February 2014 -- Day Three

George has done really well over these last few days.

He's always eager...especially when food is involved. And lucky for him, this visit was all about food.

There are times when it is appropriate to bark. If he's playing with his Kong toy, he's free to bark at that all he wants.

Barking in play is fine. Barking when I'm prepping his Kong is not ok.

During food prep or food on the counters/tables, silence is golden.

He's doing really well staying on his bed during food prep time. I'm still rewarding him between steps but it won't be long before you'll be able to do a couple of steps and then reward him. When he does that well, you can move to several steps before rewarding him. In no time he'll be able to stay on his bed the whole time during food prep.

Ready to eat!

He met a new friend today too. Of course, he wasn't compliant about looking at the camera for a picture with Sean. He was quite smitten with him...

Until Sean got near his bed or food, then he had words with the young pup.

Everyone will miss George when he goes home tomorrow. George just wants to know, you didn't get any puppies while he was away, did you?

February 2014 -- Day Two

George is such a regal boy...

Until food is involved...and then he falls apart. He's hungry and he wants it now!

When I've got food in the kitchen, sending him to his bed is a good alternative.

It can be quite distracting though so we have to practice staying on the bed in the face of distractions and when I walk away from him.

I return to him periodically to reward him. I do this frequently in the beginning but, as he gets the hang of it, I can space out those rewards a little more. We're teaching him to be comfortable waiting for food. If he gets up, I motion for him to go back down on the bed. I don't reward him right away for going back down. I don't want him to get the idea that all he needs to do is break his stay to get a treat. Once he's down for several seconds, then I can start rewarding him again. If you don't want to keep interrupting your food prep to reward him, look at something like the Treat & Train (http://drsophiayin.com/treatntrain). It's a way to remotely reward him for maintaining his stay. Pretty handy when you can't be right by his side.

We can use this when prepping his food too. A down stay works too but beds are nice because it gives the dog a defined space. Right now, between every step, I'm going back to reward him (when he's lying down on the bed). I get the meat out, I reward him. I get the veggies out, I reward him. As he improves, I can start to do a couple of steps at a time before rewarding him. Eventually we work towards the meal being the reward.

If he were to bark, I would temporarily abandon the food prep process.

The last step should be putting his cute, little snood on. We want to do the hardest steps last and, at this point, he knows he is definitely getting fed.

The best reward ever for good behavior.

After all that hard work, it's time for a little low key romp through the yard with Thistle.

February 2014 -- Day One

Oh George, so good to have you back! What a sweet, sweet guy.

He made sure all the dogs knew he would approach on his own terms. After a few carefully chosen words from him, all the dogs respected his space.

Which allowed him the opportunity to pick and choose when he greeted the other dogs.

It didn't take long, though, before he was ready to come in and get to work. He's always happy to be earning some treats.

Alright, let's get to work then.

We started out brushing up on "leave it." My "leave it" pile always has the lower value treat. I reward with the higher value treat so it becomes more rewarding to leave the other food.

The second he looks away or backs off, I mark it with "yes" and reward him with the higher value treat.

That's his favorite part!

So now we start working with other food items, easy ones at first. The more he practices, the more he starts to realize it's worth his while to ignore whatever is on the table.

It is so nice having this sweet boy back here! He's been a very good boy.

July Day Two -- To Bark or Not to Bark

We continued our work today and short periods of time of separation. All barking gets ignored and the reunion doesn't happen until all is quiet. To make it more pleasant for him while I'm away (even in the same room but with a barrier), he gets something special. I save his good stuff (Kongs, Bully Sticks, etc.) for when he's alone. I don't make a big production before I leave him or when I come back. In fact, I almost ignore him for several minutes. I just don't want him to think it's a big deal when I leave or when I come back.

Make sure, too, to vary your special treats for him. It makes it a little more exciting and, if it's something he doesn't get very often, it makes it a little more valuable.

Sometimes it's ok if he sleeps under my desk while I'm working but I'm not going to fuss a lot with him while he's there.

Occasionally it's ok to go into another room without him. I'm still not going to make a big deal of my comings and goings. It's just super casual.

I also avoid mindless petting. That sounds hard, right? I mean, really, look at that face. How can you resist? But it's not as bad as it sounds. It just means being a little more conscientious about when you pet him. Ask him for a sit or for attention before petting him. Just have him work a little bit for it. If you want to pet him, instead of going to him, ask him to come to you. It doesn't mean you can't snuggle with him. It's just more of a shift from George calling all the shots to you calling all the shots.

George offers up plenty of opportunities to work on his demand barking but I wanted to do an activity with him that was a) fun and b) full of opportunities to teach him an alternate behavior. So we worked on a dog puzzle where he has to figure out how to move pieces in order to find the hidden treats.

First he needs to be quiet while I'm loading the puzzle. If he barks, I immediately shove the puzzle back and turn my back on him. I don't continue with the puzzle until he's been quiet for at least 10 seconds. Then I praise him for being quiet and continue loading the puzzle. Next, he has to sit patiently while I put the puzzle down. This helps him learn to earn the privilege of playing.

And the payoff is big...

Because then he gets to play. It's much easier and not as formal as it sounds and the dogs' like it just as much as they do when they are learning new tricks.

George said it wasn't too bad here. They even had a window for him to watch the world go by.

But it wasn't quite like home. It was hard to squish himself into the window sill.

He thinks it would be much better if they built him a big window seat like at home because this just doesn't work as well.

And all this hard work just wears a guy out.

July Day One -- Meet the Troops

George's first visit here and we are pleased as punch to have him here! He's such a nice guy!!

To get George slowly acclimated to the new digs, he gets some time by himself to explore around and take everything in at his own speed. There are lots of dog smells and he can hear dogs nearby but he doesn't have the social pressure of being in a new location with a lot of new dogs coming over to check him out. He did well and wagged his tail a lot as he happily came up to me for attention (he must have abandoned his original thought that I was a dog napper taking him from his home).

He meets the troops one at a time, again at his own speed. I think he's met all my dogs before but never where he was so close or even had an opportunity to interact much.

When he's ready, he can approach (or not approach) at his will.

To my surprise, Healey, who normally doesn't really care to interact with the visiting dogs, went right up to George and did a play bough. Unheard of for Healey. Maybe George is just her speed.

Next up was the Thistle introduction. Perfect socially acceptable greeting. George was good about setting his boundaries if he was feeling a little overwhelmed but no need to here with such a nice introduction.

Thistle is a little more affectionate than Healey but George didn't seem to mind too much.

Well, he could do without the kiss.

A little bit of stress panting at first but he quickly settled in.

We worked on short periods of time alone. Very short...to help build up his ability to be alone. When he's alone, he gets his bully sticks or a stuffed Kong or some tasty treats. But when he is back with me, I'm as boring as can be for at least 5 minutes.

Barking has been minimal so far. I am guessing I will see more tomorrow when he's feeling his oats. But when he did bark, I quickly turned my back on him. When I was preparing his dinner and he barked, at the first bark, I set down the food I was preparing and quickly turned my back on him, tucked my arms in and looked up towards the ceiling. I didn't move towards making his meal again until he had been quiet for about 15 or 20 seconds. Then I praised him for being quiet and continued preparing his meal. I only stopped twice before he started to figure out the connection. He'll repeat what works for him so, if it pays off more to be quiet, he's more likely to repeat that behavior.