Imperfection . . . a key to learning

No . . . I am definitely NOT perfect and Thursday was a clear example of this fact!  It was probably the first truly "bad day" of training that I have had since Cura came home.

I am not a morning person . . . whenever possible I avoid setting appointments that require me to be walking out the door before 8:30am.  First, for those of you who are sitting there shaking your head and thinking "8:30!  I get up at (fill in the blank with an earlier time)", let me point out that I am frequently still awake in the wee hours of the morning, so being out and about by 8:30-9:00 in the morning is pretty darn good.  I am trying to adjust my sleep schedule to resemble something more human, but it is definitely a work in progress.  Second, this doesn't mean I am not up earlier (though it can), only that I attempt to limit my exposure to the outside world before then.  In fact, I try to limit my exposure to the inside world as well (no one should have to deal with me in the morning -- I can be grumpy).  Unfortunately, the world sometimes requires me to be up and out of the house earlier than I would like.  But, instead of moving forward my rising time so that I still have time to go through my morning routine in a leisurely manner, I usually sleep as late as possible and rush around like a mad woman to get ready and out of the house on time.  I share this about myself as an explanation of what contributed to the bad day -- not to excuse it.  Thursday was one of those early days -- fortunately, that afternoon was also a training day or I may have never realized what I was doing.

Now, Cura is simply not used to being asked to go through our morning routine so early, let alone while I am rushed.  If there is one thing that I have gotten pretty good at during the past nine months (WOW -- it has been that long since Cura came home) it is to make sure to avoid being rushed.  Cura just works better that way and my stress levels remain more manageable.  Thursday reinforced the need for that -- though I am not sure it would have made much difference since Cura was taken on her walk and given her breakfast about 2-3 hours earlier than normal -- but not being rushed will help to eliminate or lower my frustration levels, at the very least.

I am not going to go through a play by play of the day -- I am still trying to keep posts on the shorter side -- but I will say that my frustration levels continued to climb and, as they did, Cura's behavior became more and more fussy.  Fortunately, we had a short break between the commitments of the morning and our training session that afternoon.  Cura took a nap and I tried to get some course prep work done.  I viewed it as a 'reset' for the day and, by the time we met Rick and Heather, I was convinced that I had successfully released my frustrations from the morning.  But, I was mistaken.

Almost as soon as we began working, Rick and Heather were able to point out to me that I was being unusually impatient with Cura.  What was I doing?  My tone of voice with her was more stern than normal.  I was not clearly letting Cura know what I wanted of her -- and would correct her when she got it wrong.  My corrections were more harsh than necessary (Cura usually only needs a verbal reminder or a little flick on the leash to get her back on task).  The result?  Cura was jumpy.  She was trying, but (big shock) was not able to read my mind.  She didn't understand why she was being corrected -- so the corrections were not only on the harsh side, but completely ineffective.  So, to put it simply . . . I was being a HUGE bu**head!

When my behavior was brought to my attention, I was appalled!  (By the way, thanks Heather!)  I felt like such a heel.  I am not sure what I was more upset about . . . the fact that I had been behaving so harshly or that I had not even realized it!  I felt horrible!  I was allowing my earlier frustrations to affect the way I was interacting with Cura -- NOT acceptable!  I was breaking a very important rule of training -- never train in anger/frustration.  For the rest of the night, I broke another important rule of training -- don't dwell on the past.  I found myself trying to 'make up' for my previous behavior and showered Cura with love and affection.  Not necessarily a bad thing, but I actually woke her up a couple of times to do it (not ideal)!  Fortunately, by the next morning, I had let it go and we have had some very successful and productive days, training wise.

Now, you may be wondering why I chose to write about something that I claim to have moved on from.  After all, if I have truly "let it go", why feel the need to share?  I did struggle with this, but decided to post on this experience for a couple of reasons.  First, I think it is important to share both "positive" and "negative" experiences.  This blog is about the realities of training my own service dog and sharing those experiences with others.  So far, the experiences have been on the 'warm fuzzies' side.  Oh sure, I have shared our challenges, but they have not been overly difficult to deal with and, consequently, the posts portrayed my overall positive and optimistic approach to every experience.  Thursday was not a 'warm fuzzie' day and I think it is important to recognize that the training process is not all sweetness and light.  It is hard and there will be days that I make mistakes -- that does not make me a bad person or a bad trainer, it makes me human.  It is important to embrace the fact that I will not always do things perfectly, which leads me to the second reason I wrote this post.  When I make mistakes, it is important to evaluate them, resolve to avoid the same mistakes in the future, and then MOVE ON!  Cura is not holding a grudge.  Almost as soon as my behavior changed, her jumpiness subsided and we have made significant progress.  Allowing my mistakes to color my behavior with Cura (apart from learning from them) can be just as counterproductive as allowing my frustrations to affect my behavior.

So, when you are training your dog (service or pet) remember . . . you will make mistakes!  Recognize them, learn from them, and then move on.

Happy New Year!!

First, let me apologize for the long absence.  It was not my intention to take a break from blogging for the holidays, it just happened.  But, I must admit, I think it was for the best.  At first, I just had too much to do and had to make some hard choices about what had to give.  But, that would have only resulted in a delay rather than complete silence.  However, after completing all the grading for the semester, I began a computer boycott!
I taught several online courses during the Fall and, combined with personal computer use, spent practically all day, everyday on the computer and just couldn't bring myself to turn the darn thing on.  I deleted junk email using my phone but, other than that I completely ignored cyberspace . . . no blogs, no twitter, no email.  Frankly, I will probably never boycott the computer for more than a couple of days at a time ever again.  When I could finally face the computer again, I had LITERALLY hundreds of blogs, emails, and tweets (each) to read.  I am finally caught up again.

Now for the update.  I will make it short and sweet.  I promised some details about our trip to Madrid for the Christmas Parade.  Cura was dressed in all her gear and had a wonderful time.  For the first time, she was actually happy to be in her boots. The ground was covered in ice and snow and it was pretty cold, so I imagine she was much more comfortable with them and appreciated the protection.  There were a number of dogs running around, off-leash and on, and there were plenty of opportunities to practice my boundaries.  I was very successful with the dogs that were off-lead.  Those on-lead were less responsive to my boundaries.  They were more concerned with pulling against the tension on the leash than anything else.  The ones that I especially loved were the owners who assured me that their dog was friendly while the pup was dragging them around, excited and bouncing all over the place instead of remaining calm and interacting with other dogs and people politely.  But, the important thing is that Cura and I did very well in a new environment with numerous challenges.

Cura in Full Gear!

If you look closely, you can see the Gentle Leader that I mentioned in my last post.  While we still use a head collar, it is no longer the Gentle Leader.  The rubbing on Cura's muzzle became so bad that there was significant hair loss so I did some serious shopping and switched her to a Halti which, unlike the Gentle Leader, has padding on the muzzle straps.  Although Cura tends to grow hair slowly, after almost a month with the new head collar, she is starting to get her hair back on the areas of her muzzle that were affected.

We spent Christmas Eve at home, but had a number of people over for an Italian Feast.  Cura was a star!  It was the first time that so many people had been in the house, many she had never met.  At first, she was a bit excited, so I just kept her at my side on her lead.  Since I was in the kitchen, this required that she focus all her attention on my movements and ended up ignoring the guests.  While Cura was doing very well, I decided that it would be a good idea to put on her vest shortly after the first guests arrived.  I figured that it would keep everyone from distracting her with petting and attention and making it more difficult to do her job.  It ended up having the added bonus of focusing her even more.  Even with the door opening and closing and the house filled with festive people, Cura was very relaxed; eventually falling asleep once I finally stopped flitting around for the evening.

New Year's Eve fireworks were another challenge during the holidays.  However, Cura did much better than she did for Independence Day.  She got jumpy, but did not run and hide in a dark corner, quivering.  This holiday season gave us plenty of challenges that just reinforced the fact that Cura is growing more and more comfortable in her home and with her duties.

I must admit that, with all the holiday activity, I have not been as diligent with training as I usually am.  But, we have returned to a schedule that is more normal in the past couple of days and by the end of the week, I imagine we will be back into our usual routine -- if not a better one!  I am not really one for New Year's Resolutions (to often they get broken after a short time), so I will not 'resolve' to increase our training efforts.  But, there is always room for improvement and a bit more time spent in training will certainly not go amiss!

Holidays . . . here we come

Time flies when . . . 

you have ENTIRELY 

too much to do!

The good news is that, at least so far, I appear to be on top of everything -- or at least I am not yet snowed under! 

The problem is really that much of what needs to be done involves me NOT going out and about.  Things like getting cards out, grading the final papers that were just turned in, attending meetings, finishing up those hand-crafted gifts, Holiday baking -- oh, and writing a Holiday Letter.  I just didn't get started on the cards soon enough to individualize them all and it has been a busy year, so rather than have my hand become one huge, ugly, and painful cramp I am opting for that time honored tradition of writing a general letter and then personalizing the card with a short note. (postage be D*%#$D).   I am probably leaving out something else that needs to be completed before the end of December -- but I am either not going to think about it or have decided not to share!

Back to 'the problem' . . .

With me working on things that involve a lot of sitting and very little moving, it leaves Cura with very little to do but lounge. 

      <--- Case in point! ---> 

 So, I am trying to make sure that the times that Cura is working, she is getting a real challenge!  We have been doing a lot of off-lead work when we are outside.  Frequently, if the situation is right, I am dropping the leash and expecting her to stay by my side.  Which she does -- though not always 'in place'.  Cura likes to be about 4-5 inches ahead of where I would prefer her to be.  But, as Rick and Heather have pointed out, that is probably my fault because where she is tending to place herself is right where she was initially placed before I realized that the position  I initially chose was not good if Cura is wearing her pack.  So, basically, I am trying to undo what I put into place in the very beginning.  Slowly but surely, Cura is repositioning.  She just needs to be reminded every once in awhile.  The good thing is that the reminder is usually just a verbal correction or me stopping or changing direction -- especially when I am working with her off-lead.  That is actually one of the benefits of dropping the leash -- no physical correction is possible so I have to find a way to communicate to Cura what I want without relying on the leash . . . same goes for her, she has to concentrate on me more so that she catches the signals I am giving her -- so she tends to forage less.

We have started using a new piece of equipment -- as well as reintroducing gear that she has worn before, though not for awhile.  Now that the weather has turned cold, she is back in a coat (the difference being that this one is to keep her warm rather than keep her cool) and she has to wear her boots again.  Most of the time she is less than pleased about the boots (LOVES the coat!) -- apart from our trip up to Madrid last weekend -- she was glad for the boots then!  More on that trip later -- there are some pictures running around some place of Cura in 'full' gear that I will share in another post (in the spirit of trying DESPERATELY not to be long-winded in this one).

The new gear is a Gentle Leader.  I must admit that I quite like it.  It works very well with my physical limitations and Cura and I work together even better than we did before (which is saying something, because if Rick and Heather are to be believed, we are doing pretty darn good -- I chose to believe them, not that there is not room for improvement!).  

There are just a few problems that we have to work out . . . 

1) When she has the Gentle Leader on, she will sometimes try and rub it off her muzzle.  This is a rather significant problem when she decides to use my thigh to rub up against!  On a good day it is simply inconvenient -- on a bad day it could be dangerous.

2) After a couple of days with the Gentle Leader on, as directed by the instructions provided in the packaging,  Cura started showing signs of wear on her muzzle with a little bit of hair loss.  No redness or other irritation, but still . . .  We have loosened the Gentle Leader significantly (pretty much ignoring the directions provided -- now, I feel that I must be clear that we are not really using it to prevent pulling or lunging AND this decision is being made in consultation with professional and experienced trainers so the usual disclaimer applies . . . DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, BOYS AND GIRLS -- if you are not a professional or are not being advised by one, you should follow the directions provided by the manufacturer).  We have a play date on Thursday, so we will reassess the Gentle Leader then.  If the irritation persists, the plan is to try a Halti, which is another 'head collar' with a slightly different design that will fit differently and may not irritate Cura's muzzle.

3) Regardless of the fact that the 'damage' is hardly noticeable, I feel horrible that this new tool is obviously a physical irritation to Cura.  I have even caught her rubbing her muzzle (against the carpet or her bed) when she doesn't have the Gentle Leader on and hasn't had it on for hours -- this is new, since we have loosened it -- or maybe it was happening all along and I just now noticed it (say it isn't so!). 

One of the difficult things about Cura and finding gear that works for her is that she tends to fall in between sizes.  Frequently, she is right at the edge of a medium and a large -- or between a large and extra-large.  So, it is very possible that just changing the size of the gear will solve the problem.  Unfortunately, vendors do not give individual's the option of testing the equipment for a realistic period of time to determine if it is successful.  They either require that you shoulder the costs of returning the equipment that proves damaging in the long run -- sometimes with a 'restocking fee' added on -- or do not accept the return of a 'used' piece of equipment at all.  Fortunately, I have great trainers who are willing to trade things out with me -- if something does not work, they will take it back at no cost!  I realize that they can still use it as a training tool, but it is still a perk that I appreciate and feel compelled to call your attention to because it is NOT standard operating procedure (at least in my experience) and if you are in the market for a trainer -- be it for a Service Dog or a Pet -- you may want to ask if your potential trainer is willing to provide you with this kind of service. 

Well, despite my attempts, this post is on the long side . . . maybe it is time to start thinking about stepping up the pace a bit and providing bi-weekly posts. (especially since I have not yet managed to share the details of our trip to Madrid last weekend).  Your thoughts, my phantom readers -- and those who are NOT phantoms -- on this would be appreciated.  Should I keep the posts short, but post more often. . . OR should I stick to once a week and let the posts get longer and take the risk that much of them will not be read?  Hey, I follow several blogs . . . I know what I do with long-winded posts -- be HONEST!).  I would love your feedback so PLEASE leave comments that will give me some indication of the best way to proceed when developing this blog.  Is it time to provide more frequent posts?