Otto's Third Week

We are really getting into a grove here at Casa De Misfit Dogs! We have a good routine. There is less screaming. Otto is really picking up on how things work here and how to be a patient puppy! He had his 15-week shots and weighed in at 20.2lb. I swear I put him in his pen for a nap and when he woke up his nose had grown an inch! I moved him from a 24" crate in the car to the variocage and he now sleeps in a 36" crate!

Our third week together focused on getting outside and working focus and attention! We did not do as much with training fun behaviors, but we did make some progress on a few things. We took lots and lots of field trips! 

I was a little alarmed when he first came home by his BIG reactions to dogs and people out and about, staring and barking/boofing even at people 100 yards away. Turns out I needn't have worried. We got on that behavior fast and he is VERY quickly learning alternate behaviors for dealing with things out and about. 

He has quickly caught onto a "look" cue (Leslie McDevitt's "Look At That" game) so I am now able to cue and reinforce looking at distractions in his environment that might otherwise surprise him. He's really good at this game and the time he needs to process what he is seeing is decreasing.

We've also been working on auto-reorienting. In other words, people, dogs, and other "things" in the environment are cues to look back at mom rather than cues to stare and escalate arousal. Again, he is doing GREAT with this. On one outing he saw the first person before I did and quickly snapped his attention to me! I had to look around to see what had cued him. 

We worked: 

• In the yard (Otto big, tough, guard dog!)
• A spot in the neighborhood adjacent to a walking path
• At Monday night training (worked around other people he did not get to greet and focused around another dog working)
• At the gym, watching people doing all kinds of crazy stuff
• At a park
• In the grocery store parking lot (at the back the first day, and worked up to the sidewalk on day 2)
• At a different park on a walk with Stafford puppy friend Cicely
• At Wednesday night training (barked at his new friends until they got down on his level, but they were close and staring at him, so that was a tough one)
• On a walking path with Terv friend Nova (joggers and bikers!)

I'm super, super happy with how his focus is coming along and how well he's learning to handle all the exciting things in the environment.

Otto and Cicely. Photo credit: Laura McKinney

Housetraining

The momma has been trained! If one thinks "maybe I should take the puppy out"....one takes the puppy out. One does not justify that he "should" be fine because he was just out fifteen minutes ago. 

Otto apparently decided that litter boxes are for babies and so that thing in his pen must be a weird kind of bed/chewing station. So we no longer have a litter box. 

Socialization

Daily outings, as described above. We had a nice reprieve from winter here in Minnesota (temps in the mid 30s or above) since Otto came home, but we are about to enter the deep, cold, dark. I will be keeping up as best I can and hoping I only lose a couple fingers to frostbite. Luckily, Otto will soon be able to go to indoor locations to work.

Things (weird sculptures, workout equipment), noises (dropping barbells, dropping stuff in the kitchen, loud music, shaking open a garbage bag), surfaces, obstacles, all continue to pass without notice or with happy, curious interest. So confident! 

Goal for this week: A trip to Home Depot, a trip to a farm, a trip downtown.

Manners

He's so good! This week I've been able to go to "the fun places" (outside and the basement) without him with....less....freaking out. He came to Wednesday night class to hang out in a crate, and he was quiet the whole time, even while I worked Jun! Good boy!

Training

This week we focused on:

• Focus and attention, as described above
• Recalls and cued collar grab (put your collar in my hand)
• Shaping rear foot movement on a pivot disc. What a super-star!
• Go to mat - I still have not managed to turn a camera on for this. Right now I'm teaching his mat as more of just a foot target. No particular behavior is expected on the mat. I just want him to run to it with enthusiasm. And since he LOVES slapping things with his paws, he thinks this game is great! I'm working on both send AWAY from me, and stopping on the mat on the mat while running back TOWARDS me (foundational concept for drop-on-recall).
• Release cue: worked on adding some duration with my movement to his crate behavior. It's so cute, when he self-releases he corrects himself and goes right back in. Worked on stationary duration on his pet cot (up to 10 second).
•  Nose touch. This is my most interesting challenge with him so far. This week we worked on a nose touch to an electrical plate instead of my hand to see if he would be more into it. My training mechanics are atrocious, so no video, lol. My click timing is bad and he really wants to get his paws in there and I keep accidentally clicking paw movements. He's only offering me super light nose contact and sometimes it's hard to tell if he even made contact or not. I will keep puzzling through this one. I have an idea of teaching him to put his nose in a little nose-sized box attached to my target with duration and then cutting down the box over time. Do I NEED a nose touch? No, but I like a sustained nose touch for scent indication. And if I can get a sustained nose touch to my hand, that will help with retrieve to hand. 
• Stationing. Introduced the pet cot and the idea of a required position on a station (a down). Adding a cue "place."
• Added distance and varied my position on his kennel sends. 
• Worked on luring tuck sit.
• I did not get around to playing with scent. Next week, hopefully.

Goals for next week: Introduce stimulus control, now that he has at least one verbal (kennel send only pays when I say "kennel."). Add duration to stationing. To teach a sit or not teach a sit (yet), that is the question.....

Play Skills

Fave toys this week were mostly trash and recycling, haha! But he's getting a super nice trash retrieve and learning about reusing and recycling! 

Grooming

Face done, ears cleaned, brushing done a couple times, feet....(why do his nails grow SO fast?!)...check and check. One of these days he should get a bath.

Hunting

The most anticipated event of the week! My sweet puppy is a mighty hunter! I introduced him to live pigeons and he took to them right away. Feathers are tasty, tasty snacks! This is totally new to me, so I am doing tons of research to try to educate myself. Currently reading "Force-Free Gundog Training" by Jo Laurens, and really enjoying it.

Just Otto Things

He is an absolute joy and makes me laugh! His first priority in the morning is cuddles and he will cuddle as long as I let him. This dog LOVES physical contact and personal play. We end every training session with personal play. He loves to have his neck and back scratched and will droop his head down, his nose just about touching the ground and just stand to be scratched. He loves having his belly scratched/rubbed. Basically, the dog just loves being doted upon. 

Sometimes in the house or the yard or on walks, he just stops and stares at me. I have no idea what he's thinking or waiting for.

He REALLY loves Ira and tries to get him to play every day with wiggles and bounces. It's adorable! Sorry, buddy, Ira is lame. 

His favorite chew is a pig's ear. Everything else is meh.