What We Do When Home Alone...

We finally got a new camera-machine and a new computer that can handle video! 

This is the first time that Ellie has taken video of us while nobody is home. This is the first video we have ever edited, so go easy on us! :)

By providing your dog with something to do while you are gone, you can prevent boredom and mild separation anxiety problems. A bored dog will find something to keep themselves entertained... and it's not always something that humans approve of.

Rocky's New Trick!

Hello, Treasure here. We are sorry that we haven't been around much lately. Things have been pretty hectic around here with Ellie building up her grooming and training business, and with her focusing more on her artwork. We just wanted to post this video of Rocky and his new trick!


This is Rocky's newest trick. If you don't have the sound on, Ellie is saying, "Shame on you."

Sorry for the dark video. This was taken inside using a new camera that we don't know how to use yet.

Disclaimer: No dogs were actually scolded in this video. This is just a trick!

Training at the Park and Fun Outing!

Hello! Treasure here. I want to tell you about what we did yesterday. Ellie says that it is really important to train us doggies in a variety of different settings. Just because we know how to 'sit' in the living room does not necessarily mean that we know how to 'sit' outside. In her training classes, the human students used to tell her all the time, "But, Max can do this (sit, down, stay, etc.) at home! I think he's just being stubborn and ignoring me." What most likely happened is that they didn't train Max in different environments, so he was either distracted, or he didn't know that 'sit' means 'sit' and 'down' means 'down' wherever or whenever they are. Training us doggies in a variety of different settings and places will help us to know how to do these things anywhere and anytime!

So, to help us with this, we went to the park across the street from our house to practice! It is important when doing this for the first time, that your human chooses an area that is not very distracting... like your backyard, or maybe a different room in the house that you don't normally train in. If you are used to training in your living room, then you suddenly go to a very crowded pet store, it will be much too distracting for you and your human, and you won't be able to focus very well! You should slowly add in the distractions one at a time to set both of you up for success, and so you don't get frustrated!

There were a couple of human adults, and a few human children at the other end of the park yesterday. We chose the most distant corner from them, so we could still hear them, but they weren't so close that we would be too distracted.

(Please forgive the picture quality! We didn't have our good picture-machine with us yesterday!)

When training somewhere new to you, you should always start with things you already know how to do very well. Start with the simple things, so that you can get used to the new environment while you do things that are very easy for you. Also, if you know how to 'stay' for 30 seconds at home, maybe do it for only 10 seconds in the new environment, and work up from there. Set yourselves up for success! Succeeding builds confidence!


Check out how focused Rocky is on Ellie's face! He is learning to ignore distractions!

High-five:

Devin even took a turn with me. Ellie wants us to be able to listen to Devin as well as we listen to her. So it is important for us to work with him so that we get used to it! This is Devin asking me to do a 'twirl', which is a circle in a counter-clockwise direction. My ears look funny!

This is me focusing on what he wants me to do next (actually, I am focusing on the treat in his hand... shhhhhhh!):

We got a couple of nice rewards after our training session! The first one was more for the boys. They got to play with the fox on a stick at the park. I don't understand why they like chasing that thing so much! (Amp is on a long-line, because he likes to wander off sometimes even when playing with the fox. This makes him easier to catch!)

The next was an outing with our humans! Ellie later told me that this was part of our training too... to get us used to going different places and seeing new things.

Ellie says that going different places like this is good for our mentals. Also, it is part of something she calls "socialization", which is something she feels needs to be done throughout our whole lives so we don't forget!

We had such a fun day! I hope we can do it again soon!


Dog-training blooper: (supposed to be a high-five)

Taking Turns!

Hello! Treasure speaking! Tonight in our training session, we started learning a better way of taking turns! It is important for use to learn how to take turns really well so that we don't get into fights over the treats, and so that we don't distract the working dog while they are learning something new! It was difficult for us to just stay on the couch because it was such a big space, and we were confused as to where each of us were supposed to be. So, Ellie thought that maybe it would be more clear to us if she gave each of us an assigned bed to stay on while the working dog is training. Here are some pictures of our progress! We look kind of sad in these pictures, but we are really not! (Ellie says please don't mind the clutter in the background!)

It's been a long time!

Hello everybody! It has been a really long time since I have posted anything! Ellie and I have been really busy dog training, grooming, and just generally having a good old time! There is one other thing that has been keeping us really busy. I have a new family! That's right... Ellie met a wonderful man human and got married!

Doesn't she look so happy? My new human's name is Devin, and he is a dog lover. In fact, I have two new dog brothers... Rocky and Amp! I struggled a little bit at first, but Ellie introduced us to each other slowly, and on neutral territory to make it easier for us. Now I love to play with both of them!

    

                                                                                                     

This is Amp. He is mostly long-haired dachshund, but he has a teeny tiny bit of chihuahua in him. He is about a year old, and he's full of energy! He reminds me of me when I was that age. Ellie says that he might make a good canine freestyle partner, because he has good focus on her, and tries to stay by her left leg while training... even though she has not taught him how to heel yet. He didn't really know much of anything before he met Ellie, but now he knows sit, down, stay, wait, recall, leave it, twirl (counter-clockwise circle), spin (clockwise circle), hand targeting, over (jump over legs), through (go under legs), and is working on loose leash walking. He is also learning how to chew on appropriate items, rather than pens, cardboard, plastic, and shoes. He is really good at getting me to play with him. Before I moved here, I had a hard time being in the mood to play... but Amp is an expert at inviting me to have a good romp. Ellie says I have started to act like a puppy again!

This is Rocky. He is a beagle mix of some sort. If any of you have any good guesses as to what else he might be, we would love to see them! He is about four years old, and has tons and tons of energy! Two long walks a day doesn't even come close to tiring this guy out! His excess energy comes out in anxiety, which causes Ellie some trouble getting him to focus while training. She has been trying to work on confidence building exercises with him with clicker training, and seems to have made a little bit of progress. Ellie wants to turn him into a frisbee dog, because he catches things really well! Although, he seemed to be a little bit afraid of the frisbee when she introduced it to him a couple of days ago. She'll work on it though, and get him to really like catching it! Before he met Ellie, he knew how to sit and lay down, but that's about it. Now he knows leave it, recall with very low distractions, stay, twirl, hand-targeting, watch me, shake, high five, roll over, over, and wait. Now he is working on loose-leash walking. He used to pull really really bad. So bad that Devin would have to wrap the leash around his hand several times to even keep a grip on it. Now he only pulls occasionally, and he will stop as soon as he realizes that he is doing it. Major improvement! He has a really hard time focusing, and will sometimes just wander away right in the middle of a training session... even with high-value treats, and his favorite toys as rewards. He is getting better, though.

Edit: Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure:

I will try to post updates on all of our progress with training! I would love to hear from you all!