L or EL

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we returned to CoCo's house for dinner. Unfortunately Buddy and CoCo don't get along so they never officially met this weekend. They spoke, but didn't meet nose to nose. CoCo was banished to her bedroom for the entirety of Buddy's visit - sorry.

We walked to the elevated train station (EL) and road the EL to Chinatown. Buddy wasn't phased as the train rumbled past us and stopped for loading. At each stop, he would sit up and ready himself to exit the train. Only to settle back down as the train continued to the next stop.

He was very attentive to all the new sights and smells of the EL. As usual Buddy was making friends with everyone that paid him any attention. On the EL this meant all kinds of people. Buddy is a wonderful ambassador. He breaks down barriers and we get to talk to a lot more people.

For the most part he was well behaved. However, before dinner was served at the restaurant, Buddy was barking. Not clear what it was, but he persisted as we tried to persuade him to stop. So we placed the comfort muzzle on him - more to adjust his attitude than to keep him quiet. He became passive, calmed down, and rested during dinner.

We took the El back at CoCo's house, Buddy was exhausted. CoCo however, really wanted to see Buddy up close and personal. After a long day, Buddy was more interested in catching up on his missed rest. So he settled into CoCo's spare bed and caught a few winks as the Packers took care of the Seahawks.

Buddy is comfortably back home

WILD Time

Buddy went to his first NHL hockey game last night at the United Center in Chicago. He drew the usual double takes and attention from the other fans. Peering over the boards, he also drew a double take from at least one of the Blackhawks. As Seabook skated by during warm-ups, he looked twice when he saw a furry black head watching him.

Thanks to Jim Koehler we were seated in the front row. It would have been easy to cheer for the Blackhawks, being in Chicago and having four UW players on the roster (Skille & Dowell called up due to injuries). However, We had to support the Wild in a hostile environment.

Our aisle was the main entrance to the scorer's table and on ice activities, so Buddy didn't settle in until the game started. He began the period watching the action but eventually settled in and rested during the first period. Buddy warmed the hearts of the Chicago fans, so we didn't suffer any verbal abuse as the Blackhawks took the lead.

We moved up to the second row for the next period to give friends a front row seat. Luckily or unluckily we missed a big check right in front of us. It was violent enough from the second row. The row was a little more croweded and Buddy spent the last 20 seconds of the period in my lap. He sat the whole period because he couldn't get comfortable in the confined conditions. He was panicky and we couldn't get him to settle down and he eventually jumped in my lap.

On the way to our "smoking" break he was fine. After the break, we returned to our front row seats to watch the final period. Buddy seemed happier after getting a rawhide bone halfway through the period. After the final horn sounded, we made our way through the crowd and then back to the hotel for a late serving of kibble.

The Minnesota Wild defeated the Blackhawks (5 - 2).

Behaved, Not Perfect

We often write about how well behaved Buddy is during outings. However, he has plenty of opportunities for improvement. We just don't want to really bore you with every little detail.

For example:
1. Attempts to eat anything that resembles food on the floor (we know it's not food if he's willing to "drop it")
2. Breaks from a "Stay" if he can't see me
3. We mentioned the door bell the other day
4. Highly distracted by other dogs
5. Mounting his toys
6. Crying in the park, looking for other dogs
7. Overly friendly greetings
8. Beginning to mark his territory
9. Crying to get me out of bed in the morning
10. Not attentive while walking
11. Sitting in his crate when he wants/expects food
12. Now mid January, he believes he can only potty on top of the largest snow bank he can find.
13. Seems to think he has special powers--if he looks hard enough at his rawhide, then at us, then his rawhide, it may magically come to him (we're very stingey with the rawhide).

Stormy

At times it seems that Bella's favorite thing to do is torment our family pet, a three year old lab named Stormy. Stormy is the exact opposite of Bella. Stormy is sleek and trim; Bella is baggy and stocky. Stormy is dainty and lady-like; Bella is sloppy and clumsy. Stormy barks at anything outside that moves; Bella could give a hoot. They love to chew on each other, even groom each other. The tease each other with their toys.

Bella's next scheduled outing, assuming she is feeling better, will be a wrestling meet this evening. She has been to quite a few and it's great training for her. She would love so much to join those young men and wrestle with them, but knows she has to just sit and watch.

Sick Puppy

This week we are dealing with Bella's first sickness. Hate to be gross, but she had been vomiting since Friday. Nothing much, but about two or three times a day. On Monday we took her to the vet. Luckily the vet didn't see any signs of poison and does not suspect anything sharp in her belly, my two concerns.

He thinks it's just an upset tummy, gave her a shot, and has put her on a special bland dog food for a couple of days. It has now been over 24 hours since she has gotten sick, so we think it's blown over. Poor Bella, she even tries to make it out her doggie door when the urge to get sick happens.

Later ....

We thought Bella was doing better, but she "lost it" last night. So, she is now fasting for 24 hours (only ice chips) and then introduce the special canned food. Poor Bella, she looks so embarrassed after she gets sick. If this does not clear up by Saturday another trip to the vet.

Ding Dong

More door bell training this evening. Tried it by surprise the first time and he barked. "NO" Second time, he barked. "NO" Third time, he barked. "NO". Fourth time, he didn't bark. Success? No, just a smart dog. I paused between the third and fourth to put the pinch collar on. He knew not to bark then. :-)

We had one success later - Buddy was lying in his crate and I rang the doorbell. Nothing!! Not a sound. He did hear it because he came walking to the door. Much praise was provided. Keep your fingers crossed.

Buddy is also learning to stay away from us when we exercise on the treadmill or bicycle. Nothing painful yet and we are trying to keep it that way for his benefit and ours.

Alice Cooper

Bella goes just about everywhere that we go. In her 8 months with us she has just about seen and done it all. Bella has gone to school plays and concerts, wrestling meets and even gone to school with our daughter. Bella has been in all kinds of stores, restaurants, in parades, county fairs, a funeral, even an Alice Cooper concert! Mini-golfing, boating, you name it. She takes it as it comes.

Of course, nobody is perfect. Bella's biggest training challenge is to greet people calmly, with dignity. We have been working on that by applying pressure to her pinch collar and reminding her firmly for a calm greeting. We are seeing success in this. And, she loves to lay on peoples feet which can really get in the way.

I'd love to hear from others raising puppies for any kind of service work.

Visitors Today?

Buddy had some visitors today. And they rang the doorbell. He proceeded to bark and push to greet them. So, we skipped the first session of a new puppy class to work on desensitizing Buddy to the doorbell and getting him to ignore exercise equipment.

We rang the bell, Buddy barked, we told him "No" and offered praise when he did not bark. Repeated this with some success. Then we put the pinch collar on and rang the bell, Buddy barked and we corrected him or offered praise. This was more effective. Then, we continued to ring the bell using correction and the best positive reinforcement, kibble. We conducted two additional sessions - he needs more work.

We don't want to repeat Pavlov's experiment, so we stopped the food. He was drooling when we were using the food as reinforcement, we don't want him drooling every time the door bell rings or he hears a bell on television.

Meet Bella

I'd like to introduce you to Bella!

Bella is a black Labrador Retriever, almost 10 months old. Bella is with OccuPaws and in the process of becoming a guide dog for the blind. Bella is Buddy's brother and I know you have gotten to know Buddy through the other posts. Bella lives with the Ploegerts, in the country right on the Rock River in Janesville.

We have always had labs in the family and training puppies is such a joy for our family. This is our first time puppy-raising a future guide dog and we have enjoyed it so much and consider it a blessing.

Bella is a fun dog, the class clown. Underneath her goofy behavior, her thick slobbers, her bulldozing through anything, is a smart, eager to please girl. Bella loves to meet people, she is well behaved in public, and just about every thing we have trained her to do she has done. In October she received her Canine Good Citizen Award.

Our favorite quality of Bella is how loving she is. She shows it in a rather boisterous way, but it's there! She loves to be in the same room with us and will follow us wherever we go.

Attack Dogs

This morning on our walk, Buddy was "attacked" by a chocolate cocker spaniel and his shih tzu pal. The spanial was the ring leader. Both were off leash at the park and they were not happy to see Buddy on their path. They made sure to let him know by growling and nipping at him. I was trying to get him to remain calm and stay seated as the dogs antogonized him. He couldn't figure out what they were doing. "Dogs aren't supposed to act that way." He was more bewildered and shocked than fearful.

No harm, he's taking his morning nap now.

Happy Birthday Mom - Buddy took mom out for dinner and finished his nap.

Hard Walk

Buddy went for a long walk this morning, to get exercise and in preparation for the days activities. A tired dog is a well behaved dog. We walked for about 40 minutes and again used the jerky treats to reinforce recalls. The "hard" part of the walk wasn't the distance, it was seeing his dog friends for the first time in a week and not being able to play. I wanted to give his knee some extra rest before hard running and I wanted to work on his level of distraction around other dogs. Being overly friendly is not a good trait for a guide dog.

Busy day: library, stores, pet store, restaurant, hockey, ...

Rather uneventful day which means Buddy behaved well. Lots of riding and walking around so he missed his naps during the day which left him exhausted at the hockey game. People in the restaurant and hockey game didn't know he was there until we got up to leave. He rested during the action and then took a "smoking" break outside and walked around the halls some more during intermissions. He does very good walking in the crowd and is patient walking down steps in a crowd. His preference would be to run down.

Another "hard" walk in the afternoon. Maybe some fun tomorrow.

Back to Work

A couple longer walks today to test his knee. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, so I think he is 100 percent. First outing today was to work to see Wendy. After seven months he finally met his dog food wholesale connection. Thanks Wendy. Lisa forgot to bring his pinch collar, so he was somewhat excitable and undisciplined. It was a good test to see how well he behaves with minimal correction. He did much better after he settled down a little

The other day I wrote about reintroducing the pinch collar. The collar is not used often to pinch, however without it we had a difficult time getting his attention. Once you get his attention he will remain attentive. Corrections are much more difficult using the flat collar.

There was a spare choke collar in the puppy bag. The choke collar doesn't work as well because it slides down his neck to a less effective location. However, it seemed to get his attention during the following two shopping trips and dinner out. He listened well, but wasn't tired enough to remain down during the entire dinner. He was a little fidgety

Buddy is officially back to work.

Wildlife

How do you entertain a housebound dog? Well, you could fill up the bird feeder.

Yesterday, we decided to fill up the bird feeder to provide Buddy with a little entertainment. He had a bird's eye view of the action at the fully stocked bird feeder and bird skating rink (pun intended). Food during this cold stretch brought out a menagerie of animals. The blue jay was the first followed by a tree full of finches and then a mourning dove. All drew Buddy's attention. But his favorite was the squirrel.

Upon seeing the squirrel for the first time, Buddy let out a loud bark to either warn the squirrel or ask him to play. After our reprimand, the barking ceased and he watched the squirrel, rather impatiently, for about fifteen minutes as he jumped from tree to feeder to ground, raced up and around trees, and for some reason buried him head in the snow. We were all entertained.

Buddy seems fully healed and definitely well rested, so we took a twenty minute walk this evening. After eating dinner, he still had more energy and played fetch for another ten minutes followed by cradling and nail trimming.

Back on his Feet

The last few days we have focused on puppy care and basics. We started and will continue daily ear cleaning. During this rest period we gave him frequent nail clippings to get him used to it, once every couple weeks doesn't provide enough repetition. As we carried things up/downstairs, we had him sit and stay until we could return to carry him. And of course lots of cradling and brushing.
I slept in a little later today because Buddy had to potty this morning, at 4:00 (not sure if its the new food or lack of routine) and he got stuck. I had to brave the frigid temperature and then couldn't get back to sleep. Lisa let him outside when she got up for work, and then when he comes back in he usually sleeps. Today he sat by the bed and cried. He wanted something - I was not happy. After I got up he went to his crate and laid down, all comfy cozy.

Buddy appears to be back to normal and apparently ready to get back to his routine of walking every morning. So I did take him for a very short walk this morning. He is walking without a limp and does not favor his leg while standing. We will give him one more day of rest before starting his rehab, ramping up to his normal exercise schedule with additional outings whenever possible.

Buddy has gained five pounds since being injured, 62 pounds. Not bad since he was a little on the lean side.