Already Liberty is over 7 months old! She is still doing wonderfully with me at Penn - she doesn't have a single absence :) Everyone is used to her in class now, which makes me a little more relaxed. For the most part people have been very respectful of her. We occasionally have the 'driveby pettings' but because she's so short it's a little difficult for them to be discrete! I've been surprised how respectful other students are - they almost always ask to pet her first and usually are understanding when I have to ask them not to. The worst people are the staff - those that work security or cafeterias. Typically they are the ones that make the kissy noises and try to call her over and distract her. But she usually handles it very professionally and ignores them.
Now more about Liberty! We continue to practice her commands frequently. So far she has a pretty solid understanding of the following:
| Sit Down Stand Sit Stay Down Stay Come - come to my front and sit Close - sit at my left side facing forward Side - sit at my right side facing forward Between - sit between my legs Heel - walk at my left side, next to my heel Front - lay down in front, between my feet and the wall/counter Place - lay down on her blanket and stay until released Watch me - make eye contact Leave it - ignore the item she's focused on Touch - press her nose to my palm Spin - spin in a circle to the right Turn - spin in a circle to the left Under - lay down under my chair until released Paws Up - put front paws on object Get Dressed - help me put on her working gear Get Up - put all four paws on an object Let's Go - walk with me in the same position as she starts Wait - stop walking (eg when we have to cross a street) 'Put Your Hands Up' - put her front paws up on a wall Break - her release word Off - jump off an item and onto the ground Powder Your Nose - relieve herself |   |
In a 'front' while I checkout groceries We are currently working on the commands: Chill (put your head on the ground), Stand Stay, Behind (lay down between my heels and the counter/wall), Sit Pretty (sit up in begging position on haunches), as well as increasing the distance and duration of all her stays and place.
Some commands are purely for fun - such as spin/turn and put your hands up. But the majority of the commands are because they are necessary for her to know in order for us to negotiate a public environment that is not situated for dogs. For example the command "front" is incredibly useful when I'm checking out at the grocery store. I put her in a "front" between me and the machine, as I move back and forth I can see her and know no one is touching her, and that she is behaving appropriately.
Oh adolescence - how I have not missed you! At 7 months old, miss Liberty has started going through adolescence, which means we have both good days and bad days. Some days she's a perfect little gem and other days she decides that she doesn't want to heel riiiight next to me, she prefers to be a foot or two ahead. Or she decides that my "place" command was only a suggestion and that I wouldn't mind if she snuck over to grab that tasty goldfish on the floor a few feet away. But even on her bad days she's very well mannered and no one but a dog snob (I fully admit I'm one of those!) would notice her behavior.
Some commands are purely for fun - such as spin/turn and put your hands up. But the majority of the commands are because they are necessary for her to know in order for us to negotiate a public environment that is not situated for dogs. For example the command "front" is incredibly useful when I'm checking out at the grocery store. I put her in a "front" between me and the machine, as I move back and forth I can see her and know no one is touching her, and that she is behaving appropriately.
Oh adolescence - how I have not missed you! At 7 months old, miss Liberty has started going through adolescence, which means we have both good days and bad days. Some days she's a perfect little gem and other days she decides that she doesn't want to heel riiiight next to me, she prefers to be a foot or two ahead. Or she decides that my "place" command was only a suggestion and that I wouldn't mind if she snuck over to grab that tasty goldfish on the floor a few feet away. But even on her bad days she's very well mannered and no one but a dog snob (I fully admit I'm one of those!) would notice her behavior.
Liberty's alert Liberty's alerting has been very good this past month! Both today and yesterday she alerted me to 3 different live lows! Once she's confident about the scent, she gives me a nice paw on my leg accompanied by a big ol' stretch. We are still working on increasing the speed that she becomes confident. A few times the past few days she has sat up from her Place blanket, given me the 'stare down', whined a little, then gave up and curled back down. I then checked to see if IT was low and I was. So we then worked through the alert chain to help her learn that yes, she should definitely give the paw behavior to that scent because it gives lots of cookies and snuggles! Speaking of which, one wonderful thing about Liberty is that she absolutely loves her person. As a result, she is rewarded by snuggling and being able to sit in my lap. She always still receives high value treats as a reward for alerting, but before we run to get the treats we will have a pre-party (pregame???) with snuggles and excitement, then run to get the meat/cheese/liver. For regular obedience in public, sometimes I do just reward her with a scratch behind the ears and a "good girl".
She has also begun to alert to blood sugars that are high for me - in the 140s. I very rarely go into the 140s but about 4 times now she has alerted me to 141 or 142, or somewhere in that range. I haven't ever given her a high scent sample - she just alerts on her own. I just think that that is absolutely incredible! That after a few months of training the dogs learn what your natural bg numbers are and then let you know when you are out of your typical range! How does she decide to start alerting to highs int he first place?? How does she decide what numbers to alert at?? Currently I give her a medium value reward for alerting to a high of 140 or above - because it is, in fact, high for me, but won't be for the person she's placed with later. I don't want to extinguish the behavior, but I also don't want to reinforce it too strongly, otherwise when she is placed she'll be alerting almost constantly. I hope to get very high scent samples from volunteers later this month so she can practice on real highs such as 200 - hopefully this will begin to teach her this new threshold.
I'm so proud of this pup and can't wait to see how she continues to improve!
She has also begun to alert to blood sugars that are high for me - in the 140s. I very rarely go into the 140s but about 4 times now she has alerted me to 141 or 142, or somewhere in that range. I haven't ever given her a high scent sample - she just alerts on her own. I just think that that is absolutely incredible! That after a few months of training the dogs learn what your natural bg numbers are and then let you know when you are out of your typical range! How does she decide to start alerting to highs int he first place?? How does she decide what numbers to alert at?? Currently I give her a medium value reward for alerting to a high of 140 or above - because it is, in fact, high for me, but won't be for the person she's placed with later. I don't want to extinguish the behavior, but I also don't want to reinforce it too strongly, otherwise when she is placed she'll be alerting almost constantly. I hope to get very high scent samples from volunteers later this month so she can practice on real highs such as 200 - hopefully this will begin to teach her this new threshold.
I'm so proud of this pup and can't wait to see how she continues to improve!
Live Alerting Videos:
| | |
