puppies inside: puppy play

Showing posts with label puppy play. Show all posts

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Sit, down, stay, play

September 25, 2014

Chippewa

RELAXATION PROTOCOL

In three positions...

A woman wearing blue jeans and a teal t-shirt is standing on the right side with an orange piece of paper in her hands. She is reading from the paper. Three men are standing on the left, each are wearing white t-shirts, the one on the far left and the one in the middle are wearing orange shorts, the third man is wearing blue prison pants and is standing with his arms folded at his chest. The middle man is looking down at a small yellow lab/golden retriever puppy that is lying on the tile floor looking up at him.

Tammy gets started on the relaxation protocol. She asks the teams to have their puppies in the "down" position to start.

A black lab (left) and a yellow lab (right) are lying on a tile floor, both are wearing the blue Future Leader Dog bandanas. The puppies are looking up to the left at their handlers, who are only visilbe from the waist down. The man on hte left is wearing maroon sweat pants and a white t-shirt, the other man is wearing orange shorts and a white t-shirt. Both puppies' leashes are lying on the floor.

FLDs Ashley and Adell keep an eye on their handlers.

A young chocolate lab is lying on a tile floor looking up at his handler that is standing on the left. The puppy is wearing the blue Future Leader Dog bandana and his leash is lying on the floor in front of him. Only the handler's lower legs and feet are in the frame. He is wearing maroon sweatpants and white shoes. The legs of another man are on the right, he is wearing orange shorts and white shoes.

FLD Bandit. Focused.

Three men are handling three puppies. The man on the left is wearing orange shorts and a white sleeveless t-shirt and he is holding the leash of a yellow lab puppy that is sitting on his left side looking up at him. The man is looking down at the puppy and reaching toward him with his left hand. The man in the middle is wearing orange shorts and the blue prison shirt; he is looking down at a yellow lab/golden retriever mix puppy that is lying on the tile floor facing the man, his leash draped on the floor. The man on the right is wearing the blue prison pants and a white t-shirt with his hand folded at his waist and looking down at a small black lab. The lab is sitting on the floor facing the man with its back to the camera. There is a fourth man in the background sitting on a lunchroom stool.

Now Tammy asks the handlers to have their puppies "sit." FLDs Adell (left) and GeeGee (right) jump right up, but FLD Henry (middle) has to think about it.

The picture is taken from a weird angle so everyone could get into the shot. There are four men standing in the lunchroom (tables line the walls behind them) and each has a puppy sitting at his left side.

FLDs Teysen and Bandit show how "sit" is done.

A man dressed in the prison blue pants and a maroon sweatshirt is standing facing the camera. He is looking down to his left at the young golden retriever puppy that is standing on his left side. The puppy is wearing the blue bandana and the man is holding his leash with his right hand, held up at his chest.

Abe with FLD Andie in the last position: "stand." Now that is a loose leash!

TESTING

With everyone relaxed, Tammy announced that she would do AKC S.T.A.R Puppy and CGC testing on those puppies that were eligible. The other puppies could practice. FLD Coda was ready to take her In-For-Training (IFT) assessment and Tammy asked me to do it away from the others. I was happy to oblidge. FLD Coda happened to be in heat and was a bit distracted. Her raiser, Jeremy, was patient with her and she did just fine away from all the boys.

YARD WORK

We went into the yard to practice a modified version of the distraction training that we did at the last furlough. Instead of tape on the ground, Tammy had the handlers stand on their puppies' leashes on the grass, just long enough so the puppies could move onto the sidewalk. No pictures here because Tammy put me (and others) to work offering distractions. Someone bounced a ball, one guy crawled up and down the sidewalk, I dragged the stuffed squirrel on a rope, wiggling it to simulate a real squirrel. Not one puppy budged. Either the pupies were great at ignoring distractions, or they were super-well trained to stay off the sidewalk. (The men did say they had trained the puppies not to go past the sidewlak into the gardens on the other side.)

PLAYTIME

Before we leave, we let the puppies play. Brothers Henry and Harley are well-matched. They were moving too fast for me to get a clear focused shot. A little help from Photoshop and you can see the fun they had.

Two small yellow lab/golden retriever puppies run toward the camera, the one on the left, slightly behind the one on the right, has his mouth open and is going for the right ear of the other puppy.

FLD Harley (left) has FLD Henry on the run. Big ears are easy to grab.

Now the two puppies are facing each other. The pup on the left is wearing a red collar and is standing up with his left front paw in the air. The puppy on the right is lying on the cement. His tongue is sticking part way out of his closed mouth like he is taunting the other puppy.

Nah, nah, na nah, nah! FLD Henry might be down, but he's not out!

Monday, December 29, 2014

Three D's and Henry

September 11, 2014

The Soo

FLD HENRY

We took FLD Chewy with us when we left Pike Unit. Doc Bennett, the veterinarian who volunteers his service for the puppies, saw something he didn't like in the Shepherd's running gait. Tammy was charged with bringing Chewy back to Leader Dogs for the Blind for a complete checkup. But first he'd have to hang with us.

Tammy and I were late getting to the Antler's, a unique restaurant that has always been gracious to visiting Future Leader Dog puppies. This day was no different, although our group was seated in the main dining area instead of the quieter banquet room. Here the pups were treated to bells and whistles every time a ship passed through the Soo Locks.

We left little Hershel asleep in his crate in the van, as it was a cool evening. Tammy brought FLD Chewy in for Frank to handle, Rachel had her golden puppy, FLD Harkin, Kim was with FLD Kayla, and Paula had brought FLD Andie out on furlough from Chippewa. Of course, I had FLD Henry, who recently learned he has a voice. He barked a bit so I took him out to park. Afterwards he was better, but didn't really settle until it was nearly time to go. The other puppies were all well behaved.

As Henry and I got up to leave, a woman and some friends coming in for dinner blocked our passage. "Can I pet him?" she asked. Her entourage spread out and surrounded us. I had no choice. "Can you help me with his training?" I asked her in return. She stepped forward, "What can I do?"

"Let me get him sitting and then you can approach," I explained. I asked Henry to "sit" and used "touch" to get him to focus on me. "He needs to have four on the floor and he cannot mouth you. If he gets up or licks too much, just take your hand away and step back."

The woman took another step toward us and Henry leapt forward. The woman stepped back. Henry sat down. "Yes!" I said and gave him a treat. He held a squirmy sit as the woman tried again. She stopped. Henry whipped his head around and looked at me as if to say, "This is it, right? You want me to sit, right?"

"Yes!" I said and slipped him another bit of kibble. While I was giving it to him, I asked the woman to come and pet him. Henry didn't know what to do then with his attention; his head swiveled from her back to me. Eventually he controlled himself long enough to accept a nice pet.

The crowd around us had grown. Another group was trying to leave. "Can you see how he improved?" I asked. They all agreed.

Good boy, Henry!

THREE D'S

We regrouped at a local school where Rachel works so Tammy could conduct a training session with us. Immediately we had to practice stairs to get up to the conference room. As usual, Tammy loaded her agenda, starting with the relaxation protocol in "sit," followed by meet & greets (from quiet to excited), and weight checks.

Before we moved on to "stay" we practiced ignoring distractions. Tammy stuck a three foot long piece of painter's tape on the floor, behind which we stood with our foot on our puppy's leash. The leash was long enough for the puppy to move past the tape. From a distance, Tammy wiggled a stuffed squirrel that dangled from a pole and instructed us to treat our puppy at our left side whenever our puppy moved away from the toy and came to our side of the tape.

The tape itself was enough distraction for FLD Henry - the first thing he did was to rip the tape right up off the floor!

Oh, Henry!

Again, the other puppies did much better...

A man wearing khakis and a black top is standing on the right looking down at a large German Shepherd that is standing in front of him. The man is stepping on the dog's leash. The dog is looking to the right, where a woman wearing blue jeans and a marron top is kneeling on the carpeted floor facing the dog and man. The woman is bouncing a pink ball in front of her. She is several feet away from the man and dog. In the background are long tables with chairs behind them, another woman is sitting on the floor in front of the table and has a young yellow lab standing in front of her.

Tammy increases the distraction and now bounces a ball. Frank is firmly planted on FLD Chewy's leash, waiting for Chewy to move toward him. FLDs Andie and Kayla wait their turn.

A closer shot of just the man and the German Shepherd. Now the shepherd is turning toward the man. The man is leaning forward just a bit and reaching toward the dog with his left hand, which holds a treat. The other woman is still sitting on the floor with her yellow lab, facing the camera. Another woman is stting on the far side of the table.

FLD Chewy looks away from the ball distraction toward Frank, and loosens the tension on his leash. Frank rewards him.

The man is still standing on the shepherd's leash, but now the dog has moved to the man's left side, well behind the tape on the floor. The woman wearing blue jeans and a maroon t-shirt is on her hands and knees very close to the tape and has rolled the pink ball toward the dog. The dog is looking down at the ball, but is leaving it alone!

FLD Chewy resists the ball temptation, even when Tammy rolls it right up to him! Notice how Chewy has repositioned himself at Frank's left side.

On to stays. "People always want to rush stays," Tammy said. "That's why they have rotten stays." She told us to remember the "three d's." Duration. Distance. Distractions. "First is duration. Your puppy should hold position for one minute before adding distance," Tammy said. "Never mind about distractions! They come later."

I have lots more work to do with Henry and duration. He dropped into a down at about 10 seconds. "Take notice of that and treat him at eight seconds," Tammy advised.

Thank you, Tammy!

A floor-level close shot of a small chocolate lab puppy. The puppy is lying on the carpet facing the camera. He is busy chomping on a dog bisquit. His leash is attached to the leg of a table behind him.

FLD Hershel is happy attacking a Milk Bone from the sidelines.

Another close shot of the same chocolate lab puppy. Now he is sleeping, with his head resting across his leash.

All this work tires a puppy out!

Later, FLDs Hershel and Henry have some play time in the hotel...

The small chocolate lab is running toward the camera on green carpet. Behind him is a little bit larger yellow lab/golden mix puppy, who is following him. Behind and to the left is a cloth crate.

FLD Hershel takes off with FLD Henry close behind.

The yellow lab/golden puppy is standing over the smaller chocolate labe and they are play-fighitng. The chcolate lab is trying to bit the other puppy'es right ear.

Whoo-hoo! Lab wrestling!

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

WANTED: Stairs

April 10, 2014

Baraga

Unit 8 at the Baraga Correctional Facility is stair-less. RUM Steve assured us some time ago that the construction department at the prison would build a set of stairs for the puppies. "They just won't be next to the fence," he joked.

At last, on a mild and sunny April day, the puppies have stairs. And, as promised, they are not near the fence!

A group of 16 men and six dogs post on a newly built wooden staircase. The stairs are on either side of a platform with railings. It is a bright sunny day in the prison yard, there is still snow on the ground in the background.

The Future Leader Dog teams of Baraga and the new stairs.

A man dressed in the prison blue uniform is coming down a set of wooden steps that are outside on cement. He is bending over at the waist. He has a leather leash in his left hand and his right hand is hanging down at his side. He is wearing white tennis shoes. A small black lab puppy is at his left side and his coming down the steps with him, his nose is sniffing the step just below the one his is on.

Harvey helps FLD Copo negotiate the wooden steps.

A man dressed in the prison blue uniform with an orange stripe down the pantleg is mostly out of view of hte camera. You can see his right leg and arm, his arm has tatoos. The man is taking one step up a wooden staircase, you can see four steps. He is presenting his right hand to a small german shepherd puppy, who is sitting at the base of the stairs, looking up at the man's hand, which likely holds a bit of kibble. It is very sunny.

FLD Dax gets a little help on his first time up.

The man dressed in the prison uniform has made it across the platform and is about to descend the steps on the other side. He is standing on the first step but the german shepherd puppy is still on the platform. The man is looking down at the puppy, who is reaching toward a woman standing off to the side of the stairs. The woman, wearing a green t-shirt, purple zipped sweatshrit (which is open) and blue jeans and sunglasses, is reaching her left hand to the puppy, in a "touch" movement to help the puppy move forward. You can see snow in the background on the ground.

Tammy offers a "touch" to FLD Dax to help him make the decision to descend the stairs. Chad waits patiently and calmly.

Finally, our training session is over. Well, almost. Tammy has the men release their puppies into play. And practice calling them out of play. Fun!

Six men are standing near a brick wallked builidng. In front of them on the cement are six puppies playing. A black lab and golden retriever are on the left side in front, another black lab, a german shepherd, another golden, and a yellow lab are grouped together on the right.

Doggy play-time!

A yellow lab puppy is on its back on the cement with its legs in the air. A black lab puppy is jumping over the yellow lab, his right front paw is smashing the yellow lab's face. The black lab's ears are flying!

FLD Copo appears to have the upper paw on FLD Axel.

A man dressed in the prison blue uniform with an orange stripe down his should and short sleeve, is kneeling on sunny cement looking down at a black lab puppy. The man is bald and is wearing glasses and his arms are tatooed. He is looking down at the puppy and holding a baby blue Future Leader Dog jacket in his left hand. He is reaching toward the lab with his right hand. The lab is facing to the right. There are legs of other men visible in the background on both sides of the kneeling man and directly behind him. There are stark shadows of the men's legs across the cement. The lab is wearing a blue collar.

FLD Copo comes nicely out of play when called.

A man with glasses wearing a dark pea coat and khakis is walking to the left of the picture. A second man is squatting on the cement, he is wearing a black baseball cap and dark jacket and blue jeans. He is lookig down at a black lab puppy that is standing in front of him with its head low by his left leg. The man is touching the puppy's body with his hands. The puppy has a leash dragging behind him.

Even the COs get into the action by calling off FLD Bear.

The man with khakis and a dark jacekt is carrying two large bags of Purina dog food on each shoulder, walking away from the back of a white Leader Dogs for the Blind van. It is very sunny with a blue sky.

RUM Steve hauls dog food (and poop bags) from the Leader Dogs for the Blind before we take off. "I like a full closet," he says about the poop bags. That's funny, I think, last month he said they had enough to last them 10 years! But I don't say anything...I don't want to mess with this guy, whose demeanor reminds me a bit of Gibbs from NCIS. I don't need a slap upside the back of my head!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

There are reasons

Chippewa

January 30, 2014

Tammy sits in a corner with the lead raisers of the new pups; even inmate raisers have contracts to sign and paperwork to initial.

Meanwhile, everyone else visits and fawns over FLDs Ashely and Chewy and the other puppies.

Three men dressed in white t-shirts fawn over a small german shepherd puppy. The puppy is being held by the man on the right, who is just barely in the frame, you can only see his left shoulder and arm and his chin. The man in the middle is behind the puppy and looking down at it. The man on the left ihas his two hands near the puppy's snout like he is holding a treat in his fingers. He is bending toward the puppy.

Fawning over FLD Chewy.

An almost adult black lab wearing a baby blue leader dogs for the blind working jacket is standing and facing to the right, nosing a small black lab puppy that is being held by a young man who is squatting down. The man is wearing the pirson blue shirt and pants with the orange stripes on the shoulders and legs. The man is looking at the puppies. Another man is sitting on a table stool behind the larger puppy. He is wearing a white t-shirt and blue pants. He is bald with a short beard. His elbow are on his knees and he is looking at the littler pup. A lunch table is in the background with a bag on it.

FLD Nell meets FLD Ashely.

One of the men questions me about a scene in the Mutual of America video, "Inside to Outside Initiative - Prison Puppy Raising Program." ARUS Rob had shown them the video that premiered at a special luncheon in Rochester Hills earlier in January.

Leader Dogs for the Blind received Mutual of America's national 2013 Community Partnership Award. Part of the prize was a professionally produced video about the program. You can view the video HERE.

The scene in question shows an Iowa inmate tossing a ball for one of the puppies in the prison yard. We often tell our raisers that fetch is not the best game to play with our retriever breeds, as the game can get a puppy too "ball obsessed" and interfere with working.

"But in the puppy manual it states that fetch is okay if it is 'low key.' Just what is 'low key?'" the inmate asks.

We chat about how low key means no over-hand throwing, that if you play fetch it is important to use a variety of toys and not just a ball (in fact, we discourage balls altogether), how the puppy should not get so excited that it cannot be redirected to do something else.

"Teaching your puppy that bringing things to you is a game could be a good thing, especially if your puppy has something it shouldn't," I say. "But if your puppy gets too focused, I would stop playing fetch." A ball-obsessed dog who forgets it is working and lunges after a rolling ball dragging its handler will not be a safe guide dog.

I suggest other games, like putting the puppy on a sit/stay and hiding a favorite toy for it to find. "Use a word such as 'search' instead of 'find,'" I warn. "Find" is a cue the pup will learn later when it becomes a working guide dog. (Find the chair, find the door, find the counter...) Leader Dogs asks that puppy raisers avoid words that are used when the dog is actually working.

It seems like too many rules sometimes, but keeping in mind how things might later impact a blind or visually impaired handler makes it easier to comply.

And now, just because FLDs Ashely and Chewy are so darn cute, here they are again!

A young inmate wearing the prison uniform is sitting down with the small black lab on his lap. His right hand is petting the head of the puppy while his left hand is supporting her body. Her brown leash is drapped over the knee of another inmate who is sitting on the right side in the photo - this man is african american and is wearing a white t-shirt and blue pants. His head is just out of the frame, his right elbow is resting on his thigh.

FLD Ashly with her new raisers.

A man is standing, facing hte camera and holding a small german shepherd puppy. The upper part of his face is out of the frame, but he is smiling, he has a light beard. He is holding the puppy with his arms and they are filled with tattoos. The puppy is wearing a blue bandana with a white triangle patch with red words that say Future Leader Dog and a black paw print. Embroidered on one side of the bandana is the word "Chewy" in white letters. Opposite is a picture embroidered of Chewbaca, from the movie Star Wars. There is another man in the background on the left against the far wall looking toward the right. Also in the background on the right side at the bottom of the photo is a golden retriever lying on the floor looking at the camera like it is bored.

FLD Chewy and his happy raiser.

Friday, February 28, 2014

The morning after, part 2

PUPPIES CAN PLAY

Life is not all work for Future Leader Dog puppies, inside or outside. It can be helpful for puppies to burn off energy and learn bite inhibition by playing together. But there are some important rules of play for safety and to help prevent a common reason for career-change later: too dog distracted.

1. Puppies should be well-matched. This can mean puppies of similar size or age, or with temperaments or physical traits that even the playing field.

Chippewa FLDs August and Sammy, while within one week of age, were not close in size when they were younger. Even though Sammy was much bigger, August was faster and more agile, so they made nice playmates.

2. Puppies must be calm before being releasing into play with other puppies.

Puppies must never play together when they are on leash. Working bandanas and/or jackets should be removed. Puppies should be able to sit calmly while the leash is unclipped and wait to be released into play.

3. One puppy should not control the play. Puppies should change positions. For example, one puppy should not always be "on top."

Playing puppies can get very noisy; Labs are especially vocal. When Chippewa raisers were just getting to know FLDs August and Sammy, they were concerned that Sammy's play was inappropriate. In November, when Deb and Tammy and I traveled to Baraga to check out the facility, we took the two pups with us - not only to show them off to the potential raisers in Baraga, but also to evaluate their play behavior.

We let August and Sammy play in our large hotel room in St. Ignace the night before heading to Baraga. As mentioned above, we determined that the two pups actually played quite well with each other.

4. Puppies should not get overly ramped up; they should be able to be called out of play periodically.

It is good practice to call puppies out of play before they get too excited. A reward for "settling" can be a re-release into play.

In that St. Ignace hotel, something interesting developed during puppy play. A much older and larger FLD Harper (who was also with us) started to roughhouse with August. Their energy ramped up. It was clear that Harper was calling the shots. Sammy, who had been pacing around the periphery of the action, plodded calmly into the fray and forced his stocky Lab body between Harper and August.

Sammy - the play police!

PUPPY WRESTLING AT BARAGA

January 10, 2014

Deb demonstrated safe and proper puppy play with the Baraga pups and FLD Jedi. She suspected that Bear's handlers would be apprehensive about letting him loose with Axel and Jedi, both of whom were a bit larger, so she talked the men through releasing Axel and Jedi into play first.

A group of inmates are gathered around a lunch table, one is standing in the foreground on the right side. They are wearing blue uniforms with orange stripes on the arms and legs. In the background on the left is a short woman in a pink jacket and black pants. She is pointing to two puppies that are playing together on the shiny floor. A german shepherd puppy is on top of a yellow lab puppy.

Deb oversees the play of FLDs Jedi and Axel while the inmate raisers observe.

A yellow lab puppy on the left is wrestling with a dark german shepherd puppy on the right.

FLDs Axel and Jedi duke it out.

After some play time, and calling away and calming time, Deb had Bear's handlers release him too. Axel and Jedi made a beeline for Bear, almost smothering the tiny guy.

Bear squealed.

Deb reminded me of FLD Sammy as she practically body-blocked Bear's three inmate raisers from coming to his rescue. "Let them work it out," she said confidently.

"I'm shaking here," one of them said.

Before long, Bear got into Jedi's face. He meant business. Jedi backed off and headed for the door. "I'm not really scared of you," said his demeanor, "I just have to pee." An inmate took him outside. Axel took over in his place. Much to everyone's surprise, sweet little Bear growled and shook himself away, stomping off as if to say, "I showed you!"

"You see," Deb said. "Bear had to show Axel that he couldn't be bullied."