Hi everyone, I am the owner of a very smart black lab named Maisie, who is thirteen weeks old. I've been reading the advice on here for awhile and wanted to be able to keep track of my training and thought it would be nice to keep a log on here so other lab people can read it if they wish! We live on the west coast of British Columbia (Canada). Maisie is a purebred from hunting/field lines. I think she'll look more like a working/field line lab when she's grown up based on how she looks right now; her mom was a compact smaller lab (55 lbs) and her dad was a bit of a field/show mix, not really overly in one direction or the other, and I believe he's about 70-80 lbs. She weighs in at 16 lbs today (about 7.2kg) which I think is fairly light for her age (just over 3 months/13 weeks). We are working with a private trainer who is lovely and we are attending weekly puppy socialization sessions offered at a pet store by trainers who supervise play and offer training tips. I'm really enjoying training her, having never trained a dog by myself before. I'm just going to list out everything we've worked on so far and where we're at to start off the log: Sit: She knows the command/hand signal and offers a default sit most of the time which is nice. Having some trouble with her popping up to get the treat, so trying to wait until she's staying on the ground before treating her. Otherwise, she's got this one down. Down: She knows what I mean/what I'm asking for, but I often have to lower myself quite a lot in order to convey I mean "down" - giving the hand signal from up high doesn't seem to work. I want to work on making this last longer and also trying it out on different surfaces, outside, etc. Essentially just adding difficulty and practicing. Drop It: This is fairly good. Sometimes on walks she picks stuff up just to be able to drop it for me, I'm sure… other times she picks it up, drops it, then looks up at me like "ok mum where's my treat???". If she's really into whatever she's picked up, she might need to see the treat/have it waved in front of her nose in order to drop it, and she hasn't found anything SUPER delicious yet on a walk, so we'll see how that one develops. She doesn't always drop her toys, but sometimes offering her a treat to drop it will cause her to stop play and just look to me for treats, so I think that's why she doesn't always drop her toy… we're working on that one. Trainer suggested switching toys out. Leave It: Right now I am mainly using this by putting a treat on the floor and covering it as she comes closer, uncovering as she goes far away (or in my hand and uncovering when farther, closing when closer). She gets the concept of this really well with the treats, and I'm slowly working to try to apply it to other things - for example, if she gets after a shoe, I'm trying to use leave it and treat her for that. She has great self-control. I think I need to start dropping interesting things and working on leave it with those things - basically just expanding this and working on it in more distracting/interesting environments. This is going well though. Left/Right: I've taught her to "spin" left or spin right by saying "left" and circling my hand counter-clockwise, or right and circling it clockwise. She gets the drill, but isn't always solid on it if distracted. It's one of the least useful of her "tricks" so we may just not have worked on it enough. She also needs the hand signal - doesn't get the association with the cue left or right. So we'll work on this, but maybe less than other necessary tricks. More of a fun one. I'm not necessarily bothered if she never gets better at this because it's a cute party trick already and that was pretty much all the point of it! Touch/Hand Targeting: I just introduced this a few days ago by myself, without the trainer, and I'm really happy with it so far. She gets the concept, will do it outside, with distractions, etc, although I have to make sure she's paying attention to me before I ask for it, otherwise I sometimes have to wave my hand in front of her face to get the point across. I can put my hand quite far from her and ask her to touch it and she goes up to touch it. One issue is that sometimes she uses her teeth or has an open mouth and touches my hand with that - never gets a treat for it and has to touch nicely with just her nose or lips to get the treat. I don't want to train "bite me!" haha. Walking: This is improving. I treat every 10-15 steps or so she is walking nicely (a small pinch off a small treat, or a piece of kibble, so I'm not feeding her too much!). She's walking about 10-20 minutes at a time now, trying to stick to the 5 minute rule but sometimes we walk 20 minutes to get to places where there is socialization (20 mins total walking). I try to pick her up to give her breaks, and we do not walk very fast most of the time, have a lot of sniff breaks, and I try to get her to walk on the grass when she will to have it be nice on her joints. This is a bit of a worry with me - I'm really conscious of it. We also have the command "let's go" that we are training, and she's definitely getting it. Right now treating every time I say it, but will reduce that in another week or so. Recall: I wasn't practicing this much for awhile - I think mostly because it's just me and Maisie and it was hard to recall her when she was with me much of the time. It *just* clicked for me that when she's wandering in other parts of the suite and I want to know what she's up to, I can use her recall word and she'll come flying back to get a treat and Id on't have to budge from the couch! So that's fun. We're definitely working on that. I'm also working on small recalls outside when I know she'll listen. We don't have a yard, but the street is very quiet, so I sometimes let her lead drop and walk a little bit away to practice this. She sticks very close to me. I also put her on a longer line in the park, and will get a long lead proper to do that. My trainer will be working on proximity with us next time in a park area to teach her to stay close. I'm happy with the progress I'm making, and she really does know it means come to me at this point - I would call her name, make noises, talk to her when she was off in another part of the house, and she would ignore me if she was interested in what she was doing, but if I use her sacred recall word, she comes running! The word we are using is her name, but said in a particular way - Mayyyy-zeeeee! Kind of like a stretched out sing song. She totally knows it, which makes me happy. Crate Training: This was really difficult for awhile but finally she is sleeping all night in her crate (10-7 or 8), although it's 50/50 whether she will need a break in the middle of the night or around 6 instead of around 7 or 8. I can reliably leave her in the crate without too much fuss for around 2-3 hours if I'm gone. She quite likes her crate and she tripped herself trying to get in there today when I pulled her frozen busy bowl out of the freezer! Wait: I need to talk to my trainer about whether I will be using this as a general "stay" command, but essentially this is teaching her to wait at doors and to wait before coming out of her crate or playpen. This was also part of my crate training - I instruct her "in your crate" to get in the crate, reward, then shut the door, say "wait" and open it. Then I walk around - varying distance, duration, where I go, etc, while she waits. We're really building this up and it's just an ongoing thing. She's gotten so that she knows not to come out of the crate until I say "okay" or the playpen until I say "okay". We're working on waiting at doors, particularly if people are at the door, but it's going pretty well. I just want to keep working on this at doors, with people at the door, crate, playpen, etc. In the crate, my particular goals are to be able to go into the kitchen and fuss with her treats/food - right now I can go into the kitchen and make noise. I also want to be able to open the door that leads to outside with her staying put. I'm also working on staying out of her sight for longer as she waits. Just increasing difficulty and duration slowly. Bite Inhibition: Doing the basic "ouch!" and turn away/pay no attention after being bit too hard. I think my trainer recommends doing this until 4 months of age, to teach a softer bite, and then start ouching for any teeth on skin at all. She mostly bites me when she is tired but not asleep yet or when she has gotten very hyped up and is overly aroused. Someone said to me the other day, OH SHE IS STILL BITING?? when she bit them after I warned them she was overly aroused. They weren't mad, but man, she's a 3 month old lab! I'm sorry, but yes, she's still biting . I think it's getting less…. possibly… it's hard to tell! She doesn't break the skin much but did seem to start biting HARDER in the last few days.. yikes… so I ramped it up and added another tactic - every time I give her a treat, I am giving it to her pinched between my finger and thumb and not letting her have it until she uses her lips/tongue instead of her teeth… eek! It REALLY hurt the first few times… first bunch of times.. but it's VERY rewarding when she is taking treats very nicely now at least 50% of the time and her teeth are being much less harsh when she is trying to use them. I say "gentle" when I do it, so hopefully she's associating that… we'll see, though. Anyways, I think that's it - it's quite a lot! I might put what we're going to work on next in another post and update on training when we have some time to work on stuff. Okay… I think that *may* be everything we're currently working on!!! Man, it is a lot.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log sounds like things are going great for you and Maisie ;D I need to get more structure into my training with Bella - she's 18 weeks...I tend not to go back and work on basic stuff with her very often...and find it hard to be motivated and patient with her after a long day at work. But I'm whining...and this is your training log! :-[ Looking forward to keeping tabs on you two! ;D
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log Training is definitely such a huge job… it's hard to work on everything at once! I got her over winter break while I was off school (well got her first week of exams… that was a great decision haha!) and now I'm starting back up again and it's definitely harder. Would be very difficult to have the energy to do full out training after work. Tonight we went to her second puppy socialization class. Arghhhh. She acts like a nut job - gets very fired up and can't settle herself down very well. The trainers are constantly having to pick her up or intervene, and she can get quite loud. She is often snappish at the trainers too when they pick her up… it's quite embarrassing and I really don't like how she is so over the top when she plays. She *does* eventually settle down and have nice plays, she seemed to have a bit better of a play today. She can attend these classes weekly until she is 8 months, so that's another 5 months for her to improve, really, it's not that bad that she's so crazy right now… I need to work on her impulse control around other dogs. I'm not sure what I should be doing on walks when she wants to approach another dog. She used to offer a nice sit before going to see other dogs, so I think I'm going to focus on trying to get her to settle into a sit before approaching another dog. If she won't do it, she won't meet the other dog. If she's calm but not sitting, I might let her meet it. If she's pulling and a crazy girl… no meeting other dogs. I want her to continue socializing but not learning the wrong things about socializing. Argh! My boyfriend's family has a golden retriever who is very good with puppies, they have had a good play together twice already. My boyfriend was at the class with us tonight and he offered to help us work on impulse control using their golden. SO I think we will try stuff like asking her to wait before going through a door with Finn on the other side, try to get her to be very calm before she is allowed to approach Finn, etc. Hopefully this will help. There are additional socialization classes at another location on Sat/Sun but as I don't have a car and she can't go on the bus, it's either cabbing it or trying to get someone to drive me, so we'll see if I end up going to one of those sometimes. Apparently the pen they go in is bigger so it's less intense play and she would meet different dogs. Perhaps we could go bi-weekly or something. It'll depend how expensive cab fare is or whether anyone with a car wishes to go with me. I need to be able to have her play n ice with other dogs and be left at daycare when I start my full time job next September, so this socialization thing is huge. However, she is just a little baby… 13 weeks and she is just overwrought with how excited she is to play and meet other puppies. She is getting her final shot on Friday so I may actually take her to the dog park that is near my house - or perhaps just go *near* it. I need to find a long line somewhere… the pet store didn't seem to have any? I'm not sure where to get one. We can definitely start going and hanging out away from other dogs during less high traffic times (bad weather, etc) and practice stuff like "leave it" and stay while there are dogs around, or even just sitting… that might be helpful.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log Hello! Welcome to the forum. I'm at work at the mo, so can't read your log right now, but I'll read it tonight.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log Sounds like you're doing well - it is fun most of the time training a puppy! On the hyper puppy bit, just keep going to the classes, and if she gets too much then just go get her and say "time out!" and have her sit by you for a while. She will get there! Good luck, can't wait to hear more!
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log Hi there and welcome to the forum! Well done on starting a training log too. Maisie is just little and she is doing really well. As someone said in another post, its likely you will all take in in turns for who's puppy is the worst behaved at puppy class! Great to hear how you are doing - keep it up jac
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log I realized that I have not been asking her to be calm at all before approaching dogs or humans - I don't let her jump up and she gets told off if the dog is not enjoying her (and I always ask if she can approach the other dog if I don't know the owner/dog, so she is not attacking all dogs she walks by!) so that is probably why she doesn't have great impulse control around other dogs yet… she hasn't been encouraged to have any at all yet! I've also let her go crazy while playing with my landlord's pup… she's gone for a couple weeks but when they come back, I'll need to implement time outs and not approaching her unless calm - hope the landlord won't be cross with this, because I've just been letting her play like crazy if they meet, but yeah. I think that's necessary. I've been increasing distractions while doing impulse control training - i.e. asking for a wait before going through a door, I have started dancing about, chatting, throwing toys around, getting my boyfriend (whom she LOVES) to make noises, etc, and getting her to wait. We're also working on leave it while outside. WHen we approach dogs/humans now, we're doing a nice sit before we get to go see the dog, and we walk in the other direction if we're pulling like crazy towards a dog we see… so all that, consistently, should help, plus puppy classes weekly. In another week or two, we will start working on the dog park! So that'll be fun. Today she was EXTREMELY hungry… I think she is growing! I've increased her food by a half cup as she has gotten bigger (almost 17 pounds now), so that should help. If anyone has any suggestions to prevent counter-surfing before it starts, please let me know. She already thinks about jumping up onto surfaces that have food on them (they are much too high up for her now, but they won't always be). Not sure if I should start having it all put away out of her reach now, or teaching an off command, or what… I'll ask my trainer next time we meet because I just know it'll be a huge issue.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log On counter surfing, just put everything out of reach and never let her get a reward for doing it. If you rely on a cue to get her to stop, it'll still be a problem when you are not watching her. Just do everything you can never to let her be rewarded by anything she can reach. They stop trying in the end.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log Thanks Juliet. I think that's what I know must happen… argh, everything must go in the cupboards! She's going to be a tall one too, so everything is at risk. So something happened in our last training class that quite upset me but I wasn't sure what to do about it or if I was over reacting. After talking to some people, I realized it was not okay and we're not going back to those classes. We are going to attend Saturday classes with another dog training school instead (she is a certified CPDT trainer) rather than these ones. In the class, they often pick the dogs up and hold them with two hands to chill them out. Maisie was having a puppy temper tantrum from being over stimulated and the trainer I guess got fed up and dangled her by the scruff of her neck. She let out this MASSIVE shriek, everyone was kind of like "oh gosh what" and I had tears in my eyes from how painful it seemed for her. However, I didn't really know what to do - the trainer didn't say A WORD about it (I think she recognized she made a mistake and hoped I'd ignore it) to anyone or explain why she had done it or whether it was normal/alright for her to scream in pain like that (Ha, not normal at all). I didn't ask about it that night, but then tonight it just started bugging me again. I couldn't let it go and looked up scruffing, which is what she did, and I'm totally not okay with it. I sent an email detailing the incident and asking for a guarantee it'll never happen again and an apology. However I've since decided I'm not going back even if they guarantee it. It sucks because it's convenient, cheaper than this other class, and the other puppies who attended and the other people there were really lovely. But the trainers don't seem to know what they're doing. And hopefully the puppies at the Saturday class will be just as lovely and the owners just as nice! I hope I get an apology out of them. I definitely played the "I planned on attending weekly of rmonths" (ca-ching!) and that I couldn't recommend them in good conscience if they did this. I wouldn't hesitate to post a review somewhere if I could find somewhere to do it, to say they are not good, but yeah. Hopefully they will apologize for it. I found it really horrendous how they didn't even SAY anything after hurting my puppy obviously, or apologize, or even try to justify what they did. Makes it clear to me that was inappropriate. Anyways, Maisie has an exciting day tomorrow as she is going to a fenced in park to have a play with an adult Labrador who likes puppies and one of my friends. Then my sister is bringing over her Shiba Inu to meet her and have a play or interaction, so that's good. We're also doing impulse control by doing a sit before we go see anyone (person or puppy) if we can, although sometimes people approach a bit too fast for us to do that. Also working on impulse control tricks like leave it, wait, etc.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log So I'm in tears from the nasty response I got from that trainer… Here is part of the email she sent me. "Maisie's energy level and apparent inability to control her impulses was creating a dangerous environment for the other puppies and none of the other techniques we tried were working (vocal interruptions, splitting up, time outs, being held under her armpits, etc.). She had also bit myself and my other trainer with malicious intent several times during the session so scruffing was a more serious alternative that I hoped would curb her behaviour when the other techniques weren't working, and fortunately (or unfortunately, however you look at it) it worked. If you wanted your puppy back, I would have immediately passed her to you if you had voiced a concern. I would have also happily explained myself in detail if you had asked me to that evening. I want my clients to feel involved and empowered in my classes, I'm sorry you didn't feel that way in the moment. I was actually hoping that you'd come this Tuesday, I scheduled myself intentionally this week in case you came back to the class so we could discuss Maisie's behaviour and temperament, as well as some alternatives for her future socialization. Both of my trainers have suggested that our program isn't the right fit for her and we were hoping that we could come up with an better approach to help you socialize her, especially now that she is getting bigger and still seems just as tenacious as she was on her first class. ... As for obedience training, I recommend that you get started as soon as possible with it because all our trainers are concerned with her impulse control and other red flags for future aggression." So essentially she threw all the blame on my dog. Apparently she bit people with "malicious intent" - what the heck is that? She was a 12/13 week old puppy… they do not have malicious intent. She was frustrated and over-stimulated. That's why she was biting. She also went to only 2 classes - so wow, way to give her a lot of room to improve! I'm not sure what red flags for aggression there are, besides the fact that she gets quite frustrated if she is held back from something she wants. However, she isn't NASTY about it (unless you're holding her above a bunch of puppies she wants to play with and very over-stimulated, then yes, she was biting, but more in a frenetic way). If I'm holding her and she wants to be on the ground while we're outside, she whines, and sometimes squirms around, but she doesn't BITE me. If I'm holding her back from greeting a dog because it's not interested in greeting her, she just is straining on the leash rather than biting or growling (although she may bark if she is quite frustrated from being held back, or play growl). I have started getting her to sit before she greets people/dogs. When she greets people on the street, she is very enthusiastic to go up to them, but she doesn't bite them unless they have a dog and she's very hyped - and even then, she has never chomped on someone to an extreme extent unless very very hyped up (and that's my fault, I should just have told her not to pet her because she was too hyped up, so that's on me). She bites at home mostly when she is tired and sometimes accidentally (accidentally on purpose sometimes?) while playing, and we do the yelp and walk away method… She will sit and cuddle with me on the couch and loves to lay her little head on my leg. She likes to cuddle with me in bed. She is friendly with EVERY person she meets and she simply wants to play with every dog she meets. Anyways, I sent a reply back. I tried not to get too into defending Maisie, because as I said, I don't think she cares whether that is what Maisie is like in real life or not, it seems to stem from liability concerns and the fact that they're poor(*) trainers who don't recognize a 12/13 week old puppy is not going to have perfect control over herself in a new situation with lots of puppies. Mostly I wanted to hit her with the logical argument that either she's right, and my puppy is a crazy, nasty monster of a puppy creating a dangerous environment, and she LET MY PUPPY REMAIN IN THERE AND CREATE A DANGEROUS ENVIRONMENT FOR THE OTHER DOGS, when she would actually have been obligated, had she been creating such a dangerous environment, to kick her out of the class right then and there and send her home with me, or she's not that bad and is simply a rambunctious puppy. Ugh. This just made me feel AWFUL. I might post it as a separate thread somewhere, but I just don't even know. I feel hideous. I ended up forwarding the awful email to my trainer, explaining the situation, and asking for her help, since I trust her to give me an honest assessment and also to help me with the situation and give me tips on what to try. Hopefully we can schedule an appointment for next week and I can start helping Maisie learn to play better with other dogs. * Edit: I understand how upset you feel but I've moderated the language just in case it causes offence, hope you don't mind . UB.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log [quote author=maisiesmomma link=topic=9495.msg137701#msg137701 date=1421570009]... She had also bit myself and my other trainer with malicious intent ...[/quote] When Harvey was a young puppy he did the whole biting thing, as, I subsequently discovered, do the majority of young lab pups. So we discussed it with our vet. He said that even at this age they have the power to crush a human finger bone while biting so consider just how much self-restraint the puppy is actually showing all the time! This really helped me to 'get' that biting puppies are just playing - they are not being malicious!
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log I hope you can put the bad experience out of your mind. Impulse control is something all dogs need to learn, particularly enthusiastic Labrador pups. The best technique for my dog is just to remove the thing he wants until he is calm. Examples are: If he doesn't wait to be sent to fetch a ball someone will just quietly pick up the ball before he gets it If he dashes to the front door as someone comes through it, the door closes (this was done in set ups, obviously) If he goes to jump out of his car crate before I say "out" the door swings shut If he goes to pull towards someone (on his lead), they will step further away And so on. Not a word or cue spoken, just a constant message that good things happen when he shows self control, and they go away when he doesn't.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log [quote author=JulieT link=topic=9495.msg137759#msg137759 date=1421580263] I hope you can put the bad experience out of your mind. Impulse control is something all dogs need to learn, particularly enthusiastic Labrador pups. The best technique for my dog is just to remove the thing he wants until he is calm. Examples are: If he doesn't wait to be sent to fetch a ball someone will just quietly pick up the ball before he gets it If he dashes to the front door as someone comes through it, the door closes (this was done in set ups, obviously) If he goes to jump out of his car crate before I say "out" the door swings shut If he goes to pull towards someone (on his lead), they will step further away And so on. Not a word or cue spoken, just a constant message that good things happen when he shows self control, and they go away when he doesn't. [/quote] Oh yes, I do think she needs to learn to control herself around other dogs and control her impulses. However, I don't think she has incredibly poor impulse control compared to other dogs and we are definitely doing that! What we are currently doing in regards to impulse control is: - waiting to leave crate/playpen. I don't usually say wait at all on this, she just knows to wait until I say okay to come out of the crate - playing the "wait" game in the crate, kind of like creating a longer stay - she goes in the crate, I say wait, open the door, and then she has to wait to come out of the crate. We are building this up - I go into the kitchen (where normally she LOVES to follow me to check out if there is food coming), I go out of her sight into another room, I open the door to go outside, etc, all while she waits calmly in her crate. - she waits before going through a door until I say okay. Usually I do need to say the "wait" command, and we are building this up in that I am making it much more exciting to go through the door (people and things she likes on the other side) to make it more difficult. She's good at this. If the doorbell rings, she knows someone is coming, but she still has to "wait" at the door (door shuts when she moves forward). - playing "leave it" games with treats, things she's really interested in (the cup her food is usually in, shoes she has grabbed before, piece of trash outside with peanut butter in it, piece of plastic she has found). Still needs building up outside, but she is good at this. - getting a treat… if she tries to hop up, the treat goes up higher. Her butt stays on the ground and her head doesn't jerk towards the treat, the treat goes closer, she starts bobbing her head forwards, treat goes back away (essentially trying to get her to sit still while the treat comes near). - playing "four on the floor" … encouraging her to jump on me, etc, but doing the whirl around and ignore if she jumps (teaching her to ignore her impulse to jump) - I also try to step on her lead when she is greeting new people so she *can't* jump on them, or she gets pulled away from them if she jumps - if she pulls on a walk, we do not go forwards until she has stopped pulling (or we go backwards a few steps until she's walking nicely in the other direction and then go forwards) - if we see another dog on a walk, we move to the side and do a "sit" and go forwards when she's sitting nicely… I'm also trying to angle her so she meets them "butt first" rather than head first, as she likes to go for the head but the butt is what she should be politely sniffing first (sounds funny) - if she is doing a naughty behaviour (jumping up in the kitchen as I make her food, or my food, or being too bitey) she has a command word "enough" to stop her behaviour… if she doesn't, she gets a "too bad" and a 15 second time out in another room by herself I think I could definitely try putting her on the lead, and getting my boyfriend to come in and if she pulls towards him, he doesn't come closer. That would be a good way to work on impulse control. We do stuff already like have him on the other side of the door and the door shuts if she moves forwards to come see him. We can amp that up. We were also thinking of practicing with his dog, having his dog wait on the other side of a door, having her have to be calm before going towards his dog, etc, just teaching by that "if you are calm, this happens, if not, you don't get to the thing you want". I'm going to have a session with my trainer, Maisie, and my trainer's dog tomorrow to learn what kind of play behaviours she's doing that are good, and the ones I need to interrupt play for.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log Found the ASPCA guide to impulse control games (I really like their training tips, their crate training guide was how I really got her to like her crate). I wanted to add a couple things to our training list from their suggestions (here is the link - https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virt...avior/impulse-control-training-and-games-dogs). New Tricks to Learn: Settle/Go To Your Spot - she already knows "in your crate" really well, so I think that leaning "settle/go to your spot" will be a great one. For this, I'm going to use her big dog bed in her playpen. My goal is to be able to be eating dinner and tell her to "go to your spot" and have her go by herself to the bed and chill out. That's a BIG goal, so we're going to break it down really into small steps and that's more of a "when she's older" goal. Settle During Walks - The goal with this trick is to have her be in a down-stay for a few minutes during a walk. Helping with impulse control because she is in a forward motion, interested in smells, people, etc, frame of mind, and then must calm herself enough to lie down quietly for a few minutes. I think we'll start quite small with just working on laying down outside… she's not always interested in lying down on the cold ground! Possibly a Sit/Stay for putting on her leash. This might develop as she gets older, but because we do not have a backyard and put a leash on every time we go out, she isn't really very excited about having her leash put on. She might develop this as she gets older if walks get more exciting, I suppose? But probably good practice to have her do this while I put it on, as she can be squirmy. Although her harness is hard t put on when she is sitting… I think some kind of polite leash putting on behaviour, not sure what I want yet. I think I'll start working on the settle on your bed part first to introduce the idea of "settling." I'll also try to figure out what I want in terms of behaviour in putting on the leash (she's usually not being wild at all right now, so I'm not sure if I want to ask for a behaviour before I put it on or not). I'll start asking for a down on the best patch of ground I can find for her (not too wet or cold or distracting) outside. Not holding it very long at all. And working on holding the down for longer inside. When working on her other behaviours, I'll start asking for longer duration, and continue training everything… agh sometimes it feels like there is SO MUCH to train! However, it's great for tiring her mind out and I enjoy training with her, so it's not really a big deal. Just want to make sure I have it all sorted in my head. Training victory today! She was in her playpen when the doorbell rang. Now, I have previously hyped her up for the doorbell (probably not the best idea) with a "who's there" etc… so now when she hears a doorbell in a tv show I'm watching she goes to the door and whines as if to say, come on mom, someone is visiting. We usually go for a pee break if she stops whining to show her no one is there. So the desire to go to the door is strong. But today.. doorbell rings. I go to open the playpen door. She has popped up from a sleep from the doorbell noise. SHE LAYS BACK DOWN. Waits for her "okay" cue to come out of the crate. Waits at the door to the foyer for her cue to go through. Waits at the door where my family is waiting to come see her. SO GREAT! Also, my sister brought her Shiba Inu over. He wasn't very friendly or into playing with her (which we knew) and he did a bit of snapping at her (without her actually doing anything snap worthy). She did try to engage him in play for a little while but was pretty tentative since she knew he wasn't that into her. She stayed at a distance. They had some good polite sniffing. Then after a short walk we came inside. First time a dog has been in her house. She was pretty well behaved and calm - tried to play with him a few times, but not bad. He even went and got her ANTLER which she loves. She definitely kept an eye on him while he was eating it, but she didn't attempt to steal it back. She just watched him chewing on it. Basically she just paid him very little attention, or sometimes tried to engage in play (in a play bow a distance away, barked a bit as an invite to play) but respected that he wasn't going to play. She was trying to play at one point and he had his face drawn up like he would snap if she went closer. She backed off and said "ok, not gonna happen I guess" and settled elsewhere. All in all pretty good training day.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log I phoned up the place that has socialization classes (different ones) and explained Maisie's troubles at the last class, how excited she gets around the other puppies, and asked what would be the most useful thing to do… she reckoned getting her into a puppy class where she has to learn but also gets to be around other puppies would be helpful to her learning and I decided to sign her up for classes with them… one of the deciding factors was the fact that after I had told her about her troubles (getting the zoomies, whining when away from the puppy pen, biting when picked up out of the pen sometimes, and just not being able to chill out around other puppies), and we were signing up, she asks "what type of dog is she" and I say "labrador" and she starts laughing and says "of course! That's why!" So I don't have a nasty dog with terrible impulse control after all… I just have a lab! Wow, it made me feel so much better for her to (a) not tell me I had a hideous bad dog for her behaviours and (b) for her to go "oooooh of course" when she hears I have a lab! She also looked at the class composition between Tuesday and Wednesday classes to put her in a class where she was more evenly matched with the other pups. She thought Wednesday would be a better fit as there were some older puppies in there (as it's for 8-18 week old puppies I think, and Maisie is 14 wks) and a lot of lab mixes! She also said that since she knows a lot of the behaviours, I might be bored of the content/pace so possibly doing a private class and then some manners classes with an eye to doing their "urban dog" course after that when she is 6 months would be better… but I just think she really needs that full on exposure to other dogs in a controlled setting to learn to work on her behaviour.. We are going to go to the first class on Wednesday and then see if we want to do manners classes or a private session instead.
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log Yup, you just have a hooligan of a Labrador puppy, just like the rest of us! ;D ;D They do get better. Well, I'm still waiting. It's gets easier anyway!
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log Sounds a lot more positive Every time is used to phone the vets because she had eaten something or hurt herself, they would ask "what breed", as soon as I said lab they would laugh and say "typical, always eating horrible things and injuring themselves having hoolies" ;D
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log We love our little hooligans though! We had our session with the trainer today and the verdict is… she is not a nice player! She doesn't really respect the calming signals sent by other dogs and uses her mouth too much. However, she didn't think she was malicious OR aggressive, just that she did not have proper play skills yet and thus must be taught. She also say labradors tend to have this boisterous play style - enjoying body slamming, etc. So it is now on me to help teach her how to behave with other dogs. Here is what we discussed and I will start working on during play dates and walks. Playtime Guidelines for Maisie - Have her on a longline and intervene by saying "too much" if she is (a) being too rude by snapping/using mouth harshly or body slamming, especially snapping at the stomach (very bad apparently and she did that a bit); (b) if she is not respecting the other dog's signals that they don't want to play. Remove her from the situation and calm her down. This can be done via body pressure or just removing her and trying to distract her/get her to settle on her own. Body pressure is standing in front of her (and go sideways inf font of her if she tries to go that way) and getting to a calm state (like a sit). Then move to the side so she can see the other dog. If she is still calm, she can go back over to try again or get a treat/play. She should start learning "too much" equal play stops and remove herself. Of course, if the dog will correct her, that also helps to teach her that's too much. - Interrupt play for her if she is not taking play breaks. Call her over, praise her nice play, and then do something to show I am fun to play with too - i.e. play tug or run around together excitedly. Not just treats! - Praise when she does something good (like licking the other dog's mouth or walking away when given signals not to play, or for taking breaks). Praise for parallel sniffing/not interacting even when dog is close by. I need to learn how to decide this… hopefully going to the classes will help. - Have her be around the other dog(s) without interacting/playing. Learn that not every dog you walk by is to play with. I think this one is particularly good to learn. I want her to walk by nicely and ignore other dogs on walks. Other interesting feedback: I apparently have a high drive dog. Hmm. Not quite what I wanted… perhaps I oughtn't have gotten a working line lab then. I just couldn't find a reputable English/show line breeder. She is very smart and has a high play drive. This really reinforced for me that I need to play with her a lot more to show her I am very fun too, and that I should be taking a tug toy with me on walk, and doing a lot more structured tug. In the house, she loves treats and is treat focused, around other dogs, no. So this is good information to have. I will definitely bring a toy with me to training classes. I'm thinking of going out (she is starting to nap after her training session) and buying some new fun toys that are ONLY for playing with me, and ONLY for tug sessions. She really likes rope toys but I don't give her any because she would eat them if they were left lying around, but if they're not lying around, that is no problem! She said she would do well at agility. Hmm. My first instinct was "uh, no." I have never done dog sports. However… why not? I am going to be busy with work (articled student and then hopefully lawyer) but agility seems like it requires the handlers to be quite active too (running) which is definitely a life goal of mine. Doing it with my dog seems like it would be great. Just a preliminary look says that she can't start doing it properly until she is a year and a half, but that she can start learning about the different equipment and some of the basics in a puppy agility class that doesn't include the jumping or running aspects that are damaging to a puppy's joints. I think we will look into these! There looks to be a lot in our area and when we move, it's to a bigger city, so I'm sure there will be great options there as well. The trainer also discussed how the playpen style of dog socialization does not work for a lot of puppies. It is too much, she has nowhere to go to cool off, and she can't interact with me at all (due to being in a pen with me outside) so we can't show her I'm fun too or call her out for a break. Some puppies could do it - mine couldn't. She is not a fan of the "pen style" socialization. She said the socialization/classes by the new trainer I'll be working with are in a much more open space with lots more room for the puppies to run around in and have breaks. And I can incorporate what I've learned and also use stuff like tug to help make me seem like I'm really fun too. She did not think it was due to her "impulse control" either that she couldn't enjoy those classes - it was that it was too small a space, too many puppies, and she just isn't great at understanding signals or playing yet. That's okay, as long as we're working on it, and I am. She also recommended a book by Jean Donaldson called "Fight!" if I feel like her play isn't improving. She knows I'm pretty into training and having options to use (I hate when she is doing something I don't like, but don't know how to effectively stop it).
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log New things we're working on: - "Wanna play?" [playing fetch and/or tug games with her, focusing on her, and playing] followed by "All done!" when I'm going to do my own thing and let her do her own thing - Sit while I put her leash on/off (she has been offering this for me a couple times since I started requesting it every time we go in/out, and I don't even normally treat for it!) - "Focus" - means look at me, not so much eye contact as my face - Tug: introducing holding a sit while I dangle the toy in front of her a bit (not long) and then saying okay take it. Just adds a tiny bit of impulse control to her play. - "On your bed"- same concept as "in your crate", just using it with her big cozy bed in her playpen. Thinking I will eventually turn this into a "on your bed, down stay/settle" cue. She should learn this pretty quick since she learned in your crate very fast Bite Inhibition Progress I've noticed progress in this area. She bites me a lot less (although sometimes it is even harder than it used to be! So less frequent, maybe she's cut out a lot of the times she would gently bite me, and now all that's left is her being really excited and biting hard as she used to? Not sure). I've been purposefully inviting mouthing (in the sense that I have left my hand near her mouth and put it in the vicinity of her mouth when I was thinking she looked ripe to bite or if she bites me, really keeping my hand around her mouth and letting her test it out and implementing consequences if it's too hard). I think this is actually helping as she is sort of not interested in biting me at those times and has started giving me licks instead. A second thing is giving her treats in a pinched hand or offering the back of my hand. I wait until she gives me a nice mouth (lips/tongue) and no teeth to give her the treat. The command "gentle" goes with this. Definitely helpful to give her drop it treats in tug like this, as she gets wound up and forgets to take it nicely. Continuing to do this as it's very easy and helping. She just bit my toe by accident while we were sitting here (at least I think it was by accident…) and I hollered and walked away. She was quite concerned. I'll leave it here for tonight as she's wandered into the bathroom on her own eep. Tomorrow is our first puppy class with the better people, and I have the option of deciding to do a private lesson followed by some of those Manners classes and then a class for her at 6 months if I want, if the puppy classes cover the ground we've already done too uch. I personally suspect she'll be too crazy to really focus so it'll just be like proofing her behaviours in a really distracting environment!
Re: (Canadian) Maisie's Training Log We had our new puppy class today… much better!!! She was singled out to try a training exercise (a look at me/focus type thing, rewarding for eye contact) and she was super good at it . She also was singled out as I was doing a "down" with her and giving her treats while she stayed in it, as this was a good method to keep her calm - so the trainer was like that's a good thing to do, etc! It was in a big space so she wasn't super close to any of the other puppies, and could focus on me during most of it. They had supervised play where she got treats for any calm behaviour she showed, and we intervened when she played too hard - however, this class is a good match for her as there are several other rough and tumblers about her size or bigger! One really great bit was I calmed her down and got her focus in between play sessions doing the down + treats thing… and then when we let them go, she didn't get up and run off to play, but rather sat there a bit looking at me and then went to play!!! Much better focus on me. She did get the "zoomies" once and ran around, but my other trainer told me she's trying to get rid of energy by doing that and it's not a bad thing. She just gets SOOOOO excited. Something I learned/figured out was she hates being picked up and held over the action. She can be distracted by getting treats in a down position or by playing a focus game or other training, but it does NOT help at all to calm her down to pick her up. I think this is the result of the other 2 puppy classes she went to that were so horrible. The trainers said NOTHING negative about her or her play style, she was just interrupted at bad play, (I had warned she was a rough and tumbler). I was very impressed with her ability to focus on me (as long as the treats kept coming!) and I'm really happy about that as that's what I wanted to work on. I will keep coming to this class! Our "homework" is to practice collar grabs + food, swapping out great items for a great high value treat, then giving back the great item, and working up to a 5 second focus.
