Canine Good Citizen, crates, and nasty teeth

Agility class was cancelled due to rain. We did a little practice at home instead. I hauled the mini-teeter and a-frame outside. Last week I lowered the teeter's PVC frame as much as I could. The first time he ran over it he gained confidence quickly, but when it was moved outdoors, the behavior predictably deteriorated. He was just starting to gain confidence in running for the foot target at the end instead of slowing down at the pivot point when the neighbor's dogs ran over and started barking at the fence line. I could have moved the teeter into the street, but I decided to just end the exercise. I removed the PVC frame from the teeter board and put it underneath the a-frame out in the street. The a-frame's boards aren't all that thick and are a bit springy. This makes him slow down when he runs over it. Again, with practice he was gaining speed and confidence, but I'm guessing that at a certain point I just won't be able to use the mini a-frame; it'll be steep enough that he should be running up quickly but the springy boards will prevent him from doing so. That's okay with me -- I knew when I made this equipment that it might not hold up all that well. I'm an amateur builder.

At one point he started sticking his tongue in and out like he had a piece of treat stuck between his teeth. I gently pulled back his lips and was horrified to see how much plaque he's built up. In this respect, I'm a bad owner. I brush him every two or three days, I weigh him whenever I can, and I keep mental track of the quality of his bowel movements, but I have been completely neglecting his teeth. I should know better, too, since his papillon buddy Jacques has dental problems and his momma has told me how careful she is about his teeth. I resolved to start brushing his teeth very soon.

In the afternoon we went to Pet Food Express and I used the second portion of my Christmas money and a 20% off coupon I'd been saving to buy him a 21" Noz to Noz soft crate. I'd been waffling on this -- I'd heard nice things about how they're easy to set up and so portable, but on the other hand, he's a tiny dog, and am I just being lazy about not wanting to break down/set up and carry his wire crate? But I lifted up the N2N crate and it was sooo light and easy to manipulate that I was instantly sold. Plus, it was green. You'd think, based on my room, that green is my favorite color ever. When I moved into this apartment the walls were already painted green, and my laptop and comforter are green, so then I started selecting other green things to match... it just snowballed from there. I guess green is Dragon's official color -- it fits, right? (Ira's official color was purple -- he had a purple bed and leash and a couple of purple collars.)

I also restocked my supply of bully sticks and antlers and pig bones, and bought doggy toothpaste and brush.

After the store we drove to an auto shop to replace my cracked windshield. I brought Dragon's mat along. I set it down by my chair in the lobby, and he laid on it for 45 minutes without any fuss. He even laid his head down here and there. Toward the end I dozed off for about five minutes and he hadn't moved when I woke up. Good dog.

When we got home I set up the N2N crate. Dragon immediately went inside and stared at me for treats. I gave him a treat, released him, and gave him a treat for coming out. He ate it and immediately ran back in for more. We repeated this two more times and then I had to physically block him with my arm to keep him from running inside again. I'm going to start using this crate during agility class instead of his mat. I need to start early if I want him to be able to relax inside it when we're trialing. At the beginning I'll keep the door open so that he's not locked inside, he's choosing to stay in in order to earn treats. In that way, it will be exactly like his mat, but it will be a more difficult challenge since his visibility will be greatly reduced.

And now the most exciting part of the day -- we took the Canine Good Citizen test! We took it at Metro Dog, my workplace, which was a boon because Dragon is used to working there and the location has a strong reinforcement history. He passed with flying colors. On the "heel past another dog" portion, he even outshined the tester's dog, who was not in a working mood and didn't want to sit! I had him heel for the "loose leash walking" and "walking through a crowd" portions and he did beautifully. The sit, down, stay, and recall were of course no problem. He did not get spooked during the visual or sound startle portions, which was thanks to all the counter-conditioning I've done with him. I am so proud of my boy! His full name is now Cinnamon Snapdragon CGC. (Today CGC, tomorrow OTCH and MACH!)

His friend Brooky the schnauzer mix also passed the test!

The end of the day left me wondering, "How am I going to brush his teeth??" I had him hop up on the bed and lie down, so that his mouth was closer to my eye level. I put my left hand above his muzzle and lifted his lips a bit, and clicked and gave a treat with my right hand. He didn't like it but quickly caught on to the game. I probably should have broken it down further, starting with just teaching him to raise his muzzle up to my fingers. (Be a splitter, not a lumper!) The hard part, though, is shaping the action of opening his mouth and holding it open. Any ideas?

Bay to Barkers and Control Unleashed week 4

This afternoon we stopped by the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society's biggest annual fundraiser, Bay to Barkers. There was a ring of vendors' booths set up, with some games in the middle of the square. There was a little ring with signs from APDT rally. And of course there were hundreds of dogs and people!



Dragon was dressed in his best.





The wind streamlined him.



He's going to fly away on those ears!

I carried him as I checked out the booths so that he wouldn't get stepped on or accosted by larger or rude dogs. I don't let him greet unknown dogs while he's on leash, anyway. He was calm in my arms and got attention from people won over by his ears.

We went into the rally ring for a minute to do some tricks and get reinforcement for focusing in that context. He's not fluent in heeling yet but we did some sits, downs, stands, circle work, spins, and backing up. Of course, heeling and all other performance behaviors are just advanced tricks, so to the dog there's no difference!

From there we drove to Walnut Creek for the last week of our Control Unleashed class. We continued with reinforcing staying on mats and in crates, played Look at That, and upped the ante in the Give Me a Break game by moving the dogs on mats closer to the ring gates. During our second turn in the ring, with the other dogs lying close by, Dragon was suddenly unfocused and checking out every leaf or piece of debris on the ground. Since during the previous turn he had been coming right back to me to restart the game, and doing 4-5 behaviors per treat, it was likely a stress response. Then he started sniffing an area with no debris on it, and I suspected he might have to pee, so I took him outside. He did pee, but not much.

Afterwards he got to hang out with his pal Jacques the papillon while I chatted with Jacque's mom. To commemorate the end of class, I took pictures of them doing a mini-group stay.







We will hopefully see Jacques and his mom again soon, as she is developing her land into a training field and I'd like to lend a hand.

Trip to downtown Berkeley and playing with a friend.

On Sunday morning we took a trip to downtown Berkeley to a comic books store. I usually take the car when I'm traveling with Dragon -- it's convenient and it's a hybrid so I don't worry about the cost of gas -- but for the sake of socialization we took the subway this time. Dragon had ridden the subway for the first time last week, just one stop down and back, to make sure that he would be able to cope of the noises and movement. He was a champ. He settled down in his crate and quietly watched the other commuters going to and fro.



I put on his coat just for the sake of dressing up! For this picture I asked him to hop up onto his crate, which I had never done before. Thanks to the reinforcement history I've created for climbing on things and holding position there, he automatically stayed balanced on top of the crate until I cued him to jump off.





It was a beautiful day, with lots of people bustling around. Dragon confidently strode through the crowds. This was his first time in Berkeley.



Bringing the camera along meant that I was frequently prompted to ask him to sit and stay in new places. What a great training opportunity!

At the comics store the clerks "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed over him and he rubbed against their legs like a cat, which is his favorite way of soliciting attention. Then we headed over to the campus of UC Berkeley.



Dragon saw a homeless man carrying a large trash bag over his shoulder, for the first time. He was suspicious and drew in deep breaths as he investigated the strange man from a few feet away, snorting out the air in warning puffs. I gave him treats for being brave and curious, and he soon forgot to be suspicious.





Dragon was game to do his sit-stays and down-stays in strange places as long as the treats were delivered every 3-5 seconds. Considering that we rarely practice them when we're out and about, I considered this a success. That is, until he saw squirrels running by, and his brain melted out of his giant ears.



Before he would sit and stay next to this statue, he politely approached its rear and investigated. Then he came around to the front and slowly, carefully, sniffed the jaws of the bear. Finally he was satisfied that despite its fierce expression, it would not harm him.



At this point I realized that if we didn't get back to the subway right now, we would be late for our Control Unleashed class in Walnut Creek. Oops! We hurried back (I carried him past more squirrels) and made it to class 10 minutes late.

This was the second week of a four-week session. We are taking the class as a foundation for focusing among other dogs. This week the instructor coached us through the Look At That and Give Me A Break games. We also rewarded a default behavior of returning to and lying down on a mat, and, of course, reinforced relaxing in a crate.



After the class was over we got to hang out with Jacques, a fellow papillon.



Jacques is smaller than Dragon (who is on the larger side for a papillon) and his coat has fully grown in.





Small dog is small.





Pay attention to meeee!







What a cutie!