Obedience Classes - Week Four

Well, we survived Week 4! That means we're halfway through the class. Seems to be going by really fast, and I know I'm not putting enough effort into Curly Joe's training. After today's class, I've gotten a bit of my confidence back. Sis came with, as we needed to do some shopping. The deal was, she would go to Costco to pick up our cat's meds and injections. She sat in the class for a little bit and then went out to run errands.

Today we learned Stay. Curly Joe caught in pretty quick (as he's wont to do when food is involved). Next, Quinn had us go out into the store to practice the "come" command. Curly Joe and I went first. I took off his leash and she clipped a really long lead to his collar. The lesson was to show Curly Joe a treat, then walk five or six isles down and turn around. When I was ready, I was to say, "Curly Joe, come." As soon as he started to move toward me, I was to mark the behavior with an enthusiastic "Yes!" and then grab his collar when he got to me, give him a treat and then wait for Quinn to come over so I could walk back and do it again. Mina (the shep) went next, then Ava (the boston terrier). I love Mina to pieces because she reminds me of Luke; just this giant ball of happy with ever so subtle undertones of batshitcrazy. She moves like she has no idea who's controlling her body.

But I digress. Quinn had us do this twice and then head back to the "rink."

I forgot -- earlier in the class, Quinn had had us walk our dogs down a couple of isles where she had planted "booby traps." Bags of treats or toys all along the isles, and we were to walk the dogs along and tell them to "leave it" when they went for something. Curly Joe did really well at this, too. He wasn't really interested in grabbing anything; he was just sniffing at them.

So after the "come" lesson, we went back to the "rink" and learned some more doggy stuff. I have to work with Curly on the "come" command, especially outdoors. When we're outside, he very rarely comes when I call him. Neither does Tank, but that's mostly because he's going deaf. But I'm trying to train Curly Joe to watch me when we're out there, and I think it's working. I loose-leash walked him around the yard before class (and also played fetch with him for about 20 minutes), and I could see out of the corner of my eye that Curly Joe was looking up at me from time to time. He knows to sit when I give the hand signal, too. I need to work with him more on the "down" signal, though. But anyway, I have to think up an "emergency" word for Curly Joe. It's the word I use when it's serious and I need him to come Right Now. There's more to it, but for the life of me, I can't remember. Even with the meds, I have trouble keeping things straight.

After class, Me, Curly and the boston terrier stayed behind to make up Week Two, which was "sit" and basic behavioral problems. Curly Joe knows sit, so we skipped that part, but every problem Quinn asked about, Curly Joe had. Embarrassing! Nipping? Check. Jumping? Check. Digging? Check. She gave me tips on how to deal with all of these things, and I brought up Curly Joe's penchant for cat-chasing, and also how I don't like how he plays with Tank (bites his "ankles"). The cat thing, I basically have to teach Curly Joe that, when a cat comes into the room (or runs by), he gets yummies if he doesn't try and chase them. With the nipping, I just stand up and ignore him for 3-5 minutes when he nibbles. It'll be a lot of work, trying to cure him of these habits, but I'll do it.

While Quinn was talking, I suddenly heard a bang behind me. I turned around and there was a giant Akita staring at me. After the lesson was completed, I walked Curly out into the store and we ran into the Akita and her "sister," a giant Newfoundland mix (who I wanted to hug and squeeze squish her ooshy face). Quinn was behind us, and she walked up to the Akita and gave her a big hug and said, "I love you I love you I love you!" Every Akita I ever saw when I worked as a tech was a big old 8-ball (bite/attack without provocation), so ... I guess there are nice Akitas out there in the world. I started to pull Curly Joe away, but Quinn asked me to leave him for a minute so she could see how the two big dogs did with him. They were mostly like, "Son, I shit bigger than you." Curly Joe, for his part, seemed really, really intimidated by them but completely unable to resist interacting with them. This mostly involved him walking under them to sniff around. When the Newfie turned to have her turn at sniffing, Curly Joe fell over onto his back and exposed his belly to her.

When they have off-leash play at the end of class, Curly Joe always rumbles with Ava. I'm positive this is because he either likes being the Big Dog, or he's afraid of big dogs. Poor Mina the Shepherd wants to play but Curly's too busy rolling Ava like a bowling ball. To Ava's credit, she never backs down from Curly Joe.

So all in all, the lesson went well. After class, Sis and I did some shopping. She insisted I get some smaller tennis balls for Curly Joe; she says the regular sized ones are too big for him, but I disagree. Plus, I'm worried hell shock one the smaller ones. We'll see.

I, again, forgot to talk to Quinn about eventually training Curly Joe to be therapy dog. D'oh.

To wrap things up, here are a few more recent pictures:

See you next week!

P.S. Playing fetch before class paid off: Curly Joe was more well behaved this time around, and towards the end he was just flopped out on his side. Exercise GOOD!

Obedience Classes - Week Three

That's right. We missed Week Two. It's okay, though. We're going to make it up next week after Week Four. Confused? Good.

Last Wednesday (which would have been Week Two), I was sick and we missed class. I left a message for Quinn and she got back to me today, saying we could make up the class at 4:00. Unfortunately, I didn't wake up until 3:30, so that was out. When we got to class, there was a third dog in our group: a little boston terrier named Ava. Mia the shepherd was there, and then there was Curly Joe. There was another girl there, who I think works for Petsmart but was just observing the class? She said Curly Joe had the cutest face she's ever seen on a dog. Quinn said Curly Joe looked like he'd gotten a little bigger. I'm not sure if she meant fat-big or just big-big, but I have been feeding Curly less these days. He's pushing 40 pounds now and getting a bit ... flub. It's all my fault, feeling sorry for him and his messed up liver. I'm like my mom: FIX EVERYTHING WITH FOOD! I'm really good about scraps, though. Curly Joe only gets his l/d. The only time he gets treats is when we're at class.

Anyway. Today we did some loose leash exercises. We took the dogs out into the store and walked with them. When Curly Joe pulled on the leash, I stopped. When he turned back, I would say "let's go" and start walking again. It's really hard for me to do these exercises because I get so nervous in public. My whole life I've tried to blend in with the background. I don't like to be noticed or called attention to. So these classes are as much a challenge for me as they are for Curly Joe. Scratch that. The classes aren't a challenge for him - they're fun. So I'm trying to learn from him and relax and focus on the task at hand, but it's hard. I have such a fear of failure that I often screw up before I even begin.

Curly Joe did okay on the loose leash exercise, though I admit I got flustered and probably didn't do it well enough. Last week's class touched on "sit" and basic behavioral problems. Curly Joe knows sit well enough, so it wasn't anything crucial to moving on to Week Three. Our next exercise today was the "down" position. We didn't say anything, just held the treat up until our dogs sat down and then moved the treat (palm down) slowly to the floor until the dogs lay down. It took Curly Joe a few tries to catch on because he's completely obsessed with Ava.

That's another thing: I will never take Curly to class again without exercising him first. He was so obnoxious, I was embarassed. So next week we're going for a long walk and having a rousing game of fetch before class. Worn Out Curly is much more attentive than Wide Awake Curly.

Next we worked on take it and leave it. Curly Joe caught on pretty quick, though I kind of flubbed the exercise. I blame the ADD. I think I'll be better able to focus on everything when I'm at home and not so self-conscious. I'll go over everything with my sister, too, so that we're all on the same boat in regards to how to deal with Curly and his "indisrections."

Eventually, we're going to get to a point where Curly Joe will heel and walk with his collar lined up with the seam of my pants. Somehow...I can't imagine that ever happening, but that's stinkin' thinkin'. I shouldn't be projecting my own insecurities onto my poor dog. Okay, so he's a bit of a shit, but he's still young enough where we can work on it and get him behaving properly. Dogs love to have something to do; Curly Joe is up for anything. Our goal is not only to have a well-behaved dog, but to have a well-behaved dog capable of passing the canine good citizen test (with the intention of then becoming a therapy dog).

Huh! I just looked for information on the CGC and it turns out Quinn, Curly Joe's (and my) trainer, is an evaluator! I'll have to mention the whole therapy dog thing next week.

After "take it/leave it," Quinn let the dogs play, on-leash at first. I was worried Curly Joe would smash Ava, but her "parents" assured me she could take it. Well, all right then. Quinn let us unleash them and they played well together. Curly Joe got a little too jumpy, but Quinn supervised everything and got into the mix when things got too rambunctious. I felt bad for Mia (the shep) because Curly was so focused on little Ava. I love dogs, but I've never quite gotten the little dog "thing." I like a dog you can wrestle with, not carry around in your purse. Which isn't to say I wouldn't love a dachshund or a pug! Working as a tech, I just saw far too many people with little dogs who treated them like babies, and it really annoyed the hell out of me, especially when the dogs turned into 8-balls because of it.

But I digress.

Week Four next week! Ava's parents and I decided to tack Week Two on right after next week's class. I'll get home around 6 p.m. with plenty of time to feed the animals and get ready for work.

I feel bad leaving the house without Tank, but I'm going to put peanut butter in his Goodie Ship and freeze it so he'll have a nice treat ALL TO HIMSELF while we're out learning how to Be Good. Plus, Auntie Grubby hangs out with him and keeps him happy.

So that concludes Week Three. We've got a lot to learn, but I've got my binder and Quinn's phone number if I have any questions. I'm just proud of myself for following through with this and proud of Curly Joe for being so eager to learn. Tank has been owner protective his entire life, and I was too stupid back then to realize the damage my social anxiety did to my dog. It's a new thing to me to have a dog I can take out in public without worrying about him barking at everyone who stares at him. I wish there was something I could do to help Tank get over that because being scared is a bad thing, and I hate seeing him upset. He's the only joy of my life and I feel like I let him down.

Obedience Classes - Week One

Week One of obedience class was so much fun. Call it fate, but it was only me and another girl in the class, and she has a big old german shepherd. A ten month old female named Nina, I think. She got her a week ago from someone on Craigslist who couldn't be bothered trying to train a gorgeous, fun-loving dog. DIE IN A FIRE, but I digress. Quinn is our trainer, and she asked if (since nobody else showed up) we minded a small class. Neither of us did. I think it would be good for Curly to have lots of stimulation and exposure to other dogs, but considering my ADD, I think it's probably a good thing that it's just the two (well, five) of us. (Six if you count Quinn's dog, who either slept in her bed or stared at Quinn the entire time.)

Quinn started out the class by having us introduce ourselves and talk about issues we want to address in the next eight weeks. I said that I wanted to curb Curly Joe's OMGCHASETHECATS issue, and basically just teach him manners and obedience.

Quinn said that she wasn't here to train our dogs, she was here to train us. Amen to that.

I should mention that, before we left for class, Sis and I had been out in the big yard with the dogs, and Curly Joe pretty much wore himself out tearing around in the leaves. When we got to Petsmart, Curly transformed from Demon to Waif, and when we got into the rink --- what I call the training area because it's basically a teeny tiny ice rink without the ice. Boards. Glass. The works. All that's missing is a zamboni --- and I sat down on a stool, Curly Joe crawled under it and stayed there the entire time. He also slept a lot. SCORE!

His classmate, Nina, kept whining and barking and Quinn would squirt her (or near her) with her water bottle. Curly did some whining himself and was rewarded with some spritzes. He looked at me like, "Holy crap! I can't believe that just happened to me! Did you see that?"

Quinn gave us clickers, but she said we didn't have to use them in class. Thank gad. I hate those things. We did do some exercises with them, and Curly Joe responded well.

Our homework this week is to work on the "watch me" command. Or the beginnings of it, anyway. She wants us to build on having our dogs maintain eye contact with us so that we can get them trained to watch us. Remember how I said Curly Joe won't take food from my hand? Now he will. I did basically the SAME DAMN THING I do at home. Quinn had us take some treats, put one between our first and second fingers. Hold the treat down for the dog to sniff, then bring our fingers up to our face next to our eye. When the dog maintains eye contact for a second or two, we look away, say "Yes!" (or a positive word of our choosing) and give them the treat. Curly gobbled those treats like they were going out of style. We did some clicker exercises, too, but just to see how they did with them. When we got home, I clicked the clicker when it was in my pocket and Curly Joe immediately sat down and started at Sis (who was making her lunch). Whooda thunk the little shit could be trained? I kid because I love.

So Quinn is all about hand signals, which I love. If you're in a crowded or hectic place and you want your dog to listen to you, he's not always going to respond to verbal commands. If he's trained to keep an eye out for hand signals, you can guarantee he'll always be mindful and paying attention to where you are.

I'm looking forward to learning more as the weeks progress. We got our own binders and every week Quinn is going to give us a worksheet and a coupon for treats. After class, I walked Curly around the store, bought some cat litter and used the coupon to buy a bag of treats. I'm going to get a couple of bags of treats to so that Curly doesn't get bored with them. I'm also going to use Luke's his tennis ball as a non-food reward. I'll only take it out when we work at home, that way he knows it's his special reward for doing well.

We got binders and homework, did I mention? Homework this week is to work on the "Watch Me" command and potty training. Curly Joe is house trained (except if I have to leave him home for a few hours; he'll usually pee in the laundry room), so we'll just be working on the "watch me." I figure we'll take the dogs for a long walk and then I'll work with Squirrely afterward. That worked out really well at class this afternoon, because Curly Joe passed out under my chair almost the entire time. Quinn says our training sessions should only be a few minutes long. Maybe a few minutes before we go to work and a few minutes when we get home. Surely I can manage that. I'll be sharing everything I learn with my sister so that she can keep up with the training while I'm at work.

I'm just really excited and glad to finally be doing this. I put it off for far too long.

I had a lot more to say, but I've got to make my lunch and do some stuff before work.

Tune in next week!

Countdown to obedience

In two days, Curly Joe and I start obedience classes. I haven't taken a dog to obedience classes in ... over 20 years. This ought to be fun. I dosed Curly with Frontline last night and trimmed his nails the night before last. That was a surprise; normally he kicks up a big fuss, but he was lying on the frontroom floor, basking in the warmth of the pellet fire, and I figured I'd play with his paws. He protested a little at first, but once he realized I was trimming his nails whether he liked it or not, he just lay back down. LaShea and Chad did a great job of desensitizing him when he was a puppy, but now that his health is better and he's found his place in the house (i.e. Dennis the Menace), it's a toss-up whether or not he'll let me cut his nails.

I'm interested to see how he'll do in a class setting. The last time I took him to Petco (the classes are at Petsmart), he was really intimidated. I think the smells overwhelmed him because when we all met up in Colorado last August, he did just fine when we all went inside the Stanley Hotel.

I'm interested to see how I do, too. I'm pretty shy and being out in public usually freaks me out. I'm not good at small talk and never know what to say to people, so I'm really hoping Curly Joe doesn't pick up on any of my anxiety.

Class starts at 4:30, so I want to be up in time to take him for a walk or at least play with him out in the yard before we go. You know, to burn off some of that extra energy so he'll pay attention in class.

The vet wants to see Curly in soon to recheck his bloodwork. Thankfully, I get free labwork through my job, so I can pretty much get any tests I want and not have to worry about breaking the bank. Hopefully he's doing ok. Or as ok as a dog with a messed up liver can be. He's still a little porky, so I need to really step up on the walks. I've lost ten pounds in the last month, so I'm really motivated now to keep us all up and moving. Especially now that our nails are all short and pretty.

Recent pictures (as always, click to enlarge):

I slept on the couch a couple nights (days, whatever) last week because I wanted the warmth and comfort of the pellet fire. The boys fell asleep as soon as they settled down in their bed.

Last week, we got a package from LaShea and Chad and in it (amongst other things) was a DVD Chad had made from when they were fostering Curly Joe. We finally got to see his curly ears!!!! I haven't had time to watch the whole thing, but what I've seen so far is both adorable and hysterical. It's really sad because Curly Joe lived outdoors for so long, he didn't know it was okay to come in the house. He'd follow their dogs (Samus and Sheba) to the door and then sit down. Gahhh. Of course, he doesn't have that problem anymore. He runs everywhere and usually doesn't stop until he hits something.

The other night, I swear to god, he said "Murphy."

March Pupdate

(Since Curly Joe turned a year old last month, I guess I can't call them "pupdates" anymore. Sad!)

Hey everybody!

Quick little update: Curly Joe is still alive and well. And ... fat. Yeah, he's fat. I MADE HIM FAT. I have officially turned into my mother.

Because he's sick (inwardly, anway), I find myself feeding him more than I should. It'd be fine if I walked him enough to compensate, but I don't. Since I am apparently pretty badly vitamin D deficient (thanks, night shift), I need to really get the dogs out after I wake up in the afternoon. The exercise is good for us all, and I'll get all the sun I need. In the meantime, I am taking a supplement. The days are getting longer, which means more daylight, so that will help.

The Big News is, I finally signed Curly up for obedience classes! I went through Petsmart because Petco does clicker training and I kind of hate clickers. Petsmart has a clicker class, but it's nothing to do with the regular ones. Thank gad.

It took a few minutes, talking to one of the employees on the phone, to dig up a class that would fit my schedule, but we found one that starts on the 18th that will probably do just fine. I picked that one because the class meets on Wednesdays at 4:30. I have every other Wednesday off, so that works out well. I could have done Saturday (which I also have every other one off), but the classes started too early. I get home between five and six in the morning and the classes meet at ten. I'm usually in bed by 7:30, so ... no. Not going to work.

In the meantime, I'm going to work on hand feeding Curly Joe. Every now and then he shows a bit of toy aggression, and I plan to nip that in the bud. My dog Luke was toy/food aggressive when we rescued him, and I hand fed him, one kibble at a time, for two weeks, then one handful at a time for another two weeks and never had a problem after that. I've attempted this with Curly a few times over the last week and the boy flat out refuses to take food from my hand. My sister said maybe it's a sign of submission, but I don't think so. I feed the animals after I eat, and when I attempt to hand feed Curly, I hold the food up by my eyes so he sees me and knows that the food is coming from me (because I say so), I hand him the kibble and he doesn't eat it. So we're going to work on that. I also need to get a bin for the dogs' toys.

So that's what we've been up to. I'm pretty sure Curly Joe weighs more than 30 pounds now. Bit of pudge around the middle, yes. Happens to us all.

The other day, I let the dogs out, completely forgetting I'd left the front gate open to bring a couple bags of wood pellets in for the fire. A few minutes later, I opened the door to call the dogs in. Tank trotted over, but I had to call Curly a few times. I could hear his tags jingling, so I figured he'd squeezed through a hole in the small fence and was out "playing" with the geese in the big yard. (He calls it playing, they call it "DIE, PUPPY, DIE.") Nope. The little bastard comes running down the ROAD, just as happy as can be. I probably should have freaked out, but mainly I was pleased that he came when I called him, especially considering he had probably been playing with the two corgis down the street.

See? (Click on the photos to embiggen.)


Oh, what the heck. More pictures, anyone?

Stormtroopers don't have puppies or Santa Claus. Isn't that sad?




Driving up to see my mom. I'm happy at least one of my dogs doesn't get carsick.


Bedtime!

I actually feel really bad about my schedule, in regards to the dogs. Tank doesn't mind since he's old and sleeps more, but Curly Joe is a young'un. The dogs sleep while I'm at work, then I come home, feed them and we go to bed. So they pretty much just sleep all the time. That's why I need to make more of an effort to walk them every day. Bored puppies are destructive, ANNOYING puppies.

Curly Joe's foster mom, designerd, is going to be in Portland for a visit in a couple of months. This little dog is probably going to explode when he's reunited with her. He'll be so happy! Hopefully she won't laugh at how fat he is or make fun of his wattle.

Well, that's about it. Wish us luck with the classes! It'll be good for both of us, I'm sure, and just think: this is the first step toward eventually getting Curly Joe trained as a therapy dog.

Happy Birthday, Curly Joe!

Update.

Curly Joe is alive and well. Hyper as ever. I'm ashamed to say I still haven't signed him up for puppy classes; my excuse is that it's hard to find the time now that I work night shift. He needs it, though, and I'm going to do my best to get him straightened out.

Still no word from the doctor about finding someone who can fix his shunt, but I'm choosing to remain hopeful. In the meantime, he seems to be hanging in there with his special food, Hepato Support and lots of TLC. Last week, I let him out to go potty and heard all this noise on the front porch. I opened the door and saw Curly, jumping and darting around. All three geese had their heads stretched through the slats in the porch railing and Curly Joe was playing with them as they snapped at him. Now, they wanted to kill him, but to a puppy, it's a Fantastic New Game. He was having the time of his life.

Guess what? Curly Joe turns a year old in a week (Feb 2nd).