IAADP Training Requirements: Weekly Training Overview...

Okay, so here is our first real training updates post.

Age: 14 weeks
Week of: May 26 - June 1, 2014 - 8 hrs Total Hours(5 hrs on Site) + (3 hrs Outings)

Health:
Trimmed nails and bathed Monday night.  This was the first time one of us wasn't sitting in the tub with her.  I didn't run water, just had it halfway filled with warm water.   Elsa did well with the nail trim. She isn't liking the bath as much. She accepts it but isn't fond. Maybe once the new barkbox comes in they will have some tasty high-value treats that will help with this.

She bathed with Nick on Thursday morning after getting muddy.  She sat still for him but trembled some.

Eating well.  Had some diarrhea the other day but it has gone away.  Hiccups at least every other day, but apparently that is normal for puppies?

Still having some anxiety at night in the crate when momma works.  Considering moving her crate into a different room than her sisters' (Britta's).  I don't want to because she loves the DogTV channel, but I think maybe it would be better. -- After no longer coming home at night, this seems to have subsided.  She is already sleeping through the night in her crate and it seems that me coming home in the middle of the night has just been working her back up.

The nail trimmer was pulled out again Sunday and it went fine.

Problems:

Still sometimes refusing to poop for Daddy (Nick).  Not sure what this is, but we will spend some time having him treat her when she poops for me.  She is still consistent on her poop command with me, so I am less worried about this than if she wasn't pooping regularly for me.

Outings:

1 Hour Tuesday (Trainer: Kurt Heinrich)

30 Minutes Tuesday (PetSmart)

30 Minutes Friday (Starbucks)

1 Hour Saturday (Pepper Place Farmer's Market)

Socialization:

Went to the dog park Monday night. Played with a 2 month old and a 6 year old. This went well overall. Recall is nonexistent with these distractions. 

At Kurt's house, we met his german shepherd. 

Tuesday evening we met Marlow (Julia's dog).  Marlow is nervous around other dogs.  I used treats to bribe Marlow into liking us.  It went really well.

Wednesday it rained, so no outside fun.

Thursday we went back to the dog park with Britta.  It was fun and we met two big dogs.  One of them really liked to wrestle rough.  Elsa kept running back into the play and I finally had to pick her up and carry her out.  She doesn't know her limits yet.  She has a couple of marks on her, but nothing serious.

We also played in the creek next to the park once we were done.  She loves this!!  Looking forward to the vacation we have coming up with mom (Oma) and dad (Opa) at Joe Wheeler State Park.

Friday we spent some time at the Starbucks.  She's definitely not as interested in people as she used to be.  Such improvement!!

Saturday, we went to the farmer's market in vest.  She did great with people but is still a little too excited around other dogs.  Next week we will go to the dog park THEN hit the farmer's market, assuming it isn't rainy...

After that, we went to Turkey Creek Preserve.  She loved the water, but her recall disappeared while there.  She managed to get off leash and ran over to greet some people I wasn't with.  They were nice about it.  She proceeded to poop and I picked it up in the bag, then she bit out the bottom of the bag.  Ewwwww.

Met Alli's dog, Tubbs, on Sunday.  Poor Tubby didn't know what to make of Elsa's excitedness.  He's a 4.5 year old dog and is happy to be much calmer.  They got along well, though.

Getting better about reading other dogs' signals. 

 
Obedience: 
Basic commands were worked on with Kurt on Tuesday.  He told Nick and me that our dogs are intelligent enough that, if trained properly, obedience competitions could be in their future.

Recall is nowhere near polished, but getting better.  I've switched from "come" to "hier"

Verbal commands are still rusty without any hand signal... though she obviously understands them because when it is connected to something yummy, she's on top of the commands.

Staying is better this week than before.  I can dance around in circles with the treats and she will stay still.  Next will be having someone try to entice her while I give her the stay command.

My goal is to have Elsa take the CGC test by the end of July... PAT by the end of December

She is not comfortable with someone trusted holding her while I walk away.

Started using the puppy bells as a sign for potty time.  She hasn't caught on to them yet.

Sleeping in the bedroom now when I am home... no accidents yet!  We are still crating when we are gone.

Service Dog Tasks: 
Working on object recognition.  Specifically bottle and bag.  We are working on choosing the right item out of my purse.  This is brand new for her: basic obedience has been the goal up until now and is still the priority.

We also worked on our fake potty command.  I click my tongue and hold two fingers out and she bothers my leg with her paw and "boops" her nose to my hand.

Another thing is I am teaching her to listen when I am two rooms away.  If I'm in the bathroom and she's in the kitchen, I call her in my normal/quiet voice and treat her when she comes.

Manners:

Scratching at collar has to be stopped, but I am not sure how.
She rarely barks, only whines in crate when needing to go potty.

Still jumping on everyone. - talked about this with Kurt.  Have some corrections in place.

Going to work harder on waiting for permission to eat... she is slowly understanding she has to wait in a sit to eat.  Eventually she will learn when she goes into the down-stay, the food is not for her.

She doesn't chew on vests or clothing I put on her... so glad I'm not dealing with that fight!!

Peeing on the floor on occasion still. I'm going to have her checked for a UTI, but it's most likely a puppy phase. 

She's better at brushing.  Not fantastic and definitely needing more work, but soon I won't have to use distractions to take a brush to her without fuss.

She isn't fond of the vacuum, but doesn't bark or run away when it is on.  She's cautious, which is wonderful to have!  I gave her some treats close to it while it was running and then once it was cut off, I put treats on it and left it for her to explore.

Comments:
We found two more four leaf clovers at the dog park!  She's such a lucky charm. =)

I have GOT to get a well fitting muzzle to get her accustomed in case of injury.  Definitely going to need to work on emergency training. 

Also just barely got started with a laser pointer.  She's not terribly interested, but hopefully as we build the prey fascination up she will become more amused.

How can I find an area to take her on the escalator and elevator?  I need to talk to Kurt about this... or possibly Target once she is better at "heel"? 

Just got her harness for the car... I need to work on her getting used to it and then wearing it for longer and longer distances.

I have tennis balls and I need to get some rope so that I can use the tennis balls as prey drive exercises as well.

I want to get more first aid info under my belt... she got into an ant bed (luckily just regular black ants) and afterward I realized that if it was a fireant bed, I was NOT prepared.