Training with Eloise!

Eloise turned 15 weeks yesterday! I have had her for 7 weeks now and things are settling down. Having brought her home 2 weeks after a hip relacement surgery was alot to manage. The fog is settling and things are going well. She is doing wonderfully with potty and crate training.

We have been using an X-pen with her crate inside and potty pads down for overnight and for daytime if I had to be away for longer than 2 hours. The first week she was waking me up twice a night to take her out. Stumbling around in the dark with crutches and a puppy in a hurry to get her outside was comical. After bringing her back inside I had to lay down on the floor next to the pen until she settled down, quit whinning and went to sleep. Then I would crawl around the corner and get up as to not wake her!

I am happy to say I don't have to do that anymore. She is now sleeping through the night about 7 hours before waking me up (clean pad).

She has been attending puppy class and getting some crucial social interaction and play time with other puppies. We are lucky to have several other small puppies in class to play with. Emmy Lou and Leo are her best friends so far! It is challenging to have the smallest puppy in class but we are letting her find her way while still keeping unstressed and safe.

She took to the leash right away amazingly. Now that the crutches are gone I am doing more with with focused walking, no pulling and waiting at corners. She is a smart little girl and doing very well.

I have been teaching her to target. This an exercise that teaches your dog to touch your hand with their nose. "Touch" is a very useful command. For example, you can use it when your dog greets to avoid jumping or use it to teach a "come" command. I have transfered that to a Clik Stik.

I move it around the room and touch various things like her bed or a cupboard door. I am also teaching focus walking or heel. It can also be used to desensitize them to things they may be afraid of by holding your hand closer and closer to the scary stuff.

Here's how you teach a "touch".

1. Have a treat in one hand and present the other hand close to your dogs face( about an inch). When your dog touches your hand say "yes" and give them a treat. Repeat this seveal times.

2. Now that they are getting it, you can start saying "touch" and present your hand. As soon as they touch your hand say "Yes" and treat. Once they are getting good at this step you can start moving your hand a bit farther away from their face and start moving it around. Make sure you only reward for an actual touch or only when you ask for it.

3. Start to treat every second or third touch. Then you can start to eliminate the treat for each response. Treat only a faster response and you can add praise for the others.

Have fun with this. There's no limit to what you can teach your dog!

Having Eloise here has helped with the sadness I feel about "Nellie" my 15 1/2 year old Cocker Spaniel. She is doing a bit better as well. The cat however is not as sure. Let's just say she is getting alot more exercise!