Seeing into Darkness: Where pets are family.

Lottie goes to Petsmart with me every Wednesday. I teach classes there, and she gets to participate, and demo, and play! She loves other dogs and has a very soft play-style. I'm not used to that, the loving other dogs part, because most of my dogs couldn't care less about other dogs. So Lottie will be my social butterfly.

So far she has learned "sit" and "down", and she is working on the concept of "touch" (hand targeting) and "stay". I'll be really glad when she gets the concept of "stay", it will make me life easier. When she gets excited, she reminds me of the Tasmanian Devil, the whirling tornado of craziness. Other times she is calm and relaxed and obedient. "Stay" will be good!
For anyone who understands clicker training, I had to come up with a marker for Lottie, since she can't hear. I decided to touch her chest, so a progression of "sit" looks like this:
--two taps on her lower back by her tail to signify "sit"
--lure with a cookie into position
--touch her chest to signify a click
--cookie as a reward
The marker touch is always a tap on the chest, and I have to come up with different areas to touch to signify words. A double-tap on the rump is "sit", a double tap on the shoulder blades is "down", a palm on the front of her nose is "stay" and a tap on the top of the nose is "no" or "enough" or "leave it". A touch under the chin is "follow me" and a touch on her lower belly is "go potty".

Learning to "down". She really seems to like this,
she plops down very quickly for her cookie!

Playing with a puppy from class,
so fast they are a blur!
See what I mean about the Tasmanian Devel??

"sit" for a cookie

She's pretty good on the leash, but she tends to circle me, and while I understand that might be a good way for her to get a feel for her surroundings, I'm trying to discourage it. As she gains confidence with me I'll work to extinquish the circling more. Leash manners will be important for Lottie, since she has to be leashed at all times, unless she's in a secure area. My other dogs are often off leash, as they have excellent immediate recalls, but since Lottie can't hear, this will never be an option for her. When we are in a fenced area, and I take off her leash, she immediately runs FULL SPEED away, eventually coming back, but she has that crazy burst of energy that must be satisfied! My other dogs do, too, but since they can see where they are, and hear me call them back, it isn't the same thing at all. Poor Lottie!43

And it is amazing how quickly she gains confidence. At her first visit to Petsmart, she was a little hesitant, moving a little slowly and feeling out the training area. Now people don't believe me when I tell them she is sight-impaired, because she runs around and plays and never misses a beat. She is very good at memorizing an area, and it only takes one time before she knows where her boundries are, and where everything is.