Fun In The Mountains, Fun In The Country, Fun on the Farm

We had so much fun on our trip I decided to make a whole post of the fun stuff before we get into the intense mind boggling(for me) training we did.

We did some formal training, but mostly we did fun things, with training mixed in. I might need some new training equipment for pets to use with all of the new experiences and pets she saw! This Billy Goat was just one of the exciting animals she saw out at the farm.

Of course we had to take her to the lake for some swimming. She was a little timid since there wasn't too much beach and the water was very deep, but she got wet enough to need a good roll in the dirt to dry off! I wrapped her in her blanket to try to dry her off and keep some of the mud off me, but of course the dirt roll left me needing a lot of new pets grooming supplies!

 

"Uggg crazymomlady this water doesn't taste too good!"

"Look out, I'm wet and about to get muddy!"

"Ohhh ya. . .that dirt feels sooo good!"

In between the walks in the country, the hikes in the mountains, the swimming in the lake, and of course the mud rolling, we did take time to just relax and kick back. Of course all of the dogs have their own beds and tons of blankets but Lucy and Penny, the two biggest of the girls, really seemed to enjoy Maizey's crate the best. Maybe I'll suggest to my friend she invest in some new blankets and beds for her pets just to keep them happy until I bring Maizey's stuff back!LOL

The best dog bed in the house is always the couch!

"Ahhh. . . .Maizey's crate is so nice and cozy"

Everything said and done it was a wonderful trip. Many four legged lessons were learned and even more two legged lessons! I want to thank our two legged friends for letting us come and stay and Maizey wants to thank Penny, Lucy, Zoe, Raven, Twist, Dare and of course her favorite buddy Layla for all the good times they had.

And Meeka wants to lodge an official complaint that she didn't get to share in the fun this time!

"Next time I get to go, okay crazymomlady?"

On The Road With Four Busy Legs

We finally did get on the road on Monday. I'm not sure why but it always seems to take me forever to get out the door when we take a trip. For one thing I am a compulsive over packer, especially when it comes to the dogs. Maizey finally put an end to that though. 

 

 "That's enough mom! No more packing!"

So we did finally get the car packed. You know the kind of thing like loading the carseat, making sure we had all of the essentials like treats, clicker, water, travel bowls and it goes on and on . . . and of course we had to explain to Meeka that she had to stay home.

 "Comeon I'm all ready to go!"

"The hugs good crazymomlady but staying home really stinks!"

  

Then the drive commenced. It's less than three hours when you don't have four busy legs pitching a fit 'cause she has decided that today she hates her carseat!

"You are evil and mean for putting me in here!"

If you have that then the drive is oh. . . about 300 hours because then you spend half of the time training carseat zen instead of actually driving. You stop and take 16 walks instead of the normal one walk when you stop to get gas and perhaps one more because crazy mom lady has to "go poddy."LOL

 "Pleeeaaase let me out of this torture chamber!"

But it was all good because I promised myself that no matter what happened on this trip the whole trip was strictly for training. Well and the part where I get to get out of the city and actually breathe in the beauty of color and space. So we took our time and worked with the car seat. She finally went to sleep I thought she had it down.

 Insert crazymomlady having the illusion she actually taught the princessface something.LOL

However I hate to admit that ultimately the busy four legs won and crazymomlady lost. Twenty minutes from our friends house and as soon as I got on the freeway where of course I couldn't pull over easily she actually pulled herself out of her harness and escaped to lay in the back window of the car! 

So car seat zen, park-it and settle are all going to get a lot more work at our house. It's strange she had such an issue with it though because she has traveled in that seat many times before, and we have been working it in the house. But since we can't use a crate in the car we have now we will be working with the car seat some more. Hopefully the drive home will go more smooth!

4 Of Our Legs Go Traveling, But 4 Of Our Legs Have To Stay Home

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Maizey and I decided to take a little road trip today, but since Meeka's not feeling well she has to stay home with mehusbandy. Maizey and I are going to see Dare, Layla, Twist, Lucy, Penny, Raven, and Zoe. Of course we aren't expecting Zoe to jump up and down w/ glee at the social opportunity of spending time with us.LOL

We are at point where we really need some input into Maizey's training. She has passed all of her L1 tests and she is ready to pass a few of her L2 behaviors. I also want to do a lot of filming of the things she has got down pat, and Marie has much better space to do that than I do. So really we are just going to use Marie and all her dog training talent.

The things we will test or just film are again all L1 behaviors, which are come, sit, down, target, and zen. Then with L2 I hope we can get her down, sit, handling and perhaps go to mat tested and filmed.

There are several behaviors that are new to both of us and we really hope to take advantage of Marie's knowledge to teach me some lessons so I can teach them right from the start. A few are: target, distance, and stay. So it should be a lesson filled trip, and we are anxious to get on the road.

I know some will say its odd for me to take off on a social trip!LOL Of course it is for the dogs which is the same reason I joined SocialSpark It is a great site to help you browse networks, various opportunities and a lot of different blogs. They have a great Code of Ethics and the Sign up for SocialSpark process was simple and Lessons From and For 4 legs was approved very promptly which was nice. If you are looking to network or monetize your blog this is a great company to use.

So off we go! We still need to take our walk this morning since we can't take a vacation from our 30 miles challenge and of course we all know a tired puppy travels best!

Meeka and Maizeys 30 Miles in 30 days Challenge

Why would two mellow, calm, nap loving dogs want to challenge their admittedly activity-challenged 2 legged friend to 30 miles of movement in 30 days?

Obviously they are concerned for my health! Also obviously there is no more peaceful sleep than this:

 or this:

or this:

or especially this:

And that is what the sleep of the truly tired looks like, so while I give them credit for their concern over my lack of ever wanting to exercise I know that they are just smarter than me and know how much fun it is to get out there and move a little!

Thus on April 2, 2010 we started our 30 miles in 30 days challenge. And as you've seen from past posts we are having a blast! Maizey is doing so well with her L2 LLW and we are finding new places to walk, each with their own set of distractions to help fill in the holes of the training they are solid on.

We have had so much support in people joining our challenge and cheering us on that we want to invite any who would like to join our challenge. Maizey, Meeka and I have been tracking our mileage in the sidebar and will continue to do so, along with regular updates in posts. If your 4 legged friends are dragging you out and about and would like to brag up how well your doing drop me a comment with your names and your mileage and anything else you would like and I will add you to our challenge list. If you would like to share your records with us but participate as an anonymous secret agent email me and I will add you and your sneaky 4 legged friends to the secret agent list.

Of course we have already started and there are only 24 days left in our 30 day challenge so if you want to join now its not to late! Just pro-rate your miles to what ever day you join. Cynthia at Tip Tail started with us today and already has done a mile and three-quarters! Really what ever number your four legged friends set for you is good by us, we just want everyone to have as much fun as we are!

So May 1, 2010 is our deadline folks. After we have all worked hard to get out there and get moving I will add up our cumulative total miles and post that for us all to do a victory dance over! It might look something like:

Our Favorite Walks

With all of the walking we have been doing lately I have been trying to find new places and routes to walk.

I'm a country girl. True, I have lived in the city for more than half my life, but the country is in my heart. Blue skies, blindingly bright sunshine, the soft green of new grass coming up in wide open fields where there is nothing in your view but the mountains and the soft smell of sage brush. So in the area of favorite walks, that would be my ideal. This is what the ideal looks like:

Ahh. . .but alas I am a city living girl so it is my constant goal to find places to walk that give me glimmer of my ideal. One place we are really enjoying is the Jordan River Parkway. It is a paved trail that runs along the Jordan River. It is a peaceful place and of course the girls love it for the abundance of sniffs and ducks and geese to chase.

There is one draw back in that the river is part of the cities water treatment plan and sometimes it sniffs not so pretty! Maybe they could use N-Viro International Corporations.(http://www.nviro.com) To avoid wasting energy and forge ahead in renewable and alternative energy sources N-Viro converts wastewater sludge into opportunity fuels, clean coal, and many other market rich applications.(http://www.nviro.com) For more information check out: http://www.nviro.com

So I guess even though I live in the city there are many opportunities to find: "Beauty In The City."

Loose Leash Walking Is Sheer Joy-Even When It Snows!

Obviously with the girls challenging me to walk 30 miles in 30 days we have been doing a lot of walking. And we have been doing a lot of L2 Loose Leash work for Maizey.

It is so fascinating to walk to the two pups. They are such different walking styles. Meeka is like taking a walk with the significant one in your life where you stroll together holding hands, and while you are enjoying each others company you don't have to worry about each other. It's like that stroll with your loved one where you mutually know how fast to go, and when the other is getting tired. It is ultimate peace to walk with Meeka.

Just a Friendly stroll by the river

Maizey? Oh Maizey is like trying to walk a kite on a gusty windy day. It is an experience in a whole other realm. Walking Maizey consists of watching Maizey's body language for reactivity, watching her feet so they don't get under my feet, watching the environment to anticiapte what might set her off, reeling the leash in cause she is determined use her 9 pounds to drag my. . .well considerably more than 9 pounds right off my feet! Walking Maizey has been an exercise in thinking and self control. But yes I said has been, because she is making progress in leaps and bounds!(No pun intended and insert me cheering and sighing in relief here!)

The progress has come from following more good Training Levels advice. In the Training Levels Book L2 Leash is states, "Once the dog is comfortable with the leash, she'll start pulling on it to get where she wants to go. Now we run smack up against a point of view problem. YOU see "She's not going to make ME go faster than I want to go! We'll go at MY speed" and SHE sees "Man, this human is so slow, I have to pull really hard to get him to go anywhere!" And there's the key right there. Are you going to tell her that she HAS to pull to get anywhere? Or are you going to tell her that pulling NEVER gets her anywhere, that the ONLY way to get where she wants to go is by giving you a loose leash? Look on today as the first day of the rest of the dog's life. From now on, a tight leash will never, NEVER, NEVER go where the dog wants it to go."(Italics mine) The answer is as soon as the leash tightens up you walk backwards, away from what she is fixated on pulling you towards. You keep walking backwards until her attention is back on you. But you can look up the details in Sue's Levels

  

But how could we have a nice long walk where she gets some energy out and still never go anywhere on a tight leash? Trust me for a while we spent more time walking backwards than forwards! Then I read the advice to let the pup walk however she wants on a harness and do the serious training with the leash and on the buckle collar. I must admit I was hesitant, could a dog really tell the difference between the harness and collar. But I tried it. And it is a thing of beauty! Walks with Maizey are now starting to feel more like that comfortable stroll with my friend instead of chasing a kite in the wind. 

We start every walk w/ a quick session of "Watch"

 "Maizey? Watch Me!"

Then when she's focused we start the walk on the Puppia Harness.

When she is on the Puppia Harness we do no training except to c/t when she looks at me.

  "See me Mom, I'm watching you. Now fork over the chicken liver cheerios!"

"MMMM! Chicken Liver's my favorite it stinks sooo good!"

Then when she has settled down and can focus on me I switch to the buckle collar and continue to c/t when she looks at me. But the second that leash gets tight I backup. I don't say anything but I keep walking backwards. (Yes my neighbors think I'm nuts and that the dog can only walk backwards down the street, but they already thought I was a "crazy dog lady!"LOL) Then when she keys back into me I c/t her glance at me and w/ out saying anything start walking forward again. It is so simple and she loves it. We have taken our longest and most relaxed walks in the last week or so and yesterday she actually walked over half a mile loose leashed on her buckle collar and we only backed up once at a distance of about 20 feet, then she sailed right past the distraction that had her pulling just seconds before!

This is what the sheer joy of loose leash walking in the snow looks like:

Milestones Should Always Be Celebrated

Most important things first: congratulations to Maizey for she completed Level 1 in the Training Levels. She has been very close but because of her knee could not work on Come we have not been able to finish. But in just the last two weeks that she has been cleared for normal activity we brushed up her recall skills and she passed tonight beautifully. And thus her Level one is complete!

 "HaHa mom look at me laughing cause you made me wear a ribbon! You're so silly mom!"

After that talking to I gave myself in the last post I went back to her levels tracker journal and reviewed what she would need to do to pass a few other tests. Turns out she was ready for a couple. Sit and down. and very close on several others. So we will be updating you on that as it comes around.

She did take her L2 sit test and of course there was no problem. A+ for sitting. 

"See mom? I can even sit on the couch while wearing a ribbon and waiting patiently for you to take my picture!. . .But seriously could you hurry it up a little?"

So that you have an idea of what Passing Level 1 actually means I have put a brief summary below. Hopefully it will help you feel like this is something that is reachable for all of your dogs and their people no matter what kind of limitations of time or energy there is to be dealt with.

Level One Skills:(as copied from Sue Ailsbys Training Levels Book)

COME

The dog must play the Come Game between the handler and a friend or stranger standing 20’ apart. An actual cue to come is desirable but not necessary.

DOWN

The dog must Down from a Sit or Stand with no more than two cues - hand and voice, voice and body language, two voice cues, etc. It is not necessary for the dog to stay in the Down position, simply to lie down.

SIT

The dog must Sit from standing position on one cue only (may be a voice OR a hand cue, but not both, and no extra body language from the handler). The handler may use the dog’s name to get her attention before starting.

TARGET
The dog must deliberately Touch the handler’s hand with her nose on only one voice cue. The hand in position is, naturally, a second, allowable cue. 

ZEN

The dog must stay away from a treat in the handler’s hand for 5 seconds. There can be only one voice cue, which will be given before the hand is presented. 


It's really not that hard and I suspect many of your four legged friends out there already know much of this. But if you give it a few minutes a day you will see so much improvement and find holes in their reliability that you didn't know were there. And best of all when you get done with level one you can show how stunningly awesome your friends are by making them pose for a celebratory picture:

Meeka says, "Hey where's my ribbon? I'm the better girl anyways!"