Training Progress

The repetition is helping the maneuvers I need to make with him "click".  I'm getting better at cutting hot dogs, and placing tracks.  I like to think I'm pretty fast, for grinding in footprints.

He's getting better at plots, sit, and I'm getting better at saying "yes!" on time after "watch".  I need to mix up the order better when play-training.

We started fus today!!!  WOOO. Step, sit, step, sit.  He knows sit.  Glenn says he's being lazy, not doing it faster-he KNOWS it.  Just give him a corrective tug on the leash when he's not minding properly or jumping.  I did a couple separate times, Glenn said good.  Jorah surely smartened up, but he seemed off when we got home. Solemn.  Staring. after I got things in order, I found him in one of his favorite laying spots, and told him he wasn't in trouble, a good boy, etc, giving cuddles.  He cheered up after that, and tried luring me into a game of chase.  I played a tiny bit, then went to handle my homework--er, find my laptop--shoot!

This happens when I correct him with NO's as well.  He gets all submissive and shrunk/alert, I go off from the area of SHAME and talk sweet to him.  Maybe I should just let the whole "she's in charge" settle in?  Maybe I'm doing things just right?  I dunno.  Glenn said that if you can train a bitch, you can train anything, because they get their feelings hurt and shut down.  I think: maybe Jorah is more like a Malanois bitch than the guys he keeps telling me about?  "Sensitive dogs" and all.  I don't know.  I'm not sure how to express the full idea without sounding... "it said this on the internet" kind of ignorant.  I'm sure that Glenn would be happy to let Jorah mull things out for himself in a separate space.  Guys are harder creatures.  Jaren doesn't forgive serious infractions for a while.  I want to smooth things over quickly.

But yeah, tracking is rough on me, but pretty awesome once Jorah is in a flow on the trail.  I'm learning better how to walk with him... sort of figuring it out as I go.  Glenn will see what we are doing next Wednesday.

So far:
Plots    (be sure to let him finish eating before calling over for next thing.)
Sit       (x2 start adding stay)
Watch (start adding time)
Aus     (with play tug)

Suk   (my notes: consistent resistance, let him know pulling is good here.  Don't only give strong resistance when he missed a step/can't go forward.  "rudder" with the leash softly along with his progress so it's a pattern.  Try talking to him about "left" "right" "there" not at all.  Not sure about "missed one."  (already told to not point!)  Stopping at a corner he over-shoots is GOOD.)

Fus  (leaning against wall not awful, just step away so he can't quite.  Get in position, cover treat in left palm "FUS" step "YES!" nom nom "SIT."  repeat.  when heeling he needs to sit if I stop.  work along walls/fences... go further and stuff.)  Oh, was this also what the toy was being used with?  Or was that a separate command?  "watch"?

Tug  (Try getting him using his BACK teeth.  Lead him on just like a cat with string.)

general notes:
be a cheerleader: exciting voice, moving around also good for interest.
Okay to do some one day, some different another: keep it mixed up.
Keep hand out of leash loop!!!
Play with the rope more than chase.  Lots more.  pretty much stop chasing.

ENUNCIATE and don't be high-pitched when giving commands, especially plots.

'LET' HIM REST before working!  No playing or swimming or running around before "work".  (Tracking, obedience, etc)

Don't feel like I can't do anything because of leaving the dog.  Space is good.  "healthy separation" to borrow a theme from me and Poppa.  Better for training.  Glen's reaction to why I feel guilty leaving him "he throws a fit whenever I leave." "So?"

Make a money jar for dates!!!  Write IOU's and put them in.  (Duh.  of course!)  I can start with $5 for sure.

Do I really know what he likes?  He shows that fuzzy ball off all over at home here.  When I told Glen that he likes it, Jorah took a minute to give a care.  "she THINKS that you like it." Glen said to him.  I think he was nervous?  blegh, How do I get him to revv up short of waving a chihuahua in his face?

I'm glad to get that out there.  That was a lot to hold in my head.

Tracking and Obedience and Money Jars, oh my!

Agility is on hold until my pup grows into his bones more.  

I met Glenn, who is awesome yet intimidating.  I was under the impression that "train you to train your dog" involved only the dissemination of knowledge.  WRONG.  Not only am I told "don't think" (I start asking too many questions for simple instructions/jump out of the topic.)  But Jory is not the only one getting consequences for negligence/disobedience.  Money Jar.  I need one at home, and Glenn has one.  Home mistakes go to a date night.  Training session mistakes go to GLENN'S date night.  Forgetting to say "yes" is a quarter.  :(  I lost track of how many quarters I owe!  I don't really carry cash, either, so maybe I will get a counter app.  Will that lose its punch?  Probably.  debit account value loss, really hurts my soul.  Just taking out the quarters and dollars is gonna be... ouch.  But after that, I'm not sure!  Maybe I could set up a paypal account, and... yeah...

Anyway, I have been having a great time with Jory.  It's really great to be given permission to have expectations of his behavior.  I was so worried about being harsh that I wasn't assertive or constructive, either.  That said, I am going to be very careful with his feels, and not let my head simplify training into 'me vs him', which would be awful.  I think that's the impression that I had earlier.  Anyway, I know that his breed might not be perfect for obedience, and I'm okay with that.  And then I remember the money jar...  :(  Must train him to listen!!!  I think that "sit", "watch", and "plotts" are perfectly acceptable to expect.  If we hit a wall or something, I will ask Glenn about it.  He seems very very wise about dogs.  

I'm kind of nervous around him, probably part of the questions issue.  I realized that this is a great opportunity to work on whatever kinked my nose around my supervisor this summer.  I need to be relaxed and confident around figures of authority!

Jory also needs to be relaxed when being walked away from me.  He said to have other people watch him for a night, or take him on walks.  This has of made me wonder if maybe one can be co-dependent with a dog....

We visited Poppa's family last night, and his dad took Jory on a walk around the block.  Said he was great.  Walked wonderful as long as he kept a decent pace and didn't let him stop to sniff.  Neighbors really liked him.  Yay.  :)

Oh, we can't have him offering his paw for shake anymore.  I didn't tell glenn that we were training him to wave his paw when he wanted something/to choose what he wanted.  I think that maybe we can have him bump his nose just fine.  It's the attention getting that I'm not sure about.

I'm supposed to call Glenn, because he doesn't text.  :(  Man, I can be such a wuss about calling people.

PPS Jory is now being fed at 6pm only, to get him more food motivated (hungry).  I feel bad, but realized that I can "sneak him food" by training him!  ha.  So I went out, beat up some grass, then started chopping a hot dog.  This turned into commands punctuated by more chopping or running around.  I played a little fetch, giving him a treat when he dropped the ball.  The 20 minute timer went off, letting us go out and find the treats in the stinky grass, and that was a natural end to the play-training.  This could work.

Gah!!

Learned more about myself and "poison in the well" when dogs were getting too aroused at the dog park today.  I didn't even want to go, but Jory smelled it as we drove towards a friend's place, and since I didn't know where we could explore nearby I thought "oh, what the heck."  No one got hurt, but I'm glad I left when I did.  Some idiot kicked a stranger's dog off of his smaller one.  1) Lucky his leg is in one piece 2) also that it didn't just escalate the growing fight.
I feel pretty dumb for being cautiously optimistic after the first everyone-bark-at-one-dog event was broken up, but this fool just waddled out of his chair, kicked, and turned around like he was turning a light switch.
The high-energy wrestling and tension got to Jory as well.  We were there less than an hour, but he's been sleeping all night like I took him on a long hike.
On the bright side, I found out that a good playmate for Jory will be at the park around noon on Thursdays.  Not in the park: chasing tennis balls in the river.

I don't want to go back there, between bad pack energy, rude dogs biting at Jory's cheeks, and finding out about some horrible STD he can pick up that will shrivel his balls and cause any infected ladies to abort their litters/have them prematurely.  Tennis ball girl is cool, but not the rest.  Furthermore, I'm sick of saying "Picardi Shepherd."

no.

"PI-cardi."

(Your not-my-dog, that is.  ...I just wanted the orange caption.)

I guess I need to bite the gas bill +extra time bullet and drive into the canyon for some quality off-leash exercise.  I guess that compared to the DP it's not much more driving OR non-productive.  At least I will get exercise too.  It's the doggie-socializing that I'm really in a bind about.  My dog-owning contacts are all... very busy &/or flaky.  However, I'd rather he not play with dogs at all than to pick up bullying a**hole behavior.

I decided that Jory can grow into his joints and bones without undue strain for another 6 weeks AKA before starting any agility.  It's the hurdles!  Save myself $60 in the mean-time.  I'm excited to meet the tracking/shutzhund bro tomorrow, though.

Think I really lost my phone this time.  Must re-activated the smartphone.  :(  blegh, the moneys.

PS Jory's gate has really enhanced.  It was already good, but now he's like adorable-yet-majestic art.

PPS  The park made ALL OF HIS FUR so nasty!!!  3*(  whyyyy?!  it's crusty & a little gritty, and we just had him feeling like a glorious pillow!  I resist bathing him immediately for the sake of his skin.

Big week!

Dog party today!  ...I think it will be two dogs, because three coworkers backed out!  :(  better than nothing.  A few other friends will come, and we are gonna grill some tasty braats or.hot.dogs in the canyon.  I will edit with pictures!

Monday I am going alone to check out the local agility club's classes.  And probably sign up then and there.  I might muse and wait until the next week, but thats probably silly.  There is no direct competition!

TUESDAY I am getting really excited about!  We are both meeting the president of the Semi-local working dogs club so Jory can be evaluated for schutzhund and tracking.  $30, but it might end up being a better fit than agility, so I'm down with checking it out.

I need to do homework.  Here are some pictures of Jory being cute.

Other pictures

My "bunny" does like carrots.
Behind him is a "chairricade" that we use when out of the house, so he can have freedom on the main floor.
(Also my broken sewing machine that I delivered to be fixed after we bought Jory a coat.)
Wow, so much story in one picture.

Took Jory to campus to work on his manners around strange men.  He just cared about squirrels.  Success.

We also went to a pizza place's out door seating, and Lowe's!

Squirrel!  "Don't pull!"x infinity

This happened: Can't drink that water, puppy!

Campus fountain

Picked up a hose from a dumpster on a midnight walk, 
and that bone at Kmart.  (I was buying carpet shampoo for mud spots)

Oh bone, you understand me.  nom nom nom

Canyon hike

I keep trying to get to a specific grove, but am turning off on different trails/camping grounds out of curiosity.  BECAUSE I CAN!!!  Unlike the last several many years when I had no car.  So.  Enjoy.

PS, it was raining off and on all weekend.  I got tired of Jory's fur being wet all the time despite using towels and blankets to rub him off (I'm sure he was cold!) So we took a pre-trip trip to Petsmart for a coat.  (I thought of making my own, but decided that would be annoying and ultimately lead to him having no coat.)

oh god why!?

Of course I had to see him with a hood on.  This model was NOT a winner.

Right by the parking! 

 Oh yeah, we encountered some horse back riders loading up from their own hike.  They had black powder muskets, and had to unload them by shooting at some cans in a tree.  SCARY NOISE!!!  I entertained the idea that maybe they were putting their horses down, I didn't realize the guns were the type that need to be shot off initially.  "Just stay cool, Shannen.  If they dump of massive horse body on the trail head, who am I to snitch?"

I made the joke that I was more gunshy than my dog was, after yelping in their perimeter.  They were quite fond of Jory, (everyone that doesn't hate dogs is) but after scoping them out, he decided that they were to be warned off.  "He doesn't like the guns," the main guy commented.  "Maybe!"  Or you're four random bros in the middle of nowhere threatening him and his momma.  Who's to say?

And we're off!  (He was neutral about this coat=win) 

That guilt about "I really need to clip his nails" was not here!  Built in Paw Cleats for the mud.

My shoes that were just perfect for my campus scooter this morning...
horrible for the trail.  I didn't think I was going hiking.  I should just learn to assume.

Sacred off-leash time!

There were at least two types of birds in this bush.  One of them was about the
size of a pheasant, but looked like a dove, and was SO LOUD when it flew off!  Just its wings!

Chill puppy.
Per a weird wildlife law that says rangers can "dispose of dogs deeming to be
harassing wildlife", he was clean.  Good signs should we ever go to a National Park.

IS THIS THE END???!  No.  Drats!!!
One more bend, we'll check one more bend...

We made it!  To... something... kinda lame, actually.
I finally got the sense to go no further.  Rain was coming in again.

lick lick gulp

That fur though!

"Okay, Jory.  Let's go."  Oh, you found a stick.  Naturally.

I think I heard thunder.  Can you believe this guy?

Can you believe me for taking the time to snap a selfie?  I can.

As I thought to take a smiling photo (in case I looked too much like a hag in that one?) Jory came over to see what I was doing.  (Sticks are cool, photos are silly.  I see.)  And we're off again!

One human and a dog agree, this is nice, but the walking is getting old.

Seriously, the rain.  Here is a print from our way up, now filled with water.

So... so wet...  Still handsome.  Took a micro break.

PLEASE can we stop!!!  "Sorry!  Thunder is getting closer!"

Still a ways to go.  UGH.  Yet.. soo pretty!

wow, scooter rain cloud!

The parking!  Open ground!  I'm wet!  WEEEEE!

We were both VERY soaked.

He had taken a posture that was so regal.
I missed the perfect profile, but this gives you the idea.

"No no, Sir Dog is my father."

 
And then we went home.  Where I ultimately fell asleep under the table, where he has a blanket nest and I put a space heater.  (I was trying to jealous him back there from the living room floor, but crashed.  haha.)

The blanket nest in question.  This was him pre-hike.

Morals of the story: 

don't let curiosity drive you too far.  You're not the only one who doesn't like walking back down mountains.

Maybe avoid going into the middle of nowhere on rainy days, lest you are struck by lightning.

Wear better hiking shoes.  Leave the white shirt in the car.  No jeans.  AKA don't wear what you had on in class into the mountains.