Obedience "must train" - The Nose Touch

I've had a number of occasions lately to be thankful that I have taught my dogs to touch their nose to my palm -- something I call the nose touch.

What is the nose touch?

The nose touch is when I say "touch" and the dog firmly presses their nose into my outstretched palm.

Why do I find it useful?

It's a great way to maneuver a dog without having to pull on the leash, grab the collar, lure with food, pick them up, etc.

With Ziggy:

• Ziggy is a sweet dog.  He is also rather lazy, and has a bit of a stubborn streak.  If he doesn't want to go somewhere, a pull on his collar only leads to a dog who puts on the brakes even more.  No fits.  He just anchors himself into place and gives me a completely impassive look.  
• But the nose touch gets him to move!  It frees me from having to beg, pull, or push him into place.
• The logic seems to be touch = food = something I can do to get a reward!
• The folks at the ISU vet school rehab center also appreciate the nose touch, as it allows them to get Ziggy to do his rehab exercises more easily.

With Rip:

• I use the nose touch A LOT with Rip.
• I use it to get Rip where I want him to be.  
• I  ask him to "bounce" - or come off the ground in front a bit - to touch, which he finds very motivating.
• The nose touch comes in handy when teaching him things like finishes.  I have him bounce up to touch my hand, to get him to move left or right, then I use the touch to bounce him into place.
• I'll feed Rip his dinner as a reward for touching my hand (Touch = a small bit of food from my hand), so Rip is very motivated to touch.  
• I'll even use "touch" in place of "come" from time to time.  I seem to have built more rewards into touch, so Rip almost always barrels towards my hand.  But that's probably more a fault of my recall training than a benefit of "touch."  ;)
• I ask him to touch a lot when we're heeling.  
• I have him touch to get his attention.  Rather than correcting him when he looks away, I ask for a series of hand touches to get him back in focus.  
• I have him do a little "bounce" touch to get more drive when heeling -- like during the transition from slow to normal pace.

With Maggie:

• Oh, heck, let's face it - Maggie is an old lady who is deaf and gets to do what she wants most of the time - but she still remembers that touch is high reward, and she'll gently press her nose to my hand if I hold it out there for her.  And she always gets a treat for it!  :)

(Maggie was at rest during my "nose" photo shoot, 

so I just took a nose picture of her snuggled up in her bed)

How do I train "touch?"

Touch is a fairly straightforward thing to train.

Criteria

When I train the nose touch, my criteria are that a corgi nose is firmly pressed into my open palm.  I don't want teeth + nose.  I don't want near touches, or gentle tap nose touches.  I want a nice, firm nose touch, wherever my hand may be - close to the floor, behind my back, above the dog's head, etc.


Initial Training

The nose touch is easy to train if you're clicker training, or even if you're not.

I clicker trained Rip and Ziggy to touch, clicking for ever-closer progression toward my palm, and delivering the treat from the hand that I've asked them to touch.  Using the clicker to train touch is now my favorite way to train it.  It's a great thing to train when just learning to use the clicker, as dogs tend to catch on very quickly.

Maggie I trained without a clicker (this was before my clicker days).  She is hugely food driven, so I had small treat in my hand, and rewarded when her nose came in contact with my hand -- which it naturally did as part of trying to get the treat.  I think it took her about twice before she figured the game out.


Maintenance

Though my dogs know "touch" very well now, I continue to offer a high rate of reward for it.  I'll often just do touches for treats, or touches for bits of their meal so that it I have a lot "in the bank," allowing me to use touch without it becoming boring, or low reward.

I hope you and your dogs enjoy the nose touch as much as The Pack and I do.  I am regularly thinking of new ways to use it!

Well, I had a plan

About a month ago, I finally decided to get plans together for Rip's obedience and Rally debuts.  Two of my favorite trials take place here on consecutive weekends in late March/early April.  One of the trials offers the "regular" obedience and rally classes; the other trial offers those plus the optional titling classes.

My plan was to do 2 days of Novice B Rally at the first trial, then 3 days of Rally and 3 days of Beginning Novice obedience at the second trial.  Hopefully, and ok, maybe a little optimistically, this would gain us two titles in two weekends.

In order to meet this goal, I started taking Rip to Rally practice once a week (when I was home), and I signed him up for a CGC class as well.  He really needs work around distractions (too much practice at home!) and work on his "stay."

All was going well (or well-ish, depending on how wild Rip was on a given day), then about a week and a half ago I messed up my knee by slipping and falling on some ice while taking Rip for a walk.  Not Rip's fault at all -- he wasn't pulling or being naughty -- I just hit some ice hidden under snow.

So now I'm doctor-imposed rest, ice, brace, etc.  I'm hoping to find out early next week what I can expect for recovery time and activity levels.  At this point, though, it seems that my goals for Rip's first titles might have to be postponed.

I'm trying to do a bit of training each day, but since I can't move much or quickly, my options are limited.  Any ideas for tricks I can train while seated with my knee elevated?

In the meantime, Rip is going on snowy, woodland adventures with The Husband and The Small Human.

Scouting the woodland for small creatures

Channeling his friend, Irie the Adventure Corgi

(Rip says she's lucky that she gets to hike so much!)

Working on natural agility

The old lady dog

In the past six months, Maggie has made the move from "senior" to "old lady."  I haven't posted about her in a while, so I thought I'd share an update.

The old lady likes to snuggle with Ziggy.

Maggie is now 13.5 years old, and in pretty darn good shape.  Some things to know about the old lady dog:

She is DEAF.  
Maggie can no longer hear.  Well, she can't hear anything except for Rip's piercing "I want something" barks.  I can't imagine that's any fun - woken up from a quiet nap by a piercing bark from a petulant pup.

Deafness means that she can't hear the "come on in" yell that brings the dogs in from the yard.  If she looks my way, I can flag her in using a hand signal (I am very thankful for her Utility training - hand signals are invaluable now).  If she doesn't look my way she'll stay out in the yard for a long time.  Now that it's cold out we sometimes have to go out, tap her, and flag her in.

What is she doing out in the  yard so long?  Sniffing!

Yes, we indulge the sniffing.

She SNIFFS a lot.
Maggie's nose seems to be supercharged.  Maybe she's trying to make up for the deafness, but Maggie's sniffing has ratcheted up tremendously.  She sniffs around the yard.  Walks are now really sniff-tastic adventure strolls.  A walk around the block can take as much time as we allow.  And the worst part about the sniffing?

She has become a TRIP HAZARD.
Maggie's infernal sniffing carries over into the house.  When she's not asleep, she can normally be found sniffing around the kitchen.  Crumbs might fall.  Humans in the kitchen must watch out or the old lady may trip them.

She still PLAYS a bit, though.
In the mornings Maggie will run down the hall and do some very mild frapping with Rip.  She also gets excited when Rip and I are doing obedience work, too.  So I often indulge her in a few dumbbell retrieves (no fronts required!) - she still loves to work!

2 dogs reporting for work.

We are really pleased, though, that Maggie is happy and healthy.  She is a dear old lady.

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD month 14

I realize I haven't done a Ziggy update for a while.  This video is from the week before last, on Ziggy's second day (of 8) at the ISU vet school rehab center.  It's the first time he has been in the treadmill without a helper in there with him.  I like that he seems to be doing better with his left hind, and I'm thrilled that the right hind seems to be working just like a "real" leg!

The woman who runs the rehab center was pleased with Ziggy's progress.  She said he seems much stronger than he was on his last visit (November).  This makes us feel much better, as the progress day to day is imperceptible.

Around the house we've noticed that he is trying to stand more often, and sometimes gets in a flailing step or two before falling over.  In his sling, he is weight bearing on his hind legs, though still needs quite a lot of support from the sling for side to side stability.

Our instructions for care are:

• Cart:  Leave him in his cart more often to let him wander around (hard in our small house, but we've been using the cart in the back yard more often).  I'm still thinking of getting him a custom cart, as I just can't seem to get this one to fit right.  I just need to take the steps to get it done.  Maybe next weekend?
• Therapy:  Continue with letting him walk and stand on his own in his sling.  Add standing "side crunches" to help balance core muscle strength.  Get him on the ball more often.  I now have 2 FitPaws peanuts and one FitPaws egg.  Just need to use them...

Ziggy's attitude continues to be laid back and happy.  

We continue to wonder if Z will ever really walk again.  I guess only time will tell.  I'll keep you posted!

Rip's Training Diary - Maybe we need to get out more?

Last week I took Rip to Rally run-throughs for practice.  We had an interesting (and fun) evening.

Our fun started as we entered the club building.  Lately, our trips to the building have been to use the agility equipment - just us in the building, no others around.  Rip must love the building, because he started barking and pulling me to the agility room as soon as we entered the door.

While I love the enthusiasm, it is a little embarrassing ("doesn't she train her dog?!?"), so I made him stop barking, sit, and look at me (rewarded with a click and a treat) before we moved forward.  It took us about 5 minutes to make it the 20' from the door to the training room.

Upon entering the training room, Rip's excitement (and random barking) continued.  I had to gently hold on to his collar to keep him from greeting every human and canine who walked by.  

Here's what Rip was like almost the entire hour: 

A happy, leaping, wagging, naughty blur!

The good part?  He was AWESOME in our run-throughs.  After our last run-through, the instructor, who is a friend from the club, asked me why I hadn't taken Rip to a trial yet.  Did he miss the first 30 minutes of class, when my dog was barking, leaping, and licking everything he could?

Yes, Rip has the skills to do really well at Rally Novice, but what I learned from Thursday is that my wild black dog needs to get out more.  

It's funny, because Ziggy and Maggie needed to get out because they were shy or nervous and needed to build confidence.  This is not the case with Rip.  He has plenty of confidence.  He needs to get out more so he's not a whirling dervish every time we go somewhere.  

So that's my near-term goal:  take Rip somewhere every week - even if all we do is work long enough for him to calm down and settle in.

I'll let you know when it finally works :)

Rip: The Host with The Most

It's the holiday season and many people are traveling, or preparing to travel.  Hospitality is of utmost importance, so I would like to share with you why Rip makes visiting our home so truly special.

 He is The Host with The Most!

Before you arrive, he will prepare your suite.

He will greet you at the door.

He will warm up a place for you to sit.

He will call you to the sofa when the movie starts.

Depending on how the night goes,

he will party with you...

...or snuggle down to keep you warm.

He's a great drinking buddy.  No drinking alone with Rip around!

(p.s.- lest you think I'm a bad dog owner, Rip did not drink this glass of wine,

but he will stick his tongue in your glass if you're not watching)

He will ensure that your socks are properly aired.

No need to bring an alarm clock!  

He will wake you up with a leap and a lick!

He will even bring you Starbucks!

Well, sort of.

Wanna read the paper after breakfast?

No problem, he's "saving" it for you.

And after you've gone, he'll clean up anything you've left out.

And THAT, my friends is why Rip is The Host with The Most!

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD 1 year anniversary

Before.

Ziggy moving on his own now looks odd to me.

And I miss it.

December 3, 2011

The incision the day after surgery.

Moving in the sling.

We've now progressed to hind end movement, too - 

but still in the sling.

Today it has been one year to the day since Ziggy went in for IVDD surgery.

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you know that Ziggy is still not yet walking, but continues to slowly progress.  Z had quite a few inches of his spinal cord impacted by the ruptures and corresponding hemorrhage, and nerves heal quite slowly, so we are still optimistic.  As long as Ziggy is making progress we'll continue to work and hope.

This has not been the easiest year in my dog-owning life, but I've learned a lot about IVDD, canine rehab, and the special/crazy commitment so many people have to helping dogs with this disease.  I've also developed some opinions on IVDD that some may not agree with.

Here are some of my thoughts:

I believe IVDD has a strong genetic component.

• Both of my dogs that have had the disease also have very close relatives who have suffered from IVDD.
• Though no genetic marker has been found, a study of family lines in dachshunds found that while overall prevalence in the breed is ~19%, in some families it was 62%.
• I believe we should be honest and transparent regarding dogs that have IVDD, or have had an IVDD "episode," so smart decisions can be made in breeding.  I've used Cardiped.net to do this for both of my dogs who've had IVDD - it's recorded in the "notes" section of their profiles.  

IVDD isn't caused by bad care.

• I keep my dogs lean and fit.  
• I provide them with sofa stairs and ramps.
• I try to keep them from doing stupid things -- which is often impossible :)
• I believe that if a disc is going to go, it's going to go.  Yes, good preventive care is needed to help protect long-backed dogs, but preventive care won't prevent a disc from going.  Ziggy's disc went when he was out in the yard for his before-bed pee.  No roughhousing, no craziness.  Just walking in the yard.

The people at Dodger's List are a godsend.

• If you have Cardis, or another breed with a high prevalence of IVDD, you NEED to go to this site.  Now.  Before something happens.
• At a minimum, read the FAQ's so you have some grounding in what to look for and what to do if something (heaven forbid) happens.
• They also have a survey to collect information on affected dogs.  They include Cardigans, and I submitted information on both my dogs, in hopes that some day we can have statistics on IVDD in Cardis.

In Cardigans, we need to take this more seriously than we seem to be at the moment.

• At the 2011 National Specialty, one of the leading experts in IVDD treatment gave a lecture.  Hundreds of Cardi people were at the specialty.  Around a dozen people attended. 
• I attended and what I learned helped me tremendously in the first few post-rupture days with Ziggy.
• Through my Facebook friends, and following blogs, it seems that quite a number of our dogs are having problems, yet I do not often see this mentioned as a problem in the breed.

Dogs will heal on their own timeline.

• Right after surgery, our surgical vet predicted Ziggy would be walking by the New Year.  I guess he didn't specify which new year...
• A few nice Cardi people whose dogs had been through disc surgery emailed me, assuring me that it took their dogs a few months before walking.  Ziggy missed that memo, too.
• Cardis are bigger and bigger boned than Dachshunds and this impacts healing time, so much of the "time to heal" info that's out there doesn't apply to Z.  
• It was the Dodger's List folks who have kept me hoping.  In reply to my posts on their list, they assured me that many dogs take longer than expected, and reinforced that as long as progress is being made, there is still hope that a dog will walk.

The cost and effort required to help a dog with a disc rupture are tremendous.

• The initial decision about what to do after a disc ruptures is not easy, and, after living through a year of Ziggy care,  I will not judge the choices other people make.

Please contact me if you ever experience something similar with your dogs.  I am happy to help, support, and share as much as I can.  I know that it's an extremely emotional and difficult thing to go through.  I can relate, and hopefully I can help.