Day Six: Seizure work, recall, health and grooming, too!

Today we began as usual with Q&A, which I will share later. We then delved a little deeper into seizure work. One of the commands we will use in seizure work and behavior regulation is "lap". This is asking the dog to lay his head on or against the child. This is a command the dogs tend to enjoy, because it is relaxing. I mean really, who doesn't like to put their head on someone and have the person stroke their hair and speak soothingly? So, we sit with our legs out straight, point to our lap and say "lap". The dog should rest his head on our leg. We praise just verbally (softly) and with petting (no treat). It may actually put the dog to sleep, and that is fine. We ideally will have Si practice this, when he is relaxed and calm. We need to practice it A LOT so that when Si needs it, Abbot will do it automatically.

A lot of us want the dogs to be able to alert to night time seizures, so we can know and go to our kids. To practice for this, we will get in the bed, bring the dog onto the bed, and practice barking on command. Once they are doing that comfortably in the bed environment, then we can start making movements like a seizure and commanding "bark". We want the dog to equivocate that seizure movement with the BEST treat, so once he barks while we are making the seizure movement, we will "make it rain" Bil-Jac and praise. This method can be carried over to any environment where your child has seizures-- the car, church, anywhere. It is good to anticipate and practice in as many possible locations as possible. That way the dog knows, "Oh, we play the seizure game here, too!" and when a real seizure strikes, he will bark for that Bil-Jac! It's going to take me a bit to get a fake seizure down. Every time the trainers do it in class I tear up. But I am going to do it!

The other big command we learned today is "come". Jeremy started by describing the way most people teach "come" and why it's not the best way to go about it. For teaching come, you should use high value treats and practice in a contained, off-leash situation. You start by just saying "come" when the dog is right in front of you and treat him right away. This associates the word with yummy treats. After doing that for five minutes or so, let the dog go off and get distracted. Then you can say their name and "come". Some guidelines for using this command: Don't have the dog come to you just to be punished (eg. you find a torn up shoe and yell "come!!!"). Don't only use "come" to get him to come in and get in his kennel. These are negative consequences for the command, and we need to keep it positive and fun. If the dog does not come when you give the command, go to the dog and say "No" and give a tug. When practicing, be sure to give treats each time the dog comes.

We started our health discussion with teeth. They should be brushed about three times a week, and Jeremy said this can add two years to a dog's life! No toothpaste is needed, as we are really just knocking the plaque off the outsides of the teeth. He recommends the finger brush, because then you can feel what you are doing and make sure you are not stabbing your poor dog in the back of the throat. He told us to start by massaging the dog's muzzle, then run your fingers across the dog's gums to get him ready for brushing. I tried that with Abbot today, and he was completely amenable to the experience!

Jeremy also said to get the dog's teeth professionally cleaned once or twice a year, depending on his plaque situation, etc. He said small dogs tend to get more plaque, which I thought was interesting. He said it has a lot to do with genetics.

Dogs do get sleepers in their eyes like humans. We only need to worry and call the vet if the drainage is green or yellow. I guess some things are the same in humans and dogs!

Dogs can get ear infections, and often one ear will look lopsided, several inches lower than the other one. The dog also may paw at his ear. In order to avoid this type of situation, we need to clean their ears every two weeks. There is an "ear wash" product that has a cleaning and drying agent in it. Jeremy suggested warming the bottle up in the microwave and testing it like a baby bottle, to make sure it is warm but not hot. Then, if possible, take the dog outdoors, and put several drops in each ear, massaging the base of the ear for about 45 seconds. The dog will then shake it out, making it spray everywhere. Then you can use cotton balls to get any excess left in the ear. Jeremy likes to work it into a game of ball, so the dog is having fun and then has fun again afterwards.

We lucked out in terms of grooming our dog's coat. Labs don't require very intensive fur care and they don't get ear hairs (Woohoo!).We can use a shedding blade if necessary, but a slicker brush can also help with burrs and dried mud. We will also get a soft rubber brush for Si to use on Abbot, as one of his pet owner chores. We will keep an eye on any hair growing between his paw pads, as that can make them slip on smooth surfaces, and it also can pick up snow and ice in the winter. I can't imagine coming in on a January day with ice stuck between my toes!! We can trim the hair with a little electric trimmer.

For bathing, we may need to get a sprayer extension for the shower, so we can really hold it up against his skin. Jeremy said to be sure to close his ears when shampooing to avoid ear problems and clean ears again after the bath to make sure we get them dry. We should bathe Abbot no more than once a week and we can use any dog shampoo. He said the dry shampoos advertised don't really work. I think that is also true for human dry shampoos-- another similarity!

Nails-- definitely the most intimidating thing about dog grooming (unless you want to talk rectal glands-- we haven't discussed that yet!!). Because Abbot is black, we can't see the quick (where the blood in in the nails) through the nails. We need to turn the nail over and look underneath to find the fleshy part. Well, I tried that and it all looked fleshy. So I am going to let them grow two weeks and then look again. We should trim their nails every 4 to 6 weeks with "bypass" nail trimmers and then file them down a little. Abbot is really good about letting me be in his business, so that part should be easy. The first time will probably take an hour, so I appreciate his patience!!

Now for the Q&A tidbits:

• Right now the dogs are trying to figure out if they have to behave for us like they do at 4 Paws. We need to be consistent with corrections and praise and the respect will come!
• The more new places we can go with the dogs, and praise and correct them the same way, the more they will realize the rules still always apply.
• You can talk dogs into anything with your voice, by getting higher and more excited: "Attaboy! Attaboy!" Abbot is a little hesitant to jump into our car, so all three of us are attaboy-ing like crazy!
• Dogs' excitement can be thought of as on a dial, from 0 to 100. You have to think about it and dial it back or dial it up depending on your goal for the situation.
• Dogs will play on, even with an injury. They are that kid who is having so much fun, he does not want to stop, even though he is bleeding, etc. Once the play is done, then they may start to limp, etc. So we really need to keep an eye on them to make sure they are ok.
• We should not allow our dogs to wrestle with other dogs.
• If the dog has trouble with going in the crate (separation anxiety), a Kong toy with a treat or peanut butter in it in his crate can be a great way to ease the transition.
• Abbot's neck is as strong and dense as Mike's thigh. So we can probably put a little more oomph into our corrections with the gentle leader, when needed. (Seeing as he does not seem to even feel it when I do it!)
• Since Abbot is doing balance work for Si, we will stick with the gentle leader collar for at least a year in public, as opposed to the training collar (chain style).

We ate out with Abbot twice today and he did wonderfully. Here he is under the table at Arby's.

Abbot is so sweet and patient with Si, and Si is getting more and more comfortable snuggling and hugging Abbot.

Well, we are half way done with training! I can't believe it! We have met some wonderful friends and have already grown and stretched in new ways. I am excited to see what the next six days bring! Thanks for reading.