Danny

Brought Danny in the house again this evening. I am working on having him stand on a large throw rug in my living room and then I will eventually work on him staying there, much like we teach our dogs "go to bed" which means they are to go to a mat, lay down, and stay there until released. A handy cue when you don't want your dog underfoot. It will be important for Danny also to have his place. Danny has definitely learned already that going and standing on the rug earns him treats. We were also poop free again this evening. I will gradually extend his house time when I get some rubber shoes for his feet so he isn't slipping.

I also messed around a bit with the stairs this evening. I went up a few stairs ahead of him and sat down facing him hoping he might try to get to me. It took him very little time to put his front feet on the first stair and of course this earned him some grain. Very quickly he was consistently putting his feet on the first step. I won't go much further with this behavior until we have a chance to practice on some easier stairs elsewhere. Mine are small and the staircase is narrow with a very small landing at the top and then another climb. I predict climbing stairs won't take him long judging by what I saw tonight.

We also did some work with the dumbbell in preparation for retrieving. He was consistently touching the dumbbell with his nose so I upped the criteria. Within 2 very short training sessions he was consistently placing his teeth on the dumbbell. One time he even took it in his mouth briefly though I hadn't yet asked for that behavior.

It is really interesting to be teaching a horse behaviors that I never would have conceived of 10 years ago.

Sue Meinzinger
Executive Director
Summit Assistance Dogs
http://www.summitdogs.org