A rainy day in Emberville

 

That's what Sunday was, a rainy day.  Ember is not a fan.  Rainy days are when she's most likely to have a potty-training failure, and she did on Sunday.  One of each variety, despite my practically forcing her to come outside in the rain.

She also likes to drink from the downspouts when the rain is providing a fountain there.  I checked the rain gauge that I tucked into the rock bed in the front.  We got a tenth of an inch over the course of the day.  

Monday report

On Sunday afternoon, I had tried out the "big crate" for Puppy Nap #2.  Ember went in OK, and came out OK after, but when it came time for "bedtime", I just felt she'd feel comfier in her little den, so that's where she slept overnight.  

Monday morning, I put the baby gate up at the entrance to the family room.  Remember the leather couch?  We got the business outside taken care of.  Then there were a series of things going on.  At some point, I took the gate down, as the idea was to do some "spot" training back there.  Many adventures, but the bottom line, in the end was that she's not ready to be left with that couch... it is way too tempting for her!  She managed to start ripping the back cover off!

I got her away from that and put the gate back up (again, many adventures to get there), and proceeded with the day.  The new harnesses were delivered late Sunday, and I worked on fitting her in the "easy walk" one.  Oops.  Sorry, Barb, it's too big.  The good news:  used the chicken livers and the context of "ItsYerChoice" game training, and did not end up with any new bandages (yes, I did wear the sleeves, recognizing the risk).  But in the end, determined I'm going to have to drop a size for another "interim" harness.

I did not take Ember on a leash walk before the puppy nap.  I had hoped to do so, if the harness fit, but it didn't.  Instead, we played ball toss in the back yard, three different sessions, in between training sessions inside.   

I'm working to train her to go to a specific "hot zone", although I call it her "spot" (so far) to her.  I have two of them, one in the kitchen, and one in the family room. In the kitchen, it is a folded-up towel.  This is one of my "dog towels", downgraded from being a "swim towel" in its past life.

After I took this photo I observed that Ember has trouble putting all four paws on it, so I unfolded it to make it easier at this stage.  Once she's reliable on these "spots" I intend to invest in a raised dog bed to be her "hot zone".

In the family room, it's "Carl's blanket", also folded up.  The general idea is to call her to you, and when she gets all four paws on her "hot zone", click and treat.  Continue treats while she stays on it.  Walk away briefly.  If she stays when you walk away, treat her again when you come back.  The theory is that she stays until you release her with another cue (like "search" or a pure release work, like "break").

Or I send her off with a "search" cue, and if she comes back with all four paws on the spot, click and treat, praise.

We're on the third day of playing this particular game.  I've still been holding off on the restrained recall, and I've been sort of skipping ahead to find games that I think are going to be high value for home good behavior.

I went and got Ember out of her den about 10 a.m. and tried on her medium sized harness again.  I had played with adjusting it, since finding out the large one is "too big" for her.  Somehow, I ended up with what looks like an OK fit, and we went out walking in the neighborhood.  Oh, it felt so good!  Not the pull that comes with just collar and lead, nor the pull that comes with the top-connected harness, either.  Just re-direction, and a sedate walk.  Saw another dog-mom with a young-un in training, headed down the opposite direction on the other side of the street, and we smiled at each other.

She was happy and so was I, but I still need to gate off the family room, as even after coming back from the walk, when I took the gate down, she headed right back to go after the couch where I had made repairs!  

The guy came to clean out the dryer vent, something that comes with belonging to the subscription service, every two years.  Last time they did this it increased the speed with which my clothing actually dried.  Funny about that, maintenance is good for your home and appliances, just as it is for your car and your body.

I scheduled a private training session at Zoom Room for Wednesday afternoon and talked with the trainer about the plan to have her help with the Restrained Recall game.  I also signed Ember up for another Puppy Plus on Friday.  We've missed three weeks, due to the spay outage, and they have changed their class schedule.  I have five classes prepaid at this point, and three private training sessions.  Once these are used up, it is my plan to take that particular expense out of my budget.  

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!