Merlyn the SDiT Standard Poodle

09/12/2023

I have to brag about these collars from www.lakeviewdoggear.com!

The owner is Connie Powell. She fixed Merlyn's first 2 collars when I measured wrong. And when one of my favorite poodle pages stated/requested/demanded that Turq should have his own fancy collar!

Connie helped me pick out the fabric and colors that would most flatter Turq when I was all out of making decisions. I thought I wanted a high top collar for Turq, but Connie said a V-shaped collar would flatter him most.

Someone even made the comment that he looks like a king!!

Please hit Connie up for your collar, leash, and more needs. (Yes, Merlyn has a teal collar with a match leash!)

05/12/2023

I missed Merlyn's birthday by 2 days!!! He's 3 years old now! Luckily, I had a backup of his favorite cookies from Brigdawg's!!

And Merlyn tolerated the hat really well! He was going to eat the cookie with it on! 🤣🤣🤣

27/11/2023

We had fun this past weekend in Fort Myers, Florida with the North American Briard Club.

I want to thank the judges Pennie Jackson, Joseph Gurby, Brenda and Jenifer Landers for judging us and letting us take part in the Altered program.

It was a lot of fun and each judge said during the examination, "it's refreshing/nice to finally have a dog that likes being touched everywhere!" One judge mentioned she could tell Merlyn and me do lots of things together.

So he now has 12 titles to his name!

10/10/2023

Merlyn had a busy day!!! He went to the vet! Got his Cytopoint shot. He said hanging out with the vet staff was awesome!

We went to Brigdawg's afterwards!! This is where he became a delinquent!! In the 2+ years that we've been visiting Brigdawg's, he's NEVER stolen....until today ....he stole a 50¢ dental chew. In his defense, his favorite shop owner didn't give him his regular treats!!

12/07/2023

Merlyn and I are leveling up! The PDA (Pet Dog Ambassador) program is honestly better than the CGC series with AKC.

The skills are more gaged towards real life skills. And we had a lot of fun with them so far!

Congrats to Jesse and Merlyn for their new title! The Pet Dog Ambassador program rewards dog owners for using positive training and teaching their dogs life skills. Jesse and Merlyn have earned their level 2 and are hard at work for level 3! Want to earn PDA titles? Send us a message to get started!

10/07/2023

We have been working on tricks to get our DMWYD (Do More With Your Dog) trick titles and working towards completing the levels of PDA (Pet Dog Ambassador) with the guidance of Fired Up Dog Training !!

He has his Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced Trick Dog titles. He's 4 tricks away from getting his Expert Trick Dog title. AND he completely Level 2 of PDA. I'm finding that the PDA program and outline teaches more life skills vs the AKC CGC series.

Here is his "hide-n-seek/find me" video. I asked him to wait in the kitchen and hid in a room. So for Merlyn to get to me, he would have to pass two dogs in crates that had their doors open. When I yelled, "Find Me!" He came running.

He could have ABSOLUTELY chosen to play with one of the two dogs that he knows, but he didn't. He chose to ignore them and come find me.

This is also one of his favorite games! We've been playing it since he was a puppy. It worked on his "wait" in place, separation from me, and then proximity to me.

All of this is fun, especially the tricks, but they are building life skills for Merlyn too!!!

28/01/2023

Lots of people say that their dog reacts out of nowhere. Most of the time this isn't true! Dogs have subtle stress signs before actually reacting. As Fired Up Dog Training mentions, some subtle stress signs are tongue flicks, paintings, whale eyes, and ears back. Some dogs will puff in and out their checks right before they react.

Recognizing this signs can help you redirect your dog before they can react and have a bad experience. "1 bad experience can cancel out 100 good experiences. So it is better to avoid a bad situation that would break down your progress your dog." ~absoluteDOGS

Listen to the whispers so they don't have to scream! Recognize the subtle signs of stress like tongue flicks, panting, whale eye, and ears back.

28/01/2023

"Things I've seen people say on social media recently:
- real service dogs don't get distracted
- train your dog better if you're worried
- if my dog barking at yours distracts him, then you did a poor job training him
- your dog should be able to ignore a dog lunging at him
- it shouldn't matter if a pet is in a store that isn't pet-friendly because your dog shouldn't have anything to do with it

This is junk. Bologna. Horse feathers. Dogs are not robots, even service dogs. They get distracted. Their jobs are HARD. And YES, a pet in a place they don't belong is a problem. YES, a pet barking and lunging at a service dog is a problem. If you are concerned for yours and your SD's safety because of a pet, YOUR FEELINGS ARE VALID. If your dog gets distracted occasionally and recovers, then your dog is normal. Train your dog to the best of your ability, but don't set unrealistic expectations of yourself or your dog." ~Fired Up Dog Training

08/01/2023

Wanted to share a short video of Merlyn my SDiT, who's 2yrs old and my experience with having a private lesson with Fired Up Dog Training ! So long post ahead, but very encouraging and uplifting! (*I think!!*)

We have a few issues that we are working on with Ariel, the owner of Fired up Dog Training, over virtual. We took her "Walk this way!" class and are working on his biggest concern right now, which is reacting to only some dogs for 2 separate reasons. Next is the loose leash walking.

If you're not taking advantage of her private lessons, you're missing out, even if you're a trainer and still struggling with an issue with your own dog!! Even over virtual, I was able to describe what we were experiencing from another trainer's and my observations. And Ariel was able to help set up a plan for exercises before we met back at a time that I said I felt comfortable with. She had lots of compassion to give in our situation, even knowing that I do want to have my own dog training business one day. She was very real and encouraging about our situation as well. I know lots of SD/SDiT handlers can feel bad that we aren't training as fast as a full time SD program is doing, but I wrote down what she said, "it's ok if you're unable to do even 1 exercise in a day. Remember we are disabled people, and it's OK to have a day were you don't/can't do anything. And you don't have to do all the training exercises at once! They can be spread throughout the day!"

Well, today I decided to not go to the Ren Faire with my friends that are part of the wedding we are a part of. (Merlyn is expected to be the ring bearer and I'm a bridesmaid.) Instead, I decided Merlyn and I should garden by pulling a few weeds in the front yard. I decided that sitting in the front yard on a Saturday would be awesome for him for looking at people and dogs walking! But sadly, no one was really outside. Except the neighbor across the street. This is something that we've struggled with since Merlyn was 6 months old. After turning 6 months old, he suddenly decided the best way to get the neighbors' attention was to bark at them and stand on his back legs until they looked at him and acknowledged him, which made him look very reactive (he was a hypergreeter)
, but it was only outside in our neighborhood.

Today, he saw the neighbor loudly loading heavy stuff into his truck and I didn't. He gave a tiny boof, not even enough for the neighbor to notice. We did a version of the "yes!" game/LAT until he completely ignored the neighbor and only found me more interesting than the distraction. It was almost the same when they returned in their truck, but Merlyn didn't boof at them!!

The harness he is wearing in the video is his freedom/decompression walking harness. The only rules are: no going into/checking out dangerous places/things, no private property, and no pulling. He can go anywhere as long as there is slack in the line, sniff, and look at whatever he wants. It helps work his brain and helps him feel like he's making choices of what to do, with the few exception rules.

BUT!!! Today, he decided that he wanted to practice LLW with me! He CHOSE to LLW with me when he had the freedom to do what he wanted within reason/the rules. In the video, I have a few mechanical issues to work on with my handling. Ariel was more than capable of looking at my video and telling me what I needed to work on! I wasn't going to send it to her, but she did a halfway check-in from our first meeting to our next!! Ari checking in with us made me feel that she REALLY cares about our progress!!

I'd like to point out, Merlyn could not do this even 2 months ago in the front yard AND hands free. The leash handle loop is attached to my strap on my treat bag. So I'm not touching the leash. It's all his engagement and willingness to do this. He turned 2 yrs old in December. I know this may seem simple to some people who have LLW down packed at a younger age, but when he was growing up, I was more focused on socialization and training other reactions (like especially to hyper kids) than LLW. (There's soooo much to train and not a whole lot of spoons!!!)

I'm super proud of us. Especially of Merlyn choosing to train with LLW. And the sit at the end was voluntary. I didn't ask for it because I don't want an auto-sit since I stop and go a lot. AND that he didn't completely alert bark and/or try to grab the neighbor's attention! All of this was HUGE for us!!

Also, did I mention you're missing out if you haven't booked with Ariel yet??? She was more helpful in 1 session to me than any of the 3 dog training schools I've been to in a 4 years time.

*Let me also note that she never asked I post anything. I was just too excited and decided to share!! We also had some more progress that is not related to this post but helped because of a private with Ariel!!

30/12/2022

Tell me how your dog likes/prefers to work for treats/food!!

Here is Merlyn patiently waiting as I take a picture of his cod fish skin chew that I put into a food toy. I gave him a free one since I had stuck 2 in Turq's you and I thought he would have a hard enough time with this particular chew and toy. Well, would you believe that he turned his nose up to the "free" cod fish skin chew and went for his toy. I pointed it out to Nick, who immediately put the small chew into a super easy food toy and Merlyn was SUDDENLY all over it!!

I think this helps demonstrates how dogs like working for their food, given the chance and choice to see the rewards from it!

27/12/2022

The boys had a GREAT Christmas day. They got to open at least 3 gifts each. Which, Turq eventually herded all the toys into one location at one point in the day. After opening up their own gifts, they switched out toys throughout the day. There was lots of good play between the two boys and with Nick.

I forgot to record opening of the gifts! It was a lot of fun to watch them have so much joy and fun opening up their gifts!

27/12/2022

Post Christmas after visiting the in-laws. Merlyn says it's time to chill and snuggle with naps today. He loves the cooler weather, but he also likes snuggling just as much!!

24/12/2022

This is a long post because we've been busy and I forgot to update!

Merlyn has had a busy week getting ready for Christmas!! On Wednesday and Thursday we went out to train/shop. On each day, he had about a 5hr work day. This was a first for us, but he did excellent each day!

Shout out to Abby, who I can't tag, but she asked if she could pet before going ahead and assuming I would say yes and waited to be invited to pet Merlyn vs the Total Wine employee who jumped to Merlyn's eye level and talked right to him despite his training vest saying no talk, pet, photo, and not distracting him. Abby was very polite when I stated that he was working so not at that time. After chatting with her, I did invite her to pet Merlyn. I don't always do this though and it's not something that all SD/SDiT teams do. Sometimes, when people are polite and don't assume that they can do what they want, even though it's a SD/SDiT in public, I'll let them pet Merlyn or if it's the end of the training session and I want to reward Merlyn with pets.

On Thursday, we stopped by Game Stop. One of the employees asked if he could approach to be able to ask if he could help us find something or recommend something. I was so shocked that I forgot to thank him for asking. That's not usually a courtesy that employees ask and it's very much appreciated by SD/SDiT teams.

People gushed over him when we went out training/shopping, even before he was freshly groomed. On Friday, we went to Merlyn's favorite groomer Alecia Hoyle . She did a fantastic job as always! We didn't make it to the car when we left her before someone was gushing and complimenting him looking ready for Christmas! We went to the liquor store by Brigdawg's to get spiced rum for eggnog at Nick's request.

Merlyn wore his old training vest since it was a quick trip, it was easier to put on than his harness, and he was freshly groomed. (The harness can start to cause tangled and mats if not brushing out after taking it off.) Everyone in the small store gushed over his fresh cut. The cashier complimented him. She said that she'd noticed that he was doing much better than a year ago and even since earlier this year! Which of course makes me proud that our training is being noticed in the community. The cashier asked if Merlyn could have a cookie biscuit. So he got one before heading over to Brigdawg's, his favorite store, where he was also gushed over in his fresh cut.

For Brigdawg's, we don't go inside while in gear. It's his store to be able to sniff around and pick out his own treats. They were super busy!! His favorite Earth Animal No Hide Large Turkey chews were 40% off! I had Kathy ask him if he wanted a certain toy and of course he said he wanted it. We waited for the crowd to die down so that Merlyn could say hi properly to Kathy and get his cookies from her. While we waited, I showed a chicken jerky stick and a pepperoni one. I asked which one he wanted. He sniffed both and chose the pepperoni one. A guy was watching and was completely shocked. He asked, "She can pick out her own treats??" I told him that, "yes. He picks out his own treats because he can be particular about his treats sometimes." He responded, "HE CAN PICK OUT HIS OWN TREATS!? FOR REAL!?" Next I grabbed a cheddar and bacon flavored cookie and a pumpkin spice cookie. I asked Merlyn which one he wanted and he picked out a he pumpkin spice cookie. So we bought two pepperoni jerky sticks and two pumpkin spice cookies for Merlyn and his big brother for their stockings. Merlyn also picked out a cheese/collagen wrapped beef stick that's going into his stocking.

Merlyn has a few gifts wrapped for Christmas so that he can tear off the paper. Hopefully, I'll remember to get a video of the boys unwrapping their toys and enjoying their stockings. Merlyn is also LOVING this cold blast that we are having too!

21/12/2022

We started these treats late on their Christmas advent calendars!!! So we are now doing 2 a day with planned extra on Christmas day.

My dad says that they are clearly starved dogs!

What do you say??

17/12/2022

Merlyn definitely gets to be a pet dog. Merlyn decided that he really wanted a part of my fiance's donut. He climbed up on the grooming table to be face level with him. What's not pictured is my fiance who walked away. Merlyn was determined to show that he was good enough for that donut!!

17/12/2022

On Thursday, Merlyn went to his first doctor's appointment with me to my orthodontist appointment. He did awesome!! The room is one big open space with lots of people. He laid where I asked and the machines making noises on me didn't bother him. He did try to task to help keep me calm. Then we went to Publix we my fly and COVID vaccines. He did excellent while the pharmacy technician gav me both injections.

Afterwards, since we haven't worked in a while, we went to Brigdawg's to see his favorite owner Kathy! We always spend a good amount of time there. Merlyn splits up his time between loving on Kathy and picking out treats. Once she disappeared and he decided to go look for her. She came back to the front without him noticing and he did a double take when she called his name while behind him!!! He went running to her to make sure she didn't miss out of any of his lovings. He did spend a lot of time behind the counter laying down. So he was tired from our outing. Kathy gave him some more cookies before another customer came in and Merlyn did a southern goodbye.

He did really well and I couldn't be more proud of him!

05/12/2022

I haven't post much of our adventures and progress together here as of late . I usually post his stories and our adventures together to our poodle page.

Merlyn and I have come a really long from the start of our journey!! He's almost there as a SD, but we have a few more things to work on.

We went to a dog show this weekend, met a bunch of cool people and our show poodle friends from back in May. Merlyn wasn't there to show. He was there for the experience of the event. He started getting more snuggly since after his neuter. But each day this weekend, we've gotten closer. Now that we are home and Merlyn said hello to his big brother and my fiance, he is now snuggling with me. Usually he'd be snuggling *close* to me on the couch. So this is a new thing!

I can't wait to see how much more we grow together!!

22/10/2022

Merlyn had a good day! He went to the groomer's. There were not just his TWO regular friends but THREE poodles there today. It was a poodle party!!!

We went a little shorter on his top knot and crest since his harness was causing some matting. I think Merlyn loves it!

We went to his local pet shop for a treat for tonight and then a few extra for next week since he's getting neutered on Wednesday. The lady at the shop today said her past day was on Monday because she joined the military. But she also told him that she hoped to see him again. Merlyn fell asleep as she asked about the new CGC class we went to with a different trainer and other training advice (and I actually learned new things while there!!!). When he woke up and gave me pitiful puppy eyes, I told her that we had to excuse ourselves since he didn't have lunch (since he was at the groomer's) and he was tired from a 4hr groom. Merlyn gave her extra love before we left and she gave him a free no rawhide doughnut treat that was the last one the store. After that, we went to the pharmacy to pick up meds. They gave him a cookie but didn't have all of the meds ready like they were supposed to. So they had us drive around to get back into line. When we finally got back up to the window, Merlyn sat up sooooo straight in his seat to show he was a good boy and deserved another cookie. I was getting my card and heard the pharmacy technician go, "oh I know that look!!" And then there was suddenly a dog cookie in the outstretched door. Merlyn gladly took his cookie.

I think his cut makes him look more like a puppy now. But I don't mind. He's been growing up sooo fast!! He's almost 2 years old!!

Last picture is after dinner snoozes. He also had his regular iced cookie. I just didn't take pictures of it this time.

The other two poodles are Alecia Hoyle 's poodles that Merlyn is also in love with.

28/08/2022

Yes, there are 4 different learning quadrants. BUT!! That does not mean that all four have to be used for learning to take place. Some learning techniques are going to be harmful and have long lasting effects that will be hard to "fix" once the damage is done. That's why we stick to Force-Free positive reinforcement and reward based training.

26/08/2022

We did over first outing since we got home from our vacation, having COVID, and the week after that having pneumonia. We went to the vet's to pick up joint chews and have a happy visit. We went to the liquor store to pick up a couple of things. This was probably our first training outing since getting home. Then we went next door to his favorite local pet shop called Brigdawg's and took off his gear so he could enjoy the smells and engaging with one of the owners. The owners just love him and will give him free items.

Today was no exception. We were the only customers. So we hung out for almost 30 minutes. Merlyn got LOTS of pets, cookies, and a free jerky stick! (She even gave us an extra jerky stick for my malinois mix that was at home saying, "well it's not fair that he doesn't get one just because he isn't here!) Which he ate behind the counter with the owner of the shop. I'll note here that his leash is dropped because I was blocking the exit/entrance to and from the counter AND we were the only ones in the store. So if he wanted to leave behind the counter, he'd have to go through me so I could pick up his leash.

He had a great time! This was probably his favorite part of the outing. He picked out these no hide chews for his treat for during my fiance's D&D game tonight. I was surprised because last time he picked out those collagen/cheese wrapped beef chews and the no hide chew. This time, he said he was good with the no hide chews when I asked if he wanted the beef chews too.

The owner said that she really liked how I trained/treated Merlyn. She was trying to come up with what the difference was and I asked if it was because I didn't micromanage him. And she said that was exactly it. I went on to explain why I don't micromanage Merlyn and that dogs are like children of 3-4 years of age. We wouldn't scream and demand why they are crying or haven't made the right choice. That we would help them through it so that they can learn. So why should my dog or any dog be any different? Why not just help and teach dogs to make good decisions instead of micromanaging everything that they do? Why not teach them to think through problems themselves to make good decisions and choices instead of them waiting for the next cue because they don't know how to think for themselves? Right at that moment, Merlyn made the decision to lay at the store owner's feet because he was getting a little to excited and had tried to jump on her leg. 🤦 But he made a good decision to lay down instead of trying to grab onto her leg again. So of course he got rewarded for the good decision and choice that he made.

I can't tell you how many times he said "bye" to the owner. He basically had a "southern goodbye" of saying he was ready to go, but then he wanted to say goodbye one last time....for like 10 minutes. 😆 I promised that we'd be back next week for a new D&D treat. And since my groomer is moving to a different location that doesn't have cookies, we're going to have to start coming in for spa day cookies! Nick says Merlyn doesn't need a cookie at the end of his spa day because he has enough treats and cookies. But it's part of the tradition that he likes now. So we can't just stop the giant iced spa cookies!!

He was soooo happy when he got home. I think his face says it was a good outing/day.

26/08/2022

I haven't posted here in a while. It's been quite busy. I started school again last week. It's only two days so far but it's enough for Merlyn to play extra goofy to convince me to stay home or to try to convince me that he should go to school with me.

Today, he was extra happy that I'm home from school. He's been an extra goofball and this is the game he invented to play with me this morning.

Even for SD/SDiTs, it's important that they can be dogs and blow off steam. I think Merlyn's got the hang of it!!

03/08/2022

People often ask why Merlyn as a dog and a service dog in training is wearing booties. This is why. My car only reads up to 99° and this is while under a carport in the shade. The forecast said it wouldn't be over 90° today too!

We went out to eat at a place on the water. My fiance even questioned why he'd need shoes if we would only be only the parking lot for a few minutes. This is why. I don't want him ending up with burnt pads and being miserable because of a preventable mistake or misjudgement. I texted my dad that we were in his area and out eating and he even asked if I had booties for Merlyn on him.

We tried to eat by the water outside in the shade and the restaurant even brought out a big bowl of ice water for Merlyn. He took a few sips and was done. Against my fiance's protest, I asked and apologized to the waiter but we needed to move inside because I thought my boy was going to overheat since he wasn't listening and was panting faster than normal. He said of course and found us a new booth to sit in right away. Within 5 minutes, Merlyn stopped panting and listened to everything I had to say, including ignoring the children that he was watching that seemed to be paying musical chairs with their parents (I'm sure the parents were thrilled with this game. 😆) I thanked our waiter for moving us in and that Merlyn had finally settled in. He even looked under the table, said "good puppy" and that he'd give us more time to look at the menu since I had spent all my time outside trying to get Merlyn comfortable. After Merlyn was comfortable, it was all easy like normal. We could order food, drinks, and chat.

Weirdly enough, the bathroom didn't have a handicap stall but kind of wide stalls. I heard one elderly lady with cane on her way out say, "Now THAT'S a working dog. Good luck with that." As I was asking Merlyn to go into the stall so that I could shut the door behind us and then get him sit- or stay-stay, I heard a little girl say, "but it's a doggy. I want to pet it!" The mother firmly told her, "NO! That's a service dog. We NEVER touch service dogs." That kind of touched me as I don't hear people say that much to their children and I wish I had gotten a good look at them so that I could have given her a Merlyn sticker when I got back to my purse with Nick.

And this was all on the other side of the state that we live in. He did really well in a new area and then going into Publix. But this heat is exactly why he wears booties while we are out, even for a short while and especially in this Florida heat.

If your pup doesn't like walking in the grass like Turq and Merlyn, I would still recommend booties, even at the end of the day. Dogs are weird in them at first, but then they get used to it eventually, especially with positive reinforcement training and play paired with it.

03/07/2022

A preview of what our July 4th will look like. This was the finale of the firework show that was close to us. It helped that our boys had a sniffari and frozen dinner treats in food spenting toys that took 1.5 hours to finish for both boys.

This was a test run and a successful one at that I'd say. The boys wanted to abandon their bully sticks to wait to be treated by me for good behavior.

06/06/2022

My first attempt at dehydrated sweet potatoes. Merlyn has never had them.

But he still says waiting is hard. If he doesn't like them, Turq will devour them!!

01/06/2022

We had a fantastic weekend at our first conformation show with the North American Briard Kennel Club. We had a fantastic weekend at our first conformation show with the North American Briard Kennel Club in Fort Myers and Denise Simenauer for organizing it. We went to have fun, bond, and learn. Thanks to the judges Mary-lynn Jensen, Polly Drake-Jones, Sally and John Davidson, and Glenda and Paul Bruneau for judging and being so understanding that it was our first show.

We meet wonderful poodle people that I met online like Joyce Pessel-Yaskoski and some of her friends. They took us in and gave fantastic tips on how to improve while at the show and then for the next show. I couldn't have asked to find better group of people! Also, Alecia Hoyle for being our groomer and MJ McJare for the support and encouragement to go try out conformation. And thanks to my wonderful and helpful Nick Coutu for driving across the state just to help me preset up and then waited hours with me just to see our first show.

We won more than I ever excepted. I actually went in thinking we wouldn't win, but our win would by just having fun and bonding together. We can't wait for the next one!d North American Briard Kennel Club in Fort Myers and Denise Simenauer for organizing it. We went to have fun, bond, and learn. Thanks to the judges Mary-lynn Jensen, Polly Drake-Jones, Sally and John Davidson, and Glenda and Paul Bruneau for judging and being so understanding that it was our first show.

We meet wonderful poodle people that I met online like Joyce Pessel-Yaskoski and some of her friends. They took us in and gave fantastic tips on how to improve while at the show and then for the next show. I couldn't have asked to find better group of people! Also Alecia Hoyle for being our groomer and MJ McJare for the support and encouragement to go try out conformation. And thanks to my wonderful and helpful Nick Coutu for driving across the state just to help me preset up and then waited hours with me just to see our first show.

We won more than I ever excepted. I actually went in thinking we wouldn't win, but our win would by just having fun and bonding together. We can't wait for the next one!

06/04/2022

Merlyn and I had our first confirmation training lesson today with Central Florida Confirmation Training. We had a wonderful and fun time! Linda said that Merlyn is a natural. We have minor things that we need to work on, like turning his back feet in and working on a proper gait. He has the proper gait. He just doesn't always do it. She said that he also stacks like a natural. So I already have plans to help him with his gait and picking up his feet.

But Linda said that we won't need many lessons before we'll be experts before going into the ring for the first time. I just need to remember the steps so I don't mess Merlyn up. He did excellent and seemed to love what we were doing. 🥰

Here he is after the lesson in the car, as happy as could be.