4 Paws For Alex
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Hi Folks,
We started the day in our normal fashion, going to breakfast. Jen was a little disappointed that Dad finished her pumpkin carving. She did 80% of it, but it became too late last night to let her finish. At least she got to bring it to the lobby and show it off. Before we brought it to the lobby, I had her shut the lights off and pointed the flashlight inside the top. She was thrilled to see what she had made.
Yesterday we were told that we would have a full day at 4 Paws today. So it was off to 4 Paws, we didn't have a very good start because we forgot the seizure shirts back at the Hotel. When Jeremy got to us he asked if we did any seizure scent work (we didn't, shame on us) so he said we would work on this morning. You know what that meant (Dad was going to the Hotel to get it).
Just before leaving Mom said bring her back a coffee since her first one was gone on the way to 4 Paws. So I did her one better and brought our Keurig (www.keurig.com) coffee maker that we took with us from home, to 4 Paws along with the seizure shirts. I brought sugar & milk in a cooler so there would be no complaints.
This actually went over big, a few of the other parents had either coffee or tea. This is good for us because if we can refer someone to buy a machine, they will get 50 free pods of coffee and we will get 50 free pods as well. Pretty good deal, even tough the machine is a bit pricey, but it save us from spending money at Dunkin Donuts.
Back to training it was we went over Nuzzle, Lap, Down, Sit, Over, then we got into the seizure scent work. We were told that we needed to change the containers that the shirts were in so that Honor wouldn't just associate the bag with the scent, but more over would be trained to the scent itself. It would have been nicer to find this out a little earlier so we could have practiced. Well better late than never. The other thing Jeremy said was not give him a treat after each bark, we should try to get at least 3-4 barks and give praise more than treats but still give treats randomly.
In the afternoon we were told we would be going over bringing the dogs home and some guidelines about how to integrate Honor in with our other pets. We have two Bichon's you see. So we had more questions than most. We were told to bring Honor into our house with the other dogs not there so he can smell his way around. Since the dogs were trained not to be territorial we should not have an issue with him marking his territory (that's a good thing) he definitely has a much larger volume than our other dogs.
When we went over toys, we were told to increase the size of the toys for the biggest dog to avoid choking of Honor on the other dogs toys. We also asked about the feeding patterns, since our Bichons have had "people food" Jeremy indicated that we should not try to have different feeding schedules and we should break the other dogs away from people food. Guess it is tough love for Brady & Bro because we don't want Honor to lose his effectiveness during meal time.
We were also told that our other dogs could learn new rules, we should just be consistent all the time and not just when we feel like it. Jeremy said the dogs don't know the concept of sometimes.
On the way out of 4 Paws, we let Honor in the play area again but only with Ziti (Alec's Dog) while we were in there another trainer (Jennifer) brought in some Golden Retrievers to the play area, while they were playing we started to talk. One of the concepts, I wanted them to go over was the "Come" command while in the play area with other dogs. I said there have been mornings when play needed to be over, but the dogs wouldn't come to us. Jennifer said well you can practice now, so I bent down and called Honor over he hesitated but then came running. I gave him a treat and then was getting ready to put the leash on him when Jennifer said, "Don't do that" you want Honor to think that coming when called is a good thing, not "Play time is over". So I let him go a few more minutes then did it again, this time it was OK to leave because I had let him be free earlier. She also said it is a good idea to always have a treat for the "Come" command or at least 90% of the time.
We were told we would have our training test tomorrow, guess where (at the mall). After that we go back to 4 Paws for a one on one to go over paperwork with Karen, then Graduation. Our training test slot is set for 11:20AM, the kids do not have to be present.
We are still trying to decide who will do the test. I have a feeling I will do the test and Mom will do the paperwork.
After that we broke for the day and headed to the Hotel for the Halloween get together. This was a fun time, we didn't have to cook or spend money at a restaurant (Yea). We took some pictures of the carved pumpkins, if the photo area starts cooperating I will load them later tonight. I added some pics from today, but couldn't see them on the site, could be a glitch with the site.
One more day then a big day of packing and hoping it all fits, we should be OK because a lot of the stuff we took like food will be gone. We will just have to pack more efficiently since we will now have a new thing to pack.
That's all for tonight and look it is earlier so hopefully less typo's since the light is still on.
Alex's Dad.
We started the day in our normal fashion, going to breakfast. Jen was a little disappointed that Dad finished her pumpkin carving. She did 80% of it, but it became too late last night to let her finish. At least she got to bring it to the lobby and show it off. Before we brought it to the lobby, I had her shut the lights off and pointed the flashlight inside the top. She was thrilled to see what she had made.
Yesterday we were told that we would have a full day at 4 Paws today. So it was off to 4 Paws, we didn't have a very good start because we forgot the seizure shirts back at the Hotel. When Jeremy got to us he asked if we did any seizure scent work (we didn't, shame on us) so he said we would work on this morning. You know what that meant (Dad was going to the Hotel to get it).
Just before leaving Mom said bring her back a coffee since her first one was gone on the way to 4 Paws. So I did her one better and brought our Keurig (www.keurig.com) coffee maker that we took with us from home, to 4 Paws along with the seizure shirts. I brought sugar & milk in a cooler so there would be no complaints.
This actually went over big, a few of the other parents had either coffee or tea. This is good for us because if we can refer someone to buy a machine, they will get 50 free pods of coffee and we will get 50 free pods as well. Pretty good deal, even tough the machine is a bit pricey, but it save us from spending money at Dunkin Donuts.
Back to training it was we went over Nuzzle, Lap, Down, Sit, Over, then we got into the seizure scent work. We were told that we needed to change the containers that the shirts were in so that Honor wouldn't just associate the bag with the scent, but more over would be trained to the scent itself. It would have been nicer to find this out a little earlier so we could have practiced. Well better late than never. The other thing Jeremy said was not give him a treat after each bark, we should try to get at least 3-4 barks and give praise more than treats but still give treats randomly.
In the afternoon we were told we would be going over bringing the dogs home and some guidelines about how to integrate Honor in with our other pets. We have two Bichon's you see. So we had more questions than most. We were told to bring Honor into our house with the other dogs not there so he can smell his way around. Since the dogs were trained not to be territorial we should not have an issue with him marking his territory (that's a good thing) he definitely has a much larger volume than our other dogs.
When we went over toys, we were told to increase the size of the toys for the biggest dog to avoid choking of Honor on the other dogs toys. We also asked about the feeding patterns, since our Bichons have had "people food" Jeremy indicated that we should not try to have different feeding schedules and we should break the other dogs away from people food. Guess it is tough love for Brady & Bro because we don't want Honor to lose his effectiveness during meal time.
We were also told that our other dogs could learn new rules, we should just be consistent all the time and not just when we feel like it. Jeremy said the dogs don't know the concept of sometimes.
On the way out of 4 Paws, we let Honor in the play area again but only with Ziti (Alec's Dog) while we were in there another trainer (Jennifer) brought in some Golden Retrievers to the play area, while they were playing we started to talk. One of the concepts, I wanted them to go over was the "Come" command while in the play area with other dogs. I said there have been mornings when play needed to be over, but the dogs wouldn't come to us. Jennifer said well you can practice now, so I bent down and called Honor over he hesitated but then came running. I gave him a treat and then was getting ready to put the leash on him when Jennifer said, "Don't do that" you want Honor to think that coming when called is a good thing, not "Play time is over". So I let him go a few more minutes then did it again, this time it was OK to leave because I had let him be free earlier. She also said it is a good idea to always have a treat for the "Come" command or at least 90% of the time.
We were told we would have our training test tomorrow, guess where (at the mall). After that we go back to 4 Paws for a one on one to go over paperwork with Karen, then Graduation. Our training test slot is set for 11:20AM, the kids do not have to be present.
We are still trying to decide who will do the test. I have a feeling I will do the test and Mom will do the paperwork.
After that we broke for the day and headed to the Hotel for the Halloween get together. This was a fun time, we didn't have to cook or spend money at a restaurant (Yea). We took some pictures of the carved pumpkins, if the photo area starts cooperating I will load them later tonight. I added some pics from today, but couldn't see them on the site, could be a glitch with the site.
One more day then a big day of packing and hoping it all fits, we should be OK because a lot of the stuff we took like food will be gone. We will just have to pack more efficiently since we will now have a new thing to pack.
That's all for tonight and look it is earlier so hopefully less typo's since the light is still on.
Alex's Dad.
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