WOW. Today was my first Saturday practice as a pre-apprentice on the search and rescue team and boy was it hot! I had a lot of fun, but the heat definitely took a toll on me. We were out from 7 am until about 12 pm. Thank goodness we didn't stay much longer, because the sun was out in full effect by 10:30 or 11 or so. Man, that Texas sun combined with the gentle humidity down here really will take a lot out of you! I always admire the dogs' ability to work in this heat, though we always have to be careful that they don't overheat.

I have been doing a lot of socialization with Keiko. Every day, we've done something new. This week we drove back from visiting home on Wednesday. Thursday we went to to the local feed store to buy her a collar that fits and to meet some new people. We also saw chickens, which she barked at when she first saw them. We revisited them and this time she handled it better, just looking on with intense curiosity. The employees at the store loved her! Later that evening we went to agility class, where she was loved on (and given one too many liver treats) by the participants. I really got to see her 'be an Aussie', which was fun! We let her romp around a bit and the instructor's stud dog (who is a black tri Aussie) taught Keiko a little bit about how Aussies play. I'm excited for next week so that she can get out and play with him a bit again. Friday we walked around the northern part of campus, near the dorms. We went up and down stairs, some small, some tall, some wide, etc etc. She handles the various terrain VERY well. I was very pleased with how well she took in campus. There weren't many people around since summer school hasn't started yet but we walked by a few people and some bikers passed us and she didn't bark. (yay!) We'll tackle another part of campus tomorrow, the other half of north east campus.

I keep reminding myself that she IS a puppy and I need to let her be one. She's at a bit of a frustrating age for me...four months. She's smart enough to learn things but she's not quite to the point where I can actually start really working and training her. This is somewhat of a new experience for me, since she's four months old but has no training basis on her so I'm starting from scratch but not with an 8 week old puppy. I'm glad, however, that I'm having this experience because I will gain handling skills from it! So now, I'm focusing on building her toy drive and teaching a few basic commands but keeping it fun. I will have to purchase a couple of Cuz toys so that I can tie a string to them and build some of her drive with the ball-on-a-string toy. I also have moved to only playing with her toys outside, as she was getting to the point where she would only play with toys inside and not outside. The only toys she gets inside are either her kong or her chilly bone, and those are given in her crate since she's still teething. We'll see how it goes.

Well, I'm going to go play with her for a bit. More will come later!

Today we worked a little more frequently and deliberately on the sit. I want to begin having short, five minute training sessions with her so that I can get some real progress on commands underway. A huge problem I am encountering is that I haven't yet selected a name for her. I think it is hindering my training process. I just can't seem to settle on one. I need to stop being indecisive and pick one so that I can teach it to her tomorrow...that is my goal.

I am trying to take my own advice and relish on the baby steps forward we are making. This morning after our walk and breakfast, I crated her (this is when she'll be crated when I go to work for a few hours) and was able to go empty and refill the dishwasher with minimal crying on her part which eventually diminished as she fell asleep.

After feeding lunch, I took her to a friend's apartment complex where we met my friend (though I limited my friend's interaction with her for the time being) and where she also met her first dog since she's been in my possession. A guy was coming down the apartment stairs, moving some of his things out. Accompanying him was a female black lab, heeling naturally. I trusted her body language and the two met very well. I'm pleased with how the brief meeting went and am glad the dog had as good of a temperament as she did.

I then left her alone in the house (in her crate) for the first time while I ran to the bank and picked up something to eat for lunch. She was resting quietly when I returned home. I left her a second time for a slightly longer period of time when I went to get dessert with a friend. When I returned, she was again resting quietly. This is good news! I have to look at the positives as we move through the steps involved in crate training. I find that this is one of the areas where I am quicker to become frustrated and as such, I need to monitor my patience.

Tomorrow we were supposed to be taking a walk and meeting another dog but I'm not sure how or if that's going to go yet...we'll see.

I wonder what they dream about...

As I write, there is a ridiculously adorable red pup in a crate beside my bed...growling and barking in her sleep.  She's quite an active sleeper, I wonder what she dreams about.

Since my earlier post, we've worked more on the sit.  It's going well.  The pup is 15 weeks old (almost 16) so she's definitely ready to begin working on some simple commands.  I just make sure I have her attention, then guide her gently into the sitting position.  She's gotten to the point where (if she's not sitting already) I only have to gently touch her back end with a couple of fingers and she plops it down.  She picked up the sitting thing REALLY quickly when it was dinner time (of course) haha.  I'm also working more on building positive associations with the crate during the day - of course she eats in there, and today I continued to leave treats inside at random and would toss her toys inside for her to retrieve.  Tonight, I met less resistance while getting her in there and though she "screamed" nearly the entire time I was in the shower, it was less intense and had more frequent and longer pauses in between fits than there were yesterday.  I just took my time, not opening the bathroom door until she'd paused and been quiet for a few seconds and then if the waterworks started up again, I waited for another pause and short bout of silence before stepping out of the bathroom. Overall, I think she's making good progress for only having been here for 48 hours.

I've been reading Leerburg's article on marker training and I'm considering using it to work with this puppy.  I won't be going the more well-known "clicker training" route, rather, I would use the word "yes" or something of that sort as my marker.  I'm not a big fan of clickers, mainly because I prefer to have the source of praise come from you.  For me that means that I would rather use my voice to mark a desired behavior (which is what you do when you praise, anyway) than a click.  The article is fairly long but I plan to get through it over the next day or so.  The prospect of having a few more mentally stimulating games to play and a way to redirect attention towards me when I need it is what has got my interest peaked at the moment.

New Arrival

So, the puppy is here! I went to the airport with a friend on Friday night and returned home around midnight. We took a little walk around the neighborhood, then became acquainted with each room in the house one by one, and finally went to bed for the night.

The pup is a little handful (as puppies can be), but I'm satisfied with what I see because it is an early indicator to me that she may have the drive and the energy level I am looking for as she matures. I've attached some photos of her below.

So far she's walking great on a leash! When I picked her up at the cargo facility, I brought her crate out to my SUV and set it in the trunk. Then I took her down and out of it, put her on a leash, and took her over to a grassy area to try and get her to relieve herself. Of course she fought the leash a bit but gentle guidance and "smooching" noises helped her quickly overcome its foreign feeling. She didn't have to go, so instead we spent a few minutes beginning our bonding...just walking around a bit and stretching our legs. Then we loaded back up and came home.

The next morning, we went out on a 20-30 minute walk through the neighborhood. She perked up at things she was unsure of but showed a great amount of confidence, which concurs with the breeder's description of her being an "outgoing" pup. She barked a little at a girl in a yellow dress but I kept us moving forward so that she didn't have time to dwell on it. She also showed some interest as a jogger (which to herding dogs, would be a sheep on two legs) so we turned around and followed the jogger a short ways until she saw that there wasn't much that was exciting about the jogger besides the fact that she was going faster than us. The walk went very well and she took a nice nap when we got back.

The rest of the day consisted of short periods of time in the crate and a brief visit from a friend who was going out of town. She was very friendly with my friend, which is another characteristic the breeder described her as having, but for the time being I had my friend ignore her save towards the end of her visit when she was allowed to give her a little pat.

We took another walk this morning...about 30-40 minutes this time, I'd say. I have to get my Vet's opinion on exercise. I don't want to over-exercise her, although she is a fairly high energy puppy and I'd like to be able to take her out for at least 30 minutes one time a day. The second time I take her out, I could cut down to 10 or 20 minutes if need be. I just don't want to put too much stress on her joints. The topic of exercise in puppies seems to be somewhat controversial. I have my opinion which is based mostly upon the fact that different puppies have different exercise needs and so the 5-minute rule I've read about (5 minutes for every month of age the puppy is) would be absolutely ludicrous (i.e. for my Jack Russell - as a puppy, 15 minutes of exercise per day at 4 months of age would have practically been abuse! He had way too much energy to not get more physical exercise than that) but for other puppies, that would be more than enough. We'll see what the Vet says.

Her first appointment is Wednesday afternoon with one of the various vets here in town. He was recommended to me by a Vet I know back at home, as well as by a friend of mine who worked there and a coworker in the research lab I work in. I'm looking forward to it!

Today we began working on an intentional sit for food, to go in/out of doors, and for toys. She doesn't know what the command means just yet but she's already beginning to pick up on when I want her to pause for things and so if I reach to touch her just under her chin, she usually plops her bottom down into the sitting position. At which point I lavish her with praise ("good girl! good sit!") and reward her with whatever she was waiting for, be it her meal, going into the house, or playing with her toys.

So now, after all of my rambling, here are the much awaited pictures:

The Art of Praise

This post will be redone at a later date. I wasn't pleased with the quality or content and as such, I would rather rewrite it. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Fresh ideas

The day draws near for the arrival of my pup and with it will come a change in the direction of this blog.  I will use this blog to record my training of said pup and other dogs I interact with, so that I may better understand just what my training philosophy is!  Of course I will also have some ramblings regarding bikes and my mountain biking adventures but I will center the focus of the blog around training and the development and progress of my puppy.  This will help me keep a record of what has and has not worked for me, and why.  I'm really excited about shaping my beliefs regarding dog training and behavior and I believe this blog will be great for facilitating just that!  I also feel this will help me move towards some personal goals I have for myself and I'm excited about getting this underway.  However, I have four finals between now and then so I will be absent for a period of time (a week or so).  Until then, goodbye!