"Training"

Since Penelope went all the way through one session of Team Training before being released for "assertiveness and distractibility," she knows most (if not all) of the advanced commands CCI teaches. When we picked her up, her trainer showed her skills to us, and we've kept her up on most of them. Penelope LOVES her "training" sessions and I usually try to throw in something new so she doesn't get too bored! Here are some pictures of her "working"--sorry for the bad photo quality, but it's rather hard to take pictures of a dog when you're handling it!

We usually warm up with some basic things--Sit, Down, Heel, Side...



Then work on her tough spots--one of these has been Tug, but I started teaching her to Tug on a big knot I tie in the end of her leash, and she's doing great now!



Afterwards we play the "kibble game" as a reward--I toss pieces of kibble and she chases them, grabs them, and has to come back to me for more--it's actually a way of teaching "Come," but she loves it so much I use it as a reward!



"Get" is another challenge for her; I have to keep polishing her skills on different things or she "forgets." Right now I'm teaching her to Get her leash.



And her latest accomplishment..."Push" to close the dryer door! It's a challenge because she has to bump it up instead of just nudging it straight ahead, but she's got it down now and loves it!

So that's what we do to keep ourselves from getting bored lately, in addition to walks and running in the woods behind our house. Tomorrow night we're hoping to go to a big outdoor Christmas program at the college nearby...there will be lots of crowds and it will be good practice for Penelope...besides, I'm looking forward to it!! :)

Moving Forward

Last week we did some calling around and found out that a children's hospital near us already has a well-established therapy dog program in both their hospital and a nearby rehab hospital. They are also hoping to expand the program to include another hospital with people who have depression and other psychiatric conditions. We talked to the leader and she said they are very open to new dogs and are planning to have a screening sometime after the holidays. So in the meantime we are working with Penelope to improve her chance of passing the screening.

She really hates having her ears fondled much at all and since her ears are silky-soft and very "pettable" we think it's probably important that she stop yipping every time someone puts a little bit of pressure on them! So we have been working on desensitizing her ears, with lots of treats. She loves the goodies of course and has been getting better even in the short time we have been working with her on her ears.

Also I am training her to some hand signals and trying to get her as bomb-proofed as possible on her commands so that she will not do anything unless specifically commanded to do so. Since she'll be working with a wide variety of people, some of whom she could injure fairly easily, I feel this is important for their safety and ours, even though we will be covered by hospital insurance in case of an accident.

More later! It is exciting! We still haven't heard anything about Brianna. I hope her puppyraiser chooses to contact us at least for her puppy album, but I guess it's their choice.

LEAVES!! [by: Penelope]

Finally, I thought this time would never come around again, but the leaf-things turned brown and fell off the big big sticks in the backyard and the people are starting to rake up the leaves again! Today they did quite a bit. I supervised because I had heard them say I'd get to come out later...
Mum said I could have gone out and helped if I'd stay around the house--but I just never can manage to do that--too many exciting things to see and smell!


Finally I went out on my flexi-lead though!
And I went tearing through the leaves!!



It was a lot of fun, I had to take a break after a while...all that running wears you out!



I tried to eat some but got in trouble again. People. They never let you have any fun.

That was my day! I like having my house back! The blonde dog was fun but the people never really let us play, and I had to be good ALL the time while she was around. It kind of wears you out after a while! So today I was all wiggly and happy because the whole house and all the people are mine again! I even got to do some training! It was fun, I'm learning some hand signals now. At first those were a bit confusing but I think I'm catching on finally. Life is good!

Florida

WARNING: Long sad post about early turn-in! I'll try to put something happier on as soon as Penelope gets home tomorrow!

We left here at 4 a.m. to get to Florida in time to drop Brianna off before four in the afternoon. Brianna was extremely stressed for the first while, but about six or seven o'clock she got sleepy enough to start dozing off now and then. She still couldn't sleep for more than 5 minutes at the most though--every little bump or noise woke her up. So she was utterly exhausted when we got down to the SE campus in Orlando somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30, unloaded her stuff, tried to get her to Hurry (which she refused to do because she'd hardly drunk at all during the drive and besides there were all these SMELLS!!), and headed in to find Ed.

We found him and talked for a while, and Brianna wandered around the office, warmed up to him slowly but surely, and finally found a chair to crash underneath. I think she was just so relieved to be out of the car! Then we put her in a crate in the office and Ed took us out on a tour of campus.

SE is beautiful. I have seen NW campus but it was a long time ago and the only one I really remember is NC--which is pretty much just one building with some yard around it! So this campus with separate training, kennel, dorm, and administration buildings was pretty impressive to me! They were in the middle of Team Training, but everyone was out on their first field trip, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

After that we went back into the Ad. building and Ed asked us if we wanted to go back in and see Brianna one last time. Really didn't think I should, but my mom and I went back anyway. We peeked in the window and she was just lying there in the crate with her ears pricked up, looking at the door with her "what's going on??" look on her face. Then she heard us outside and she got up, so we went in and said goodbye. I was just barely holding myself together during this, and when we tossed in some extra kibble and ran out and she didn't even touch her food and started crying, I broke down! She stopped pretty soon, fortunately, which allowed me to get myself back into one piece. I know she wasn't crying so much for us--she just didn't want to be by herself! And Ed wasn't going to have her in the kennels; she's going to a foster home and then to her next puppyraiser. By now she's most likely in her new home. The lady who will be her primary raiser loves Goldens and has raised two before, so she will hopefully know all the best things to do to help Brianna succeed. I hope she chooses to stay in touch with us so we can send her Brianna's album and maybe get some updates...guess now I can sympathize more with the Breeder-Caretakers who raise these pups and send them off!

Well that's the end of our sad post. I'm thinking of different things to do with Penelope, and maybe I'll post some of them soon. She comes back from the kennel tomorrow morning and I can hardly wait!

Goodbye

Well tomorrow bright and early (around 4 a.m.) we will leave for Florida to drop off Brianna. I'm going to miss the goofy little blonde! Here are three of the biggest things I'm going to miss about her...and as you can see she's been doing them since she was a fuzzy little baby...

Her sad serious look




Her annoyingly sweet habit of bringing you ALL her toys when you're not paying attention to her, and insisting that you hold her bones while she chews on them




The silly way she always tries to lay on our ugly old step...because it's the only "soft" spot in the family room

If I don't cry tomorrow afternoon it will be a miracle...she is a major handful, yes, and definitely seems to have some serious mental issues, but she is sooo incredibly sweet too! I still hope against hope she will make it. If not as a graduate, then that she will find a pet home that will love her to pieces.

Rehome

So. Last week we made the call.

Brianna is going to a new puppyraiser.

I think we expressed a few doubts earlier about whether we would be able to keep her all the way through or not. She is an incredibly high-strung dog and with our schedule we simply don't have the time to give her the training she needs. She needs a LOT of very short, quick outings into very low-stress areas if she is ever going to have a chance of graduation, and though we have tried and tried to find time for these, we just can't. Both Penelope and Ariele could go pretty much anywhere by a little over eight months, but Brianna still can't walk into the post office or the bank without extreme nervousness.

So we called Southeast and told them she'd have to be rehomed. Ed (our Puppy Program Manager) was very understanding and has found a new home for her with an older couple. They have no dogs or children, so hopefully they will have the time to work through Brianna's issues. However, they can't do the late-night house-training time with a baby puppy, so they have to have an older dog. Since Brianna is wonderful in the house, we hope she will work out great with this family.

We aren't getting another puppy right away, but instead we are going to work with Penelope. Next Friday we drop Brianna off in Florida and then we will see if there are any facilities around that would be interested in having Penelope visit as a therapy dog.

It's hard. I'm sure all you puppyraisers can relate. I feel a bit like a failure, but at the same time I know we're doing what's best for her and us, and that's all I can do for now. Maybe later there will be time for another puppy...for now...I'm glad we have Penelope! But it's still...well...hard.

Sick Peoples [by: Penelope]

Hi everyone! I'm writing now because all the peoples got sick with something called "flu," I don't know exactly what that is, but it's made them not do much all day long. Sooo of course that means I have to take over the blog and the other things I as a Good Dog can do. The Little Dog--uh, I mean the blond dog, she's actually bigger than me now--can't help take care of the peoples because she is not a Good Dog, so that leaves most of the work of caring for the sick peoples on me! (Oops, I need to put in an edit, Mum just told me the little--I mean Blonde--Dog can't really help the fact that she's not a Good Dog and I shouldn't rub it in. Edit added.) Anyway, I have been practicing my Therapy Dog skills. Mostly this means I wander around and sit by the peoples when they're feeling sick and ask to get up on the chair with them. So far I haven't gotten invited up on any chairs, which is really sad. I got invited up on the couch once and that was lovely while it lasted! Also I have been going outside with the peoples and sitting in the sun with them. Well sometimes I try to eat leaves and get scolded for it. Leaves are really good though and I think it would help the peoples get better if they would eat some. I guess they're getting better anyway, though. Although they are not energetic enough to do another demo this weekend, I am sad about that. Demos are the best!

Well I suppose I will sign off for now. No pictures because the peoples have been too sick for much training, although I have heard Mum talking about some other things she wants to teach me to do...I hope they involve treats...

Very Good Training

...with my black baby! Today we took Penelope to Petsmart to start her training class. And she was flawless. =D Just like I expected her to be, really. She got a bit excited right before we went into the ring, but as soon as I pulled out a treat she was 100% with me! And stayed that way for the rest of the class. Our trainer L tried everything she could think of to get Penelope to break, but she didn't break even once. What a girl! L said that she could probably pass the CGC/TDI test right now; I would like to work with her a bit more on the flat collar though. Today we had her on the Gentle Leader and she is very good on that, hardly requires any corrections. I think she will probably be able to take and pass the test on a flat collar, it will just take a bit of work on my part to teach her that she has to behave even off the Gentle Leader! ;) L is very excited about Penelope's potential as a therapy dog and told us multiple times that "she'll be great" at whatever we want to do with her. Oh I am so excited! She is such an amazing dog!!

So a very good day today. =) Brianna is doing fine too, we got her and Penelope two new chicken Nylabones, so she is happily chewing on hers. Hahaha.