Having sampled quite a few of the treats on monthly offer from Chewy.com,
I've come to realize that the best treats are often the ones made of the fewest ingredients. So I was excited to try Rocco & Roxie Supply Co. Gourmet Beef Liver Dog Treats.
They come in a generous 16 oz bag, and are made only of beef liver that has been slow-smoked for 15 hours.
I was not expecting this, but they are hard and crispy though they can be broken easily into small bites appropriate for training.
And let me tell you, training is a breeze with these treats.
They are apparently so high-value that the dogs were falling all over themselves trying to con me into serving them up.
Fozzie readily launched up into a supported stand with front paws on my arm.
Dahlia was happily doing a prison crawl, and front paws were offering shakes all over the place.
Sits happened in a snap.
And for what I think is the first time, Fozzie offered an enthusiastic Roll Over, almost without even being asked to.
They were just trying anything to get their hot mouths around these snacks.
That is, until the excitement got to be too much for Fozzie and the whole thing just degenerated into humping.
Which is a not uncommon outcome for our training sessions, and perfectly understandable when you consider just how exciting these treats were.
I also have been using them on walks, where I can sometimes interrupt Fozzie mid-lunge when he sees another dog just by sticking one of these in his face. No pictures, because you try holding a camera when you've got an 85-pound lunger and a 40-pound humper in one hand, and a smoked liver snack in the other hand. But it really shows you the power of high-value treats in training difficult tasks!
Thanks Chewy.com, for some absolutely mind-blowing treats!
Let's say that you're fostering a dog, a loving, smart, adorable dog, who is ostensibly a 3-5 year old dog, from the look of her teeth, but who behaves like a 6 month old puppy. A dog who, every evening, goes through several hours in which she absolutely must have your attention or else she humps your other dog incessantly and/or barks, zooms around, jumps on and off furniture, and nips your arms.
Now let's say that you are all about giving dogs attention, but that those few hours after you've arrived home from a long bike ride and a full day at work are precisely the hours in which you would like nothing more than to space out with an ice pack on your lower back in front of a really bad TV show, or perhaps in front of a movie featuring 6 attractive 20somethings who go camping in a beautiful remote wilderness, and end up being chopped into small pieces, one by one, by a deranged mountain person or supernatural
force, just like they did in every other one of the movies your significant other has rented in the seven years since you've known him.
Or maybe you'd even like to just read something halfway intelligent, like a Buddhist book on anger management, or something relaxing in its humor by David Sedaris or relaxing in its bleakness by Cormack McCarthy.
Regardless of your recipe for evening relaxation, all these options are off the table when you've got a dog afflicted with Evening Devil Dog Syndrome. All you can do is try to tire her out.
Fortunately, Daria is highly food motivated
and she is super smart and like most dogs, enjoys training.
We've been working on the basics, which of course are great for focus and impulse control.
A dog who can sit for a treat is a dog who is starting to learn that there are more rewarding things in life than humping a dog who does not want to be humped.
Better yet, an impulsive, deaf dog who can sit is learning maybe for the first time a system of communication that is based on something other than frustration. Instead of hump, nip, and bark in frustration and be strangled by an equally frustrated human, there is the option to sit, and get a treat.
Daria readily picks up hand signals, and we've been working on all the basic skills. One fun trick is Called Sit and Wait While I Give a Treat To Fozzie and Give Him Love. There is no specific hand signal for that one, but its title is pretty self-explanatory. If she can get that one, she'll have an A+ in impulse control, let me tell you.
We've also been incorporating some other tricks to help tire her out and give her brain something to do. She hasn't yet learned to put those paws up on a pilates ball--which Fozzie learned so well in his Doggie Dance Class--
but she readily learned to stand on her hind legs and seems to love it. That's gotta be tiring, as well as being adorable.
Small pitties make such great trick dogs and circus dogs. What a great outlet for all that wacky energy.
And, you can do your hand signals with one hand, the other hand on the ice pack or the remote.
What's YOUR prescription for the Evening Devil Dog?
The sight of Star navigating her Pilates ball is so adorable to me, I can't resist posting a few videos of it here.
In this one, I love how she works so hard to stay on the ball, then loses her balance, crashes on the floor, and gets right back up on the ball again.
In this one, she is a little too eager to get that treat. Then I love the standing on hind legs, and then the utter calm and focus as she climbs back up on the ball herself and waits for her reward. Then that little two-legged jump!
There are some other people out there who will also I think be interested in seeing these videos. These people were interested in how I trained Star to do things like climb up on the pilates ball. It was really just a matter of tapping the ball a couple of times, and then rewarding Star for looking at it, sniffing it, or putting a paw on it. With a curious, intelligent little thing like Star--and especially since she'd been doing clicker training and had been rewarded for trying new things--it was very quick before she started climbing up on the ball and doing all the courageous things she did.
She's been rewarded so heavily for interacting with a pilates ball, that now all you have to do is out one in front of her and she jumps right on it.
Here is another video of Star amusing herself with a rope toy.
I just love how when given a new toy, she has so much joy in whipping it over her head and making those graceful aerial twists. Florian and I were at a ballet competition last weekend, and I don't think we ever saw anything quite that impressive.
I think certain people out there will enjoy seeing this too. No time to say a whole lot about who these mystery people are now, but I'll have a full update next week!
Suffice it to say for now that Star has had some very good news! And not just that her Pilates skills have grown by leaps and bounds.
Though I've been talking a lot about all the tricks Star is learning lately, it is clear that tricks are far from her most important training tasks. Star is making great progress in controlling her impulses, walking nicely on the leash, and learning basic obedience, but she still has a way to go before she would be considered a perfect little woman by most adopters.
Star loves to practice her tricks but the amount of energy and activity she generates is I know stressful for Lamar and Fozzie. How would YOU feel, after all, if you were a bit nervous and high-strung by nature and a little tot with poor impulse control were careening across your living room floor balanced on a pilates ball?
So we're getting Fozzie to play with the pilates ball too, to blow off some steam and get in on the fun. What to do with Star while Fozzie is practicing his tricks?
Get her to work on her impulse control, of course!
It is working better than I would have imagined to encourage Fozzie to do some balancing, while asking Star to sit and stay. She does it!
OK, eventually she does it.
And if she can sit and stay while the object of her obsession--the dog whose neck she is usually latched onto and whose back she is generally launching on top of in a frenzy of Tasmanian devil-inspired zeal--stands on a pilates ball himself, then maybe she's not so far from being a perfect little adoptable tot after all!
And Lamar? He gets treats just for watching the whole thing with any degree of tolerance. Each dog gets to practice what he or she most needs to work on, all in the same training session.
Do YOU like to find ways to train everyone all at once? Or do you, sensibly, devote one-on-one training time to all your dogs?
With my buddy Francine's Tuesday night Tricks class, I've been thinking more about ways to incorporate fun tricks into our everyday life.
I remembered the exercise balls that we had so much fun with in Fozzie's dance class, and I finally got around to buying one.
Star and I are both very happy I did.
What a great tool for exercising and learning new tricks--for humans and dogs.
Since Star was already growing adept at Standing on her two hind legs, she quickly learned to put those two front paws on the exercise ball for a treat.
Now she readily puts those paws on it and is getting more and more comfortable with staying on it as it starts to move, using those front paws to manipulate it instead of getting scared and jumping off in response to motion.
A bit of peanut butter--our new secret weapon against dog distraction-- doesn't hurt either.
It's only a matter of time before Star can climb all the way on to the pilates ball like that pit bull in the class Fozzie and I took. In the meantime, she'll be building her core strength every time she works out on the fitness ball, getting better and better at balancing and standing and paving the way for other new tricks.
Like getting on the skateboard!
She is already taking several steps at a time on her hind legs across the floor, and starting to be able to spin around on her hind legs.
Meanwhile, this human is doing some much
less adorable but very therapeutic tricks on the exercise ball that are
designed to strengthen the abs and relieve back pain caused by too many
dog activities.
Hopefully said ab strength will enable me to keep up
with said dogs as they, in turn, strengthen their abs by doing all those
activities!
Star has been doing so well with learning tricks that I knew she would enjoy coming to my friend Francine's Games & Tricks class.
I sometimes help with this class when there are a lot of people signed up, especially when there are a couple of dogs there who are reactive or have trouble concentrating in class.
This time, there were just a few students so Francine let me bring Star.
This class was Star's own little fantasy land. We were the first students there so for a while it was just a room filled with toys, things to play with, things to chew on, and people with treats. Wow!
For the first 15 minutes, we just let her wander around, going from nylabone to squeaky tennis ball to soccer ball and chewing on each for a few minutes before moving on to the next.
Practicing her tricks in exchange for treats, and showing off how well she can roll over
and stand up
and spin
It was so fun to see her having such a good time.
Pretty soon two other dogs showed up, and Star got very excited and amped up. Francine doesn't want dogs greeting when on leash in the close quarters of the class, so Star got very frustrated and made lots of squeakies.
My cheesy treats weren't sufficient to get her attention, but fortunately Francine had a jar of peanut butter. A mouthful of that and she calmed right down.
It was amazing to see how her focus improved immediately post-peanut butter. Like the soothing familiar deliciousness just put her right back in her body and reminded her of herself.
Even after her belly was full and no treats were of interest, she was able to accomplish a brilliant Paws Up with a Nylabone as a lure. The Nylabone was so enticing she would have chewed it all night, and in fact she did chew it until her gums started to bleed.
Fortunately, Francine's friend Margarita got some amazing pictures before we had to confiscate the Nylabone.
I'm so impressed by those pictures. I think they really capture her irresistible cuteness. Hopefully lots of potential adopters will agree...but not too soon.
Amidst all the upheaval lately, I was trying to maintain some constancy by continuing to work with Star on building her skills.
Actually, the real
reason I work with her is that its the only way to get her tired so she
leaves me alone and I can attend to something besides her, like researching new vehicles and
corresponding with all those thousands of new clients just breaking down my
door.
Star really loves her
training. No matter whether we're working on Go to Bed, other impulse
control activities, or a fun new trick, she is ready to learn and
behaves almost like she is a good little dog!
As I've written about before, I really think trick training is as
important and practical for dogs with issues as training in the more
basic skills. Trick training, like all positive training, teaches dogs
to always be thinking about cool things to try in order to earn a
reward.
In addition to
learning a new trick, dogs learn to think for themselves, they learn
independence, they learn problem-solving, and they gain confidence in
using their bodies and empowerment in using their minds.
For foster dogs and shelter dogs, trick training gives them new skills and ways of looking cute for potential adopters.
I am trying to get
both Fozzie and Star to learn both Stand (on two legs) and Sit Pretty
(sit up and beg). They love to do both, although we haven't refined the
difference between the two.
For Stand, I just hold the treat calmly above her head. "Calmly" being a key component so she can just focus, concentrate her energy into her butt, and elevate the front half of the dog off the floor.
For Sit Pretty I hold it closer to her face, and I hold out my other arm for her to put her paws on it so she can balance--like Fozzie and I learned in our dance class.
It takes a bit more self-control than Star has to remain seated on her butt and elevate the front of the dog, without coming all the way up.
At first, when I held a
treat up high for Star, she would stand for a second then spin around
so she was facing away from me and fall back onto all four paws.
Gradually, she's been getting the hang
of it and now she can stand steady in one spot on those two back paws,
and even take a few steps.
Fozzie's getting really good at both tricks too, though he still seems to get really tired when he does them.
Which is not a bad thing.
With Star, and with every young foster dog in recent memory, there is a period of time in the evenings where I just don't know what to do with the little thing. Forget about getting a moment's peace to read a magazine, eat dinner unmolested, or attend to the other dogs.
These young dogs have a need for near-constant activity for those hours between about 5:30 and 10 in the evening. Generally I get home, walk all 3 dogs, then bring Fozzie and Star in the backyard, let them play together if I'm feeling brave, throw balls for them, and go back in.
That sounds like plenty of activity, right? Nosireebob. I've had to get a bit more creative with this little thing.
Like positive trainers always say, mental engagement is just as tiring as physical activity. Plus Star needs a bit of training in impulse control and manners--OK, a lot of training--so we've been working hard to tire out that fevered brain of hers with positive learning.
Every night, we work on skills with all three dogs at once. We work with all 3 so no one gets jealous and all 3 can learn to be calm around each other, and that good things happen when they're in proximity to one another.
I ask Fozzie and Star to sit on the two dog beds, while Lamar gets to watch from his perch on my bed.
Lamar gets treats just for remaining calm (senior privilege) while Fozzie and Star have to sit, down, stay when I stand up, roll over, do push-ups, and/or gimme five.
I'm not sure how seriously Star takes the whole thing,
but she is learning her skills rapidly and seems to love it.
She learned to give me her paw in a flash and now its one of her favorite things. She is still working on giving me just one paw, and not both of them, plus much of the rest of the dog, in my lap, before I give the cue, but those are just details.
I do think trick training is important for all sorts of reasons, but Star's progress on Down and Stay--learning to control her impulses and not bounce up and run around every 30 seconds--is a proud accomplishment for Star and something that will serve her well in whatever life holds in store for her.
When we're done with our training session, Star is generally still not done blowing off steam so I break out a toy.
Amazingly, she is capable of amusing herself for a while. Yes, she'll spend a good session engaged all by herself flipping a toy over her head, whipping herself over the back with it, doing these incredible aerial leaps. I was so happy when I discovered that.
After a few hours of madness, finally Star is tired and is out like a light until morning.
Do your dogs go nuts in the evenings? How do you manage those blasts of energy?
Over the past two weeks, Fozzie's started to put together a little choreography in his dance class and he's continued to make huge progress with tricks I never thought he'd be so good at.
Last week, we worked
on some of the tricks he's learned already and added in a couple of new
skills.
We started again with putting my arm out as a target and support, using "Paws up!" to ask him to balance on it.
Now that he's used to this exercise, it's gotten much easier for him to start to support his own weight and even to start going up on his hind legs!
I love watching the dog dance move where the dog puts his arms on his human--either from the front or the back--and moves forward and back. One of the students in class has gotten to where her dog will put his paws on her back and walk with her. This is the first time Fozzie's done anything like that!
We worked a little bit on some new skills like backing up and moving laterally with the dog. And we showed off the little choreography we're working on!
It consists of a bit of weaving between my legs as I walk, then a spin, a sit, high five with right paw then left paw, then a rather dramatic Down--because most things Fozzie does are dramatic--and a crawl forward.
And this particular version includes Fozzie grabbing the bandana I use to wipe icky dog treats off my hands. Carolynn suggests I put that trick on cue and do it every time--that will take some doing to get Fozzie to do in any sort of controlled way, but would be worth it!
We are using the mbira song Vazimuto by Linos Magaya, probably my favorite song in the world. If anyone can tell me how to put a song in my post, I'll add it in so you can listen to it!
Fozzie seems to love the routine and does it with a lot of energy and joy. We're not really moving in time with the music yet, and I'm not sure if the choreography makes any sense--if its a good sequence of moves.
We'll have to ask the expert.
And
for Fozzie, really the most impressive trick of all is that he's able
to do all this stuff, and be relatively focused, in a room with all
these other dogs dancing around. Hard to believe my little high maintenance death row inmate has blossomed into such a talented young man. Fozzie, I believe we have found our calling!
Having sampled quite a few of the treats on monthly offer from Chewy.com, 
Sits happened in a snap.
