Breakthrough!

Today, Doppler and I had a breakthrough in learning/training the cue “down.” I had thought it was going to take a long time for him to finally get it. SSD trains “down” by first having the dog sit. Then, holding a piece of kibble by the dog’s nose, you slowly lower your hand. The dog follows your hand down and you click as soon as the dog’s forelegs hit the floor. After luring the dog (using treats is called “luring”) three times, you do it without a treat, and the dog continues to follow your hand down.

Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work. Doppler would either pop up out of his sit and stretch his neck down to get the treat, or he would look at me blankly once I stopped luring him. I could practically hear the thoughts in his head: “No treat in nice lady’s hand. Gonna keep sitting here. Sitting gets me treats. Want treats. Gonna sit till I get treats.”

It was frustrating, because “down” seems like such a basic cue, but I kept working with him. We did very short training sessions. I would lure him three times, and then sometimes only manage one un-lured down before ending the session.

Today, however, he finally got it. On a whim, I decided to try giving him the hand cue without using a lure at all. Wouldn’t you know, he plopped himself right down on the floor! And did he ever get a party! He got several treats and lots of praise. When I gave him the cue again, plop! right down on the floor again. We repeated this about eight times. I think he would have made it to 10, if Fire hadn’t come over and distracted him. Success!

Fire was funny to watch during Doppler’s training session. He stayed in a down right by my side, but I ignored him, because I wasn’t working with him. Well, poor Fire was just drooling away, and I guess he finally decided he needed to try something else. The big guy got up and retrieved the sugar spoon I had given Doppler a few days ago, and brought it right to me. Guess he thought if he upped the ante and retrieved something, he’d get a treat. (He did, although I didn’t click him for it.)

Doppler has been playing with the sugar spoon for several days now. He loves to chew on it on the dog bed. As a service dog, he’s going to need to be comfortable putting cloth, plastic, metal, wood—almost anything—in his mouth. Since I seem to have a surplus of sugar spoons, I figured he might as well get used to metal. He loved it! The video is him going nuts the first time I gave it to him. 

Our next challenge is the play retrieve. You’d think, since he’s a Labrador RETRIEVER that he’d happily chase toys and bring them back. Well, he’s happy to do it once, but when I give him a treat to reward him for bringing it back, he then just sits in front of me, trying to get more treats. I’m going to just try verbal praise, although I’m not sure how well that will work to get him to let go of the treat. We’ll keep working on it.

Doppler is a crazy barking machine, but he has significantly reduced the amount of barking he does when he goes up and down the stairs. I’ve been giving him treats when we get to the top of the stairwell, but I suspect that it has less to do with the treats and more to do with the fact that he’s getting bigger and the stairs don’t look as scary. Doppler is definitely the big guy of his litter. People don’t really believe me when I tell them he’s 11 weeks old. When we were out and about yesterday, we saw a lot of surprised faces once people learned how old he is.

Since PawsAbilities was this weekend, I took off work yesterday and today. (PawsAbilities was awesome. If you didn’t go this year, you better plan on going next year. I can’t wait to take Doppler.) Doppler spent the weekend at the sitter, and he was wonderful for them. I’m so proud of the little guy for being so good. Anyway, since I didn’t have to work, I took Doppler to Crossfit717, Target, and Christmas Tree Shops—at least two new places for him.

At Crossfit717, we watched people work out. There was running in the workout, so we worked on not trying to chase people. Doppler quickly realized that he wasn’t going with them, and he just sat and watched them. Then we went inside and he walked on Astroturf for the first time. The little guy didn’t even hesitate, and even better, he didn’t assume it was grass and try to pee on it! Music was blasting inside, but it didn’t even startle him. He just looked around as if trying to figure out where it was coming from, and then kept trotting along at my side. I showed him the kettle bells (which Fire thinks are pillows). Doppler got to meet Coach Dan and my 5:30 a.m. workout buddy, Wayne. Doppler’s funny when he does greetings. He gets this blissful expression, like he so happy to be petted by people. One thing we’ll be working on is keeping his attention on me. He sits nicely for the greeting, but he keeps facing the other person. 

After 15-20 minutes at Crossfit717, we headed out to Target. I got a cart, since I needed to get a big container for Doppler’s food. Plus, then he could get more experience walking next to a cart. He did pretty well, although he did try to hop up on the rack beneath the cart. Next, we headed to Christmas Tree Shops to stock up on spices. He walked on a loose leash like a champ and did a pretty good job ignoring all the people who kept saying “Awwww!”

Once we got home, the little guy crashed and spent the next hour or so snoozing away in his crate. 

(In this video, Doppler is snoring at work, not at home. Different location, same thing. If I didn't hear it myself, I'd never have believed such noise could come out of a sleeping puppy.)

Walking on Sunshine...on the Grass

So sleepy after playing non-stop with Hamlet over the weekend

Doppler walked on a new surface: grass. We’ve had so much snow on the ground, that it’s only just now that he’s gotten to experience grass. And he has no idea what to do with it. He started out walking on it, and then suddenly—crazed bunny hops! After each hop, he slammed his nose into the grass.

What he really doesn’t understand, however, is that he can get busy in the grass. He’s supposed to learn to get busy on all different surfaces—snow, gravel, asphalt, cement, mulch. And grass, the perennial favorite among dogs. Except Doppler. When I took him out and tried to restrict him to the grass, he just sat, stared at the snow, and whined. Finally, he picked one of the tiny patches of snow he could reach and took care of business.

When we tried again today, he went on the grass! Let me tell you, I made a huge deal about what a good boy he was for going in the grass. Here’s hoping that the next time, he’s more comfortable with it, because let’s face it, the snow will be gone soon. (Or it better be.)

Fire, Doppler, and Hamlet

Today was Doppler’s first time in a meeting. We went to the PawsAbilities meeting for Susquehanna Service Dogs. I knew the meeting was going to be at least an hour long, so I made sure I had plenty of treats and toys to keep him occupied under the table. Yes, I brought the bacon-flavored bone. We settled at the table away from other dogs and I put him under the table with his toys and stepped on the leash to prevent him from wandering.

He alternated between sitting under the table, playing with his toys, and trying to bite my boots and chair. Oh, and he barked a few times. Overall, though I thought he did very well for his first meeting. Naturally, he fell asleep for the last fifteen minutes. We’re going to keep working on it, and eventually, he’ll fall asleep in the beginning of the meeting instead of the end. Maybe he’ll even be like Fire and snore in the middle of the meeting. (Fire is notorious for snoring during department meetings, especially when it’s a video conference over the hyper-sensitive speakers.)

Na na na na na na na na na na na na Batman!

Doppler also wore his new collar to the meeting. He’s sporting an awesome Batman collar! I think it makes him the coolest puppy on the block. (In case you’re wondering, the collar came from LabradorableCollars. Sarah, who’s a puppy raiser for SSD, makes them, and they’re awesome. Check them out.)

And now, I’m putting in a plug for PawsAbilities. It’s one of SSD’s biggest fundraisers, and it’s tons of fun. You can take your dog and play Dog Olympic Games and fun agility. There’s a costume contest, a cutest dog contest, a parade, a cake walk, and lots of vendors. Oh, and dock diving! You can’t forget the dock diving, where dogs leap off a dock into a pool. Plus, this year, bestselling author Luis Carlos Montalván is coming to PawsAbilities. He wrote Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him, and he’ll be talking about his book and his experiences. It will definitely be worth checking out. All the details can be found at www.pawsabilities.net.

Fire will definitely be there. Doppler might. Because I have to work during the event, I got a puppy sitter for him. It’ll depend on whether she goes to the event and takes him along.

I’ve decided that I’m going to try to take Doppler on 3-4 outings per week. I tend to be a homebody, so 3-4 will be a lot for me. So far this week, he’s gone to the PawsAbilities meeting. I’m counting it, since it was in a new building. Tomorrow, we have our first puppy class, known as early socialization classes (ESC) for the little puppies. Just for this first time, I’m counting puppy class as one of the outings, since it will be brand new for him. Then on Wednesday, we’re going to join the regular puppy classes for their outing at Giant. After that, we’ll see what the rest of the week brings.

Feet make good pillows