Happy Spring!!

Wow!  It's been a little while since we've posted, but we've been super busy!  Treasure has been very popular this month making community appearances in addition to her regularly scheduled therapy visits.  The picture above was taken in front of the assisted living facility where she visits.  We were visited by a reporter from the Avon Grove Sun newspaper and we hope to see a great article soon! 

We attended the Reading Pet Expo where we met our friends from sheltie rescue.  Treasure got to hang out with some of their dogs on a pile of dog beds and accept attention from all her adoring fans!  She rode around in her stroller and was very well behaved.  She met some more pot-bellied pigs.  I think she is amused by them.  We kept our distance from the tiger, however! 

Treasure has been busy with her k9 nosework.  She did her first vehicle search and her first outdoor searches this month. I found out she likes salmon-flavored cream cheese!  And her instructor gifted her with a new stroller.  This one has a front panel made of mesh, so it can actually be zipped up to keep her inside.  The only place Treasure will not stay in her other stroller is at class, where she knows that her job is to find food!  When the new stroller is zipped up, it resembles a soft crate on wheels and it works like a charm!

And April will be here soon!  Treasure will be attending some Healing Touch for Animals' classes to help the attendees learn new techniques.  She will continue with her regular therapy visits, and we hope to join some fun community events as well.  Stay tuned for more of Treasure's adventures...

Three Little Words

I was watching a movie recently and I was reminded how powerful words can be.  We use words to communicate many things, but I think we sometimes forget their impact.  When we stop to consciously think about the words we hear and the words we use, I think we can be surprised by how carelessly we use them. 

The movie is called “Temple Grandin.”   It’s the story of an amazing woman’s life.  Maybe no more amazing than each of our own lives, except for the fact that Temple has allowed us into her life.  You see, she lives with a condition called autism that has mystified many people for a long time.  Temple is able to answer our questions and give us a glimpse into what her world is like and how she functions.  This has made things much easier for children living with autism today, for adults with autism who spent so much time being misunderstood, and for the animals that she also helps. 

The woman is even more fascinating than the movie, but I would encourage you to watch it if you haven’t already.  This is not an advertisement as much as it is a reminder.  The words that we choose can hurt, but they can also heal, educate, and persuade.  How we use our words can help to open someone’s mind to new ideas. 

There is a line in the movie that really struck me.  Just three little words that I think everyone needs to learn and remember.  Temple’s mother in the movie was talking to her teacher.  She was frustrated that Temple never seemed to fit in anywhere with the other children.  The teacher said to her, “We know how different Temple is.”  And the mother’s reply was very powerful.  She said simply, “Different – not less.”

I love those three words.  How powerful they can be when said together with compassion.  I spend a lot of time trying to explain to others how my life with Treasure and Grace is no better or worse than my life with my other dogs.  Yes, my interactions with them are different, but they are not better or worse than the others.  Nor are they easier or harder.  They are just different.  Now I have a very simple way to explain with only three words.  “Different – not less.”

Vote for Grace this time!!

Grace is now in the Bissell most valuable pet contest trying to win the money for sheltie rescue.  Please vote for her starting today and every day through next Wed!!  Treasure is already in the running for the final prize.  Now let's double our chances and get Grace in that final running too!!

Here's the link!  http://bissell.promo.eprize.com/mvpcontest/gallery?id=51224

K9 Nosework Demo

Good job Treasure!

Treasure and I were lucky enough to take part in a demo yesterday showing various activities that people can do with their dogs to help improve their quality of life.  Treasure demonstrated her favorite activity - k9 nosework!  She found the right box very quickly and enjoyed her snack of chicken.  I'm sure everyone in the crowd was very amazed!

But that wasn't enough for Miss Treasure, who spent the next hour trying to figure out a way to jump down from her stroller and do more nosework!  She was being quite opinionated and would not stay lying down.  But after about an hour of only getting petting when she did lie down, she drifted off to sleep.  Just in time for the next break when everyone wanted to come up and visit with her!  Oh well, that's the price she pays for stardom I guess. 

Dreaming of more chicken!



A New Level of Learning

Snow, snow, and more snow here in PA!

I've been playing around with using the clicker with Treasure to see if perhaps she could hear it if I held it right next to her ear, or maybe she would even respond to the vibration of it.  I've tried it next to both ears. I've tried extra loud clickers. She is not associating the click with food, and she loves to eat!  She is also not even flinching her ears in response to the click.  So, I'm assuming it is not recognizable enough to her either in sound or vibration to be a useful training tool for us.  This was more for my own curiosity than anything else.  She does respond to some other sound vibrations in certain situations, so I thought, perhaps she might sense the click as well.  But it's not meant to be.

I taught a tactile marker to Treasure previously.  I tap twice quickly behind her ear.  But I find that this is not as clear as I would like.  She responds to it, yes, but it is not something that stands out to her in the environment. The other dogs often touch her behind the ear during play, etc.  I wanted something that would also allow me to mark and reinforce behavior when I wasn't close enough or in the right position to get those taps in behind her ear quickly.  Timing was also an issue.  I had to keep my hand out of her space (or she was constantly searching for it to see what it was holding or doing) but get it in there quickly enough to mark that exact moment of behavior I liked. 

I thought about using a vibrating collar as a marker signal.  It would accomplish my goal of being able to be farther from her.  Many people who have used vibrating collars with their deaf dogs told me there is quite a delay in pressing the remote control button and the actual vibration.  Most vibrating collars that are sturdy enough to last are bigger than what I want to put on a fifteen pound dog, and they don't work well with long-haired dogs.  Hair has to be continually shaved around the neck so the collar sensations can be felt properly.  Plus they are expensive! 

Then, the observant dog trainer that I am, I realized that she responds strongly to camera flashes, or to a sudden change in light/dark, such as turning a light on or off when it's dark otherwise.  I use a small flashlight as a clicker for my other double merle Grace with good success.  But it hadn't occurred to me until now to try it with Treasure.  How silly we can be sometimes.  Grace watches closely to see the light, but with Treasure, she is only able to see high contrasts in light and dark. 

Treasure knows she gets bedtime treats every night, so I started then.  I dimmed the lights so I could see her and her reactions, but it was fairly dark in the bedroom.  I flashed the light into her face and then fed the treat.  She was very engrossed in getting the treats, so it was hard to see any reaction to the light.  I kept at it anyway, trying to be patient, and over time I began to see that she was putting the two together.  Normally a flash or a change in light would cause her to spin repeatedly in an excited manner.  Now that was diminishing and she was beginning to show that she was sniffing to look for the treat.

Tonight, after several nights of flashing bedtime cookies, we had our first training session using the flashlight.  I was teaching my puppy to bring me a Kleenex out of the box when I sneeze (crazy dog trainer to actually TEACH a puppy to play with Kleenex!), and Treasure was trying to climb onto the coffee table to get the treats (again, crazy dog trainer to teach your blind and deaf dog to search for and find treats!)  So I put the other dogs away and turned out the lights in the living room.  The kitchen had a small light on in the next room, so I was able to see what was going on.  Plus the TV was on (nice that blind deaf dogs are not distracted by sounds in the environment!) so we had the glow from that as well.

We practiced some things she already knows with the flashlight as a marker - sit, stand, down, come to a stomp on the floor, spin and twist.  It was obvious that she was responding to some of the flashes and anticipating the treats.  We worked on getting her to step up and put her front feet on my leg while I sat on the floor, and we started working on a play dead behavior.  I was trying for a roll over, but she offered me a flat on the floor behavior instead, so we went with it. She was so proud of herself for figuring out how to get the treats!  She is very smart and will do things that I cue her to do, but she never really got the idea of offering those things on her own. 

I have a feeling she and I are both going to have a lot of fun with this!  And I'm getting used to training in the dark!  Not very feasible for long term, but great to be able to teach new behaviors.  Once they are on cue, then it won't matter anymore.  I can use the double tap or just petting with the treat.   



Time to Vote Again!!

Vote for Treasure again this week 1/26 through 2/1!!  Help her win some money to help sheltie rescue be able to help more shelties like Treasure!  It only takes a minute of your time to vote and once you’ve signed in the first time with your contact information, you only have to supply your email address every day to vote for her!  You can vote once every day per email address, so please tell your friends to vote for her too!!  I put it on my calendar so I remember to vote every day.  You might want to too.  If you or your friends are worried about getting junk mail or emails from Bissell, there is a box to uncheck as you are registering so you won’t receive updates from them.  I did the contest last year as well, and I have not received any unsolicited emails or junk mail from Bissell, so I do believe they take that seriously.  We just missed getting into the top 5 in week one, so please tell everyone you know to vote for Treasure this week!  Put it on your facebook pages, websites, twitter accounts, … everywhere!!  Help spread the word!  Thank you to all for your support of Treasure and sheltie rescue!!  Here's the new link

http://bissell.promo.eprize.com/mvpcontest/gallery?id=29532 

Treasure says WOOF!!

Nosework week three ...

Wow, we're moving right along with our nosework classes!  If you remember, we had some trouble using the leash last week, so this week we tried something new that worked very well.  Instead of giving Treasure the entire room to search in, we used ring gates to section off a smaller area to give her a more defined area.  She has a hard time knowing where she is in space when she's some place new because she doesn't have any mind-map markers to tell her where she is, like she does at home.  She can't see the walls or gates like the other dogs can, and she can't hear sounds around her to give her a clue as to where she is.  By using the smaller area, she was once again happy to be able to work off leash!  She was able to focus more on scenting and less on avoiding her leash. 

At one point, after our turn, I looked up and everyone was crowded around the smaller gated area watching us.  They seemed so surprised and delighted when Treasure found the hide.  I had to remind myself that everything Treasure does is a surprise to them.  I was very confident to allow her to do her job and knew she would find it easily on her own.  But I live with her, so I see her amazingness everyday.  The others do not.  It's nice to be able to bring a little bit of that to everyone's attention now and then.

We used roast beef at class.  I always give her a variety of food when we train.  It's never the same thing as the day before.  This keeps her interest up and offers her more enrichment and variety in her life.  When Treasure seemed to get a bit off track, I used some stomps to bring her back in my direction towards the area I wanted her to search.  I'm not sure how well the vibration carries in a direct way at class.  She seems to be a bit confused by stomps at class even though she always comes at home.  I wonder if the vibrations travel differently.  But it did get her attention and she sniffed until she found my direction and came back that way. 

We worked with open boxes again, practicing for our demo next weekend.  We started using a magnetic clip (like a refrigerator clip magnet) to hold food in a plastic lid.  It could then be stuck to the metal grooming table legs to offer more variety for hiding.  This part isn't as tricky for Treasure, since the other dogs tend to learn to look for the boxes and only hunt there.  Treasure can't see the boxes, so she relies on only scent from the start.  But it's handy to get the food up off the floor and will be nice to use to train my other dogs as well.  The lid we used for class was a plastic lid from a coffee cup and it had a small hole in it for drinking.  When Treasure found it, she came to that tiny hole first and was trying to lick the food out of it.  We also did food hidden in the unzipped pocket of a bag on the floor, which she found easily.

Our next round of classes, we will start adding Birch odor, so we got information about ordering the scent kits.  I will continue with Treasure in the process.  She really enjoys having a job to do and of course, the food reward is fun too!  But I'm not sure she will ever be able to qualify for competitions without some type of accommodation.  If she is expected to search a very large area in a short period of time, most likely that will not be feasible.  She moves slower around a new area than a sighted dog because she can't see where she's going.  She has learned that it hurts less to run into something when you are going slowly than it does if you are going fast!