Six Minutes Down and First Class

Ellie attended her first training class last night. The instructor was exceptionally good in ensuring that the pups weren't stressed in their introduction to the training arena. Each puppy and handler were guided into the area individually so that the puppy could see and sniff it without having to worry about the other dogs too.

Eventually, after all the dogs had been shown around the training began. At no point did the dogs actually need to meet up with one another or scramble about together at close distance. They only really encountered one another at a safe distance. Ellie was very good, and largely disinterested in the two other dogs, after her initial playful growl.

The training was very good and we've learned some new techniques. This week was about the sit, down, and stay (for one pace only), and clicker training, which we have been using anyway. The other two dogs in the class were a Doberman and a Black Labrador. An adult Golden Retriever was bought in to make up the numbers a little and give a little more dog presence for the pups to adapt to.

All in all, we think it's going to be a very positive experience for us and for Ellie. And more importantly, she gets new experiences, meets new people, and new dogs.

I took her to the park this morning to do her heel work. As usual, she performed it flawlessly. I'm going to have to start rewarding her only when she looks at me now, as she is actually getting too good at it.

On this afternoon's park walk she experienced a few distractions while heeling. The first was a parent and toddler. She naturally wanted to play with the toddler and veered off towards it. I gave a heel and she quickly followed again. The next distraction was a large Golden Retriever being walked (or rather the owner was being walked) a few metres away from us. I kept heeling with Ellie, changing directions at random. She made a couple of initial barks at the Retriever and then ran back into my legs, but after that, as I continued with the heel work, she just started to ignore it.

She must be good as the neighbour commented yesterday that she had seen us walking back from the park and couldn't believe that Ellie, a wee puppy, who we've had for less than two weeks, is walking to heel so well, while her own two dogs pull like steam-trains. Practise, practise, practise...

Also, during her walks, I now take her through a short passage of main road, where she gets to experience all sorts of traffic, ranging from bicycles to huge trucks. She now seems to be completely unphased by them and as far as I can tell, doesn't even notice them going by.

Yesterday I made the mistake of giving her a drink of milk mixed with her water. For a start she drank the whole lot in one go and then spent the rest of the day peeing. And today her toileting is runny to say the least. I won't make that mistake again!

Bless her, like us, she was so hot in the night. She woke me at 12:55, so I let her out. She peed and then I took her back up. She was so hot that she couldn't get comfortable and spent the next twenty minutes fidgeting, presumably trying to find a cool spot. I had decided that if she went much longer, I would either sleep downstairs with her, where it was cooler, or just run a quick cool shower over her. I opened the window, and she seemed to settle for that, and drifted off to sleep again.

her six minutes being crated alone this morning went perfectly well. I popped her in, closed the door, and sat in the dining room. Not a peep from her. When I went back in, she was laying down and so I left her in there. She fell asleep shortly after that. So eight minutes tomorrow.

Two Perfect Heels and Four Minutes In

As you'll know from previous entries, I've been working on Ellie's walking to heel more than anything else. I think it's so important to have a dog walking under control. Not just for the dog's sake, but for others around it too.

Today, she did me proud, twice. I have walked her to the local playing field and back twice, both times she has walked almost to perfect heels. The times that I have to turn around are getting fewer and fewer each day now. The only times she really faults at present is if other people approach, or if other dogs approach. She just goes into wiggly mode and wants to play with them all. But, I can safely say that she is becoming an absolute pleasure to walk. We even have a small jog across the field, and she jogs off-leash by my side. As far as I can tell, she loves it.

When she's done well, she gets to play fetch with her favourite ball. I'm aware that as a puppy she's going to be more inclined to stay by my side now anyway, but if we can make the most of this natural instinct while it's there, it should just become second nature to her.

Today was the second day of her exposure to being left alone in her crate. With yesterday being a two minute duration, today was a four minute duration. I placed her in, and without fuss walked away, shutting the living room door behind me. Armed with my stopwatch, I sat and waited. After about two and a half minutes there were half-hearted attempts at whimpering, but really nothing serious. I then heard an exhale, the type she gives when she's settling in to lay down.

Sure enough, after the four minutes were up, I returned to find her laying down, playing with a toy. I deliberately go out of my way not to make a fuss of her when I return into the room, as I think excitement at that stage can only help raise excitement in the dog, and then break her concentration, resulting in her jumping about. Best to keep it all low-key I think. I've also started asking her to sit and wait when I open the crate door, so that there isn't a mad dash out of it. Six minutes tomorrow.

The Catch Up

We've had quite a busy few days so I've been missing blog entries in an effort to recoup some time.

Sunday saw Ellie's second bath and claw-clipping session. (Remember, we're fake-bathing her at the moment using just water, just so she gets used to it.)

Learning from the previous week's bath, I attached her long-line to the shower so that I could use both hands. It made a big difference and things went more smoothly. After coming out, I attempted the blow-dryer on her again. She is still no fan of it, but she was much much better this week than last. It'll take time but we'll get her there.

The biggest difference was in the claw-clipping. She took to it like a duck to water, and I managed to get them all done in one sitting. If it's as easy as that each week, then I'll be happy.

She's now losing that soft and fluffy puppy fur and it's being replaced with the more coarse adult fur. It looks funny at the moment as she's lost it all down her back and around her rear, but it's still soft and fluffy everywhere else. But boy is she growing - both in size and personality; though she's still all legs.

Jan attended the two hour theory part of the puppy training class on Monday evening. She came back extremely impressed with their set-up, methods, and demonstration dogs, which are in fact dogs owned by the instructors. It's made us more determined than ever to make sure Ellie does as much training as possible. We have decided that we'll put her through all the classes they have, ultimately including agility and competitive obedience, and we're also looking at completing each KC 'Good Citizen' course, starting with the Puppy Foundation one.

Tonight sees the start of the actual training classes. We're actually only going to be in a class of two, so Ellie will only have one other puppy to interact with. Because it was under-subscribed, the instructors did offer us a different evening, where the classes are a little fuller, but with Jan's shifts that was impossible. Anyway, they are going to bring a couple of their own good-mannered adult dogs too. There's also the first puppy socialisation walk on Thursday night. Jan's shifts may bugger this up but we're trying desperately to find a way around it, as we think it's really important to get her on them.

Talking of training, it's here where there is the most progress really. We've been busy clicking and treating, and the rewards are really paying off. After advice from the training class, we now also insist that she looks at us before she gets the reward. So she might be asked to sit, but that alone will not bring the reward, she has to look up into our face too. She picked that up yesterday without problem.

Her door manners are really good. I simply don't let her out before me. When we started, if she tried to dash out, I would close the door and give a wait command. She now happily sits at the door (often without prompting even) looks up, lets me step outside, and then waits for a come command. She does that on the front and back doors at the moment, though sometimes forgets herself on the front. But hey, we've only had her for almost two weeks.

Her car travel is excellent and we're exceptionally pleased about that. We really wanted a dog that we could take around with us and we sure have one. We've purchased a harness for her that fits around the rear seat-belt. While she sat quite happily without it, we wanted to be certain of everyone's safety while travelling. It doesn't seem to bother her at all. There's been no sign of the travel sickness that she exhibited on her journeys over to us from the Foster-Carer's home.

Yesterday, I had her attached to my belt while I washed the car. The reasons were that she can often be very nervous facing the big wide world. We open th front door, and she's overly reluctant to step out of the house. (I've had to do a lot of carrying which obviously I don't want to become a habit.) Anyway, there we were washing the car quite happily when I saw an extremely overweight Chocolate Labrador jump into my car boot, and then jump out, nosing little ol' Ellie onto her back until she submitted. To say I was bloody angry would be a gross understatement.

The neighbour came out, anxiously saying "sorry, mate" and trying to get a hold of his way too fat dog. I asked him if he was insane, and he, presuming I was joking, laughed a little. He then said "She just escaped when I opened the door", to which I abruptly told him that is what leashes and gates are for, before calling him a few choice names. I think he got the message that I detest irresponsible dog owners. Especially ones who can set my puppy up to resent or fear dogs through their lack of thinking!

Regardless, Ellie seemed to handle it quite well. She rolled over quickly enough, and I resisted the urge to pick her up. I sort of stepped in between the two so that the Labrador couldn't do much damage. Despite staying supremely calm for Ellie's sake, I was so bloody angry with the idiot, and I think he knew it. Might help if he actually walked his dog once in a while. I've never seen it walked yet. It's little wonder that it bolts out when it sees daylight, or that it is so unhealthily fat!

Anyway, aside from that, she seemed to enjoy exploring the front of the house, and getting soaked from the bubbles and water dropping to the ground from the car.

We took her to Pets at Home for the first time yesterday, actually to purchase the car-harness. Boy does she love getting attention! She actively hunts it out from anyone who looks even remote interested and casts her just the slightest glance. She may well end up being a lot of things, but I don't imagine that shy will be one of them. I carried her around to start with as it was her first time, and I thought she might be a little nervous. Was she hell. Once she realised there were people about, she wanted in on the action and wriggled until I put her down so that she could go and get her quota of strokes.

Right now, as I write this, she's done her usual trick of curling up under my desk and sleeping at my feet. She seems to love it under there. Earlier, she was curled up on my lap as I was typing.

Yesterday, we formulated our plan for getting her used to being alone. We're going to crate her and leave her alone each day, adding two minutes per day. That means that after thirty days, she should be able to stand sixty minutes. We did her first two minutes yesterday and she was perfectly fine. Today, it will be four minutes. I do make an effort to shut her into it each day though, so I think she's used to being in it while I move about the house anyway. I'm sure she's going to be just fine.

We've arranged to meet Dawn, the foster-carer at a show in October, where we can take Ellie along to see her, plus she's going to come over to see Ellie between Oct 1 and 21 too. I bet Ellie remembers her immediately. We're trying to expose her to various public scenarios between now and then so that she's not completely flooded on the day of the show. We're taking her away to a dog-friendly lace this weekend, so that will give her quite some exposure.

All in all, it's going really well. We're pleased with her learning, both in training, and in her learning how to behave around the house. She's lovely and sociable around people, and oh, she let me sleep in this morning! What more can a dog-owner ask for?

I almost forgot to add. Yesterday, I tried brushing her again. She doesn't seem to like being brushed and is far more interested in attacking the brush. However, after reading the two books we purchased from the training theory class, I decided to take their advice and brush her when she was already quite relaxed. Cheeky mare fell asleep on my lap, with me sat on the floor brushing her for half an hour! She has such a cheek...