Unquiet Bones Trains a Sidekick

[UnquietBones]

So, if you read the earlier Saga Of The Corgiador in which we adopted (and returned) a dog from a rescue that turned out to be incredibly aggressive (they lied about his temperment), you will be somewhat astonished to know we doubled-down and have another (larger) dog with a completely unknown history from the pound. ...Who is everything we hoped the rescue organization's dog would have been, at least so far.

 

Behold, Sir Buckethead the Gallant! (aka The Giant Puppeh)

 

So my four week challenge is to learn how to WEAR OUT THE PUPPEH. ...I am open to suggestions!

 

He comes with a built-in upper body workout, until I leash train him (he learns things crazy quick, so not too worried there). I think I will practice my throwing skills, since he loves fetch. Walking (obviously), but I'm thinking it would be cool to train him for the fancy dance moves ala Border Collie Performance Art. ...Or riding. Seriously, this puppeh is large! I need awesome Assassin playtime activities!

 

Is it technically bodyweight training if I'm using his bodyweight? 

 

Things Pupper Has Learned To Do in this Challenge: Walk on a leash without pulling, play tuggie games politely, drop a toy, wait to go through doors, take treats gently, sit-stays, down-stays, inside turns, outside turns, leave-its, come-and-sit, play gently with Shiva, look-at-me, off/getdown...

[DmKage]

I am definitely here for a doggy challenge!

[Mikroftt]

Tug of War, great upper body workout.  Running: great lower body workout.  We have a rescue cat who we love.  Yay for rescue animals!

[Hazard]

Does your town have a dog park?

 

 

[UnquietBones]

Because of the rain, yesterday we worked on leash manners. He is really avoidant of heeling for some reason. It seems to make him uncomfortable, so we just worked on slack line walking. Every time I'd stop I'd wait for him to turn around and notice and then he'd get a treat if he came back to me. This was all in the yard, so the 'interesting things' level was pretty low, but he did a good job!

 

On 8/7/2017 at 7:20 AM, DmKage said:

I am definitely here for a doggy challenge!

 

I'm hoping to come up with some awesome activities by the end of this!

 

On 8/7/2017 at 9:07 AM, Mikroftt said:

Tug of War, great upper body workout.  Running: great lower body workout.  We have a rescue cat who we love.  Yay for rescue animals!

 

I vaguely remember hearing that tugging games were bad because they built aggression?  The Internet now says tuggy is fine as long as they play by the rules! He would win that game in a heartbeat thought.   He's already gone through one hard rubber ball toy, so finding things his massive doggie jaws won't murder could be hard. Running I will have to work up to, I'm a walker now!  And rescue animals are awesome, they just get a little iffy when you already have animals in the house. Still waiting to see how he gets along with everyone long term... (We've only had him since this weekend).

 

Am hoping the rain lets up so we can do some more walking practice this afternoon!

[Jonesy]

Following for puppeh training!  

 

How old is your rescue?

 

My advice is while you are training, socialize the pup! I went to a puppy class at a local Petco and asked if I could bring my 1yr old rescue in since there was a trainer there helping socialize the pups. We also have shy dog areas at a few local dog parks or plan puppy play dates with friends you trust.  Swimming is another great activity for dogs. If he already likes to play fetch, that's an easy way to get him engaged in water sports. Hehe

[Mr.Six]

7 hours ago, UnquietBones said:

we just worked on slack line walking.

I definitely assigned the wrong meaning to this during my first read.  Assassin dogs!

[UnquietBones]

So much sick yesterday... I felt so bad because BucketDog really wanted to play and I wasn't up to it and ShivaFluff was Having None Of That. I am feeling a bit better this morning so I'm hoping that holds up and we can go adventuring today!

 

On 8/8/2017 at 0:16 PM, Jonesy said:

Following for puppeh training!  

 

How old is your rescue?

 

My advice is while you are training, socialize the pup! I went to a puppy class at a local Petco and asked if I could bring my 1yr old rescue in since there was a trainer there helping socialize the pups. We also have shy dog areas at a few local dog parks or plan puppy play dates with friends you trust.  Swimming is another great activity for dogs. If he already likes to play fetch, that's an easy way to get him engaged in water sports. Hehe

 

The pound guessed he was about a year old, but he has all the gangly puppy 'I have no idea where my paws go' to him, so that seems about right. I want to get him into obedience classes, I just haven't gotten to it yet. He's gonna need lots of training, but he seems all for the idea. He is GOOD DOG and wants to be all the good-- he's just not sure how.   His main problem is he has no idea how to tone down to play with things smaller than he is, but we're working on that.

 

Hubby is out on a quest today to find a fetch toy that he won't chew into tiny pieces, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Once he's off-leash trained the water could be fun!

 

On 8/8/2017 at 2:55 PM, Mr.Six said:

I definitely assigned the wrong meaning to this during my first read.  Assassin dogs!

 

I didn't know Naruto had ninja dogs!! ...I really want to watch more episodes now.  I stopped somewhere around the fourth or fifth one and never really picked it up again. I seriously need to dress my dogs up for Halloween now!

[Jonesy]

The puppy classes I went to helped teach pups how to play. And you have the safety of a trainer there to help if things get out of control. 

 

Ooh you want to get a jolly ball  for your pup. It's originally for horses and I heard they are super hard to destroy! 

[Red1263]

I read your description and thought this:

 

[karinajean]

UM THESE DOGS THO.

 

I started watching Naruto from the beginning a couple of years ago during my annual last-minute-christmas-knitting disaster process and the dog episode was AMAZING.

(after finishing my knitting I didn't have the time to keep up with naruto and I am still roughly 50000 episodes behind.)

[Coco P Loco]

Sir Buckethead the Gallant is super cute! When my doggy was a puppy we wore her out with lots of running around, fetch and lots and lots of things to chew. We were lucky to have a large fenced-in yard in the apartment block in which we could run her around every night when nobody else was around!

[UnquietBones]

Sooo... I hurt my back on Thursday and have been pretty much bedridden ever since (ow, ow, ow). I am finally to a point where I can move with just aches and not pains (yay!) but that means poor Bucket has been going a little stir crazy. I have Grand Plans to take him out for a walk when I get home and we have been playing fetch with him a little in the backyard, but gets bored of that really quickly.

 

I meant to marathon Naruto whilst in bed, but ended up marathoning Food Wars instead. Woe.

[UnquietBones]

Leash walking, gogogo!

 

Sadly it only wore him out for about 30min, but it wasn't that long a walk (he's still very nervous) so we played a bunch of fetch outside later. ...My aim is horrible. *is pathetic assassin* 

 

I got information on doggie training classes and we'll be starting them next month. (Woot!) I also spent waaaaay too much time on YouTube trying to learn how to teach him to Leave It and not Leave-it-omg-dog-why-don't-you-listen-to-me. *sighs*

[UnquietBones]

It was pouring yesterday (like white-out pouring) so we did some training inside the house. I'm trying to get him to look at me and not the object he's obsessing on and we made a little bit of progress. I think it's just going to take a lot of repetition. He got to sniff the cat butt as a reward (and lots of treats) and he was calm about it! 

 

I also did some testing with him playing with the other dog while he was on a leash. I had been assuming that it was his energy and constant drive to play that was keeping the rough-housing going after the smaller dog did the 'ow that hurt stop it'... but it turns out that if he can't chase her after she gets out from under him that she's the one who will come bouncing back and start the rough-housing again. *sighs*

 

So I will be working on 'stop it and calm down' training for both of them. Yay?

 

Bucket has WAY too much energy this morning because he hadn't really gotten out to play much yesterday. I'm thinking I may need to start getting up earlier and play some serious fetch with him. I'd love to take him out for a run... but I can't run. So. Yeah. This challenge may now include learning how to do that I think!  (Along with a host of other things.)

[UnquietBones]

I did a bunch of 'follow me' and 'sit in front of me when I stop' (since he doesn't like sides) yesterday after work and he did really well!  I'm trying to get him to pay attention to what I'm doing and that seems to be helping a bit.

 

After he was tired out I let out the little dog... and let them roughhouse until she did a 'Not cool dude!' bark-- then I distracted him and got him to redirect his play at me instead. It worked out pretty well!  I think the swap from 'stop playing' to 'play with the appropriate person instead' seems to be working. He's just too much of a puppy to understand the 'stop playing' bit and it was making him uber frustrated. Having to play with me only makes him a little frustrated.

 

He got to sit with me on a leash while the cat was out and about after that and he was calm, but sad that the cat butt was too far away to smell. He did his best to vacuum the cat over to him via sniffing, but alas... no luck.

 

The good news all this dog playing is getting my step counts up! Woot! It's been too darned hot and humid for me to much more than that, but cooler days are on the way... I need to find a way to keep being active outside in the winter! (I am a wuss about the cold. )

[UnquietBones]

I made my daily step count goal and came within a smidge of my active minutes goal yesterday on the dog walk! WOOT!  *happy victory dance* 

 

Bucket is doing really well on the walks and I'm talking with the dog trainer after work about enrolling him in proper obedience classes starting next week. He is a little forgetful, but it's all mild pulling on the leash and not playing 'drag the human'. Whew! He's not doing so well with the 'play nice with the little dog' unless he is worn out, but we're working on it. I did more practice with the following me around the yard and noticing when I stop and I think it really helped when I was doing the same thing on the walk.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to get a morning walk worked into things-- I have to be at work uber early and I have long hair, so I'll have to figure out if I can get away with a 'damp, but braided' look. It would be a nice bounce to my step count though and maybe it would make me into a morning-er person...

 

He was tearing around the yard this morning like a looney trying to get me to play chase and it occurred to me that 'catch the dog' could be a fun skill to learn! It might not be parkour, but it has the dodge-and-weave and bounce-around-like-an-idiot fun aspects to it. I think I'll need to work up to that one though-- lots of flexibility required!  

[UnquietBones]

Saturday was a day of sleep... like 20 out of 24 hours. I have no idea why, but I couldn't keep my eyes open. My husband actually tried to wake me up a few times and I'd 100% mean to get up, but fall asleep again instead. No clue why, but it's a little worrying.

 

Sunday was back to normal so there was much dog training and dog playing and dog-stop-it-really-do-you-need-a-timeout? Bucket got to be out and loose in the house for most of the day (or out in the yard), so the cat wasn't happy with us (since that means he's locked up), but he learned that we won't let him harass the little dog. The little dog is trying to figure out if this means she can get him in trouble (no) and if she can get away with bad behavior herself (heck no). We also did a LOT of work on playing tuggie with him having to stop and let go in the middle of being uber excited and then having to wait for an 'okay' before he could grab the toy again.

 

He did make one lunge for the cat when it jumped onto the bed next to him, so he's still on 100% leash only cat interaction. He's getting better about not completely obsessing about it when Taft is nearby, but it's going to be an uphill fight I think.  

 

He has made a ton of progress in the last week (he almost always remembers he has to wait until I tell him it's okay to go through a door), but he has started demand barking a lot when he's in the crate. He's throwing an epic hissy fit every so often and while I know we need to just ignore it, it's incredibly annoying. He does stop though, so we have been able to wait him out so far. I'm really looking forward to the day when he can just be loose when we're home! *facepalm*

 

Got to talk to the dog trainer and he's now enrolled in weekly classes starting on the 30th... so he'll be power leveling soon!

[UnquietBones]

Ecliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipse!  Virginia got 88% totality so I spent an hour outside after work geeking out and taking photos of the shadows (so cool!) and the sun (tiny angry red dot ). The dogs stayed inside and were oblivious. They probably wouldn't have cared if I let them outside while it was going on, but why take the chance they'd flip out and run?

 

Nothing useful got done yesterday, but Doggo is being allowed out of the box for longer periods of time (depending on his behavior) and he's getting to play with Shiva a lot more in the yard. He almost got her to take a turn chasing him yesterday, but she doesn't seems to grasp the concept.  So I played a little chase with him instead-- I definitely need to up my Assassin-y game!

[sellesta]

We had a husky and were told to buy a weighted pack like this:  seriously worked wonders. I thought you could never wear a husky out. The pack worked wonders. Don't load it up with rock or whatever and start out light n work up. But we put dog water bowl, water bottles, snack, dog treats, whatever you'd carry on a walk. as they get more used to it you could make it a bit heavier. These come highly recommended. They also give your dog a sense of work and purpose. Especially when you pack their things in it. just be sure to measure your dog and get everything set right. Also, make sure your weight is even. We went to the vet for help but then found out there are a ton of youtube videos. also really nipped the whole tugging thing in the butt.  hope this helps. I have a boxer mutt mix. that was supposedly a husky/lab mix. herp herp derp no. I don't get the need for people to label dogs as fancy for resale. All dogs are equal! 

[UnquietBones]

Yesterday was a great day for a walk and I hit my steps goal (7k) and came close to my active minutes goal (45min)!

 

Bucket did great on the walk, we ran into a bunch of dogs that went a little ballistic when they saw him. The three tiny dogs across the street actually charged the fence (I was worried they would go around it, there's no gate!) and he didn't do anything. We even passed a cat, but it was on the porch of a house where the dog was slamming into the windows, barking, so I'm not sure he noticed it. We passed a few people as well and a few dogs (at a distance) and he was really good.

 

We also practiced indoor off-leash time, with the cat locked up, and indoor leashed time with the cat loose. There was cat sniffing (initiated by the cat), but TaftCat is still not sure that BigDog is a great idea. To be fair Bucket did do an OMGPLAYBOW which is a little alarming to cats. *sighs*

 

But all in all, we're making progress!  ...And I noticed the sad lack of Bucket photos in this thread, so I'm going to have to go back and retcon decorate it.

[UnquietBones]

On 8/22/2017 at 0:23 PM, sellesta said:

We had a husky and were told to buy a weighted pack like this:  seriously worked wonders. I thought you could never wear a husky out. The pack worked wonders. Don't load it up with rock or whatever and start out light n work up. But we put dog water bowl, water bottles, snack, dog treats, whatever you'd carry on a walk. as they get more used to it you could make it a bit heavier. These come highly recommended. They also give your dog a sense of work and purpose. Especially when you pack their things in it. just be sure to measure your dog and get everything set right. Also, make sure your weight is even. We went to the vet for help but then found out there are a ton of youtube videos. also really nipped the whole tugging thing in the butt.  hope this helps. I have a boxer mutt mix. that was supposedly a husky/lab mix. herp herp derp no. I don't get the need for people to label dogs as fancy for resale. All dogs are equal! 

 

What a good lookin' doggo(s)!  

 

I'll have to give the weighted pack a try, I was planning on taking Bucket hiking and it would be a heck of a lot easier if he carried his own water.   He does love being a Helper Dog What Helpers, so I'm hoping he loves the training classes. It would be uberawesome to have a sidekick I can get in good shape with. *crosses fingers* I love FuffehPuppeh like burning, but Shiva is just not a threatening critter, so I worry for my safety. With Bucket I'd be worried -for- someone who tried to pick on me!

[UnquietBones]

It's been awhile since I updated!  ...I'm totally going to blame that on being crazy busy and not on the fact I got a bit sick again.

 

Bucket had a great first training class. Most of the issues were with me not being a very good trainer!  But I've been working on it in the past week and I'm hoping I'm more organized this time.

 

Bucket has gotten a lot better about playing with Shiva, but while he's mellowed with the cat he's still snapping at it when he gets a chance. Well, snapping is a bad word, it's more of a laid back 'attempts to place mouth around cat' sort of move. We're going to have to keep working on it...

 

He had a fun time destroying an old dog toy that none of the other dogs really liked much (so long sharkey!). Unfortunately he also decided to nibble a couch cushion, so we can't just let him wander loose anymore when he's bored. He's taken to running around the yard carrying firewood and is making short work of the larger tree limbs that fell in the storm last week. He's almost convinced Shiva that Giant Sticks are MOST FUNNEST THING. But only almost.

 

I've taken him out to all the local parks now and he's had a bunch of practice being around other people and other dogs. I'm hoping this means he'll be even better behaved at class tonight! *crosses fingers*

 

I've been doing a LOT more walking outside (even twice in the rain!) so I'm hoping by the end of this the two of us will be a good team (and in good shape). I'd love to start bringing Shiva back out on walks, but I need to be confident in Bucket's leash manners first.

 

Onwards!

[UnquietBones]

This has been a pretty darned successful challenge!  *victory dance*

 

The training class on Wednesday went very well and Bucket was one of the best behaved dogs that night. He was the only one that managed a long down stay without getting distracted, but they didn't use food or another dog, so... Unless the noise is very loud, he's a pretty laid back doggo. (Apparently the distractions will get louder and more energetic as we go.) I got a new list of things to practice working on and I checked and Bucket isn't too big for the agility class they give!  So something fun to look forward too!

 

Last night I took both dogs out for a walk around the neighborhood, ShivaFluff on my left and BucketDog on my right. We passed people and other dogs (some friendly, some not) and they were both pretty darned good! I need to work with both of them, but for a first try I was very happy. 

 

Bucket has mellowed a LOT during this challenge! While he still wants to PLAYOMG, there are now times when it's Shiva who is demanding he roughhouse with her instead of always the other way around. Plus he loves being chased and Shiva is finally getting to the point where she is comfortable chasing him... so there are lots of yard zoomies! There is still a lot of work to be done before I'm comfortable letting him loose with the cat, but I'm confident we can work it out.

 

That being said... next challenge is going to be ALL THE ASSASSIN-y ALL THE TIME!  (Only now, with dogs in tow!)