Monday, January 19, 2015

So Proud of all of our achievements these last two weeks.

Sometimes I find it hard to balance everything going on between being a mom, wife and training Luke it seems like there is never enough time some days. I have made a new schedule and so far it has really helped with that balance. As you will see below we are asking more of Luke and Ara. I am so proud of how well they work together and of the effort that Ara puts in to help with his training.


Skills (At Home Training):

Open/Close Fridge - Ok this has to be his favorite fun thing to do. I learned quickly to only treat him after he closes the fridge door, because he was randomly opening the door through out the day and I would walk into the kitchen finding it wide open...lol.

Harness Conditioning - putting on his new working gear, making sure it fits and he is comfortable. He seems to really like the new gear. Luke does wear the new harness on outings now, but is not doing any weight bearing, Ara is using it just like she did his vest. He will not start any weight bearing training until he is two years old.



Nose Touch - Clik Stik and hand. With the clik stik I am now using it to get better range of motion and build up his confidence in going under things and also standing on his hind legs to reach higher.

Retrieve -  we used small bottle, leash, cardboard tube and the dumb bell. He is getting really good at this so now I will be adding in some real world items for him to start bringing.

Nail Biting/Behavior Interruption -  Ara has started helping with this task. She will hold the treat in her hand, I will then tell Luke "Watch Ara", and then give her a nod as the go ahead to bite her nails. Luke will go to her and nudge her hand away from her mouth and she will give him the treat.  "Watch Ara" is one of those cues that I have trained with out really noting it....but it is a very important cue and we will be working more with it.

Block - Ara is now working with us on this one as well. We ran into an issue on how he is suppose to go back into a heel when we are not moving forward after a "block". So we are doing two things. We are teaching "around" were Ara takes her hands off his vest and he circles around to the heel position and "back up heel" where he backs up in the heel position and Ara does not take her hands off his vest. "Around" can also be used as another way of creating space for her as well.

Deep Pressure Therapy (DPT)  and distress response - I am loving that Ara wants everyday to help with Luke's training. Here is a video of one of those sessions. Luke is in a sit off camera.

Obedience - Of course every week we work on obedience place, long down stays, off leash skills, watch me, leave it ect.

Outings:

Walmart -  our last trip to walmart I had on the new hands free leash, we worked on guide tasks, directions right/left, stop, block, behind (yep another of those cues I really have not noted but he knows) find out and find car. Luke did everything with out me having to touch the leash, he followed all vocal commands and is now doing some things all on his own. Like stopping when he gets outside the building, before going into the road, stopping at the intersections at the store ect.  Being hands free is not only awesome for me when we are out but is also for Ara and Luke. I am training him for her not for me. It also means he is understanding his job more and has the confidence and ability to do it.


Hospital - Ara had a blood draw and Luke did great. He wore his new BLD harness and we ran into a problem. The waiting room was full and he could not get under the bench with the BLD on, so we had figure out what to do. We ended up putting him in front of us laying down on my feet. I will need to teach him to back under things instead of going in head first. He had no problem with the nurses (took three of them :( to do it) prepping for the blood draw or during, his focus was on Ara and helping to distract her with nose touch and kisses on her free hand. He also was able to operate the elevator up/down button.


We also went to the Dollar Store, Hobby Lobby, Michaels and got Hair cuts this week. Most of those trips were short and we worked on PAT, guide tasks and distractions.


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