Penny goes to School - week one
Last night Penny & I went to our 3rd training session. We really like our instructor and the other dogs and people in our class.
I am sure that Penny has made an impression on them as well. She is the problem child -- the one who can't sit still, can't stop talking, and has to be the class clown. She barked so much last night she was sent to the "bad girl" room to learn to be quiet. It's lucky she's cute.
I haven't gotten around to posting Penny's Introduction yet, but as background information, we adopted her when she was about 4.5 months old. Her original owners gave her up because she barked too much. And she spent a couple of weeks at a shelter before coming home with us. I don't remember her barking too much the first few days she was with us . . . but at our first visit to the vet, as soon as she entered the waiting room it was non-stop, ear splitting, excited barking directed at strangers and even worse, at other dogs.
Penny needed to be socialized, obviously. But she had a nasty case of kennel cough (which she passed on to Keli) so we kept her away from other dogs for several weeks. When our vet said it was okay, we signed up for beginner training classes at PetSmart. And I made sure to let the instructor know that our big behavior issue is the barking in public places.
At the first session, I spent most of the hour in the corner with Penny, trying to keep her quiet so we could all hear the instructor. By the end of class, she was slightly less excited and had settled down a little bit, so we were encouraged.
There are five dogs in the class, but each week it seems only 4 have been able to attend. One of the other students is Benny, a beagle about the same age as Penny, who seems pretty well adjusted. Then there's Rocky, a Maltese, who spent the first session glued to the wall in fear. I forget the names of the other two dogs, but compared to Penny they seemed perfectly behaved.
In week one, we learned about marking a behavior and using a release word. We were introduced to the concept of clicker training, received our very own clickers and learned how to "load" the clicker and use it to mark the behavior. I was skeptical that I could learn to use the clicker -- I was sure Penny would learn what it meant, but that I'd forget to use it. Part of our homework was to practice using the clicker and teaching "Watch Me".
So we worked on loading the clicker and teaching Penny (and Keli) to Watch Me. With two westies in the house, any time there are treats involved, they are both going to get trained. This means that Keli is learning (and re-learning) along with Penny. Most of the time I remembered to use the clicker. But soon they both realized as soon as I took out the clicker that there were treats waiting, so their little tails were glued to the floor and the eyes were fixated on me (or the treat bag). It was hard to know if they were really watching me or just waiting for the treats.
I decided to take them both on daily walks around the neighborhood, weather permitting, to expose Penny to sights and sounds outside our little corner of the world.
Going for a walk requires significant planning now, as I have to make sure I have the training treats, the clicker, the dispoz-a-scoops (because it's guaranteed that Keli is gonna 'go' somewhere along the way), two leashes and my own coat, gloves, boots, etc., ready before we leave the house. When we are finally ready to go, we all walk down the driveway together in relative harmony.
We usually manage to go once around our route without incident. Except when Keli decides to stop short and sniff something. Or sometimes she just decides she wants to go the other way and refuses to budge another inch. I've learned to use the treats to entice her to start moving again, in the direction *I* want to go. We are both stubborn, so sometimes it takes a long time to get going again. But I always win. And then she gets all the praise and rewards for agreeing with me.
Anyway, along our walks, if we are "lucky" we are presented with some sort of distraction, like a neighbor outside in their yard or some kids playing in the distance. Normally these two westies will start barking at whatever it is that attracts their attention; Keli generally barks a greeting and settles down, but Penny gets a good deep breath and barks up a storm. I decided to use these incidents as opportunities to practice our Watch Me training. And you know what, it works! Not the first time, not perfectly, but after several attempts it really is starting to work. A little.
Now, whenever we come upon whatever incites the barking, I take out a couple of treats, tell them to watch me, and Penny does eventually stop barking and look at me. The trick is to really get her attention.
I was encouraged enough that first week to try to take her to the local Petco and find out how she would behave around strangers. Looking back, I think it was a little too soon -- it was 2pm, the after school crowd was wandering around, cars were speeding through the parking lot. I couldn't get her to look at me even once. We tried walking around the mall just to let her take in the "atmosphere", but there was just too much general activity. I think she had a good time, but I felt like a failure . . . so we went home and took a nap.
The next day, we started all over again.
I am sure that Penny has made an impression on them as well. She is the problem child -- the one who can't sit still, can't stop talking, and has to be the class clown. She barked so much last night she was sent to the "bad girl" room to learn to be quiet. It's lucky she's cute.
I haven't gotten around to posting Penny's Introduction yet, but as background information, we adopted her when she was about 4.5 months old. Her original owners gave her up because she barked too much. And she spent a couple of weeks at a shelter before coming home with us. I don't remember her barking too much the first few days she was with us . . . but at our first visit to the vet, as soon as she entered the waiting room it was non-stop, ear splitting, excited barking directed at strangers and even worse, at other dogs.
Penny needed to be socialized, obviously. But she had a nasty case of kennel cough (which she passed on to Keli) so we kept her away from other dogs for several weeks. When our vet said it was okay, we signed up for beginner training classes at PetSmart. And I made sure to let the instructor know that our big behavior issue is the barking in public places.
At the first session, I spent most of the hour in the corner with Penny, trying to keep her quiet so we could all hear the instructor. By the end of class, she was slightly less excited and had settled down a little bit, so we were encouraged.
There are five dogs in the class, but each week it seems only 4 have been able to attend. One of the other students is Benny, a beagle about the same age as Penny, who seems pretty well adjusted. Then there's Rocky, a Maltese, who spent the first session glued to the wall in fear. I forget the names of the other two dogs, but compared to Penny they seemed perfectly behaved.
In week one, we learned about marking a behavior and using a release word. We were introduced to the concept of clicker training, received our very own clickers and learned how to "load" the clicker and use it to mark the behavior. I was skeptical that I could learn to use the clicker -- I was sure Penny would learn what it meant, but that I'd forget to use it. Part of our homework was to practice using the clicker and teaching "Watch Me".
So we worked on loading the clicker and teaching Penny (and Keli) to Watch Me. With two westies in the house, any time there are treats involved, they are both going to get trained. This means that Keli is learning (and re-learning) along with Penny. Most of the time I remembered to use the clicker. But soon they both realized as soon as I took out the clicker that there were treats waiting, so their little tails were glued to the floor and the eyes were fixated on me (or the treat bag). It was hard to know if they were really watching me or just waiting for the treats.
I decided to take them both on daily walks around the neighborhood, weather permitting, to expose Penny to sights and sounds outside our little corner of the world.
Going for a walk requires significant planning now, as I have to make sure I have the training treats, the clicker, the dispoz-a-scoops (because it's guaranteed that Keli is gonna 'go' somewhere along the way), two leashes and my own coat, gloves, boots, etc., ready before we leave the house. When we are finally ready to go, we all walk down the driveway together in relative harmony.
We usually manage to go once around our route without incident. Except when Keli decides to stop short and sniff something. Or sometimes she just decides she wants to go the other way and refuses to budge another inch. I've learned to use the treats to entice her to start moving again, in the direction *I* want to go. We are both stubborn, so sometimes it takes a long time to get going again. But I always win. And then she gets all the praise and rewards for agreeing with me.
Anyway, along our walks, if we are "lucky" we are presented with some sort of distraction, like a neighbor outside in their yard or some kids playing in the distance. Normally these two westies will start barking at whatever it is that attracts their attention; Keli generally barks a greeting and settles down, but Penny gets a good deep breath and barks up a storm. I decided to use these incidents as opportunities to practice our Watch Me training. And you know what, it works! Not the first time, not perfectly, but after several attempts it really is starting to work. A little.
Now, whenever we come upon whatever incites the barking, I take out a couple of treats, tell them to watch me, and Penny does eventually stop barking and look at me. The trick is to really get her attention.
I was encouraged enough that first week to try to take her to the local Petco and find out how she would behave around strangers. Looking back, I think it was a little too soon -- it was 2pm, the after school crowd was wandering around, cars were speeding through the parking lot. I couldn't get her to look at me even once. We tried walking around the mall just to let her take in the "atmosphere", but there was just too much general activity. I think she had a good time, but I felt like a failure . . . so we went home and took a nap.
The next day, we started all over again.
Next: Week Two
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