The hike that wasn't

Reading through the Town's conservation commission website the other day, I learned about some new places to hike, one of which is just up the street, about 400 acres.   COOL!   Was looking for somewhere to wear out Miss Fizz today before finishing up my great-grandmother's cookie recipe.     Trail leading back into the woods, 2 ponds that were dug by the Army Corp of Engineers to be skating ponds, land bridge between them.........awesome!

Or so it should have been.   Turned out to be a huge disappointment in terms of hiking. :(  Beavers had taken over, and trails were gone.   We ended up on some deer trails, bushwacking just to wear out the Wuppy.

The above photo is how things started....and quickly deteriorated to this.  The spit of land with the day-glow moss....that was our 'trail' through the beaver-generated swamp. :(

Fizz and I next to a recently 'cut' tree.    And yeah....you can see why I detest wearing hats.  I look utterly stupid in them.

On the way back, we passed through an old gravel/sand pit.   Gave me an opportunity to do a bunch of training/work with Fizz in an exciting environment (do you KNOW how much fun sand-eating is for a 15wk puppy???).   Worked on reward zone on both left and right, call once recalls, collar grabs, and several rounds of hide and seek.    Finally, we discovered the ultimate treasure:  a water bottle with ice in it!   I released her to attack it and boy did she have fun.  Awesome reward to end our training session! :)

I need some updated photos of Fizz, but I need to get the SLR out.......this P&S don't cut it in my mind for portraits!

Ice cube!!!!!!!!

Thought you could use a grin!   Here is Fizz meeting her first ice cube, at 15wks old.   Notice the ability to throw it for herself in Part 2.   Such a wonderfully smart girlie!! :)

 Part 1

Part 2

Working at the Wrentham Outlets

We needed to fight the crowds down at the Wrentham outlets today, so I brought Fizz with me to do some work, and some socializing.   It wasn't as busy as I was hoping for socializing, but we did get to meet 20 or 30 new people.   She had a grand time charming groups of ladies, couples, a gaggle of teen age boys, and various other passers-by. 

Fizz was VERY busy trying to find chewed gum in the cracks of the sidewalk.  I was rather disturbed with the volume that she did manage to find (and then would start chewing on if I didn't catch her fast enough).  Ew!

My goal for work was building duration in sits and downs.  Her sit is on a bench for no other reason than I was hoping for a better photo.  But....I was working with my P&S, and I just don't like it.   MUCH prefer shooting SLR, but you work with what you have.  :)

I was approximately 15ft back to take this.   People were FASCINATED that a puppy would stay in a sit.  Amazing what training does, eh?   ;)

Fizz was VERY interested in the people walking by, they are a VERY high level distraction for her.  But she was an awesome girlie and held her position.  :)

Fizz has been taught to sit at doors in order to get them to open.  I was quite impressed with how well she generalized this behavior to doors she's never entered (into stores with no inherent value to her, like Bebe and Coach).    She sat at 4 consecutive shop doors on our way out to the car.   People found her quite cute, I had to make sure they didn't let her in!!

Howling Fizz

We took Fizz out for an hour's hike this morning to wear her out before Christmas celebrations with family got underway.    Along the way, we encountered some nearby coyotes who were barking and howling their displeasure at our presence.  Thankfully, we never saw them, and Fizz did not become a snack!

After we got home, the kids opened some of their presents, which included for James, a Super Saxoflute.  James and Em had a great time playing with this.  While we were in the middle of dinner prep, we heard the most unnerving sound, and after about 30sec, realized that Fizz was howling b/c of James and Emilie's music.   After the second howl, I raced to grab my little camera, which also records video.    This howl is far less impressive than her first two.....but still amusing none the less. :)   Please excuse Fizz's over-large hiking collar (the blaze orange one).....she was so crashed out from hiking when we first got back that I didn't even try to remove it. :)

Fizz goes tailgating

So we have Patriots' season tickets, and today was the 2nd to last home game of the regular season.  Decided that since my parents were watching the kids, I'd bring Fizz to the pre-game tailgate in order to get her out of their hair.   For two hours we walked about meeting people in all stages of sobriety (and non....), dodging grills with yummy smelling sausages and hamburgers and of course, working on some of our training games.

The parking lot we use is not that far from the stadium, so thousands of people walk past on their way up to the game.   Fizz and I hung out at the entrance, she easily met 200 new people today and was a doll for all of it.   Many people told us of their current or former Rottweilers.   And I will admit, I heard one of the most unique comments to date, in owning this breed.   "You can tell she's fullblooded by her eyebrows!  Just look at those eyebrows!"   Smile and nod yes.   :)    (The only statement that tops that was made about 10yrs ago, when someone asked me if Bort, at about 18mos, was a Beagle.    Ummm..............)

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and much joy in 2012!!

Fizz with hubby, our friend Peter, and his friend from Switzerland, Marc.

2 layers of pants, 1 turtleneck, 2 fleeces....ah yes, that's how we stay warm! :)

Fizz wearing my season ticket.

Fizz's fans include Santa!

Visit to Home Depot - 14wks

This morning we headed to Home Depot, hubby needed a few plumbing parts (eventually it was easier to just buy a whole new toilet!) and I decided that Fizz was going to have a great socialization outing.  I hadn't planned any real training, just a chance for a new environment and lots of new people.

Fizz entered like she owned the place, and within  a minute, I had her playing games with me and earning treats.   We started with simple nose touches, and progressed to calling off distractions (new people are about a Level 14 on a scale of 10 for Fizz)....including new people, dust bunnies in corners, and cords hanging down from poles.   I was amazed to see her leave a new person, and thrilled to see that she put the value in me over the new person, as I know how much she adores meeting new people.

After making our way to the back cross-store aisle, we worked some RZ, first in one-step forward increments, and then several 180 turns.   She nailed it, and was pushing me hard with her eyes to keep working, to keep earning reward.   LOVED seeing this from her.   No luring, no begging on my part.   Just a simple response to her awesome choices.    She was totally focused and wanting to work.   I released her from work to go say hi to at least 10 different staff members, and several customers.   Each time, she came back ready to work again!

We worked in aisles on Its Yer Choice.   I forgot the rule of "it's a new environment, be sure to set up for success" and just started working on the level of distraction that we work at home.  I asked for a sit, tossed her most favorite tug over her head (from behind), squiggled it along the floor in front of her, and tossing hot dog pieces onto the floor so that they bounced right towards her toes.   Not a flinch.   Yep, old hat for this old soul.   A truly brilliant puppy!   BIG reward and party for such awesome work.   Lots of tugging, and I had a mother/son team watching from the end of the aisle, with Mom narrating the puppy's training session (I think my enthusiasm was not very quiet!).

We had several hard fast recalls, raced the length of empty aisles, and worked more Its Yer choice with the tug.   When it was finally time to select our new toilet, I put Fizz in a down (this is not on verbal cue yet) and fed a few times to build duration, and then just waited.    She put her chin down and completely relaxed.   Released her to greet some new people, then back into her down.   Finally, got her up on the flatbed cart with the toilet box and asked for a sit while the cart rocked forward onto the fore set of wheels.

I think what amazed the most was the intensity with which she worked with me, despite this new, exciting, and highly distracting environment.  I felt like the training sessions we've been doing for the past many weeks were suddenly coming together and I had a puppy who was happy and willing and eager to work, starting to really generalize behaviors and pushing me for more.  Absolute JOY! :)

Crate Games with strong distractions

At 14 weeks, Fizz has been playing Susan Garrett's Crate Games with me for about 4 weeks now.   We are working on building a strong foundation to resisting temptation/distraction, which will eventually carry over to rock solid sits and downs (I don't use the word "stay" in training).

Fizz's morning started out with a trip in to Boston's busy Logan International airport.   We went through the parking garage, to the elevator, and down to the baggage claim area of Terminal B.   Fizz was excited to meet 2 men in the elevator, and find many families just "sitting around waiting to be greeted" at the carousels. :)   The buzzing of the warning bell didn't bother her one bit, and we learned that suitcase wheels are potentially lots of fun (hmmm.......need some proofing on wheels!).    We then took the escalator up to Ticketing, and were about to take another one down when a State Trooper spotted us.  He pleasantly asked me to carry her, so as not to provide distraction to the working bomb dogs.   I know that a puppy's scent is not a distraction to bomb dogs, but I obeyed, and she was carried down the escalator.    Another few families to greet, and we were off to the elevator, and back to the parking garage to leave.    Another item crossed off the Insane Puppy Plan. :O)

After our trip to Logan, I decided to work Crate Games distractions just before lunch.   My treats included some of her very high value rewards, including chicken, and for toys, I chose her 3 favorite tugs.   Despite the fact that she was being rained upon through her wire crate, Fizz performed admirably.   We also worked a bit of Its Yer Choice with the tug at the end of the video.  I'm so excited to be working with such a fun puppy.   She has drive, focus, confidence and tons of personality!    Just love her to bits!

Warning for those on slow connections:  this is a long video (8 minutes).

A trip to Bass Pro shops

Anyone who is blessed to live in the vincinity of one of these shops knows what an incredibly fun place they are!!  And, better yet, they are extremely dog friendly.   I can think of few better places to socialize a puppy!   Being geared to the outdoor crowd, most who go there are also dog lovers.   PERFECT! :)

Visiting Bass Pro has been on my Insane Puppy Plan since I first put it together.   Couldn't wait to get there with Miss Fizz, and today was finally the day.  We spent 2 hours walking around and greeting people, easily met over 100 people.   Kids, squealing kids, kids in fur, kids in bells, and adults in every flavor you can imagine.   I think the sales staff swarmed her almost more than the general public did. :)  

If you've never been, here's our local store.  Click on the link to see a slideshow and all the amazing stuff there is to see/experience, especially as a curious puppy.   We climbed up and down the long flights of stairs several times, and also had multiple glass elevator rides.   Shopping carts were VERY exciting because they have wheels (oh for the love of wheels!).  A flat delivery cart got in the elevator with us on one trip, and she got right up on it and had a ride around.   The giant fish pond, with a very tall glass wall, was great excitement.  I pointed out a huge fish (easily larger than Fizz!) swimming slowly by and she was enraptured.   Thankfully, she did NOT try to swim in the trout stream.   While meeting a stuffed bear, she managed to steal some moss (I think I did a nice job replacing it!), and the fake snow near Santa....well, I mean it does look like Stuffie-toy fluff!

We're looking forward to our next adventure there, including walking the cranberry bog trail out back.  BPS will be an awesome place to work on heeling with distraction, scent work in the future, etc.   LOVE our new training grounds!!

Chillin' out after a few hours of meeting people, waiting in line to see Santa.

Maybe Santa will bring me a giant fish to chase!

Completely zonked after shopping (can't blame her, I despise shopping!)

Recallers 3.0 ... in training!

We are currently working through Susan Garrett's Recallers 3.0.   Absolutely LOVING the course, and seeing some nice results after a very short time.    Quick video from our woods walk yesterday, about 45min in to a 1hr 20min walk.   Fizz, George and the kids were down the path, and off to the side enjoying a view from the top of a ridge.   I called, waited about 10 sec, and here she came!  :)   GOOD girl!

Ladder work at 13 weeks

Fizz is finally physically big enough to start working with the extension ladder for body awareness.   It's still a fairly deep step for her, going between the rungs, and on average, she's hitting 5 or 6 times per length.   It seems to be something she likes, as she offers it readily, even when I don't have food.    This is our 2nd session of walking through, and feeding.   I'm trying to time my feeding with hind foot movement.    One thing I really liked in this video is that she actually offered backing up through the ladder.  That's on our list of "to do" for when she's a bit older and has better understanding of body control.   Was very excited to see her do it on her own.

I have been teaching backing on the flat, but it's not on cue yet b/c she often curves to the side.   I won't name it until she's backing straight up.   The more she learns to control her body now while small, the more agile she'll be as she grows, with better ability to maintain position in motion, and less likelihood of injury.     Fizz was 3 months old yesterday (13wks), and weighed in at 25.5lbs.   She's almost tripled in size from when she arrived 5 weeks ago!

How to kill a red cabbage

Tomorrow is George's birthday, and I'm cooking him a nice German dinner (sauerbraten, red cabbage, spaetzel, a few other things, and German choc cake).   Made the cabbage ahead today in order that it is properly seasoned for tomorrow.    Fizz seems to have a penchant for rolling on vegetables, we've seen this behavior many times.   Today, I thought to capture it on video.   Puppies are a wonderful source of joy and entertainment!!  :)

At the end of a month......

Fizz was 12wks on Sunday, and has been here a month now.   I'm just amazed to see how far she's come.   Its been tiring at times, this new journey we're on.   No verbal or physical corrections.   Logging all of my training, which is typically 6-8 mini sessions per day.   Some days, I go to bed so exhausted I can't even remember what I did (thus a new system of tracking my training has emerged).   I don't ever remember a puppy tiring me so much, but I don't think I ever put this level of detail/effort into a puppy either (meanwhile, keeping up with my 3.5 & 6yr olds!).  :)

I keep a 3-ring binder with all of my training notes.   Each day contains details of each training session, including:  time, location, treats used, games played, and then an assessment of how it went.  At the end of the day, I look to see how much of each thing was accomplished, and based on that, and my weekly plan/goal, decide what to move forward with for the next day.   If I've missed something for a few days, or not gotten enough reps of it in, then it goes on high priority for the upcoming day.

Being a scientist by training, keeping notebooks is not foreign.  However, I was not finding the time to NEATLY enter the level of detail that I wanted.   So....now I have a scribblebook (composition notebook) and my decorated 3 ring binder.   The scribblebook is used through-out the day, to quickly enter notes about what happened when.   Just before bed, I sit down to re-write it, putting into detail what went on.  

At the end of our first month, I have a puppy who is tightly bonded to me, yet confident to go meet any one new who crosses her path, and self-confident enough to hang out with someone if I choose to hand the leash off and walk away.   Today, we walked down the street, around the corner, and met a "tree dude."   Two HUGE diesel trucks were running, one of which was also hauling a monster-sized chipper.   The other 'tree dude' was using the chain saw and cutting the remainder of a fore-shortened tree into manageable sized logs.   None of this bothered her one whit.    She was so excited to meet someone new:  a big thick man, wearing an eye-bleeding yellow jacket (you know, that new safety color that so many have), thick blue rubber gloves, and his bright orange hard hat - hearing protector contraption.    He was QUITE the sight, and certainly not like anyone else we've met.   But he was excited to see her, and she just calmly went right up to him, and nestled in for pets.    The trainer in me was VERY happy with her confidence.   If we ever meet an obed judge in tree gear, at a very loud trial........we're down with that.  :)

Fizz travels beautifully in the car, and has since Day 1.  She just goes to sleep and does not try to crate surf, nor bobble around as I'm driving.   No car sickness, no barking at anything.....just lovely!   In a similar vein, when we're at our competition obedience class, she lies quietly in her crate until it's time to come out and work.   Fizz ADORES other dogs and people, I would rate them as an A++ level distraction at times.   However, when it's our turn to watch, she is wonderfully quiet and sedate.   I sure hope that continues as she matures.

We've established, through games, that treats on the floor are NOT fair game, just for the taking.  Neither are treats in my hand, or on the counter..........and funny enough, neither are toys.   She will hold a sit while I drop a favorite tug to the floor within a foot of her.  I can take that same tug and snake it around, and even whack the ground with it.   She just looks like "what, you think I'm gonna fall for that?!"   She explodes into it on release, and we have wonderful games of tug and puppy bounce. :)    Her ability to maintain a down is similar, even though we've not worked on it much at all (maybe twice in the past month?).    She's generalizing the "Its Yer Choice" (Susan Garrett) game very nicely.  

Retrieve work is started.  She races out to whatever I throw out, quickly picks it up, turns, and comes straight back to me.   Currently, I kneel on the floor when we play this game, and her default behavior is to dive between my legs.   No growling when I pet her, and if I put out a hand as she comes in, she'll bring it to my hand.   I have not worked that behavior yet, and its on our list to solidify over the next month.   When I was visiting the litter, Fizz brought a few toys near me, but often seemed to want to get off away from her littermates and enjoy whatever prize she'd shopped.   I don't care about puppy tests, PAT, or otherwise.   I didn't need to see what she'd do with a crinkled paper ball, or if she'd bring it back.   I wanted to see her natural carrying behavior (calm, not mouthy), and her natural interest level in people in general throughout the day (high).   I knew that with solid calm carrying and an interest in people, simply building a strong, positive relationship would generate a good retrieve in the early stages........and that is playing out!   I have never done a forced retrieve of any kind on any dog, and I don't plan to ever change that.   In 5 trials, Froli never lost points on her retrieves (3x SchH1, 2x ScHH2).  

Needless to say, I absolutely adore this puppy and am having a blast training with her.   :)

Crate games rock!

We've been working on Susan Garrett's Crate Games (DVD), and today I saw a lot of things starting to come together in her head.....awesome to watch! :)   Susan uses CG to teach duration sits, sit under distraction, and it builds very nicely into startline stays, sit at the door before going out, and sit "stays" (if you use the word "stay", I don't).

One of the criteria is that the dog sit at the back of the crate, in order that they are further back from the door (and thus have a better chance of maintaining the criteria of "no part of the dog breaks the plane of the door").   Fizz usually starts in the back, because she's run into the crate to start the games.  However, if we have a rep where she breaks, and the door is closed, she's often in the mid or front section.   I've been waiting her out and rewarding any movement (head turn, foot starting to move) towards the back of the crate for the past 2 sessions.

Today, we took the crate outside, a new environment, so I was expecting to loosen a few criteria.   Boy did she show me.  She upped the ante! :)   I only got her to break her sit once, by putting a whole bowl of treats down inside the crate.   After that, she was sitting in the middle of the crate.   She didn't just think about moving back, she very forcefully pushed her whole self back, still in her tight sit.   Really cute to watch, and exciting to see her thinking so much about it.

Today's distractions included: being outside, Emilie standing nearby (Emilie is ADORED by Fizz)....neither of these factored very much into "Yer Out, Yer In!"   Individual pieces of treat placed in the crate, a bowl of treats, me being 10-12ft away (door open), me running away for 5 full-stride paces, a tug dropped to the ground in front of the crate (open door), a tug being wiggled in the crate.   She actually hopped up and back at that one as if to say "I am NOT falling for it, see me, I'm FAR FAR away!"   The beauty of this is that it is all HER CHOICE.  No force, no "have to."  It is her choice to stay sitting and earn the reward, despite the distractions.    

Because she's doing so well with both the tight sit, and working through distraction, a name will soon be put to the behavior (sit), and we'll bring it out of the crate (working distraction elsewhere, and also start line sits).  Susan had amazing success with Swagger, and it's just the best feeling to see the same "coming together" in Fizz!   :)

Beginning scent discrimination work - 11 wks

Susan Garrett highly recommends video taping your session work, so that you can review it, see what really went on, and have good information for your training log.   As I worked this session, it felt like a  *huge* fail to me.   I felt like we had very few correct responses, and all she was doing was grabbing the empty 'wrong' container.   In watching, I see far more correct responses than it seemed when I was training.   I'm very thankful for having the video (even if James knocks the camera to the ground), and being able to see that it was better than it felt.

We started last night with working a series of plates, building from 1 to 5.   She did very well with that, but not so well with the plastic containers.   She kept grabbing empty containers and just settling in to chew on them.  I had her on leash last night, so she couldn't really go anywhere with them.   Today, while off-leash, we are enclosed in an ex-pen.   I did one round of plates this a.m. to warm up, and then tried to work the containers.

Some background info:  Fizz had a vet appointment yesterday and received a vaccine.   She ate little dinner last night, and even less breakfast this a.m.   B/c she's missed 2 meals, she looks rail thin, her metabolism is so high, she can't afford to be skipping meals right now.  :(   Her energy and attitude have still been good, so I don't think she's ill, though maybe a bit flat from the vaccine yesterday.   I would prefer to see a stronger search for the right container, I know she can follow a scent trail and be very focused in doing so.    After seeing how today's session went, I will wait a few days before trying this again, AND try using a different treat, perhaps something more enticing.

I've never seen her just go lie down on the floor, and she does several times in this video.   That is what makes me think she's a bit flat from the vax yesterday.

A night out

For months before Fizz arrived, I worked on putting together (and revising!) my "Insane Puppy Socialization Plan."   Fizz is to be my obedience partner, among other things, and I don't want to worry about ANYTHING that may come our way in a trial.  I don't care if the judge is on stilts, with a toy train running about her wide brimmed hat and her wig falls off.   That's fine, we'll still be working.   I want Fizz to think that's an every-day occurrence, and not worthy of note.

So....we're going out everywhere that we can, finding anything and everything to experience, and basically trying to see the whole world and all its oddities.    Tonight, we went out to a local Catholic facility who has a few acres of walking paths, and an amazing light display at Christmas time, complete with beautiful Christmas hymns.   I had hoped that on such a warm night (65F), there would be a lot of people out.   However, it's early in the season, and I wondered tonight if not many people realize that the shrine is open for lights.

Fizz had a grand time wandering about, met a few people including 2 young girls (sisters) who have an 8mos Boxer pup at home.  Because we were so busy sniffing things, hubby and the kids got ahead of us.   At one point, she put her nose to the ground, and I could hear those deep inhale/exhale sounds of a dog working a track.   She pulled me right up a steep hill (in the dark), and around to where the kids were.   Big praise for that!

As we were finishing our tour, the rain started, at a fairly steady pace.   Fizz's nose shot straight up in the air, and she started biting at the rain, I haven't laughed so hard in ages.   Never have I seen a puppy "attack" the rain....but I tell you, this girl's prey drive.............she's a dream!    Again, the kids and hubby got well ahead of us, and this time, she tracked solidly on a hard surface (paved sidewalk).   The focus and intensity were awesome to see.   The tracking history behind Fizz is amazingly strong, and I look forward to having her out one day on the TD/TDX/VST fields.

So tonight's experience brought us:  new people to meet, scent work, new environment at night, areas of loud music, lit/moving things (taller than me), and some simple work (hand targets, name game) in a very new and different environment.   There is no such thing as too much socialization!!

Learning Susan Garrett's stand

Fizz turned 11wks today.  I need to get her on the scale, but I'm guessing she's 20+ lbs.  We're in another "loooong" spell and whereas Wednes she looked quite fine, on Thurs, she looked as if I hadn't fed her in a week.  Egads, I'd pay for that kind of metabolism!!

A few weeks ago, I posted video of Vikka learning a new method to Stand, as taught by Susan Garrett.  Fizz is familiar with hand targets, and today I decided to work on teaching her the stand.   Her natural "leapiness" fed right into the method, and I have no doubt that once I get my mechanics figured out, this will come right together.

We've been working a lot the past three weeks on value for me, attitude and focus during work, and the fact that work = play = work (Thank you S.G.!!).  Fizz is showing me a love of playing and working, and a willingness to take this journey in AKC Obedience with me.   I'm so excited!!   Here are 3 photos from this afternoon which embody all that we've been working on.

A busy week or so

Prep for the Thanksgiving holiday (and the 5k that I ran that morning) has kept me quite busy, and a little slower in Fizz's formal work.  We're still doing a lot of things for socialization, and sneaking in 4-5 short training sessions per day, but none has been recorded.

Fizz has visited friends at church after the service, met people and dogs at the pet supply shop, hung outside of a grocery store the night before Thanksgiving, meeting lots of last minute shoppers.   While there we checked out both the squeaky-wheeled shopping carts, and the auto-open doors.

About a week ago, Fizz had her first bath.  I usually try to bathe puppies in their first week home, but timing just did not lend to that.  She was fine with the water, being scrubbed and being rinsed off.   After she was out, I definitely saw the beginnings of the characteristic "Rottweiler run amuck" behavior that seems to occur after all baths.   You know.......when the still wet dog runs itself across every piece of furniture, cabinets, and anything else upright that it can find, leaving a trail of fur and "wet dog" smell.    Yeah, we saw the beginnings of that in the bathoom (rubbing into the rug, snorting..........all very cute.........but!).

Last weekend, Fizz had her first weekend away, out in the Berkshires.  She's a wonderful car traveller, just goes right to sleep and doesn't make a peep.  She got to enjoy some trail walks with Vikka around the old Christmas tree farm, and had a blast visiting the S. Egremont library.  In addition to adventures, we worked on some known behaviors and also dremmeled her nails.......something I do about every 2-3 days.  

 Being called in by James and Emilie

 Meeting Cathy, the Asst Librarian

Getting treats from the Librarian, who is known to my kids as their Mimi.  :)

Fizz is getting very pushy in her chin heeling, which I love.   Her tuck sits are getting fast, and she's already showing anticipation in the set-up behavior, trying to turn around into a sit as fast as she can.   Its fun to watch the brain work and figure out how to make me reward her.  She sits for crate door opening now, and is also sitting for doors to open on a regular basis.   Games such as "play with MY toy" are going well, she's very willing to switch from one toy to another, even if she has the more favored toy. 

On Thanksgiving, Fizz came with me to the city of Providence in Rhode Island.  I ran a 5k race, and then brought her out to socialize afterwards.   We had parked in a parking garage, and lots of people were leaving to get home to cook.  All the noise and echoing went unnoticed.   Every person we saw, she happily greeted and the look on her face regarding those who passed us by.......well, how could the miss such a cute puppy???   We met the camera man for the local ABC station.  Thankfully she did NOT eat the spaghetti pile of cords sticking out of his bag.  Before we headed back to the car, we found a circle of chairs with see-through wire mesh seats.   She was completely unbothered by being able to see through this odd footing, as I asked her to walk the circle of chairs.

After downtown, we stopped in at a friend's house to see one of my C litter boys, and to catch up.  Had a wonderful visit, and Fizz even got to play with Calvin (who is now 6).  She had a blast playing with someone that looked like her (and was very tolerant of her puppy antics).  As we were leaving, their son was out front playing with bubbles, and oh BOY was that fun!   Almost as much fun as the winter moths we saw and chased about tonight.

Today Fizz finally met her 'cousin,' Spencer.  Spencer is an almost-2yr old yellow Lab.  He likes to play and can be quite rambunctious, so they only met on leash, and then went for a nice walk together.  While out for our walk, we worked set-ups (getting into heel position) in a totally strange environment, I rewarded for all heads-up eye contact (while in RZ)......boy can this girlie move out at a trot and give awesome eye contact! :) :)    I worked recalls off some fairly high-distraction scents (including dead vole), and she came promptly with good attitude each time.  Thank you Susan Garrett!!!   Can't wait for Recallers 3.0!  :)  

Final trick of the day was hand targets, haven't worked them much recently.   Started with basic ones, and then decided to put it above her head, a la Susan G.'s new method of teaching stand (and with the intent of maybe teaching 'sit pretty' from it too).   I was really impressed with her willingness to pop up to my hand and touch.   Bet we can get that fun stand figured out in the next session or two!   Will try to video tape.

I know you need some puppy cuteness, so I share with you some of Fizz's funny sleeping choices.  This puppy never just sleeps on her side.  She's either upside on her back, sometimes with her neck at a horrendous angle, often with face mashed against the crate, or she's burrowed under the bed.   Enjoy!

Good lessons from poor trainer choices

I wanted to start shaping Fizz's retreive today.   She already likes to pick up her dumbell and carry it about, including up and over the BOSU (blue side up, non-rocking).   Normally to start shaping a retreive, one would start with rewarding even a glance at the db, and then increase criteria to a sniff, a lick, a bite.   Because I know she likes to play with it and carry it, I was starting with the criteria of grabbing it with her mouth.   No clicker, b/c it's simply too much for me to work (clicker, food, db).  So just a verbal marker and feed (today's treats are scrambled eggs.......one of her favorites!).

I had planned to start this an hour earlier.  However, as I started gathering stuff, I looked up and there she was, sitting tight on the rocking BOSU.   So I decided to work with what she gave me.  Got the bowl of eggs, and rewarded any movements or position changes on the BOSU.   We had fun playing this game for about 5 minutes.  Finally snapped a leash on her, gave her a release cue, and led her off.  She really seems to like the rocking BOSU (maybe she wishes for a sailboat rocking on the seas??).

After the BOSU work, we spent some time outside, both potty break and playing.   I should have put her up at that point, it was a natural break point in her day.  However, she came back in still zipping around, so I decided to pursue my original goal:  shaping the retreive.   You can see the lower level of "oomph" in her work, due to my poor choice to not put her up, and push forward.  Bad trainer!

We had several distractions going on here: 3.5yr old James bouncing from chair to chair, across an end table and jabbering away.   The flag outside was whipping in the wind and thwacking the screen (I'm surprised that didn't pick up on the audio feed!), and hubby shows up twice.  I had NO idea he'd pet her until I watched this video.......will have to work on that.  "No petting puppy when Mommy's training!"   :)

There's a DWDH moment to work through b/c of my poor choice in timing.  She wasn't showing me great frustration, so I didn't want to end it, I wanted to see her come through it, and she did.   I was even happier with her choice to keep working with me the second time George showed up.   It had to be her CHOICE, and not me being enticing..........thus no big prey object game with the db to get her back.  I want her to work with me because she desires too, and because there is joy in it.....not because of "have to."

Finally, in playing tug, we have a few learning games within the game.  Thanks again to Susan Garrett for her awesome leadership and allowing us to watch Swagger in Puppy Peaks.  I've learned SO much!!!

Puppy jump bumps and more BOSU

Susan Salo has done amazing work in teaching horses to jump.   The dog world is now blessed to have her talent and skill in coaching.  Susan's work is in teaching the dog proper mechanics, including scope, and extension & collection of stride.  I first learned of her methods in 2004 with Banja and Vikka at BARK camp.  Very excited to have a green puppy to work with now....to learn correctly from the very beginning.

Puppies learn via stride regulators, also known as jump bumps.  When Fizz is a little bit older, we'll progress to 4" PVC cut in half, but for now, I'm using pool noodles.  They cut very easily with a serrated knife.  One noodle gave us four puppy bumps. :)   They are not set at any particular distance yet.  I just wanted to see how her body awareness and proprioception are developing.   Last night was our first attempt.  I had the bumps too close together and she was stepping on them.

Today, James and I set this up again.  He was my puppy holder for the first few runs.   On the first pass, you see that she goes off to the side, yet she's still jumping as if going over them.  On #2, she steps on every single bump, and on pass 3, she adjusts her striding and has a gorgeous, quiet, run.  When a dog is jumping from their hind (collected), they are quiet as they go down the row.....even an adult bitch jumping full height (24 or 26") is silent on landing when jumping correctly.  A dog pulling from their front in order to jump has a heavy landing, and often an "ooomph" over time.  They are not silent as they go down the row.   Was VERY happy with Fizz's stride adjustment and jumping style over the bumps.

Finally, a quick video of Fizz playing on the BOSU.  She often climbs on it and hangs out, with out any impetus from me, no food in the area (to be a possible promise of reward).   Of course I never have my camera when she does this........so I lured it a bit by putting a sheep tug on the BOSU.   You can see how she just settles in with it, and even fights to stay on at one point when it tips.   She is a VERY cool puppy!!!! :)

First bath!!

Most puppies receive their first bath within a few days of arriving to our home.  No particular reason, just something I've always done.   Fizz managed to go 10 days without hers.....so today was bath day! :)

Tried to get James to video for me, but that didn't work so well, so no actual bath footage.   I started by running warm water into the tub, about 1/2" worth.   She didn't love having her feet in that at first, but was not too upset to eat scrambled eggs.   She was sprayed off with the shower sprayer, and then lathered up with an oatmeal shampoo that shouldn't be too harsh on her puppy coat.   She stood nicely without complaining.   Finally, I rinsed her with a small plastic saucer that is one of the kids' bath toys. 

I have yet to meet a Rottie who doesn't do post-bath race around and rub routines.   Fizz started hers soon after being out and dried off.   Funny how much easier this is to manage with a small puppy than with a 75+ lb adult who feels the need to tear about the house, rubbing its wet self across all furniture.   Dogs usually leave the bath room on leash, and go straight to their crate to prevent them from "scrubbing" my furniture and walls.   Enjoy a bit of puppy cuteness!

Of Wagons, Hills and Bars...........

Fizz arrived here full of confidence, and seemingly indifferent to environmental "stressors."   She is not bothered by footings, sounds, smells, movement or anything else that I've seen yet.   I saw her first startle reaction ever at class last night when a Border Terrier started yip-shrieking (egads, that noise should be illegal!), and its the only thing I've seen her react to.  Vaccuum cleaner, coffee grinder, even the commuter rail train.........she just locates the noise and walks solidly towards it.   She is an amazing girl!!   I am so thankful to Erika for doing this breeding! :)

Despite her natural confidence, I still believe it adventageous to expose Fizz to as many things as possible.  Yesterday, we decided to check out James' red wagon.   James is 3.5, and a very willing helper.   He was my wagon-puller for the beginning of the ride, and it was perfect, as he was not at all smooth in his motions with the wagon, yet even a good lurch didn't cause Fizz to leave.

After wagon rides, James helped me do restrained recalls up and down our steep front hill.  I'd hoped that she would Puppy Ping Pong between us, but apparently James doesn't command enough respect for her to go visit when I have treats (even though he had the same treats).  So I altered the plan midstride to James holding her leash, and me calling.............and then having James come to me, sit down, hold the leash, and we'd do it again, up and down the hill.

Finally, we went out back and worked ground poles for proprioception.   There were plenty of play breaks and a potty break in between sessions.....but these demonstrate how we train:  short sessions, no more than 3-5min each.   It allows me to get many things in during the day.   We're also working on tuck sits, fold-back downs, chin heeling, name game, 2 cookies game, and lots of recall/RZ reward games.

My apologies for the poor angle on the ground bar filming, I had the minitripod propped on a slanted birdhouse.   Should have brought a stool out to give some height..........next time.   Enjoy! :)

Crate Games, Day 1

I finally found time to review my Crate Games DVD last night, and got Fizz started on the program this afternoon.   George had been to Men's breakfast at church yesterday and brought home a 1 gallon ziplock bag full of scrambled eggs.....for training treats! :)    Susan Garrett recommends working with a hungry dog, and having excellent treats.  Well, we were an hour past Fizz's lunch time today, and I used a combination of scrambled eggs and cut up grilled chicken for treats.  Success!!

Fizz has been home for a week now, and in that time, I have not once allowed her to walk out of a crate.  Instead, any time I opened her crate, I would lift her out, so that coming out on her own has no value to it, as it has no reward history.  With Fizz, this has been easy, she usually sits at the edge of the crate and waits for me to get her.  This behavior was already in place while she was with her litter.  When ever I went to the puppy pen, she'd come forward, sit and give strong eye contact, and wait to be lifted out.  What a girlie!

If you want to know how to implement Crate Games, you'll need to purchase Susan's DVD.  While I did record our whole session, I'm not posting it for two reasons:  a) it would be large in size, and b) that would be no better than scanning a copyrighted photo and posting the scan......it's flat disrespectful, to say the least.    When we started, Fizz had no value for her crate.  She's had a few meals in it, but most have been earned through training, and thus fed outside of the crate.  After about 20 minutes of work, she now demonstrates high value for her crate, manifesting as not wanting to come out on release word.

C.G. is a wonderful way to start building duration for the sit, for teaching the dog to understand resisting distractions, and that you only come when verbally released.   This will transition over to very solid "stays" Note: I don't use the word 'stay' ever in my training, it's a human superstition, not a command.   Sit/down/stand means sit/down/stand until I either release you, or give you another cue.  Period.   Once this duration of behavior is understood, it transitions very well out of the crate, and has great value in Start line stays, obedience work, and general impulse control.   A huge "thanks!" to Susan Garrett for her pioneering ways, and this wonderful teaching tool!!

For her socializing "outing" today, Fizz came to church with us.  She slept in her crate in the car during the service, and then hung out outside to meet/greet as people left.  What a variety of people we met, all ages, quiet people, boisterous kids, those with fascinating scarves (oh BOY said Fizz!), and blowing skirts.    She does so well with it all!    Yesterday, we went to Team practice at gymnastics, and she was literally swarmed by 1st-3rd grade girls.  She loved it, gave lots of licks and shared her puppy fuzz all around.   I just love how unbothered she is by anything, and by the restraint she is already showing in not playing with strangers in the same manner that I allow her to play with me (we roughhouse).   At pick-up time, we got to meet lots of the Dads, and several pre-teen boys.   The 'flooding' continues! :)

Perch work - first shaping session

One thing I need in Fizz, as my future obedience partner, is lots of body awareness, rear-end movement and proprioception.   This is why we're working on the BOSU, I have balance disks to work with, and, we are starting to work on a perch.   For now, the perch is a book, as she grows and gains weight/size, the perch will change.   The idea of the perch is to teach the dog to move it's hind end in a circle, while maintaining the front paws on the perch itself.   You want to see a crossing over motion with the hind feet.   This will greatly help during heeling where fine body control is needed in turns, and in the figure 8.

Today's video is our first shaping session.  I have not done much pure shaping with her, and was curious to see how willing she is to offer behaviors.  Earlier today, we'd been out to "Open Gym" at Em's gymnastics gym.  There were 100 kids signed up for the 90min session, plus all their in-two sibs and parents.   Hundreds of people.......and you know we had to use that as a socialization opportunity.   We hung out at both drop off and pick-up, Fizz met probably 70-80 people:  men, women, teens, little kids....it was fantastic!    This shaping session is conducted after her post-visit nap.

I have an ex-pen set up in the den, in order to control her access to "fun" things (cords, the rug liner pad, sticks for the fire, etc).   This allows both of us to focus unfettered on work, rather than having to re-direct from distraction.   Efficient training is good training!

Blame it on the rain.............

well, that's what some dog trainers do.   You've heard it at trials.  "My dog didn't sit because there was a puddle in that spot."   "He doesn't work well in the rain."   or even "My dog won't go out to go potty because it's raining."  Those arguments don't hold water in this household.  Rain happens, life continues, and so does dog training. :)

I had an hour to kill between the end of Bible study and bringing James home from preschool this a.m., and it was raining out.   Having heard the predictions, I was excited to have some training time outside.   On my list of things to expose Fizz to is umbrellas.   My older dogs like to attack them, they elicit great joy.   Fizz completely ignored the umbrella that I popped open right above her.  Again.  And again.  And again, and then it bonked into her when it opened........and was flat ignored.   The food in her bag (at lunch time) was far more interesting.  I tried again later when she was not distracted by food........she could have cared less, though the metal frame did receive a good chomp after a bit.

The front yard of the church is along a busy corner at the intersection of a state highway (2 lane road) and local streets.  There are lots of big loud trucks that come through here.   She had her lunch mere feet from the road, as if that is her normal Cafe spot.  Prior to receiving her bowl, she worked chin heeling and some tuck sits to earn lunch.

After lunch we worked "sit pretty" for freeze-dried turkey liver, restrained recalls by wrapping the leash around a light pole, and then releasing as I ran off, and recalls to RZ.   Being that the ground was wet, of course we worked through fold back downs, and started adding duration to them. :)

While most of our trials will most likely be indoors, I do not want weather to be a distraction or demotivating factor for her.  We had lots of fun out in the rain, and she showed me strong work effort.  She's napping now, having had a good romp.   This afternoon she'll be coming to Emilie's Team practice for gymnastics, and meetings LOTS of new people. :)  All part of the "Insane Puppy socialization plan."

My puppy ROCKS!

Fizz has had a full two days.   We've worked on a lot of training games, including "Its Your Choice" with food on the floor, and Fizz maintaining focus on the food, not giving me eye contact but rather, backing off the food to earn it.  We worked on rewards in RZ, and "play with the toy that I have," including switching between toys of various ranks.

Making sure that Fizz gets out to many places, she ran errands in the car (no car sickness!), met the staff in the Church office, staff at pre-school after school finished for the day, and went to the vet for a well visit.  

Later that afternoon, we went to the local lake to explore sand, water, and rusty chains.   The joys of a 70F day in November!






If you need a "cute puppy fix" video, here's a bit from the lake. :)

This morning, we started with puppy proprioception work, and ground poles in the back yard.  Coming in to get breakfast and do some chin heeling to earn it.  Fizz works for at least 2 meals a day, if not 3.  I'm currently feeding her 4x a day.   After Emilie was on the bus, we got out the BOSU.   What an incredible way to teach a puppy balance, weight shifts, and general body awareness.   Thank you so much to Susan Garrett for this idea!  Her Puppy Peaks program is just stuffed with stellar ideas and examples.   From the moment I met Fizz, she's shown little issue with anything environmental.  Her reaction to the very tippy BOSU is an extension of that fearlessness.  She wasn't bothered by it one bit.  I think back to having to work with adult Froli on a tippy board before doing agility teeters, what a world of difference! :)    This was shot just before lunch, and you can see that once again, my toy does not rank with the puppy crack...........but I was also being a bad trainer and did not have a tug ready, so had to improv (and have since "lost" Vik's favorite fribbee........sigh).   My rockin' BOSU girl:

For other environmental stimuli today, we went to check out the Water Dept guy flushing the fire hydrant in front of our house (boy did James think THAT was grand!), and she hung out in an ex-pen while we split wood this afternoon........not at all bothered by the machine, cracking logs or flying bits.  Falling leaves magically appearing in her pen were her idea of "awesome!"

Learning through games

One of the things I enjoy greatly about Susan Garrett's work is that the puppies learn behaviors via fun games.   I've seen this work so well in my own children that I couldn't wait to apply it to dog training.  Her Puppy Peaks program has taught me a lot, now its time to apply it myself!  :)

Last night, Fizz had her first session of IYC - Its Yer Choice, in which a puppy who shows self-control then earns exactly what it is that they are restraining themselves from.  This is most easily taught with food at meal time when the puppy is really hungry.   Fizz worked for her dinner last night, and I was really impressed with how little time it took her to figure out the game.

Today at lunch, we played again.   My original hope was to work with food bits on the floor, and work her control that way.   However, that wasn't going to well, and since I was trying to stay in a 5 minute time frame for our training, I switched gears, and worked with the food in my open palm (ignoring it earns it).

Below is a video I shot of our session.  We started with food in the bowl on the floor, and she remembered last night's session.  Ignoring the bowl was not very difficult for her today, though it did require a few hand covers.   I then tried a play break, but had a lesser favored toy (I haven't figured out all the toys' rankings yet....she'd only been here 36hrs at the time of this video).  For my ignorance, I paid pennance with a pretty good "Dont Wanna, Don't Hafta" moment (aka DWDH).   Finally found something else to play with, and she turned right on to it.   We had far better switching from food to toy to food to toy earlier in the morning with "better" toys.

After the DWDH, I started working on the open palm with food.  She caught on to that pretty quickly and gave me beautiful eye contact when she wanted the piece.   Very happy with this!!!   Hoping to work it again tomorrow with food on the floor, may try that for breakfast time when hunger is even greater.  :)

Moving in!

Fizz has settled right in here with us as if she never knew any differently. None of the household noises phase her at all, she's great with the kids, and Miss Vik thinks she's pretty cute. Because of the size difference in Vik and Fizz, they're not having play time together yet.

Fizz started her training today. Emilie and I worked on restrained recalls. I had freeze-dried turkey liver, aka Puppy Crack, Emilie held her with a hand under her belly and one on her chest. From 5 to 10 feet away, I'd call, and Em would let her explosively release, racing to me. We worked it for about 2 minutes, and then had a great tour of the back yard, and played Leaf Chase. The idea is that she will come to me on the first call of her name, no matter the location or distraction. In order to work up to such a strong recall, I need to put a lot of deposits into that "account" in the Bank of Fizz. We will play recall games 2-3x per day, varrying the games but always having fun and big reward for coming to me. This will build a lot of value for me in Fizz's world.

I also worked on teaching her what her name is. We were out back with low to moderate distraction (the environment). When she was a few feet away from me, and finishing sniffing something, as her head came up, I called her name once, and then fed her puppy crack when she came to me. She caught on to this quickly! We'll work on it more around the house tomorrow. I'll keep a pocket full of various treats and any time her distraction level is low and she's near to me, I'll call her name and feed (or offer a game of tug).

Our final training session was playing Susan Garrett's "Its Your Choice" (aka IYC) with her dinner kibble. She was very excited to see her evening meal. I took a roughly half-filled 1/4C scoop into the den and sat on the floor, she followed quickly with me. I offered her two pieces of kibble individually, in order to get her interest up. Then, as she approached the scoop, I put my hand covering it. She spent a solid 45-60 sec trying to get into that scoop: shoving her nose between my fingers, biting on my fingers, and finally, digging furiously at me with two paws.

As soon as she gave up the digging and laid still, I said "yes!" smiled, and quickly grabbed a piece of kibble with the other hand and fed it to her. She went right back to trying to get into the scoop, and worked even harder. However, this time, she stopped and looked at me. I already had a piece of kibble in my hand and immediately put it in front of her nose.....she snarfed it right down. The light went on, and she'd look at the kibble scoop, then back at me. Each time she looked at me, I'd say "yes!" and feed. I was able to take my hand off and away from the scoop, which was sitting mere inches from her on the floor. She stopped looking at it all together and I jack-potted her. One more attempt to get into the scoop, followed by a very solid sit and look at me for several rewards. As she held my gaze, I told her "get it!" and released her to the final few pieces that were in the scoop. This whole session lasted 4 minutes. VERY happy with how well she did! The lightbulb moment in IYC was a lot of fun to see.

Tomorrow's plans include more recall games, more Name Game, and teaching a nose touch to palm. Also hoping to start Crate Games, now that food drive is showing up strongly.

Welcome!

While Uffizi is her formal name, we call her Fizz or Fizi.  Fizz is our new Rottweiler puppy.  She comes to Massachusetts from the great state of Washington, and the Dreibergen Rottweiler kennel.   We are very excited she's here, it's been 7 years since a puppy graced our home.  Fizi's pedigree is full of well known, well proven German dogs.   We are excited to see so many of these dogs so close up in her pedigree, too many of them have fallen back to the 6th, 7th or higher generation in today's pedigrees.

Jesca, Fizi's dam, has 3 generations of FH titled, SchH/VPG3 bitches behind her, one of whom was DM-07FH, and is also FH2.  Even more impresive, there are 7 consecutive generations of SchH3 bitches behind Jes!!   I am very excited about trying our hand at advanced tracking work, it's certainly in her genes!   On her sire's side, Fizz's great grandfather is Dick v Rhongeist.   He is a very special dog to me, he was the sire of my beloved Froli girl.   Froli was the dog who taught me all about the world of training, trialing, and being a Top 10 in the country SchH and Agility Rottweiler.   Her desire to work, and continual drive to push for more was pure joy to work.   Her daughter Banja was the very same way.  This love of work comes down from Dick's sire, the phenomenal Pascha vom Hegestrauch, and his sire, Arri vom Hertener Wappen.   Arri and Pascha still dominate working pedigrees today, their abilities seem to pass on for many many generations.   Arri blood mixes well with Aki v d Peeler Hutte when it comes to the work.  Jes is 5x Aki and 2x Basko v Hertener Wappen, full brother to Ari.   THIS is going to be a fun ride! :) :)

This blog will chronicle our journies in training, and in daily life.  I'm a big fan of Susan Garrett's methods of building drive, an impeccable relationship with one's dog, and in training positively.   It is my intention to take Fizz as far as possible through both AKC's obedience and tracking titles, following the philosophies of trainers like Susan Garrett, Sylvia Trkman, Fanny Gott, and Denise Fenzi (who just put a pure positive OTCh on a Terv).   Some of this will be new territory for me, and I look forward to the adventure!