Happy Hairballdays

Wednesday the 17th, I learned my job's over on the 31st. So, I've been a bit distracted. Both tricolor bitches are in heat. Keeper's pretty steady, Sunny's lost her mind (first heat ever at 2 years, 7 months). Duncan's lost about half his brain.

Have some pictures of the furballs.

We've been working on group stays since mid-November. It paid off. Even if Sunny was pouting about her panties, she held the stay.

A mental shift.

The Assistance Dog Blog Carnival http://gentlewit.com/the-adbc/ is over at Canines in Action. This edition (Now live here) has the theme of “Perceive”. I think I missed  barely made the deadline, but the theme matches something I just noticed with Keeper, so I’ll write briefly on it.

I still perceive her as “in training” more often than not. She’s been doing the work and going new places without turning a whisker. She is a full-fledged service dog. I still haven’t made the mental shift entirely yet. 

It’s a weird space to be in, to think that she might do wrong, to try to anticipate things that might upset her, and to have her treat it all as normal. It’s truly great that she’s at the point where she’s calm and helpful all the time. It’s my own perceptions of her that are the problem, not her actions, not the way other people see her or act around her.

And, like so many things, it’s just a matter of time and miles. The more we go out as a pair, the more I’ll have that experience, the more I’ll trust her. In time, I’m sure I’ll see her as the working dog she already is, I just have to get through this awkward stage where I remember her as a service dog in training.

I think the occasional puppy-brain moments where she can’t make sense of something are why I still see her as in transition. Others see all the things she gets right. I’m a perfectionist, and I see all the bobbles and mistakes. They are getting fewer and farther between.

In some ways, I can also start to see her work ethic coming through. She’s skipped meals to get into her gear and work for me. She’s growing up.

I can only guess what she’ll do as we go forward. This is the pup who came to me without any idea of what a clicker was or how to sit on command. I think I’ve changed her understanding of the world, and how she should interact with it. Now I need to change my understanding of who she is and how we interact with the world as a team.

I look forward to it.

Monday, two outings

Life got busy and the obedience training fell right off. I need to get back on it. We're still out and doing service dog things, so I don't feel too guilty.

Keeper got to work her first city street yesterday. Admittedly, only a block, and the cold had the sidewalks clear, but she lead out in good form.

She is starting to reach the point where I can throw things at her and she holds up her end. Yesterday was a 35 minute drive, her first parking garage, foot bridge, a block on a city street, and 6 floor elevator (she's been in the 1 story one at my shrink's office repeatedly). From there I took her into a conference room for an hour and a half where she lay down and did not react when someone forgot, stretched out his feet, and bumped her butt. Then we get on the elevator again (it's one of the bumpy ones that screws with my brain. So glad for Keeper), and then Mom comments again that with a dog, I move too fast for them to get ahead of me and get doors and things. Back over the footbridge, now in the dark and with the ankle level lights throwing strange shadows, and back into the car for another 45 minute drive (yay traffic). She did all of it like a rockstar.

We had about 25-30 minutes at home while I ate a taco salad, then we were off to writers' group. Keeper went under the table there as she always does. But she was either so tired from the prior outing and/or so relaxed she snored with her head on my foot loud enough other people heard, and since the group was in a chatty lull there, I just let myself laugh about it.

I'm getting things done I couldn't do without Keeper. I'm getting to where I trust her more, though I'm still back at the "oh, god, what if someone says we can't go in?" stage of the relationship. I know what my rights are, I just don't have the mental history of "this is my service dog, we go places together." Instead, I have the mental history of "this is my dog in training, she makes mistakes and I need to be ready to leave at any time." The more she goes out and rocks it, the fewer puppy brain moments she has (and the more humor I can find in the puppy brain moments because they're becoming more rare), the more I feel like I'm getting that part of my life back.

Thursday and small children

Keeper had a big Thursday. We went to my neurologist in the morning. That's a bigger waiting room/lobby than any other doctor I have. Usually it's pretty quiet, this time there were more kids than I've ever seen. Luckily, the runners who didn't seem particularly well behaved either didn't notice her or didn't care.

One tiny toddler with the Pebbles Ponytail on top her head stopped dead in her tracks and stared. Just could not process this huge, huge dog, where dogs usually aren't. I moved Keeper so she wasn't so much in their path, and as they stopped on the other side of our seats to put the girl's coat on, she turned to stare again. Apparently never seen a dog bigger than a Corgi before. Berners are a mite bigger.

Keeper stretched her head and neck out to sniff the air after the girl passed, I think trying to see if it was Mel. Redirected okay.

Didn't know what to do with herself in the hallway as I went to stand on the scale. No holes to hide in, people coming, and I didn't need her right that second. We were going into the room right across the hall, so I sent her there out of the way.

Went into the exam room. She picked a bad spot, so I had her get up and resettle. Didn't move once she had a spot to be in. I think we need to do some "go to mat" work, and give her a "spot" that can travel and mark out a space even if there isn't a chair or a corner to delineate an area for her.

Monday outing

So far, no mess. I have some Furminator Dry Shampoo, so I can quick-clean her rear and make her smell like chemically enhanced coconuts (though she looks so sorrowful as I spritz her down). 

Last night we went to the library for the writers' group, and she seemed completely on her game. Last time she had a heat, I left her home. This time, I wanted to see if she still had a brain. Seemed like it.

With the colder temperatures, she is developing a habit of hop-stepping over the metal door runners instead of stepping on them, so we'll see if I can set up cavalleti at home and teach her how to stride that out so it's not so awkward as she steps over it. It's a very minor bobble, but I'm occasionally surprised by the sudden surge or slack in the harness pull.

After, a few of us went to IHOP. Keeper did so much better now that she has an idea of what to do, though her belly alarm did go off around 9:30PM. She wanted her dinner, and was a bit fidgety after that. Nothing too bad, but she's very interested in her food happening on schedule.

Accidentally scared the hell out of our waitress. She is apparently very scared of dogs, and had been taking orders and delivering food and checking on us for 45 minutes or more before looking down at the white thing under the table thinking someone had dropped a napkin, and finding a 100+ pound dog where she least expected it.

She jumped back with a gasp, and we all kind of looked around in shock, wondering what had scared her. I got to say "She's been here the whole time." to which the waitress replied with a very incredulous "REALLY?" The waitress didn't approach the end of the table quite so blithely after that, but the fact that Keeper did nothing more than look up seemed to assuage the woman's fear, at least for this dog in that context.

I do feel bad when we scare someone just by being there, but Keeper was under the table the whole time. Not much more I can do than have my dog out of sight and minding her own business.

In other news...

I was planning to use this blog to document the Obedience Skillbuilding class with Duncan and Keeper, and maybe to remind myself to get pictures and video of Keeper and I working, since I have so few photos of Duncan, and only one video.

Looks like I'll also get to document Keeper's second "heat". A couple days ago, I started thinking she needed a bath, because she stank. Yesterday I noticed the start of a swollen vulva and Duncan's done a couple of teeth chattering butt-checks today. Since she had an ovary-sparing spay, I'm curious as to how it goes with no uterus. With luck, that means no mess and no panties!

What the gang's been up to.

We've been working on our group stays, trying to get ahead of the game for Christmas photos. Also, trying to get photos of 13 year, 10+ month old Ocho. He's our record holder for oldest male English Setter. Our next-oldest male was 12 when he passed on. Ocho's also our second oldest Setter, ever. Time's probably short with him, as he's had a few strokes, and a couple seizures, and he's having trouble shaking an infection.

L-R: Sunny, Twist, Duncan, Keeper, Ocho.

Sunny and Twist continue to be happy-go-lucky house dogs, without too much new to report because they're not on my training roster. They do make for some amusing photos, though.

Obedience Skillbuilding Goals

There are 12 listed behavior lectures:

Nose Targeting

Positions - sit/ down/ stand

Pivot Platform (aka perch work)

Wrapping

Jumping

Take It/Hold

Scent Discrimination

Chin Target

Paw Targeting

Fronts

Finishes

Stimulus Control (maybe less a behavior, and more a reminder to get the behavior on cue)

Duncan knew all of them to stimulus control prior to class except Wrap (go out/around- it's a hard concept for him), Perch work/pivot (he's got very little rear awareness), and Scent Discrimination. I can send him to seek out a satchel of oregano and we started on Clove, but searching for my scent is not something we've spent time on. We're supposed to pick three behaviors for class, so those are his.

Prior to last term's Rally Skillbuilding, Keeper knew only those things absolutely necessary to working as my SD- sit, down, fetch, and enough of a nose target to get things done. Getting the fetch took long enough that I rarely had energy for the 'frills' of competition obedience, other than the start of an attention heel. We added in fronts and finishes in Rally Skillbuilding, though our left (swing) finish needs tightening. I'm hoping taking Obedience Skillbuilding and Rally Skillbuilding 2 at the same time will be very good for us.

We've already started building a kickback stand. Tonight we started chin targets and are cleaning up nose targets to something I can use to encourage position. I hope we'll be rebuilding at least part of the "hold" with the help of the chin target. I'm also hoping to get to scent and Wrap/Jump, but with the "pick 3" suggestion from the instructor in mind, we'll be focusing on Chin/Hold, Pivot and Stand (which are basically rear end awareness skills.) I'm hoping to video this weekend as a accountability measure.

What Keeper's been up to.

I forget this blog a lot. I get most my blog reading done on an RSS feed, so I rarely log in here. So, it has been almost 6 months since the last update on Keeper's journey toward becoming a service dog. Thankfully, the news is mostly good.

Keeper grins at the camera in her SD gear during the tour.

Keeper's still got a lot to learn, but she's getting more and more sure of what her job is and how to do it, even in new places and new set ups. A lot of our bigger outings have been with the garden club. We've done a bee house build for mason bees and a design day at a local church. We've gone to a community college to tour their green walls and composting and gardens- an outing I couldn't have made without her. We've gone to the district meeting and I entered the club's flower show. From that, I've been "the girl with the dog" for a number of people.

A couple weeks ago, we got her official OFA results: elbows normal, hips good! So we're moving forward with the brace and stronger pull into harness for counterbalance and momentum pull. She's been really upping her game on retrieves, and has started volunteering to bring me things she finds on the floor. We've also started a "hug" in the car, where she lays her head on my right shoulder. That may be the single most useful PTSD-disruption task for my fear of driving since the wreck. It stops the panic right in its tracks, and she makes me smile.

We've been to our first movie in a theater- she, Dad and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy. She didn't mind the music or the explosions at all, which is great, since I love action films, but I'm often brain-tired and need help as we're leaving a theater, so I haven't been going as often as I used to. We've started going to restaurants, and did some shopping- grocery and clothes. I'm remembering how many more options to go out and do things having a trained SD for public work gives me.

I got her a new pink backpack to try to head off the "is it a boy?" question. I still need to add the patches. I'd also like to find her a custom Y-front harness with wider straps. Duncan's old harness fits her for now, but with her wider chest and shoulders, the 1 inch straps seem a bit too narrow, even with the neoprene padding. Like most dogs, I expect her chest and shoulders to widen as they mature between know and her third birthday.

Tuesday she went along to her first doctor-type appointment for me, and behaved beautifully through my teeth cleaning, never breaking her down in the corner. The Saturday before that, we went to my cousins' house and she tried (but failed) to convince their two cats to play, and then got some quality time in with my 9.5 month old second cousin, who has hit the speed-crawling stage and is pulling herself up on things. Soon, the baby will be a toddler, and it'll be yet another experience for Keeper.

Keeper's a regular at my writers' group meetings and write-ins, goes with almost every time to my shrink (unless the weather's too hot), and really is coming into her own as a service dog. She's still a marshmallow soft dog, but she's got a great bounce-back, and a strong will to be with me and do the work. I'm grateful for her, and her help.

I'm noticing more and more outings were we went, we did things, and she did great. I'm finding fewer and fewer things we need to work on. Mostly it's getting out and exposing her to things in a positive way, and adding to her understanding of how weird people can be. Oh, and convincing her that the dog in the mirror, that creepy, scentless abomination that comes up soundlessly and without warning, will not ever hurt her, and being brave enough to get near it means she'll get cheese crackers. Cheese is my secret weapon against anything scary.

Keeper's two now. She's been here almost a year and a half. It feels more and more like we're a team, and that's such a great feeling.

She'll never be a social butterfly like Duncan, and she'll never be as completely aware of her body or as driven as Strider, but that's okay. She's who she is, she's super happy when she knows what's expected of her and knows she's doing it, and I'm realizing that happiness is just what I need in my life.

She's my Keeper.

What Duncan's been up to.

Duncan's been reverting to bad behaviors. Not because he's a bad dog, but because he's a fairly drivey dog. He likes to have a job, and he likes to learn things.

With my focus on Keeper, and the two of us girls going out, he's been mostly adjusting to being a retiree in the lap of luxury (he gets my bed, and the orthopedic foam dog bed, and the regular foam pad in the big crate AND the loveseat in my room all to himself when Keeper and I go out, after all.) However, Duncan's the dog who ended up in the shelter because he was bored and needed a job.

So, as the training with Keeper becomes less of a thing I need to focus on, and more a thing that's just part of what we do together, the more I'm trying to keep Duncan's brain properly worked and his body from falling apart. It's a big part of why we're shaping a "wrap" and will soon be starting scent work from the Obedience Skillbuilding class.

He may be going gray, and having achy days when the weather changes, but he's still got a wicked smart mind, that he will turn to amusing himself if I don't keep up with his needs. As the games he plays by himself are things like "steal the food off the counter when no one is looking" and "excavate the yard for rocks to bring inside and line up on the carpet", not games the humans enjoy, I need to step up my training time with him.

Who knows, maybe 2015 we'll see if he can pick up a Trick Dog Championship. I think we have everything but a chained behavior trick, and maybe I can save up for the entry fees. I'm sure he'll like doing the prep work and testing, and having to check things off will keep me honest.

Fenzi videos 1

We're taking Obedience Skillbuilding 1 and Rally Skillbuilding 2 at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy this term. (Term started Dec 1st). There's a whole slew of skills, but for now, I want a sharp kickback stand on Keeper, and I want Duncan to go out to a marker and go around.

For OSB1, the go out and around is called a "wrap". Trying to find something Duncan didn't immediately pick up, poke, or paw target was impossible. Most of the first two sessions were spent trying to wait him out for those rare times his nose passed the center line without other behaviors. This is our third session, and the fewest no-reward markers ("no" and "that's not it") so far. I did ask for too much distance too quickly, but I think we corrected okay.

For Rally Skillbuilding 1, which started Oct 1st, we were to have our dogs sit, lure them forward until their hocks came up, then push the treat straight back under their jawline to get them to shift their weight back. Repeat until the dog seemed to know it, then try pushing straight back with the treat. Ideally, the dog would pop their hind end out and back. Keeper did not do this. Keeper squished.

Obedience Skillbuilding 1 suggested the same under-the-chin target to get the kickback stand and my heart sank. But then there was a suggestion of a rear foot target to encourage the dog to reach out with their hind legs. I think we're closer to a true kickback, though I see a lot of slow timing and missed clicks on this- I kept rewarding a weight shift forward, not the weight shift to her rear. So, a bit farther to go on this. And a bit more mindful of exactly what I'm looking for.

I should probably also update here with all the things Keeper's been up to (yesterday she went with me for my teeth cleaning, and rocked it, this past weekend, she met my cousin's cats and their 9.5 month old baby who's now in the crawling/pulling herself up stage). However, that's going to need to wait, since I'm tired.