Nice day for a Picnic

60 degrees, I was home for the remainder of the day. Why not a picnic? With Melissa in attendance of course. I didn't plan an elaborate picnic. This was Melissa's first time attending a picnic...best to make it uncomplicated for the trial run. Just me, a sandwich, a bottle of Snapple iced tea, and two dogs.

The sandwich was sort of boring, but a favorite of mine for a quick grab and go....12 grain bread and peanut butter. I figured it would be better to have a boring sandwich then a dripping hot roast beef on rye. That might have made it a bit too tempting for Melissa. I was working on manners, and I do like to set her up to be successful. Why practice failure?

So I don my sunglasses and out I go, sandwich and drink in hand, two dogs in attendance. One dog with impeccable manners around food, the other ...well, Melissa is learning. I walk across the yard...the dogs show some interest. I rewarded both of them for keeping four feet on the floor. I am optimistic that I will be able to sit in the Adirondack chair without having a Borzoi on my lap. I was almost successful....up came one paw. I was very neutral and took her paw off.

I proceeded to open the iced tea....adult dog in a sit, she gets a tiny piece of crust of bread. Melissa remains standing, but is not jumping or pushing to get what is in my lap. A tiny piece of crust for her also, I reward all the behavior I want to see repeated. No need for her to sit yet...that will come in time. I eat, the dogs watch. I randomly give them some tiny pieces of bread with peanut butter. Melissa sits.....I gave her a jackpot, several tiny pieces in a row. I just 'captured' a sit. Melissa offered the behavior, I rewarded. I don't expect her to sit all the time but if she is rewarded for it, she will offer it more often in hopes of being rewarded. The basis of positive reinforcement training.

I think the days of me keeping Melissa on a lead while I eat might be nearing an end. Up until now, if I want to eat with her in attendance, Melissa has been on lead, given a bone to chew to keep her occupied. She chews while lying on a mat, I eat in peace. Today was a bit different: outdoors, no mat, no chew bone, no lead, but very boring food. Melissa will be invited again. And so ended our little picnic.

Rainy day: What to do with puppy Melissa?

It began raining late last night. It was still raining this morning when we woke. It is still raining mid-afternoon. What do to with puppy Melissa? Besides putting her meals into interactive toys such as Kongs and the Twist and Treat by Premier, I have done a lot of hand feeding and training today. A few days after Melissa came to live with us, I began clicker training her. For more info on clicker training visit www.clickertraining.com. I am focusing on behaviors I would like Melissa to repeat. I am capturing and reinforcing any thing she does that I would like for her to do again. For example: She began to lift her right paw. So I clicked and treated that. Behaviors that are reinforced will be repeated. Guess what? Melissa is now offering the paw lift more and more. This morning I began putting a name to it, 'wave' just as she was lifting her paw. Click and treat. I'm having fun, her mind is engaged, she has something to do.

By focusing on the good stuff our dogs do, it puts us in a different frame of mind. Look for the good stuff, and either ignore the unwanted behavior or manage things so they can't do the bad stuff. Telling a dog 'No' is not giving them any information...remember that our dogs do not come to us knowing the English language. By focusing and rewarding the good stuff, Melissa is becoming more attentive and focused on me. A dog that is focused on you and knows what is expected of her will be calmer.

Rainy day? No problem. Hand feeding during training sessions, interactive toys, lots of bones for Melissa to chew on, and several 2 to 3 minute training sessions spread out through out the day makes for one tired puppy.

Got a question about your puppy? Write me at hemlock@nycap.rr.com. If you want your question published let me know and I will include it in this blog along with an answer so everyone with a new puppy can benefit.