Another Puppy Raiser

November, 2008



Judy from my yoga class is now a "puppy raiser" to one of Kruiser's litter mates. Here she is with Kookie at training. Kookie is more challenging than Kruiser, if only because she hasn't had a continuous puppy raiser the way Kruiser has had. However, she definitely has the aptitude--she brings Judy her keys, the remote, the paper, almost without asking. A great litter!

This month Kruiser went through a lot of teenage behavior. He unlearned "down stay" and we had to remind him of it over and over. On the other hand, he learned how to retrieve the paper (Kookie & Judy gave us the idea) for Ed in the morning after only 5 minutes of teaching him using an old paper. His only issue was that he wanted to play with it on the way up the stairs. It just took attaching him to a long lead and giving him a gentle tug along with a "come" and he got it. Since then he's been getting the paper every morning. The first big Sunday paper threw him, but now he can even handle that. It's almost as if he says, "Why didn't you teach me this sooner!" He's also getting better with handicap buttons, though I still don't think he's made the connection between pressing the button and opening the door--his connection is between putting his paws up on the button and getting a treat and lots of praise. The women working at credit union and the city hall get a kick out of the training and have loved to see him progress at opening their doors.

Learning New Skills

Nov. 10, 2008
We're working on a couple of new skills. "Pull" is one. I started by getting Kruiser to pull on a double knotted cotton dog pull and then worked up to a macramé plant hanger attached to the refrigerator door hand. It took a couple of days, but as you can see above and below Kruiser can now reliably open the fridge door.
I learned something too--I need to unattach the plant hanger when we're done practicing. Ed came home the other day and the fridge door was wide open. Fortunately, Kruiser hadn't figured out there's food inside!

The other skill we're working on is opening handicap doors. I started by lifting Kruiser's paw and pressing the handicap button with it. He didn't get it. At home I came up with a plan. If I could extend his "up" command (we use that to invite him onto the bed) by putting a treat on the edge of the kitchen counter then he would put his paws up and get the treat. Wrong. He jumped ALL the way onto the counter (hey, just like getting "up" on the bed, right?) Oops. A neighbor suggested a "paws up" command. That seems to be working well. Today at the post office I put a treat on the ledge over the handicap button and as he went for the treat with the "paws up" command he managed to push the button with one of his paws. However, the next time I put the treat on the ledge, he snatched it without touching the button. Finally I tried holding the treat right against the surface of the button. It worked--he pushed the button going for the biscuit. But despite my rapturous praise I don't think he realized he opened the door. At least I think we have a system that works now and maybe if we practice it enough Kruiser will make the connection between pushing the button and the door opening. Fun stuff!

Wheelchairs

Oct. 16, 2008

We were at the doctor's office today and I saw a bunch of wheelchairs in the entry with "Kaiser Permanente" written on the backs. When I checked in, I asked if I could use one for training. It ends up I was a klutz, but Kruiser just walked alongside my drunken path, looking at me the whole time to see if I was okay (or nuts perhaps). By the time I got my coordination down, he was less attentive, but I just asked him to heel and he did. He also was great at hanging behind me as I went through the doorway. A few people must have wondered about my miraculous recovery as I jumped up out of the wheelchair and strode into my appointment.


Here's a picture from last weekend. Kruiser is really into sticks these days...BIG sticks.

Vets Are A Breed Apart

Oct. 13, 2008

I am so impressed with vets. Kruiser needed neutering and Deborah's vet wouldn't have her office up and running until January. We called our vet in town and our vet at the cabin asking if they might be willing to donate a neutering. Both of them said "yes." We went with the one in town for simplicity and Kruiser came home a bit groggy but in great shape. Now maybe he won't hump small dogs on the creek path! (It was his humping a little whippet that prompted us to do this.) He now weighs 67 pounds.

Puppy Raising as Therapy

Sept. 28, 2008

A cool story from a woman in my yoga class (where Kruiser is now a regular and adding to the mellow vibes of the class by sleeping through it or watching non-plussed as people contort their bodies in interesting ways)--

A friend of hers adopted a girl many years ago, and when the girl reached 15 she wanted to find her birth mom. The adopted mom supported her in her search and they located the birth mom in Florida. By then the girl was 16 and planned a trip to Florida to meet her face-to-face. At the last minute, the girl backed out, too afraid to carry through with her plans.

The adopted mom wanted to find some way to help the girl understand her biological mom and came up with the idea to become a puppy raiser for an assistance dog. They did this. The puppy grew up and they gave it to the training organization for its final training, the girl seeing how you can love someone but still give them up for all sorts of good reasons. Lesson learned.

There's a nice postscript to the story, too. In the end, the puppy, now dog, failed as an assistance dog and the adopted girl and her family got to keep it.

He Likes His Pool

Sept. 9, 2008

Kruiser likes his pool (even empty)


...and the cat.

Houdini

Sept. 9, 2008

A couple of days ago, I left Kruiser in his crate while I went to the Rec Center to swim. When I got back, he greeted me at the back door. I thought Ed had come home and let him out, but no, no Ed. I checked his crate. There were only 3 screws on to hold it together and the one on the back had pulled through. He had somehow nosed his way through the gap and pushed hard enough to slip the screw head through the plastic around the hole and then hopped out. He was totally unfazed by the whole thing and hadn’t gotten into anything in the house he shouldn’t have. The next time I went out for errands, I left him with Pat loose in the house. When I got back 45 mins later, he was asleep on the sofa and again no pillaged trash cans or torn apart stuffed animals. He’s growing up!