Quarantined, But Still Training

Doppler and Fire snuggling while they're in quarantine

Doppler and Fire are under quarantine. Both of them have kennel cough. Fire got it first, and naturally, since he and Doppler play together, the little guy got it, too.

Kennel cough is similar to a cold in humans. It’s a virus, and hallmark symptom is a raspy cough that makes the dogs sound like geese. It’s highly contagious, so both dogs have been restricted to my apartment, although we still go for walks. Robotussin DM has worked miracles. Although kennel cough isn't the worst illness the dogs could get, it does mean that I don't get much sleep with the dogs waking up in coughing fits. Huge shout out to Becky for mentioning Robotussin and reminding me to read my puppy manual about kennel cough. I picked up a bottle of cough syrup and a syringe from the baby aisle. Let me tell you, almost as soon as I squirted the cough syrup into their mouths, the dogs stopped coughing. It was amazing.

Since Doppler can’t go to puppy class while he has kennel cough, we had our own private puppy class at home. He started learning the cue “stay.” SSD gave us homework worksheets with a checklist of things to do while the dog is in a down-stay. There’s a different checklist for each day. On day one, for example, Doppler had to hold his down-stay for 5 seconds before I clicked and treated him. Then 10 seconds. Then he had to stay while I took a step back, stepped right and left, clapped, counted out loud, etc. Well, that first day, we didn’t make it past the first item on the checklist. He could stay for 5 seconds, but after that, he seemed to lose interest and got up, sniffed the carpet, grabbed a toy, sniffed the carpet some more, and generally made it very clear that he didn’t feel like training down-stays.

It wasn’t until today that we actually made it through the entire checklist for day one. The trick? Cheese whiz. That stuff is magic. I figured out that I had to start our training sessions with power treats. Power treats are high-value treats that the dog really, really, REALLY loves. They should happily do almost anything for a power treat. Cheese whiz is the magic power treat for Doppler. He only gets a tiny taste each time I click, but that’s enough. He flops down on the ground and stays there.

He’s also making progress with the cue “leave it.” “Leave it” is the cue used to tell the dog to ignore whatever thing has their attention, whether it’s food on the floor, paper, pills, another dog, a person, etc. It’s actually one of the most important cues the dog learns, next to “come.” Both cues can save the dog’s life. As a service dog, Doppler will go everywhere with his partner, and he cannot turn into a vacuum in restaurants or movie theaters, scarfing down any food on the floor. But let’s say his partner uses a wheelchair or can’t bend over to pick things up. If his partner were to drop pills on the floor, Doppler would need to ignore them until someone else came to pick them up. A solid “leave it” would save his life.

To train “leave it,” I hold a piece of kibble in a closed fist at Doppler’s nose height. As soon as he stops licking my hand and looks at me, I click and give him the treat. Once he’s doing that reliably, I put the treat in my open palm, clicking and treating when he maintains eye contact with me. It’s funny to watch the little guy learn. He gives me such an intense look, like he’s concentrating so hard on watching me and not the treat.

Oh, I almost forgot! Doppler is conquering the stairs! He no longer barks at them, and he’ll even go down those three little steps at work! One of my friends suggested putting stairs on cue, so I decided to give that a shot. I actually paired that with Amanda’s suggestion of dropping treats at the top of the stairs, and it worked like a charm. I put stairs on the cue “steps” at my apartment, where Doppler happily went up and down the carpeted stairs. Once he was reliably doing that, I used it on those three little steps at work. First, though, I put a handful of treats down on the top step. Doppler scarfed them down, and then I gave him the cue “steps.” He hesitated at first, but then he stepped down the first step. I threw that little dog a party of treats and praise. When I gave him the cue “steps” again, he went down the next two stairs. Another party of treats and praise! I had to laugh, then, because he wanted to go back up the stairs and do it again. We did that short flight of stairs several times throughout the day, and he did it without barking each time.

We also had success with the scary flight of stairs going up to each floor of the office. Doppler was actually refusing to even enter the stairwell. I would open the door and cue him to go on through, which he does promptly at any other door. Instead of going through, though, he backed away.

I didn’t want him to be afraid of the stairwell, so I opened the door and threw a handful of treats on the landing. Although he hesitated at first, Doppler eventually went in and ate the treats. That’s all I asked him to do. As soon as he finished eating, we left the stairwell and took the elevator to my desk on the 5^th floor. The next time we went outside, I did the same thing. I opened the door to the stairwell, threw in a handful of treats, and let Doppler eat them. That time, I also put some treats on the first step. After he ate, we left and used the elevator.

The third time, once he ate all the treats, I used the cue “steps.” In the stairwell, there are two steps up to a second landing before a longer flight of stairs, and I just asked him to take those two steps. He did it! We had a party of treats and praise, which I’m sure the entire building heard because sound echoes in that stairwell. No matter. I was proud of the little guy. I put some treats at the top of the two stairs, let him eat them, and then I carried him out of the stairwell. He wasn’t quite ready to go down these scary stairs.

The next time we went in the stairwell, Doppler did the stairs all the way to the second floor! Woo hoo! We still haven’t gone down, but he’s starting to at least look down the stairwell and act like he’s actually considering going down them. And every time we pass the stairwell, he pulls like he wants to go in there. Eventually, I’ll have to fix this pulling toward the stairwell, but I would much rather have a dog who’s enthusiastic to go up and down those stairs than a dog who’s scared of them. And since he doesn’t pull up or down the stairs, I’m not overly worried about it. I just hope that he remembers he likes the stairs when the quarantine is lifted. 

Doppler's getting big. He actually hulked out of his harness and had to get the next size up.

My coworkers aren’t going to recognize Doppler when he gets back to the office. He’s growing like crazy, getting that lankiness puppies get before they fill out. At his vet appointment on March 18, Doppler was 24 pounds. I’m guessing he’s probably 26-27 pounds by now. He’s going to be a big dog, and I love it. Because I’m assuming he’s going to be huge and strong, I’m not taking any crap from him. I don’t put up with any pulling on the leash whatsoever. He never gets anything if he pulls toward it. Interesting smell in the grass? He can only sniff it if he walks toward it on a loose leash. His sister Flurry is at the end of the sidewalk? He can only get close to her if he walks on a loose leash. If he pulls, I walk backward until he comes back to me. He gets a click and a treat once we’re walking forward again on a loose leash. It seems to be working nicely. Doppler is pretty good at walking on a loose leash.

I’m anticipating that our first puppy class back will be challenging, since Doppler won’t have been around other dogs for a few weeks. I’m planning to go armed with lots of power treats and patience.

Here’s hoping Doppler (and Fire) kick this kennel cough quickly!