On Saturday (April 5), we had a day trip to Paris for Sadie. She had her first vet appointment and got all her puppy shots. Then we went to Mackenzie's gymnastics class, followed by going to Mackenzie's house and introducing Sadie to the new environment and all of the family - ALL of them. :).
Sadie was a little groggy the whole day as a result of the puppy shots she received that morning. But, she did great in all the new environments. At gymnastics Sadie was still her usual self because the shots hadn't affected her yet. She laid down quietly the entire time, just watching the kids. She was bored, but was very well behaved and didn't cause any problems. I opened a scent sample twice during our time there. She alerted to the first one after about 2-3 minutes. I just opened the container instead of rubbing it on my hand. When the scent sample is just opened, it is more difficult for her to smell it. I was happy that she alerted in the distracting environment and with the difficult scent sample. The second time, I purposely opened the sample while she was asleep. I opened the sample and put it in front of her nose, hoping she would recognize it. After about 10 seconds she slowly opened her eyes and pawed the air. Then she woke up more, sat up, and pawed the container. Her first beginning to a "night alert"....sort of. But, it's a start!
We've continued to work on public access. We don't go to too many places because she is still so young and not reliable yet. The biggest thing we need to work on is ignoring people. I need to teach her to focus on me the whole time regardless of all the other people around. We went to a restaurant for the first time about a week ago. While waiting, I put her in an "under" underneath the bench everyone sits on. Then we walked to the table (it was a booth) and I put her under the table. The legs of the table were covering the majority of the space below, but she found an area to lay down. She was silent the entire time, and just slept on the floor.
I've noticed Sadie is getting a little more hyper and as she is getting older she is getting more energy. One option is to let her play with the other dogs and wear herself out. But, this isn't a very constructive outlet, so while I let her do that sometimes it shouldn't be her main outlet. Unfortunately, this means this exercise is going to have to include me, meaning I'm going to have to exercise....great. Starting this morning, I am running with her in hopes of getting rid of the excess energy, we run/walk 2 miles. Because it was her first time, she was rather confused. She has done traditional "heeling" and we have gone different paces before, but it's only been for a minute or two and has never worn her out. So, we will see how this goes and hopefully she will learn to go with my pace, and it will be a constructive outlet for her energy.
This morning, after our run, Sadie had an awesome house training break through. I've been working on teaching her to spin when she needs to go outside. I want her to learn that if she needs to go to the bathroom, she needs to let me know by spinning. My theory is that this will help Mackenzie and her family when they begin taking her everywhere. They will have to take Sadie to go to the bathroom before she goes inside a building no matter what, but I'm hoping that if Sadie has a signal to tell them she has to go outside it will be a little less stressful for everyone. I've been making her spin before I let her go outside whenever I know she HAS to go to the bathroom. This way she will (theoretically) learn to only spin when she needs to go outside, not when she wants to. So, I've been working on this and this morning I was getting ready for school when she came and sat in front of me. I was wondering what she was doing, but decided to just wait and see if she was just bored or if she had a purpose. Then she wandered around, then came back and sat. She then slowly turned around in a circle, I immediately praised her and opened the door so she could go outside. She ran outside and peed immediately! This means two things: 1) she is learning that spin means that the door gets opened and 2) that she knows to go to the bathroom outside. Huge break through, and it gives me a lot more confidence about the 'spin' since I haven't heard of anyone else teaching it.
Below is Sadie's training video from when she turned 13 weeks old. Many of the things she is still learning and they aren't solid yet. Unfortunately the camera ran out of battery for the part where I put the scent on my hand and she alerted to it, so I will have to get that on the next video.
Sadie was a little groggy the whole day as a result of the puppy shots she received that morning. But, she did great in all the new environments. At gymnastics Sadie was still her usual self because the shots hadn't affected her yet. She laid down quietly the entire time, just watching the kids. She was bored, but was very well behaved and didn't cause any problems. I opened a scent sample twice during our time there. She alerted to the first one after about 2-3 minutes. I just opened the container instead of rubbing it on my hand. When the scent sample is just opened, it is more difficult for her to smell it. I was happy that she alerted in the distracting environment and with the difficult scent sample. The second time, I purposely opened the sample while she was asleep. I opened the sample and put it in front of her nose, hoping she would recognize it. After about 10 seconds she slowly opened her eyes and pawed the air. Then she woke up more, sat up, and pawed the container. Her first beginning to a "night alert"....sort of. But, it's a start!
We've continued to work on public access. We don't go to too many places because she is still so young and not reliable yet. The biggest thing we need to work on is ignoring people. I need to teach her to focus on me the whole time regardless of all the other people around. We went to a restaurant for the first time about a week ago. While waiting, I put her in an "under" underneath the bench everyone sits on. Then we walked to the table (it was a booth) and I put her under the table. The legs of the table were covering the majority of the space below, but she found an area to lay down. She was silent the entire time, and just slept on the floor.
I've noticed Sadie is getting a little more hyper and as she is getting older she is getting more energy. One option is to let her play with the other dogs and wear herself out. But, this isn't a very constructive outlet, so while I let her do that sometimes it shouldn't be her main outlet. Unfortunately, this means this exercise is going to have to include me, meaning I'm going to have to exercise....great. Starting this morning, I am running with her in hopes of getting rid of the excess energy, we run/walk 2 miles. Because it was her first time, she was rather confused. She has done traditional "heeling" and we have gone different paces before, but it's only been for a minute or two and has never worn her out. So, we will see how this goes and hopefully she will learn to go with my pace, and it will be a constructive outlet for her energy.
This morning, after our run, Sadie had an awesome house training break through. I've been working on teaching her to spin when she needs to go outside. I want her to learn that if she needs to go to the bathroom, she needs to let me know by spinning. My theory is that this will help Mackenzie and her family when they begin taking her everywhere. They will have to take Sadie to go to the bathroom before she goes inside a building no matter what, but I'm hoping that if Sadie has a signal to tell them she has to go outside it will be a little less stressful for everyone. I've been making her spin before I let her go outside whenever I know she HAS to go to the bathroom. This way she will (theoretically) learn to only spin when she needs to go outside, not when she wants to. So, I've been working on this and this morning I was getting ready for school when she came and sat in front of me. I was wondering what she was doing, but decided to just wait and see if she was just bored or if she had a purpose. Then she wandered around, then came back and sat. She then slowly turned around in a circle, I immediately praised her and opened the door so she could go outside. She ran outside and peed immediately! This means two things: 1) she is learning that spin means that the door gets opened and 2) that she knows to go to the bathroom outside. Huge break through, and it gives me a lot more confidence about the 'spin' since I haven't heard of anyone else teaching it.
Below is Sadie's training video from when she turned 13 weeks old. Many of the things she is still learning and they aren't solid yet. Unfortunately the camera ran out of battery for the part where I put the scent on my hand and she alerted to it, so I will have to get that on the next video.