Not much update on Oscar's clicker training. I haven't done a lot of training with her in the last 48 hours, just trying to supervise her eating habits closely to make sure she doesn't vomit again. I do feel Oscar is more relaxed here though. Before she was skittish, but she's not really anymore. When I got home from school yesterday, Oscar was the one who greeted me at the door. Then later Anastasia and Tara came to the door also. When Tara got close, Oscar still howled at her, but she let Tara let really close to her, almost touching. Whereas before, Oscar would've ran away long before she saw Tara coming toward her direction.
Tara's sit before meals is getting much more reliable now with the two cats. Before two cats living here, I would try to get Tara to sit before I give her food bowl, but she would sit for a brief second and then get up and walk around, wait for a few seconds if I'm still preparing her food (adding supplements), sit for a brief second and walk around. With my previous dogs, I would make them sit still while I prepare their meals, and if they get up, then that just means it'll take longer for them to get their food, and most dogs only took a couple days to learn to sit still. With Tara, after she started losing her vision, I feel bad, so I don't reinforce the rules as much as I did with the other dogs, so I would just let her walk around whining ("Hey, where's my food!" instead of polite sitting, which means, "Thank you for making my meal"), even though she only sat for a brief second or two and got up before I told her to. Sometimes I would prepare Anastasia's food before I do Tara's, but mostly I did Tara's first because of her whining (I know, that's giving into her pushiness, but I have also been training her "Step", "Up", and "Careful"). Anyways, after Oscar moved in with us, sometimes I have to prepare Oscar's food first, because if she gets too empty of stomach, then she would throw up stomach bile, plus she meows to demand her meals (that's why I'm clicker training her, trying to make her work before each meal, and less giving into her manipulation; Tara's pretty good at manipulating people most of her life also, being a cute and smart puppy). So Tara had to wait for being fed second, or something last, if I choose to get both cat's food first. Then, earlier this week, I suddenly realized, Tara would sit, very still and quietly, while I prepare the meals. Sometimes I make her meal first, sometimes last, but she would be polite and sit still until I lead her to her feeder. I think I had inadvertantly reinforced this, because after Oscar came, no matter how demanding Tara was when I prepared meals, she just had to wait when I was making Oscar's food and then target training Oscar before giving her the food. So maybe I just happened to reinforce the right time, that maybe there was one time that I decided to make Tara's food first, when she decided she would be polite that day. Coincidence can be good in dog training! So maybe in her mind, she was being rewarded for being polite, but to me it was just coincidence. Anyways, the result is great! Now Tara's sitting still and quietly when I prepare their meals, no more pacing and whining, and another lesson on why parents of handicapped animals should not give into their manipulation and pushiness, but just try to treat them like normal dogs as much as possible.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Cindy, the neighbor at Jasper�s previous home, kept him for Friday night after his previous owners moved out. Then Saturday morning, Leslie went to pick him up and dropped him off at the vet clinic. �Jasper went to the vet this morning and he is heartworm free, hooray!! He does however have every other parasite known to man. He is being de-wormed and will need a follow up in two weeks. He also got his fist Heartgard today, so the first of next month will be due again. He does have an ear infection so his meds will come with him. He is very testy about being touched in the ears. This was his first vet visit in some time. He got all his shots and his rabies tag is on his paperwork. He will need to go to the vet again for his boosters in two weeks. All this information is on the vet paperwork that will be handed off to you. The owners handwrote the relinquishment since they or the neighbor did not have a computer printer that worked.
After the vet Jasper went to the spa for a little freshening up and when you get him he will be bathed and groomed. He is a sweetheart, albeit a very large sweetheart. He was living under a house with another dog and a goat. He loves to swim and likes cats, dogs and goats. He also supposedly gets along well with children. He had no problems in our crate. He knows how to sit upon command and offers his hand for a shake.�
Since the vet clinic is closed on Sunday, Liana agreed to take Jasper from the vet clinic and keep him at her home until Sunday morning when Angie picks him up. Here�s Liana�s notes, � He didn't do well at the groomers - very testy about feet, ears, and face. They did their best, but he will need trimming up later after working with him on getting used to being handled. They said he had lots of fleas (I will give him a frontline tonight) and was so terribly matted that they just had to shave him completely. He has a full tail, but it was so matted that it was shaved clean. He might not look perfectly groomed, but he is clean and mat free. They had to shampoo him three times! Anyway, we have him home now, but are currently keeping him separate from our crew so he can feel more settled.�
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Another note from Liana, �Poor Jasper has been very timid here. So, to lessen his stress, we have been keeping him segregated from the rest of the team. We're baby-sitting our neighbor's Chihuahua, and the 3 dogs get a "pack" mentality at times. I didn't want to stress him out by their being overly active around him. And, since he's only here for about 24 hours, I didn't feel the need to integrate him with the group. So, we're keeping him in the basement with lots of blankets, water, food, etc. I've been going down to give him special attention, but haven't let him be with the group.
I think he would be OK with cats, though. He seems OK with any critter right now. He's just extremely timid. I had to leash him just to get him to go in the backyard this morning. He is very food motivated; however, not enough so that he will go outside for a treat just yet. He also is very sensitive about people touching his ears and paws. I still haven't been able to give him ear infection ointment. I will get Mark to try to help me, but again I'm just trying to reduce his stress as much as possible.
He seems very lovely, though. He wants lots of attention. Loves to be petted and hugged.�
�Jasper is now safely on his way to Alabama. He may even be there by now. He was a very good boy here - just very scared. He will need a lot of confidence building work. I was never able to get the ointment in his ears for his infection. He never growled or anything, but would turn his head away and just generally act very scared when I would try to reach in his ears. I didn't push it since he was not going to be here long. He was also so scared that I had to leash him just to make him go out into my yard. Given his timid ness, I actually never introduced him to my pack. I kept him separated in our basement. My newest dog, Astro, can be quite a bully to other dogs at times, so I didn't see the need to stress Jasper further during his 24 hour sleepover here.
Anyway, as mentioned earlier, we did our best at getting him groomed, but they could do nothing with his feet, and only got a little done on his ears. It's not a perfect grooming, but he smells good and should feel better without 10 pounds of matted fur!!
I did forget to give him Frontline, so please remember to do that for him. Also, I did give him his de-wormer tabs - he has hookworms. They will begin coming out when he goes potty. So, for a few days, his waste will need to be bagged immediately to ensure other dogs don't get the worms. He was so scared here that he never did #2. He would just go out, pee, and run back inside.
He is rather food motivated, but didn't seem to be resource possessive - I didn't push it much, but nothing came up that gave me cause for concern. I'd just say to work on him being able to let groomers and caretakers touch his ears, face, feet, etc. Also, he will need some leash walking training. The good news is he seemed to be house trained. I never crated him, and there were no accidents in the basement. He also met a cat here, and ran away from it. So, I think he's fine with cats. He also met the neighbor's Chihuahua and didn't have a problem at all. Good in the car and very, very quiet so far. I never heard him whine, growl, or bark.
Good luck with him. He will benefit from a lot of TLC, and has lots to give back in return.�
I met Angie and Sam at a gas station right off the freeway in Auburn. Since Liana said Jasper's timid but is food motivated, I packed two bagful of treats (one Nutro senior biscuit, don't worry, Tara's been eating from that box for two months, so I'm sure they are not the tainted ones; and the other is the Bil-Jac semi-moist, beef-based), hoping I could win his heart through his stomach. Before I left the apartment, I led Tara into the bedroom and gave her an extra thick pig ear and closed the baby gate. I know we are supposed to supervise when giving pig ear, but I know I'm only going to be gone for 20 minutes and Tara is not a big chewer, plus I needed a way to separate the dogs when Jasper arrives, and I can't just lock Tara in the bedroom without something to entertain her, or else she would get anxious and start whining and bumping into the baby gate. Anastasia was in the bedroom sleeping, and Oscar was in the livingroom cat tree. I made him a little blanket yesterday, and before Angie arrived, I sprayed some DAP Comfort Zone on the blanket, and put it on the backseat.
Jasper appeared to know "Sit" already, so I attempted to try to teach him "Down", during grooming breaks, to make it easier to trim his paws. I did a capture/lure combination, I just put some treats in my fist, and put my fist on the ground under his nose, and waited for him to down on his own. At first he sniffed and nudged, when that didn't work, he started pawing my hand. He's got long pointy nails. Anyways, after 15 seconds, he sat then downed on his own, and he got the treats immediately. When I tried again about 10 minutes later, again it took him about 15 seconds before he did the down. Then I tried again 5 minutes later, this time it took him about 5 seconds (no I haven't added the verbal cue yet), so again I think he is a very smart dog.
When I let him out of my car, I thought I would walk him around again to see if he needs to go potty. He appeared to be a little bit unsure of himself, so I offered him Bil-Jac, but he would not eat any. As we passed the tennis court, there are two guys playing tennis. For whatever reason, he tried to pull me away from there. Also, he does pull a little bit on walks, but not like yanking my arm out type, just felt like my wrist was getting pulled off. So I started doing the stand like a tree thing with him. We walked around the apartment complex more, for about five minutes, and near the end of the five minutes, he actually started to get the stand like a tree concept, and would watch me closely, and when I stopped, just to test him, he would stop before reaching the end of the leash also. I think he is a very smart dog. Also, I offered the Bil-Jac treat to him when he came back to me, and at that time he ate it. Oh yeah, he was sniffing one of the flowers and did a point.
