Object Immersion 2: Fielding Groundballs With Pelota

Another day of object immersion, this time with the ball. Still in an effort to teach him the names of these objects and still using Spanish for the cues.

The usual grabbing and giving took place and making getting the object part of his "work day", but the highlight was the outdoor play, since it wasn't as oppressively hot today.

The game was a spin off from retrieving with a little controlled excitement taking place. I made sure to get him wound up and excited about the ball and in general and would "throw" the ball along the ground, making it roll and sometimes bounce and saying "Pelota!" to get him to go after it. I used the object name instead of "go get it" to make it part of the object immersion.

This was a lot of fun for him, and I think he could feel it's been a while since he got to bounce and run like that. As the game went on, he started play growling and getting really intense, especially when I "attacked" him with the ball and pulled on his hair a bit. Each time he came back, he jumped against me, getting pretty high off the ground, and was more than ready for the next throw.

At that point, I had him lie down and wait. I'd then give him another "ground ball" and called out "Pelota!" and he took off after it. Of course, one time, he got distracted and he didn't see where it went. I kept saying "Pelota!" as he looked around for the ball. When he found it, I made a big deal of it and got him charging back to me, and then we'd do it all over again.

Once I saw his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth, I figured it was time to stop as he was getting fatigued and it was still a pretty hot day out. We went back inside, and, once he got back to my room, he immediately went for his water bowl and lied down on his blue carpet. Once he cooled off, he took a bit of a nap before dinner.

A nice rousing day for him, and a chance to burn up some physical energy for once!

The Mystery of the Scary Dog Bowl?

This is something "new" that's come and gone a few times in the past. I have no idea what caused it or why it isn't consistent, but there are times where he will RUN from his food.

I've tried to come up with ideas for why he does this sometimes, but at least I can get him to eat if a put my finger in it and let him lick a little off, or just point to the bowl and be insistent about eating. I wish I knew what this was about.

The sporadic nature of it makes me think there's something else other than the bowl at work, but something about the thought of eating at that moment is something he wants to avoid - but what dog does NOT want to eat?

The first few times it happened, I thought he needed to go out to do his business; so, I let him out, and he did relieve himself. However, when coming back in, he still displayed the same behavior. If I take him out repeatedly, he won't go and can get even more anxious.

He is healthy otherwise and has his normal personality (once he calms down) and activity level. This makes me want to rule out any illness as I've seen him when he's was fully sick/stomach upset and he's lethargic and nothing like his usual self.

It happened again not too many days ago, but I did get him to eat. Tonight, I didn't get to take him out before dinner, so I'm sure he could have used a bathroom break, but not out of the unusual happened. He scarfed down his food in 25 seconds like usual.

For now, I'm going with some kind of upset stomach or something out of balance a bit (like mild constipation or something) and have trimmed back his food a bit. He's been good since so maybe that's done it.

I don't know. Sometimes, this dog really has me scratching my head! Wally, why you so quirky?

"All-Positive Monday 18 - Another Fearful Object To Battle"

The boxes I had bought at IKEA along with those stuffed animals to work on object matching with presented another challenge to us.

Not with using the boxes, but just approaching them. He avoided the boxes and was very reluctant to come up to them. He got so scared, he started to shaking again, just like he used to.

Things like this are perfect for an all-positive approach. For any interaction with the box, he got a click and a reward, this time a piece of deli ham. I wanted to give him something that he likely finds more enticing than even his beloved bread balls.

This got him at least looking at the box and stretching his next out towards it. I approached this as a shaping exercise, so no cues from me, just clicks and ham or nothing. I wanted him to approach or give attention to the box on his own. I didn't want him to feel like I was pressuring him or to add any more anxiety to what he was already feeling.

Working on this took a lot of energy out of him, something I remember from working on fear issues before. He needed a break, so I took him out for a leisurely walk (more sniffing and marking than walking) and then he took a nap when we got back in and settled (and cooled off).

This is something we'll have to keep working with so he can get over this as well.

Outdoor Plans Ruined By Heat

I was planning on getting Wally outside and having another round of physical play and activities. However, the heat was just too much, even early in the day. Wally pretty much started panting about 5 minutes of being outside...let alone in the sun.

The black top was also out of the question with it being over 130 degrees (yes, I measured, and that's...over 50 degrees for those who use Celsius) and that's just out of the question. I don't want to fry Wally's paw pads.

So, we had to make do indoors, and it was still relatively okay, but not nearly as many options. Most of the physical play was around him running up and down the stairs while playing hide and seek, which is mostly mental anyway.

Having him try to catch some of his toys adding some physical play and did take a lot of him because I make it pretty challenging for him. He has to stand up on his back paws and try to trap the toy, and I make it "attack" him, which gets him dodging and getting even more into the game.

I also had him jump through the hoop again, and that's something he evidently got rusty with. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson about letting skills get rusty since this has happened before. Fortunately, I got him going through the hoop and raising it up to increase how high he needs to jump. That might have been the most physical part of the day.

Unfortunately, the heat is not going to let up at all...Another hot day is expected tomorrow, and maybe through next week. Ugh.

More Object Matching and Naming

Today, we worked more with matching objects.

I used two pairs - the white bears and the blue dogs. At first, I showed the blue dog and threw the other on the bed when he wasn't looking along with the bear. I still have to move the object around to get him to keep looking at it.

I whipped it away and had him go find the match. I made some changes as well in terms of rewarding him. I didn't use the clicker this time, but instead I used a "good boy!" which got him charging back to me with the object. Then I gave him a treat, and tossed the object while he was getting it.

I think using my voice sort of helped him out. Even if it didn't help him remember, it kept his spirits up, which is always a plus in training - especially for hard skills like this.

I also worked him on learning the names of objects. I used the ball ("pelota") and the bone ("hueso") this time.

At this point, I noticed he seemed reluctant to pick up the object. I don't know why, but this is something that I hope doesn't continue.

Just a little testing him on the objects this time, but basically just some review as it were. There wasn't much done with this as he was really worn out from the matching. Still, though, he got into it. When I did "test" it a bit, he was pretty good with getting the correct object, even when I switched.

And, after it all, he was tired and went to sleep - after sniffing out the crumbs from the treats of course!