with only shaping now. At first I used lures, but as we all found out, they needed a constant answer for a while and wasn't understanding the concept. Lucy couldn't do a down without a lure of a hand, so we started shaping it and now she knows how to do it without! Shaping has already found them amazing results... they love to work and love to think! Their will to work is of course great though because they have people all around them that train the two. Of course you will get a puppy like that, and it is a shame others don't understand the concept, because these pups are superstars. Their parents "get it" and man I am happy they do.

Jasper and Boomer at an Open Field

Anyways, what I am trying to say is, I have learned a lot overtime and feel the need start all over again with Jasper and take baby steps! I have let go of a few things and started to feel too comfortable with having him off leash all of the time. Now, this doesn't mean he won't ever be off leash, it just means I need to work with him on leash some times. Ricky is learning to walk with a loose leash with lots of distractions, so when he is ready, I can start training Jasper with him as well. We can work on walking our dogs with lots of distractions around soon too. So first up is walking correctly again. Second is, I would love to go back and shape more things. I just love a thinking dog! We are working on shaping a stand and man, he is getting it! It is so fun! So I will leave my blog at this: looks like we are back to training basics again. Woohoo! I love training!

I'm Never Lettin Go

The sky is the limit. Reach for the stars and let our imagination grow. No one can tell us what we can't do, and don't let them tell you anything else. Some people can bring you down and tell you you will never be able to survive with that income, or the business is tough and there isn't a point of trying. I listened to my dad about not following an art career and I completely stopped drawing, and have lost my talent. Now that I have talents in training, I am not listening to any negativity. I am living my life the way I want with a bright future ahead.

When I was young, I loved to pretend, and sing songs about dolphins and stars and kitty cats and all of these weird things. I was always an animal lover. I was always the one who wouldn't squish a spider, but capture and release. I would help the June bugs out of the baby swimming pool, and collect rolly pollies. I care so much for animals, and when I was younger, I wanted to be what every little girl who liked animals wanted to be, a veterinarian. I took a job as a vet tech and figured out I wouldn't want to be a vet. You work more with people, and you get to be the "bad guy" to the animals the majority of the time since the dogs and cats never understood that a vet can be a good positive thing.

So when I got Jasper, my whole life turned around. I figured out dogs love unconditionally no matter what you look like, or how you treat others. They are forgiving, and love you more than they love their selves. It is making me tear up just writing this because Jasper has been such a godsend. He has helped me through tough times already and always keeps me happy. When I am down, he will rest his head on my lap and look up at me like he knows. When I take him for a car ride to go somewhere, he literally leans on me and leans his head on me as I put my arm over him and hold him close. He really appreciates all I do for him and never expects anything. He wants to spend every minute with me. He made me realize to take a hold of my dreams, and make them become reality. And I am!

I see myself growing older and choosing good friends. You know, it is funny but all my friends out of my age group. I mean I have some good school friends still but the majority is not. This is going everywhere but on topic, but I just wanted to give everyone who takes the time to talk with me, and make me feel happy, you all are the best friends out there. I pick good friends, and I am confident with saying that. You all are blessings.