Therapy dog training - Part I

In May, Link and I attended the first 2,5 days (out of 5) of training to become a therapy dog team. It was very educational and extremely much fun. Both of us learned a lot of useful things, both as a future therapy dog team and for everyday life.

The Newfoundland dog "Odin" being trained to greet people by putting his head in their lap.

 The terminology is somewhat confusing when it comes to "therapy dogs". "Terapihund" directly translates to "Therapy dog", but from what I've understood the meaning is not the same. For a dog to be called "terapihund" the owner has to be using the dog in a professional setting. Like if you are a psychologist and use your dog as part of therapy sessions with patients, then the dog is a "terapihund". You should get paid for the work you do with a "terapihund" and the time spend educating yourself and the dog is about 450 hours.
What Link will become if he passes the test is not a "terapihund", he will become a "besøkshund" which roughly translates to "visitation dog". The "education" only takes 38 hours and we are volunteers, i.e. we don't get paid for our work. However in the book I've read about therapy dog work and the information I've found on wikipedia tells med that the correct term in English for what Link will become is a "therapy dog", so I'll just stick to that term here on the blog.

The border collie "Biff" learning to work with a "patient" in a wheelchair.

A therapy dog has one job, and that is to make the person you are visiting feel good. A dog that looks unhappy and acts hesitant is not going to make anybody feel good. So when training a therapy dog it is important to get the dog used to things like wheelchairs and walkers. The dog should also be trained to jump up in an unknown persons bed to cuddle with this person, without feeling uncomfortable and wanting to jump down all the time. The dog must be enjoying itself to be a good therapy dog, nobody wants a visit from a therapy dog that looks like it would rather be any place else but next to you.

Varg and his owner Julie are also training to become a therapy dog team.

 One of the more useful things I learned is how to teach Link to walk past things, like dogs that you meet or whatever it is that he normally has a problem passing. You teach your dog that on a cue, like "forward", the dog will find something good if it continues walking. That good thing can be a toy or a treat that you either have already put there or throw in front of the dog when it walks forward. When we practiced this at the course, the instructor first showed Link that she put something really interesting on a chair (she made a big fuss about it) and then took him with her some meters away from the chair. Link was of course intrigued over what that thing she had put on the chair was and was really focusing on it. She stood next to him, facing in the same direction as him, and told him to "go forward", and he of course immediately ran over to the chair and ate the pieces of hotdog she had left there. This training can then be generalized in many situations like having the dog having to walk through a door to get to the treat/toy or telling the dog to walk forward when on a walk.

Link learning to "go forward" on cue.

One of the biggest gains for me personally was that during these 2,5 days Link went from hyper and excited every time he was let out of the car (for his turn to do some training), to paying attention to me and being able to relax even though other dogs were training nearby. Link has become increasingly hormonal during the past 6 months, so this was really a challenge for us. I am so very grateful for how much the instructor and the other participants helped us with this, and so extremely happy that we were able to do this using positive methods.

Link focusing on some treats on the ground and taking it easy at the dog club.

In September all the dogs attending this course will go through a test to show how suitable they are for therapy dog work. One of the things that will be in the test is how they react when meeting a dog while going through a doorway. That is the one I think is going to be toughest for us.
Other things they will test is if the dog will eat any edible item they find and how they react to people behaving strangely and how they react to sudden noises. The best reaction to any unanticipated, possibly scary, situation, is that the dog react to it with surprise, realize that it wasn't dangerous and then let go of the incident and continue working. They might experience even painful things when visiting people, like some diseases causes the hands of a patient to grab things and not being able to let go. The dog should never react with aggression or strong fear in situations like that, but rather view it as a mistake by the human and wait for a treat. You should teach your dog that if something out of the ordinary happens, you give it something good. That way you will have a dog that if it feels uncertain about a situation, it will come to you. Hence you will know if your dog needs a break from the work, before the dog gets overwhelmed.

Training relaxation.

 Another exercise we did was the so called "rucksack". In this exercise you have your dog in front of you (as seen in the picture above), holds the dog's head and strokes it's chest. You put some treats in front of the dog on the floor, and wait until the dog is totally relaxed in your hands before you pick up a treat and give it to the dog. In the beginning you just wait for the dog to relax it's head in your hand, and you increase the level of relaxation that is needed for the dog to get the treat gradually. When you have practiced this for a while, you (if everything goes according to plan) have a dog that will just lay down and relax when you sit it if front of you and stroke it's chest. This is very useful in situations when you just need your dog to relax.

Another dog attending the course was this beautiful female Rottweiler.

I'm looking forward to the test in September, but I know that Link and I have a long way to go before we are ready.
Here is a link to the post about the second weekend: http://dogtelligent.blogspot.no/2014/10/therapy-dog-training-part-ii.html

Introducing a Kitten to your adult Dog

My dad's new kitten.

 When I was visiting my father during my vacation this summer, he got a new kitten. I was really happy that my dad got the new addition to the family when we were there, so that Link and the kitten could get to know each other while the cat was still young.

Picture form the first day, when he just came out from under the sofa when we left the room.

 The first day the kitten was in the house, it was only allowed in the kitchen. It stayed under the sofa all the time we were in the room, but came out to eat, go on the litterbox and play, as soon as we left. We only had a gate between the kitchen and the hallway, about 1 meter high, to make sure we could keep an eye on the kitten and also keep Link from going in there. Link and the kitten (hereafter known as Messi), could see and smell each other through the gate, but not get to each other.

Me and Messi.

 The second day, Messi was still only allowed in the kitchen, but was now playing and eating even when we were in the room. He still would not approach us though. The gate was still separating Link and Messi, but Messi now seemed more interested in Link. Link just tried to avoid the cat.

Messi feeling comfortable and safe on my dad's lap.

 The third day was when Messi finally came out of his shell. He would now approach us when we talked to him and let us pick him up. He also started purring when interacting with us. Since he seemed so relaxed, and Link had shown no signs of seeing Messi as a toy or something to chase, I let Link into the kitchen when I was there. The expression on Links face when Messi stroke himself against Links leg was priceless. He didn't know how to respond to this, clearly friendly, but in dog language so incredibly rude gesture. He just stood there looking at me, with a perplex look on his face, without moving a muscle. They did sniff each other nose to nose too, which Link definitely preferred.

After having been allowed in the same room, under supervision, for a few days, Messi and Link started feeling comfortable in each others presence.

 During the course of the next few days, almost all interactions between the two of them where friendly. There were just a few times, like when Link walked directly towards Messi, that Messi hissed warningly at Link (and Link immediately turned his head to the side or walked away). Or when Messi got to close to Link when he had his beloved ball and Link growled at him, leaving Messi totally passive. They both showed that they respect each others boundaries, without either of them feeling the need to defend themselves physically.
 So all in all, I think the introduction went really well. There was really no real aggression, just two animals learning each other boundaries and to understand each other.

My sister with Messi and Link out on the porch.

 Introducing a new pet to the family can be tricky. Always make sure that the animals get plenty of time to get to know each other and to feel safe, before even thinking about leaving them alone together. A gate, as the one we used, is a really good tool. Through the gate they can get used to seeing each other and smelling each other, without them having to confront each other.

Learning to beg for food from the master himself ;)

Evening walk and practicing "just being"

Link by the lake, lots of terns flying around and lots of ducks on the water.

 This evening, Link and I went for a walk around a small lake here in Tromsø,where a lot of birds gather to nest and have their young every summer. I took the opportunity to training Link in the art of "just being". Just sitting there and let the birds fly and swim near us, let people and dogs walk by, without doing anything. No commands, no redirections, just relaxing.

This red throated loon came really close to us but Link didn't pay it much attention.

 Link did excellent as far as birds and humans go, but I can't say that we are done training when it comes to dogs passing us. I managed to get him not to bark at one dog, when I continuously clicked and treated while it walked by. But Link will not let the dog out of his sight for one second. Apart form that one dog, he barked at the others. Not constantly, but a few strong "woofs" per dog, just to get them to think that he is big and tough. Really he is insecure, but he doesn't want them to know that.. Silly Link. It couldn't be more obvious...

Link barking out of frustration, another dog just passed us and here he is trying to get me to understand that he doesn't like this game anymore. He wants to continue the walk. I waited until he was calm again before we continued walking.

Being able to do nothing is an important part of being a therapy dog. Sometimes the only thing the therapy dog should do is be in the room. And also if you find yourself in a situation where you have to have all of your attention on the person/patient, it is a good thing if the dog can just lie down and relax until it is time to "work" again. I realize I haven't written anything about the therapy dog course and training after we attended the first part of the course in May, I promise to come back to that in another blog post!

Examination of the Hips and Elbows of my Golden Retriever - Part 1

Photo of the hip radiograph of Link. Grade A or excellent hips.

 Link, my golden retriever, had radiographs of his elbows and hips taken the other day. I've already gotten the HD answer back from the Norwegian Kennel Club, and Link is has excellent hips! I'm so happy! I'll just have to be patient and wait for the elbow results. We already know that he has a form of ED called FCP (fragmented coroniod process) see separate blog post about that here. But that is just in the right elbow, so I really hope that his left elbow is fine. I will let you know what they find, as soon as I know myself.

On an other note, it is nice to be back from my vacation in Sweden and to start blogging again. I have a lot of things I want to share with you after this long and eventful trip. Hope all of you are having a nice summer!