Week 1 Notes and Videos

NOTES:

Housebreaking:   Nixon has had 6 accidents in 13 days.   4 of these have been between the hours of 11:30 pm and 6:00 am, and have been poop and pee.  Recently, we had not had an accident since July 22nd, and then the evening time or early morning accidents started occurring.  I have some thoughts on how to move the poops through him by walking him at about 7 pm or so (but he does usually poop then).  We may need to try a later walk.

This does not explain the recent peeing between 11:30 pm and 6:00 am, but I suspect impacted anal glands based on how he sniffs and goes after his bum sometimes.  I am going to ask you via email whether he ever had a problem with that.   I don't know how to check, unfortunately (or how to express them).

I think when he wakes up, desperate to poop, he might just pee just because he is up.  He has not had an accident during the times I am with him and he is loose (since July 22nd and only one time).  However, he does sniff and bite at his but during the day (hence my suspicion of anal gland impaction).

Obedience:   Nixon does well with obedience on leash.   He does sometimes just not want to do it, and can be stubborn.   He may have had some training with obedience before as much of his Week 1 work would typically be done in Week 2 or 3 (except the chill exercises and loose leash work).   By teaching him things like stay in all its forms (place, sit on the dog), his flight response is being reduced.   He is also learning to follow my lead on leash when out and about.   

He is treat-motivated, although I have not done too much with that in Week 1.  I will use that in Week 2 as we increase the distractions and areas that we work in.


VIDEOS

UNDERLINED TEXT BELOW GOES TO EXERCISE DIRECTIONS


Behavioral Exercises to Increase Confidence When Near Us, Handled By Us, and Able to Acclimate to Differing Environments:

Sit on the Dog  This is a great exercise to help him become comfortable around a lot of people while he is able to observe and not be harassed.   This makes the dog (usually) later be at the least worried about the people and possibly wanting the attention.  It also gets Nixon used to being close to a person and relaxing.  This one is long below, but it has been an hour long (this is where we cap the exercise).  Also on the regular chair in the dog room that we use, this exercise is close to the 30 minutes total that we want it to be.



Long Place (usually we are not doing this with a dropped leash in the first week, but Nixon is pretty good at this). This also decreases the flight response as he learns to complete it in different distractions/environments:



Relax for Exam  This exercise gets Nixon used to close handling.   There are times he is not as relaxed as in this video and puts up a fuss.   This is what we are decreasing through his trust in us that it isn't that bad.   



Obedience Training (These Specific Exercises Have Been Selected to Increase Nixon's Confidence and Have Him Learn to Trust Us to Have His Back):


Sit First Command:

This starts the more important stay command.  We want him to learn to stay (and not try to flee to the end of the leash) in areas and environments that he felt less than comfortable and relaxed in before.  He is pretty good at this, although my goal is to accomplish this in less than 3 minutes (in this environment and later in off-site environments) instead of the 5 minutes in this video.



Sit Stay  This is an obedience exercise that helps with decreasing flight response and increasing confidence.   




Send to Place:  This starts the long place (above in behavioral exercises) command as the first step.   



Circle Place:   This is the second step in training the long place and increasing this while I walk around or do chores in the room (the noises sometimes scare him).  This way he begins to learn to trust and know that I don't do anything that is harmful or alarming to him as we advance.



Loose Leash Walking:  Having a loose leash during walking helps dogs work with me and begin to trust in me and relax.   This also decreases the flight response (as we advance) so he is not as startled by noises and action around us.




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