Until the Cows Come Home

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 Fleas, a Bath, and Taking Care of Mommy and Daddy

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.

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.

A Practice Roll

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

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.

More Public Access Practice

We've been trying to get Molly out into public more. So yesterday we spent half an hour in the bigger town near us on a popular walking street. It took a little bit for Molly to quit pulling, but she did GREAT! She wanted to sniff a little, but soon learned to keep moving and stay with me. Her leash wasn't loose, but she quit pulling hard once I got everything adjusted right.

DH pushed my wheelchair so I could concentrate on Molly. I tried to praise her and pet her when she was walking right and when she went past people and dogs without a reaction.

She did get her paw run over once--she crossed in front of me at the last minute when a small furry dog moved closer to her. But she just gave a little yelp and kept moving. She seems to be fine, luckily.

Other than the yelp, she was quiet all the time except when a big furry black dog invaded her space and got rude. Then she only made a little noise and settled right away once the dog couldn't reach her anymore. She also didn't try to jump on people or visit them.

Town was really busy with lots of other dogs and people and kids. So I'm really proud of her. She also sat perfectly on command the one time we had to cross a street then moved again on command.

I want to try to practice on the bike path here to get her better trained with where to be by the wheelchair. DH thinks I should put a rod on the chair to hold her in place in a more fixed way, but I worry about the added width. It is hard enough to find space for my chair as it is and sometimes she has to go in front of or behind me for us to get through. So I don't think the rod will work.

One of these days, I'll get DH to take pictures of Molly and me with the chair. But it is hard for him to do that and push me at the same time!

Molly's Report on Today

Mommy (Rebecca) hasn't been feeling well today, so we decided it was my turn to make a blog entry. I had a rough night and morning keeping an eye on Mommy. She didn't sleep well, so I stayed on the rug outside the bedroom door (silly people don't let me in the bedroom at night) just in case she needed me. I worried myself sick about her, so I had to make her get up and take me out after Daddy left for this thing they call "work" in the morning. I felt bad about making her get up--she was just falling asleep--but my tummy was so upset and I couldn't hold it anymore.

Then I went back to my guard duty while she slept. She finally settled down, but I didn't want to leave her to go to my own bed. But after a while I had to wake her up again because my tummy hurt and I needed to go out. I ended up not being able to potty after all and just ate grass, but I couldn't help it. It would be so awful if I waited and ending up having a potty accident in the house.

After that she stayed out of bed so I got to be with her all day. I could tell she needed some space, so I lay under the couch instead of on it, but I came out to bring her toys and check on her a lot. It's part of my job to take care of her and make sure she's okay. But today she didn't drop things and Daddy wasn't home, so I couldn't go get him and tell him to help her feel better.

Mostly it was a boring day because she didn't teach me anything. Daddy usually plays with me more than Mommy but he was at that "work" thing. I dunno quite what his work is. But I think they like him there because he always smells like shrimp when he comes home. Yummy. I like to kiss him and lick him when he gets home, but he doesn't always like that too much. Shrimp are my favorite!

In the afternoon Mommy let me out in my fence for a while so I got to have a little fun. I don't know why they don't just let me go loose all the time. I don't really go anywhere except maybe over to the neighbors to say hi to whatever it is that barks all the time. Apparently I'm not supposed to do that. But I haven't in ages! I'm a good girl now who sticks with mommy and daddy and comes when they call me!

Once Daddy got home, things got a little more fun. He played some with me before they ate and talked to me more. Mommy fell asleep on the sofa, but she needed it.

After they ate, I started playing with my kong to tell Mommy I was hungry but wanted fun food, not plain old boring kibble in a bowl. She took the hint and filled my kong with food. I don't know why they get so upset that I won't eat kibble from a bowl. It's boring. They should try having to eat a bowl of the same stuff day after day without getting to do anything fun for it. They at least get to "shop" and cook their food!

Then we really had fun! Mommy and Daddy took me outside to the place the ponies used to be and we trained and played. Mommy promises she took pictures of me and will show them off tomorrow.

Now it is time for bed. I'm beat from running all over chasing the ball. Mommy and Daddy want to sleep first. Daddy has to get up early in the morning to take me out for a potty and go back to work. I wish he could stay home more. It's so much fun when he's home. He takes me out all the time and lets me do all sorts of fun things.

The Meaning of "Work" and "Working"

If Molly were just about anything but a border collie, I wouldn't have to talk about this. She's a BC through and through, so it's an important issue to put on the table.

"Work" has a very special meaning in the BC world. It means herding. Nothing else is really work when you're talking BCs. It is what they were bred for. Yes, a BC can be very happy in a range of other jobs or even several jobs. But they're only really working when they're herding. It isn't meant to be a snobby thing, but it is an important nuance of language when talking to serious BC people. A quality BC is working bred, which means its parents are good herders. A border collie that doesn't have this herding background, well, it's just a dog. In the old days when BCs worked for a living, this was also a test of health. If they could stand up to the trials of working day in and day out, they had to be healthy.

Today a lot of "border collies" are bred without having their working ability tested in any way. As the offspring get further and further from these lines, they often lose the instincts and features that make the breed what it is. The BC as a breed isn't defined by its appearance or size, but by its nature and its working features. Without these aspects, you have a dog that is not a border collie, no matter what its papers may say. Unfortunately many of these dogs are registered, but in organizations like the AKC that do not prioritize the dog's working ability. Instead dogs are bred for appearance or in sports or obedience lines. Like the dog I met Saturday, it is not unusual for these dogs to lose all understanding of livestock and herding and even the basic signs like the border collie crouch and the border collie eye.

The issue isn't how the dog is used--a working bred BC is often just as suited for and very happy with a life as a sports dog, obedience dog, dog dancer, service dog, or active family pet--but how it is bred. Unless you have a BC with proven working ability, please do not breed it. Check out a site like the BC Rescue Resources Forum for information about finding a BC in rescue. If you can't find an appropriate dog that way (most people can, but there are exceptions, like when you live in countries that don't have much in the way of rescues), try to select a breeder and dog carefully, especially if you are looking for a service dog candidate.

When DH and I went looking for a BC, we already knew we wanted a dog whose parents could herd but didn't care about papers. We didn't do a 100% perfect job shopping, because we didn't make sure we saw the parents working, but we lucked out. Although her parents are probably chore dogs and have never been tested with real work, Molly has shown potential the time she has been on sheep. She has those traits of a BC. She isn't registered but her parents are. Another mistake I made was not studying the copies of her parents' papers well enough before getting Molly. It turns out that her mother had failing hips, so was not qualified for breeding within the Danish Kennel Club. Fortunately a recent x-rays shows that Molly's hips are looking good. Another lucky point is that research of Molly's ancestors shows a strong working background, including a Danish National Herding Champion as her paternal grandmother. We could just as easily have ended up with a dog with bad hips and no herding background because we didn't do our homework well enough.

Obviously Molly isn't working in the BC sense every time I use the word "work" in this blog. I just wanted to explain the nuance of the language in BC and herding circles.

I use "work" in the SD sense. A service dog is working when it is helping its person by doing the tasks it is specially trained to do. It can work with or without its vest, but a lot of the time "work" means putting on the vest to go somewhere. For example, I want to teach Molly to switch into work mode when her vest comes on. In the vest, her default behavior should be restrained and controlled. She shouldn't be soliciting attention, licking herself, or jumping on sofas.

Without her vest, I'd still like her to help me, but mostly she's allowed to be a dog. If she needs to scratch, she should go ahead and scratch. It's also fine for her to talk to people and find toys and ask us to play with her.

I hope that makes sense to everyone. Molly is a dog with a job and will soon be a working dog in the SD sense. But she will never be a full-time working dog in the BC sense. We'd like to get her trained enough to be able to work as a hobby on both sheep and cattle. Right now we don't have the finances to devote to her training. Herding will have to remain a future dream for the three of us at least a little while longer.

Regular Retrieve Practice

Molly has a good solid retrieve, but we want to keep it that way. So I keep a collection of items for retrieve practice and make sure she gets lots of treats and praise for the good work.

To make it more like her actual job, I don't use the clicker. I just ask her to pick up items one at a time (usually I only have one item on the floor at a time). When she delivers them to me, she gets praise and a treat. She regularly gets breaks with petting and attention. I try to make it as real as possible, because when I'm somewhere and I've dropped something important, I usually don't have the clicker on me and often don't have a treat. So it is important that she is excited about her job (but not so much that she gets noisy) and is happy working for praise and attention.

As you can see from the picture, our practice bin includes some pretty small items, like a match box and a small piece of paper. We've had them in the bin for ages and she is able to retrieve them without getting them wet or making holes in them.


Another good item is the yellow duck squeak toy. Someone on one of the mailing lists recommended I train with a squeak toy when I was having trouble teaching Molly not to chew items and it works GREAT! From that training and regular practice, she remembers to handle items gently and take them up carefully. If the toy squeaks, I treat it like a hurt animal and comfort it and put it aside for awhile. That little trick worked wonders int he progress of her retrieve training.

The bit of fabric is an old sleeve from a t-shirt. As well as being great as an item in itself, it is also useful when working on training Molly for quiet clothing removal. I can throw it and focus on quiet retrieves then hang it off my feet or hands. Then it can slide around my arms and legs. To make it difficult to remove, I wrap it a few times around a foot or hand. Molly loves the challenge and has learned that way to be more quiet with clothing. She still isn't 100%, but that's what practice is for. I can also alternate the sleeve with a real sock or pants or whatever to remind her that she is capable of being quiet.

For give, we regularly practice varying the person to whom she should deliver the item. This way she is used to giving things to DH and taking things from DH and giving them to me. She can take items both from the floor and from our hands.

We did a fun practice session the other day when DH sat in the kitchen and I sat in the living room. I gave Molly an item and told her to give it to DH. She took it out and gave it to him, got a reward (her second item was a pill bottle filled with treats), and came back with something else. We swapped all sorts of things, including a fly swatter, wire cutters, sun glasses, and a hard plastic egg the size of a dove egg. Unfortunately she loved that game so much that she chewed a little on the old credit card for the first time ever. We'd also been training with it for months. But the sunglasses went back and forth without damage.

Molly is also our little messenger. Because she is so careful with paper, we can safely write notes and hand them to her. She carries them in her mouth to the other and will find us in different rooms over the entire house.

When out, we also try to teach Molly other people, so she is learning to deliver to someone I point to and to my in-laws by name. I'm also slowly adding item recognition for a number of items. She is already about 75% accurate on pants, socks, and shoes. Not a particular item, such as matching shoes, but in selecting items that belong in the requested category. I often have pants and socks in one place and she is definitely able to distinguish those most of the time.

I really want her to learn to ID my crutches, but it is a matter of training time that I have not yet invested. I'd like her to be able to fetch a crutch at a distance or in another room and give it to me. It would be great if she could search them out on her own. If I'm having a mobile spell, I tend to forget where they are or DH moves them somewhere out of the way. Then I suddenly need them and have trouble getting around well enough to find them.

Practing Shoe Removal

One of Molly's everyday jobs is helping me take off my shoes. She's done it for a while, but I change what shoes I wear a lot and some, like my cowboy boots, are really hard to take off. With all these variations and challenges and because she took on the job quickly out of need instead of having been trained slowly for it, Molly talks a lot when she does the job. This talking makes it unacceptable for me to use this task in public and it is just generally bad manners and annoying. When I really need something I can't always be picky, but it's time I started cleaning this up--she should have enough practice under her belt to be able to do the job quietly now.

So today I'm putting levels training aside and instead I'm focusing on trying to teach her that it's a better idea to be quiet when helping me with my shoes. I've done this before with socks pretty successfully. I knew I'd need to train this soon, so when I bought a new pair of hiking boots about a month ago, I saved the worn out pair for just this purpose. I stripped the laces out so they'd be easier work. When we get beyond that point, I can switch to the new ones. This way she can take them off hundreds and thousands of times in practice and I don't care what happens to them. I can throw them for thousands of retrieves, too. They're also cleaned off so I'm not bringing any dirt or into the living room when I come in to a comfortable spot to train.

One thing I've learned working with Molly is that she needs a reward or she gets noisier or starts throwing oddball behaviors at me. So instead of cutting down on the rewards, I need to give more or higher value rewards for the preferred behavior but still give something for the basic behavior.

Another thing I've learned is to put the clicker under my big toe. That way I can use one hand for treating and the other for managing items. It makes life a lot easier. I don't know how easily it works for other people, but I can move my big toe quite independently, so I just rest my foot on the floor and only hold up my big toe. Then I push it down when I want a click. I have no problems doing multiple quick clicks or whatever I need.

For my first short training session, at around 7 am, I worked with kibble. I wanted to make sure she got a good base of her quality food before I started mixing in other stuff. We worked through probably about half of a daily ration. DH had given her some before he left for work, too, so she'd eaten already.

My initial goal was to make sure she knew to go for the heel area of the boot. So I spent a few moments shaping that. Clicking for attention to the boot, then attention to the sole, then the heel area. She pretty much knew that anyway, but it is good to refresh. I'd never really shaped the job initially. She only had on the job training a day I came in from outside and couldn't do it so kept pointing and saying "PULL" and praising her and encouraging. Then I switched it onto the "boot" command (for both shoes and boots becuase I htink the word is most unique in sound).

Once that was worked out, I started working on the noise issue. I hung the boot heel up (I often don't have a chair when she needs to take my shoes off, so stand up with my foot lifted behind me) off my hand. She was barking and grumbling as soon as she started to take it, so I had to back up. Could she approach the boot without making noise?

I clicked and treated that for a while. I tried to catch her before she made noise, even if it meant she was just looking at the boot. Mostly I could get her to before she opened her mouth without making noise. Unfortunately I wasn't really making progress and it was time for a break. Plus she'd gotten a good bit of kibble and I didn't want her so full she wouldn't eat more for hours.

We took a second session around 9:30. This time I skipped kibble completely and broke out a can of shrimp. She loves shrimp. For a lower value treat, I used the cut up Frolic, a lower quality softer dog food that she likes. In addition to the boot, I got out a pill bottle that she can retrieve quietly. I was ready with another tactic.

I wanted to get Molly handling the boot quietly even if she wasn't taking it off me. This is what I'd done with socks before. If I first started her doing the basic retrieve behavior that she is good at with another object and giving her high value treats for silent retrieves, I can swap in the boot. If she is really noisy, she gets a low value treat. If she is only a little noisy, she gets a couple low value treats. No noise is a high value treat. If she is low value a few time, I swap back to the easier item. Slowly I should be able to build up the difficult until she is removing the boot from my foot. How long it will take is up to Molly, but it's a good positive way to do it and it doesn't make it impossible for me to keep letting her do the job in the mean time when I need it--I just have to reward with the appropriate value of treats depending on her noise level.

So I started with the boot first. She made noise. I gave her a low value treat. I threw the bottle. She was quiet. Shrimp. Bottle. Shrimp. Bottle. Shrimp. Bottle. Shrimp. Boot. Frolic. Boot. Frolic. Bottle. Shrimp. Boot. Shrimp. Boot. Frolic. Bottle. Shrimp. And so it continues. We worked for probably about 5 minutes. I'm not good at looking at the clock. Instead I watch Molly. I want to stop while she is still enjoying it but not so soon that she doesn't get the chance to learn the pattern. When she stayed stuck for a while, I threw in more items she was good with and also pants that she isn't, so she could see that it wasn't just boots=frolic and bottle=shrimp and the exceptions were me being crazy. That helped a lot. I also try to stop on something she does well if I can, preferably with a jackpot, even if it means I have to stop on the bottle.

We didn't get beyond retrieve successfully in this session though. I even tried having her pull the bottle off a finger then put the boot in the same position. She still didn't have quiet and the boot associated enough yet.

We took a third session around 12:30. Another 10 minutes approximately. Things really started clicking. It didn't take long to start getting noiseless retrieves, but it just wasn't working for that next step--pulling the boot off my finger. Then something clicked in my head--when she retrieved, she grabbed the flaps at the top of the boot. She has to grab the heel to pull off.

So I went back to shaping just the grab portion. I held the boot with the heel towards her. I took a big handful of Frolic and started shoving them in her mouth and clicking like mad as her mouth opened near the heel and she didn't make noise. It worked!

She started being able to touch the heel without talking. Then as soon as she made heel contact and started to pull, I used my thumb to gently shove the boot off my finger. YES! She "pulled" the boot off without making noise. Clickity-click-click-click. Lots of frolic and a shrimp. I didn't want to mix tasks yet, so I gathered up the boot from the floor and repeated a few times.

After several successful retreats, I had Molly also pick up and give me the boot. SUCCESS! I gave her a shrimp jackpot and a Molly pet and praise party. Then I took her outside to her fence in the yard that she loves for more petting and to let her have a good break.

When she came in again, the boot was lying on the floor where I'd dropped it to throw the party. She looked at the boot and up at me and back a few times. So I said "take." She quietly picked up the boot and brought it across the living room to where I lay on the sofa. Then she handed it to me without making a sound. Frolic jackpot.

So that's 3 sessions already today--a pretty intensive training. I'm not sure we'll do more. It depends how we feel. If we do anything, it will probably be refresher stuff instead of something as intense as what we've been doing with shoes.

Stripping the Bed

Another of Molly's real jobs is helping me strip the bed when I feel like it's time to change the sheets and comforter covers. Those of you in the US might need a quick briefing in how DK beds are set up. We don't have the top sheets and piles of blankets that Americans usually use. We have a bottom sheet to cover the mattress, but because DH and I have adjustable beds we have two single mattresses that each get their own top sheet. The smooth cotton fitted sheets are uncommon here--usually the bottom sheets are stretchy with a towel-like surface if fitted or are smooth flat sheets. We have two of the towel-like stretchy ones and this year added a set of fitted flannel sheets. One of this years I'm going to measure to see if a set of US fitted sheets would fit the bed so I could get nice cool ones for summer... Anyway, back to the point. Beyond the bottom sheets, we have individual comforters with a cover made of sheet-like material (often a bit heavier) that is washed regularly. They usually button or tie at the bottom to keep them on the comforter. Our pillows are also square instead of the rectangular shape in the US and the cases either have an extra fold to keep them on or have ties. We have some of both. In addition to the regular pillows, we each have one of those pillows shaped to give better neck support. They are a bit harder to fit into the pillow cases.

So, Molly's job is to help me get all the cases, covers, and sheets off the bed and either out to the wash or in the machine. For the comforters and pillows, I sit on the edge of the bed and start them so that one end is free. Then I show Molly where to grab onto the cover or case and tell her to pull while I hold onto the comforter or pillow inside. As long as she doesn't let go and regrip, it generally goes smoothly. Sometimes we have a little trouble with comforters when she needs to change her hold and accidentally grabs comforter along with cover, but she is good at letting go on command then grabbing where I say so to try again.

After the covers are off the items, she takes them to the kitchen on command and drops them in a pile. I decided today that I want to teach her to drop them in the laundry basket, because we're having trouble coordinating what I intended as the next phase (picking them up from the floor and carrying them to me out at the washer while I stay there). It is a bit silly for her to run back and forth that much when I should be able to teach her to put them in the basket (or at least give them to me and I can drop them in the basket) then drag the basket to the washer. She loves pulling the basket and that is a more sensible task than carrying all the awkward comforter covers such a distance.

Unfortunately I have not yet found a way to have Molly help me with the bottom sheets. To make the situation worse, it is the most painful part of the process for me. I can only cope with doing it on a really good day. Otherwise DH has to do it. Even on a good day, I have to take a lot of breaks. It might be easier if we didn't have the two mattresses pressed together. We also have two metal brackets on the outside of each mattress to keep them on the bed. But if anyone has any ideas, please leave me comments with them.

So all that went really well. I didn't use treats as rewards for it but played with her instead. She did an excellent job putting the items into a pile in the kitchen and leaving them there on command, so I'm really proud of her for that. After the stuff was washed, she also did a round of laundry duty to help me get it hung out.

I haven't started training her to help me make the bed yet. DH is kind enough to help with that part so I don't have to push myself too hard.

Her evening reward for a day's hard work in hot weather (we also did some great training today with loose leash walking and stays with distractions) was a trip to the beach. But I'm too tired to blog that now. It will have to wait until tomorrow. There should be pics on the camera.

Some Real Work--Laundry Duty

Even an SDIT can't spend her life training. Sometimes she actually has to do some of the jobs she's trained to do. Today is laundry day so that's hard work for both me and Molly. First, she helps gather up my dirty laundry from the floor in the bedroom. There isn't room for a basket in there on the floor and I'm not up to taking it out to the laundry room when I get undressed every night. DH manages to deliver his to the laundry basket, but mine is usually in a pile on the floor (although if he has some on the way to the basket, Molly helps by passing mine on to him). But with Molly's help, I regularly move my pile to the basket when I'm ready to do wash or it just starts getting annoying. Gathering that up is a basic series of take and retrieve commands so I can put it into a basket.

Then Molly pulls the basket into the laundry room for me. I sit down on the floor to sort the laundry and put the right stuff into the machine. I haven't taught her how to sort laundry yet. She could pick up everything and give it to me one piece at a time, but I think it gets a bit ridiculous for her, so usually I just get down on the floor or onto a chair and sort it into piles. We have a sturdy counter there that I can use to pull myself up.

When a load of laundry is finished, it is time for Molly to get to work again. I open the door to the front load washer (we don't have a dryer at all) and say "laundry" to Molly. She pulls things out of the machine and gives them to me. Today's wash was some towels and underwear, so it was a pretty big work load. The towels get tangled up and she has to pull hard to get them out and the underwear she takes one piece at a time and it takes a while. But she keeps at it, sticking her head in the machine to get at them or picking dropped items up off the floor. She gets a tiny treat tidbit every few items and especially after the bulky ones. When she gets to the end, she sticks her head in to make sure she didn't miss anything else in the machine.

In the beginning of learning to do laundry, Molly wouldn't put her head in the machine. I had to start things by getting them to the edge of the washer. But with practice she started sticking her head in more and more. Today is actually the first time she put her head in and looked around for more items when it was empty. I gave her a couple treats and extra praise for that one.

My laundry basket is Molly-ready with an old t-shirt braided onto one side as a tug for her. I put it onto the floor, indicate the tug with my foot, and say "PULL". Molly grabs on with her teeth and starts pulling. In places where it doesn't slide easily, I help with a foot or a crutch, but she's an experienced puller now and knows how to deal with the basket. On easy surfaces, she gets excited and adds extra circles and curves for the fun of it.

We're still working on adding exact directional cues to her pulls, but she definitely loves the job. Today the weather was right for hanging outside, so she happily dragged the basket out there for me. But she didn't want to stop, so tried to drag it off the patio and out into the yard.


With a little more encouragement, she got the basket over right next to the rack so I could hang it up. I need to focus more on guiding her than taking her picture. But her job wasn't finished yet. I needed her to help me get the items out of the basket. All that bending over to take out each one just wouldn't be good for me.

So once again we had lots of takes and gives to get each item out. She worked hard and did well, although some items were pretty awkward and unwieldy for her. Like her bath towels.

But she kept at it and gave me everything so I could get it all hung up to dry outside. She's a hard-working BC SDIT and I love her for it.

After all that work, the girl deserved a break. I'd prepared a kong for her earlier with kibble soaked in meat juices and warm water and chew stick stick. I'd put it in the freezer to chill and get a little more difficult. She got that out in her fence and I lay down on a blanket to keep her company.

All Work and No Play Makes Molly a Dull Girl

Service dogs shouldn't work 24 hours a day. Like their human counterparts, they need the chance to have fun and relax. They also need to get enough sleep. Now Molly, for example, likes helping me, but that still doesn't mean she should be in her vest and expected to behave perfectly all day long. She'd burn out quickly if I demanded that of her, especially when she is so young still--she isn't ready for it yet. A long day once in a while is one thing, but long days day after day can stress a service dog.

We also need to accept that our dogs are like people in that they can have bad days and make mistakes. We train them carefully to try to prevent things from going wrong, but they can get sick of just make a mistake. Or we might make a mistake and confuse them, causing them to do something we didn't expect.

For the most part, Molly is "on call" when we're at home. She can lie on the couch with me, play with her toys, nap on her bed, or whatever else she wants. If I need her, I will call her and I expect her to come pretty quickly to help me. If we get visitors, she can talk to them and she can try to get either me or my husband to play with her. We tell her if we aren't in the mood. Basically she just gets to be a dog with that little extra of coming to help me when I need her and call her. But she spends much of her time near me and doesn't seem to mind helping me. She'll come running with a toy in her mouth then drop it to pick up my crutch for me. Once I'm all set, she picks her toy up and goes right back to her game.

Molly also has to work short periods at home for training sessions. When I tell her it is time to train, I require her to focus on what we're doing for a few minutes (10 max). Afterwards, she can have a break and go have some fun.

We also have more formal play sessions at home either inside or out. For these, I settle in with her and a toy for a little while to play with her on her terms. We often play with a ball or her kong. She loves to play fetch and variations of fetch that include down-stays and walking slowly to get the item. Molly also likes to chew on sticks, play with weeds from the garden, and go to the beach. She puts a lot of time and effort into making sure that I am happy and safe all day every day. It is my job to make sure that she is happy with her life too.

We rotate Molly's toys to help keep them interesting. We often save her ball for interactive play sessions and let her keep the other toys for playing by herself or playing on her own and bringing to us to ask for short play sessions. After she's had a toy for a while, we'll put it up and get another down. The break makes the toy new and exciting again and limits how many toys we have scattered around the house.

A kong is a great toy for helping a dog entertain itself. If I've been feeling really rotten for a while, I'll often put goodies in her kong so she can have fun getting them out. For example, I fill it half way with kibble, add a teaspoon of peanut butter, and fill it the rest of the way up with kibble. Another fun thing to do is to put a chew stick in the hole. That takes forever for her to get out.

Molly also likes to be outside to run around. To make sure she gets the chance, we put up a fence in the yard for her. I can roll out to it in a wheelchair and let her in to run around. She generally won't stay long without company, but it gives her the chance to run free without any worries of her getting into trouble.

For car rides, Molly is always off duty in the car. It is a good chance for her to rest up before and after working in public so she is fresh and ready when I need her. She has a basket in the back of the car that she loves to curl up in to sleep. If she wants to look out the windows she is welcome to, but usually she naps.

My husband helps make sure that Molly gets the exercise and playtimes that she needs for a dog her age. She needs more mental exercise than physical, but she is young and does need to get out and have fun and experience fun things like playing on the beach. I find it a great help to have a healthy person in the family to make sure that Molly's life is well-balanced and that no side of her development is neglected.

Once she is older and more stable, I still intend to give her a healthy balance of play and work. By then she will be more accustomed to her job and needing fewer breaks for that reason, but she will still get them when she can to make sure she stays happy and healthy and keeps loving her job.

I love the way she comes running eagerly when I call her for help with a toy in her mouth. She'd rather help me than play and doesn't go back to her game until she is sure I don't need more help. That's a dog that loves her job and that's how I want it to be until the day she retires.