Day 134

Hops went to the trial with us today and as usual was a good puppy. He met lots of other dogs and was polite and friendly with all of them. He of course loved every person he met and was pretty good about sitting, though he certainly still tries to sneak a jump in! I left Hops with a couple of people he did not know well or at all for a short time and he was very calm and had no problem with me being away from him. Hops also got to play with his sister Colleen so that was cool. They had lots of fun running in a big field behind Argus. Hops was really good about his recalls, coming every time I called him even, when chasing his sister.
 

At home Hops played in the yard with the boys and we practiced recalls and distance downs. He did a great job with the recalls and the downs, even downing when my back was turned and I was talking to another dog! Then I put the boys away, tried to play fetch with Hops with a frisbee, and discovered that the frisbee supposedly has different rules than the ball. The ball he brings right back, the frisbee he keeps for himself! So I put him on a long leash and helped him come back when called, he got the idea right away and started bringing the frisbee back to me. Good puppy!


Later Jeremiah was using the wheelbarrow in the yard to move gravel and when it was empty he offered Hops a ride. Hops had no fear of riding in it and in fact, from then on he asked to ride in it whenever it was empty. Fun puppy!


Jeremiah did a short training lesson for dinner consisting on sits, downs, stands and backing up and Hops did a good job for him.

Day 133

Hops went with me to get the oil changed in my car and was really good when we were waiting our turn in the lobby. I used the time to practice sits, downs and stands in heel, we practiced going into heel, side, finish and front positions. Then sat down and we practiced visit, fix it, and “nose” (balance a cookie on your nose). He did great with them all and for the first time was able to balance the cookie all on his own! We then walked across a large intersection to walk to target. We did not stay long because they did not have what I wanted but Hops did a great job heeling with me in the store and was not bothered by all the sights and sounds.He was also very good about heeling in the parking lot and side walks. He did get distracted by a crow but I was quickly able to get him refocused on me. The heavy traffic did not bother him at all.

 

When we came home all four boys played hard in the yard while I caught up on this blog! They took turns playing for the most part. At one point Rice was chasing Hops as hard as he could. They were about the same speed but Hops could turn on a dime and be off the other direction before Rice even realized what had happened! : ) Fun to watch! When we came inside I did another frog lesson with Hops and he was able to get into position several time and stay in it for awhile. 

 

For dinner Hops had a bunch of short training sessions for the camera. We started with the frog position, then did circles around the plunger in both directions, then did perch work to come into heel, then putting things in a basket, then touching a target with his foot. He did great will everything!

Oops, both plunger videos were clockwise!

Day 132

For breakfast Hops had some shaping lessons. The first was to put his front paws on a flat target which he picked up on right away and was easily able to move away from me to touch it. He did so well I started adding a cue, Paw. The next session was to put his front feet on paw pods. We have worked on this before but he did much better this time. I think working with the flat target first really helped. We then had his first frog lesson (stretch your back legs out behind you). He did pretty well with it but never got his legs all the way back. I am luring this trick, starting him on top of two dog beds then slowly luring him off, clicking and treating constantly as long as he is stretching his legs out and does not pull them forward. When he does pull them forward I just removed the treats and send him back to his bed to start again. After training, we went outside to play. The dogs ran around on their own for awhile then I played some fetch with them then we went to work!

 

Hops had his second nosework class with my mom and did much better for her this time. He still tried to punk her a few times during the container searches (mixed luggage and boxes) but for the most part he worked really well, alerting when he reached the odor container and he did not heel with her nearly as much while searching today. We also did exterior searches and he was spot on with those, getting his nose right on the odor before looking at my mom for his reward, and he found low and high hides. What a good puppy! He was quite tired after class and slept well through the rest of the classes that night. The only time he fussed was when his friend Dani came out to take her turns. He wanted to go play with her! After all the classes Hops ended the work day with a play time with Rice and Tessa. They had fun running around then we went home!

 

Hops had two training sessions for dinner. The first was going all the way around the plunger (video to come!). He is doing great with it, and can still make three complete circles on his own. Time to decide on a cue and name the behavior! Then we practiced the frog position and Hops got all the way into it for the first time.Good puppy!

Day 131

Hops went to work with me this morning and had a short play time with me before classes started. He was good in his crate during the first class then had a ten minute walk around the building before the next class. That class was a fun and focus 2 and he was a stand in for his dobie friend who was injured. Hops worked really well for his new handler, never second guessing her or trying to get to me. He did rear crosses and front crosses and, tables and tunnels, stays and comes and was a very good boy! It was very cool to watch him work for some new without a problem. He was quiet in his crate for the rest of the day.

 

When we came home from work Hops and Sammy played hard then were crated while the boys and I went to agility class. When we came home Jeremiah said they had been good but Hops spent lots of time by the door, waiting for me to come home.

 

For his dinner I had Hops practice putting a variety of object into a basket. He was able to focus much better without the MM. I started with just working on the basket cue (put your head in a basket) no matter where I put the basket. The I placed the basket in front of me and tossed an object away from me. I asked him to get it and when he did I then said basket. He ended up putting all 11 items in the basket twice. The second time through I moved the basket so it was not directly in front of me. That made it more difficult for him but he still was able to do it. Smart puppy!

Day 130

Hops entertained himself this morning then went with me to work. He was very quiet in the crate during the hour lesson that I taught. Then he went with me to the bank and the pet store and was very well behaved in both places. When had taken Sammy (the Portie) home from the lesson and he will be staying with us until Friday. Renee came over with Taffy and a four month old white shepherd she is watching and all six dogs played very nicely together.

 

For Hops’s dinner I did a shaping lesson for the Manner’s Minder (MM). First shaping him to put his head in a basket which was easy. I could move the basket around the room and he would go and put his head in it right away. Then I put a cup out and he was easily able to pick that up for a cookie from the MM, but combining the two behaviors together was not something he was able to do with the distraction of the MM. Even though he has done the behavior in another setting he did not make the connection. I could see the go around behavior is still strong through because he was able to carry the cup around the basket! For the rest of his dinner Hops reviewed the basics doing heels, sides, fronts, finishes, sits, downs, stands, backs, rolls, say hellos, touches and I worked on teaching bang and bow. He is a smart puppy!

Day 129

I let the boys out this morning and when I turned around to let them back in I saw Hops sitting on the dog house, staring in at me. Smart puppy!

Hops had a fetch session in the backyard before work, mixed with retrieving the ball himself and chasing Dillon retrieving a ball. We left for work afterward where he slept in the car during my first lesson. Before the agility class Hops heeled around the arena with me, doing a couple of chutes and tunnels but mostly just heeling and stays and recalls for cookies and tugs. One of the students brought her granddaughter to class with her and Hops went right up to her with no fear. He took cookies from her and went up to her again and again. Good puppy! He was then very good during the class with no fussing. When we came home for my break all three boys ran around the yard with their toys and tired themselves out. Good boys!

Hops went back to work with me for my second shift and slept in the car during the nosework class. I then brought him in and played with him for awhile before the next class started.We played lots of tug, I sent him around a big, round trash can to come chase me and play, had him down on the table then release to play, and he did short stays with release to play tug. We both had lots of fun! He then slept in his during during that class then came out for his fun and focus two class. He was really good during it, focusing on Jeremiah despite other dogs coming up to him. The class started with some time on balance disks and Jeremiah quickly shaped Hops to roll a cylinder shaped balance disk with his front paws. Pretty cool! Everyone then learned how to do rear crosses on the flat then tried them with two small sequences (two jump standards, RCOF, another standard then a tunnel or table). Hops was my demo dog and did great for me and for Jeremiah. Hops then demoed how to rear cross a jump standard and the rear cross sit stay then we ended the class with rear cross sit stays. After class Hops and Love and Gambit (and aussie) played chase and tug and wrestled around. Fun! Then Hops quietly watched the last class from his crate and ended his day with one more play time with Tessie the aussie and Rice. They had so much fun running around and around and playing tug with each other! We are home now and Hops is sound asleep!

Day 128

Hops went to the trial again with us today and was as usual a very good puppy. After we came home we had a puppy party with seven other dogs coming over to play, making the total ten dogs, all playing nicely. What fun! We had four small dogs, a Portuguese water dog, an adult BC and Taffy added to our own three. Hops played great with everyone and came right away every time I called him! He also had no problem staying for photos : ) What a good puppy!

 

 

For dinner everyone had a shaping lesson. I decided to take a break from shaping them to go all the way around a plunger (I must admit, I am a little bored from doing it everyday) and switched to shaping the dogs to go under a chair. Well Hops had it in just a few clicks, I was quite impressed. By the end of the sessions, Dillon was purposefully putting his head on the ground near/under the chair, Rice was purposefully putting his head and elbows under the chair, and Hops could go under, on cue, if I was ten feet away from the chair and if the orientation and location of the chair was changed. What a good, smart puppy!