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!

Adolescence

Aug. 31, 2008

In general, Kruiser has been doing really well. He's good in the house, no problems with toileting, loves chasing and retrieving balls, is a really strong swimmer. But we occasionally run into some adolescent behaviors like a sudden refusal to lie down, or retrieving a thrown ball but dropping it several feet away. Deborah had us go back several steps and use a tug down on the prong collar as we said "down" for a couple of days, and when playing fetch to have Kruiser leashed so we could reel him in closer on the "drop" or "give." The first correction worked well. The second had mixed success, but in general he's better about dropping the ball close now. His "wait" when we throw the ball isn't at 100% but so long as we're standing (in a position of authority) he will wait for a "take it" release. Of course, if Pat is nearby and eying the ball, Kruiser's self-discipline waivers. Solution? Put Pat in a sit and wait as well, and then all is well.

We took Kruiser to his first volleyball game last night. At first his head did the back and forth cartoon swivel watching the ball, but pretty soon he settled down and even slept until stomping in the stands woke him. A toddler took to him and gave him lots of pats and pokes--Kruiser handled it all well and even annointed the little boy with slobber on his hair. When we left, the boy ran up and asked to give Kruiser a goodbye hug. Very sweet.

Today at church Kruiser really took to the kids that came up to him, and once again Leah asked if she could pat him and if he was soft. Kruiser is really gentle with her and seems interested in engaging her, though when she sat on the floor next to him (he was in a "down") we had to watch that he didn't reach for her with his paw. It will be good to take him into more school settings soon so he has more chance to be around kids, but from what we can tell, he's going to do well with them.

So I took him to the vet's to pick up Pat's thyroid medicine and weighed him--59 lbs. Here's a picture of the growing boy from Sat. morning on a hike at our cabin.