Always Busy Busy - Weeks in review Jan 19- Feb 1

We have been so busy these last couple of weeks. The girls birthdays are coming up and I have been busy getting ready for their birthday party and family coming to visit. The last two weeks we have had some new experiences and also proofing some known tasks. Luke is going through his teenage stage which means some days he is off and full of puppy mischief.

Skills (At home training):

DPT (Deep Pressure Therapy) - This has been one of Luke's most helpful tasks. He is getting to the point will he will automatically go to her when she is upset and will lay his paws on her if she is laying down flat. He needs a little help with positioning when she is siting or curled up. He is still very much a puppy at times and sometimes tries to play with her by bringing her his slobbery squeeky toy instead. Here are some pics of him working on DPT

 

Behavior Interruption - We did a lot of training with Luke interrupting certain behavior such as nail biting, lip pinching ect. So Ara is helping a lot now with this training. She will hold a treat in her hand and then put her hand near her mouth and Luke will nudge the hand and she will reward him with the treat she is holding. This task will take longer to train because Luke also has to learn to really watch Ara. So we will also be getting Ara to do the watch me command to help him learn to focus on her.

Find - We had more fun with Find Ara and Find Dad.

Targeting - Nose Touch and Paw Touch with Clik Stik and push lights

Open/ Close Fridge - Another of Luke's favorite things to do. He has just about got it down pat and we are working on a better tug for him to make it easier for him.

Retrieve - Luke will bring me random items through out the day such as stuff animals, a shoe, toilet paper role and other odd items. However, we have hit a bit of confusion with practicing retrieving wanted objects. So we are going back to basics and will start re training.

And of course we always work on basic and advance obedience such as sit, down, stand, under, long stays, ect.

Outings:

Kmart - General public training and distractions. We went with out Ara because we were picking up her Birthday present :)

Office Depot - Directions right/left, forward and stop, distractions, find out, find car

Local Toy Shop - This was a new experience for Luke (Ara was not with us). This local shop has a place for kids parties so there were a lot of kids and a birthday going on. Luke had never been around that many kids yelling and running around. He was very distracted at first but was able to refocus on me after a few minutes. I have noticed that when Ara is not with us while doing training he is much more easily distracted, when Ara is with us I hardly ever have to refocus him.

Bank - Luke had his first trip to the bank. We got to have a little tour and see the big change machine so that the girls could cash in their change. It was very noisy but did not phase Luke at all.

Vet Office - The vet was very impressed with how well behaved Luke is and how well he listened to Ara. Luke is in great health and the vet loved hearing about how he helps Ara. However as we were leaving we had to walk by two biiiiiggg puppies and Luke lost it and wanted to go play with them. He was not vested at them time, reminded again that yes he still is a puppy and has things to work on lol. I do not vest Luke when we go to the vets or pet stores as these places are highly distracting and he is not ready to be "on duty" in these places yet.

Pet Store - Working on ignoring and not reacting (excitedly wanting to play) to other dogs. Lots of high value treats involved with this. We will be working on this as often as possible.

Church - Luke is doing great with going to church and doing long down stays, blocking and guide work. Here is a pic of Luke blocking, unfortunately Ara was having a bad day and we had to leave early but that is ok.

Tax Place - Again another new experience for Luke a cubical type of setting. We worked on long down and being quiet. Luke sometimes will bark when someone comes in a door behind us, it is a single alert bark. I am working on redirecting this behavior into a quieter alert.

So we had a lot of great new experiences and of course more to work on and refine. I for one can not wait for Luke to come out of this teenage stage, but until then I will be adding some extra busy games for him. The weather has gotten nicer so we can also go on longer walks.