Week 51

Fifty down - just one to go!

I have no idea why I keep running behind uploading this, after being relatively reliable most of the year. Oh well, something to work on for next year.

Accomplished Last Two Weeks:

Worked mainly on Training Levels Two Step One, and created quite a few clips that are awaiting compiling in a video.

Planned for Next (this) Week:

Continue on Training Levels Two Step One, and try harder to get back on schedule! I also want to revisit Goals, Resolutions, and possible the entire Curriculum (but probably make few, if any, changes)

Blog:

• The Cold Puppy
• Wordless Wednesday
• Walk This Way
• Xmas Party
• Growing Up
• Little Dog Bug Dog
• Spin-o-rama
• Wordless Wednesday - Field of Leaves
• Oh, Deer
• The Evil Jingle Collar
• More Evil Jingle Collar

Released Video: n/a

(As always, click to see larger)

Week 49

Forty-eight down (Four to go. I think. Maybe not)

Accomplished Last Week:

With sons able assistance, I was able to video the last clip from Level One Step Four and get the video out the door (see Released Videos). Yeah!

Not sure what to make of Step Five (more, more, more...) and so we are happily moving on to Level Two, keeping in the back of our minds that we need to be doing more Level One things. Perhaps I'll figure out how to video that at some point.

Been working hard on playing "show puppy" and have received at lot of good feedback, which we are working on. Finished our spin trick, puppy class, and the two Level Two Step Two stays (sit/down).

Contemplated what should happen now that puppy class is over (see Adrift below)

I really liked the Wordless Wednesday picture last week - he looks so much a like a model!

Didn't get much done on BZDogs, but I'm still thinking, so all is not lost. Did spent (way too much) time setting up Facebook. I'm not sure I "get it" yet, but I'll keep trying.

Blog:

• Happy Birthday Beau
• Wordless Wednesday
• Puppy Class #6
• Adrift
• Preschool Results

Released Videos:

• Henry - Stand (at 4 months)
• Henry - Training Levels One Step Four

Planned for This Week:

It's starting out a wet, drippy week, putting a damper (sorry) on our plans to get Henry out and about more (now that he is officially "done" with his puppy shots.) Let's hope the weekend is prettier!

Other than that, the Weekly Worksheet says it all.

Poor Zachary is now on "Weight Control" dog food, as all prior efforts to get him to shed weight have so far failed.

(As always, click to see larger)

Week 48

Forty-seven down (Five to go.) (Why is this 47 and the subject says 48? I'm so confused!)

Accomplished Last Week:

Finished Level One Step Four, with the exception of roping my son into videoing "Coming" with me. (No, that's not a duplicate from last week. Last week I was trying to get him to video Step THREE Come!) The video for the entire step is done, with the exception of that lone clip!

We also plowed on ahead to Level Two, working on Focus, Leash, Sit (stay), Down (stay), Go to Mat, and Handling body parts. Whew!

I like the Daily Practice section, and will probably keep it around.

I dusted off my BZDogs Website, adding in some puppy related low-hanging fruit, and then sat there feeling guilty that I had let it go for as long as I did.

(sigh)

Blog:

• Coming of Age
• Wordless Wednesday
• Happy Thanksgiving
• Photography

Released Videos: n/a

Planned for This Week:

This week marks the final puppy class. Our main assignment was to teach a trick, so Henry has been working on "Spin". He's got the basics down, and we're just working on decreasing the cue size.

We'll continue with Level Two items, playing show dog, and doing the Daily Practice.

I also want to tie up the loose ends with "Grading Preschool", upload my final results of "Rules of 12", and decide what to tackle next on the BZDog website.

Whew - I think I'm doing more this week than Henry!

(And Zachary remains on a diet. I will try to get him over the vets for a weigh-in in this week, to see if progress is being name. I sure hope so!)

Happy Birthday, Big Dog - I miss you, so.


(As always, click to see larger)

Week 47

Forty-six down (six to go. Hmm... now they sum to 52? )

Accomplished Last Week:

Worked on sits and downs and stays, oh my! Finally roped my son into supplying the legs needed to video "Come", and therefore was able to release the Level One Step Three video (see Videos below).

Had an unexpected visitor stop by the house. I probably get just one or two a year... and it showed.

Zachary was horrible, bounding around like a kangaroo. Henry was bouncing, too, and I'm still not sure if it was Henry setting off Zachary, or the other way around. Thankfully, it should (statistically) be at least another six months before any other unexpected visitors set foot in the house, and so I'm not going to worry about it.

On the bright side, people are so distracted by my dogs bad behavior that they don't even notice that the house is a mess! The other bright side was visitor's perplexity at the bouncy behavior, given how well Zachary is when she's seen him "outside".

Finally, I think this week's Wordless Wednesday has some of the best pictures I've ever taken. As most of my pictures are pretty mundane, "best" is obviously relative. (Ok, fine, I'll admit it, I was pretty tickled when I saw how they came out!)

Blog:

• Wordless Wednesday
• Teaching Release/Drop
• More Upside-Down Play

Released Videos:

• Henry - Training Levels One Step Three

Planned for This Week:

Well, it's Turkey Week in my corner of the world, which means I'll either have lots of time (due to the holiday) or no time (due to the holiday.)

Holiday's are like that around here - Feast or Famine (pardon the pun) when it comes to free time.

Zachary is still on a diet, and thus still out of the training rotation. As he gained 1 (one!) pound in 10 days on the last diet I put him on, I'm not altogether hopeful, but still we must try.

Also - no puppy class this week (because of afore mentioned holiday.)

I have tweaked the sheet a little, still trying to settle on a good format for the puppy. The most notable change is probably the addition of a "Daily Practice" list on the left. This is sort of like the Weekly Quiz, the difference being these are items he is still actively learning and perfecting, not finished things ready for Quizzing. However, he does know them too well to warrant prime real estate on the main body of the sheet.

Because I'm working many different skills, it was getting hard for me to find the Do First items from the Do Last things, and so the former are now in black and the latter in gray. Since new things are still in blue, I made latter new things a pale blue. This is probably more detail than any one cares to read, assuming any one cares to read these ramblings at all!

(As always, click to see larger)

Week 46

Forty-five down (seven to go – yes, I know it doesn’t equal 52!)

Accomplished Last Week/Planned for Next Week:

Keeping the same sheet as Week 45. It’s not that we aren’t working on anything, as we are! The “problem” is we are working on lots of things, and so reaching completion on very few. However, since he’s sponge right now, I hate to pass up the chance to teach new things, even if the execution is, shall we say, less that stellar.

He really is done with new Training Levels 1 Step 3 – I just need to grab a willing (or at least coercible) biped and video the Come Game.

We are also working on his "show dog" skills (mostly Stand, but some gaiting on lead) and socialization.

Lots of socialization!

And taking pictures. He's getting really good at holding still, and Zachary is a rock, so I have high hopes for the future!

Plus plenty of time to run, play with Uncle Zachary,  and just be a puppy.

Big Dog Section: Poor, poor Zachary. All training has pretty much stopped until his weight drops. Later this week is the big weigh in, so we’ll see if progress is being made. If not, then we'll have to consider switching to a lower calorie food.

Released Video:

• Henry – Quick Flick: Stand (1 Month)

Blog:

• Wordless Wednesday
• Out and About
• Puppy Class #4
• Calm
• Upside-Down Play

Plus:

Puppy Class!!!

Week 45

Forty-Four down (just seven more week to go!)

Yes, I missed last week again. I once again made up the sheet but never uploaded it. No, this isn't a intentional trend, just the side effect of having too much to do and not enough time to do it. Given time to train vs. time to computer, I choose the former!

I promise to try to get back into a weekly upload... even it means cutting out the oh-so-wonderful commentary. :)

Accomplished Since Last Time:

We are done with New Levels One Step Three, although I still need to corral my son into videoing the "Come" part with me. I know Henry can do it, and Step 4 as well, and I will probably video them at the same time.

Down is getting better, although still no where near as good as Sit.

His focus is spectacular - the sort you wish you could keep into maturity, but know you really can't. (sigh)

He's fine with cuddling, car rides, is good about the baby gate, his crate, knows how to go to HIS mat, and lets me handle all bits.

We worked a lot on Stand and his focus is very good on that as well.

He's finally got the hang of open handed Zen, once I really focused on it.

Zachary is... well... I hate to say it, but he's fat. After three months of being on a diet he managed to gain four pounds. He's now 77lb and should be 67lb. He'll go back in two weeks and if things aren't going the other direction we'll put him on pudgy dog food, however the real problem is lack of exercise. The puppy doesn't (yet) wear him out and we are too worn out with puppy to give him nice long walks he needs.

Therefore, Zachary has gotten a lot less training time, which is bad. So I decided to run him through the new levels. I figure this way it will seem to him like he's doing something, yet it won't require much work (ie: cookies) to do it.

Videos: Henry - Quick Flick: Stand

Blog Posts:

• Why Puppy Class
• Wordless Wednesday
• Alert!
• Puppy Class #2
• Halloween
• Puppy Class #3
• Puppy Shots

(As always, click to see larger)

Week 43

Forty two down (Nine to go. Yikes!)

Sorry about missing last week. I actually did create a worksheet last week, but finding time away from puppy for uploading stuff can be challenging.

Wow - is he changing fast and learning sooooo many things. Too many to keep track of here.

Accomplished Last Week/Planned for Next Week:

Core Studies: Finished Level One Step Two. Finished all Level One Step Three except for Zen (he’s not even close!) and videoing the Come Game (need to corral my son again.) Worked on Heeling, focus, and especially Loose Leash (see Released Videos). He still needs a very exaggerated Down sign, but we’re working on it.

Citizenship: He still meeting tons of people, and we are transitioning from meeting while I hold him to meeting while his paws are on the ground (as he’s getting too heavy for me to hold for very long!) Still trying to expose him to as many kinds of things as possible, and will continue that for at least four more weeks!

Just For Fun: Ok… skipping “shake”. I think it’s screwing with Zen. Let’s try the “Easy” button. He and Zachary play well (for the most part) so now it’s time to make sure I can STOP them from playing. This was really hard with Beau and Zachary, and I think it’s because I didn’t work on it until I needed it, and by then it was too late! I’ve starting working on “Find it!” using a cookie, and he’s quite stoked. You can see him start by using his eyes, then quickly switch to nose when his eyes doing see it. Too cute.

Family Member: The two big things are “riding in the car” and honoring the baby-gate. He’s great in the car when someone is in the back seat with him. Far better than Zachary, in fact (who is very restless!) but when by himself he wants to relocate up front. Not good. The baby-gate is a problem only when someone is on the other side. We are working on self-control, but it’s race to see if we can get there before he’s heavy enough to knock it down. In the past I used a penny-can to teach respect for the gate – the only time I’ve ever used it, three tosses for Beau, two for Zachary – but Henry is so sound insensitive I haven’t even bothered to find it. I know it isn’t going to work.

Extracurricular: His Drop It! is wonderful, and the rest are well in hand (paw?)

Big Dog Section: Poor Zachary. He’s been seriously slighted in the training category, not helped by the fact I’m keeping him on the old levels while Henry goes through the new. There’s a very good chance this will be the last week for Old Levels for Zachary (at least for while) and I’ll just break down and do New Levels to keep him busy and happy and me (relatively) sane.

Released Video:

• Henry - Training Levels One Step Two
• Henry - Quick Flick: Loose Leash
• Henry - Quick Flick: Stand

Blog:

• Crate Time
• Wordless Wednesday
• Play Time
• Apples
• Puppy Class #1

Plus:

Puppy Class!!!

(As always, click to see larger)