NICKIE HARD AT WORK

Nickie has been hard at work. She had to take some time off to begin working with the Holgate Center. She will be one of the founding members of the Therapy Dog Team. She is looking forward to training with her new team.

Nickie July through August 2023

Here is a little peek at Nickie’s growth over the last month. WOW!

Climb

Climb command. This essential utility begins with luring the dog to any place that is elevated. First you begin by getting the dog to follow your lure. As always, mark and reward. Once the dog has followed your lure at least 5 times, this will become the physical cue. Try this again 5 times. If the dog gets the physical cue and climbs to the higher elevation, then they are understanding the request. Now you can add the verbal command. Remember the Verbal command must come first. Then half second later you can add the physical cue, mark and reward.

The off command is the same. You can jump start the dog by showing them a treat that you have dropped on the ground a short distance from the climb spot. When they jump down to get the treat, mark and reward. Lure back to the climb spot, then lure off. Bring the same treat to their nose and lure them off. This will be your off physical cue. After you have done this 5 times, you are ready to add the verbal command. While the dog is on the elevated spot, have them focus on you. Once they have the eye contact, say Off, then physical cue them to the landing spot. Mark and reward. With both commands, you will eventually fade out the treat. This may take a little longer for some dogs. Don’t be discouraged. All dogs, like people and children, learn at different speeds. Be a good and understanding teacher. Be patient, and kind. Remember, you want learning to be a fun experience. Don’t forget, Slow is Fast.

More leash fun

With a fulltime day job, I have to find the time to squeeze in Nickie’s lessons. At this point in her development, the lessons are running about 5-10 minutes 3 x a day when I get the chance. What is important is the fun, praise, and treats. She will begin to associate the lessons that she is learning with how it affects her life.

Nickie shots

Hello friends. Nickie had to have her second series of shots to prepare her for the real world. Unfortunately, it made her real tired, and she has been taking some real good naps. She did think it was fun to see her buddy Finn at the same Veterinarian office. Seeing friends is always a bonus. She has been at work with me enjoying lots of socialization with all her her new human friends.

Down Time

Unfortunately, we live in a beautiful area of Rainier. The downside is that our internet services is spotty at best. We have a lot of videos to share but cannot upload at this moment. Perhaps tomorrow?

In the mean time, and update on Nickie. Nickie had to take a few days off, as she picked up a little tummy upset, and during some play with her big brother, got stepped on. She is doing well, and has her follow up booster appointment tomorrow with her veterinarian. She is very excited about getting her shots. On one hand, it means we are a step closer to the real world, on the other it means more shots!!! Ouch!

Nickie continues her training and socialization. We attended the Columbia City event this last Saturday. The car show was grand, and the music was great. We even got stopped and someone recognized who we were from the blog! It was very nice to be recognized. Or should I say, Nickie was recognized. She says she will not let it go to her head. We will try to get her continued leash training video uploaded as well as her climb command video.

Till next time,

Nickie says, Don’t forget to pet the dog!

Nickie week 10 socilization

Week 10 continues with human interaction and socilization with as many different people as possible, to keep her well balanced and adjusted properly to people. There never seems to be a shortage of people willing to hold her. Smile Nickie!

Nickie, with her big brother Kipp!

Nickie 9 weeks socialization pool

Here is Nickie at 9 weeks, continuing to socialization her to sound, textures, and different surfaces. As you can see, it is exciting to de-stimulate her to noises that could potentially create a fearful environment. Have fun Nickie!

Nickie’s Puppy Pool and Stuff!

This a shot of Nickie’s desensitization pool. It will allow her as a puppy to experience different sensations such as surfaces, sounds, and loud noises. This will help her during her time between her next series of shots, where she cannot fully experience the outside world.

Here is a shot of Nickie’s Crate. She is pretty good about being in the crate. Preparing for Crate Training began even before we had Nickie. We had to take a chance that we would end up with a Puppy from this particular litter. We gave the breeder two items. 1. A baby blanket to capture Dog Moms scent. We placed it into the crate creating a familiar smell for her which allowed her to adjust much more quickly and feel safe. 2. An old shirt that we captured the liter scent on. We picked this shirt up from the breeder a week prior to picking up Nickie. We put the shirt into a bag and introduced the scent to our current Golden Retriever, Kipp. This allowed Kipp the get used to the scent of the puppies and allowed him to prepare for the new addition as well.

The crate is next to our bed, so Nickie can look right up at us. As well, we can see her if we need to take her out for a potty break. She is currently at about 3 hours, in between breaks. She loves the Lambchop, and sleeps with it as if it was a littermate. She is not left unattended with anything in the crate other than her blanket when she is alone for safety's sake.

This is a shot of Nickie’s in house potty box. Some trainers may disagree with our decision to pad train her in the house with an enclosure, instead of going outside with her. We have a 3-story house and tried several methods to be close to an exit, but it all came down to the same important factor. We don’t want to unnecessarily expose her to the outside world unless we have to or know the surface is free of Parvo.

We still follow up with a mark and praise when she uses the potty box. We verbally throw her a fun Puppy Party when she does potty on cue. (We clap and encourage/praise her with glee).

Here is a short video of Nickie and her first attempt at Lure training. I just wanted to give her the concept of luring and getting her to follow my hand. This is but one element of building our Partnership together.

This is not a formal training secession, but more of a quick introduction to see is she could grasp the concept. She did really well with this training secession. This will be the basis for a lot of her Obedience training, and Service Dog training as well.

Nickie

Nickie’s first two weeks will be spent getting her acclimated to her new home, and as a new member of the family. Thus far, she has begun potty training, lure training, and immense socialization exposure. We will be uploading pictures of our training efforts and attempts to keep training fun!