Buddy Cube

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.

More on Eating

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.

A Very Overdue Update

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.

It's Good to be Home

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.

Another Pictureless Trip Report

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.

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

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.

Molly's Eating Status

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

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.

Teaching Molly to Eat--Again

We've decided to try again to teach Molly to eat like a normal dog. This time we're using Sue Ailsby's method. Sue is the person who made the Levels Book that we use as our main training guide.

We started this morning. Molly refused to eat. So dinner tonight was skipped. Tomorrow she gets one piece of kibble in her bowl (Orijen).

Think good thoughts for us please. We really need her to get more normal eating habits!

Now is the best time for this work. I'm willing to lay off training her totally. So she gets no training treats, no rawhide chews, etc. DH is fully on board (he does the morning "feed").