Tag Archive | training

Training Puppies to Place

Training the puppies to place really helped them with all the turmoil. I couldn’t find their “place” cot while we were unpacking, but no problem. They kept finding their own to get out of the hustle and bustle of me unpacking boxes.

anyplace is good to sleep on (640x360)

On a chair and table

on the cart (360x640) (2)

On a moving cart

Sewing box works fine

Sewing box works fine

Okay, even room for two

Okay, even room for two

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Rolling, rolling, rolling

And now their real spot.

Well, I moved it to the other side of the desk...

Well, I moved it to the other side of the desk…

And that’s a dog’s life…

Have a super great day!!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

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Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Photography and Puppy Training

Learning Down and Staying Down

Learning Down and Staying Down

The puppies don’t care for Down. They sit all the time, but Down is not their favorite command. Especially Max’s. I’m also training them to stay in place even if I leave the room for a few seconds. Normally, they would chase after me. But I’ve been doing this for a while, and I’m always surprised when they don’t follow me out of the room. So they’re getting much better.

I also have them Place like this when I’m preparing my meal so they’re not underfoot while I’m in the tiny kitchen. Max usually will get off once to check on me, even though he can see me. He’s really checking to see if I dropped anything for him. So it’s an ongoing process.

Max watching bag of treats on kitchen counter instead of watching me

Max watching bag of treats on kitchen counter instead of watching me

Max is not watching me, like he’s supposed to be doing. He thinks if he watches the treat bag, it won’t get away from him. Or maybe, it will miraculously toss a treat to him. Silly dog.

Here they are, having turned from the direction of the kitchen to watch me. Which is what you want. They should be anticipating your command. When I fix their meals, I have them do the same. Stay on Place, Down. They have to stay there while I fill up their 2 kongs, often times searching for wherever they’ve rolled them earlier first, then I set one out quite a distance from the other. Then I fill up their water dish in the other room, and this is with their kongs sitting on the floor waiting for them to push around and leave a trail of their puppy food and devour it. And they stay put. It’s amazing.

We worked for a long time, twice a day to get to this point. Sometimes I take pictures of them to prolong the training and show them that I can do other things before I release them to eat their meals. But only by a minute or so. I need to wait longer. I don’t do anything mean to them to get them to do this either. It’s just patience and perseverance. For a long time, as soon as I moved to get Tanner’s kong, he jumped off Place. Every time I started to fill up the kongs, he jumped off Place. Max would stay. But Tanner was just too chow hungry to do it. So I kept returning him to Place over and over and over again. Eventually, he realized that if he stayed on Place, he got his food sooner. Or, that he wasn’t getting his food until he was on Place.

Max and Tanner from their POV

Max and Tanner from their POV

Often puppies will want to come to you if you get down to their level. So when I sat on the floor, it was a test. What they call a distraction. See if something really enticing will make them want to leave the place where they are.

Then it was placing the kongs on the floor that triggered him to bolt for his, or for Max’s because it was closer. But we kept working on it and now I can even motion to Place without saying a word. I can have them lie down with a downward motion of my hand without giving them a verbal command. (Most of the time. Sometimes Max won’t do it. But I’ve done this while I”m on the phone, and it’s great.) It can be tricky though. I tried moving my arms around, and that signaled Break! And they were off and running. lol

Training Max and Tanner to sit

Training Max and Tanner to sit

I thought I had one of the lying down, waiting for their meal, but I didn’t. So here’s an earlier one of them learning to Place and Sit.

And they won’t budge until I release them when I say: Break! and motion for Tanner to go one way and Max to go the other. They almost always place themselves so that Max is on the left and Tanner is on the right. But a couple of times they’ve been reversed and they practically trip over each other while they’re running to get their food.

Tanner wanting to eat--it's not time

Tanner wanting to eat–it’s not time

Often when the puppies wake from a nap, they think it’s time to eat. It doesn’t matter when it is, it’s just…time.

Is it already hump day??? Garbage is out. Meal time is coming up. Are you ready for the day?

Back to writing!! Have a super great Wednesday!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

No Heat, New Security Lights

The night before last, I was fighting with the thermostat, thinking that’s why the heat felt like the AC was on. It was 3:30 in the morning, took out the puppies, came back in to change out more batteries. The temp got to 44 in the house. Way too cold for sleepable comfort. (Yes, sleepable is not a real word. Authors have been known to make up their own. And that’s my story.)

Soooo, I keep thinking it’s me. I’m doing something wrong, and I don’t want to call someone over to fix it, get a big charge because a switch has flipped or something. Didn’t even think of the breaker box.

So I call an electrician. He says he doesn’t fix heat pumps. But I have 3 security lights out, 2 that were completely not working, and 1 that’s sensor won’t tell it to go off during the day. So I had him change them out so that when I’m up at oh-dark-thirty (yes, this is really a time…I have to get up at that time a lot….lately), I have some light. My main reason is so that I can see that the puppies actually go potty, because sometimes they get distracted with chewing on grass and the like, and so I can see if there’s a skunk about. I have run into one at night before a couple of years ago. So it’s possible. But I’m wondering if it’s better not to see a skunk in the middle of the night…what you don’t see can’t hurt you, right?

Then I call an AC/Heat guy, and he says it’s not a heat pump, but an electric unit. I’m not calling the other electric company again.

Soooo, he found out that the coils were burned out in the unit and luckily it’s still under warranty and no charge on that. But…you know there’s a but, right? If it burned out, there’s got to be a reason. Not enough air flow. That’s going to cost some money. So he’s supposed to get hold of me and they’ll work on that next.

Now, I’m only 1314 shy of getting my word count. See? You didn’t think I could do it with all else going on, did you? Ye, of little faith.

I turned in Silver Wolf Christmas edits, and today I’ll get my word count, but it doesn’t mean the story is done. *sigh* I haven’t figured out my big satisfying ending. Right now, I’m going back in and showing them trying to solve the mystery of who the bad guy is and where he’s at, and tie everything together. It’s a job, and somebody’s got to do it. My characters, as much as I’d like for them to get on the ball, won’t budge unless I help them out.

🙂

Valentine's Day photo library

How many hands does it take to keep 2 Havanese puppies still for a photo? 🙂 <3

And that really is my story, and why I’ve been focusing on it and not on everything else that keeps demanding my attention, like electricians and heating guys. Oh, and I was working on training the puppies with all the strange men in the house. It was great. At first there was all the barking, but then I was able to use the collar on Max to get him to return to me–he actually ran outside to see the electrician, giving me a heart attack because he was barking and looking scary. Little dogs can still take a nice bite out of a leg. But I used the collar and he came back to me. We had several instances where I had to use the collar. But the key is to be consistent and persistent. After a few corrections, they were fine and stayed by me. He even sneaked out the door when we were in the backyard and I was showing the electrician which lights needed to be changed. Max was an angel. sniffing around at the plants only a couple of feet from me. No fenced-in yard, and off leash. I had scooped up Tanner when he slipped out. I couldn’t grab both dogs.

When the electrician came back in the house to turn off the breaker, we had to start all over. When we went outside to potty, it was much better. When the electrician came inside again, I was actually training them to Place and they ignored him.

Second man, new trial. Barking, only this time Max minded much faster. Tanner is barking some now too, but if Max doesn’t, Tanner quits. Tanner’s also more to just want to greet. So the AC man was in and out of the house so much that after a while, the puppies wanted to see what he was doing, but they no longer barked. The AC man sat on the couch to write up the paperwork and Max was checking him out, but we were good.

So, see? We had an added benefit to getting heat and security lights. Puppy training!

And I got all the stuff together to ship for party prizes, couldn’t write while all of this was going on. But the puppies totally crashed and I was able to make some headway.

Here’s the latest place I’m at with giveaways! 5 print copies of Savage Hunger at Night Owl Romance Reviews! Be sure and drop by to enter!

http://www.nightowlreviews.com/V5/Blog/Articles/Jaguar-Pride-by-Terry-Spear

Okay, off to write my last 1314 words and more..

Have a great…oh! Garbage Day. Knew there was something else I had to do today, besides taking Tanner in for rabies shot. 🙁  Have a great Wednesday!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Happy Valentine’s Day!!! And…Puppy Training!

We’re having a Valentine’s Day party today with lots of giveaways! Please join us!

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/757657010949412

Tanner stealing away from Place

Tanner stealing away from Place

Tanner stealing away from Place

Tanner stealing away from Place

Learning to Place.

Learning to Place

The funny thing  is when I say Place, Tanner is the first to get there. But then….he’s the first to leave. LOL 🙂 <3

And another giveaway from Reading Between the Wines!

http://www.readingbetweenthewinesbookclub.com/2015/02/valentines-giveaway-terry-spears-heart.html#more

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Computer Virus–and First Day of Real Obedience Training

First, I hate people who create computer viruses. I know, we shouldn’t hate, but I HATE people who do that. I wish there was a magical thing that we could erect on our computers that if someone created a virus, for every computer they infected, the person who created it and sent it out to the world would end up with a human virus. So that means that they would  have millions of viruses wracking their body. Yep, If I could create such a weapon, I’d do it. They would be in the bathroom for days and weeks and months, depending on how widespread their computer virus was.

Now I feel better while I’m on my laptop, that is great for trips, but a pain to use at home because I don’t have a great way to sit and write on it, and I don’t know half my passwords, so when I go to create my blog for blogger for a multi-author blog I’m on, I don’t know what the  password is, etc, etc, etc. And I don’t want to create a new one, forget, and then have the same problem on my main PC.

Second, Max and I have been working with THE collar. We had a full day–on and off–every time we had to go outside to potty. And in the house on some commands.

The trainer told me that we don’t say ZAP the dog, but “touch.” Bull. You zap the dog. Lightly, if he doesn’t pay any attention to you and keeps pulling. A little higher setting to get his attention, etc. If he’s listening, I lower the setting. So when he’s moving with me and he’ll look up to see that I’m still beside him and he’s doing the right thing, the setting is going down. I’ll start it out low this morning, and when he doesn’t listen, I’ll increase the setting until he finally responds. What’s neat about this program is that their dogs are off leash and just stay with the trainers. They don’t run off and that’s one of the things you should be able to train them. It might take a while, but I think Max will get it sooner than later.

As for going for his dog poop, I was prepared. I still had it on the lower button setting, but at the highest number because he’s so quick that I had to react quickly and with enough of an emphasis to tell him no. He went for it. I zapped him, pulled him away, not hard, just enough to get him out of reach, but he was already moving away from it. So we’ll have to keep after it until he realizes I mean no on that nasty habit.

So he pulled, like he usually does. Balked about sitting, which he’s always been good about, but he doesn’t like the zapper, I mean, collar, to tell him to do it. But after the last time of going out last night, he was really good about following my lead. He tends to rush for the door to get inside, so we were practicing stopping, then starting so he knew that I was the one in charge of when he goes in.

Inside, he sat for me a few times with just the command and the collar. They said to use the collar always, even for commands he knows. Outside, I had to gently force his bottom down, which I’ve never had to do. *sigh* I’m sure it’s because outside there is a high level of distraction.

So we had to practice Come, as in walking the dog and getting it to follow my lead and stay on one side of me always. That’s fun. NOT. Because I also have to have Tanner on the leash. So I’m trying to get them both to stay on my right side and not criss-cross in front of me or get behind me.

Max is very white and has some silver and black

Max is very white and has some silver and black

We had to do: Sit, by command and collar. We had to practice Place. That’s where you have something slightly elevated off the floor and the dog gets up on it.  We practiced it on the individual lesson on top of a metal briefcase since the trainer forgot his cot. It was slippery and Max didn’t care for it, but I stood next to him and every time he’d climb down, I’d guide him back up with his leash, the command, and a collar….nudge.

I’m going to get a cot, because it will be more convenient at the dog training. But at home, I think I’ll do a variety of things so he gets used to if I don’t have a cot with me, and use anything, if I tell him that’s the Place, he’ll have the message down pat.

So at home, I brought out the Christmas wrapper box that is under a bed. I knew it would be slippery too, so I put the Christmas rug on it that has a skid free bottom, and perfect.

Place was not happening. Soooo, I tried place and then a treat. Now, I’m training Max, right? Tanner got what I wanted immediately, and jumped on top of the box and then Max. They were so cute. Both waiting for their treats.

Place, dash for the box, get on top, Sit, wait for treats. Then I did it a few times with no treats, and Come, so they’d come to me, Sit, and Place again.

For me, their kibble is as much a treat as a treat. So rather than feed them tons of treats, I can feed them their tiny piece of kibbles.

But it is funny when I see them both training and Tanner getting it first. I’ll do collar training with him later when Max has this all figured out. 🙂

As to my computer virus, hopefully Best Buy will have it fixed by Sunday.  I was REALLY hoping they’d have it fixed today since he said it would be easy to do.

Okay, off to work on edits. I’m so behind because I really can’t write on my laptop all day. I just don’t have a good set up for it at all.

Have a super Saturday!! 🙂

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Can You Really Do It?

I loved Yoda in Star Wars when he said, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

I always think of this when I’m writing a book. Not for me, but often for my characters. I’ll have where they’re going to try to do something, and then, no, they are doing it. Not trying. Oh, well, sure, sometimes they have to try because the doing might not happen.

But I love the concept.

My dad always said, “You can do whatever you put your mind to do.”

It’s true. We had so many daunting feats to accomplish when I was in training in Army ROTC. Scale walls without a ladder, when I’m just a little over 5’4″ and I’m not sure how tall the walls were, but they were LOTS taller than me. Now, before anyone says, women! We had guys who were just as short as us and we had to do buddy work to ensure everyone made it over. Or cross a water obstacle with only three boards, none of which were long enough to use, without getting wet. If you were the leader for those exercises and you left a man/woman behind just because he or she was too short to make it…or if you didn’t try to use the best resources available on the water obstacle challenge, ie, always ask the engineer student in the group and hope he or she had a clue, you were marked WAY down.

Now, we weren’t training to be elite forces, just in how to be leaders, because many of us were going into support roles, like me as a personnel officer. So no climbing tall walls in my normal line of work.

But if it’s really worth doing, then keep working at it until you get it done. Now sometimes, it’s just really, really not worth the effort. And then? Regroup and do something that is.

Training the puppies in proper behavior is my goal. If I don’t deter Max from eating his stool, he does it!!! I know it’s because the breeder just let all the dogs go out a dog door and he wasn’t ever supervised. So he was hungry, he’s always hungry, and hey, it’s his meal, fully processed. I know, totally gross.

I looked it up, love the Internet, and experts say that puppies will often do this. Tanner doesn’t. But I’ve always had him on a leash, and he does what a dog–in my estimation–should do, he does his little backward kick at the grass to “cover” it up and then he’s off to explore.

The problem with Max is that though I clean up the yard CONSTANTLY, at oh-dark-thirty in the morning and after 7 at night, it’s too dark to see where he’s gone. So in the morning in the dark, I try to take them to spots that they haven’t been the night before, because it’s again dark and I can’t tell what’s where. But I also have to really keep hold of Max’s leash because he’s ready to whip around and get his morning meal if I don’t yank him away from it. ugh.

And then there are the times that I think I’ve cleaned up everything, it’s hard to tell sometimes, and he finds a tasty treat. It doesn’t matter how much I shout at him or try to force him to drop it, it’s gone as quickly as he swallows his food. He’s so cute here. How can he be so gross? He’s a DOG, I remind myself. It’s perfectly normal to him.

Max and Down Training (2) (612x640)

*sigh*

I’m sure the collar training, a zap every time he grabs a piece, will deter him. Still waiting on the trainer to call for first training. I try working with him with just verbal good dogs when he comes with me and doesn’t go for the smorgasboard, but that’s so rare, that it’s just not working.

However, I WILL succeed! I have to. I will not try. I will do. Because it’s just too gross not to win in this battle between puppy and the poop.

Have you ever had something you have to do, and you feel you can’t do it? What have you done to keep after it until it’s finally accomplished, and you tell yourself, “See? I knew I could do it!”

Writing a book can be like that too. Daunting.

I have: Chapter One done. Just the Chapter heading.

Word count: 2

Words needed: 79,998

Where do I go from there? But deadline’s looming and I WILL write all the rest of those words before deadline, edit it a million times, turn it in, and start all over again.

Today, I will be at 55,000 on A SEAL Wolf Diving for Trouble. I won’t try. I will be there. What a wonderful number that is compared to when I began with the two easiest words. Chapter One. And yet, I still have 25,000 words to go. Oh wow, now that sounds really great. I was thinking it would be more. Yes!!! I can do it! And I’m off to do it!

Have a super wonderful Tuesday. Mine just got even better!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com