Man Ginger catches on fast!

We worked on a touch command to train both dogs how to ring a bell to go outside for potty. Ginger got the idea in about three tries. It was so funny. About 10 minutes later she was so excited about the new game that it actually took longer to touch the bell because she was so excited. She eventually calmed back down and got the idea.

Ginger is very food driven. She will do anything for a treat. Serious seems to be driven by food and play.

Ginger once again helps with training

We took the dogs for a walk tonight and Serious had a hard time with the Top Dog exercise. When I fell back behind hubby things got easier. Ginger catches on fast though and when we would turn around for a bit because Serious had gotten way ahead of us Ginger would just stop to see how far we were going to go or if she needed to take us seriously. When we would get too far ahead though she would catch up which helped Serious realize that maybe he better do the same. She is so funny and nothing gets past her. She has done this training she knows that as soon as she catches back up with us we will turn around again if they go ahead again. The reward is always walking in a straight line or towards a specific destination. At the end, she was not leaving our side for anything because she didn't want to get left behind. Gotta love it.

It's about time we got SERIOUS!

Serious is the name of our latest family member. He is a one year old black lab. We are looking forward to getting to know him as he gets to know our family. We went to pick him up this afternoon. He has been on a leash with DH since he got home so that he learns that when DH is home he is working. DH seems to be taking to him like a duck to water! Serious seems very intelligent and is learning quickly that he needs to take his work seriously! That is just too funny. We did not name him but we love his name. I will add pictures as soon as I get my camera working.

Would anyone else be interested in a diabetic medical alert?

I have found a 1 year old male black lab for a reasonable price. I want to train a dog specifically as a diabetic medical alert and want to experiment with training with Ginger and another dog. I would like to survey how many diabetics (type 1 and 2) that would be interested in a trained diabetic medical alert if I were to successfully train it? Please indicate which type and how long you have been struggling with blood sugar management and anything else you feel necessary to share. I look forward to hearing from you. I am not making any promises at this time but would like to do this for a living so I am very serious.

We are trying to see if we can get Ginger to do a new job

DH had a very low blood sugar tonight. We have talked before tonight about getting a second dog as a medical alert but after research decided we wanted to try to train Ginger first. I have been trying to get DH to provide me strips with low blood sugars but he keeps forgetting. He has not gone this low on me since before he got his pump and monitor. When he did before I would always wake up. Tonight I just happened to be awake. When his alarm on his monitor starts going off though it is impossible for me to go to sleep until I know his sugars on rising again. Usually they do. Tonight they didn't.

Ginger wasn't in bed with us. In fact, we were starting to push her out of bed because she is a bed hog. Now we are having mixed feelings about this. Me in particular. Normally I can feel when DH is going low because he breaks out into a sweat but tonight the decline was so gradual this did not happen and my only clue that he was going too low to go back up was that he stopped snoring and he started twitching. He used to do that when he went into a coma.

This really startled me tonight. I immediately went and got Ginger from the kids room and provided treats to entice her to jump on DH and to try to get her to lick him and wake him up. She absolutely refuses to lick him though when he is low so I will have to work on something else like barking. She does know the "speak" command so this would not be difficult. I guess DH did put the used glucose strip in front of her and made her speak once so this could work. I also gave her a peanut butter treat once I brought his food back and he started eating. This is her favorite treat so it did not take long to warm her back up to the idea of being with him. In fact, she is cuddling with him now and they are both out again.

I am hoping with some conditioned training we can train her to alert. He really needs the alert at night but our research indicates that he may need an alert even during the day in the near future and we want to be prepared before it comes to this point. His monitor helps but the low averages can estimate higher than he comfortably should be at so we need extra help.

Hello...it has been quite awhile

Hello everyone. I miss talking to the dog people. We have been couped up in the house because school has started for mom and the kids. They are doing well but I get bored sometimes. Mom is trying to at least provide some training and play stimulation during the day but I am so glad to get outside that sometimes I hate to come back in.

Mom says I am getting too bossy at the front door. I guess I scared a neighbor that came to the door because I was barking too much and too fast for them. Mom got out the water bottle which I am not happy about at all but mom is pleased to see that I quickly stop when I see the water bottle. Hopefully, she won't have to use it for too long.

I hope all is well with you guys. Keep up the good work!

Funny story

I can't see what the big deal is! There was an unopened peanut shell on the floor from the kids so I cracked it open and ate the peanut! Everybody knows I love peanut butter so I don't know what is so funny!

Review is always good

Mom says that I need to review the basics again. I am a bit fidgety lately. She has not left the house as much lately so I am a bit restless I think. Tonight we went to a school picnic for one of the kids and I did ok. I have not had much experience with other dogs while out in the field and there was another rat terrier at the picnic. I reeeally wanted to say but after mom repeating the "sit" a couple times I fnally decided she meant business and I had to work and couldn't play with other pup pals. I sat down after that then and was good for the rest of the time without any physical rewards from mom. She was really pleased about that. She had asked the other lady if we could come by them so we could work with my training because they knew each other. Mom thinks that we need to work more on my "stay" command though.

Plugging away

Mum is doing ok. She says that she can notice how I help not only her but a friend of hers. Mom was really tired Sunday after weeding a lot last week. She filled 9 weeding bags. The ones that are over 3 feet tall! Her back is still bothering her some and she has decided she needs to teach me to pick things up because she drops a loy of stuff when she is too tired. Dad makes jokes about never giving her anything that could break when she is tired! Mum knows he is not being mean though, and actuallly he may be joking but she thinks it is a good idea.

Mum's brother is still having a lot of trouble so mum gets sad sometimes, but not as much anymore. Besides, she is too busy with daycare. She has had a lot of schedule changes with current kids and an interview with one part-time infant and 3 more interviews coming up. She isn't going to be able o take all of them, which is a first for her, and a good boost to her confidence.

Mum says I am doing great. She says we have to work on dealing with large groups. I do fine but she can tell I am still a little uneasy but she is testing to see if I am uneasy because she is uneasy. She is beginning to think this is the case. She has a hard time knowing how she feels sometimes but thinks that maybe I do and this will help her with herself. She hasn't told anybody that so "mums the word!"

Why don't we write more?!?

Well, mum is doing a little better. She says she is on a plateau at the moment which is good but sometimes she feels like the bottom could fall out any moment still. When she is having a hard time it is harder for her to write so we apologize if we haven't dropped in much lately. Also, she is going to school full time through an online university program and every nine weeks her classes end and new ones begin. This week is week one again so the pressure is a little better. She is working really hard to work smarter and slowly it is getting better. She is feeling more and more like herself eveyr day. She just could not keep taking the antidepressants and is working to rely more on working with me to help her. I have learned a few new things. She tried to teach me to paw her when she is having a mood swing but I taught her a better one. I just sit by her and stare right in her eyes! Man does she get unnerved by that! It works too! She stops what she is doing and we spend some time together, usually doing more training and she does better. The last time she had a problem was a couple of days ago and we caught it early enough that she did great. A week ago mum had a friend over and she was getting nervous so she asked me to sit on her lap because she was getting really cold. She is completely amazed at how I can help her warm up so much faster than before when her nerves were overstressed. The lap thing is a little hard for me. I haven't decided if I like it yet. Mom says it has to be on my terms still, not hers when I really like it but I still do it because she really needs the help. Here are some more recent commands she has been working with me on

No Speak (Man this is really hard when we are just laying around and another dog walks by. I don't usually care much when I am out in the field working though.)
Down to finger tap. Mom taps the place she wants me to lay down at and keeps tap and adjusting me if I don't get it right the first time. While mum was working on a fnal last week she was cold so she tapped her bare foot to make me lay on it and she warmed up again in about 15 minutes.
Whisper. This is not a bark. Mum makes me move my mouth and only make a teeny tine noise and then she gives me a yummy treat. This may help her with teaching me another task later but she is not sure yet.

This is no fair. Dad kicked me off the bed and he is scratching mum's back! I want my bed!