Bex and the Bookends

Snow and Christmas

2010-12-29T19:34:00.008+01:00

Trying to get an update online finally. These are a few pictures of the girls in the snow right before Christmas and at Christmas.

DH got a Nano Bug for Christmas. Molly is sure it is a dog toy.

The girls will do anything for MARSHMALLOWS!

Buddy Cube

2010-04-17T12:22:00.001+02:00

The other day it occurred to me that Shawnee might like the buddy cube. I don't think we'd had it out since Molly was Shawnee's age and she wasn't very interested in it. It is also very noisy, which can get annoying.

The buddy cube is basically a die with a hole instead of a dot for 1. You fill treats or kibble into the hole and it gets put into an internal maze for later release. You can adjust the difficulty by turning the hole insert to modify the size of the release holes.

Shawnee loved it and Molly even got into it more than she had in the past. So this is something they'll be getting to play with once in a while when we can stand the noise. (in other words, NOT on migraine days!!)

The added advantage with Shawnee is that it got more food into her. She hasn't been eating well, although crating her at meal time over the past week has helped some.

In case you are wondering about Molly's unusual attire, she is still generally stuck in a sock or bootie or at least vet wrap to protect her one toe. The vet thinks it started with a small injury, but she keeps licking it and making things worse. It is mostly healed now, but she is not yet ready to leave it alone.

Training Session 1

2010-03-05T11:11:00.003+01:00

My health and a number of other things going on (Shawnee in heat, Molly with a problematic toe injury, and a sick horse) have prevented me from getting to the training goal before today. I just did a short session with the girls--worked Shawnee while Molly was on mat then worked Molly while Shawnee held a stay (She isn't advanced enough to mat on anything like Molly is). I started with a few post-it targets on hand then quickly advanced to my knee. Once they did that a few times, I moved the target to the doorbell. No problem--they targetted it there. Molly did have her usual "are you sure I'm not supposed to retrieve this?" issues but Shawnee was easy going and confident.

Unfortunately they are not yet pushing hard enough or precisely enough to ring the bell, but I am sure we can work that out with time.

I'm very proud of them for remembering the yellow target when it has been so long since we last trained with it and we had done so few training sessions on it.

Training Goal: Ringing a Doorbell to Signal Potty Needs

2010-02-26T07:40:00.002+01:00

The border collie forum I frequent is now adding a clicker training club for those of us who want to so we can help encourage each other to get training and give advice and feedback on problems. HEre is my first goal with these two.

problem: at this point, Molly is pretty easy to understand because she barks when she needs out. Shawnee is more confusing because she tends to just stare at you.

Overall goal: to have the girls ring a doorbell placed at their height when they need to go out to potty.

rough training plan: both the girls already have a strong hand target with their noses. So now I want to add a Post-it note to the target then be able to move the target to other things. That way I can place the target on the door bell itself and get them ringing it with their nose. Then finally I can phase out the target. Once they are ringing the bell and training sessions, I can start trying to teach them to ring the bell when they need to go out. I am not sure whether I should use a cue as an intermediate between training sessions and potty ring.

Current status: I last trained a few weeks ago. I had both the girls relatively successfully nose targeting the Post-it target placed very close to me.I will probably need to back up to having the Post-it on my hand because of the time since I last worked on it.

Intermediate goal one, which is probably actually due on 6 March: getting the girls to target the post it with their nose when it is placed on the doorbell. Hopefully this will at least sometimes ring the bell.

I will try to post progress reports frequently. Maybe even after every training session if I can get the time and energy for it.

Frisbee in the Snow

2010-02-09T16:15:00.001+01:00

There is not much other than snow going on these days. But one evening last week, we got the girls out into the pony pasture for a round of frisbee while the ponies were in the shed eating.

Those three were from one catch. Pretty typical of casts when both girls get to run. Shawnee gets there first, but Molly does the retrieve!

Digging in the Snow

2010-01-11T19:27:00.001+01:00

We had to dig the pony fence free from the snow before the drifts settled and destroyed the fence completely. The girls were quite a help--more than we expected. Molly was much more productive and focussed than Shawnee, but both helped.

Note: Pics are taken with the cell phone. With all four of us digging, it wasn't reasonable to have the camera with.

The Girls in the Snow

2010-01-10T12:45:00.002+01:00

Please forgive the insane lack of updates lately. Bex has been down with a concussion since before Christmas and still isn't right.

Description limited because of writer's health. Suffice it to say, we have too much snow. No picture of it, but Molly has been helping water the ponies. I put on her seat belt harness because it is comfortable for pulling and tie her to one of the smaller water jugs. She drags it out to the ponies' trough so I only have to pour it in. She sometimes needs help getting it moving again after a pause, but she is VERY good and loves the job. Shawnee helped once, but has an injury on some of her pads, so is off duty right now.

SD Photo Shoot

2009-11-30T19:17:00.002+01:00

There was a request on the level training mailing list from a Canadian SD trainer. She needed pics of SDs in action for a presentation. So of course we volunteered what we have on our blog. But we didn't have much that showed the girls in action that much, especially not Molly in uniform in action.

So DH helped me out and we did a little photo shoot Saturday. The situation may be posed, but the work is real. This is some of what they do for me on a daily basis and even these better shots don't do their jobs full justice. I don't know what I would do without the Bookends. On a day like today, I probably wouldn't even get out of bed if it weren't for them. But enough of that. Here's the shots.

This is how I put on and remove Molly's vest. Bending over to do it just isn't an option.

We couldn't forget to include Shawnee. I think it is pretty clear that she has earned an SDiT status!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T18:28:00.001+01:00

Although Denmark doesn't really celebrate the holiday, we wanted to share a bit of cheer with the parts of the world that do.

Forgive the underripe pumpkin--too little sun.

Shawnee Reports "Please Vote fur Jin"

2009-10-19T19:42:00.002+02:00

A puter frend wunts ta be a servis dog like Molly. But hiz peeple arn't as happee doin it demselves as Mommee iz.

So pleeze vote fur dis hansum fella in da hopez dat hiz peeple kan win enuff monee ta pay fur his skool.

Not all dogz kan be as luckee az me n Molly n be homeskooled by sumwon like Mommee!

The Routine of Boot and Sock Duty

2009-10-12T12:37:00.001+02:00

Now that I am feeding horses every day, Molly has the regular job of removing my boots and socks when I come back in. She actually seems to thrive with the job, loving that she has something that she has to do. It is probably the border collie need to work in her.

The advantage of this is that her skills have improved significantly and she's gotten quieter in the process. Removing a tightly-fitting pair of jodhpur boots is not exactly easy task. Having no hands with which to do the job does make it more difficult.

Molly firmly grasps the heel of my boot with her teeth. The heels are soft enough rubber to allow her teeth to sink in and get a good grip. She then backs away pulling it off, often struggling to hold her footing on the slippery floor. I give her a treat or two after she hands me the boot.

Before going onto the next boot, she removes the sock from the first foot. She's very careful when getting a grip with her teeth to avoid nipping my toes. She then backs away pulling it off. Again, Molly is treated when she hands over the sock.

The entire process is repeated on the other foot.

Shawnee has learned that if she sits quietly and stays out of Molly's way, she also gets a treat. I'm very relieved I no longer need to tell her what to do. When she was younger, there were often problems with her getting in Molly's way or trying to help when she didn't know what to do.

We have actually decided it is time to start teaching Shawnee retrieve. We started the other night at my in-laws without clicker. The dogs were little bit bored so we set Molly to work retrieving my keys and handing them around. To activate Shawnee as well, we took turns holding the flashlight on my key ring and encouraging her to take in her mouth. She did so several times despite it being metal.

Yesterday, I dropped the strip of leather that I use when punching holes with a thonging chisel or awl. Molly was occupied somewhere else, but Shawnee was immediately at my side. I pointed at the piece of leather and told her take. It took her a few tries and little encouragement, but she finally picked it up gently in her mouth and raise it high enough for me to be able to take it from her. Of course, she was showered with praise from both me and DH. This is a big step for her, because she is not good at returning a toy to our hands. Part of the reason I actually want to begin retrieve training her is the hope that it will pay off in a play fetch.

That Time of Year… Heat

2009-10-04T14:18:00.001+02:00

It has been a long time since I last updated this blog. Molly has had an entire heat cycle. She did very well with her panties the entire time.Under the coffee table is one of her favorite places to lie down whether she's in heat or not.

Despite her season, Molly was able to work well and train well. DH and I are both very proud of how well she dealt with the entire thing. She is much better at cleaning up after herself than she was originally.

We had expected the girls to cycle together, but they didn't. Initially expecting Shawnee also to be in heat, I put panties on her as well. She had great deal of trouble adjusting to them at first, but soon figured it out. Here she is lounging in panties in one of her favorite spots,DH's chair.

Once we were certain she was not in heat we stopped using the panties.At this point, we have no idea when she will cycle and are surprised she has not done so yet, as she is now approaching one year old.

Molly's heat continued more than the usual three weeks. Just as we became seriously worried about his continuation, it stopped. Everyone is very relieved it is finished, because now the girls get to sleep in bed again.

In training news, I haven't done much of anything. The girls have had many play sessions in the pony pasture with DH and have continued improving with their stays and downs and name recognition.

Both have shown an ability to recall at more than 50 m in the fence. We hope soon to test this at the beach so we can give them on the road test results for the levels. Because of Molly’s season, it has been a long time since we have taken a trip to the beach.

Name Recognition

2009-08-07T20:34:00.003+02:00

One of our primary goals with training for the past few weeks has been to get the girls to learn to respond only to commands directed at them. I have worked a lot of puppy push-ups with both girls at once, rewarding only the one I ask to do the behavior. We also played the come game using the girls names, rewarding only the one we called. DH has spent many evenings in the pasture, incorporating play into the training.

Laundry Duty Problems

2009-08-07T14:30:00.004+02:00

I am feeling very guilty and a little heartbroken today. I tried last weekend to film Molly emptying the washer. She started out okay, but then lost her focus. I thought initially that she was just distracted by DH, his friend, and Shawnee outside. It isn't normal for her to be so distracted, but it was my best guess.

Then when reviewing the film, I saw that she had banged into the tripod. It all went downhill from there.

I tried again today. DH suggested putting the video camera in the window sill on the minitripod. But Molly was still hesitant and insecure about her work. Throwing in an item she hadn't worked with before probably didn't help. Usually she doesn't blink at new items, but this was a rug from the kitchen floor with a rubberized bottom. It was hard to pull out and made noise against the sides of the washer. I had to help. (I am totally crashed now from the effort)

So we will be trying a lot of laundry for the next while. With even more frequent and higher quality rewards to help her build up confidence and get looking forward to the job again.

Boot and Sock Removal

2009-08-07T14:00:00.001+02:00

It didn't work out well, but DH helped me film Molly removing my boots and socks the other day. Note that these are VERY new jodphur boots with strong elastic in the sides. Removing them is very difficult, even for DH--and he has hands! So it is QUITE a task for Molly right now, but one she is eager to tackle. She gets furious if someone else does it for her!

Insightful pooch Blind collie finds his own way - Winnipeg Free Press

2009-07-17T08:28:00.004+02:00

This article is about a border collie we know online. He is a great inspiration to everyone about dealing with the challenges of life and physical problems.

Insightful pooch Blind collie finds his own way - Winnipeg Free Press

Posted using ShareThis

For more information about the rescue that took Riddle in (or to help them save other border collies), check out Hull's Haven

Quick Training Update

2009-07-15T14:02:00.001+02:00

Last night I did a short eye contact session with Molly. I used hot dogs as treats but didn't film it. I limited the length by limiting the number of treats to 10.

Today I did an approximately 3 minute session with Shawnee on distance and a similar session with Molly on finish. I filmed both sessions, but I think I want to do a few more before I post anything.

I am moved from the kitchen to the living room, so that I would have a new environment for training. Both girls have worked in the living room before, but I had been using the kitchen because it has more space. I had to move a rocking chair and the dog basket to get anywhere near enough space for the session. The chair for Molly's training does not roll well on the carpet. With Shawnee, however, things went better because treats did not bounce as much.

I use a timer set to a little over three minutes but started it before I started the film. I was shocked when the timer rang because I thought I would have more time than that. This proves to me how badly I need to limit my sessions, because obviously I've been training most of the time for far longer than I realized.

The shortness definitely paid off. After I told Shawnee, she was free and turn off the camera, she went twice around the object to try to get me to reward her again. I did give her one treat, but then I quickly took things up so she wouldn't do it again.

With Molly, I had trouble maintaining concentration for the entire session. The problem was that Shawnee outside suddenly found something to bargain and that dragged Molly away. While she was barking, the timer rang. I called her back and did a quick repeat then quit. I don't want her feeling like she decides the length of the session, but I also didn't want to keep going when she wasn't fully focused.

Despite her lack of concentration, Molly did very well moving when I did. It shows that I really was wrong about how well she understood the behavior. My continued repetition of eye contact made things worse because it made her bored. I thought I need to do it because she wasn't understanding what I was doing. Now I am confident that we will have this behavior mastered soon.

We MEANT to Train Today...

2009-07-14T18:12:00.004+02:00

After posting training videos to the training levels list yesterday, I was feeling really inspired to train today. But things don't always go how we plan. DH was off work for the day. So we ran some errands (the girls came along in the car.. they love car rides). By the time we got home, I was beat and aching.

We had lunch late and relaxed for a while inside. Then the rain finally cleared so we took the girls with us out to the pony pasture (the ponies are on summer grass). They got to run around and sniff and play while we set up poles in prep for some horse training I need to do. Been using the pasture as an arena when DH and the girls aren't playing in it.

While out, we premacked some recalls (Called them to us one at a time, praised the come, and sent them back out to sniff). Both are coming better after last night's hot dog training. Then DH went in to get the frisbee and ball.

While he was gone, I got the bright idea to pull my hat off my head and throw it like a frisbee. Both girls caught on to the game fast. I did some stay training. While Molly held a stay, Shawnee fetched my hat and did her FIRST EVER deliver to hand. She usually drops things at our feet. It was a one time thing, but I am optimistic she will learn it eventually--maybe not until I train her formal retrieve, but some day.

Then they played for a while with DH. Both brought the toys to me intermittently to include me in their games. As usual, copious stays thrown into the mix. It was fun and it did use their brains as well as their bodies. Now I am aching horrendously and feeling just about ready to bed.

So even though we didn't do the training I wanted, it was a good day for the girls filled with lots of real-life practice.

BTW, Shawnee peed on command a strange place again. she's done it in the past, but I feel more confident that she "gets" it as she gets older--not just that she is so desperate she just goes.

More Distance Training with Shawnee

2009-07-13T14:21:00.002+02:00

I tried to focus on some feedback I got on our last distance training session. I needed to make sure I clicked while Shawnee was moving. I also only rewarded her for going around the object in one direction. Last time I had accepted both. I also tried not to move my treat hand before I clicked and treated. I also wanted to be sure that she was understanding this too is going around the object and not using the wall or the oven as reference points.

Although I may have improved on these respects, I found new errors while looking at the video.

This session was way too long. This explains why I was having trouble towards the end with her lacking focus. I should've stopped shortly after changing positions.

Additionally, Shawnee was distracted by Molly complaining in the other room. Although she's usually fine, Molly was whining this time despite the door being closed and the radio being on to cover the sounds of clicking.

At one point, a fly is also distracted her.

I should have repositioned the camera when I changed positions. The second half of the film shows too much of me and too little Shawnee.

LLW Training with Shawnee

2009-07-13T10:28:00.004+02:00

I don't remember when these sessions happened. The first is made with the netbook and the other two after we got the video camera. But it is still not THAT recent. I am just way behind processing vids. I am even more behind with training.

Edited to add: I realize I didn't explain the goal of these trainings for those not familiar with the exercise. The goal is to have Shawnee walking on a loose leash (meaning the loose is hanging slack enough for the CLIP to her collar to relax into a vertical position--not pulling ins't enough). She should also be paying attention to ME. The goal is to reward the moments when she has the loose leash because she is paying attention to the handler, not just because she isn't pulling. For example, if the leash tightens, I have to go back until she returns her attention to me. It isn't enough if she just backs up but stays focused on the distraction element.

Session 1

Notes: The leash is too long.

Session 2

Notes: The distraction was not strong enough.

Session 3

Notes: I only planned to have one distraction -- DH behind the camera. Once I started training I noticed that getting too far away from him resulted in her being attracted to going around the house. Going that way usually results in a car trip. So I ended up working with two distractions in opposite directions. In some cases, she was also a bit too distracted by the garden. I think retraining in the same location it will go better, but I'm not sure.

Using a human as a distraction is a bad idea, because he is trying to tell you what to do. This made it difficult to concentrate on training the dog and doing what you know you're supposed to do.

While fishing for treats in my pouch I missed a lot of really great reward situations when she was paying extreme attention to me. In the future, I should stand still while getting treats, so I don't miss the wanted behaviors.

L2 Distance Session 2

2009-07-11T18:21:00.001+02:00

I forget hwen I did the training, but I think it was sometime earlier this week or late last week. I am trying to film more and more of my training sessions so I can track the progress and have a better chance of finding bugs in my training methods. So here is one of them.

Visiting DH's Parents

2009-06-25T20:09:00.003+02:00

This past Friday night, we took the girls with us to go visit my in-laws. Molly and Shawnee love their grandparents and get very excited when we ask them if they want to go visit them. Along with the usual loving and running around their fenced yard, the girls got to play Frisbee with Daddy and had some other fun, which I've included as a video.

A Very Unusual Incident

2009-06-25T10:31:00.003+02:00

Shawnee apparently had an "accident" in her crate overnight. She was in bed with us much of the night, so it must have been sometime between when DH left for work a little after 5 and when I let her out at 8:45. What makes this especially odd is that I was awake from 7 until 7:45 and don't recall having heard any whining or anything. Usually she will start whining if she needs out while crated or Molly will know somehow and act like she needs out until I get up and let them both out.

So not only am I shocked by this, but I am worried about her. An accident like that can be a sign that she has a health problem. Especially when it happened in such a short time frame. I will be keeping a good eye on her.

Her crate is too big for her, but it has been that way for several months now without incident. I am now concerned that if she isn't sick, we may need to put a divider in the crate again.

I managed to get it outside without spilling it, but it was quite hard on my back. Because of the baby gate in the kitchen door, I had to carefully lift it there and slide it over the gate. But then I was able to put it back on the floor and drag it out into the lawn. I have now tipped it over and sprayed it well with clean water. I am wondering if it might need more effective cleaning to be sure nothing is left, but that will have to wait for DH. No way I can handle that. I am exhausted as it is.

Playing with Water

2009-06-24T15:15:00.002+02:00

These pictures are a week or two old now, but I am slow getting things posted. Can someone PLEASE explain to me how Shawnee can be so happy doing this but so upset when I put her in the shower or a tub in the yard and give her a bath??

Molly, on the other hand, makes sense. She hates baths but she also tries to avoid the water from the hosing, scolding it with her barking from a safe distance.

Play Fighting

2009-06-18T15:17:00.001+02:00

The girls love to play fight with each other. Here is a little video clip of it. Note that the noise is Molly or the wind.

It's a Good Day for a Stuffed Kong

2009-06-12T12:08:00.004+02:00

We only have one kong, so I stuffed it for Molly and stuffed and smeared the green American-football-shaped chew toy for Shawnee. Both got peanut butter, kibble, and a bit of bread to block the holes.

It's a good day for it because I am migrained and it is rainy, so neither wants to be outside. Now Molly is busy working on the kong on the living room floor and Shawnee has hers in her crate so she can't smear peanut butter into the rugs (hers is sticky on the outside).

Nice happy, quiet dogs are just what I need today!

Working on Good Grooming

2009-06-12T11:41:00.002+02:00

Molly does really well with being groomed these days. She is patient and lets me use both the flea comb (because they like it better than most brushes, not because they currently have fleas) and the shedding blade. She is also generally agreeable to a variety of positions, especially if DH lends a hand to praise and pet her while I groom the annoying spots.

Shawnee, however, has a tendency to flee if she sees a comb. She will only barely tolerate the flea comb and not the shedding blade at all. She is now starting to shed and getting to be a big girl, so today I devoted some time to working on it.

I settled down on the floor with my clicker and treat bag. Both girls know what that means so came running. I put them into downs and alternated who I worked on. Molly would demonstrate with a few strokes of the comb followed by a click treat, then it was Shawnee's turn. By keeping her turns really short and sometimes doing multiple click-treats in each turn, I finally got her to the point of accepting 2-3 long strokes of the comb on her back per treat. She likes having her belly combed more, which I find odd. Even now it is only on certain occasions that Molly wants her belly touched. She tolerates it when told it is necessary but only for a short time. Shawnee, however, seems to love all sorts of attention to her belly.

I am really proud of Shawnee's progress today. As for Molly, a few more treats and good experiences in the bank will make her more patient next time she needs a good grooming.

I will keep this up regularly with Shawnee for a little while. She needs to get much more handlable and groomable. Although she is a smooth BC (has short hair) and I've already given her a hygiene trim, she tends to get bits of poo stuck in her fur. Probably mainly because she doesn't give herself the time she needs to potty. But in any case, it is very annoying and she needs to learn to be more accepting of clean-up and able to be hygiene trimmed safely. It is really annoying to go after that bit of poo with a paper towel only to end up also cleaning up pee dribbles when she panics.

Shawnee Learned to Stay

2009-06-08T13:11:00.003+02:00

Shawnee passed her level 2 sit-stay and down-stay tests. I think we have DH to thank for this. Here are a few pics from last weekend's pasture play session when he did some stay training.

Before that, I had only worked on sit stay. This is the first she learned a down stay. But if you can stay when Daddy walks that far away with your toy--and turns his back to you--you can stay when Mommy walks that little bit away without a toy even if your sister isn't lying next to you offering moral support.

Vote for an Inspiration

2009-06-08T11:19:00.002+02:00

A forum friend of ours is competing and need lots of votes. Riddle is quite an inspiring dog. Despite being born with NO EYES, he plays catch, swims, and does lots of other normal things.

Vote for Riddle

L2 Distance--Start and Restart

2009-06-05T09:43:00.003+02:00

Shawnee got her first distance training session today. It went well. A few click-treats for looking at the thing then she started moving and I was able to shape a more than halfway around in one short session.

While things were set up, I swapped dogs--Shawnee in to DH in the living room and Molly out to me in the kitchen. I thought I'd see if Molly remembered her "Go Around" command.

She didn't. She wanted to retrieve the thing I was using as the object-to-go-around. Hrmm. I remember that from last time. So I gave her a leave it. Frustrated, she lay down and stared at it and at me. So I threw a treat and started over with luring the go around. She'll probably need more sessions to remember it than Shawnee will to learn it.

Shawnee has more courage to experiment and do things than Molly does. Molly tends to fall back to "safe" behaviors, like lying down, sitting, or retrieving.

Destructo-Puppy Struck Again

2009-06-05T09:36:00.001+02:00

Shawnee went destructo-puppy on us again yesterday. This time her victim was the nice, relatively new rug on the kitchen floor. She chewed off the corner of it, leaving shredded bits of gray yarn all over the floor. I didn't catch her in the act, so just crated her until I cooled down.

She returned to the crime twice with witnesses and was scolded. Now the rug is taken away to remove temptation until she is older and more mature.

FAIL: Shawnee Style

2009-06-02T12:02:00.003+02:00

I have a zillion (okay, I narrowed it down to less than 40) pics of the girls from playing in the pasture two nights ago. It took me two days to sort and trim them and get them online. It will take me even longer to get them into the blog. To make matters worse, we took the girls out to the fence again last night only I put the big lens on the camera. I haven't even looked at those zillion pictures yet. So I will be posting small batches of pictures from this weekend for a WHILE.

To start, here is Shawnee showing a failure in her own little way.

She went out after the ball like she should. As usual, she overshot. See the yellow tennis ball lying there waiting for her to pick it up?

Here she is running back to Daddy. What's that in her mouth? Where's the ball?

Here she is spitting her prize out for Daddy, wanting him to throw it. Molly is turning around to watch the game. She's been in a stay for this throw.

What did Shawnee retrieve? Have you guessed it? PONY MANURE! I guess she somehow mistook that big brown chunk of poo for the yellow slobbery tennis ball?

We had to send Molly out to retrieve the real ball. Shawnee did not even try to eat her find. DH took it away.

A Video Starring Molly

2009-05-20T11:10:00.002+02:00

Molly and I are competing in a virtual levels training competition. This is our entry. Since we went to all that work filming and making the video, I thought I'd share it here as well. Enjoy!

Comfortable Clean-Up Tools

2009-05-19T12:50:00.002+02:00

When we only had one dog, clean-up wasn't such a big deal. Initially I could walk so we just took Molly different places and rotated until things broke down. Then when I started being unable to walk Molly was well trained that I could send her up to potty without being on leash. She would go in the woods where no one walks and had plenty of room to vary where she went.

Now that both the girls are using the fence, we have a problem. Clean-up is something that we really have to do regularly. The problem was that DH doesn't have the time to do it and trying to manage with a regular shovel was just far too uncomfortable for me.

I kept seeing kids tools in the ads and that got me thinking. Finally saw some on a really good sale and decided to give it a shot. I selected wooden handled metal tools. A shovel and rake. We got home with him, DH used wood finish on the handles to help prolong their life.

Once that was dry, I started using them. This is probably one of the best investments in things for the dogs that we've made yet. The tools are so light that I can comfortably handle one in each hand. I can even use one hand to throw the contents of the shovel. The handles are just long enough that I don't have to bend over. If they were longer, weight might start be an issue.

So finally I am able to clean up after the girls myself. I just spend a few minutes every few days going through the fence. Because offenses right up against a section of woods and a large dirt pile that has blackberries growing on it, I can just throw what I pick up one of those places to allow to break down naturally.

Silly Shawnee

2009-05-14T10:36:00.003+02:00

ShawShaw still hasn't figured out giving a toy TO a person when she wants to play. She puts it on the floor. Even if Molly puts it on furniture, Shawnee takes it and throws it on the floor. She doesn't just drop it, but throws it down forcefully.

I've done the "I can't reach" trick that worked so well with Molly but to no avail. I've even put Molly into a stay to try to get Shawnee to try again.

But what Shawnee has figured out is to put one paw on the sofa and the other on my SHOULDER to get my attention to the fact that she wants to play! She also has nudged me with her nose sometimes.

These could turn into great alerts if I needed one. She may be too stupid to deliver a toy, but she's definitely creative!

She just pawed my shoulder again...

Braving the North Sea

2009-05-13T10:11:00.002+02:00

We've been very busy for a few weeks with friends that came to visit in the end of April, some other arrangements, and the time needed for me to recooperate from all the activity. That's why I'm so slow getting things online. Right now I am also busy filming Molly for a Virtual Levels Competition, but you'll see the results of that once I am finished (have to be done by the 16th).

For now, here are some pics of the girls from when we went to a beach along the North Sea with friends. (Our usual beach is on the Kattegat).

When a Border Collie Is Bored

2009-04-28T10:09:00.002+02:00

When Molly thinks life here at home is gotten a little bit boring, she finds something to do. One of her favorite things to do is watch TV. If she doesn't think we watched enough TV lately she'll let us know it's time to turn it on my nosing the VCR.

When she thinks something is worth watching, she settles down to stare at it. We make sure that she gets some distance from the television.

When she is very excited by the current programming she once again noses the VCR.

In these pictures she was first watching some Disney cartoons then some kind of strange comedy program.

Water Girl Molly

2009-04-22T22:17:00.003+02:00

I was out of water and thirsty. I heard DH in the kitchen. I took my empty 1.5 liter bottle I use for water and gave it to Molly. I asked her to deliver it to DH. She did so, of course.

Carrying empty bottles is normal for her.

Today DH filled the bottle with water and gave it back to Molly. She carried the heavy and full bottle in her mouth from the kitchen to me in the living room. She carried it at the top around the lid area.

This is the first time Molly has delivered anything that heavy or awkward. GOOD GIRL!

I had treats in my pockets that I gave her several of along with lots of praise. Shawnee also got a treat for not having interfered with Molly's work.

Shawnee Is Growing Up

2009-04-17T20:43:00.001+02:00

I am quite shocked by how long it has been since I last updated this blog. I know I had started blog entry several times, but I must not have finished them.

I have not been doing a lot of concentrated training with either of the girls. Actually, I've barely been doing any. I am struggling a lot with my health issues and have been dealing with a migraine for about two weeks now. I am also trying to do more housework and other things, which makes me too tired to blog or train.

It's hard to believe how much Shawnee has grown. It seems like only yesterday that she was the little puppy that I picked up in the room in the barn where they were born and had snuggle up and lick my neck. Now she lives here and she's quite a big girl. She still loves to snuggle.

At this point, Shawnee is rarely tethered while in the house. I think it has been weeks since she has had an accident here home. Although DH is quite sure that she will never be as easy to keep clean as Molly. She had some other odds potty incidents, such as peeing in the house at my in-laws while saying hello to my mother-in-law and peeing while walking on their terrace, leaving the semicircular trail behind her. A few days ago she went on our terrace here at home. DH told her to go out in the fence and potty but she went before she got into the fence.

Overall, Shawnee is now very reliable at pottying on command in the fence. We take her out and tell her to potty and she goes out in the end of the area the fence and does her business. She then runs eagerly back for praise. She also seems to be better able to understand the concept of going while out before coming in. She is often out of fence for several hours with Molly when the weather is nice.

She is still very odd when she poos and often walks while going or goes several different places. But at least she goes outside.

Shawnee still thinks that the best game in the world is jumping on furniture. DH has started letting her in the bedroom once in a while, usually while I'm still in bed. She thinks there is nothing better in the world than to jump on the bed. However, she's also learning to settle down and snuggle with me. She usually likes to lie down and have her belly rubbed, usually while covering my face with kisses.

In terms of training and behavior, she is showing an increase in her solidness in basic behaviors. This is despite a lack of actual training. However, she is much better at remembering to sit before talking to people instead of jumping. Her sit and lie down on command a very strong. We haven't been practicing rollover or flop. She is extremely quiet and well behaved in her crate and goes in on command.

Although I'm not training the girls still get plenty of playtime. Shawnee low longer relies 100% on Molly to return to the toys to us. She has not yet learned to give in to is in our hands, but she drops them reliably at our feet. If we do not quickly pick it up and throw it for them, she repeats until we respond.

Molly is definitely much happier with Shawnee's company. This is despite the fact that Shawnee is a toy and bone hoard. Shawnee is so possessive that she often growls at Molly if she approaches. We are working on living this behavior and on encouraging Molly to stand up to Shawnee and put her into place.

More on Eating

2009-04-01T12:53:00.000+02:00

As usual, a leading is an issue we need to pay a lot of attention to. Both the girls have been eating plenty but not necessarily daily.

Shawnee, it seems, was primarily disturbed by teething. Now that her teeth are mostly in, she seems to be eating pretty much every time we feed. Yesterday she got something from DH in the morning she didn't eat but she ate something else for me later in the day. It seems that she was not particularly fond of the fish concoction that he used that meal.

Molly on the other hand is eating much less to still Shawnee. Of course, she also is not growing and with me not feeling very well hasn't been particularly active. With some experimentation, I have found that it seems to help Molly eat if I positioned myself between her and Shawnee. In general Shawnee eats much more quickly than Molly. It seems that having Shawnee approach her while she's eating disturbs Molly and makes her stop eating. If I encourage her to get started and stay with her, she eats her entire meal pretty much every time I feed.

At this point, we are feeding Acana more often than Orijen. We need to get out and get more Orijen, because we only have a little bit left. We also want to watch the financial side of it and therefore selected the Acana. The girl seem to eat both foods very well, although Molly may prefer the Orijen.

When we do get the feed store, we are planning to get a portion of the Acana fish food that we saw recently. We got a few sample packs and both the girls will work very hard to get those as training treats.

Taking Turns

2009-03-25T09:43:00.002+01:00

Initially we had the girls taking turns by putting Molly into a stay. But recent play sessions have shown that that is not necessary. Molly holds back on her own to let Shawnee have a few turns. She seems to have her own sense of fairness that wants to make sure that Shawnee has enough chances to play.

I am very proud of Molly for figuring this out on her own and I try to encourage the behavior. It is usually Molly that has to return the toy, because Shawnee can't figure out to do anything other than put on the ground and not always within my reach. Although she's the one that returned the toy, she often lets Shawnee chase it again.

We were playing fetch the kong this morning. It was very cute the way Molly would hold back. Molly definitely could easily have overtaken Shawnee and gotten the toy, but she didn't. Shawnee has not yet developed the same sense of fairness. Even after Molly had given her a few turns, she would go after the toy when Molly did and Molly would have to growl to scold her because it was Molly's turn.

Shawnee Reports "I Luv Mommy Tooo!"

2009-03-24T16:16:00.002+01:00

Mommy wuz spozed ta put deez pikshures up a wile ago, but she didnt. Now I haf ta sho u dat it iznt just Daddy dat gets da luv in dis house!

Fur sum reezon, she takes her glasses uff wen I kiss her. She wont led me wush dem fur her. But I luv her anywayz.

Daddy's Girls

2009-03-24T12:28:00.002+01:00

Molly may be my service dog and Shawnee may be my service dog and training, but they both think they're Daddy's. I've been meaning to post these pics for a few weeks, but this is no longer an unusual sight in this house.

Don't worry, the girls DO love me. They just take advantage of their less copious time with their daddy.

Finally Training Again

2009-03-20T14:25:00.000+01:00

I did a short mat session with the girls yesterday. Even though it had been a long time since either had seen their mats, they did really well. I decided yesterday that I should test Shawnee on it today.

While the girls were out in their fence, I put the mats into place. Although Molly passed this level ages ago, I like to include her in practices and tests. It makes her feel a part of things.

As soon as I let the girls in the room, both ran to their own mats. I knew right away that Shawnee would pass her test.

Armed with my clicker and some fish flavored dog food, I started test. I sent Shawnee to her mat, and she went right to it. I told Molly go to her mat as well. Then I threw treats off the mat and repeated the commands. Both still went directly to their own mats and lay down. That passes L2 mat for Shawnee.

Molly reminded me how well she distinguishes different commands. I asked her to take Shawnee's mat and she took the right one. She took the mat as opposed to doing a mat behavior on it. She did the same with her own mat.

Then we played for a while, until Shawnee was good and tired. I crated her.

Then I decided it was time to do some were finished training with Molly. I haven't trained her at all lately. That she knew what she was supposed to do right away. She still won't hold eye contact while moving. But she is very quick to reconnect after she moved wherever I am.

Later, while Molly was out in the fence alone, I did some watch training with Shawnee. I've only done it in the bathroom before so this was new to do it lying on the sofa. She figured it out pretty quickly, but I only got up to a two second hold.

I need to get to training more with the girls, but it's hard for me right now. I'm frustrated by my pain levels and stressed with the government issues. It's also much more challenging to work with two dogs than just one.

Goodbye Dumbo

2009-03-17T12:50:00.003+01:00

Dumbo was my cat before I moved to Denmark. When I left, he stayed with my parents and became their cat. Last night my parents had to make the difficult decision to put him down. The vet that they took him to believed he had some kind of cancer. I am relieved to know that he is at peace now and not suffering.

You'll be missed, Dumbo. Not just by my parents. I will miss you and Molly will miss the chance to get to know you better. Molly never did understand why you wouldn't play ball with her or why you run away every time she tried to say hi.

It wasn't that he had big ears that I called him Dumbo. It was just that he was the only kitten of the outside cats that was stupid enough to let me talk to him. So he moved in and learned to use a litter box and share territory with our keeshond Shadow. We had to say goodbye to Shadow several years ago because of failing health. Now it was Dumbo's turn to move on.

He loved to lick out my dad's cereal bowl every morning. He was nicknamed "vulture" because of the way he'd wait for Dad to finish.

He is probably one of the few cats that had a stuffed toy with a squeaker. He didn't care about the squeaker, but he got his bunny to stop them from stealing my mon's stuffed sheep she had on her bed. As a young cat he would carry that thing all over the place and hug it. It was silly and adorable the same time.

Molly will always thank Dumbo for the origin of her bunny. She wouldn't have gotten him if it weren't for Dumbo and his bunny. She had the privilege of borrowing his bunny while she was visiting them in the states. She loved it so much that we found her a similar toy, although it lacks the bunny ears.

Sleep well, silly boy.

Loose Leash Walking

2009-03-13T12:31:00.001+01:00

DH has been complaining that Shawnee pulls a lot on the leash. She and I had done some intermittent work on it, but nothing very serious. So for a quick potty outing, I decided to also do some loose leash walking training. Since Molly's heat is over, she's getting to come out on potty outings primarily off leash.

I filled my pocket with dry liver treats and headed out the door. Before Shawnee manage to stretch her leash out, I quickly clicked and treated. So Molly wouldn't feel left out, I called her to me to practice a recall. Then we resumed walking and repeated a few times. After both had pottied, we repeated the procedure the way back. On the way out I had to stop once and wait for Shawnee to let the leash get loose. On the way back, I started was to test and she immediately kept the leash loose. I of course clicked and treated.

It is going to take a little while for Shawnee to learn that the loose leash is the default behavior regardless of whether I have treats and a clicker. I'm also going to have to do some DH training to make sure he understands the procedure.

A New Toy

2009-03-11T12:31:00.003+01:00

Molly hasn't gotten to play with Bunny very much lately. We are afraid that Shawnee will be a little too aggressive with Bunny.

So, when I saw this stuffed toy at a thrift shop the other day, I couldn't resist getting it for the girls. It was very inexpensive and has a Velcro tummy. When I got him home, I discovered that I could remove the bean bag in his belly. I replaced it with a couple of old socks----much safer for the girls.

So far Shawnee is treating him with a great deal of respect. We are only letting them play with him under observation. DH especially loves the non-squeaky feature, because he was often irritated by Bunny's squeak.

The pictures only show Molly, because Shawnee was taking a nap when I took them.

Edited to add: My mother pointed out that I neglected to tell you the name of the new toy. His name is Lamby and Molly is already learning to recognize him by name. So far, Shawnee does not seem to have learned any toy names. Maybe she is less adept at language by nature?

Sunday Afternoon's Beach Trip

2009-03-09T20:01:00.004+01:00

Sunday afternoon turned out to be the perfect time for a trip to the beach. Because I'm not up to walking very far, we weren't able to walk to the closest beach. As we were driving anyway, we checked the wind direction and determined that we should head to the east coast, which is where we usually are anyway.

We went right around the time when most people were eating dinner and not long before sunset. It was a little chilly, so we needed gloves, but the girls enjoyed it. Spent some time playing with the frisbee then with the ball. We also did some recall training. Both girls were off leash and very reliable.

Much to our surprise, Molly eagerly went into the water. The tide was out, so there was a good bit of water on the beach itself. Shawnee didn't want to get wet, so wouldn't go after the toy when it went that direction. Shawnee had a great deal of difficulty retrieving anyway. She is teething and has lost her lower canines. It turns out that it's very hard to pick up a frisbee without lower canines.

Daddy Loves Us

2009-03-05T16:40:00.001+01:00

The voice to text system does not speak dog, so the girls asked me to post this message for them.

We know for sure that daddy loves us. Yesterday he brought something special home from work for us. Daddy works with shrimp, so he smells really yummy everyday. But the company also makes other yummy fish things.

We have been getting fish pate with our meals today. We've also heard rumors that he has salmon pate waiting for tomorrow. He is also the source of the special cans of shrimp that we get as training treats.

To be certain that we have plenty of fish in our diets, daddy gives us fish oil pills every day. He also gives us E vitamins to keep us healthy. Because we don't get to eat bones (not every day anyway), we sometimes get a little extra calcium.

Daddy get this extra yummy thing from grandmom in the states that is called peanut butter. Even though he doesn't have very much of it, he always shares with us. It is especially good on apples.

Once in a while we get these white fluffy things that he calls marshmallows. The best ones come from grandmom. Molly wants you to know that she will do anything for a marshmallow. Shawnee has only had a few but she wants them too.

We love daddy too. We are happy every day when he gets home from work and play with him and jump on him. Life would be boring without daddy.

True Color Thursdays: I Give Up!

2009-03-05T09:00:00.001+01:00

It is time to admit it to myself as much as to everyone else. I'm just not up to keeping up with TrueColor Thursdays. I don't have the energy to find new items every week and pose photos. When my energy is as limited as it is, I would rather use it training and playing with the girls than taking silly pictures of them. I'm very sorry to those of you who enjoyed our weekly posts.

Windows Conquered---Pictures Update

2009-02-24T10:38:00.005+01:00

It's taken me a few days, but I'm finally getting control over Windows. The biggest problem I've had is that software that came with it insists on replacing the existing picture every time you make changes. I still can't find anything that I think works as well as digiKam in Linux. But I did get GIMP installed so I can finally edit pictures in a comfortable and familiar way. And the Windows picture downloader seems to be the best method a for me for downloading the pictures from the camera.

So here are a few pictures from when the girls played in the snow with their daddy last week. What they are playing with is our new frisbee by West Paw. Despite the fact that they seem to think it's a chew toy, there is no sign of damage on it. We really love these West paw toys.

The girls really love the frisbee. Both have learned to pick up even from the floor inside. However Shawnee is still working on returning completely. So a lot of times Molly had to go help.

Destructo-Puppy

2009-02-23T10:12:00.004+01:00

We have been giving Shawnee increasing house privileges. This morning she made it very clear that we were doing that far too soon. The plan has been that DH puts her in the kitchen when he leaves for work. Between doors and baby gates that will be the only room she had access to. We also make sure that she has appropriate toys.

Molly let me know that she needed out at eight o'clock this morning. I took both the girls out and everything was fine. Then I went back to bed because I was very tired. Before long Molly started giving these intermittent sharp barks. I stupidly assumed that she just wanted me out of bed. So I scolded her and tried to continue sleeping.

Service dog that she is, Molly persisted because she knew that there was something she needed to let me know whether I wanted to know it or not. When she finally got the message through my sleepy brain, I got up and went to the kitchen to see what was the matter.

There lay Shawnee in the process of chewing on the wall. The floor was covered with pieces of glass fiber wallpaper and chips of paint. Not far away lay a Rawhide chew stick. I scolded Shawnee briefly then put her in her crate.

I apologized to Molly for having scolded her inappropriately. I also gave her one of those dry animal part treats that she really loves.

And so ended Shawnee's kitchen privileges.

lack of pictures

2009-02-19T17:20:00.003+01:00

You can blame the current lack of pictures on this blog on the stupidity of Windows. Nothing works.

Silly Puppy

2009-02-18T13:50:00.003+01:00

Molly and Shawnee were playing. Suddenly Molly started barking, I guess she thought she heard something. Molly went out to the kitchen. Suddenly she was barking with the biggest bark she could summon out of her little puppy chest. The hair on her neck must've been standing 2 inches tall.

So of course I got up to see what the fuss was about. As I walked to the kitchen I saw a cushion had fallen off one of those straight chairs in the dining room. I picked it up, and Shawnee pulled back in fear. Apparently little girl was terrified of the cushion. I remained calm and waved it around for a while so finally she came to sniff it.

Just one more experience that a small puppy needs in the process of socialization.

On a side note, Molly has discovered that she doesn't trouble if she puts her nose under her panties to keep her parts clean. She and trying to lick her panties in the past which we have been discouraging, because then the pad doesn't stick. I find her creativity a bit humorous. She also can't help it is her nature to keep herself clean.

Molly in Panties

2009-02-13T21:26:00.002+01:00

Molly is really showing us how much she's grown up with this round of
season. She stands perfectly still, when we put her panties on her. She
shows no sign of being distressed by wearing them either.

When it's time to go out for potty walk, she waits patiently while remove
the end steps forward when we take them down to the ground. When they come
in again, she waits patiently until you're ready to put them on her.

Both she and Shawnee are given treats that because Shawnee doesn't get in
the way when we mess with the panties.

Right now she is running around in her cute little pink Minnie mouse
panties.

A Very Overdue Update

2009-02-12T16:25:00.004+01:00

I'm sorry I haven't been able to to keep this blog up to date lately. The pain in my hands has become come unbearable, so I'm no longer able to type. But fortunately I just got a copy of Dragon naturally speaking, so I am able to update with voice. Some words may show up at the wrong word a little bit complicated, but hopefully you'll be able to figure out what I mean.

Despite me being sick and us having a number of family emergencies, the girls have continued well in their training. Shawnee is doing well with learning sit-stay. She is able to hold a stay for about a meter while we walk away and back to her. Molly's training is on break at the moment
because she's in heat.

Shawnee has learned to eat and is now eating consistently every time she is fed. Unfortunately, Molly has been going on intermittent hunger strikes. It may be related to her season, but for now we are putting her back on the strict eating plan.

I had been having some trouble with Shawnee on the tether and in her crate. She is no longer throwing herself to the end of the tether. I followed a friends advice and put some mentholatum on her leash and now she's not chewing on it anymore either. Her calmness in the crate has also improved dramatically.

Fortunately, she's almost completely housebroken now. Her accidents are very rare and very small despite increased time off tether. Additionally, she is alerting to her need to go out by going to the door. We are thinking of adding a bell but have not had the chance to create one yet.

I haven't learned how to put pictures in with the text yet. So for now you are stuck with text updates, but that's probably better than nothing.

Molly Helps DH's Mother and Other Adventures

2009-01-21T15:37:00.004+01:00

Everyone is very very proud of Molly today. We were up visiting my in-laws this morning and through lunch time. My MIL (mother-in-law) has been missing her one hearing aid since right after Christmas and thought she had lost it at a party. But today DH moved their kitchen table a few inches and I saw Molly pick something up. She came over to me and handed it to me. There was my MIL's hearing aid! It isn't bigger than a die from a board game so she easily could have swallowed it and who knows what it smells like. She'd been cleaning up crumbs from the carpet (they rely on home help from the government for vacuuming) but was able to differentiate between "i can eat this" and "i have to give this to someone" when she found the hearing aid. So my MIL is very happy to be in possession of her expensive aid again and everyone is VERY proud of Molly for her responsible action. That's what a lot of training can do. As well as praise, she got a nice rawhide bone to chew on.

While we were there, DH needed to take the very short walk to the local grocery store for some stuff for them. So the girls and I went along. Shawnee's new harness is great but hard to put on her--her feet have to go in 2 holes and it buckles on her back. She struggles some and usually manages to get a foot out before the other is in so it takes a few tries to get it on. But it was very inexpensive, can grow with her, and she is sure to learn to take it more calmly with time and a little training. It is great experience for Shawnee to get out on the streets of a town for more socialization. Molly is used to that sort of thing by now. Nothing near here is anything like what she experienced in Nashville. But she enjoys the new smells and sights and having something to do. They saw an electric scooter, several bicycles, a dog in a fence, a man pushing a noisy tall cart around just outside the storage part of the store, and cars around. Molly had a lot of fun just being a dog (as opposed to a working SD) and took in all the smells. Shawnee seemed more focused on walking fast and trying to keep up with Molly (DH had Molly and I don't want as fast as he does, so Shawnee and I fell behind a little).

Now both girls are out for a walk to the beach with their daddy. I am enjoying a chance to get a rest and brag about Molly's retrieve skills.

Quick Vet Visit

2009-01-20T12:50:00.005+01:00

The vet came today to check whether my Quarter Horse mare (Borregos Maria) was with foal (she isn't for those who are wondering). Since he was here, he also gave Shawnee her second vaccination. DH was holding her and says that she didn't react any more than if someone was tickling her neck. Good girl!

Since her ears perked up, I'd noiced they had a bunch of gunk in them and I thought they looked a little red, so he checked that too. She was very good and let him look, but we've been practicing handling a lot lately. The good news is that it is just a bit of wax in her ears. Nothing to worry about. I was afraid it could be the beginning of osmething (I've had a cat get ear mites before. UCK!) and figured it was best to have it checked since he was here anyway.

DH is home today with a sore back. If the girls are lucky, he'll take them for a walk later. The chiropractor told him to walk as much as possible to help with the back problem.

We picked up an inexpensive reflective harness for Shawnee the other day (with a ring on the back, not the front) and I'm eager to hear how it goes with that. She is just big enough to fit a size M adjusted all the way in, so it can grow with her. A size M all the way out would jsut fit Molly, so it may even work when she is all grown up. Molly has her front lead harness and we have a car safety harness that can also be used for walking.

Ears

2009-01-19T12:25:00.003+01:00

Shawnee's ears are changing. We really have no idea what they will end up like. Her mother has pointy ears that stick straight up in the air. Her dad's ears are even floppier than Molly's. Before today, Shawnee's ears have been very floppy. Today they are partway up so they look like Molly's ears. People say a BC's ears don't set until they're done teething, so we have lots of time left to speculate and wonder and watch them change.

Shawnee Reports on True Color Thursday: Black

2009-01-15T18:01:00.002+01:00

Mommy sez dat I get ta help wif da blog now dat Im gettin ta be a big gurl n past Level 1 af da trainin program. So dese are my BLAK piks!

Mommy sez dat Im sposed ta say tanks ta Blue fur da idea.

Dis iz me n Molly. Weer tricullur border colliez, so dat meanz we r BLAK n wite n tan. But mostlee we r blak.

Molly iznt vewy happee wif me in dis piktshur cuz Im steelin da bone frum her.

Dis is Molly wif owr blak kong. Sumtimz Mommy puts yummy stuff in da kong fer os, lik peenut budder or pattay.

Molly liks da kong lots, but sumtimz she lets me play wif it too.

She iznt happy wif me if I take it frum her, but uzuly she lets me haf it if i wunt it.

Heer I am sayin, "Pleeze Molly, kan I haf da kong?"

Da krate iz blak. Dis iz me sittin in it. Wen I gets bord, I try ta let me out. Uzuly I'm stuk til Mommy or Daddy cumz, but wonce I got out on my own.

If I haz ta pottee, I wine n cry til dey kom n take me out. Sumtimz I try dat too if Im bord.

Da krat is big nuff fur wen Im big lik Molly, but it haz a wall in it now.

Da next pik iz af me n Molly playin wif da BLAK klude we had urlier. Mommy sez ta tell uz dat "klude" meenz rag ur sumtin lik dat.

Weev playd sa hard wif kluden dat it wuz fallin part. So Daddy gaf us a nu won taday. Itz blak too.

Mommy dropt her fone taday. Molly wuz busy playin soz I pikt it up n gave it ta Daddy. Dey didnt beleef I'd dun it, so dey dropt it igin n took a piktshure da secund time. Mommyz fone iz BLAK too, so heer I am pikken it up.

Molly Reports on True Color Thursday: Purple

2009-01-08T16:53:00.005+01:00

Mommy sex dat I kan do da pikshures fur dis weeks purpel post. Purpel is Mommys faverit color but she haz more purpel stuff dan Shawnee n I do.

Dis is me wif my liddel friend Fluffy. Fluffy iz visitin us frum Germany. He belongs ta Mommy's friend Edif. U kan reed bout him n his family at Edifs blog. But da reezon Im postin dis pik heer iz so ya kan see da purpel ball. It duzzent look so purpel here, but Mommy sez it is in da reel wurld.

Wun af my portant servis dog jobs is ta help wif Mommys shoes. Mommy haz a purpel pair af plastik clogz dat she wearz a lot ta take me n Shawnee out. Sometimez I haf ta help her take dem off win she iznt feelin so good. Mommy kant bend over vewy good, so I hafta pik dem op fur her. Heer I am givin da shoe ta Daddy!

My liddel sista Shawnee got her own dog tag from PawPrint Pet tags. Itz a 4 leef klover lik mine but herz iz purpel. Iznt she kut?

The Great Crate Escape, Caviar, and Other Babblings

2009-01-05T12:37:00.006+01:00

We should have named Shawnee Houdini. She's a 4-legged escape artist. We've been having trouble for a while with her finding ways out of the fence. The mask in the fence is too big and she can go right through it. So DH spent hours putting net up and other things to keep her in. We thought we had all the holes blocked, but she keeps finding ways out. We've found and secured a few more of her escape spots but we don't always see how she gets out. So going out in the fence does not mean she is very safe and I have to keep an eye on her anyway (Molly is fine and stays in even when the little one is running around outside teasing her).

This morning she really proved her escape skills. I had to go pour jugs of water into the horse's trough because we still had -10C at 10am this morning. No way we will get the garden pump supplying them water today. Shawnee had been crated for an hour and a half to two hours before I went out. I'd been napping myself for that time. So when I woke up and she was still pretty quiet, I headed straight out to the horses without getting her out to potty first. To make as little noise as possible, I'd left the door to the hallway and the bedroom open--I didn't want to wake her up and make her think she'd get to go out.

When I came back from the horses (who were VERY thirsty and will need more water before DH is home from work), I saw Shawnee come running out of the bedroom when I got in. I took a quick glance at her crate, which appeared to be covered as it was when I left, then hurried to get her out for a potty walk. Good thing, too, because she was in a hurry to go.

When we got in, I shut the dogs in the kitchen properly and inspected for accidents. Nothing! I have no idea how long she'd been out--I was gone 15-20 mins--but she hadn't pottied anywhere. A few minutes later, I had to take her out for more walk, because I'd hurried in too much to check for trouble and didn't give her a chance to poo the first time. This is a great sign of the progress of her housebreaking that she'd been out long enough to go in the bedroom but hadn't left any puddles anywhere.

As my faithful readers have probably realized long ago, we have pretty spoiled dogs. One of Molly's main training treats has been canned shrimp from the start. They got some fresh shrimp a few days ago when we couldn't eat all of the container we opened (DH reports that Shawnee likes shrimp). Last night they got a further luxury when they got to share a small glass of red caviar. DH had gotten it in his Christmas present from work and finally decided he really didn't feel like eating it (I wasn't about to help, that's for sure! I tasted caviar once in my life years ago at a cousin's wedding and it was YUCKY!). So last night he gave it to the girls. Molly got the larger share. Shawnee wasn't quite as keen on it. They didn't eat all of it then and the rest was mixed in their food today. I made them share it. They're spoiled and they probably don't even know it!

Overall things are going well with htem. Molly has been getting more focused and responsive to commands despite Shawnee's presence and attempted interference. When I was lying on the floor with Shawnee this morning, Molly retrieved my blanket off the couch and brought it to me. Shawnee tried to attack her as she handed it over, but once I got the little one under control, she completed the retrieve with grace and eagerness.

Shawnee has been learning both lie down and sit very quickly. She also potties on command and tries to head for the door when she needs out (she is often prevented from going TO the door because she is leashed whenever out of the kitchen). I've also done two types of zen training with her--Molly Zen and Hand Zen.

Molly zen is the fine art of being in the same room as her sister without starting a war by attacking Molly constantly. Molly is fine with leaving Shawnee alone when we ask her to, but Shawnee doesn't have enough "leave it" yet, so has to learn. So far I have mostly done this by giving Molly a mat command into a corner of the kitchen. Then Shawnee gets to wander around and I click and treat for doing things other than attacking Molly. I keep the sessions short, but it is going well and she is less aggressive when not training as well. Every time Shawnee gets a treat for not attacking Molly, Molly gets a treat for staying on the mat and I repeat the mat command. I don't want her to think the clicker releases her and get into trouble and I also don't want her feeling left out. Staying quiet on the mat despite the Shawnee temptation is really a big deal these days.

While I did the dishes in the kitchen today, I had the crate open. Shawnee went in and out several times, often settling down in her crate for a few minutes. This is a good thing, because I haven't been crate training her properly. We just put her in and shut the door, ignoring whines and screams if she is well-pottied first. So I am very glad to see that she isn't hating the crate. I've also decided to do a better job of giving her a chew toy in the crate with her so she has somehting to do if she isn't sleepy and it seems a little more fun. When I put her down a little bit ago, she got a teeth-cleaning chew stick. Molly got one too but didn't get crated.

Molly is resting in the sun at the end of the sofa being a very beautiful and quiet girl.

Okay, my arm and hands hurt from typing so much, so that's it for today!

No Gold and A Serious Distraction

2009-01-01T11:54:00.006+01:00

It's Thursday so we should be posting pictures of gold things, but Molly doesn't wear jewelry and neither of the dogs have anything that would classify as gold.

Instead I am going to talk about training and distractions. Learning to work with distractions is on of the big challenges in a service dog's work life and even the training of any regular dog. You don't always know how well your dog will handle a command in different situations.

Up to recently, Molly has done very well with distractions. She has worked succesfully in a number of unusual environments, including stores, airports, family situations, and even a rodeo. She also came well when called when around other dogs.

But she never had a little sister before. Apparently a little sister is a much bigger distraction than anythign she's ever had before. So we're going back to basics and trying to train and refresh a lot of basic behaviors.

Yesterday Molly had two training sessions while Shawnee ate. Molly needed to eat too, but wasn't very good at just eating with the little one around. So I started giving her basic commands and rewarding her with small handfuls of her kibble. It went very well and she was able to sit, down, stand, and touch reliably (an extended version of puppy push-ups) despite the little one trying to steal the food and come over and talk to her. I even managed to have her retrieve my shoe a few times. She also did some short "watch" commands--moments of sustained eye contact.

We need to do more recall training and I have an idea for where we can safely do it, but I am sick today with what is probably a sinus infection and asthma, so I am not going out in the cold to do it.

Shawnee has learned sit very well and is starting to learn down. Potty training is really progressing well since we started giving her treats and clicks for outside potties. The small problem is that sometimes she is so focused on the treat that she forgets to finish her business. But she is starting to head for the door--try to anyway--when she needs to go and also doing some whining to let us know.

Playing Together

2008-12-29T11:05:00.002+01:00

With my DH off work and doing much of the housework, Molly is mostly off-duty as SD. This is great because it is giving her plenty of time to adjust to her added role of big sister. Here are some pictures of the twosome playing in the fence outside.

Overall, things are going well with Shawnee. She is having fewer accidents and getting better at pottying more-or-less on command outside. She and Molly are pretty inseparable with Molly taking a very serious protective role with her little sister. Shawnee has passed L1 sit but nothing more on the levels training. We're having trouble luring a down, so we'll have to capture it. She definitely understands the clicker though.

Initially Shawnee was very quiet in her crate, but she is in a screaming and trying to dig her way out phase. We are trying to be strong and hopign it will pass soon.

Very Belated True Color Thursday: Green

2008-12-27T21:23:00.004+01:00

I'm sorry I'm so late posting these. I've been exhausted with everything I was doing for the holidays. I am still tired today, but finally getting my act together a little.

This is our Christmas tree. We got a small one this year and put it on a stool to help make it puppy proof. We also put a round baby playpen grate around it. We did that last year too. It really worked out well.

Molly was very helpful at Christmas. She is the clean-up queen and made it very easy to keep our wrapping paper off the floor. She's pick it up where we dropped it or take it on command and give it to my DH, who had a trash bag ready. Note the green in the paper she is giving.

This is Molly helping her Daddy with their joint present--a jar of Skippy peanut butter from my parents. See the green tree in the background, the green leaves of the plants on the window sill, and the green panes in the stained glass window.

Now, to get beyond the holiday theme, how about a few of the normal green things in Molly's life?

Molly's dog tag is a green background witha clover. You should be able to see it in this picture. It is a very sturdy and easy-to-read tag, so we've ordered a similar one for Shawnee that we hope will arrive soon.

If you need a good, affordable dog tag, I recommend:

PawPrint Pet Tags

The dog's towels are green. This is a picture of Shawnee, Molly's little sister, resting on one of their towels on the kitchen floor.

I think I've shown a picture before of Molly retrieving one of the towels when helping me wiht the laundry.

In the background, you can also see a corner of Molly's dog bed, which is also green.

Once again, sorry for th elate posting!

Molly Reports on Shawnee, Her Little Sister

2008-12-22T13:24:00.006+01:00

I taut we waz just goin fer a drive so I kud see sheeps da odder day. I got ta see da sheeps from da kar. Den I waited der wile Mommy n Daddy went in ta da peeples. I waited a while. Wen dey kom bakk, dey haft a liddel furry ting. Mommy sez shez my new sister n her name iz Shawnee.

She duzzent no much yet, so I haz ta help Mommy wif her. I help teech her da wordz like "kitchen" n "potty" by showin her wat ta do. If she duzzent do what Mommy sez, I woof at her.

I also haf ta teech her how ta play. Shez preddy good wif tug, but not much else.

Silly gurl tinks balls r fur chewin on. I haf ta werk hard ta keep my ball fur myself.

I also help ta make her sleepy by running around after her or lettin her chase me. I may look mad, but it iz all in good fun.

Cuz Mommy iz so tierd frum havin her, I haf ta do a lot af odder stuff ta help Mommy right now. I pick up bowls n fetch toyz fur her. I wanna help wif da late night potty walks, but Mommy sez I distract Shawnee too much.

It iz kinda fun ta haf a liddel sister, but it iz very tierin too. I haf ta relax on da sofa now while da liddel one iz sleepin in da crate.

Molly Reports on True Color Thursday: Red

2008-12-18T19:27:00.004+01:00

I had sum trubbel comin up wif a new ting ta take pics of dat waz red. But den I memberd da new eezy butten dat Grandmom sent me from da US. I reeely reely likes da eezy butten.

Mostly Im sposed ta push it when Mommy sez "push"

Wen I push it, it sez "dat waz eezy!" Den Mommy or Daddy givz me a treet.

Wen Mommy is dun havin me push it, she tellz me ta take it, soz I pik it up n giv it ta her.

I reely like da butten, so sometimez I stare at it ta ask Mommy n Daddy ta giv it ta me.

Tank u Grandmom fer da yummy butten! We luv u n miss u n Granddaddy. Iz Dumbo bored wifout me?

Until the Cows Come Home

2008-12-15T11:57:00.010+01:00

Saturday we helped our neighbor (I can't rmemeber if he is in his 70s or 80s) bring a small herd of cattle home from a more remote pasture. This is something we do yearly as winter comes in and they can't stay out. Part of the drive is on public roads, but most of it is through the woods on a private road.

The usual routine is for the farmer to drive a tractor with a large round hay bale on the back. He is then hopefully followed by the cows, only one of which has made the trip before. Then a few people walk behind to keep the cows from wandering off. I am the final tail, driving our 4WD SUV after them as support.

Molly came along on a long line, hoping that her presence could help move the cows. With good support, we also hoped that the experience would be a good confidence boost for her. We didn't want to risk her loose because she isn't trained enough to know what we want her to do with the cows and we wanted to help make sure she didn't press them too hard.

To be honest, neither DH or I thinks the drive would have gone so smoothly if she hadn't been along. Not that it went THAT smoothly. There were fewer people than usual and a couple of the heifers were really wild and hard to deal with. Two heifers broke through the people and back into the pasture. While trying to get them out onto the road, the rest of the herd wandered off.

I wasn't much help because of my limited mobility. Even following in the car was an ordeal for me. I'd had to take less pain killers. If the drive hadn't been at cow speed and mostly on a private road where no one else would be, I wouldn't have done it at all.

DH took Molly from me after the heifers broke away and used her to get them turned and following the tractor. He had to run to get past them, but he did it. The leash we had her on was a flex line that extends up to 6 meters or something like that. Much of the time, he was that far behind her. He really feels confident that she did the work.

She also helped collect the rest of the herd that had wandered off. In that time, the first two had wandered off again. So DH and Molly drove the main part of the herd with me following while the other two people headed off to track down the two lost cows and get them back with the herd.

Things went pretty smoothly through the woods until we reached an open meadow. Then the cows broke off into the meadow. Molly and DH dived into the woods to get beyond them and turn them back. She did wonderfully then DH put her into a down-stay as the other two came up and joined the herd. We hit two more meadows later and once again those two got the herd turned back and gathered.

None of my pictures on the woods part of the drive worked. Mostly I was too busy concentrating on driving and maintaining control of my legs to try. But I did try few shots when parked to keep the cows from heading back down the road. Ididn't change lenses though, so they all are worthless.

But once we got up the barn, the herd broke into the pasture with the home herd. I was able to park and get out with the camera. About 5 cows were out of the pasture, so we got those into the barn first. DH did a makeshift fix on the fence to keep the rest in. I was able to get out and get some pictures of Molly helping get the cows in. These follow here.

Our girl was very brave and did not back down when the cows were stubborn. At one point I reminded DH to support her--he was busy directing the other human helpers--but mostly she managed on her own or with a little encouragement. One cow did manage to break away, but it was mostly the fault of the human helpers who didn't hold their part of the line. Molly ran and tried to get it, but her line got tangled up in its legs. I ended up turning it back from the yard--being the only person in a position to do so.

But Molly didn't lose her nerve and kept at it. She followed the last cow into the barn and helped in there a bit as well. The one was really wild and aggressive and even kicked at her. She ducked the kick and kept right on working--or so DH tells me.

I hope you enjoy these shots. Excuse the poor quality. The weather was very overcast and I had the camera in action mode. Even with that, they weren't always clear because of the low light.

Note: Itried to get he order right, but Blogger picture upload seems a little inconsisent, so a few are probably out of order.

Edited to add: Some pics are cut off in my display, but I have no idea why. You may need to click pics to really see the full picture.

Molly Reports on True Color Thursday: White

2008-12-11T10:46:00.004+01:00

Mommy's hands still hert so she said I could post my faverit pictchures this week as long as dey are of white ting.

Dis is me n bunny. I have lotz a white on me. Da stripe on my nose, my chest, my legs,and parts of my tummy are white.

Bunny is my favrit toy. Hez soft n I kan make him squeek n I'm llowed to take im ta bed wif me in Mommy n Daddy's bed.

I luvs ta play wif bunny. Hez white!

Here I am werkin wif da sheepies wif Robin in Norf Karolina. Sum af da sheepies are white, Robin's shirt is white, n her van iz white.

I really luvd ta werk da sheepies. I wanna do it igen but Mommy n Daddy dont have sheepies for me to werk wif.

Dis iz me n Dumbo. Hes mostly white. Dumbo is Grandmom n Granddad's weird doggie. Mommy sez he's a "kat"--wutever dat is. I tried ta get im ta play ball wif me, but he wuddent. I wanned ta chase him, but Mommy sed I wuzzent llowed. Now dat Im home igen, I miss him. He wuz fun even doh he waz weird.

Der haznt been enuff snow fer playing yet dis year, so here is an old one af me n Daddy playin in da snow. I luv da snow n its so white.

Limited Updates

2008-12-02T11:07:00.002+01:00

I'm sure my faithful readers and followers have noticed the drastic fall in update frequency. I am suffering pretty badly from pain and swelling in my hands and have been for a few weeks now. At this point, I have to take a break from the computer use to let them rest. If you've never had hand problems, you won't believe how hard basic tasks are when you struggle to use your hands. Simple thinks like getting dressed, drinking, eating, and using the bathroom become hard challenges. Even just petting and playing with Molly is a struggle for me. The poor girl wants so much to help me but has no idea what to do. I guess I have to teach her a lot more behaviors soon!

True Color Thursday -- Blue

2008-11-27T17:47:00.002+01:00

I'm sorry about the possibly rerun pictures today, but my hands are hurting so I'm not up to much.

Here is Molly with her bunny on the blue rug in the living room. She is under the coffee table, one of her favorite spots to hide out.

Here we are in the US. Me, Molly, DH, and my mom. We are watching a sheepdog demo. Note the blue jeans (x2), my blue hat, and my mom's blue shirt. My dad took this picture.

I just love this picture of Nashville and it is one of the first I thought of for this theme. It just feels so BLUE everywhere. Blue sky, blue AT&T building, other blue building, DH's blue shirt and jeans...

We really had a great tour of the city but that was an exhausting day for me and Molly. For my DH too. My wheelchair is a little too short for him to be able to stand up straight and push. He finally figured out hwo to fix it after we got home.

Very blue mat. Molly and I are training with Erin and Ziva here. You can read about Ziva in her blog, the SAR dog one!

This beach and ball picture of Molly and her daddy is from a year ago. we don't get to the beach as often these days because I can't walk so well. But here you can see blue sea and blue sky.

Puppy Molly on the blue carpet with a blue football (soccer ball for us Americans). That ball didn't last too long, but she loved it while it did. Now she has a sturdier one, but it isn't blue...

Border collies also come in blue! This is Josie, a rescued blue merle that lives with our friends Brenda, JJ, and Jake. We didn't get to meet Josie, because she wasn't there yet when we visited, but we think she is awesome anyway! Picture courtesy of Brenda (aka OurBoys).

Molly Reports on Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T08:48:00.005+01:00

Mommy sez dat today is a speciel day in da US. It is a day fer giving tanks for da tings you luv. Since Mommy is from over der and duzzen get to selebrate today really, I tought I would share sum af de ting I am tankful for so she duzzent miss it too much.

I am tankful for morning snuggelz in bed wif Mommy. I lie down wif her wile she is sleepin. Whenever she wakes up, she pets me n rubs my tummy n tells me she luvs me.

I am tankful for evening snuggelz and playz in bed wif Daddy. We restle and akt silly n stuff. And he pets me n tells me I'm a good girl n he luvs me.

I must mention Bunny. He is soft n squeeky n Im lowd to take him to bed wif me in Mommy n Daddys bed.

Den der is pindsvin. He is yellow n squeeky n rolls life a ball. Mommy n Daddy play wif me wif him.

I luv my fence. It lets me run round n go VROOM-VROOM wen I wanna. Der are peeses of horse hoof in der dat I can play wif and chew on wen I am out der.

I am tankful for Mommy n Daddy. Dey give me werk to do n yummy stuff to eat n a nise home. I luv dem so much.

I wanna wish Grandmom n Granddad a veree special Happee Tanksgivin. I know de miss Mommy n wish she was der. It wud be wunderful ta see dem igen.

Luv ya!
Molly

Molly's Vocabulary

2008-11-24T12:45:00.003+01:00

I keep finding myself thinking in awe at the number of words Molly knows. It really does seem like I can sometimes just talk to her and she understands what I'm saying.

for example, DH gave Molly a rawhide chew last night right before bedtime. I wanted to see what she got, so I called out and asked her to show it to me. She ran into the bedroom to the foot of the bed. When I praised her bone, she ran back out to the kitchen. It was like she understood what was going on.

Later she tried to bring it in to the bedroom. We just called "ud i køkkenet med den" (out in the kitchen with it) and she took it back to the kitchen. Shortly after, she came back to bed without the bone. She got to keep it all night, but didn't bring it to bed.

The kitchen isn't the only room Molly knows. We can send her to the living room, bathroom, and bedroom as well by name. These are in Danish.

Molly is also able to interact with a number of people by name. She knows me and DH as "mor" and "far" (Danish for Mom and Dad). She knows DH's parents by name. Even though we weren't in the US very long, she knows who Grandmom and Granddad are and she learned to ID my aunt and uncle by name in one evening! It isn't just context clues either, because she can deliver items and toys to the right people and find them when they aren't in the same room.

We have no doubt that she knows what a bath is in both languages. If we just mention that she might need one, she is not very happy about being near people. We don't talk about a vet enough to know if that is an issue, but we do think she likes the ones we use.

Molly can differentiate types of trips. If we say "Vil du med?" (Want to come with?), she knows it could be any sort of outing. If we say "Med ud at køre?" (Come with for a drive?), she heads for the cars. We can also tell her which one with "Mors bil" and "Fars bil" (Mom's car and Dad's car). She even knows that "med ud til hestene" means come along out to the horses.

Then we have her item recognition. Molly can select the correct one of her toys by name. She currently has "pindsvin" (hedgehog), Bunny, bold ("ball") but we can't tel lher a particular ball, "tyggeben" for any kind of chew, and "fodbold" for her football. She also knows a number of other items used for her work and training: sock, pants,crutches, phone, "tæppe" (blanket). She can also ID the TV when we say "fjernsyn" but we didn't teach her that one on purpose (she likes to watch TV).

When working, training,and playing, we can use a number of words to help her navigate to find what we need. Sofa, "stol" (chair), radiator, "bord" (table), "seng" (bed). Of course we have the rooms to identify locations as well. For outside, she knows "hegnet" to be her fence and heads there when we say it. I can also send her home from any location with home or "hjem" (another bilingual command). I just need to teach her that one in German sometime in case she gets out somewher and runs into German tourists. Molly also knows to get into the car when we say "ind i bilen."

To start and end situations is also easy with Molly. She knows when I say "vil du træne" or "skal vi træne" that I am asking her if she wants to train. I can tell from her enthusiasm and the fact that she drops her toys that she understands. If I need her to do some work for me, I just say "hjælp mor" (help Mom) and she's at the ready. "Skal vi lege?" means it is time to start a play session and she finds a toy. When I want to end a training session or a commanded behavior, I just say "fri" (free). To stop her from bring us toys, barking, etc., we use "det er nok" (literally "that is enough" but used like "that'll do"). Speaking of toys, she also knows that "nej tak" means that I don't want whatever she is bringing me right now. "Tak" is Thank you, which for Molly means that I'd be happy to have whatever you are bringing. It is a polite way of accepting her play. If we want her to let go of something, we use the "slip" command.

Then we have all her commands. Sit, "dæk" (down), down, come, "kom", take, give, pull, push, laundry, watch, "skridt" (walk), leave it, mat, touch... I'm sure there are more that I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Mat, BTW, is a word that she knows both as a command and an item. If I say "take mat" she retrieves her mat for me. If I just say, "Molly, mat!" she goes to her mat or a similar object and lies down until I tell her she is free to go or give another command.

So how's that for the vocab of a 2 year old BC?

True Color Thursday -- Red

2008-11-20T15:32:00.004+01:00

Our friends Dina and Samantha play this color game every week. The game is started by Blue, so thanks go there for this idea!

Molly thinks the once-a-week color theme should help spice up her life, which has gotten a little boring since the US trip. It is also a great way for her to show off fun bits of her life and to make sure I post pictures at least once a week.

So to start, we went out in the yard to find a few red things. Molly posed nicely on our red bench by the red hand pump (not connected). You can also see the red trim around our windows. Ignore the mess. We sit on that bench when repotting plants. BTW, Molly is outside the fence on the bench and I am inside the fence taking the picture.

We also have a red fence around the flower bed:

Molly owns a lot of red things. A red service vest, a red harness, a red rope leash, and a red comb.

Of course after I put all this stuff down on the ground to take a picture, Molly got to practice retrieves cleaning it up for me:

Then we came back inside because Molly wanted me to show everyone her bed. She's got her blankies back now and it's a nice cozy nest under the table. (Note the red blankies and the red in the table cloth)

These days Molly has full bedroom privileges. I think it is only fair she gets to sleep on the bed she helps strip and make! But we happen to have red sheets and comforter covers on it right now, so she thought I should show that too.

Then we have Molly's favorite training treats, which are reddish in color. I usually cut them up in quarters for clicker training to make them more bite size. I do actually normally use a red pocket knife to cut them up.

Back before Molly became a service dog and once in a while when we hit the town and she's off duty, Molly gets to dress up in a nice Western bandana. It looks great when we take her to horse shows and stuff. She decided to pose for today's picture on our dining room rug to add a little more red to the theme.

Now, to finish off, two old pictures. First, Molly gets cold in the winter when lying in the car because she is so smooth coated. So I bought her a warm fleece shirt at the thrift shop to keep her cozy those times that she needs to wait in the car (especially back before she was an SD with access privileges):

And Molly thinks it is no fair that Mommy is the only one who got to look cool in shades:

Working on Watch, Daily Life, and Taste in Treats

2008-11-18T16:12:00.004+01:00

Molly and I have been working on watch whenever she wants to play with toys. I've got her past a 30 sec test, but I'm going to work more to improve her response to the command and to solidify it even more. Passing watch is very significant progress for L3 training, because we need it to train two o fthe other behaviors (finish and heel).

Beyond watch, we haven't been training so much. But Molly always is busy being my SD. In a typical week, she has to empty the washing machine once or twice, pick up an uncountable number of dropped objects, fetch my blanket from another piece of furniture at least once a day, and usually also help me strip the bed. Her help is really making it a lot more possible for me to be productive in a day. She generally also gets a few roudy play sessions outside with her human daddy and lots of good inside play with both of us. Additionally, she spends a lot of time keeping me company and helping to keep me warm.

Today we tested mat while I was working in the kitchen. She held a mat command on a kitchen rug, not her usual mat, for 2 minutes. This was wihle I was making some dough and had my back to her a lot of the time. So I am really proud of her for holding it so well while I was ignoring her.

Now we get to the treats stuff. I wanted to give Molly a good reward for her mat and keep her busy for a little while so I could finish what I needed to do and my DH could finish what he was working on without her bringing us toys and putting them down near us. So I took a little bit of peanut butter and smeared it into her kong. That worked really well.

Like her daddy, Molly LOVES peanut butter. She is lucky to get to share some of it with him. They both hope that Molly's American grandmother will send them more soon! We can't get peanut butter very easily here and what we can get is nowhere near as good as the American peanut butter.

Another love she shares with her human daddy is marshmallows. Molly will do, quite literally, anything to earn a bit of marshmallow. My DH has had her heeling for marshmallows for months. Unfortunately he hasn't figured out how to transfer it to a normal nehavior, but at least she gets the idea when marshmallows are involved. But we're out of those again, so Molly will have to wait until DH finds more in a Danish shop (it happens occasionally) or her Grandmom and Granddad take pity on her poor marshmallowless state (and DH's) and send a fresh supply.

We give Molly garlic pills to help cut down the risk of fleas and ticks. These are another thing that Molly considers a treat. She is the same with her fish oil pills. She isn't so keen on vitamin E but she will take them. Fortunately, her willingness to take pills extends to dewormers, antibiotics, and anything else she might need on occasion. No need for tricks or force with this girl!

Training Watch

2008-11-13T12:32:00.003+01:00

I got a new pair of glasses shortly before the US trip. Before that, Molly was able to make and hold eye contact with me for quite a while. But the glasses were a big change and she had trouble with the exercise again.

Her ability to make and hold eye contact on command and just in general while working is very important. It helps her be focused on me and it will make it easier to train several other exercises.

A few days ago, Molly was "Dog of the Day" on the levels training mailing list. As Dog of the Day and her trainer, we got a lot of encouragement for the progress we've made so far with our training and tips and ideas for continuing our work. It's really a great boost to be "Dog of the Day" because of all the support and the encouragement to talk about our personal training challenges.

Our lost watch is really what is holding us back from finished Level 3. I need watch before I can work on Finish and Heel. Of course she also needs her paw targetting, but it will do her good to work on something else for a little while.

So we've been training watch from scratch--as if she had never learned it. I'm not using a cue yet, just clicking and treating for eye contact. At first I only expected her to hold it for a second, but I build it up slowly, backing up if I go to fast. I am training in two ways.

1. Focused training sessions with treats and the clicker. I click for contact and build up how long she holds it before the click and reward with a treat. In those sessions, we got up to 12 seconds this morning.

2. Incorporating eye contact into play sessions. If Molly brings me a toy and wants me to play, she has to give and maintain eye contact before I will throw the toy. I vary how long I expect her to hold it--going both up and down to keep it interesting. Molly is very toy focused, so we are actually up to 17 seconds of eye contact when playing. I either use the clicker or make a clicking sound with my tongue to mark the end of the eye contact.

I need 30 seconds to pass L3. So once I have her consistently holding around 30 seconds in both situations, I will put the cue back in. Our cue is "watch." It doesn't sound like any of her other commands and it is easy for me to remember.

Unfortunately, spending a lot of time making and holding eye contact is actually quite straining for my eyes and tends to bother my head a little. So it isn't something I can do too much of in one day. It is great practice though and Molly can see where I am planning to throw her toy from how my eyes move when they break contact.

Molly Reports on Fleas, a Bath, and Taking Care of Mommy and Daddy

2008-11-11T15:44:00.004+01:00

Can whoever gave me fleas for my birfday come and get them PLEASE? We dont like fleas!

Mommy was combing me last week and suddenly complained of a "big, fat flea." I lookd but only saw a little reddish speck. But Mommy sayz dat where der is one flea, der are more.

I thought it waz gonna be okay, cuz she didnt do anyfing more right away. But den efter dey ate dinner, she went bonkerz! First she had me help her take all da stuff off da bed. Im good at pulling covers offa comferterz.

I thought it wud be nice ta sleep on da fresh kleen bed. Den she started ta vakuum! I HATE da vakuum. She did da bedroom n da kitchen n shut me outta da bedroom! Den she took all da nice warm blankies offa my bed and took dem outside. She did give me da mat from my crate, but I miss my wool blankies!

Efter all dat, she gave me a BAF!! I HATE bafs more den I hate da vakum. I had ta sit in da baf all soped up for 5 minz before she wushed it off. YUCK! But she sed it killz da fleaz dat were on me.

So once I kam out and Daddy helped dry me wif a towel, she went to bed wifout me! Daddy uzually letz me in, but he went wifout me too! So der I waz, all wet n lonely and not even a flea to play wif. It wuz awful.

Mommy sed it wuzzent my fault--dat it waz cuz I was wet... but shez da one dat made me all wet!!

Finally I got ta go to bed wif Mommy da next morning. Daddy told me to take care of her when he left for werk. She waz tierd and sore. Poor Mommy. It makez me hate fleaz more.

Da next day she had to vakuum da living room. She let me play in my fence while she did dat. Den she waz tired and I took care of her again.

It iz a big job ta take care of Mommy. She drops tingz and I haf to get dem for her. And sometimes I carry tingz ta Daddy for her.

Dis weekend, we wnet for a drive. I saw odder doggies frum da windoz, but I waznt lowd ta go play wif dem. Sunday, I had da super big job af taking care af bof Mommy n Daddy. She was tierd n sore and Daddy had a migrane. I hafta be really quiet when he haz a migrane. Deyz nastier n bafs n fleaz tagever!

So Ive been a buzy SD. Yesterday Mommy waz sum better so we trained paw targit. Today she mad eme look her in da eyez fur shed play wif me.

Lukly she dint find nodder flea when she brushed me today. I dont want nodder baf and shez too tierd for more vakuum.

Paw Targetting

2008-11-04T12:04:00.002+01:00

Even though yesterday was her birthday, Molly had a training session. She enjoys it, so no reason to skip it.

The last few times we'd trained, Molly still insisted on retrieving her paw target. After a tip from an online friend, we tried taping the post-it target to the floor. So far the tape seems to be holding up to her attempts to scrape it off the floor and she got a LOT better at the behavior in one short session.

Many of her hits did include trying to scrape the target off the floor, so I worked on clicking early, before the scrape, to fine-tune the behavior.

My timing wasn't perfect, so sometimes I clicked for a paw hitting off the target. But she did get less scrape-y in her pawing and actually did almost the whole session standing up! Standing it great progress because initially she thought she was supposed to lie down while pounding her paws into the floor.

I think she'll have this behavior down in no time if I just keep training.

Idag er Mollys fødselsdag! Today Is Molly's Birthday!

2008-11-03T14:19:00.004+01:00

Today is Molly's second birthday. This means my little puppy is starting turn into a grown-up!

My DH has to work today, so we did some of the celebrating yesterday.

The ponies are still at the neighbor's, so DH, Molly, and I headed out to their pasture for a vigorous play session. The weather was quite cold, but Molly loved it.

DH threw the ball and Molly ran and chased it. The horses in the other pasture came and watched. They wanted to join the party and wish Molly a happy birthday. They're also a little jealous because we don't celebrate their birthdays.

Molly didn't pay much attention to them. She was too busy playing with her daddy.

Molly remembered to take time out for water. She really likes the new water cup in the fence, which turns out to be a perfect height for both her and ponies.

She tends to prefer water from the garden pump instead of the tap inside. It helps that it is barely above freezing out and had had to have ice removed before she could drink.

To keep things interesting, DH mixed down-stays and sit-stays into the game. Molly behaved beautifully, holding her stays solid despite the ball flying away.

She also impressed us with her calm reaction to people walking by on the gravel road with a noisy little dog. I think it was a dog anyway. It was at least moving fur on the end of a leash that made vaguely dog-like noises.

Molly ran over to the fence when they were close, but came back when called. She didn't make any noise or look at all afraid of or aggressive towards the furball.

Both the great stays and the calmness at dogs shows how far she has come in the past few years. She'd been very fear-aggressive with dogs for a while, but a little work with Control Unleashed and the extra training with Erin on the US trip has really made a big difference in her attitude.

The only present that Molly will get today is a new rawhide chew. She has a lot of stuff already and Christmas is coming. She'll get some meat at dinner too. I didn't make her a cake though and don't have yoghurt for making her ice cream.

Molly Reports that All Work and No Play Makes an SD a Dull Girl!

2008-10-27T10:30:00.007+01:00

Just like you peeple, a service dog needs to get some time off werk to play and relax. I spend a lot of my day lying around bein ready to help Mommy if she needs me. When I'm "on call" like that, I kan sleep n nap n jus be a dog.

Sometimes a gurl jus wanna haf fun! Wen I feel like dat, I play wif some of my toyz. If Mommy or Daddy is home, I like for dem to play wif me. My new fav toy is my bunny! I got da bunny on our trip to USA. Grandmom and Granddad's kat Dumbo had one and I luved to play wif it. So Mommy got me one of my own. It doesn't look quite da same as Dumbo's bunny, but we named im after it.

When I squeeze da bunny wif my mouth, he squeeks. It is really cute.

I like it when dey trow bunny for me, but if dey won't, I just play wif him alone. I likes ta make him talk n keep his fur clean. Bunny is de only toy Im lowed to take to der bed wif me! He likes ta sleep in Mommy n Daddys bed wif us.

Another toy I like wen Mommy or Daddy'll play wif me is "pindsvin." Mommy says dat means hedgehog. Dis is my third hedgehog. Da first two didnt say anyfing, but dis one makes a nice SQUEEEEK! I really like it wen Mommy and Daddy trow it so it squeeks da whole way. Den I bring it back to dem ta trow agin. I kan play like dat for HOURS n HOURS!

But Mommy doesn always feel good nuff to play wif me. Sometimes she needz ta rest or iz buzy wif somfin else. So at times like dat, I play wif my new nylabone or a nother chew toy. It iz good to chew on tings dat are mine.

So dats what dis border collie werkin gurl does for fun when she cant herd sheep or help Mommy.

Paw Targetting

2008-10-27T09:55:00.004+01:00

I am starting work now on getting Molly to target with a paw. This is part of Level 3 target, but that i sonly part of why I am doing it. I want to teach her to push switches on power strips with her paw. That's my ultimate goal.

Today was our first training session. I put a post-it on the floor. Being very retrieve oriented, Molly wanted to pick it up and give it to me. I just ignored these attempts (no reward), taking the post-it from her and putting it back on the floor. I started by clicking and treating for looking at it. I wanted her to know that this is what it dealt with. She kept persisting with retrieve, so from there I went to clicking and treating for moving a paw, even just slightly. Then I refined to moving a paw near the target. She hit it sometimes, probably mostly by accident, but I reacted by rapid-firing clicks and treats while she was touching it.

By the time the short session ended, she was pounding her paws into the floor, often on the target, and only getting rewards when she hit the target. I didn't want to overdo it this first time (she does seem to learn amazingly quickly), so I ended by jackpotting her--rewarding her with a small handful of treats--when she again hit the target hard with her paw.

A Fall

2008-10-23T19:33:00.001+02:00

I fell today. My legs weren't working and I was moving around on crutches, being stubborn to get something done. DH was outside and there I lay on the floor. I wasn't hurt, but I couldn't get up. My legs wouldn't do what I said they should.

Molly proved her worth once again. First, she gathered up my crutches. Then I thought I'd wait awhile because I wasn't too uncomfortable, so she lay down with me to take care of me. After a few moments of that, she went to get her bunny to offer it to me to cheer me up. Finally I got tired of lying there so I told her to find her daddy.

Well, she can't go out when the door is shut. She kept running to the door and back to me. Then she started to bark. So I praised her and encouraged her and after a few barks, my DH came to see what was up. I told him she was finding him and I needed his help, so he came and helped me get up off the floor.

I'm very proud of Molly for her persistence and her desire to do SOMETHING for me even if I don't ask her to.

Mat a 10 Feet

2008-10-20T12:38:00.000+02:00

I've not been on much lately--my laptop died and working at my desk is
very painful. Poor Molly also hasn't been training much because of my
health issues and stress of trying to get through the system for a
pension or something.

Molly's mat has been outside on the clothes line since we got back
from the US. It needed to be sure to be flea-free and bad weather
kept leaving it wet when I wanted to bring it in. But it finally came
in this weekend and spent some time drying out totally before I got it
out to Molly.

So I decided to test her in the kitchen for doing the mat from the
proper distance. I put it down on the floor while she was out of the
room then called her in. She immediately ran over to her mat and lay
down. I think she was happy to see it.

Then I called her to me at about 10-12 feet away--the furthest
possible in the kitchen. When she came to me, I then told her to mat.
She ran immediately over to HER mat, ignoring the small rug I was
standing on, and lay down perfectly, completely on it. She stayed
with no problems. I treated her and did it again to make sure it
wasn't a freak. Nope. She ran to her mat and did it again. I
started dishes while she stayed without fussing or anything.

So she finally passed L4 mat and I am once again reminded of the
advantages of putting a tough thing aside for a while to let it settle
into her and get exciting again.

It's Good to be Home

2008-10-09T13:29:00.005+02:00

Since we got home, we've mostly just been chilling out and trying to adjust to the time difference. I am trying to do some walking with Molly though to keep the muscles I built up on the trip. The good news is that on today's walk, Molly kept her leash loose for about 200 meters despite cars, horses, and people working on a fence on a property we passed.

Walking that far, even though it was on crutches, is really quite a work out for me, so as well as being very proud of Molly, I'm very proud of myself. One thing I learned on the trip was how and when to push myself and what the consequences are. The consequence is that I need to sleep 1.5 to 2 times as long as I've been active--beyond the 8 hours _at least_ at night--to recover at all. So I need a nap shortly even though I slept about 13 hours last night. I need 12-14 hours of sleep a day just to lie around and not really do anything all day. As soon as I add in any sitting upright or moving around, I have to sleep more. Such is life, but at least I have a better idea of how to cope now. Needless to say, I slept probably an average of two-thirds of the time that would normally be "waking hours" on the trip. I'm fortunately able to sleep quite well when fully reclined in my parents' back seats.

The past few days I've also started getting Molly back into a training routine. She is eating pretty normally right now although my DH is putting a lot of various extras in her food (not because she requires it but because we have stuff that needs to be used). She got pretty good, but not perfect, about eating while on the trip. I think she has more of a habit to eat now than not to, although there were days she skipped or we let it stand and she ate it later. But on the trip our schedules were all over and sometimes she seemed to need a rest before she could think about eating and we weren't about to get up int he middle of the night to give her 5 seconds to eat.

So, about this training routine. We got a lot of good tips from Erin for getting Molly working quietly. My DH hasn't had the extra energy to work with us to do the he-works-if-Molly-makes-noise routine, so I'm continuing with the retraining from scratch but requiring quiet routine. So the past few days she'd had several couple minute sessions with the old boot. It's actually going really well. I started with just touching the boot with her nose, what she first offered when I got it out, and am now up to short grabs and even a few double grabs. IF she starts making noise, the session ends, but I've managed to do a few minutes of training before it got that far. I'm going to try making my next few sessions even shorter to see if I can end the session _before_ she feels the need to make noise.

I've mostly been using shoes I can flip off without her help, so that way I'm not making her work and having to reward her for noisy efforts while retraining. Not much anyway. I've also been avoiding socks both for that reason and just because I generally don't like them.

My laptop died yesterday (screen won't get bright anymore), so my posting and activity checking out others' blogs and on my usual groups and forums will be very limited until I can find and install a replacement. Sitting at the desk to use the desktop machine is just too painful for me and even short posts like this one require a few breaks to get written.

The Last Part of the Trip

2008-10-06T06:29:00.004+02:00

I'm sorry that I'm so late finally posting updates. The time and weather changes between the US and DK are hitting me hard, so I've been sleeping a lot and suffering from a lot of pain. I will try to do better in the future, REALLY!

Apparently the DVDs my parents made me of my pictures from the trip won't work on my laptop right now. So all pictures included here are ones they took. I will try to get more online later when I can figure out how to access the DVDs or get new ones...

So we pick up at the Mohican Indian PowWow in Ohio. There were no problems getting Molly in to the powwow with us. She was in her vest, of course, and I was in my chair with my crutches along. The terrain ended up not being too bad for the chair but I used the crutches when checking out the booths and stuff.

Molly behaved beautifully while we checked out the booths. When we went to get settled to watch some dancing, she just lay down under the bleachers and relaxed. She's a good girl. Unfortunately we couldn't stay as long as we wanted because it was horribly hot and no shade for watching dancing.

It wasn't too late then when we hit the road. Molly got to come in to lunch with us. She needed the ice cubes from our drinks badly. I don't remember where or what we ended up eating.
Eventually we got to the hotel in WV, where we spent the night. We got more ice cubes from the ice machine for her.

The next day we headed for the Cass Railroad. If you aren't familiar with it, it is a coal and steam railroad that was originally for logging. It is, of course, in WV and doesn't allow pets. So Molly was in uniform and ready to work.

My parents had arranged reserved seats for us in the Leatherbark Car. So while Dad picked up the tickets, the rest of us got set up and ready to go. I left the wheelchair in the car because I knew I'd mostly be sitting. So we headed up to the platform with me on my crutches and Molly on leash. We then met a man that works there who talked to us for a while--he'd recently been on a special training so he knew about service dogs.

Molly wasn't happy to go up the steps onto the train after it arrived. So DH carried her in. When the conductor made announcements before we departed, he mentioned that pets were not allowed on the train but that there was a service dog along that day. So Molly got special notice for her ride.

She lay down under my seat on the bench and didn't look too happy about things. She kept crawling deeper under the seat, so I had to hold onto her leash so she couldn't crawl into the seat behind me. Despite her worries, she behaved perfectly. I got her out at both stops on the ride. When it was time to get back in, she climbed in eagerly on her own--no more lifting. I think she accepted it as a necessary part of the crazy adventure even though she didn't like it too much. We can't blame her for not loving it--it smelled, was noisy, and was rather bumpy.

To reward her afterwards and just give her a chance to relax, DH and I took her down to the Leatherbark Creek as soon as we got back into the station. She played in the water and drank from several different spots. She tried to dig some int he stones, which we discouraged, and just generally relaxed and enjoyed herself before it was time to hit the road again.

Our next stop was a cabin for two nights. The renter hadn't been too happy about us bringing a service dog, but my dad stood up for my right to have her. The renter was concerned about what others in the area renting from her would say about us having a dog with us when they couldn't bring theirs, so Molly was in uniform whenever around the cabin, including night time potty walks. We thought it best to make the reason for her presence clear.

On the 22nd, DH and I took a horseback ride as an anniversary present from my parents. Molly couldn't come, so she spent that time with my parents. We had a good play with her later to make up for it.

The next day was our final day on the road. We drove north to Pennsylvania and stopped in New Bedford at a coverlet museum. Molly spent part of the time in the car but then came in to meet the people and show off. They were suitably impressed with her working skills. On the drive from there back to my parents', we stopped to eat and Molly came in. I was on crutches and the place was crowded, but she did really well.

The next day was a rest and recovery day. Molly mostly spent time trying to work out what exactly my parents' cat was. At least they got as far as somewhat making friends, instead of the earlier hide-upstairs for the cat and lots of chasing. Molly kept taking a ball to the cat to try to get him to play ball with her and at one point was seen licking the cat's ear. I think she misses him now that we're home.

Thursday morning she had a vet appointment for her trip home paperwork. After paying a lot of money for the exam and paperwork, we found out we also had to take them to Harrisburg to get them stamped. That afternoon was another drive to a weaver friend of my family. Molly seemed to consider this routine by then, so had no problems with the car ride. She spent part of the time there in the car and part inside showing off. She wasn't in vest so had some issues settling down (he had inside cats), but did well.

Friday DH and I took my mom's car and ran some errands. We decided to accept her offer to Molly-sit so Molly could just stay in the house and chill out for a day. I'm not sure Molly was too happy with that decision, but we thought she needed the rest before the weekend's plans. She was very happy to see us when we got back. My brother and his girlfriend came over that night for dinner. Molly is totally in love with the girlfriend and had a wonderful evening. She also showed how well she was learning to sit while people touch her.

Saturday we headed for the Shawnee Mountain Rodeo. As we approached the entrance, a man who worked there came up and verified that Molly was a service dog. Those are allowed, he said, but not pets. I told him that Molly was used to horses and that I expected her to be fine with the events, but that we'd take her to the car if she got too excited. He didn't seem too worried, but I wanted to let them know we'd monitor the situation and didn't expect her to be allowed there if creating a disturbance. Molly made my prediction come true with her good behavior. The worst she did was whine a little, but mostly she just watched the animals very intensely.

People were walking by our spot a lot, including little kids. Molly showed how well she has learned her job when she just ignored people and kids walking by even if they made some noise about her. I was really impressed and very proud of her. I think she enjoyed it although she'd rather have moved the cattle herself and wanted to fetch in those bulls after they got rid of the riders...

Sunday we went to a quarter horse show in Harrisburg. It wasn't as good as we'd hoped, but Molly enjoyed watching the horses moving around. She didn't even whine, although she was at the edge of her seat, often with her paws on the row of seats in front of her. Then on the way home we went to an antique shop. She waited in the car for that. She did go to lunch at Friendly's with us though.

Monday was another mad drive to Harrisburg for the stamp on the paperwork then a few antique shops. She came in to lunch with us again at a diner. That evening we went to my grandmother's and Molly and the resident dog ended up doing pretty well together. But Molly had trouble settling down enough (she wanted to go search for the resident dog's balls and play), so she spent part of the evening in the car resting. We think the stress of the long trip was starting to wear on her, so she was getting jumpy and grumpy.

Tuesday we flew home. We didn't get bumped to business, but they kindly reserved us a three seat section for the flight, so Molly had plenty of space and no strangers in her nose. We gave her the window seat to give her more space. She just slept and slept and sometimes moved around. I slept lying down on the seats part of the way, so she had two seats of floor space to herself much of the flight.

The arrival in DK was very stressful. For some reason we had to go through a new security check and ended up going through passport control twice because of a broken elevator. We needed to get Molly outside ASAP to potty before our final flight home. Once we got to an outside door, DH left me right inside with the stuff and took Molly out. I was right there so could go out if he had trouble coming back in to me (he isn't entitled to have her inside anywhere, so could legally have been refused access). Then we had to find a bus to the right terminal. Molly handled it all beautifully.

Finally we got to the final airport and were met by a friend. Molly was overjoyed to see a familiar face and jumped onto him (he usually wants her to) to say hello. Then we had a peaceful drive home. Molly was so happy to be in her fence again when we got home and her familiar bed and kitchen. Like me, she's been spending a lot of time sleeping since our arrival.

Another Pictureless Trip Report

2008-09-20T14:49:00.003+02:00

We're so far behind maintaining our blog. We've been really busy experiencing things on our trip and haven't always had Internet access.

I last wrote from my brother's. We had a really nice weekend there visiting with the family. Molly didn't perceive his dogs as playmates, but she did try to herd the golden retriever. I'm not really sure what she thought of his smaller puppy. I think she was too busy herding the GR to notice her.

From there, we headed to the Smoky Mountains, where we had a cabin reserved. We spent Monday driving through the park, including one of the back roads. We saw 3 black bears on the backroad and turkeys, deer, and other wildlife in the rest of the park. Molly worked at some of our stops and just came along on leash at some of the others. She behaved really well and played SD ambassador with many of the other guests.

We ran into a lot more of those "I can't talk to you because you are working" people, but also met several who were very respectful of her SD status and either asked to pet her or refrained from giving her too much attention. While DH and I sat on the porch at one place, she got to talk to a few people, including a nice woman who really wanted to pet her but had refrained from asking because Molly was in her vest. We met a lot of people who knew she was a BC or asked... some hadn't realized there were tricolor BCs.

Tuesday we went to Cherokee to the museum and some shops there. Molly worked in the museum and one of the shops and did really well. She did get a bit frustrated with all the other people around, especially those who talked to her in silly voices and disturbed her. The floor outside the bathroom in the museum was a rough stone tile, so when I took Molly with me and couldn't get my wheelchair over the edge, she did get rather upset on my behalf. After Cherokee, we took a scenic drive back through the park then did some shopping in Pigeon Forge. Molly got to relax in the car while we shopped because I felt like she needed a break when she'd gotten so frustrated earlier.

Then Wednesday we headed to Nashville. I don't remember all the details of stops and when Molly worked or didn't.

Wednesday night Molly stayed crated in the hotel while we went out to dinner at Wildhorse Saloon. We brought a doggy bag back for her that we added to her meals the next two days.

Thursday was a long hard day for Miss Molly. She started working around 9am at the Country Music Hall of Fame and stayed on duty until about 4 that afternoon. She was perfectly behaved through the entire Hall of Fame. Then we walked through the park with the walk of fame in it and gave her a chance to potty.

Then came a more challenging bit--we headed up to Broadway to find a place for lunch. There was live music and she still settled nicely under the table. We gave her a bunch of ice cubes, which she loved. Then after lunch we rolled back to the car. She was really hot then and seemed to be hurting her feet on the hot asphalt and sidewalks. I was kicking myself for having left her booties in the car. But as long as we kept moving she was fine and she was happy to get into the car again. For a last stop, we went to the Tennessee State Museum. We were running on a tight schedule because of parking difficulties and rather regret not having had mroe time to enjoy the well-made exhibits. Molly, however, was tired and I think rather happy when we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

She was so beat that she got the evening off to relax and sleep in her crate while we went out to dinner. We fed her more of the doggy bag and she ate really well.

Friday was a long driving day and for the most part I slept through things and so did she. We made short stops at two Indian mounds though. She worked at the first one and got to be a dog on a leash at the second.

Then we went to a Cracker Barrel for dinner. The place was really crowded, so Molly really had a chance to show me how much she had learned from her training session with Erin and all her experience. She did very well ignoring the other people, even children, and just focused on her job.

Now today we are heading to a powwow and she will be working as long as we are there. Tomorrow is Cass Railroad and more work for Miss Molly.

A Few Pictures

2008-09-20T13:37:00.003+02:00

Here is Molly with Erin early in their session. Erin is helping teach Molly not to jump on people. Her work has made a huge difference. Molly refrained from jumping on Brenda and is doing much better at ignoring people while working or at least keeping 4 on the floor while wagging her body.

When we visited Brenda and her BC boys JJ and Jake, Molly learned to act like a dog and play. We were so happy seeing it. Here is a shot of her with both of the boys.

Molly has dealt really well with all the changes in her world. Some of the hotel rooms haven't had much floor space, so sometimes we set her crate up on the extra bed (when we had one). She was happy to curl up on her mat in her crate and just relax.

This is the only picture I've uploaded so far of Molly on sheep. I took TONS but haven't sorted them yet. She did really really well and we're so proud of her. I think you will have to wait until I get to DK before I get much up. The trip is just too packed with things and I end up sleeping whenever we have a chance to get online.

Here is Molly catching her breath after a round of herding. She is showing off her long BC tongue while she relaxes in the shade of my parents' van. It didn't take long though for her to be glued to the fence watching the sheep and wishing it were her turn again!

Pictureless Travel Report

2008-09-12T14:11:00.005+02:00

If I took the time to download and put in pictures, I wouldn't have time to tell you anything about our trip. So I will do the trip report now and see about pictures later.

Let's see... we arrived on the 3rd in the evening. I told you that already. Thursday the 4th we mostly just chilled out at my parents' place, adjusting to the time difference. We got a walk out back and got all those nice pictures of Molly in the grass and my Mom gave Molly permission to play with Dumbo's bunny, which she loved. Thursday night we crated Molly while we went out to eat with my brother and his girlfriend at a Mexican place. Molly did fine in her crate and got a doggy bag of goodies from the restaurant.

Friday was a more hectic day. I had a doctor appointment and started by taking Molly in with me. But she had trouble settling down--there were a couple kids sitting and talking in the office and people moving around and I think she was just too excited about being in a new country. So my DH took her back out to the car while I got examined.

From there we went to Walmart, where she did really well working for me. I was in my wheelchair at that point and she is comfortable working with that now thanks to all those practice rolls at home on the bike path. My mom finds it odd that so many people look at her in her vest then talk to her saying, "You're working. I'm not allowed to talk to you. But you're a nice puppy" or something like that. I appreciate that they at least aren't walking up and handling her without asking, but it is a little distracting and she'll sometimes start her butt wiggle and jack-in-the-box spring butt effect. She's getting better though.

Friday night we went to my grandmother's. Molly got to be in the car part of the time while I greeted my grandmother's dog Jenny, who has always loved me. Then later we brought Molly in and tried to put the two together. It sorta worked but both were a bit edgy--neither has a reputation for being good with other dogs. So they took turns for the rest of the evening. Molly dug out 4 of Jenny's tennis balls that were hidden around the room and engaged everyone in play. She likes to make sure that everyone in the room is involved.

Molly impressed everyone, including me, with how quickly she learned to identify people by name. She already knew my parents as grandmom and granddad but by the end of the evening she was also delivering the ball on command to my aunt and uncle by name and getting better at IDing my grandmother.

The weather ruined our original plans for Saturday--the Green Lane border collie trial. But my old friend from high school was in the area for the weekend, so we changed our plans to spend the day with her. She has a small car, so Molly got to spend the afternoon with my parents' without me and DH. She did very well with that too and my dad got her out for a bit of a walk.

Saturday night my brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner and Molly got to help pick things up off the floor as needed, play with everyone with Dumbo's bunny, and just generally be a cute little lovebug.

Sunday was a big day. The weather had cleared, so we headed for the Endless Mountains Fiber Fest. As well as having sheep and llamas and other fiber animals, they had a sheepdog demonstration. A lot of people there knew or suspected that she was a BC and she got a lot of praise by knowledgable people. Several people did ask whether she was a mix or something because they weren't used to the smooth coats. I found it pretty odd when we got to the sheepdog demonstration when all the dogs there were smooths as well.

The demo was really neat and Molly was totally fascinated. We stayed through most of it and Molly got a little introduction to the crowd as a BC doing another job. I will try to get the pictures up eventually. When they started working a less trained puppy, we had to go because Molly was just whining like crazy in jealousy. She wanted to get out there and work the sheep.

When we left the festival, we took a very scenic drive home along the Delaware River from the Delaware Water Gap down to the New Hope area. Molly and I were tired and did some napping.

Monday was another busy day. We went to the college I graduated from (Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA) and visited the people I knew in the library. Molly came in as a working dog and met some people and spent some time chilling on the floor. Then she waited in the car while DH and I got a tour of the horse barns. We met two clicker trained horses, one of which was trained to pick up a toy from the floor. That was really cool!

Then Molly and I waited while DH checked out the dairy barn and some other stuff.

Finally we went to visit my mom's coworkers in the admissions department and Molly came in and made a great impression. She worked well and behaved nicely and it turned out that my mother's boss has BCs and his wife works with a rescue. So he really enjoyed her visit and it was nice talking to someone knowledgable.

Much of Monday evening we spent packing for the road trip. Tuesday was a hectic day with packing and errands. Molly had to stay home when we went to the grocery store because the car was packed with my chair. But she got to come later to Walmart and impress people again with her demeanor and skills. We met more of those people who say "you're working so I can't talk to you" in silly voices.

Wednesday morning bright and early we hit the road for Virginia, our first overnight stop. Molly camped out between me and DH in the back seats and we tucked her in under the blanket when she looked cold. Molly came to breakfast with us and lay down nicely under the table at Perkins. We were really proud of her for settling so well and being so quiet. DH sneaked her a few goodies as a reward. She also got to work while we toured a museum around the middle of the day. She again behaved well and made a good impression on everyone we met.

At the hotel Wednesday night, we put her crate on the bed because there wasn't any floor space. She settled happily into it on her mat. She was too tired when we arrived to eat, but got up and ate at 11pm after a potty walk. She got us up again at 1 for another walk.

Thursday we let her stay in the car during breakfast because we ate in a Waffle House and the space is limited. She also had such a big day ahead of her. Lunch we had in a park in Spartanburg, NC, and she got to come out on a long line tied to the picnic table.

After that, we had to Erin and Z at the Good Dog Academy for a training session. Erin has given us several tips before on our training and we thought it would be a good idea to see her while we were in the area so she could check out Molly for herself. Molly did really really well. We started by working on teaching her not to jump on people. Erin made some progress with her in a short training session and gave us a lot of ideas for working further on the problem.

Another big problem was Molly's tendency to be noisy while working. We have a good idea for that one now--having my DH do Molly's job if Molly is noisy because Molly _hates_ for someone else to do her job.

Then we worked on some socialization with Erin's dog Z and that went really well. Molly started settling down around Z and wagging with a loose tail. She got lots of clicks and treats for short and prolonged looks at Z.

We had a few play breaks in all this when DH played with her with her kong. We ended the session with some mat work. I've had trouble getting Molly to find her mat from a longer distance. Amazingly she did great and was even able to pick her own mat out at about 10 feet with a choice of 3 mats. Wow. We'd been doing some training there, so it doesn't count as a levels test.

Then from Erin's we drove to another Internet BC friend, Brenda with her boys Jake and JJ. Brenda did great helping us work more on the not jumping thing and Molly really seemed to get the rules. Then we introduced her to JJ. It took some slow work, but Molly was soon wagging at JJ with a loose tail. We let the two of them loose and Molly ran after him all over Brenda's fenced back yard.

It was going so well that we added Jake to the mix. By then Molly was playing like a dog and it was a beautiful sight. They ran up and down the steps to the deck and chased balls and frisbees and just played like dogs do. She also was quite comfortable drinking their water with them around. I didn't do any training in the backyard then successfully recalled Molly at 40' or so through the other two dogs... So that's a recall pass for my levels tests! YAY!

Then we headed for the hotel and another night's sleep. She behaved well all night. I have determined that my body is not happy about picking up after her when she potties. My DH had done it at the earlier stops, but this time there was a grassy patch right outside our door so I took her out myself. It is a little backwards to have an SD that has a primary job of keeping me from bending over then to have to bend over to pick up after her... Hmmm...

Now my family is itching to hit the road, so I want to get this posted. We had breakfast here at the hotel and let Molly stay in the car. Now we're heading for a few scenic stops before we spend the weekend at my brother's with my family.

Tomorrow we have an appointment with Robin at Shoofly Farms for a herding lesson! We're so excited!

A Few Pictures from the USA

2008-09-09T04:52:00.004+02:00

I intended to make a big post on the neat Endless Mountains Fiber Festival and everything else we've been doing, but time has flown and I'm too tired. So you'll just have to live with this selection of pictures from the trip so far.

The first three pictures show Molly outside here at my parents' place. She is very excited by all the new smells and sounds.

The next two show Molly in the car--a place she has already spent a lot of time and will be spending a lot more.

The second to last picture shows Molly playing with a very special toy. It actually belongs to my parents' cat (who used to be mine), but my mom said she could play with it. It is Dumbo's Bunny and it squeaks. She has never had a soft toy before and she seems to love it.

The last picture is one my DH took of me, my parents, and Molly. Molly worked really hard all that day (Sunday), but she was a bit excited and distracted by the working border collie demonstration. She was jealous that the other dogs got to herd the sheep but she didn't.

I will try to put up pics of the demo later. Right now I need to go to bed. Molly has been sleeping for a while now.

Traveling Like a Pro--And in Style

2008-09-05T14:17:00.005+02:00

I'm sorry I'm a long time getting this posted, but I spent a lot of Thursday sleeping to recover from the trip. Then Friday I had a doctor appointment and spent another batch of time sleeping. So here's the trip report.

We got up at 3 a.m. Denmark time on the morning of 3 September. I'd asked British Airways, who is the airline listed on our electronic ticket, when we needed to be at the airport and they said two hours early. Molly was excited but well-behaved. I hadn't slept much overnight--I'm on antibiotics for my unspecified lung infection and they make me hyper, plus I was excited about the trip. DH woke up with a migraine. Despite all that, we managed to get ourselves fed, Molly walked, and headed to the airport, thanks to DH's friend who drove us.

The check-in desk was not open when we arrived. After we waited and waited and it was less than an hour before our flight, we asked one of the SAS people if they knew when it opened. It turned out it didn't open until 45 minutes before our take off time. Molly waited quietly all this time. She enjoyed watching other people moving around, but didn't whine or bark or get too upset by being still. I took advantage of the opportunity to pass one of her "on the road" tests for the levels. She is able to hold a loose leash while I am seated in my wheelchair and not moving around for a minute despite the distractions of people all over.

When they finally opened, I asked the man there about the arrival time but didn't get a satisfying answer. So if you're ever flying a BA flight done by Sun Air, don't believe them about the 2 hour check-in time.

Sun's flight wasn't booked solid. So Molly and I had the front row with 2 adjacent seats. DH sat across the aisle in a single seat and the couple rows behind us were empty. Molly behaved perfectly. She was a little stressed that DH and I weren't closer together and that she wasn't allowed across the aisle to him, but she dealt with it. Molly got a little motion sick as we were landing (some drool) but nothing serious. We were really impressed.

We then arrived in Oslo. We were met at the airplane by a man with a wheelchair. Although I thought it wouldn't work out, we were able to get my own chair immediately. So he put the airport's chair aside and pushed me in my chair. We didn't have to wait in lines. This man escorted us to the customs area so we could get Molly cleared for going outside. There was a little trouble there. I had the stuff we needed for Denmark and the US, but Norway requires a follow-up to a rabies shot to verify the presence of antibodies and a weird deworming verified by the vet. But they let us take her outside for a potty anyway as long as we promised to keep her on leash. They made an exception because she wasn't staying in the country. But I wanted to mention it to make sure that others traveling thought to verify the requirements of connecting countries.

Then we went to check-in with Continental. The man the airport provided continued to escort us through all this. Once we were checked in properly, he took us to a coffee shop near the door and set up where we should meet him later when it was time to head to the gate. We then took Molly outside, where she pottied on concrete on command in less than 30 seconds. That passes another OtR levels excercise.

Molly was a very good and helpful girl and insisted on cleaning things up off the floor. She hates pieces of paper and such all over.

Then when it was time, the guy came back to get us. We got cut into line to go through the security check. It took a while--I had to have my shoes off and them run separately through the x-ray. Once we were all cleared, the guy pushed me to the gate and Molly walked along side. My poor DH had to carry both carry-ons and stuff.

At the gate, we had to go through a huge mess of checks and stuff because it's a US flight. Had to answer all the questions again about if we'd maintained possession of our bags and if we were carrying anything for anyone, etc., etc. Then I got spot picked for a carry-on search. The guy was really nice about it and lucky for him he picked the backpack that had Molly's stuff in it. The other one would have been really nasty to unpack and repack because it had my meds in it.

While we were waiting at the gate, the cabin crew arrived. A very nice woman stopped to ask some questions about Molly, how we were seated in the plane, and if we'd have enough space. She works for Continental and her name is Latania. Her name tag said she was from or based in Halifax and she managed the cabin crew. I'm telling all this because if you end up on one of her flights, you'll be a very lucky person and because we owe her a huge thanks.

Thanks to her, we were bumped to business class on the very full flight to the US. She wanted to make sure that Molly had plenty of room and a great experience. She came by our seat often to check that we had plenty of room and about half way through the flight asked if she could give Molly the ice cubes that I'd asked for for her. Everyone on the crew was really nice--asking to pet Molly and complimenting her behavior. With being in the higher class, there was plenty of room for Molly's mat to be put on the floor between us the long way and for us to both still have more than enough leg space.

We were, of course, fed a full business class 4 course dinner and plenty to drink. We shared our fortune with Molly, so she got bits and pieces of meat from our dinner, ice cubes from our glasses, etc. She never did end up eating much dry food. I was exhausted after we ate and hurting pretty bad, so I lay back to sleep and DH stayed awake to keep tabs on Molly. Molly actually was able to relax and sleep. She enjoyed looking at the people around us and the attention from the flight attendants.

They offered to find some kind of snacks or something for her, but we didn't want her to have too much. She did end up getting salmon. Our second meal was hamburgers with a first course of salmon. Molly got both of our pieces of salmon. So she also benefitted from the luxury treatment.

Our flight was rather turbulent. The seat belt light kept coming on. But Molly handled it fine and didn't seem to get air sick this time. She was pretty unhappy during landing. She just looked uneasy, but no whining or complaining.

We waited patiently for everyone else to get off before we did. My wheelchair was waiting, but no personal assistant this time. Poor Molly had to keep holding while we went through customs, immigration, and got our bags. Then we had to go to the agriculture people to get Molly checked and because we have horses at home. All that went fine and rather smoothly. I had to answer some questions, but we were prepared. Despite what a woman had told me on the phone before the trip, Molly is not required to get a second rabies shot when she has already had one.

Then we tried to hurry out. Our luggage had had to go through a second check. While DH was loading the luggage onto our $3 cart, Molly had an accident on the floor. She looked so traumatized. She'd been holding since about 4am US time and it was going on 3pm. I also suspect the floor may have been spotted already judging from the carpet. That would make it harder for her to continue to hold. But we immediately threw down a number of paper towels that we'd brought in her vest and called one of the people working there to alert them to the problem and apologize. The guy was really nice and understanding and said he'd take care of it, but we still cleaned the wet paper towels up into a potty bag.

Then we went the rest of the way out and found my parents. They helped us get out to their car for the drive "home" to their place. We made a stop at a park first to give Molly some water and a potty outing. She wasn't really interested in the water but did seem to appreciate the outing.

We went to a TGI Friday's for dinner but let Molly stay in the car. We thought she needed the quiet. It was so nice to have a steak. DH somehow managed to find a Dane to talk to in the bathroom.

Molly got some dinner when we got back to the car. She ate a huge bowl of Orijen dry food. Then we found another potty spot for Molly before going by my grandmother, who lives in a nursing home.

Getting to my parents' place, Molly met cats for the first time. She wants to chase them and move them around. A "leave it" quiets her, but they are very tempting.

The crate I had ordered for her for the time here had arrived, so now she has passed all the crate behaviors on the road. She went in quite happily and stayed in when needed.

So thank you everyone for your good thoughts. A special thanks goes to Latania, whose name I hope I have spelled correctly, for making sure that our Continental flight was so roomy and pleasant.

Service Dog Molly Ready to Go

2008-09-02T12:29:00.003+02:00

We leave tomorrow on our big trip.

Yesterday Molly visited the vet to get her health certificate for the flight. She behaved perfectly through the entire exam, lying, sitting, and standing on the table on command. She also put her paws up on the table when she first needed to get on it and hopped up to make it easier to lift her up for the exam. She got the all clear for the flight. No health problems of any sort and all her shots are taken care of and documented. She also got this picture added to her EU pet pass.

Very early this morning, DH gave her a thorough bath. So she now is clean and shouldn't be carrying much in the way of allergens.

As you can see on her vest, she is now a full service dog. She still has things to learn and will benefit from more experience, but she is handling everything we throw at her with grace.

Poor Molly is very confused right now. She knows something is happening. She can feel our excitement. But all the words we can use to explain it to her don't mean very much yet. She doesn't quite get what an airplane is, although she does know what a trip is. She doesn't understand why her kong and hedgehog are packed away in the soft-sided box or why her mat is rolled up in a backpack. She also doesn't have much of a concept of time. So when we talk about taking a trip, she heads for the door, ready to go. If one of us goes out without her, she worries that she is being left behind. We told her she'll be seeing Grandmom and Granddad tomorrow. I'm sure she remembers them because she met them once almost a year ago.

Please think good thoughts for us tomorrow. It is Molly's first time in an airplane and it will be a long trip for us all. She has heartworm medication waiting in the US, so she'll be well protected while there. She also has a dog tag waiting with the address and phone number there. Hopefully we won't have forgotten anything that can't be replaced!

A Visit to the Doctor

2008-08-28T09:16:00.002+02:00

I had to make a visit to my doctor yesterday and took Molly with me for the first time. She hasn't been in that sort of environment before--where it was quiet, only few people, and she had to lie still and quiet. The challenge did not come easily for her. She was a little uneasy and whiney, especially in the beginning.

When the next patient came into the waiting room, she jumped up excited and tried to say hello. But when nothing came of it and I had her sit and lie down again, she settled back down. The next time someone walked in, she only looked at them with interest, but said and did nothing more.

Unfortunately, she tried to jump on the doctor, but he didn't seem to mind. I need to work really really hard on ending this behavior.

But in more good news, I now have a letter from my doctor confirming my need to take my service dog with me on our upcoming trip.

A New Mat for Molly

2008-08-25T15:01:00.003+02:00

With the time of our airplane trip quickly approaching, I had to hurry up and make a thick warm mat for Molly like I've been planning. I started with a wool blanket we bought at a thrift shop and some pieces of stiff foam about 1 cm thick. I'd hoped to make it with two layers of foam, but two layers didn't quite work, so we ended up with one.

Molly took to it right away. She seemed quite eager to test it out. DH also gave it a quick test to make sure that it is warm enough.

We want to be able to clean her mat when necessary, so the one end has a zipper to allow us to take the foam out. Then we can just wash the wool cover and put it back on when it's dry.

For a mat to be easy to take on a trip, it has to be possible to make it portable. The foam is cut in half the long way so I can just fold it that way. The mat cover is sewn in the middle as well so it keeps that spacer and avoids ending up with a lump from the foam overlapping.

I also sewed in two tie straps, so the mat is equipped for being rolled and tied into a little bundle.

Overall, I'm really proud of my construction. I think it is nice in looks, easy to use, and warm. Molly seems to love it too. We did some mat training today with it and she lay on her mat silently for 5 minutes despite distractions of me moving around and a toy in sight on the coffee table. She also hurried over to lie down on it with her toy when I was playing with her.

Molly Reports on a New "Friend"

2008-08-25T14:31:00.004+02:00

Mommy got a box from her freind Edith da other day. She found dis littel fello when she opened it.

His name is Fluff and he's from Germany. Mommy says he's here because he wanna go on the trip wif us and he wanna learn about my life as a Service Dog.

I was very xcited to meet him. I fink he is cute and really wanna play wif him.

Here I am checkin him out for da first time.

I fink he smells yummy. It isnt fair. How come he gets to eat chocolat and I dont?

Mommy says he is not food and is not a toy. I hafta be careful when I wanna play wif him.

Mommy said I had ta leave him alone when she put him on the floor. I wanted to see if he worked like a ball. But I did like she said and watched him for a while.

After a littel while, she told me to Take him and Give him to her.

I was really careful pickin him up and Mommy said I was good. I gave him to her like a good girl.

He'll be riding around in my vest when we travel so he can learn more. I hope he doesnt get me into any trouble!

Mommy says u can read more about Fluff at http://www.edith-parzefall.de/fluffclub.html.

Lots of Public Access Practice, Eating, and Training with a Toy

2008-08-22T09:50:00.006+02:00

Wow. We've been busy. Too busy to blog enough.

Two days ago when DH and I ran errands, I took Molly into a big store in town. For you Americans, it reminds me a lot of Best, if you remember those. You walk around the store and look at all the stuff. When you find something you want, you fill out the info on an order slip. When done shopping, you hand in the order slip and wait for them to get your purchases out of the back--in nice sealed packages and without anyone in the store having had the opportunity to fiddle with them. Some really cheap and special sale items you can just take out of bins, but most stuff works on the order slip method.

So anyway, the first time we were in the store ages ago, I'd seen someone come in and wander around a little while with a small dog on leash right past store people without anyone saying anything. It wasn't an SD. So I didn't bother about asking for permission, figuring I'd explain, apologize, and leave if asked. But no one said anything. So while DH returned the broken item we had, Molly and I walked around. She was so good!

Then DH also wanted to look at some other stuff so Molly and I went with. She continued being quiet and very well behaved. A very successful PA practice. Also the floor there is superslippery, so it is really good practice for the airport and other businesses.

Yesterday DH needed to go see the dentist for a follow-up so we went into town again. We sat down on a bench and worked on sit stays and mat for a while. Molly did really well and was much quieter and calmer this time. I think she'd just been a little excited the first time in town because of having been stuck home so much while in heat. She only made noise once and it was to bark once at a little kid wandering around alone. No idea why she barked at him. But maybe she was picking up on something I didn't notice. It was a 5-6 yr old boy walking through a busy town without any signs of an adult, so who knows. But parents are much more relaxed here in DK about leaving their kids alone, so it might have just been someone who lived locally.

This morning I started working on clicker training again. I got a lot of tips from Erin (Z's owner) so I am finally feeling confident that I won't devalue the clicker by not giving treats but playing instead. It showed me how way out of practice we are. I tried training Watch, a very important L3 behavior. She used to be able to give me 10-20 secs eye contact on command without much trouble, but I was lucky to get 10 this morning and she wasn't responding well to the cue. I realized I needed to back up and rebuild the behavior.

When I put the toy away, Molly wasn't happy--she really wanted to play with the squeaky yellow hedgehog, the only one she's ever had WITH squeaker (usually DH pulls them out for safety). I decided to use this excitement as a training opportunity and sat down near where the toy was on the shelf and invited Molly up on my lap on the sofa. After a while, she volunteered eye contact so I clicked and treated. In a little while, I got up to 15-20secs of voluntary eye contact. She was even offering eye contact while the toy was in her mouth. A few more days of this and I should be able to recue it and get her back on track for L3 watch.

As for eating, Molly got 1 handful yesterday morning (we went from one kibble the night before to the small approx. 32 piece handful). She immediately ate it and kept looking for more. So last night it was 2 handfuls, again eaten right away. This morning she got 4 and also devoured it.

We're going to stall out here at 4 handfuls for a little while. We want to wait to up it until she is reliably devouring that much _and_ looking for more. Then we can try building up really slowly.

I will try to get some pictures up a little later today if I can find time. I have tons to do, but Molly wants to report on her small friend that arrived in the mail yesterday, so I will try to find time to get pictures online for her.

Public Access and Refusing to Eat

2008-08-20T09:31:00.004+02:00

Molly got more public access practice yesterday and it went really well. DH had a dentist appointment, so Molly and I went and sat on a bench in a very busy pedestrian area. There were tons of people and several dogs walking past us. She did whine a little, which is really bad, but overall it went well. She responded to commands well despite the distractions. We did some stay practice but with me still right there. She gave me a number of good paws ups both onto the bench and onto my lap. She retrieved my hat a few times. She also touched my hand with her nose on command several times. All this was with praise as the only reward.

I know she wouldn't have been whining at all if we'd been moving, but my goal was to work on her behavior while we are sitting still. She's going to need to be able to handle being still with people around when we are in the airport. I didn't think to take her mat with me. I think it would have helped.

Then we also went into the pet store for more dog food. She was a little overeager to talk to people there but also didn't have her vest on, so talking was allowed. I was able to get her to sit instead of jumping on people she wanted to talk to. She also did great with "leave it" for the baskets and tubs of dog treats at floor level!

The nice woman in the shop let us have two sample packages of dog food of a kind that Molly is used to (Acana), so that gives us some treats for the flight that shouldn't have problems with customs.

Another good thing on the trip front is that my parents' have received the crate, Orijen, and dog chews that I ordered for her for the trip. Also Frontline to keep her flea-free on the road. Now I just need her heartworm meds and we'll be set.

As for eating, she refused last night. She'd refused for DH in the morning, but ate when I came out and told her to. But last night she totally refused for me.

So this morning she didn't get anything and tonight she starts over at one piece of kibble. We're really frustrated but we so want it to work out. I also miss training her, but I'm working on practice with toys.

A Practice Roll

2008-08-18T14:13:00.003+02:00

So Molly and I went for our second practice roll. It went so well! The traffic was really bad but she ignored it. She ignored the big trucks, all the cars, even the two scooters we had to pull over to let pass us on the bike path (they're the small motor scooters, so allowed on the bike path). I'm using the reflective posts along the road as markers and went one further than last time. I'm not sure how far apart they are. We practiced stopping and she'd stop right away. She also did great when I turned around. We were also rolling along beside the horses and she did fine ignoring them too. She really likes to watch the horses, so that's a great sign.

I think my rope and coil setup is working, but I will see about attaching a short piece of rope of the right length instead of having to rerig her rope leash every time. The coil helps keep the leash from sagging too much and going under the wheel but the rope keeps her short so she can't stretch it and get too far away from me. I'll need to continue with the rope until I am sure she is really really solid in all public access situations.

I also "dropped" my hat at one point and had her collect it and give it to me. She was able to concentrate on that despite the traffic.

So I'm very proud of Miss Molly and feel like we are making real progress towards the day she can be declared SD instead of SDIT.

Another Update on Molly's Eating Habits

2008-08-18T12:54:00.003+02:00

Sorry I've not been updating more often. It just seems like things are a little boring right now in Molly's world--she seems to think so some of the time too.

We'd gotten Molly up to offering what should be about a full meal for her. But she refused it, so we had to skip a meal and start over. This morning she was back up to approximately 64 pieces of kibble. So tonight she'll get double that and tomorrow even more. I hope she keeps eating. We hope that at some point she will learn that she can eat only part of a meal if it's too much for her so I can work out how much I ought to be feeding every meal.

We have been doing some more fun things. I've tried using a toy as a reward and run her through a lot of behaviors that she already knows. We've been practicing "find phone" and "take phone" that way too.

Molly needs to get used to wearing booties so her feet won't burn on hot asphalt when she needs to work. So we've been practicing putting those on and playing. She is taking them very well, but does walk funny with an exaggerated high leg lift.

I also need to get her working better beside my wheelchair. Using a stretchy coil leash together with her rope seems to be helping. I hook the coil to her collar and the rope to her harness. I leave the rope loose and only use it if she is going to far from me. My goal is for her to learn to walk along beside the chair with only the coil (which seems to keep me from getting leash-around-the-wheel issues) with it hanging a little loose. It is able to stretch if I need to at some point, but I don't want her doing that. I prefer it on her collar because then it won't pull her towards my wheel. We took a roll about a 100 meters out and back Friday and she did great. I'll be trying again a little later today. Manual wheelchairing is hard work and I can really feel it in my shoulders and arms, so I think I need the practice myself.

Now that Molly is out of heat, we're also hoping to get back to public access practice as well.

Molly's Eating Status

2008-08-10T17:51:00.002+02:00

Well, Molly has had 4 pieces of kibble since we started the new "learn to eat" program. A few evenings ago, she ate one piece for me for the first time. Then she refused again a few more times.

This morning she ate one piece and tonight she ate two. This means she'll be offered four tomorrow morning. Cross your fingers for us that she goes it so we can keep going up in amounts. I miss training her and she seems bored, so we really need to get this eating situation solved so I can get training again!

Still Not Eating

2008-08-07T13:45:00.003+02:00

No progress on the eating front. She is still refusing it. I am trying to limit how much grass she can eat. She loves grass. I am also trying to spend a lot of time playing with her today to help burn up energy and make her hungrier. We worry about her when she is refusing to eat like this.