Bee's Training Journey
Introduction
My name is Jennifer Stephenson, and I am a volunteer for Awesome Greyhound Adoptions and the Hounds and Heroes program. Some of my duties are developing online and community partnerships, transporting greyhounds for placement, giving PR interviews, writing press releases, updating our website and Facebook page, conducting home visits for adoption and service dog applicants and training greyhounds for service. I enjoy the many ways I am able to give back to such a wonderful organization, and welcome others to volunteer their time or resources.
After fostering and training Major, one of the Fab Five puppies, I didn't think I would take on another puppy. They are a lot of work! A couple of things changed my mind. Our senior grey, Foreman, has anxiety and severe resource guarding and sleep startle, common among ex-racers. He and his house mate Coal Miner were adopted together, which eliminated some (but not all) of their perceived competition for resources. When Major entered our household at three months old, he quickly acclimated to his lower rank in the pack and was never a "threat" to Foreman. As Major grew up, he and Foreman were as friendly as we'd ever seen Foreman be with another dog.
We recently lost our beloved Coal Miner to leukemia, and since then have debated whether or not to introduce another greyhound to Foreman. We have fostered other greys over the years, and it has been a stressful time for our senior boy and therefore for us. Remembering how well Foreman adjusted to Major, my husband and I discussed bringing home another greyhound puppy to raise alongside Foreman. The rest is history!
Bee loves her family and is extremely playful and affectionate with us all!
Training Log - Month 4
Bee is growing like a weed and is a sponge for new skills. She is also proving extremely intuitive, regularly guessing what I want from her and trying to please...and earn kibble. Here are the trials and tribulations of training this past month.
Leave it / Drop it
My primary challenge with Bee is that she eats things she shouldn't...worms, tree frogs, lizards, pebbles, leaves, sticks, acorns, floor debris and so much more. This behavior stems from her strong prey drive, her teething pain and her natural puppy curiosity. Though she is NEVER unattended, she is so fast and clever that she grabs and swallows things hidden in the grass that I don't even realize are there. Bee became terribly ill this month and had to have emergency surgery to remove an intestinal blockage. The culprit...a handful of pebbles she swallowed right under my nose. I knew I had to prioritize this problem for her health and safety. I had been training Bee on "Leave It" and "Drop It" since day 1, but it was time to up the stakes. Here's my plan to keep Bee's nose out of the ground.
1. Fence within a fence - there are two small areas inside our fenced in back yard that are abundant with seeds, rocks, frogs and lizards. The day we left Bee at the emergency room, John and I went straight to Lowe's and home to install a small picket fence around those zones, where Bee does most of her hunting. This is a temporary safety solution while I strengthen her Leave it and Drop it skills.
2. Powerful reinforcer - Bee is very willing to perform skills for pieces of her daily kibble, but in a matchup between a piece of kibble and something off the ground, the kibble loses every time. I needed a stronger reinforcer, one that could go head-to-head with a tree frog, rock or acorn, and win Bee's attention every time. With that treat in hand, I put Bee in her training collar and leash and walked around the back yard. She was allowed to sniff the air and near the ground, but the second her nose touched the ground, I issued the cue, "Leave it." Looking at me was the target response, and when she did I immediately marked the behavior with a "Yes!" and gave her the high-value treat. If she did not lift her nose from the ground immediately when cued, I gave a gentle leash correction. If she looked at me after the leash correction, I marked with a "Yes" but offered no treat.
If Bee is able to get something into her mouth - and she is unbelievably fast - I issue the "Drop it" command and offer her the high-value treat. There has only been one occasion so far where she was unwilling to trade, and that was the day she grabbed a tree frog hidden in the grass. I pried open her mouth and pulled out all that was left of that poor soul. Most of the time, she will immediately drop whatever she has in her mouth, and I mark and reward for that behavior with the treat.
By doing these exercises on repeat every day, I am teaching Bee that I am more rewarding than anything she can find on the ground. I offer praise, treats, affection, food, water, toys, stimulation and sleep snuggles. Bee understands this more and more every day. She wears the training collar on her walks and is not permitted to put her nose to the ground at any time. I heavily reward her for good heel work and any time she spontaneously focuses on me or does so after being told to leave it. Eventually, I will be able to issue the Leave it/Drop it commands from a distance and she will immediately comply and give me her attention. But we have a long way to go!
Obedience training
Bee continues to do well with her SMART50 training, which involves her doing good behavior spontaneously and receiving rewards. I now intersperse verbal praise and head scratches with the delivery of treats, and she is still performing well. I also issue basic obedience commands every day that she must perform until released. As a puppy, her attention span is fairly short. So I will add duration and distraction in the weeks to come. The commands that Bee can now perform are Sit, Down, Bed, Stay, Come, Here! (Emergency recall), Heel, Close, Drop it, Leave it, Get it, Bring it, Up, Focus, Touch, Cover, Chin and Shake. She struggles with Stand, but that is because she feels she is doing something wrong by leaving a Down or a Sit. Smart girl!!
Training Log - Month 3
Here are my early training goals with Bee, and how I am tackling them:
1. Potty training
Bee had a UTI and heavy parasite load, which complicated her potty training. So, while she was being treated and until she could hold it for at least a couple of hours, she wore a puppy diaper in the house and was taken outside to "Go Pee" constantly. She was good about letting me know she had to go in the night, and I made two or three sleepy middle-of-the-night trips into the back yard. Thankfully, the meds worked and she began holding it much longer. With only a handful of accidents inside the house, usually when we missed her cues, she mastered potty training very quickly. At 13 weeks of age, she holds it the entire night, and her signals to go are much more recognizable!
2. Teaching her our schedule and household rules
Bedtime, meal times, training and play are all very regimented in our household. My husband and I are fortunate to both work at home, and I am aided by our college-aged son, Quinn, who is also a skilled dog handler and sitter. We have mastered the art of keeping our dogs on a predictable routine on most days, which has proven valuable for our anxious Foreman and all of our other dogs. It was especially helpful during my year-and-a-half of raising and training Major. As predicted, Bee adapted to our schedule with ease. As for the house rules, Bee is learning quickly that the furniture and her people are not teething toys, that she cannot cuddle up and sleep with Foreman and that there are other rules that must be followed.
3. Basic obedience training
I immediately implemented SMART50 training with Bee, a method created by animal behaviorist Kathy Sdao. It stands for See, Mark And Reward Training, and it is suggested that (at least) 50 pieces of kibble are saved and used for capturing your dog doing good behavior. I reserve a full third of Bee's daily kibble allowance, offering it throughout the day as a reward for spontaneously performing desired behaviors such as sitting, laying on her training mat, putting her head on my lap, focusing on me or doing good leash walking. As Bee is highly food-motivated and extremely bright, she picked up on the training immediately. With a solid foundation in place over the first three weeks, I am now also issuing basic obedience commands to increase the duration of her good behaviors and institute a release command. She is performing brilliantly!
11 week-old Bee and me on her gotcha day.
Diapers while on meds and learning to go outside.
SMART is a highly effective training tool. Instances captured of Bee spontaneously sitting (left), resting her head on my leg (above) and laying down on her training mat (right).
Bee on her first walk with Foreman.
Bee meeting our fearless leader, Barbara, at a November Hounds and Heroes fundraising event.
Bee loves to play and train outside!