Otto's Second Week

 Otto had a BIG week! So many new things to experience! We introduced a lot more behaviors this week, went on more outings, and met more people and dogs. Here's the recap:

Potty Training

Going great overall, all the mistakes are mine. I finally got my litter order, so now he has a litter pan in his pen and that's a big help. He has an appropriate place to go if he needs to and I don't have to stress over accidents. I've learned that yes, he still does need to go out before/after training/playing and I can't just use the clock to know when to take him out.

Socialization

• Met a few more people at small family thanksgiving and adored them all.
• Had a photo shoot, met the photographer and saw (and bit) camera equipment
• Met dog friends! Nova and Eevee the Tervurens. He hung back and watched them mostly, but played with Eevee a bit at the end. BC puppy Everest! They were great playmates. He met Everest's brother Meru the Koolie as well.
• We went to the (empty, closed) gym to check out the sights. He was a confident puppy and happily explored.
• Came to training on Monday. Explored the space, no problems! Walked on different surfaces. Met three people, and worked on supervised separation to prep for the CGC. He did great!
• Went to petsmart to get some of his favorite pig ears (I carried him so he wouldn't be exposed to germs). He was VERY excited to see other dogs. I thought he was shaking at one point, but it was just his tail wagging so hard!
• Out and about in the big wide world is harder. People are bark-worthy and he's a bit environmental. He does a lot of looking and freezing and needs time to process. As we get out more, his body language is changing to happier and more playful, so that's good to see. Working on a plan to change his response to seeing strangers and strange dogs at a distance out in the world.

Goals for the coming week: We exceeded last week's goals! This week we plan to meet at least two dogs, get outside for outings every day, and go to Monday and Wednesday night training.

House Manners

What a good, patient puppy! Confinement is an unfortunate reality of life in the House of Misfit Dogs, and he's rocking it. We have a good routine down. Train and play in the morning. Go in the ex pen with a chewie for some chew time and a nap. He's been spending a couple hours in the pen in the living room while I work in my office and is such a good, quiet puppy! We've been introducing crate time in the office while I work, and he's happy either with a chewie or napping. We've been introducing crate or pen time while I leave the house for an hour or two. He gets a stuffed Kong and has been calm and happy when I get back. He's figured out that the basement and outside are fun places and he freaks out if he's in his pen and sees me go to those places, especially if I take another dog with me. We're working on counter-conditioning that. He picks up on the rule structure of "just chill out" very quickly. He's good at chilling, which I'm thankful for.

He's got pen and crate exit manners (wait for release) down pat. We're working on staying off the counters. Overall, he's just a super easy, good, willing to please little pup.

Training

SO many things this week!

Review:

• Name game/recalls. We've taken this on the road. He's done recalls in the yard, at puppy playdates, at the gym, in public. Yesterday he recalled away from barking at kids at the fence. What a good boy!
• Collar grabs are super easy now.
• Crate games: Added a verbal cue ("kennel"), he sends from about 3' now, gives eye contact to wait for his release, releases on "ok." Adding my movement into his stay.
• Puppy zen/reverse luring: Gives eye contact with treats in my hands and treats on the floor. Stays with eye contact to wait for release to his food bowl. Added zen hand into his chin rest and stand-stay.
• Shaped mouth behavior/hold. This one is still tough. We're taking it slow. We have a full-mouthed bite from my hand and a bite and pick up on the floor. 
• Lured positions: more work on this, started asking for a tuck sit, which is hard!
• Lured heeling: more work on duration sitting in heel and got some advice on getting a prancy heel with food follows, so working that on the right side. He's still little for this, so not doing very much.

New this week:

• Free shaping! First session he turned on 30 seconds in and starting offering a back up. We will keep playing with this here and there.
• Chin rest. His FAVORITE trick!! He learned this in about 10 seconds and we are adding duration with eye contact, adding distraction with motion, and varying my hand position. 
• Go to mat. Shaped this as basically a paw target. I am not requiring any position on the mat and prefer to keep him up and moving. Vary my position and distance in relation to the mat. He thinks this one is fun too!
• Hand touch. He is just really not a fan of this for some reason. It helps to work on it with motion in between other behaviors. Doing it sparingly. Honestly, it's not something I need from him, so not a big deal.
• Drive-to-target with restraint/opposition reflex, focus forward. We're starting this with a food bowl. I figured he would happily run to food and I was right. 
• Shaping a wrap of a jump stanchion. He picked it up, but wasn't a super-fan. Figuring out this feature with him. He offered a few reps and then laid down. I'm not sure if this was confusion, him just being lower energy when we worked this, or what I keep hearing about poodles not liking repetition. My hunch is he just didn't really get the point. We will revisit this in the future. I think he'd like it more if it were higher-energy, but his toy play is not there yet to reward with a toy.
• Shaped two-feet up on a pivot platform. No problem! He got this very quickly! 

Goals for next week: Introduce scent work, continue to build previous behaviors, shape some rear-end movement on his pivot platform.

Play Skills

Coming along! His retrieve this week is a bit stronger than his tug. Last week he really wasn't fetching at all. This week he's happily chasing toys of all kinds and his instinct is usually to bring them back to me to play together. He doesn't really drop for another throw right away, but that's ok. He definitely prefers to play together rather than on his own, which I love about him! The udder tug is his favorite and his tugging is getting stronger. I bought him some fur tugs, but he's not a super-fan. He prefers rope/fringy tugs. We started working on some two-toy games. He easily switches to the toy I'm asking him to engage with. I found that I really don't enjoy working on play skills, and having rules I'm supposed to follow. It's a buzz kill for me. I prefer to just play, engage naturally with him, and have a good time. He likes this better too, so we will skill build gradually as his drive increases. He also really loves personal play and I love that about him, so we build that in to all of our play and training sessions and throughout the day as well. 

Grooming

We did his face twice, his feet once, and brushed twice! He is great with his feet and ok with brushing. He is not a fan of the face clipping. On the advice of a groomer friend, I am being firm but patient with him. That and working on it after a nap while he he's still a little sleepy seems to work best.

Hunting!!

Next Friday....Otto meets birds!!