Banks had a great first weekend back after having to stay in the last few weeks. I have lots of adventures to share this week but I am gonna start off with his and the catās adjustment back to the house. He has never shown me a reason not to trust him around the cats, in fact this video was taken during his free time he was not in a stay. As most of you know we have 2 cats or COVID kittens that are not your typical introverted cats.
Waffles (not featured), has always been one to sit in the middle of everything. But she was not effected by Banks coming back as she was when he first came. She continue to play and run around. The only thing she didnāt do was sleep on her dog bed on the ground.
Mocha (featured) takes much longer with everyone especially dogs. However, she also loves her cuddles. I was shocked when she initiated contact. And came back when called for cuddles.
Overall I am very proud of how everyone did this weekend and canāt wait to see how they all grow every weekend.
Moose loves his pup cups!
Freddie and Lizzie enjoyed a nice 30 minute sniffy walk today on some long lines.
Whether there 8 weeks or 14 years old every dog likes mental enrichment. Just because the puzzle may get harder for them doesnāt mean they have to stop. Bou seemed to really enjoy this simple ball with some kibble in it.
Happy Friday! Any one else cats thrive off screen time. Mocha loves chasing bugs š.
Happy Saturday! Check out Otis new game. Iām calling it the āBUTTON GAMEā but thereās not a real button. Weāre using the lid to a mason jar top.
Otis already knows touch which is a big help in this game. And yesterday we worked on touching other object rather then my hand he learned touch on. So this has been a two day process and thereās definitely still some learning happening but he is getting very good at it. Youāll notice that I marking every time he hits the cover. Iām only marking because if I went and bought a $60 button feeder on Amazon when the dog hits that button the feeder makes a ding noise telling the dog the food is now being dispensedļæ¼. Iām using his maker word but you could also do this with a clicker or clicking your tongue, or snapping your fingers anything just to tell the dog they did the right thing.
I had only cued him once at the start to touch the cover and then after that, I never really really cued him to do it. It was all on his own because thatās what the button games more designed to be, itļæ¼ is more of an independent impulse control, pattern, work game, so the only words Iām saying are yes and every once a while, you might hear me make a Kissy noise or say something else that was just to try and get him to stop playing with the button and get back to the game. This is where we have to do some more training with it and taking it back a step to make sure weāre just touching the button and we donāt end up actually playing with the button. But he did this for his entire breakfast it took about 15 minutes and he got a lot of energy out. Weāre also working on slowly, moving the button further and further away from me, so that it requires even more energy and even more brain work.
Now as you watch youāll notice he sometimes gets frustrated and right towards the end of this clip he lays down and actually starts barking at me. Otis is a dog that heās definitely still learning but he will throw out behavi
The other day we worked on some more engagement while dogs pass. In the background you can hear Boomer barking at them, but weāre working to prevent that with Otis in the future and the best way to do that is to make everything else more exciting than the people passing and since touch is his favorite cue, I use that to keep him distracted and happy and show that there is no need to go and bark at the people walking their dog.
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PS Boomer is pretty much deaf so calling him off of them really doesnāt do anything he canāt hear.
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This morning I started Otis training session with itās your choice. This game is great for impulse control. Youāll notice when I stick my hand out with the food itās in a fist so that he can not get it. I allow him to nibble and paw at my hand not saying anything because itās his choice and he is going to have to choose to disengage and lower his excitement to gain an actual reward. As he gets better through the session I make it a little harder by putting it on the floor. This entire 2 min video was the only time this session we played this game once he had lowered his excitement over the food we began training. This is all to help him focus and be able to actually perform cues rather then jump all over me. To make this game harder and to teach and even better impulse control I would increase the value of the food in my hand. But Otis isnāt there yet this was all for his kibble.
Sophie really enjoys a good brushing š„°
Rufusās happy dance because we finally made it to Friday!ļæ¼
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