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.

Outing

As you might remember about one month ago I presented at a a class for special ed teachers. Well today I presented at a class for physical therapists and naturally Bailey came along. I went to my Trainer's house and had my aide go in and get Bailey vested up and ready to go. When she went inside Bailey was in the kitchen area with a couple other dogs and was super excited that she was there, but when she opened the gate he ran around the living room looking for me.She put him on his leash and took him out to my van. Bailey just had a hair cut so she paraded him around the driveway as if he was on a catwalk so that I could check out his new look. We then drove to the campus for my lecture.
When we got there I wanted to see if Bailey needed to go pee so I walked him around a grassy area next to the parking lot. We then went into the classroom and I put Baileys mat down next to me. He laid down on it immediately. He seemed less distracted by the students standing around him than the last time we were here. He did try to visit with the students sitting next to him on the floor but for the most part he was awesome and stayed right by my side. After that I just took him home and headed out. It was a quick but successful day.
When I arrived home I found out my insurance company is going to pay for 85% of the vet bills I acquired when Bailey had a stomach problem. Yay!!!!

Training Day 31-What an awesome day!

Today was a breakthrough day. When I first got there today Bailey was in his crate barking excitedly at my arrival. I took Bailey outside for an auto-sit session and realized that all of the eight dogs at my trainers house right now were still in the tennis courts and about to make their chaotic way through the back yard where I was sitting with Bailey. Normally I try to avoid this huge distraction and take Bailey outside after the dogs are gone.  But since I was already out there I thought "what the hell let's see what happens". Bailey was leashed to me and in a sit position when 10 million (or so it seemed) dogs came racing through the yard and bounding and hopping all around Bailey excitedly.  In particular his brother Liam was trying to get him to play pretty persuasively. Bailey just stood there like a polite professional service dog and definitely told his brother through body language "hey Dude I'm working right now". Awesome! So then I started  a session of auto-sit since Bailey is really good at that. Then I brought out my new contraption for light switch training. My aide put a light switch on a small piece of plywood and then added a little plastic piece to the end of the switch to make it bigger. The idea was to attach this board to the side of my wheel chair with the switch on it, in hopes that it would recapture Baileys interest since it was attached to me and we were "working". At first it seemed he wasn't interested and I was getting bummed out. He laid down next to me and let out a little whine. We decided that the session was over and my aide took the board off my chair. But after she took it off she held it up in front of him as a last attempt and he suddenly showed interest and immediately put his nose to the switch. We praised him like crazy, and re-encouraged we kept going. Now every time my aide said "get the light " he put his nose up to the switch and even flipped it up quite a few times. We of course went nuts with excitement. It seems that his interest has been rekindled towards the light switch task. Then we went inside and Bailey crashed out.
 I let Bailey have a well deserved break after the awesome morning. But I really wanted to reinforce the light switch task, so after his rest we tried again. This time we did it inside and I left him off leash. I want it to be fun for Bailey and it's important that it is his choice to want to do/figure out this task. He did great even though he was rewarded with peanut butter instead of his favorite chicken (we had run out of  from rewarding him so much earlier). He flipped the switch several times. I'm so proud of him! Then it was lunch time and Bailey crashed out again.
After lunch I wanted to reward Bailey with some play time in the side yard with all his friends. We were tossing him and his brother the ball for a while and suddenly I feel a dog on top of me. My aide was standing next to me and since Bailey and his brother Liam were so excited  while playing she decided to tell Liam to give me kisses hoping that Bailey would see how it's done. But when she said "give Eva kisses' it was Bailey that immediately jumped up on my lap with no hesitation and began licking my face.  I was so surprised that for a moment I thought it was Liam. Bailey had never ever jumped up on me without assistance before. My aides mouth dropped to the floor and we were squealing in happy shock. He got tons of praise and once he jumped off of me my aide said once again "give kisses" and he jumped on me for a second time. I was so happy!  After such a great event, we just chilled out and let all the dogs run around and play together.
When it was time to head out my trainer said that she would call all the dogs into the house so that I could have an easy exit. She excitedly called Liam and Bailey in last and Bailey went towards her and then decided no. He turned around and came over to me and would not leave my side for anything. So instead I took him into the house through another door myself. What a good way to start the weekend.

Training Day 30

So today was a little different. My mom came to visit Bailey at my Trainer's house. She had seen Bailey the very first day he was in Southern California about three months ago and hadn't seen him since. Bailey was excited to see her. We visited for a while and then we did a bell session to show off what a good boy Bailey is. Then we tried "give kisses". Since we had another set of hands we had my aide call to Bailey while holding a treat in my lap and had my Mom put Bailey's paws on my chair to get the treat. He would eat the treat but he would never jump up himself to get it. It's funny- most puppy owners are trying to get their dogs NOT to jump on them and I'm desperately trying to get him TO jump on me.
So after we visited I took Bailey out to get busy and then it was time for lunch. Bailey just slept all through lunch. After lunch we did a "leave it" session. We started out with peanut butter and Bailey didn't touch it. Then we added chicken liver Kong treat on top of the peanut butter to up the ante. He still didn't try to touch it. Then we added his favorite treat, chicken. He was tempted by the chicken and went for it one time but was easily and quickly redirected. The one time he tried to get the chicken he scooted up to the piece on the floor, moved in for the bite and literally had his tongue within 2 millimeters of the chicken. My aide said "leave it" and he looked up at her, tongue still sticking out and then quickly pulled back. What a good boy! Since it was still raining today I put Bailey back in the kitchen to play with his buddies and we left a little bit early.