Travis the lab day four

Saturday with my new foster dog, Travis

Started off the morning with taking Travis for some jogging along the road from the side of my golf cart. Stopped here and there to do a little work on "HEEL" and "SIT". Started lessons on "DOWN". Travis doesn't like down and got mouthy -- lightly biting my hands and arms. I would tell him NO and keep working on getting him to lay down. This mouthiness tells me that he is not respecting me as his pack leader and is testing me to see if he can just do what he wants to do, which is not to lay down.

From Travis the Lab

I had also noticed some mouthiness from him when I first tried to put him in the dog yard. He needs to learn that this will not stop me and doesn't do a bit of good.

Brushing out the dead hair

At lunch time I took Travis out on a four foot leash and did some heeling lessons. When he see of sniffs something he want to explore surges ahead and pulls. I started walking a circle with him to the inside. This way if he walked to far ahead he ran into my legs or knee. His nose hit my knee hard a few time before he started to keep his place. He will need a lot more work on HEELing and keeping his attention to where I am while walking.

From Travis the Lab

After about 5--10 minutes of HEELing I slipped the end of Travis' leash over a fence post and started to brush out some of his dead winter fur. I don't think he has been brushed much if ever before. He became very mouthy and didn't want me to brush him. I was not hurting him so I just continued and whenever he put his mouth over my arm I said NO and removing it. Even he would stand still I would click and treat him. He has to learn that I will not stop just because he wants me to. A lot of dead hair came out.

Evening outing - almost a dog fight

In the evening I let out Travis and Howie the hound from their dog yards. Howie gets along well with other dogs and so I hoped that he and Travis would met well and maybe play a little. Travis was very excited and I keep him on a leash for this meeting. He jumped right into playing too rough with Howie and after a minute I could see Howie was not liking this rough play. I would pull Travis away from Howie then let him return but he would just go to bit at the back of Howie's neck. Travis was not growling -- just being too excited and dominant with his meeting and play.

After another bite on the neck Howie growled and snapped at Travis. Instead of backing down Travis growled back. I gave Travis a large jerk and then demanded a down from him. He didn't stay in the down long and I put him in a down again. Then walked him in a circle to calm down and put him in his crate so I could take my dogs for their walk.

Travis will have to learn to meet dogs in a nicer, calmer manner, and play gentler too or he will get into himself dog fights. This also shows that he does not respect me as he leader because if he did he would be more respectful of my disapproval of his actions. I will need to work harder to gain Travis' respect with more work on "DOWN" and "HEEL".

When I returned from walking my dogs I worked Travis a little on the road with the cart and did more work on "DOWN" and started on "DOWN-STAY. When he is tried and there are no distractions I can get him to down and stay, but this is just the beginning and he will need a lot more challenging work with more and more distractions added.

From Travis the Lab

Fostering Travis Day Three

Friday is now my third day with Travis

Morning fun with Travis - playing fetch in my yard. Travis is great at fetching the ball and can find it if it lands in the tall grass or underbrush. He uses his nose and sniffs the ball out when it out of sight. Playing ball does get he very excited and he will not always give a fast sit on returning to me. If I hid the ball behind my back he will run around the yard sniffing and looking for the ball and will not pay attention to my calling his name. He does finally return to me when he cannot find it on the ground.



Meeting my dog Gigit

Once I put up the ball Travis tried to play with my thirty pound dog, Gigit. BUT Travis' high nervous and pounce-in-your-face style is not what works to win this girl's heart and Gigit growled and snapped at him. Gigit likes to play but she wants new dogs to flirt politely with her first.

Pond Fetching

At about two pm I take Travis for a walk through the woods to the larger pond. He is still pulling too much so I started to work on recalls (COME) on the trail. My son, Felix comes with us to video tape Travis fetching the ball from the pond. Typical lab - Travis LOVES to play fetch in water. He didn't shake off for each retrieve, but I still got wet, as he does like to shake once he gets near me.

He did do some choking on the pond water while retrieving the ball. He will learn to get the ball with less swallowing of water. I also tossed the ball on land and he jumped high to try to catch a bounced balled.

More road work

At about five pm I did a little more road running with Travis along side the golf cart - or it is more like road jogging as Travis is not into full out racing like Bruce was. Once back home I did some in yard ball tossing for him.

I kept Travis in his crate for part of the day and in his dog yard for part of the day. He has not jumped out of the yard again, but I am keeping him in a crate when I take off with my dogs for their two runs a day.

From Travis the Lab

Day two with Travis the lab

Thursday - my second day with my new foster dog

From Travis the Lab

Because Travis jumped out the four foot gated dog yard yesterday evening. I left him in his crate overnight. Unlike Bruce's first night where he barked and whined nearly all night Travis was very quiet and my sleep was not disturbed.

Heeling at my side

At about seven in the morning I went to Travis' crate and asked for a SIT. Then I waited until he sat and looked me in the eyes then I eye clicked and treated (Eye clicks are just a strong blink of both eyes as the dog is watching you.) Then I opened his crate door and stood in front of it. I blocked the opening and waited for Travis to sit. Once he did I slipped on his choke chain, asked for a sit, then clicked and let him walk out. As soon as he hit the end of the leash I stepped off fast in another direction. This is to teach him that I am the leader and that he need to kept track of where I am and what I am doing and follow me. As soon as he reached my left side I clicked and treated.

I walked again and once again he surged ahead and I changed direction. I kept this up until he was slowing down and paying more attention to where I was. I slipped his leash over a fence post and said, STAY and went to pull out the golf cart for our run. Travis barked and whined. I waited until he was quiet and sitting before approaching him and asking for a sit again before removing his leash from the fence.

Road Run

I had my two smaller dogs on the golf cart and ran Travis along side it. He is not a champion sled puller and it is easy to keep him from pulling ahead. He jogged along side the cart and I would click and stop and treat from time to time. Also I would stop the cart and walk him around asking for heel some too. Travis needs a lot of work on heeling. He kept wanting to just walk ahead and doesn't kept track I where I am. I have to keep changing direction. He will learn that it is just easier to walk with me. He is sitting faster and more consistently when I stop and ask for a sit.

Fetching the Ball

I stop and let him cool off in the pond -- in the shallow water along its edge as i still have him on a four foot lead. Back home play some fetch with him with a tennis ball which he loves. When he is excited he is a little mouthy and also holds on the ball a bit from time to time.

I place him back into his crate and feed him. Then I walk my dogs. Travis barks when we leave the yard, but his barking dies down quickly as soon as we are out of sight. In a couple of hours I placed Travis in his dog yard. He barked some when I left him but didn't climb out. He stayed in his yard until his evening fun.

Evening workout

Repeat of morning cart run along and stops at the pond to cool off and some heeling and sitting training. Then some ball tossing in my yard.

Meeting my two smaller dogs

I had my two little dogs loose in my yard while Travis played fetch. His energy level made my smallest dog, BooBoo nervous and she just stayed out of his way. Gigit who is about thirty pounds was less intimidated by him, but she does take a while before she is trusting enough of large dogs to play with them. With the ball around Travis doesn't give other dogs to much attention.

Travis has a good energy but is not over the top like Bruce. He will fit into more families since he doesn't require as much daily exercise as a hyper dog.

Travis the lab my new foster dog

New Foster Dog - Travis - Day One

On Wednesday morning a pet rescue friend picked up Bruce (he is leaving on transport Thursday) and dropped off Travis, for me to foster - another black male Labrador Retriever that is up for adoption at Labs4Rescue. She put Travis in a dog crate.

Loose Leash Heeling Lesson

After I ran my dogs I came back and took Travis out of his crate and placed a choke chain and four foot lead on him. I walked him about my yard a little to see how much he pulled. He pulled pretty hard on the leash when he wanted to smell something. I kept changing directions whenever he reached the end of the leash and start to pull on it.

I kept doing this until he started to pay more attention to me. Whenever he did give me his attention I clicked and treated him. Travis doesn't know how to take treats from my hand nicely. He put my whole hand in his month a few times trying to figure out how to get the treat. I kept my fist closed until he started to lick at my hand then I would open it so he could get at the treat. The treats were hot dog slices and his dog food kibble.

Clicker Training

I also started to ask for a SIT and what for it before clicking and treating him. He didn't seem to know the word, SIT, but responded more to the upward tug on the leash -- if I had his attention. Once sitting I clicked and treated.

After I could walk a bit without him trying to just drag me. I pulled out the golf cart to take him on a road run. I placed my two smaller dogs on the cart in their halters and let Travis run along side the golf cart. He is not a Speed Racer, more like a Lope Along Larry. He didn't run as fast as he could and before long he was staying right at the side with a loose leash. This was a nice change from the full out racing and arm pulling Bruce did until he was tried. Travis also tucker out faster than Bruce. I only had to travel about half the distance I did with Bruce to give him a good workout. But he will gain stamina with farther workouts.

We stopped by the pond on the road and I let Travis walk into the water where he laid down to cool off. Once back home I place him in his own dog yard.

Evening - Road Run and Pond

At about 5:30 pm I took Travis for another short road run with the golf cart and another stop at the pond to cool off (still on the four foot lead). I also did a little heeling on a loose leash work and sitting. He is still pulling ahead when he smell something he want to check out. He wants the treats but is still not sitting too fast.

I also tried Travis' leash to a fallen tree for a few snap shots in the evening sun.

From Travis the Lab

Jumped the fence

After I exercised Travis I put him back in his dog yard and let my other foster dog, Howie the Hound, and my German Shepard dog, Lobo, out of their dog yards to run around my larger fenced in yard. Travis was very excited and kept barking and barking and jumping up at the gate of his yard.

When I went and got dog food for my dogs and started to put them up after their playtime Travis grew even more excited and jumped the four foot dog yard gate. I was right there and grabbed him by his collar and snapped on a leash and walked him to his crate. I am not ready to have him met my dogs loose, specially when he is so excited and their is food around. So now I know that Travis can climb a four foot fence. I will keep in crated for this night.

Today's Summary of Lessons

I worked with Travis on the following: SIT, take food nicely from my hand, walking on a leash without pulling on it, getting his attention, and jogging along with the golf cart.

Health note: Travis' stool is on the soft side, but this can just be because he is excited and in a new place and eating new food and drinking new water.

Day Seven with Foster Dog Bruce

Sunday - but we still work on training

In the morning I walked Bruce up the road to the pond. I figure he can be off lead next to the road since he is able to focus so well on the ball. There is not as much traffic on this road on Sunday. Bruce did fairly well with keeping a loose leash on the walk to the pond and I did do some recalls when he forgot. The command COME is an important one that should be consistently worked on.

Bruce LOVES the pond and the ball fetching. If his new owns can bring him to pond, lake, or other waterway often he will be in heaven. Bruce is bit too much in a hurry to leave to get the ball that he sometimes doesn't notice where I toss it. I kept changing the spot in the pond where I threw the ball so he would learn to watch where I tossed it. He is still chomping too much on the ball and it is still hard to remove it easily from his month. I am now asking for a sit each time before I try to take the ball from him. I am also clicking for when he stops chomping on it for a second. It will take time for him to learn to have a less active mouth when holding the ball.

I had family over today and Bruce did a lot of barking as we where working in the yard and he could see us, but was in his dog yard. After a long while he did shut up, but would start again if I past his yard while going to get tools. He does need to learn more self control and it will come when he see that the barking just doesn't get him what he wants. From time to time when he was quiet I would bring him a few dogs kibbles and ask for a sit and click and treat.

In the evening I played ball in the yard with him. He got too hot and went and jumped in my goldfish pond with his ball. My largest fish was upset and nearly jumped out the pond. I will have to keep Bruce out of my fish pond.

Good News

My golf cart is fixed again! Bought a part at the store yesterday to fix it. So now I can use it once again to help exercise Bruce.

I have been having some Internet connection troubles and it is hard for me to get online and update this blog. It is especially hard to add photos to it. Hope this problem ends soon.

Fostering Bruce now day six

Saturday - rainy day

With the rainy morning I didn't exercise any of the dogs. As I took care of my ponies and did a few other outside chores Bruce barked and whined wanting to try to demand my attention. I just ignored him. When he finally shut up I and went and feed him.

By evening the clouds were still thick, but it was not raining so I walked Bruce on a six foot lead through the woods to the pond again. Without his morning exercise he was extra hyper, but he did control himself rather well and didn't try to drag me down the wet trail. I did a few recalls when he put a little too much pressure on the leash.

At the pond I asked for a sit and then took out the tennis ball - a new one I just bought today since I didn't have time to look for the one Bruce lost yesterday. Seeing the ball he grew even more excited. For about five minutes I played fetch with Bruce tossing the ball both in the pond and on land. He is fast and was able to jump and catch the bounced ball a few times. I wonder how he would do with a Frisbee?

He did choke a little on the pond water from time to time. He also chomps on the ball too much while trying to give it back to me and he pinched my fingers a few times. I also started to ask for a sit before attempting to take the ball back.


Down needs more work

I asked for a sit and then a DOWN before tossing the ball. Bruce sits very fast, but is having a hard time with down while playing ball. He is just too excited. He also still flops on his side for the DOWN command. He will need to get better with DOWN without the distraction of the ball.

The mosquitoes were out in large numbers and really starting to bug me so I cut the playtime short and started to head home. Bruce kept wanting to find where I had the ball and tried to circle me a few times. I shorten the leash and asked for more attention and for a heel back down the trail. I also keep stopping and asking for a SIT which I would click and treat.

Back in my yard I let Bruce back off lead and tossed the ball for him some more. The rain was holding off if not the mosquitoes. I also tried DOWN a few more times and he did do a bit better with them now.

By the way, I was told that Bruce has been adopted and will be traveling up north on Thursday April 23, 2009. I do hope he will have owners willing to keep up his training and give him enough exercise.

Why adopt a black lab

Top Ten Reasons to Adopt a Black Lab (as posted on Labs4Rescue)

10. They are so easy to find in a snowstorm!
9. If you like to wear jeans a lot, black fur doesn't really show up as much as yellow!
8. Black and white photography is so much fun!
7. Their coats are so shiny and their teeth look whiter on a black background!
6. You and your new black lab will make a great fashion statement, as all the new hot collars look great on a black background!
5. You never know if they've been rolling in mud!
4. Makes a game of hide and seek in the dark, oh so challenging!
3. More likely to scare off a bad guy, before they lick the intruder to death!
2. You look so chic and accessorize so easily with a black lab. They match that little black dress or black pants that go with everything!
1. Walking a black lab makes you look 10 lbs thinner!

On a serious note, black Labs are the last adopted and are the first to be put to sleep...based on coat color alone. Please help change this. At Labs4rescue we say "Save a BLACK Lab, have a friend for life!"

OK now visit Labs4Rescue and check out all the black Labrador Retrievers.

P.S. The photo above is of Bruce my foster lab. Please considering fostering a lab and help save a dog's life.

Bruce a black male lab foster dog

Monday - Bruce arrives

Bruce, my new foster dog arrives at my home Monday evening April 13th. He came from being boarded at a vet's office where I don't think he was receiving any exercise, or not enough for a young active lab. Bruce is a black Labrador Retriever male that weighs about 55 pounds or so, but he is a bit on the thin side. I will be foster Bruce for Labs4Rescue.

I walked him around a little to let him smell and mark. I walked him up to the other two dogs in their dog yards and let them sniff through the fence. My dogs and Bruce were excited and a bit tense at this first meeting, with Bruce, the new dog, showing the most nerviness. My large male German Shepherd gave one growl, but no one tried to bark or attack each other through the fence, so it was a good first meeting. I placed Bruce in is new dog yard for the night.

I asked him to SIT and he surprises me by knowing the meaning of the word and sitting so I could click toss him a treat (clicker training). I repeated this several times and though he was super hype he was hungry and wanted the treats so most of the time he sat on the first or second command of the word, SIT.

That night he barked and whined in distress the whole night through. He didn't sleep much and neither did I. But being in a new place with new sounds and smells and new dogs to learn about is stressful so I didn't let myself get too mad at the sleepless night.

Fostering a dog can help make the dog more adoptable if the dog gets needed exercise to unwind from the kennel crazies and you can do some basic training - at least working on the command SIT for treats. Just getting out of a multiple dog kennel situation and into a family home will help calm a dog down.