Training diary, page3

4 months

Looks like my friend's visit affected us more than I realized. Diesel got hyperactive, stressed and I failed to see it.

We were spending a lot of time outside, at the dog-park and otherwise. Diesel was very energetic which made me surprised and I was trying to wear her down, going to the dog park twice a day. That only made things worse :(. I didn't give her the opportunity to calm down, go back to normal after my friend left! Just play, play, play and activities... No time to recover! So now it's no dog park for us for sometime.

I think the worst is over! Finally, after three days, only quick (or none at all) visits to the dog park she slept the whole day.

We haven't been doing much training either. I think we definitely needed the rest. So little by little, we continued practising "go to your mat". I have been changing my own position according to the mat but I think I've been rushing with adding distance. Slow down.

A brand new thing we started with is: massage! In other words; I want to teach Diesel to massage my back/shoulders. Thanks to Debi Davis for this idea. I wasn't really sure how easy it would be to start because I'm laying on my stomach so I can't really SEE what she does the first. Luckily Diesel is very paw orientated and I don't have to wait at all.. she puts her paw on my back. Within the first session I got her to stand on my back. Great.

Apart from clicking loose leash outside, we're mainly doing 'go to mat' and 'massage'.

5 months

We've basically been doing lot of basics. Sits, sits, sits and downs, downs, downs :).

Massage is great. This is absolutely the fastest behaviour Diesel has learned. She seems to love it. I can only judge it by feeling her paw on my back. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Is is easier for her grasp because I wasn't looking? Hard to say.

I'm still not doing well with adding distance to 'go to mat'. I guess I'm rushing too much. Where do I lump? I need to be mor perceptive with that. It goes well until..?

Funny, I tried 'massage' when we were visiting my parents. I was lying on the floor. It took quite awhile before Diesel tried pawing my back. She got stressed too. Too early to make such drastic environmental changes. But I always gotta try, don't I..

We've been still practising recall in the dog park when it's empty. The dog parks around here are the only places I dare to keep Diesel off leash and I realized that if there are dogs around, what happens if I call Diesel? She gets treats alright but she also gets leashed! Diesel has such a wonderful recall and I think it's important to practice it when there are dogs around too and so that she doesn't necessarily get leashed! (So far, she doesn't seem to mind getting leashed, it doesn't happen immediately. I usually pet her for awhile before leashing). I also want to reward her if she comes to check in with me, which is pretty rarely.
For me, it's important to practice these things in real situations too. I don't do it all the time, I try to choose the situations carefully. Don't call her if you know she's not coming :).

Practicing 'massage' a lot (I like it :). We tried it' at my parents again. This time on my mom and only couple of repetitions. Went well.
Later we tried at summer cottage on me and on Emma. When Diesel was supposed to massage Emma's back she got a bit stressed but we only asked couple of repetitions at a time and it started going well.

6 months

Funny. Last night I found out that my old rubber boots are useless, they have big holes in them (yes, found this out the nice way.. stepping into a deep puddle) so this morning I gave them to Diesel - she's been very interested in them all the time.
Whoah.. She got really wild and could have gone on and one with them but I finally took them away because it was her nap time :). In any case, I will only give the rubber boots to her when I can supervise her. Diesel gets so excited and it sometimes looks kind of "scary" - I can imagine she might get herself in to trouble with them..

Goodness gracious.. I used to be a big time giggler when I was young but I can hardly remember when had I laughed as much as during the past two days..
Very often when Diesel sits down she "throws" her head backwards and lifts her front paws a little, like she was in a hurry to sit down. So I thought, cute - I want to reinforce that.. make her "sit pretty" or "high five" or whatever that might lead us.
Well, that's one behaviour she seems to love. She started offering me that after the very first session and now she already does that pretty nicely, sometimes remaining that begging kind of position for quite long; front paws in the air plus a facial expression I've never seen before!
The only "problem" is.. now she won't stop!! She offers me that behaviour constantly! The cutest is when she starts; she quickly throws her head backwards like she was saying hi and lifts her front paws just a little.. She does this rapidly and when it doesn't get reinforced, she will hold her front paws up, sometimes whacking them in the air.. This of course, makes laugh uncontrollably and she loves it.
She does it behind my back when I'm on the computer. I start hearing this "swoosh" sound and it makes me giggle but if I don't turn to look at her she starts whooping at the same time.
She does it if I'm watching TV, when we're going out and I'm tying my shoes, when I'm cooking, reading a book.. really, she does it all the time.
I thought this would take ages and didn't think what I would call the behaviour so now I have to come up with something funny (to show off, of course ;) SOON.

Funniest thing I've seen a long time. Oh my.