Misty came with a student to do the fourth installment of the door program. We are doing something just a little different now. The dogs have mats that they have to find their 'spot' on. They are like welcome mats, that size. Skooter has to have all four paws on the mat. Moped has to be mostly on the mat when he goes 'flat'. We tried working them together, but it just didn't work. So now I have to work with them individually on the door program. When we trained them individually they both did great. Misty says they are doing really well. She said that they are her favorite dogs right now. We actually got the student in the door and to them without them leaving their spot. That is awesome progress. Once they really 'get it' individually, then I can start working with them separately. This was awesome considering the morning I had with them. I was frustrated with their behavior most of the morning.
For breakfast they had beef liver and chicken. Skooter didn't like the liver, Moped did like it. Skooter ate more chicken and Moped ate more liver. I've been flying by the seat of my pants on this raw diet. I know I need more guidance and I got it from Kristy (Skooter's assistant trainer). She emailed me a Raw Food Schedule. It's great and is a real help. I'll start following it tomorrow (there are a few things I need to get at the store before I can begin). I have a question still for Kristy, so I'll email her tonight. The question is:
* What part(s) of the chicken does she give to her dog?
I have thighs, but I read that thighs aren't the best to feed them. I probably should have got wings. I need to get more canned salmon and some canola and flax seed oil too. I think I've been doing pretty good feeding them considering all the conflicting information online.
Here's Kristy's response to my email:
"Thanks for sharing your blog with me. I have a couple comments and/or suggestions.
FIRST - I am attaching a sample raw food diet. I made this up when I started feeding my dogs raw and like you found so much conflicting and sometimes confusing information. This sample is what works best for me... and the one thing I will tell you about the raw diet is that it is very forgiving - if you forget a certain meal don't worry about it, or if you run out of veggies (as I do often) and don't feel like food processing some, just do it the next time. Also on this list I have chicken for all the breakfast meals cause I work early and never have time to mix up meals - if this isn't the case for you then you can switch things up to work for you. Also, if you come up with your own schedule, I would be more than happy to modify this one for you so you can post it on your fridge.
SECOND - I just have a suggestion about the bed issue with Scooter. I'm not sure if this would work for you or not (and you may want to check with Misty) - Juneau (my pitbul) had this problem too. She would never budge off the bed and it drove me nuts. So I made it into a type of game. I would throw some treats on the floor and when she would hop down to get them I would say good hop down. I did this like 50 times (not all in a row) and when she would hop down every time for the treats, I then asked for the hop down at the same time as tossing the treats. After doing this a bunch of times, I then asked first for the hop down, waited and if she did it on her own I would jackpot her. If not then I would say it again and toss treats. Eventually she got it on her own. I will tell you that this is a game for her now and she hops up and looks at me and just waits for the hop down (somewhat annoying). I don't reward her anymore with food - just praise and because the hopping up and down is fun for her and is actually the reward itself now.
THIRD - I wanted to let you know that I also started in behavior counseling and went through all the overwhelming things you are going through... all the new rules, all the reading and the new way of training. Just don't be too hard on yourself if you make a mistake or think you are messing up. As long as you do your best and love your dogs, then you are doing a great job. As for the training, your dogs are in elementary school, so they won't be perfect yet. Don't get discouraged and just keep practicing, they will get better, I promise. Also I would be more than happy to do a private with you if you can't set a time with Ruth. Just email me or give me a call."
I really appreciate the time she took to answer my questions. Her comments and suggestions are really helpful. And getting a copy of her Raw diet is extremely helpful.
Back to this morning. I don't know if it was the dogs or me, but I was totally frustrated with the dogs this morning. They just weren't listening and were getting in the way. They seemed to have to much energy to expend this morning. I've had them out of their kennels and off tie down for days now, so they are getting a lot more exercise. Anyway, I ended up putting them in their kennels because I was so frustrated. They took a nap. I made lunch for after training. When Misty got here she asked how I was doing and I told her how I felt. She was very understanding and was able to open my eyes to the progress the dogs have made and how well they are doing individually with the door program. I felt a lot better by the time we were through with the training.
A BIG issue is Skooter jumping the fence. He is running all over the community. Sooner or later someone is going to say something about him running around. David is going to put the tie out up, but hasn't done it yet. I fear that Skooter will get stolen or hit by a vehicle if he continues jumping the fence. And the worst thing is that now Moped wants to get out of the yard. He'd definitely get lost if he got out. I don't think Moped would know how to find his way home. I really wish we could move to a place where we had more land and could put up a higher fence. Some day.
Right now they are in their kennels taking a late afternoon nap. Tonight for dinner they will probably get tuna since I don't have any salmon or mackerel. I'll start giving them fish just once a week starting tonight.
When David got home Moped kind of went crazy. He jumped up on David. He jumped on the furniture. He ran all around the house. That's not the behavior I want when David comes in the house. I would like them to sit and wait for attention instead of begging for and demanding it. That is a goal we can shoot for in the future. I can't expect them to get it all in just a couple of weeks. Like I said earlier, they've made a lot of progress and I am very happy about that. I just need to be more patient and relaxed with them. And I can do that. I can do anything for them.
Saturday we forgot to go in after we did the last behavior to get our homework for this week. I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow because I'll be bringing the dogs to the facility so they can spend some time in the training room. Misty said we could be there for up to an hour. I really think this will help them get used to the room and not be quite so distracted when we go in for training on Saturday. I'm going to try to get them in one more day, one Friday, to spend some more time in the room and the facility.
I was just thinking that I need to work with them on sitting at the door before we go into/out of the facility, the training room or any other door. Moped is pretty good about sitting at any door. Skooter does it with guidance, not so much on his own. I'll have a chance to work on basic behaviors while we are in the training room, but mostly I will just let them run around and explore.
It'll be a challenge to have to handle them both by myself tomorrow. I hope I can do it. Yikes!
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