Moray's Nemesis

Every Monday for the last fourteen months, Moray and I have sat in the driveway to do his grooming.  He cradles to trim nails, stands to have his shiny black fur brushed out, and sits to flush his ears with cleaner before it's back inside to clean those pearly whites.  

But every time the bottle of ear cleaner comes out, Moray does the same thing.  He looks at me, back to the bottle, and jumps back to the end of his leash.  

 Of course I'm armed with kibble.  And believe me, kibble is a step-down from having used pieces of cheese for a while.

Moray looks at the bottle.

"Yes!"  I mark his behavior.  Moray locks eyes with me, pleasantly surprised for the praise.  I deliver a treat.

Moray looks at the bottle again.

"Yes!  What a good boy! This is fun!"

He's not quite believing me, but hey, there's food so he's in.  

Moray looks at the bottle again, then back at me.  By this time he's gotten the rules of this game, which means it's time to take it a step further.

I wait.  Moray shifts his focus back and forth a few times before taking a hesitant step toward the bottle that sits a few feet away.

"Yes! Nice job!"  More treats.

A few more reps, and he is touching the bottle with his nose before receiving his precious piece of kibble.  Time to amp it up some more. 

I pick up the bottle.  Moray steps back.  

I hold a treat about a foot away from the bottle, give Moray the "okay," and he steps forward, able to push the limits of his comfort for a single piece of food.  He's certainly a labrador through and through.

"Yes! Oh you're so brave, Moray Man!"

A few more minutes and I touch the bottle to the outside of his ear. Several more, and ear cleaning in over with.  'Till next time...

Short, Sweet, and...Fun!

I have been writing on this little blog for over two-and-a-half years.  Not only has it been a place for recording and remembering my journey of puppy raising, but it has also been a means by which I have "met" many wonderful people from across the country who also are hooked on this volunteer gig.  Over the last year especially, there have been several people who I originally met because of this blog that I now consider dear friends.

My parents, Moray, and I recently headed up to Missouri to visit a college.  While we were there, we had the privilege of meeting up with Lisa and her Canine Companions puppy in training Liza!  They live a couple hours away from where we were going, but graciously agreed to meet up with us!

We first met up at a castle that touts to being haunted.  It was a fun place to work both pups together!  Liza is a complete sweetie!  She is so beautiful and dainty, and she and Moray hit it off instantly and were completely in love.  When Moray meets new dogs, he usually just tries to play with them.  Not these two.  They worked very well together, but just wanted to be together and would lean over and steal kisses every chance they got!

They not only fell in love in one day...

Uh oh!

...but also got married...

...and honeymooned! ;)

We went up stairs...

...and down stairs.

We worked on various commands like "up"...

...and jump.

And although no ghosts were seen, it was soon time to head out!

Pretty Liza!

"Let's go!"

We headed to downtown Springfield to walk around some more, but also got to spend time talking to people all about Canine Companions!  Of course Liza and Moray were excellent representatives!

Soon it was time for a water break!  Its good to have polite puppies who don't mind sharing!

After some dinner where these two smooched under the table...

...We switched puppies and worked through some basic and advanced commands and obedience!

"Jump!"

"Jump" and "under" and more kisses!

Liza does a "let's go!"

Handsome boy if I do say so myself!

"Down" of different surfaces.

Liza mid "heel"

They even practiced holding "downs" and "stands" with major distractions -- each other!

Another stop for rest for the pups and some dessert for the humans, and we had to make our goodbyes.

Lisa with Moray and Liza and I

Moray was out cold on the way to our hotel that night, and I would put money on the fact that his good behavior the whole next day was due to the pure fun and excitement he had!

Sleepy head!

It was such a fun day spent with dear friends, and I know I can speak for Moray when I say he was exhausted all the way home!

**Most photos here were taken on Lisa's camera by herself of my mom**

Puppy Outing

This weekend we finally got together for an outing with fellow Canine Companions puppy in training, Hardy.  Everyone has had an extremely busy summer so far, so it was nice to finally connect!

We all met up at Lowe's so that we could practice various commands and also let the puppies practice working with other handlers besides their raisers.

Dante also got to tag along since Lowe's is a pet-friendly store!  Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle on the 4th, so I spent the whole time working with Dante, and he got to show off his wheelchair work and advanced commands.

There was lots of passing around the leashes so that puppies and humans got to work on various skills.

Hardy executing a "sit" and Moray doing a "jump" on a grate.

Hardy does an "off" for the newest (almost!) puppy raiser of our group

Moray with Hardy's raiser

Dante opens the fridge!

Tight spaces? No problem!

Moray and Hardy are both super sweet boys and get along so well.  When we took a break and were all talking together, they laid down nose-to-nose together and were so sweet!  It is always so fun and encouraging to get together with our friends and fellow puppy raisers!

Shaping Up

One of the most important things when training a puppy is consistency.  This applies to every aspect of everything you ever do with your pup: consistently doing body handling, consistently giving them their required 6+ hours of kennel time per day, consistently having the same expectations for good behavior.  

I have had a busy, busy couple weeks, and Moray has not been getting public outings as consistently as he is used to.  I took him out for the first time in a little while the other day, and realized he was rather sloppy in his public behavior.  That is no fault of his own; it's just the way life is sometimes.  So today we headed out for some "get your act together" work.  ;)  

Target is usually our go-to for a low distraction outing where we can practice various skills.

 We started out just walking around and making sure Moray could keep a nice "heel" position no matter how fast or slow I walked.  He prefers to trot wherever he goes, so this has been one area that we have had to work hard on through his whole life.  Because I do have to keep on him for heeling, loose leash walking has never been a skill that seems effortless with him.  But he does well as long as I keep 100% focused on him, so I'll take it!

We did some distraction work by walking back and forth down the dog food isle without sniffing anything!

Moray got to practice commands including "up" on different surfaces!

 We also practiced distractions with balls.  Poor Moray was such a good sport while I bounced them around and over him, and rolled them past and into him (gently!).

I pulled out a hula hoop, and Moray was a little unsure of it, but with the help of some treats, he performed some commands in it, walked through it, and walked next to me while I carried it.  It is important for a future service dog to be comfortable while their human carries anything from grocery bags, to bulkier items too!

"Down" in the hula hoop!

 We had a little fun with a skate board too!  

While this smiling boy is super cute, as many fellow shopper pointed out, its not all fun and games as all of these seemingly common exposures are super important for his training to make him a confident and well-rounded pup who isn't afraid of anything!

Discovery Park of America

Back in April (yes, we're working our way backwards) Moray came on a field trip to Discovery Park of America.  This is a pretty new museum that is about two hours from where we live and has pretty much anything you can imagine a museum can have.  It is a really cool place, and an awesome training outing for Moray!

Entrance to the park

During the latter half of March and all of April, Moray had a skin infection on his face that started as a result of an abrasion from his gentle leader.  This meant we were not allowed to use a head collar at all for over six weeks.  We got permission to use a martingale collar with him during this time, but if you have any experience with training collars, you know that a martingale doesn't offer nearly the control that a head collar does; which in turn means that the dog has to work harder and show a lot more self control than with a head collar.  It was kind of frustrating at times to have that option taken away, but it was a great time for Moray to really develop his self control all on his own.

Our field trip landed right in the middle of this, and with it being a popular spot for school tours, and lots of people and kids there that day, Moray was pushed to his limit and really stretched in his ability to stay focused on me.  But he proved himself well and did fantastic all day. The museum only opened last November, and one of the docents told me that Moray was the first service dog he has seen come through and that we set a very good example for all the rest.  Yay!  I don't think there's a higher compliment for a raiser and puppy in training than that. 

The first thing that Moray saw was a mini aquarium.  This was the first time he has seen fish tanks, and he was so interested, but still collected himself well.

In the bubble!

We took a few minutes to just sit and watch all the busyness going on.  In new places, its often most productive to let them take it all in before you ask them to participate and work throughout the crazy.  

There were TONS of school field trips there and lots of kids running around.  I'm not a fan of doing these types of things because kids often try to get all over Moray without permission, but I was pleasantly surprised by their behavior and we only had a handful of drive-by pettings that we had to deal with.  

One of the coolest things they have there is an earthquake simulator.  Moray got to go in with us and it was really good for him!  He was slightly startled at the movement at first but, did well, as I praised him throughout.

In the earthquake simulator with my mom

Moray also got to learn about glass elevators, stopping frequently to look at exhibits while weaving through lots of people, playing dress-up, waiting (with my mom!) for me at the bottom of a huge slide, and even aquatinted himself with several dinosaurs! 

Can anyone name the object in the picture?!

"Up" on a meteorite! 

Heat sensor, anyone?

There was also a huge section of the museum that was outside that we got to explore.  Moray was a little distracted by some geese and ducks he saw, but did very well, and was so exhausted by the time we headed home!

Uh oh...

A "challenge" started by our friend Monica!