Unsimple Simon

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Unsimple Simon The training journey of Simon, a double merle Australian Shepherd who is deaf and has severe vision impairment

Training with positive reinforcement is fun and mentally enriching for our pets. A lot can be accomplished by doing a little every day. The goal of this page is to motivate me to work with my three dogs, one cat and three chinchillas to incorporate training something fun into our daily routine! I would also love to be able to share ideas on things to train with other pet people.

Sorry for the spam comments if you got tagged in them! Banjo has this to say about spam:
11/07/2024

Sorry for the spam comments if you got tagged in them! Banjo has this to say about spam:

I want to thank everyone for the kind words after Simon’s passing. I read and appreciated them all even though I didn’t ...
02/06/2024

I want to thank everyone for the kind words after Simon’s passing. I read and appreciated them all even though I didn’t feel like responding at the time.

We’re slowly adjusting and have learned that all the dogs in the house can now fit on one klimb platform (excluding Banjo’s tongue which can’t fit anywhere).

I’ll keep this page up for the memories for me. I’m glad Simon’s journey was able to be enjoyed by others and hopefully showed that blind/deaf dogs can do plenty of regular dog things.

It’s with a very heavy heart that I’m sharing that we said goodbye to Simon earlier this week. For the past several mont...
16/05/2024

It’s with a very heavy heart that I’m sharing that we said goodbye to Simon earlier this week. For the past several months his compulsive disorder and anxiety have been increasing despite our best efforts and we reached a point we felt we needed to let him go. It was an extremely difficult decision and we will probably always feel partly like we failed him.

But we’re trying to remember all the good things in his life since a lot of dogs like him don’t get the chance to live at all. He was super smart - could skateboard & do handstands. He learned nose work, did parkour & even some agility in his younger days.

He brought us to Speak Rescue & Sanctuary, which brought us Banjo & Kuma. Simon loved to play with them both. He’d throw play bows around in the morning, sometimes at one of them, sometimes at the wall after they walked away. He tried his best.

Nobody greeted you like Simon, especially if you were one of his favorite people. He could jump so high in a greeting his back feet would be head level.

He had a big presence & it feels so quiet without him. We will miss the Simeybear so much.

Sleeping with one eye open. And one tongue out of course.
19/03/2024

Sleeping with one eye open. And one tongue out of course.

Morning Aussie walk along the creek
16/03/2024

Morning Aussie walk along the creek

Simon getting his lounge on
12/03/2024

Simon getting his lounge on

Banjo perfectly framing his tongue in the sunlight
22/02/2024

Banjo perfectly framing his tongue in the sunlight

Sometimes Simon has a hard time settling in the evening. And sometimes he does not. Tonight he got very comfy very quick...
14/02/2024

Sometimes Simon has a hard time settling in the evening. And sometimes he does not. Tonight he got very comfy very quickly.

When you shut your Aussie out of the kitchen for dinner
06/02/2024

When you shut your Aussie out of the kitchen for dinner

Who’s a better tugger? Kuma. Hands down. Sorry Banjo.
30/01/2024

Who’s a better tugger? Kuma. Hands down. Sorry Banjo.

When you’re trying to dry off from all the snow outside and you fall off your bed
13/01/2024

When you’re trying to dry off from all the snow outside and you fall off your bed

Banjo & Kuma have been in an epically subtle battle for the green ball. Under no circumstances can they both admit they ...
09/01/2024

Banjo & Kuma have been in an epically subtle battle for the green ball. Under no circumstances can they both admit they want it at the same time.

Camping out in line to eat the toddler leftovers. (Pretty sure Simon doesn’t know he’s in a line)
05/01/2024

Camping out in line to eat the toddler leftovers. (Pretty sure Simon doesn’t know he’s in a line)

31/12/2023

Simon’s social skills are . . . Unique. He really wanted Kuma to play this morning & biting her butt was not working as planned. She told him off shortly after this.

How many Aussies do you see?
16/12/2023

How many Aussies do you see?

When Banjo wants to go to bed for the night he’s very casual about it. Not at all weird about it.
10/12/2023

When Banjo wants to go to bed for the night he’s very casual about it. Not at all weird about it.

Hard to sleep when having an existential crisis
06/12/2023

Hard to sleep when having an existential crisis

I asked Kuma if she could share the blue wubba with Banjo. You can see by the head tilt she gave this some serious consi...
16/11/2023

I asked Kuma if she could share the blue wubba with Banjo. You can see by the head tilt she gave this some serious consideration, but ultimately declined.

Simon sit pretty
06/11/2023

Simon sit pretty

When you’re just trying to take a nap on a bed on a couch with your shark & somebody has to ruin it
27/10/2023

When you’re just trying to take a nap on a bed on a couch with your shark & somebody has to ruin it

When mom only puts out one mat station and you have to share it with your annoying little sister
17/10/2023

When mom only puts out one mat station and you have to share it with your annoying little sister

Happy 6th birthday Simeybear! An extra long walk, sardines with dinner & a little nose work
15/10/2023

Happy 6th birthday Simeybear! An extra long walk, sardines with dinner & a little nose work

We must all smell right here, right now
05/10/2023

We must all smell right here, right now

Joan is feeling pretty smug with that gate there.
28/09/2023

Joan is feeling pretty smug with that gate there.

It’s possible we have some squirrels in that tree. She is not climbing the fence - that’s pure vertical jump from Kuma. ...
25/09/2023

It’s possible we have some squirrels in that tree. She is not climbing the fence - that’s pure vertical jump from Kuma. Banjo prefers the gentleman’s yell at said squirrel.

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Someone play with Simon
Someone play with Simon

Simon’s social skills are . . . Unique. He really wanted Kuma to play this morning & biting her butt was not working as planned. She told him off shortly after this.

Sometimes I forget that Kuma doesn’t see very well. Then we play fetch, and if she doesn’t hear the toy hit the ground, she has to search for it. She uses an expanding figure eight pattern & always gets it eventually!

Prepping for back surgery, where I will be restricted from bending for 6 weeks. I want Simon to learn to be comfortable with the extendable grabber tool giving him his basic cues. He likes to mouth it a bit for the follow cue, but I can live with that.

Some of us are more enthusiastic about this March snowstorm than others

We’re still at it - tried some distance here & that was hard. Will keep it shorter next time. We also switched to a shorter bin so he doesn’t have to lift as high.

Simon is getting pretty consistent if the toy is placed right in front of the bin. Next will try to add a touch more distance while keeping a straight on approach. Banjo’s refresher seems to haven taken. Next will try to ask for multiple different toys. Pepper is working on a smaller target platform. When trying to fade in my hand she gets a bit confused, thinking she needs to either do a paw or a nose touch to the hand, so working through that.

Some lower grabs with resistance to get him lifting up more. Gets a few in the bin here!

A snapshot of where all the dogs are at with ‘pick up your toys’: Simon - Trying to get a more solid grab. When he mouths it I pull back slightly and then he grasps more firmly. Working to him grabbing it closer to the ground. Banjo - He used to know this, so just trying to refresh his memory with picking the toy up near the bin. Pepper Ann - She tends to drop the toy early, so using a platform to get her all the way to me with the toy. Fading in my hand so we can work toward delivering it to my hand (working on deliver to hand with her instead of the bin). Kuma - Just trying to get any mouthing of the toy.

Trying a paper towel roll tonight to see if we can get some enthusiastic grabs. He did well grabbing from my hand, and I will try to shape it to grabbing off the floor, as that tends to be when he struggles.

Simon had some tummy trouble so was on hiatus. Trying a different toy tonight. We tend to get stuck on very light toy mouthing/lifting so I’m still trying to mark more solid grabs with the opportunity to stick head in bucket.

Little longer of a session here. I’m trying to mark him for better toy grabs - grasps it better from my hand, or lifts it higher from the floor. HIs reward is delivered in the bucket so that last part of the chain stays strong. On the last few I’m adding a tiny bit more movement with the toy and marking the toy grab with the opportunity to stick head in bucket.

More experimenting with picking up the toy. He is not eager to put it in his mouth, & is trying other behaviors like chin rests & pawing. I’m trying to capture any open mouth on the ball & mark while he is still holding it. I’m keeping hold of the toy with my hand because then I can feel if he actually has a grip on it. And I wanted to bring the head in bucket behavior back in to end with a stronger part of the chain. After refreshing that, we did just a couple “grab toy over buckets”.

Here is a session with Simon on picking up a toy. Simon is really not much of a toy guy. He rarely chooses to pick them up, and he loses interest quickly. Here I experiment with setting the toy on the floor vs. trying to engage him with some light chase, which resulted in a more enthusiastic grab. I know this might be challenging for him, so I’m purposely working near his crate. At any point he can opt out by going into his crate, and he will get a treat for that. The goal is to take the pressure off of working with the toy if he doesn’t want to or is confused what I’m asking. Next toy session I will either continue with trying to engage him with some chase with this toy (which is one he has played with before), or I may try a brand new item & shape him picking it up off the floor.

Next step - move to reach tub and put nose in He did well, so next we will have a session on picking up/carrying a toy without the tub

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