Kids and puppies

As a result of some strategic planning on my part, Dusty doesn't come across too many children, and I think it is important for her to experience them during this socialisation stage. I live in the inner city in a narrow one way street, most people have benches out on the footpath and sit in the street to catch the sun or the sea breeze. And three three kids in the street are luckily also regularly out and about.

Oscar loves Thommo. He was walking at ten months and spent all his energy trying to get down to Thommo, to throw the ball for him. Much to his mother's consternation, who is a little nervous around dogs. Now fourteen months, he and Dusty are a little wary of each other - but Dusty watches him toddling around and is getting used to jerky movements and baby toys.

Jack is three. He always stops at the screen door to say 'Hi' to Thommo on his way past with his mother. I have a box of dog biscuits near the door so that he can give one to Dusty each day on his way to day-care.

Isaac is early teens, with mates, music and skateboards. When they started skating in the street the other day Dusty had a real panic, wetting herself with fear. I asked them if they would stop for a moment and say hi, then I took her out the back to where the sound was muffled. I must admit when several of them drop their boards to the ground and take off, I leap out of my skin.

I'll also take any opportunity that presents itself in the park or on the beach. The kids don't have to interact with Dusty. She can be near them while they do their thing, and get accustomed to the running and yelling.

Bite Inhibition

Australian Cattle Dog puppies use their mouths, a lot. So there are two things we're learning at the moment.

1. It's ok to put your mouth on your human's hands or arms, but it must be very gentle.
2. It's not ok to nip your human on the heels or grab their pants leg.

Dusty does have quite a gentle mouth. When she was reluctant to settle at night I stuck my hand through the bars of her crate and she licked and nibbled my fingers until she went back to sleep. But the last couple of days she has turned into Fang the attack puppy.

It she bites too hard I yell loud enough to startle her. I don't pull my hand away or turn away because I don't want to introduce any elements that she might see as part of a game. If she comes back gently and licks then she gets a 'good girl' and a game with a toy. So far that has worked. If or when it doesn't, then the next step would be a second 'ouch' and then leave her alone for a few minutes.

When she grabs my pants as I'm walking, I say 'Uh huh', again loud enough to starle her, and immediately drag a tug or a leash to attract her attention to that. When it stops raining we'll do some choose to heel exercises which will give her something else to do when I'm walking.

Thommo takes my arm as a form of communication (I have visions of him leading me Lassie-like through a mine field) and he has very good bite inhibition. Once a vet was necessarily hurting him and he took hold of my arm and held it until the procedure was finished and didn't leave a mark. That's what I'm after - a dog that knows what force is appropriate.

• The Bite Stops Here - Ian Dunbar
• Clicker Solutions to Puppy Biting - Melissa Alexander

Building Blocks for Performance

Building Blocks for Performance: Give Your Puppy a Head Start for Competition Written by Bobbie Anderson with Tracy Libby, sets out a number of games to play with your puppy to build:

• Drive
• Speed and enthusiasm
• Attention and focus
• Motivation
• Handler relationship

One of the many suggestions I like is getting puppy to stay connected with you. For example, she suggests that if you are doing something together and puppy wanders off to check some fallen leaves then you should drop to the ground and roll around making happy noises. Don't allow puupy to get into the habit of ignoring you, and don't run after her, instead make her want to come back to you. If you are upbeat and switched on, puppy will be too - if you are as dull as a post ...

She recommends playing hide and seek as part of this process of getting puppy to stay connected. In our local park we have a playground designed as a ship, the sides are about a metre high, and it has portholes for access. I showed Dusty the portholes, and then without warning I'd step into the ship and sit in the bow, and she'd race down to find a porthole and rush up to leap onto me. I guess you had to be there, but she and I had a ball.

On the Road

I did Helix Fairweather's Cyberagility course when Thommo was beginning agility, and really appreciate the extensive notes we were given as part of the program. I often refer back to them for training help.

Helix introduced us to Dani Weinberg's training model. These are the stages that you go through from introducing a new behaviour, to mastery of that behaviour.

1. Get the behaviour
2. Change the picture
3. Add a cue
4. Make it harder
5. Take it on the road

So far I have captured a sit, lured a down, and shaped a stand.

We have practiced these with me in different positions in relation to Dusty - it is so easy to only ask for a sit directly in front - sometimes standing, sitting or lying on the floor, and in different situations.

I've added a cue, both a verbal 'sit', 'down' and 'stand' and a hand signal.

I've started to make it harder, adding speed of response as a criteria in familiar situations. If she doesn't respond when first asked I just turn away, and try again a little later. There is no point in training her to wait for repeated commands.

So today we took it on the road. The weather has improved, so we went to the park armed with treats and clicker. She was very good with sit and stand, but was reluctant to down. So I relaxed the criteria and guided her down with my hand - a lure without a treat.

Of course it is too early to say that she has learned any of these things - she is just a baby. But she has made an excellent start, and responding to the cues will soon become automatic.

Barriers

Dusty is holding on for most of the night now, though her wanting to go out at five is a signal to Thommo that we are up and ready for a walk. Today at 5:00am it was pitch black, cold and raining and I have the flu.

So I took them both downstairs, opened the back door and gave them each a bone. The babygate is no impediment to Duz but I put it across the stairs, and then pulled across a chair I knew she couldn't climb, and went back to bed.

I dozed for a hour before I heard the clatter of puppy steps. I helped her up on the bed and she made a nest near my head and we both slept for another hour. The barricade was still intact, Thommo waiting patiently in front of it.

Dog Door

I have the flu so most of our training sessions have focused on silently chewing rawhide rather than barking in the distinctive high pitched cattle dog way. But we have continued with sit, down and stand. Some instructors advise not teaching a new behaviour until the previous one is reliable, but others suggest that pairing behaviours actually enhances learning as puppy distinguishes between sit and drop. Dusty certainly isn't confused. She really knows the meaning of the clicker too - I clicked while tidying up today and got her immediate attention.

Continued success with toileting outside, but so far I have had the back door open. So I decided to patiently introduce her to the dog door. I went outside, shut the door, and got treats ready to lure her through. She was sitting beside me. I tossed a treat back through the dog door. She leaped through grabbed the treat and rushed back through to sit at my feet. I took my honey-lemon tea back to the sofa and left Dusty playing a game of her own that involved rushing back and forwards through the dog door.

Shaping a Show Pose

Today we started work on shaping a show pose. Because sit is quite easy to teach, and dogs seem to naturally use it as a 'please' when they want something, it is easy to over-reinforce the sit so that when you try to shape another behaviour, your dog just offers the sit and becomes frustrated when it isn't rewarded. So we are now teaching that a stand is also a rewardable behaviour.

Following Karen Pryor's Shaping for the Show Ring I started by just holding out one finger. When Dusty moved towards it, I clicked and treated. I gradually increased the distance so that she had to come out of a sit, each time click and treating when she focused on my finger. Clicker Rule - click for action reward for position, so if she sits after I've clicked I'll put the treat out in front of her so that she has to stand to get the treat. We'll continue over the next day or two to reinforce standing.

Nothing fancy. As Sue Ailsby says "As a starting point, you will need the dog ready to go to work, standing up, willing to be handled in all his parts, facing your right hand, understanding the clicker, and wanting treats." Enough in there for a 9 week old.

9 weeks

Ready for a nap under my desk.

Tracking.