Today was a great day! I learned a lot of information and I felt overwhelmed, but overall I feel much more confident. One of the things I am learning best is to just laugh at my mistakes and keep going. Another thing that the trainer kept telling us today is that if we act like we are confident in ourselves even when we aren't sure of what to do, the dog will still think we know what we are doing.
To start the day today we played a game teaching us how dogs think and learn. It was called a clicker game and we had to pretend to be the trainer and the dog. The one of us that was the trainer had to use just a clicker, nothing else (not even our voice), to get the person to do a specific behavior. It taught us what it feels like to be the dog when a human is giving unclear commands because all the dog hears is blah, blah, blah! LOL.
After the games we were given a single dog to work with for the day. Today I worked with Ozark. The first training I did was learning how to get a dog in and out of the car safely. I also learned that the safest place for the dog is on the floor or in the back seat of the car. The pictures down below will show you more of the story :0).
In the afternoon we worked on distraction training, which was really hard. The trainers put out food and tried to hand the dogs food as we were walking past them. Our goal was to get the dogs to ignore the food and only follow our commands. I struggled on this part and learned that the straighter I stand out the more Ozark listened. By the end of the day he was following most of the commands - YEAH! I have included some pictures below to show you working with Ozark and when he allerted me of a low blood sugar.
Tomorrow is a very exciting day since around 3:00 in the afternoon I will be given a dog for permanent placement. I'll be sure to post as soon as I come back to John's aunts house. Good night for now, I am off to do my homework and go to bed. Enjoy the pictures and remember I miss you all.
Love,
Mrs. Lovdokken
To start the day today we played a game teaching us how dogs think and learn. It was called a clicker game and we had to pretend to be the trainer and the dog. The one of us that was the trainer had to use just a clicker, nothing else (not even our voice), to get the person to do a specific behavior. It taught us what it feels like to be the dog when a human is giving unclear commands because all the dog hears is blah, blah, blah! LOL.
After the games we were given a single dog to work with for the day. Today I worked with Ozark. The first training I did was learning how to get a dog in and out of the car safely. I also learned that the safest place for the dog is on the floor or in the back seat of the car. The pictures down below will show you more of the story :0).
In the afternoon we worked on distraction training, which was really hard. The trainers put out food and tried to hand the dogs food as we were walking past them. Our goal was to get the dogs to ignore the food and only follow our commands. I struggled on this part and learned that the straighter I stand out the more Ozark listened. By the end of the day he was following most of the commands - YEAH! I have included some pictures below to show you working with Ozark and when he allerted me of a low blood sugar.
Tomorrow is a very exciting day since around 3:00 in the afternoon I will be given a dog for permanent placement. I'll be sure to post as soon as I come back to John's aunts house. Good night for now, I am off to do my homework and go to bed. Enjoy the pictures and remember I miss you all.
Love,
Mrs. Lovdokken
 Nemos...the fake dogs we worked with the first day. I thought you'd like to see what they looked like. |  Me saying hello to all of you who I am missing so much! |
 Carol - our EAC traininer putting us to work. She is wonderful. |  Opening the door to "kennel" Ozark. He is in the "sit" and "wait" command. |
 I just asked Ozark to "kennel" and he hopped up into the back of the Honda CRV. |  After opening the door and having Ozark "wait", he has now been given the command "OK" so he is exiting the car. |
 I am learning how to load Ozark into the front of the car to ride at my feet. |  Ozark is now in the car with me and getting ready to settle down on the floor beneath my feet. |
 Ozark has just excited the car and I am telling him "Good Boy" and giving him a little love. |  This is me learning to close the door since I was so focused on Ozark that I forgot the first two times. LOL. |
 Ozark is staring at me to alert me of a dropping blood sugar. |  Even as I am trying to get a picture with Ozark, he still keeps eye contact to tell me my blood sugars are not normal yet. Pretty fascinating! |
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