Treat Crack

Since my training ego has taken hit after hit of unsuccessful sessions I opted to switch things up because I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty hard up for a good ego stroking. I decided to work with Smokey. He is a bull headed, ornery, stinker. Really. He is stubborn, listens when he wants and just plain spoiled rotten. It’s not his fault, he’s “spoiled”. It’s just all the things my parents have let him get away with catching up to them. Now don’t let all those negative adjectives fool ya. Smokey is also endearing, sweet, gentle, a straight up snuggle bug, outgoing and not to mention easy on the eyes! Pretty boy! He is also VERY smart! And I was about to figure that out, real quick!

Now, human food/treats to Smokey is like dog crack. He goes crazy for it, he will do ANYTHING for it, he just wants it sooooooo bad! Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme!!!! I can hear him SCREAMING this at me when we start training. Or screaming, I RUUUUVVVVV YOOOOU, in that funny husky howl he can do when he REALLY gets a craving. So after a few frustrating training sessions with Coco (my tough nut to crack) and Willa (my sweet but oblivious goober) I needed something “easier”. My plan was to start Smokey out small. Shake. Yes, shake. Again. But this time I’m armed with knowledge and a dog who is VERY EAGER to please for those little nibblets of heaven!

I take Smoke to the bedroom and closed the door to all distractions. Now this is where it gets a bit weird. I think Smokey knew I was needing a pick me up. (Maybe not, but I like thinking it.) I like to think he could tell I was in a rut and just needed a miracle! Because I asked him to sit, and just to see what would happen, stuck my hand with a little piece of hot dog stuck in my fist out and the VERY first thing Smokey does is put his paw on it. It happened so fast I didn’t have time to click because I was busy picking my jaw up off the floor. He didn’t lick or sniff. He just reached up and said gimme! I know for a fact this dog has never shook a paw a day in his life. See! He knew just what I needed! We did this over and over without one hiccup. He performed flawlessly! I’m not kidding. Smoke learned shake in less than five minutes. Cue and all! Pushing my luck I brought Smoke to the living room where distractions are HIGH. I sat him down in the living room right in front of my mom and four very curious dogs and stuck my hand out and said shake. I had a paw in my hand before I could finish the word! I was euphoric. I couldn’t stop. Smoke and I shook hands about a hundred times that day and about eight hundred times this week!

Now a week and a half later Smokey has learned shake, down, bow, sit pretty, go to your mat and he is currently learning roll over! SAY WHAT!!!! Yup! I did that! Feels pretty good! I’m so proud of Smokey. But, there is always a but (when it comes to learning training) Smokey is going a little too crazy for his treats. I’m telling you, they are like dog crack for him. He sits and before I can even collect my bearings he has already, sat, attempts shake about three times, bows, sits pretty, lays down and shakes again, maybe adds another bow in there. In the span of 20 seconds. Now it makes my heart sing to see him doing all these but I’m not asking. I’m not wanting him to bombard me with his paws (when he is this excited his claws scratch a little too deep when he tries to shake at me) and he isn’t listening. He’s guessing. He is taking the reigns and saying, I’m doing all this now where’s my friggin treat! GIVE IT TO ME NOW! So it’s back to the witch box. I’m googling fixes for his “addiction”. I’m at a bit of a stand still. There are a TON of people who say, stop using treats. Well, Smokey has NO interest in balls, tug ropes or anything squeaky. I’m pretty sure Smokey thinks toys are dumb. Rewarding with affection is great, AFTER they learn the trick, (that’s what I think) so that won’t work either, it’s just not motivating enough for him. I found a site that had some good tips. Hide your treats, stop talking and wait, turn away when they act excited or just stop the session all together. I’m confident Smokey is smart enough to figure out after a few sessions of me simply not giving treats during his “crack head” fits and walking away that he will stop and listen. So starting tomorrow I’m taking those reigns back and regaining control of training sessions! I’m so happy with his progress though! Folks, let me tell you, I had NO idea it was this rewarding! It has it’s days where it gets me down and frustrated but the moments you see progress taking shape! Well, it just feels so stinkin good! I cannot wait for these next nine months to pass and start at Starmark Academy. My future is headed in the right direction.

To Shake or Not to Shake

Shake. From what I understand the easiest trick to teach a dog. Simply have your dog place their paw in your hand. No big deal! Ha. You all make it sound so easy. Well I challenge you to come to MY house and get my dog to shake.

I wanted to start Willa (my little borrowed friend) with something easy since this is one of her first training sessions. So I googled “teach your dog to shake”. I read an article saying something along the lines of pick your dogs paw up while saying shake and click and treat. Hummm. Sounds okay I guess. Willa sat, I pick up paw, say shake, click and treat. I did this about 20 times and then stuck my hand out and said shake. Nope. Nada. Nothing. I repeated this whole process a few more times and gave up. Something’s not working. Back to google. I REALLY did my homework this time and noticed almost EVERYONE said do NOT pick up the paw! Instead, put treats in your hand, close and hold in front of their nose, ALL dogs will use their paws to help get that treat out, click and treat! Easy and can be done pretty quick! Armed with new information, a more organized plan and a hopeful heart, I bring Willa back in for round two.

Willa, sit. I stuff a hotdog treat in my hand close it and hold it to Willa’s nose, she starts licking my fist like a madwoman! Great! This might just work! As she is licking away I’m watching her little paw like a hawk. The second it comes up off the ground I’m gonna be ready! Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, sniff, sigh. Lick, lick, sigh. Lay down. Wait! Why didn’t you use your paw? The five friggin youtube videos and three different articles I read ALL said you would lift your paw! It’s “instinct”! Okay, redo! Willa and I tried this again and again and again, all at different angles, heights and fist pressures. Nothing. No paw lifts. Not one. No shake.

I started really thinking about the training session as a whole. Maybe I messed her up the first time around with my assault on her paws and lifting them like crazy and saying some foreign word she couldn’t understand. Maybe she didn’t like me pulling her paw up and out from under her and it made her uncomfortable. So when I went for round two she might have been uncomfortable with the idea of lifting that paw and wanted to keep it firmly and securely placed under her and out of my reach. At least that’s my best guess. So moral of the day; do your homework! Do not just take the first advice you see and apply it. Chances are they are doing it wrong too! Research and read several different methods and try to find one that works best for many people and what you think would work best for your own dogs needs.

Willa and I will start with a different (still easy) trick tomorrow. I want her to forget my uncomfortable assault on her paws completely before I try that one again. Maybe we will have better luck the next time around when I know she won’t remember my screw up, I’m just hoping that the dogs will all have patience with ME while I am learning too. My mom had yet again, more words of wisdoms today to help cheer me up. She said “Katie, someday your gonna look back on all of this and laugh.” I sure hope she’s right! Thank goodness I have her smart words of encouragement and support because they are very much needed.

Not So “Paws”itive…

Well today’s a day of highs and lows. For the last three weeks I have been pouring over a lot of training advice on the ole witch box, collectively trying to get as much advice and tips for teaching my “borrowed” friends (AKA Moms dogs) some manners. My Mom has five dogs all unique in their personalities and breeds. I’ll be posting information on them under “My Borrowed Friends” in the menu. Cocos (who this post is about) was just posted today. Anyway, I have been working with Coco to get her comfort levels with me boosted since she is so shy. It started off and continued to be a challenge finding treats that she likes as she seems pretty uninterested in anything I had offer, from chicken gizzards, cheese, summer sausage, chicken, chops, then BAM, beef jerky and hot dogs seemed to work pretty good. Now we can get started!

“Comfort” training as I like to call it has been going GREAT! !  I was having some hang ups about how to approach this but found a technique that FINALLY worked for me and Coco! I started off training her inside and realized that Coco actually does MUCH better outside. She was so much more at ease with me and interested since she really loves to be outdoors more than being inside. Once I realized this and took her out for training, progress really took off. I would just sit next to her, about 3-5 ft away, clicker and treats in hand and just wait her out. It started slow. I gave her some treats as a warm up and moved away and tried my hardest to seem “uninterested”. I sat with my back to her and waited…. waited… waited… waited…I waited so long I started singing just to kill time. Poor Coco, I cant decide if she just wanted me to shut up or thought I was dying (yup, I sing THAT bad), she crawled up to me, very slowly and put her nose in my open hand as if saying “are you okay?!!” It took every inch of effort to not jump up and down and start hootin and hollerin! If we would have been inside you would have been scraping me off the ceiling! I calmly clicked, treated and repeated. Fast forward a few days and insert problem one: Coco started coming to me while I would sit there signing and waiting, put her little nose in my target hand, I would click, treat, and Coco just snatches the treat and tucks tail and moves away from me, no reward pets allowed or wanted from her. She seemed afraid of my hands again, out of nowhere. I still run into problems with Coco taking a treat and tucking tail. It only happens from time to time now and I have no idea how to help her stop. When this starts happening I stop training her and try again later.

Since Coco started getting comfortable with me over the last few days (it’s only taken the better part of three weeks) I wanted to start introducing a command. Come. Cocos siblings all know come pretty well. So I’m surprised that she hasn’t picked up on it’s meaning at all. She hears the word and sees her sisters and brother come several times a day. I thought that most dogs learned some simple commands from watching their “sibs”. I know our dogs ALL learned “sic em” (bark like crazy at whatever I’m pointing at) and several other tricks from watching our weenie dog Abby. When Maggie, Annie and Jetta were adopted they all learned a lot from Abby. Their personal favorite was sic em! Annie, Maggie and Abby are all waiting for us just past rainbow bridge now. So with Coco, come could mean lay there and look at me like I’ve lost my marbles. On day one Coco really seemed to get the hang of it! I stood in our yard and would wait for her to come, C&T. She was doing so good I introduced the command after our second, short session. Day two was today. She started off strong, then all of the sudden she is tucking tail and squirming away as soon as I treat, okay break time. Three hours later we try again and she wanted NOTHING to do with me. I tried running with her, playing and petting to get her pumped up and sitting and waiting calmly, eventually she just walked away and pretended like I didn’t exist and when I called to her she got nervous and tucked tail. I was heated. Why the heck does she not like me today? Why are we taking ten steps back? Why are we right back to square one. As I was walking out the gate here she comes! Following me she runs up and sticks her little nose in my hand. OH NO YOU DONT. You see what it feels like to be ignored, hurt and just plain bummed! I didn’t acknowledge her little touch as I normally would, I just kept moping my way to the house leaving her there staring after me. Now as I write this I feel like an ass. I told my mom about today’s progress in a heated, what for tone and how it ended and my mom said something that made me feel stupid. Mom said something along the lines that Coco had no clue I was mad, hurt and upset. She can’t associate feelings like I can and being ignored as a “dose of her own medicine”. This is the first time since I started training I really felt defeated. Only took a month. It scared me a little and that’s why I was so mad. Sitting there with Coco today made me question everything I have been planning for my future and I started thinking I’m not cut out for this, what if I’m not going to be good enough?

Chin up. Tomorrow is going to be better. Baby steps, Ten forward, five back. I know this is how it’s going to be with Coco while we BOTH learn together. Hiccups will happen and I cannot let today, one hard day make me question everything. I told Coco I was sorry and gave her lots of kisses and told her how great she is doing and how proud I am of her, no matter what. We will try again tomorrow, and the day after that and the weeks ahead. I’m not giving up on her.

Handler Error

Warning: This has nothing to do with dogs. It has everything to do with my no good, very bad tech skills.

I want to  explain the sorry state of this blog. I have just “launched” today and I am STRUGGLING! I used to think I was computer savvy (Back in like 1999) and quick to pick up on new technology (Windows 2000 era, oh girl I was an AOL wiz! ).  Now I know how my elders feel trying to figure out smart phones and tablets. Overwhelmed. Its so bad I refuse to get a new laptop installed with windows 8 because I cannot for the life of me figure it out and am not a fan of  “the change”. So, I have been “Googling” like a mad woman trying to play “catch-up”, running test widgets like a boss and changing my layout more than I change my underwear. Once I get a layout I’m partial to I will start adding pictures and media links and all the other bling, bling I can find/google to make this one heck of a blog. So please bare with my handler error and come back to see the progress take shape and read some interesting stuff about dogs, if your into that sort of stuff! Advice and criticism is encouraged!

Nose to Tail All

I’m starting this blog about the journey of becoming something of a dog trainer. From finding information, test runs, trials, errors, schools, research and digging into the world of all things dogs.

I should start from the beginning and tell you a bit about me, not too much to bore you to tears. Just to give you an idea of who I am. My names Katie. Animals have been my life, love em. Hard. I have always had this NAGGING little voice in the back of my head whispering ideas and desires to work with animals. When I was young I thought maybe a vet? Let me start there. Hell NO. The amount of schooling, science classes, money, and time it takes to acquire that profession is just not attractive. Not to mention the things they see would send shivers down your spine (I worked in a vet clinic so I know what to expect.) I think what turned me off so much to the profession is one of my jobs at a veterinary office was to assist with comforting animals for euthanasia. After these beloved pets were put to sleep, it was my job to wrap them up and place them in a freezer, if the owners wanted them cremated. Nope. Not for me. No way, no no no no. Not to mention seeing the inside of any animal takes a strong stomach. Like steel. Mine is made of something along the lines of plastic. Strong, but has it’s limits. Thankfully there are wonderful people who have a desire to take on that job and take care of our pets! But this girls gonna pass and go running for the hills, like a dog with her tail tucked between it’s legs!

I buried my dreams in the back of my head after that experience and pursued another passion with a “different” kind of animal. I started traveling and working “seasonal” jobs. Working for Cruise Lines, Ski Resorts and National Parks. I have worked in Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Florida. I moved literary every four to five months for 10 years. Packing up everything I own in a car and moving to live in places where people vacation. It may sound great and wonderful! All puppies and rainbows. It’s not. Like any job it had it’s highs and lows. Now, when I say I worked with a different kind of animal, I am referring to humans. Tourists to be exact, at least in my trade. My responsibilities included, feeding, watering, pampering and assisting humans. I’m not going into details but lets just say that anywhere from 5 to 14 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week (some more, some less) and ten years of constant human/stranger interaction is enough to make any sane person lose their marbles.

Now working in “seasonal” meant giving up dogs, horses, cats, and any other pets you could ever want. When you spend your life immersed in this lifestyle it takes major adjusting to not have a faithful companion. You get any animal fix you can, anywhere available. Examples include but are not limited to: Constant trips to a variety of pet stores or in my case any and all stores in town, people walking their dogs and me BEGGING to pet adorable four legged pals, going to friends houses you know has dogs, cats, horses, ferrets, ginny pigs any little furry creature you can just love up on and smother, zoos, watching any and all adorable youtube pet videos, caturday, (my chiver friends know what I’m talking about) and occasionally taking in “strays” for a few hours that wander into your yard. 😉 During most of these desperate interactions with any and all animals, I could always feel a little itch in the back of that dark buried corner of my mind demanding some attention. Especially when it came to legit homeless dogs.

While working in Montana I lived relatively close to an Indian Reservation. The conditions on this particular “Rez” were, for lack of better terms unfortunate. The poverty levels were well above average and many people were destitute. “Rez Dogs” were everywhere. A Rez dog (or reservation dog) is a term for outdoor, stray, and feral dogs living on Indian reservations. These dogs are suffering from malnutrition, abuse and neglect. It’s just a sad picture folks. My heart ached. Not for the people, but for the dogs. Anytime I saw a dog I would bee line to the nearest gas station, grocery store or fast food chain to get them fed. It broke my heart. And evermore present, the itch would return with every dog I fed, louder and louder.

I was having a chat with my Mom on the phone one day going on and on about how I was so ready to get out of the restaurant industry, ready to change my career while there was still time. My heart was just no longer in my work. I was flat out burnt out. My mom knows me better than anyone and has heard me talk about working with animals in some capacity for years. With her guidance I found a school that teaches the great craft of Dog Training! This is perfect for me! I looooove dogs! They never talk back, want nothing more than to please you and are just all around awesome! Who wouldn’t want to go into the business?!