Day 10 -- Goodbyes

The house won't be the same without Kazi, Capri and Icee but it's time to say goodbye. They have worked hard and had a good time. Kazi and Capri have the start of a really nice recall, something they picked up very quickly (they are dogs of action and think this is a lot of fun). Harder for them though, was their stays. Oh so hard with short attention spans. But they worked hard on them and they are real good sitters. I know they will all be happy to see their family!

Day 9 -- Lessons Learned

Play is an important aspect of training. Incorporating play into a training session makes it more fun for Kazi and Capri and makes them much more willing to comply. But they are still young so they still need guidance. They need to be interrupted if their play gets out of hand. If they are still struggling, a short timeout works really well. They will quickly learn that if they are too rough, it means that play will end.

This is also the case when they are guarding their toys. If they are allowed to keep the toy after they have snapped at someone, they just learn to continue that behavior. This could lead into a dangerous situation if they decide to start guarding from people or if they guard with the wrong dog.

I give them a lot of praise when they are playing well with another dog. I want them to have a clear understanding of what behavior I would like from them.

I can also use play as a reward for them. For instance, if they sit nicely for me, I can release them to go play. Or, when I call them to come, I can play with them when they arrive.

They are both doing great with their recalls! If fact, when they do come, they want to stick with you the whole time and it takes them a while before they will go back and play again. This is excellent! This is exactly what you want from a dog. It's so nice to have a dog who enthusiastically comes when you call and doesn't want to leave you once they arrive. What good dogs...

Day 8 - Sunny Day

It was the first sunny day we've had all week and we took full advantage of it. We did a lot of training outside and incorporated that into our play time.

They are working hard on their recalls (coming when called) and I love to see a nice, fast response like Capri's above. Coming to you when you call them should be a fun, exciting and rewarding thing for them to do. Recalls are something you have to work on throughout a dog's life. Just because they know it when they are young, it doesn't mean they will respond when they are older without periodic practice. Recalls can be very important for their safety and it's just nice to have a dog who comes when you call.

By incorporating play into our training sessions, it makes it something fun for the dogs to do and they'll want to repeat the behavior. It has the added benefit of making them more responsive to their people even in high distraction settings. It's also a really nice way to build up your relationship and fun to do with the whole family.

Day 7 -- Happy Thanksgiving!

What good dogs! Kazi and Capri did great at Thanksgiving. They stayed in their x-pen until the excitement wore off and all the guests had been instructed on how to interact with them.

This is also a place I can put them if I can't keep an eye on them during the dinner. They are still babies and don't know yet that it's not appropriate to toilet in the house so it's my responsibility to know their schedule and see that they get outside when they need to. This sometimes meant that I left guests for short periods of time to see to their needs. Once they get older and consistently learn the appropriate place to toilet, they won't need this much attention. Just a little bit of work now will make it so much easier in the long run.

They are still a little nervous around new dogs but, when allowed to approach on their own time, they come around and quickly become friends.

Kazi warms up to Nancy, a service puppy in training.

They are learning to ask for attention by sitting. If Kazi had climbed all over this guest she would have gotten up and walked away. If she had interacted with him it would have only reinforced that behavior. They have started to learn that it pays off to act appropriately and the guests were happy to pet them when they were polite.

Everyone was smitten with them and they had a great time. I was very pleased with their behavior! It's not easy to remember your manners when you are so terribly excited about the company.

Day 6 -- Getting Ready

We're getting ready for Thanksgiving here and practicing how we are going to interact with guests. I use an exercise pen (x-pen) or a crate with Kazi and Capri for a couple of reasons. I use it for house training; if one of them does not go to the bathroom when I take them outside, I can confine them for about 10 minutes and try again. This is not a punishment. The confined area is simply to prevent them from toileting in the house. It still has toys, a bed, and stuffed Kongs or other treats to make it a pleasant environment for the dogs. Most dogs will not soil areas where they sleep or eat and this seems to be the case with Kazi and Capri as well.

I also use an x-pen if I can't watch them directly. Any time a dog does something they are not suppose to (i.e. chew on furniture or pee in the house) they get reinforced for that behavior. It feels good to chew on something so it pays off for them. It's like getting a cookie for being naughty. If I prevent them from doing these behaviors they don't get reinforced for them. Right now Kazi and Capri are teething so it's very tempting for them to chew on things. If I am in the room with them I can interrupt that behavior and redirect them to a more appropriate thing to chew on and praise them when they are doing the right thing.

The x-pen will be perfect for Thanksgiving because I can let my guests in the door without the dogs practicing jumping on people. That gives me a chance to instruct all my guests how to behave when I do let the dogs out. I want to make sure NO ONE is petting them if they are jumping up. This only reinforces that jumping behavior. Everyone will be instructed to turn their back if the dogs start to jump and praise them lavishly and pet them if they sit. We've been practicing all week for this day! I'll also make sure they are well exercised before the guests arrive. It would be unfair to expect them to behave if they had a whole lot of excess energy. Luckily training wears dogs out a bit with all that thinking. We are looking forward to tomorrow!

Day 5 -- Getting into the Routine

Capri and Kazi are really starting to get into the routine here. They are figuring out what they need to do to get what they want and the routine is helping me to predict their needs more.

Kazi sits and waits for his dinner. I feed them in the same area but on different sides of the room so that I can appropriately reward each dog. If both were side by side, it would get really confusing to them because I would not be able to reward them at the exact time I am getting the behavior I want. Imagine if Kazi were sitting but Capri was not. If I put the food down, Capri would be rewarded for standing, not sitting. But, if I held onto the food and waited for Capri to sit, Kazi would not be rewarded for his nice sit. It's much easier to separate them by a little space and reward each individually.

They eat quickly now so it doesn't take a lot of time out of my day to feed scheduled meals. Icee has her own meals separate from the puppies so she is less anxious about her food. I just keep the puppies in the kitchen with me while they are eating and it gives me a chance to get things done while they are eating. It's also a great opportunity to take a few minutes to get some training in. They are more than happy to work for their kibble...especially Capri. She loves working on her sits during mealtime.

After mealtime I know it's time to go outside to go potty. I still keep them leashed until they are finished so they stay on task. This also gives me a chance to praise them when they toilet outside. Otherwise they are going to stick to their nice comfortable toilets in the house. It's nice in there, it's clean and dry. Why wouldn't they want to toilet inside? So going out with them helps to make it more pleasant for them to toilet outside. When they have gone to the bathroom, I let them off leash to play. It's been a little wet here but that doesn't seem to stop them. And no digging either! I've been outside with them every time to go outside to reward behavior I like (i.e. going to the bathroom outside) and interrupt behavior I don't like (i.e. digging).

Kazi sometimes needs some encouragement to go outside. The dark doesn't seem to bother him. He'll still run around and play in the dark. But crossing the threshold to go outside is sometimes difficult for him. Giving him a tasty treat when he follows me out helps with this issue.

Day 4 - Ask and You Shall Receive

Kazi and Capri are learning to sit for anything they would like. It's a way of saying "please." Capri is sitting here for attention. She's doing a great job even with other dogs in the area. Sometimes when the two of them are together, they compete for attention and both jump up. It's a big step for Capri to sit in the middle of all these dogs and wait for me to pet her.

They are learning to sit for their meals, for their water, when they want to come out of the crate, when they want to go outside, etc. Sometimes it takes them a minute. They'll jump and I look away from them and don't move towards what they want. It's funny because they both seem to get it at the same time and both will sit. Then their reward is whatever they have been asking for (their breakfast, getting out of the kennel, etc.). It's a pretty powerful reward and they are more willing to comply.

Kazi is learning to share better. He does not guard all his resources but, when a dog does start to resource guard, it is difficult to predict what they might choose to guard that day. The important thing is make sure that no one gets bit. Right now, he guards his toys from other dogs by snapping at the dogs and hovering over and protecting his treasure. This is not safe for the other dogs (or him if he chooses to guard with the wrong dog) and it's potentially not safe for people (especially children who may not know how to read is body language well). I don't leave things out that Kazi may guard. He can have those things while I am supervising so I can control the situation a little better. If he does guard something, I take it way and put it put telling him "too bad." If I were to let him keep the item he is guarding he would just learn that guarding works. He needs to know that the leader in the household is the one controlling the resources.

Kazi starting asking to go out to go to the bathroom today! Yea Kazi!! He went to the door and whined and I immediately took him outside and praised him lavishly when he did go to the bathroom. Puppies this age still need to be monitored closely and should not have free run of the house. The scheduled meals are going really well. Both Kazi and Capri are eating their meals pretty quickly and it gives me the opportunity to work more on their sit and attention. It also causes less tension for Icee because they are not diving into her bowl.

Tomorrow we start on coming when called. Everything we've been working on has been leading up to this so it should fall into place nicely.