IAADP Weekly Training Requirements Week of 7/21/14

Age: 5 months
Week of: July 21 - 27, 2014  Total Hours (5 hrs on Site) + (1.5 hrs Outings)

Last week I wasn't doing well at all.  I don't have any explanation for how I managed not to keep up with the training, but I don't have the log for 7/14-7/20

Health:
- Got ill from the Petsafe Indigo Chews that came in her barkbox. She was better a couple of days later. They're sending a toy to make up for the fact she got so sick. I love those people...
- Elsa had excessive eye boogers from Sunday til Wednesday... they are still there, but the vet says it is allergies so we are just treating with benadryl
- Wednesday we went to the vet for a checkup.  She's 5 months, 1 week, and 36 pounds!!

Problems:
- Recently Elsa isn't receptive to her poop command and it caused her to poop in Petco!! I had given her the command before we went in and she just refused to listen.
- Still some nipping, but this seems to be getting better

Outings:
- Petco - 45 minutes

Socialization: 
- Idgie our foster dog came.  The two of them seem happy enough with each other.  Elsa rarely is bothered by other dogs.
- We went to the Hoover dog park twice

Obedience: 
- Lots of time is being spent polishing recall.

Service Dog Tasks: 
- We worked putting her paws on my chest from several different angles.  I can have her to either side or front of me and I will put my hand on my chest in a fist and she puts her paws up!  This is going to be her fake potty signal since she has taken to it so easily.

Manners: 
- NIPPING!! AUGH!

IAADP Training Requirements: Weekly Training Overview

Age:
Week of:
July 7 - 13, 2014  Total Hours (5 hrs on Site) + (2 hrs Outings)

Health: 

- Her ears smelled really bad a few days ago.  I was afraid it was a yeast infection, but the smell has gone away.  I will continue to monitor for a repeat.

Problems: 

- Some anxiety is cropping back up.

Socialization: 
- We Talk Dog daycare all day Monday!  They work with her on not jumping and appropriate socialization.
- Wednesday evening Elsa went with daddy and Britta to his game night/puppy playdate.
- Saturday we went to Hoover Dog Park then after to Brusters for puppy sundaes!

Obedience: 
- Basic tasks covered while eating dinner each night

Service Dog Tasks: 
- Working on deep pressure this week.  Elsa doesn't like to sit too long, but she is doing better each time.

Manners: 
- Nipping is an issue again
- She got excited and tried to herd my face when we went walking the other day.  It was nervewracking, but supposedly a puppy thing.

Comments:
- There's some new anxiety that I think is cropping up because I'm not doing enough with Elsa away from Britta.  We've had them together way too much recently.  I will be working with Elsa more and not letting Britta stay with us as much.

Service Dog Tasks in Puppy Play

Recently, I've had comments about how I must be working Elsa too hard.  I must be teaching her too much and she will burn out before the training is over.  My precious little puppy is four and a half months old and I'm pushing too much onto her and making things serious too fast.
At first, the comments frustrated me.  Now, I just choose to appreciate the concern that people have for making sure my puppy's training stays humane.
Anyone who is around is aware that I spend more time playing with her than "training" in an official sense.  However, the playing is carefully constructed to teach her to be comfortable with things that she will encounter as part of her tasks.  Some days are more structured than others based on how much I've worked at my other job, weather, and other weird factors.

Below, I have listed several things that can be used to keep play going in a useful, yet fun, manner. I hope others will comment with their ideas to help me expand!!
- One meal a day is spent going over basic commands.  This way they work for the kibble, practice basic obedience consistently, and don't even notice it happening.
- We have puzzle toys that sometimes come out for different meals.  They help with staying entertained and I've noticed after we bought a couple that had Elsa using her paws, she's become more interested in utilizing them like little hands.
- Hide and Seek: this can be helpful if one has a fear of coming home to intruders.  It's possible to teach them to bark once they've found you.  You can upgrade to friends hiding when you're out for a walk and then you can come home and have them find the person and bark for a treat.  Eventually that becomes habit to check.
- Mini agility toys: certain things like a mini see saw plank or a hula hoop can be useful to teach agility basics without getting serious too fast.
- Fetch: this easily reinforces bring it and drop it.  Here there is also an opportunity for object recognition reinforcement.  Elsa has become really efficient with "bring it" without much formal training because of this game.
- Biking: Really, any activity can be a bonding exercise.  This one is really helpful to teach her to constantly be focused on me.
- Waking up: When the alarm clock goes off in the morning, immediately give your pup a treat.  They will begin to expect the treat at the sound of the alarm and this can be really helpful during a depressive phase if you're not wanting to get out of bed and your puppy is licking your face.  Eventually, we will refine this and it will become one of Elsa's tasks.

IAADP Training Requirements: Weekly Training Overview

Age: 4 Months
Week of: June 30 - July 6, 2014  Total Hours (3 hrs on Site) + (2 hrs Outings)

Health: 

- Brushed Thursday
- Trimmed nails Saturday 

- Elsa got a bath on Sunday afternoon

Problems: 

- There has been some improvement on the mouthing.  I think her teething is beginning to slow down!

Outings: 

- Tuesday evening daddy took Elsa and Britta to his game group and they got to play with those dogs

- The fireworks definitely didn't bother Elsa as much as I expected and now I have another idea for desensitization outings: taking the pups to the park next to the baseball field on nights they are going to have fireworks.  She wasn't bothered at all by the fireworks and I want to keep it that way!  As soon as I have earplugs (or whatever our vet recommends), we will start this tradition.

Socialization: 
- Hoover Dog Park Friday afternoon

Obedience: 
- As usual, we've spent once a day working on basic commands while eating
- We are slowly dragging out "stay"

Service Dog Tasks: 
- Beginner task games were practiced, as usual.  Not much will change until she is a bit older.

Alarm Clock Training

Well, I've finally goofed up.  I slept through my alarm and missed an appointment today.  Luckily, the office had mercy on me and waived the $50 missed appointment fee.

My medicine isn't supposed to make me sleep through things, but the doctor says it may just be thanks to the depression.  Usually I'm sleeping through an alarm or two, but I'm up by the third.  This time, I had been volunteering at the Humane Society and got home with barely enough time to get a full sleep cycle in before going to my appointment.

Overall, I'm moving really slow with Elsa on service dog tasks because she is only four months old.  She's not totally house trained (on occasion she still pees on the floor without warning), but she usually holds it if we are sleeping in the bedroom.  I'm going to start training her to wake me to the alarm clock so that I don't have this kind of thing happen again.  I can't afford to miss important appointments, and if it gets worse and I start missing work related things, I'll be in REAL trouble!

So here is the alarm clock training we are doing!

Supplies:
- peanut butter
- alarm clock

Plan:
Initially, I have just set the alarm to go off randomly.  Once it goes off, I smear some peanut butter on my hand and encourage her to lick it off.
Next, we will move to me smearing a bit of peanut butter on my face and laying down while the alarm is going off.
Finally, I will wean her off of expecting the peanut butter immediately and encourage the licking until I give her the peanut butter as a sign that I'm up.  I will immediately take her outside so I cannot fall back asleep and mess up the sequence.

Anyone who is reading this, feel free to comment with any problems that you see possibly arising.  Also, any tips on how to train this consistently so that she is reliable would be awesome!!!