The Food Thing

 

 It has been an interesting few days with a battle of the wills going on with Sunny's eating trends.  I finally got it figured out though and so did she!  Ends up I can only give her kibble for right now.  No special treats like chicken or meat from my hand for training.  If I do she won't eat her kibble - she holds out and just looks at me or barks at her bowl of kibble.  Smart little stinker :-)  So I backed off the food training and just worked on getting her to eat her food when I put it down.  She also needs to be in a crate to eat good.  Otherwise she wanders off and gets interested in something else.  She did refuse a few meals.  So for the next week or so I will stick with toy games and back off food training until I see that her food motivation is where it should be.  

Sunny is back to tugging really strong after a couple days of backing off.  She is playing with her slap sticks again... racing out to get the tossed stick and then racing back to me with it.  Her focus for staying and playing with me is good again.  There were a few days there where she wanted to run off and check out the other dogs at the fence.  I got her going through a tire that is sitting on the ground for a click and treat and now a tossed toy reward - she thinks she is hot stuff :-)  I have been playing some of the games from the Pup Start 101 DVD.  She really likes it when I hold her back and then race her to the toy.   So far she doesn't seem to want to hoard the toy and go off by herself with it.  That makes toy training so much easier :-)  She is a lot of fun to play with and has a lot of drive for her toys and to play with me.  I keep sessions short and put her away while she is amped and wanting more.  She comes out of her xpen wanting to play!  Oh, I am just having so much fun with her!

UPDATE...  about 10 days later and Sunny is much more interested in feeding time.  She goes in her crate to eat, and cleans her bowl of kibble in a reasonable amount of time.  She hasn't refused any  meals and I can see that her motivation for food is definitely increasing.  She is not refusing kibble from my hand anymore and I have started back with some food training - using only kibble.  We are on the right track!

Some Developmental Notes

Flint and Sunny in the late afternoon light

Flint is so good with her

and Sunny terrorizes him too!

Off and running

I got Sunny a tag for her collar and it looks huge on her! 

Teething!  I noticed Sunny didn't want to play with her slap sticks yesterday, and she is not tugging like the shark she was a couple weeks ago.  She loves her bully sticks and rawhide roll.  She was just chewing on the ends of the sticks with the back molars but now I think the front teeth are bothering her too.  I see her working the middle of the stick and on her front teeth.
Ears went crooked yesterday and today I got a friend to hold her and I got them taped.  My second time doing them and I got them even and hanging right this time.  Not too tight and not too loose.  It is definitely a job for two people!
Potty Training is going good since I started using the 10 foot line in the house and keeping her connected to me.    In her expen in the office she has even barked a couple times and I took her outside.  Yeah!
Kicking out after she potties.  I don't know what you call that, but her little butt and back legs are getting going now after she goes potty - so funny.
Buried treasures :-)  A few days ago Sunny started burying things in her blanket, under a couch pillow or hiding something behind the filing cabinet.  It is so fun to watch them develop!

Balance Discs and Wobble Board

The balance discs and the wobble board are great exercises

When on the self timer, the camera beeps and flashes right before it takes a picture - Sunny was fascinated by that.

There is that beeping flashing thing again.

The rain fizzled out in our area and the morning was beautiful.  So I got out the tripod, set the camera on self timer and got some pictures of Sunny on her balance boards.  The first time she got on the board was on her own.  It was out in the field and she ran over and jumped all over the thing.   She has absolutely no fear about these things.  It is also a good way to earn some food.  Oh, the food thing.........EGADS this is one smart puppy.  Here's the story.

Day 3 of N I L I F.  I am using the mixture of kibble, chicken and Natural Balance roll during the day.  Sometimes Sunny says no to the kibble pieces.  And she doesn't want the Natural Balance either!  She wants chicken.  So I am thinking this girl is really playing me and I am falling for it LOL!!  Well, yes, when she got here she was only 8 weeks old and the travel......... and I worried about the little thing and want to make sure she ate good and stayed healthy.  Well, the little dickens is pretty smart and figured me out in a hurry.  So today I decided to put a stop to this picky crap and tonight at dinner I only gave her the rest of her daily ration in a bowl and took out all the tasty treats so it was kibble only.  She turned her nose up at it of course.  I was fixing dinner and she kept coming over and getting my attention and looking REALLY adorable - but I didn't give in.  She went over and ate a little and then the same thing - comes over and lets me know something is very wrong here.  I didn't give in.  Then she goes over and starts barking at the bowl of kibble!!  Oh, it was all I could do to keep from falling on the floor in hysterics.  But I stood tough.  She finally ate the kibble.  I really love this puppy :-)

Friday is my errand day, so I took Sunny and Flint to town with me.  She is a good traveler and chewed on her bully stick or slept while waiting for me.  Flint pouts.   I took her out several times to let her potty and she was  so bold and adventurous - I love that in her.   I bought her a harness while I was in town.  I am going to the Monterey Bay area for a trial next weekend and want to take her to the beach and I am not letting her off leash at this age.  So I thought a harness would  work perfect for being on a long line and running around.  It will work good at the trial site as well. I put the harness on her when I  stopped at a park and took the two dogs for a walk.  Sunny loved that harness and pulled less than when she is in her collar - go figure.  I wish I had a video of her strutting her stuff at the park - what a prancer she can be.  She is so animated and  I was laughing at her antics.  My Sunny girl,  she has ATTITUDE.  A new nick name...Sunnytude.  List of nicknames so far:  Sun buns, buns of steel, funny sunny and I am sure the list will grow.

Recommended Puppy Training DVD

I just got this DVD on puppy training by Jan DeMello.  It is awesome!  Packed full of information!  I will be watching it many, many times and probably taking notes.  Simple and fun games to play with your young puppy using the slap sticks and also food.  All of these games have a purpose and she explains how she uses each game for agility and obedience.  Here is the link to order if you are interested:  http://www.jandemellobordercollie.com/Hob_Nob_border_collies/TRAINING_DVDs.html  I'm heading out to work on her puppy dash game right now!

Balancing Act and Cookie Recalls

Sunny getting on the balance disc - kinda hard to hold a big DSLR and  click and treat at the same time! 

The dust buster!

Slap stick games

Cookie recalls

Day two of N I L I F.  It isn't hard hand feeding Sunny her daily ration of food.  This morning I put the balance disc in the kitchen and she earned her kibble climbing around on that.  I have two of those disc and I will get out the other one tomorrow.  This is excellent work for a puppy as it gets them used to  movement and builds their confidence.  If you don't have a balance disc you can also use a box for them to climb around on.  I will get my friend Denise to get some better pictures of Sunny doing her balancing act.  Kind of hard for me, although I could set up a tripod..........hmmm.......that could happen.

A simple game for puppies is the cookie recall.  I do this in the kitchen.  I take a piece of kibble and throw it a few feet from Sunny and let her go and get it.  As soon as she does I call her name and get her to come back to me for more treats from my hand.  I am using her daily ration with bits of meat or chicken added in for some interest.  Sometimes I will hold her collar while I throw the food so she will really drive to the cookie.  You can do this game outside if you use something bigger that the pup can see, like popcorn or chunks of string cheese.  Build up the distance you toss the cookie so they have farther to run back and forth.


PROGRESS REPORTS..............Sunny is doing good with the slap sticks and retrieving - I am very happy with that progress.  Today when I walked into the dog room with her, she started to charge at Amie's crate and when I called her name she stopped and came back to me!  That was impressive!  Especially since I only got after her a couple times for that.  When I go to let her out of her xpen she is jumping everywhere wanting out.  It didn't take long for her to figure out that I would not open the door until she got down and did a sit.  Now as soon as I go to let her out she sits - such a smart girl!  The 10 foot line that I have her on in the house is working good for the potty training.

The Honeymoon is Over or N I L I F

Sunny at 11 weeks

Water bowl fun

Oh, I thought that shade cloth was meant for tugging

 
 

Yes, the honeymoon is over!  You know, those first few weeks where your new puppy follows you around everywhere adoring you, coming when called, giving you  kisses drenched in puppy breath and  making that oh so important first impression on you :-)  Sunny has now decided that other dogs are  more fun than I am and following me everywhere is boring  There is a whole new world out there and she wants to conquer it!

So now Sunny is on a long line most of the time, when she is not in an xpen or crate.  I have a 10 foot line for when we are in the house - I tie her to my belt loop, and a 30 foot line when we are out in the field - she can drag that one.  I'll start with why I am using the house line.  We are having some issues with the potty training.  I am still having a hard time reading her and she still thinks going in the house is a fine place to go.  She will potty outside when I take her, but she will also slip off and go in the house without warning - so the line will keep me connected to her - literally!  Instead of running to the door she runs to a corner, or her favorite place - Sam's closet.  I think I will put bells on the door.  I did that with one of my dogs (he didn't know how to tell me he needed to go outside)  and it worked good for him. The other house issues include jumping on tables and eating lampshades, chewing phone cords, eating the couch, and terrorizing Flint - just to name a few!  I could keep her crated, but having her with me on the line is getting in a lot of good training time with her.

Long line out in the field is to keep her from leaving me to go visit the dogs at the fence.  Sunny just started this a couple days ago.  She was staying with me really good on our exploration walks and when I was playing games with her, but she started leaving me for the other dogs.  No - I won't let that happen, so long line it is.  Sunny will get time to visit the other dogs, when I say she can.  She is still tugging and playing with me really good, although she is not bringing the toy back as good as she was.  The long line helps with that too.

Oh, another little red stinker thing she is doing now.........I  come in the dog room after being out in the field working with her and she will run over to Amie's crate and jump -  slam against it and bark at Amie.  (Amie is low girl on the pecking order)  I don't want Sunny doing that!  She is just full of herself and I love that about her, but I don't want her starting bad habits.  So I am dealing with it in two ways.  One is to march over to Amie's crate and grab Sunny by the scruff and tell her NO!  First time I did that Sunny thought she was the boss,  so I had to set her straight about that one LOL!  Little Dickens :-)  I held her down until she relaxed about the situation and when I let her up she did not charge Amie's crate again.  I will also be having her on a long line now so I will work on calling her back to me so she doesn't get to have fun slamming Amie's crate.  But if she does she will get in trouble with me.  I am very positive with my dogs - but I am not permissive!  Sunny is testing everything in her environment right now.  One of the many things I love about her though, after I set her straight, she is just wonderful and has a great attitude.

N I L I F - Nothing in Life is Free.  Sunny is ready for this.  No more food in a bowl for a while.  I take her daily ration of kibble and put it in a zip lock bag and add a little bit of  cut up chicken, meat or Natural Balance.  I keep some of her food on me at all times, either in  my pocket on in a carpenter's apron around my waist.  Sunny is going to learn that she has to earn everything from me.  Sunny is not a chow hound and the first three weeks have been a big adjustment for her.  I wanted to make sure she got settled into her new routine before I started this.  Because if she decides that she won't "work"  for kibble she will be missing some food for a bit.  I know she is healthy and she is growing so I won't worry.  She will take the dry kibble when she gets hungry enough and this will help to build that other important reinforcer - food.

I have started doing some other fun training projects with Sunny and I will share those in my next post.

Puppy Love

 

Denise and I got together for a Valentine's photo shoot with the dogs.  Sunny looks like an angel.......but!  More about that in my next post.  More pictures from the photo session here as I get them processed:

http://stardogs.smugmug.com/My-Dogs/Holidays/Valentines-Day