Yoshi Training Diary - December 2005

By Ellen Clary
(reverse date order)

Feedback is welcome:


Sat Dec 31
Yoshi doesn't really like the noise of the treat dispenser (what a surprise).  Now I need to decide if I really want him to get used to it or modify it.

Fri Dec 30
Got a new dog toy today.  This should be interesting.  It's a remote controled treat dispensing device which is great but it's unfortunately very noisy and I'm sure Yoshi won't want to have anything to do with it.  But it was very inexpensive and certainly worth a try.  I may just take it appart to get the pieces and rework it into something smaller.

Dr Manchester called me back and we talked for a while.  She says she misspoke and Dr. Wydner has heard of Dr. Dodds.  Apparently Dr. Dodds reputation as an endocrinologist was very well respected, but may no be as much now as she questions traditional vet vacinnation schedules.  Anyway Dr. Manchester is going to do some "homework" on the references I've given her (I always seem to be giving her homework - it's an ongoing joke between us :).  What we'll probably do is have the lab that Park Centre usually uses do a CBC and test kidney and liver function, and have Dr. Dobbs do a 6 panel thyroid test.  Another interesting tidbit is their lab does 5 panels on their thyroid tests - she listed off some of them, but it went right by me.

Worked some with the target trainer that came with the remote controled treat dispenser.  That he caught onto right away and seems to like unless my feet are moving nearby (might be a good tool to continue to desensitize him to that.)

Thur Dec 29
Got a message from Dr. Manchester at Park Centre.  Not surprisingly they hadn't heard of Dr Dodds, nor that there was a 6 panel thyroid available and that they really liked their lab.  I think what I'm going to suggest is that we have their lab do the CBC and a T4 panel and have Dobb's do the 6 panel.

Went on a short dog walk with Yoshi and saw Bonnie the BC who lives next door but doesn't care for other dogs (what a combination those two would be.) He was trying to bark and growl at her, but I firmly told him to stop and his intensity dropped.  Lori would like to see him respect me even more which is interesting as he certainly treats me differently than he treats Terri.

Wed Dec 28
I had asked coltsrunkids (the mailing list of coltsrun corgi's and their friends) if any of the Prozac Kids had had any bloodwork done and Bonnie posted back that hypothyroidism has been linked to aggression:
--------------
Bonnie wrote:
Have you had Yoshi's thyroid checked?  And not just T4, but the 6-way panel that is done either by Dr. Dodds (Hemopet) or U. Mich (and probably other vet schools).  Out of whack thyroid can often lead to the types of behavior that Yoshi exhibits.  Hemopet is in CA, so a good choice for you, and it is cheap because it is a not for profit corporation.
 
http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/HEMOPET.HTM

--------------
And I wrote
This web page has convinced me:
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/healthandbehavior.html

I've emailed my vet's office saying next year I'd like to get a 6 panel
thyroid test done by either Tufts or Dr Dodds as well as a complete blood
count that doesn't have to be done by them.

Stay tuned.

Ellen
and Yoshi the high maintenance
--------------

Lori Drouin (Cali's obedience trainer) was nice enough to write me lengthy feedback on this diary.  She uses more adversives though not severe ones.  She thinks that he will need judicious use of adversives like the Binaca and collar corrections so that he firmly understands that I don't like his behavior.  I know that Elizabeth resorted to corrections with very good results, but my timing of corrections is usually not so good, so I'm going to have to come up with a way that works for all concerned.  I will likely have to increase my click to calm reward rate again as slacking off is having some penalty.  She wrote quite a lot so I'm going to have to reread it a few times.


Tues Dec 27
Found and ordered a book called Bach Flower Remedies for Animals from Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/189917172X/102-4856621-7616144?v=glance&n=283155
and also located the Bach web site:
http://www.bachflower.com/
Maybe the book will give me some insight into how best to give doses of the remedies and what would be good things to try.  I found another recommendation for giving an animal Holly so I guess it's not poisonous at those levels.  Lindsay also suggested Larch for confidence but I'm going to hold off on that right now.
I keep wondering if there's a way to detect chemical imbalances with a blood test, but there's certainly not yet a commercially available Serotonin test and I don't know about others.

[later]
Took him on a walk in the evening.  Generally he was fine though one dog walked by and that was upsetting him (we had walked up a driveway to let them pass.)  Fortunately pressure on the GenCon closes his mouth so all you get are muffled frustrated barks which is less disconcerting for those around.  I'd given him RR beforehand and he was less intense in his reaction, but honestly not by much.

[afterward]
He's sitting in my lap as I type.  I'm wondering if it would help him to pick him up when he sees a dog.  Whether that would make him more secure or just noisier?  I'll have to try it - though it's often said to not do that, but what are rules made for anyway?  If it gives him more confidence that's fine with me, and I've been trying all sorts of things.  Just out of curiosity I'm going to carry him outside and see how stiff he is.

Well that was interesting.  Fortunately just as I was about to give up and carry him inside a dog went by on a walk.  His reaction was pretty similar.  Alarm barking and growling.  What was different was that since he was in my arms I had complete control over where he was looking and how his body was positioned.  So I pointed him in the other direction by turning around, and he did sort of a swivel head routine trying to see the dog, but he wasn't struggling to get down.  I walked us back to my front steps and we watched the dog walk by.  He wanted to bark but I kept a hand pressing down on his muzzle (not hard and not holding his mouth shut), he didn't bark but just growled.  I keep wondering if it would be helpful to just sit on the steps and watch dogs go by but the problem is that any weird behavior they do is reinforced as the dog always goes away.  I have had success with just watching dogs come and go at the dog park.  There's high traffic, it's neutral ground (sort of), and the dogs are not terribly reactive.  One thing I haven't done is to hold him or at least have my hand on him.  My touch seems to reassure him (I'm generally pretty good at not telegraphing uneasyness when I want to.)

What's also interesting to me is that if you saturate him with non-reactive dogs he does chill out eventually.  It's not like every dog at an agility trial freaks him out and even at the dog park he doesn't freak everytime he sees a dog.  Though at the dog park when a new dog shows up he often races up to them barking (generally a poor dog social skill, but a pack of small dogs often does exactly that and that's what he's used to.  Sort of "Intruder, Halt!  "Submit to be examined!")  I suppose I should continue the "Look there's a dog. Click, routine.  So he can continue to learn a different behavior rather than the ingrained one.

Mon Dec 26
(Day off for me.)  Took him to the [big] dog park (gave him RR beforehand) and he was quite good - good mix of dogs too.  Noisy, but good and was reading dog language fairly well.  I've noticed that when he gets really excited he misses obvious and important dog signals like "back off," "enough," and "I give up."  Jessie was there and he played with her some, but really had a good time with a Cattle Dog mix named Baja (female).  They both loved to play chase.  Ran the fence with some small dogs in the little dog park.  Explained to someone that he's too rough on the little dogs and right then he was racing around with and barking at 3 big dogs.  The person I was talking with looked on and amused said "Clearly."

Sun Dec 25
Took him along with us over to Terri's brother's house where he was very good (we had given him Rescue Remedy beforehand) - less high maintenance than Cali as he didn't insist on cleaning their floor though we did have to take up the cat's food.  When he finally saw the kitty he bark and Cleo got very fluffy.  At one time he tried to chase her, but he immediately came back to me.  Good Dog (I was very surprised but was using the She Who Will Be Obeyed voice and it had quite the effect.)

Sat Dec 24
Took the A-Frame over to Amy's in San Rafael and put out the weaves.  Yoshi's turning out to be a good weaver with 6 poles so now let's try 12.

Before I took the A-Frame over I took him to the dog park.  Good news and really not good news.  I have been giving him the Aspen and Mimulus since Wed. and I wanted to see if it had any effect.  Not sure, for a while he seemed to be responding a little more appropriately.  A Boston Terrier was harrassing him big time and he would nip back once to try to set limits.  When she wouldn't back off he chased after her which really taught her a lesson and he seemed to be giving appropriate corrections, but soon after an uncomfortable Pekenese growled and lifted a lip and he totally over reacted and went completely on the offensive.  Had the Peke on his back with the Peke crying and he still wouldn't stop.  I broke it up, but I had to haul him off the Peke and that was so not fun.

The Peke was not bleeding, but was clearly shaken and I offered to pay for a vet visit for him, but the owner declined though the owner has a rather justified low opinion of Yoshi.  Called him a "black heart" implying that he was out for blood (based on the fact that his dog was giving in and Yoshi wouldn't back off).  I keep Yoshi on leash until they left.  I let him off once more and he chased after a dashund (no contact) so I had enough and took him over to the big dog park half hoping that once of them would firmly put him in his place.  It didn't happen, but he was acting a little more appropriately.  So I've decided that it's no more small dog park for him.  If there are scary looking big dogs in the park when we get there then we'll just walk around the outside of the park on leash (something that's good for him anyway.)

So went back home and made Almond Roca and when that was done I was thinking of taking him back to the park, but instead took him for a walk instead.  This time instead of the Aspen/Mimulus I gave him some Rescue Remedy (mixed in water so I get a better comparison).  It seemed to definitely make a difference.  He would see a dog and stiffen and I would tell him to stop and had him do something else and then he desisted much sooner than he usually does.  Also he seems to trust me more when he's on leash especially with the GenCon leash (the theory is that it puts more even pressure on the head and neck and is a calming influence.)  A dog behind a fence started to leap and bark about 15 feet away which scared him and he barked back, but I calmly told him that it was ok and to just keep walking and stopped barking and growling and walked with me calmly by.  So I think I'm going to stop with the Aspen/Mimulus and give hime RR when we're going to do something that might stress him like the dogpark, class or a walk.

These days he's almost better behaved on leash than off (unusual for a dog that has issues about other dogs), so I think a lot more leash walks are in his future.

Wed Dec 21
Raining today so probably more indoor work. 

The animal experiments continue. I did put 2 drops each of the Aspen and Mimulus in water in a mixing bottle and will give him 4 drops 4 times a day.  I don't think I'm going to give them to him directly much as he'll start to hate it and he's been so tolerant of my messing with his mouth a la toothbrushing.  This morning I put it in the water that I use to dilute his supplement in his breakfast, at lunch I put 4 drops on a piece of bread, in the evening I'll put it in his food again, and the evening who knows - probably just bread or direct in his mouth.

He did seem to be calmer with the RR, than the Aspen/Mimulus, but it may have been the alcohol.  Maybe I should get another mixing bottle and dilute it too to get a good comparison.

Tues Dec 20
Today we begin our experiments on animals.  No really, it's pretty harmless.  I am trying to address Yoshi's fear of dogs issue so I'm going to try vareties of Bach Flower essences that i got from our local health food grocery store.  Rescue Remedy, Aspen, and Mimulus (not all together.)  Rescue Remedy is a combination of Rock Rose, Star of Bethlehem, Impatiens, Cherry Plum, and Clematis.  It is suggested that if it's an ongoing issue that you try one of the other essences than Rescue Remedy.  But RR seemed a good one to start with.  I have their pamplet and am reserving judgement as well it's worth trying even if it may indeed be the alcohol in them that's having an effect.

I gave him 2 drops under his tongue and we went on a walk.  He may have had reduced reactivity.  Saw a dog barking from his/her house and Yoshi barked back a little but was easily called back to me.  He wanted to charge at Kaiser the German Shepherd who was behind a gate but maybe was a little less intense about it and was happy to sit and look at me while Kaiser was barking at him.  When we got home he immediately wanted to go out and obsess on squirrels which is fine - it's more the dog interactions that I care about.

The real test will be to give it to him right before class, but we don't have obedience for the rest of the year though we may have one more agility class if it doesn't rain.

I can also mix up some of the other two in water and give that to him on a regular basis.

Mon Dec 19
AKC just gave us a huge gift.  After much agonizing and lobbying, AKC has decided to raise the cut off for the 8" class to 11"!!!
This is huge.  I went and remeasured Yoshi and once I got him to stop squirming, I got 10.75.  I scared myself as i first got over 11" but I realized I was using the tapered side of the level (D'oh).  This rule goes into effect Sept 2006.  That's not enough time to make a nationals for '07, but i guess that's by design.  The under 10" folks are going to really hate us as this is a huge advantage for him.  So Junior may very well have a national level AKC career (let's hope so!).

Sat/Sun

Rain Rain Rain.
Went on a long walk on Sunday and worked a fair bit on "By Me" - both indoor and outdoor.

Fri Dec 16

Agility Class.  What a relatively good boy.  Only two other working dogs Patrick a red and white Border Collie and Lucky a Tibetan Terrier.
With Sharon's smooth coated BC babydog (10 months) Rae doing a little work too.  I had Yoshi greet Rae whom he adores and wants to take home.  Rae and Yoshi have similar mega dog focus.  The difference is that Rae is much younger and has more of an excuse.

He was he usual growly, barky idiot when the other dogs walked in (we got there first), but each time he'd stiffen (his growls conveniently vibrate the leash which gives me a chance to react), I'd pull on the leash and tell him to "watch" or "Yoshi, watch".  if he was already barking I'd say "stop!"  He's getting the idea that it's more rewarding to pay attention to me but it's tough as his inclination to bark at other dogs who are anywhere near him is strong and it's a very reinforcing activity.  He also has to decide that he trusts me enough to turn his back on a dog (a calming signal).  If he looked I said YES and immediately gave him a treat. (Rollover or Cheese).

Agility-wise.  (Yes, we do agility in this class too!) we worked on basic sequencing.  He doesn't understand about hitting the weave pole entrance and is stopping a little short on the teeter, but generallly he's doing very well.  Also turning and following me when Rae is in the other direction proved to be a challenge but he was able to do it.

Exercises
Jump to weavepoles to table (and the reverse)
4 jump serpentine (both directions)
jump-teeter-chute (2x)
jump-teeter-chute-jump-tunnel
jump-teeter-chute-jump-tunnel-jump-jump-AFrame
jump-dogwalk-jump (2x)
jump-dogwalk-jump-AFrame-jump-[turn]-jump-tunnel (other end - some handling - not much)
(The turn is where I lost Yoshi for a moment but he came back.)

No zoomies!  Amazing.

[later]
Tonight is the last Oakland Dog Training Club dropin Rally class so we're going (not enough people coming to support it - bummer).  Terri's going to come and videotape to see if we can get Mr. Hellion on tape being a bad boy.  I've gotten fast enough that it may be something of a challenge but we'll see.  I've never met Lara the regular Rally instructor so I'm looking forward to it.  Wonder what she's already heard about him. :)

Rally class.  Success!  He was actually a good boy even with a couple of unknown dogs there one of them being a black german shephard.  When one of them would come near and he would start to tense and growl, I would call his name and ask him to watch.  85% of the time he immediately gave it to me and he'd earn a treat (I marked it with YES as I didn't want the clicker to distract others.)  If I didn't immediately get his attention I would pull on the leash until I got it.

His heeling was good and his attitude was great.  The course was an excellent level course so there were a few things that were beyond our level like backing up and bizarre about turns where the dog goes one way and you another.

Lara's is great and her Aussie Vista is very sweet and Yoshi and her just hit it off like gangbusters to the point that we let them off leash after class and let them race around and wrestle (he's crashed out now).

We hopefully (hope, hope, hope) may be starting to finally turn a corner managing this reactiveness.  While it's been a lot of work it's nothing compared to the work that Emma Parsons (author of Click to Calm) has to do with her fear aggressive Golden - took them over a year.

Wed Dec 14
Obedience class.  Barbara was the instructor again and she very graciously didn't tell us to go away and ws complementary of my handling of his snarky behavior whenever a new dog would come in.

Heeling.  She nicely got on my case about my hesitating so Yosh could catch up during the about turns.  She said that he's a very good heeler and that if I give him a good pace he will keep up and things will remain interesting.  She had me count 1, 2, 1, 2, during our heeling and it helped.
Figure 8's.  Emphasized that when you stop in the middle you can be at an angle and it's to your advantage to be so.
Stand for exam.  I have to remember to stand up before saying Stay and leaving.
Recall (heh heh) only a short distance and he was fine.
Sits and Downs.  He's not comfortable during the class transition, but the actual sit and down was fine and he lets me walk behind him.

It's occurring to me that if we get a handle on his reactivity, he's going to be one awesome performance dog.

Tues Dec 13
From a performance corgi's post talking about obedience classes and how it can be a long term commitment:
Yoshi was a home schooled boy until a year ago when I realized that I 
couldn't provide for him the chaos that a class would.

The checkbook tells the short story (If you want the long version it's
at http://www.frap.org/Yoshi/yoshi_training_diary.html.)

So in Jan 2005, we took Beginner 1 for 6 weeks from Oakland Dog Training
Club, then Beginner 2 in April for 6 weeks (with a private from Cali's
instructor Lori Drouin thrown in too.) Then in June we started agility
classes, and in July, I pulled him out because it was more chaos than he
could handle at the time. In August we started the Novice drop-in
obedience classes and has been doing it ever since, and in October we
started up with agility again which he's now doing very well at and
seems to enjoy.

So he's been doing some sort of obedience class for more than 7 months
and could very well be doing it for several months longer. I may get a
CD with him, but have no concrete plans to do much more with him in
formal obedience though we may do rally as he seems to enjoy it. What's
important is that he gets exposure to lots of well behaved dogs that you
won't see in a beginner obedience class (we discovered this only after
the beginner classes), and we have a good time working.

He's 2 1/2 years old going on about 1 1/2 years mentally. Things are
not always rosey. Last week he broke a stay during a recall exercise to
chase after a poor cocker spaniel who was new to the class and had
gotten too close to him in his mind (barking - no contact - they've
since met and are ok with each other). Thus guaranteeing the club of
several more sessions of income from us if they'll have us (which
doesn't appear to be in question at all - though I thought it should
have been).

So it's a long road, but a rewarding journey.

Ellen Clary
and Yoshi the schoolboy
Sun Dec 11
Dogpark training with highly mixed results.  Took the weavepoles and a couple of jumps to the dogpark and the problem was as soon as a couple of dogs noticed that we had treats they wouldn't leave us alone and I had to break up one schuffle of him trying to protect his treats.  Fortunately I kept him on leash.  Did that for about 10 minutes or less nad then stopped and let him socialize some.

Most of the small dogs there were somewhat tense and I have to intervene twice again when a dog would nip at him and he'd over react.

I talked to Elizabeth about them loaning us a House Manager female corgi and she seemed intrigued with the idea.  We'll see what happens over time

Sat
Cheese-wizzed his teeter and he really liked that, plus the string cheese that I also gave him.  Interestingly enough that didn't give him gas.

Fri Dec 9

Well good dog (Yoshi inu) apparently is back mostly because he was the only one in his agility class this morning so it was just him and Sharon's BC Rip, who Yoshi really likes.  We worked on lead outs, weaves (talked about entries and reinforcing the approach with good toy placement as well as every point in them.  Also talked some about 2x2's.) Dogwalk - he's now cantering over it and doing surprisingly well.  Teeter: he does it but Sharon would like to see him go futher up the board before it starts to tip, so she put some cheeze-whiz half way into the yellow and then had him go up the teeter with her standing at the base (so it didn't tip).  Then once he had gone up to the cheeze-whiz (he was initially hesitant but with cheese-whiz in the offering he decided it was worth the risk) and was eating it she lowered the board while I fed him more treats.  Did that about 4 times and then quit for the day.  I'll have to get Terri's help in doing this at home as he needs more exposure.

To get speed at the weaves, she suggests taking them to a park and working on them there.  The dogpark is likely too distracting (though we could pick a fairly remote corner, but there are some alternatives that might work like the nearby school, or Lincoln park (busy though) or Krusie park (if they're not doing team sports).

He did start his "Run!  Run!" Barking at Rip but Rip wasn't buying it, and after taking it for a little while turned and did a half snap which made Yoshi desist.  That's what he needs when he's not on leash, too bad he often picks dogs that won't do that.

Wed Dec 7

Dogpark at noon.  He was trying to herd a Rottweiler who wasn't very happy about how much he was barking at her so I leashed him (when I caught him which uncharacteristically took a moment or two.)  I kept him on leash and walked a circumference of the park and then let him back off at the little dog park fence so he could run the fence with another of the little dogs.

He's here at work with me right now in a crate.  So far just quietly chewing a rawhide.  Introduced him to John in him wheelchair and Yosh did fine as long as the chair wasn't rolling at him.  If i picked him up then no problem at all.

Class tonight.  We'll see how much of an idiot he is this time.

[later] Well, he was great and an idiot.  He did some awesome heeling and figure 8 heeling.  His stand was good and he let Barbara 9who was subbing) walk right up and do the stand for exam no problem.  And on all the stays he'd letting me walk behind him with how him cowering.

So I was completely surprised when doing an off leash recall he broke his stay after I was only about 15 feet away and charged up barking to a small cocker spaniel who was very close (like 3 feet or so) and new that night (and nervous).  The cocker tried to flea and her owner was trying to grab hold of either of them.  The more the cocker tried to get away the more Yoshi pressed his barking (he never made contact really, his M.O. seems to be get an inch away and bark at full volume hoping the other dog will run.)  He proved to be hard to catch and the ordeal lasted for an agonizing 30 seconds or so.

I expected to have to leave the class immediately, but we were nearly done and Barbara said to stay (these are all experienced people) so we could work through it.  We then did sits and downs with Yoshi staying on leash.  i had Patricia hold him while I went and profusely apologized to the owner who was very gracious and assured me that her dog was ok.  Afterward, I then had the dogs meet and after some hesitation on the other dog's part, they greeted each other calmly.  Things got a lot better after I gave Francie (the coker) a treat and she instantly liked me, while Yoshi was giving kisses to the other owner.

This guarding behavior is getting problematic.  It's mostly towards dogs he doesn't know and he's somehow learned that putting on a huge barking show is a way to cope.  He was raised in a pack so i'm a little surprised at this false bravado, but unfortunately it's sort of working for him.

I think he'll be ok for agility, but obedience with its long sits and downs beside unknown dogs is very much in question.  i was thinking of stopping obedience class at the end of the year, but clearly he needs to continue for quite a while longer.  (ODTC thanks you for the financial support).

It's possible the dog park has served its positive use of exposing him to lots of dogs and now he is learning and getting reinforced for not so good habits.  It may be time to seek out another female canine house manager to keep him in line though Cali's paws are going to be tough to fill.  We need a dog who is a natural leader and who will correct him when necessary but not hurt him.  Both his and my preferences are for another corgi or a border collie.  I really don't think I have time to train another dog so maybe I can borrow one or something, someone who has too many dogs and who has one that would love some more attention.

Or not.  Of course i could just get lucky and he'll grow out of it, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Clearly he was stressed by the whole experience instead of finding it fun as when he came home he curled up on Terri's pillow and crashed for over an hour.

Tues Dec 6
Some more fetch at noon for pizza crusts.

Mon Dec 5
Some fetch at noon for pizza crusts - which he dearly loves.

Sun Dec 4
(More rain gutter fun though most of it was scraping the paint off of a faschia board that it was resting on, digging the rotten wood out and putting wood restorer in.)
Dogpark.  Went to the small dog park and he ran the fence with several of the big dogs including 3 rotweillers that seem friendly enough but I'm leery of rots and Yoshi's growlly response to them so I will continue to hesitate putting him in the large dog park with them as he may get more than he bargained for in a hurry.

Did some more fetch and found some more unusual behaviors.  The walking to the side might be a targetting behavior as there was a rug underneath me at the time.  This time I was facing the rug so I was tossing towards a wall.  He would sometimes get the ball, go over and stand on the rug and then dance back to me lifting up his front foot as he drops the ball into my hand.  Geez this is endearing.  It likely won't last but it's dern cute right now.

What I notice about his lack of drive/confidence is that if the ball goes somewhere even slightly out of the way, he gives up.  For example, it went under a chair that he could easily get under but wouldn't do it.  This time, instead of getting the ball for him, I switched to another one (this was not by plan, just lazyness).  When that ball went under the same chair he grabbed the original ball and brought it back.  Good boy.  I'm not going to be terribly picky about which one he brings back as I don't see him enjoying Obedience Utility, but I do want to see him enjoying play.

Sat Dec 3
(No rain, but had to work on the rain gutters today (and tomorrow)).
Did a few sessions of fetch with his small tennis ball.  I have quite untentionally trained him to do fetch really strangely though he will fetch outside even with another dog barking so we're getting somewhere (I think.)  I toss the ball a short distance, he goes and gets it and does this odd little dance when putting it back in my hand.  With the ball in his mouth, he goes to my side, tosses his head up, holds his foot up, sometimes gives a little growl, and drops it into my hand.  I taught his this?  I must of, but how?  The continuing saga of you get what you click, but I'm not even using a clicker for fetch now as he knows it (whatever "it" is) pretty well.  If he misses my hand I let it bounce back to him, so sometimes we get this really bizarre game of 4 square.

He doesn't have much drive around it though.  If the ball gets somewhere that is hard for him to get to he gives up.  I'm sure this learned helplessness is my fault and I'll have to think about how to get through it.

I taught Cali to play fetch (she wasn't always the fetching fiend that she became), but wasn't using a clicker.  When people would see Cali fetch they would often say "I wish my dog would fetch."  I generally had to restrain a guffaw as it took Cali over a year to become a reliable fetcher and then another year before she got to the point of demanding it.  Most dogs don't fetch out of the box (at least the way we generally play it.)  Herding and Hunting dogs may demonstrate a tendancy to it, but usually you have to teach them something about how you like to play the game.

Fri Dec 2
Class canceled because of rain.  Bummer.

Dog park at noon - went to the big dog side and he had a great time.  Met a nice dog walker named Hollis who works for http://www/redroverpets.com.




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