Training Day 36

When we got there today my trainer had left us a note saying that Bailey's stomach seems to be back to normal. But we however, decided just to stick with kibble treats today instead of chicken. We started off today with a light switch session and he did well. He flipped the switch a few times and got lots of praise instead of chicken. Even though we weren't using chicken today (his favorite treat) it didn't seem to make a difference with his motivation or performance. After that we tried our new "eye" command. He seems to be getting it and looks into my eyes 70% of the time. Then we went outside for an auto-sit session but I upped the ante. Not only does Bailey have to automatically sit when I stop my chair, he now has to look me in the eyes after he sits in order to receive a reward. This way he will be ready in case I give him an eye command. He caught on pretty quickly. At the beginning of the session two of Baileys friends came running into the yard and were trying to distract him by barking and even trying to get treats from my aide. Bailey sat next to me quietly poised and waiting for my next move. What a good boy.
 After the auto sit session I wanted to do a game of hide and seek in the tennis courts. I hid but Bailey was on a short leash today with my aide. My aide would guide Bailey to an area far from where I was hiding and then tell him "go find Eva'. Since he was on a short leash he had to pull my aide to where I was at to "find me". Now Bailey never pulls while on leash, but he seemed to understand he was leading my aide to me and the very first round he pulled her with no hesitation. After a few games of hide and seek it was chill time and we went back inside the house for a break, and soon it was time for lunch.
After lunch I wanted to try something new for our light switch training. This time Bailey was on leash and attached to my chair. I had my aide take the light switch board and go to one side of the room. Then I walked Bailey over to where the light switch was and when he touched his nose to the switch he got a treat. This is a more realistic way to teach the light switch since in the future I will be entering rooms with him and he will need to turn on/off the lights when I stop in front of a light switch. He did great! I think that me taking him around the room makes the task more exciting for him. After that it was play time. Sadly, his brother was not at the house today. But I got some great photos of Bailey hanging out with me, Magic and his girlfriend Lucy.

Training Day 35

When we got there today Bailey was in the den and was super excited to see me. A note from my trainer explained that Bailey's stomach problems have returned. and he had another accident. Although he has diarrhea he is still eating, drinking and acting completely normal. So we went straight into light switch training. He did great and again generalized the switches, touching his nose to different ones. After that we went into the tennis courts and tried a new version of hide and seek. We put Bailey on a 20 foot leash, held by my aide, and had him stand next to me.  I then gave him the "go get help" eye command (me looking at Bailey and then up at my aide) and asked my aide to tug on the leash at the same time. Unfortunately Bailey had no clue as what we were trying to teach him. And watching my aide try to follow Bailey around and untangle his 20 foot leash was pretty hysterical. So I decided to try something else. We went back to the original hide and seek game, with me hiding, but altered it a little bit. I had my aide take Bailey on leash to a corner of the courts and I went to hide. She then told him "go find Eva" but since he was on leash he had to take her with him. I did not put peanut butter on my hand as we would previously do. Instead he only got a treat when my aide had followed him over to me, and acknowledged me verbally/physically. He seemed to understand that my aide needed to accompany him to me and even began jumping on me in acknowledgement when he found me.  I think he may even have been copying my aide, because she would get all excited and say "Yay we found Eva" and put her hands on my arms and shoulders to show him that I was what he needed to find. After the first time she did this Bailey would jump on me when he found me copying her same physical acknowledgements.
After hide and seek it was chill time and Bailey just relaxed and chewed on a deer antler. Soon he fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up we did one more light switch session. We also tried something new. Bailey has always been super attentive towards me but I want him to focus more on my eyes so that I can use subtle eye commands that he will pick up on.  So we're trying a verbal command that we hope will transition into an automatic behavior for him. My aide is saying the command "eyes" and whenever Bailey looks me straight in the eyes he gets a reward. I think this will be an easy one for him and he's already starting to get it.
So after introducing this new task, my aide went into the kitchen to get lunch ready. Bailey began to do his "I've got to go to the bathroom dance" and was circling around the room. I thought "oh no"! And before I could do anything Bailey proceeded to empty himself on the den rug. My aide returned just as this was happening. Bailey then sat a few feet away from his pile and looked up at us so sorry. I know that he couldn't help it because he's been having stomach issues. Interestingly his stomach issues started around the same time my trainer gave all the dogs deer antlers to chew on, and this accident was about an hour after he had been chewing on an antler. Could be a coincidence but I suspect it might be related. So after we cleaned it up it was time for lunch. Since I had introduced some new commands/tasks today I decided to just have some play time after lunch. But since it was over 90 degrees today the dogs were pretty mellow and just enjoyed some relaxing sun bathing.

Training Day 34

When I got there today Bailey was loose in the den. As with every Tuesday, he was extra excited to see me today. He even jumped up on my lap and gave me some big wet kisses right after I got there. Awesome! We did the light switch first thing and something very cool happened today. As you may remember, in the den is a big wooden board with three working light switches that we originally used for training. But a couple weeks ago we began using a small hand held light switch board that rekindled Bailey's interest in this task. Today during the light switch session my aide at one point said "get the light" and instead of touching the light switch she had in her hand, he walked over to the big light switch board and touched his nose  up to one of the switches there. I was amazed. This shows that he understands that when someone says "get the light" that it means any/every light switch and not just the one that I was holding in front of his face. I read about how dogs can generalize but I hadn't ever seen it for myself.  So that was really cool!
After that I did an auto-sit session. Bailey did well. I always walk him over to the chain link fence where he can see his friends. I always have him sit next to me while a bunch of dogs are wiggling and trying to get his attention, as a good distraction test. He did great! After auto-sit it was lunch time. Bailey just slept (with his two chew bones).
After lunch we did one more light switch session and Bailey did the same thing as earlier, touching his nose to different switches when asked to "get the light". Then we went straight into play time and soon left after that. Over the weekend Bailey was entered into a costume contest dressed as a vampire and won "Most Handsome" in the contest. Here is a picture of Bailey along side some of the other contestants. Sooooooo Cute!

Training Day 33

So when I got there today Bailey and his trainer were in the den together, and she said Bailey was feeling better. We started off the day with a light switch session and he did great. I think next week I am going to hold the portable light switch up against a wall so that Bailey will learn that the light switch will be on the wall and not low to the ground held in front of him. After I did the light switch I wanted to try something new. I wanted to do a new form of hide and seek. This time I wanted my aide to be the one "hiding" and I would indicate to Bailey to go find her. This however didn't go so well. I tried to tell Bailey to go to my aide by making eye contact and then moving my head and looking at my aide. Bailey did go over to my aide but not because I was asking him to, more because he was bored and she had chicken. So then we asked for the help of my trainer to be a voice that went along with my head and eye commands. After that he caught on pretty quickly. My trainer had a great idea.  She suggested that I make a sign that said something along the lines of "I need help". Bailey could then take this sign over to someone in a situation when I motioned to him that I needed help. One of the issues with that is that I can't physically un-clip his leash if I do need him to go get help. But I think a sign will attract peoples attention. So after Hide and Seek it was chill time.
Since it's almost Halloween my trainer's roommate had the best costume idea and made it a reality this afternoon. His puppy is an all black poodle and he used a non-toxic, washable hair color spray to make a white stripe that started at her nose and ended at her tail. She was the cutest poodle skunk ever.
During Bailey's break time he was asleep in the corner about ten feet away while my aide and I were chatting. She got up and left the room for a few minutes. When she left the room he lifted up his head and looked around the den for her. When he realized she wasn't in the room with me he quickly got up and came to my side. After a few moments he laid down right beside my chair. I was amazed! After lunch we had some play time and the coolest thing happened. My aide was all the way on the other side of the yard playing with one of the dogs and had her back turned to me. I see Bailey come towards me and I was thinking he was gonna stand by my side like usual, but instead he excitedly jumped up on my chair and began happily giving me kisses on his own with no coaxing! This was the first time that he has done this 100% of his own accord. It was awesome and exactly what I've been wanting him to do, showing me love when he feels like it and not by command. He stayed on my lap for quite a while. After that we just hung out in the side yard and played with the dogs.  I leave you today with a photo taken by my trainer of Bailey sleeping with his new girlfriend Lucy. Soooo cute!

Training Day 32

Today  my Trainer said that Bailey and her were up at 2am after Bailey had an "accident" on her bedroom floor. This is quite unusual for Bailey who has never pooped in the house before. Apparently he was having some stomach issues and couldn't hold it in. Thankfully my Trainer didn't rush him off to the vet like last time. But Bailey was in good spirits today despite his evening of an upset stomach.
Because of his upset stomach we stuck with only cooked chicken treats for today and we started off with light switch training. He did very well. I'm kind of leery about phasing out the treats during the light switch training. As you may remember I tried only giving him treats when he actually flipped the switch in the past and this seemed to frustrate and confuse him until he lost interest. It took me two weeks to get him interested again. So I'm trying a different tactic to teach him to always flip the light instead of just touching his nose to it. Today when Bailey touched his nose to the light he got a click and a kibble treat (kinda boring) but when he flipped the switch up he got a click, a "good boy" and a fat piece of chicken. He seemed to be flipping it more often today but still not 100%. He has definitely been more engaged in the light switch training since last Friday.
So after the light switch I wanted to do an auto-sit session. There were two dogs running around the back yard and of course they came up to Bailey to say "Hi". He was again a very good boy. He would greet them for a moment but then quickly go back into working mode and sit back down at my side. Overall the auto-sit session went very well.
We went back inside the house and after Bailey had some down time we did one more light switch session and again he did fantastic! He got one more break while we ate lunch and then it was play time. I'm doing more playtime with Bailey for two reasons. First it's just really fun! Second he seems to want to "give kisses" when he's having fun during playtime and wants to show me some love. Today he jumped up on me and was literally kissing me for two minutes straight, he just didn't want to stop giving me love, it was awesome! After some good play time we left for the day.

Vote for Bailey!

Hey Folks, this awesome website for and about service dogs called Please Don't Pet Me is having a calendar contest. The 12 people/dogs who get the most votes will have their picture printed in the calendar. So vote for Bailey (number 24) to appear in a service dog calendar here. You can vote once a day! Thanks


http://pleasedontpetme.com/calendar.html

Training Day 31

Today when I got to my Trainer's house Bailey was in the kitchen. He was super excited to see me and so my Trainer let him out. As soon as she opened the gate he began happily running laps around the living room. After I took him into the den I began light switch training. He clearly remembered the session from Friday and either put his nose to the switch or flipped it up every single time he was told "get the light". My aide also tried just holding the light switch up in front of Bailey without saying anything and he still knew to put his nose to the light switch.
After that I wanted to do auto-sit. Here's a video of of all seven dogs running from the tennis courts to the side yard and greeting Bailey along the way. (Isn't Bailey being such a good boy)



He did very well during our auto-sit session. After that I took him inside and let him chill. Then I did one more light switch session and he did just as well as earlier in the day. It seems that Bailey has a better understanding of what I am asking of him because even when he is not flipping the switch he seems to be making the upward nose motion (that would flip a switch up) more often. After that it was get busy time and I took him out back for a minute. Then we had lunch.
When we finished lunch we went straight into playtime with the crew. My aide had a suggestion about "give kisses" instead of trying to treat train him to do this as a "task" she thought that if we just did it during playtime when he was having fun and wanted to give kisses naturally that it would reinforce this as a fun thing instead of a work duty and as time goes on he will just do this naturally.  So during playtime my aide said "give kisses' and Bailey jumped up on me with ease and started licking my face. Here is a video of the second time he gave me kisses.



Then we just chilled and watched everyone play in the yard. Here is a cute video of Bailey playing with his friend Maddie. Excuse the demon face he makes when he's playing.