We started a new ritual every morning. Right after we do bizness outside, Lexi is asked to “stay” at the bottom of the stairs, while I run upstairs to hide somewhere.

My favorite place to hide is right at the top of the stairs behind a GLASS door in our living area. I call to her “Come find mama” and she races up the stairs, and down the hallway away from me. It’s a riot! She can’t see me through the door, EVER! It’s really a wonderful hiding spot, because I can see her and her reactions perfectly.

Eventually, she will see me behind the door, when she’s searching through the living area. It’s so cute. Both Mindy and Lexi love “Hide and Seek” – we play with food kibble too!

I had to stop watching this. What an ass. And then I can’t believe Nat Geo puts the clip online to promote the show. If that clip isn’t enough to make you NOT want to watch him, I don’t know what will! I am amazed that he is still on TV, especially on the same network as Dog Town. ugh. Cesar Milan is such a jerk!

And the bigger issue is clips like this are out there, being promoted. Newbie dog owners think this is how to train a dog! His mindless followers keep watching him and treating their dogs like crap!

Lexi is scheduled for her spay surgery next Friday. I had learned previously that it’s best to stop fish oil 7-10 days before surgery, because of the anti-clotting properties. I stopped giving it the other day.

I also just realized that it’s better to stop Vitamin E as well, for the same reasons, so I will stop that as well. I am continuing to give a 1/4 tsp of probiotic powder once or twice daily.

It’s okay to start giving fish oil again 7-10 days after surgery.

This morning, I was petting Lexi, and I noticed that there was a strange lump on Lexi’s right upper thigh. I checked her other leg to see if it was symmetrical, but didn’t feel anything.

I didn’t panic, because right now, I am assuming it’s just a muscle bruise; she’s always running around like crazy, and I assumed she banged into something and developed a lump/bump.

In the back of my mind, though, I am a tad worried, thinking it could be cancer or something terrible. I will see what happens tomorrow, and will call the Vet on Tuesday if it’s still there.

The good thing is she was so good today. She was out of her crate walking around loose a lot today, and no accidents, and she was calm. I have started to correct her when she begins to bite or bother Mindy when she’s relaxing/quiet. She seemed to respond well and was very well behaved today; which makes me nervous because of the lump, and I am hoping she’s feeling okay.

I just love my little Lexi!

UPDATE: 2009-04-25: Lexi had icky soupy poopy this afternoon, and there was a streak of blood in it. I had given her a raw egg and some EVO kibble for breakfast, and she never had a problem with eggs before. I didn’t know if it was serious, so I called the vet.

He wanted her to come in so they could take a sample and probably put her on antibiotic. Anyway, while I was there, I mentioned the lump I had found (which was virtually gone by today) and he said it was probably from the rabies vaccination he gave her 10 days ago. A lump can occur a few days (or even weeks) later. Phew.

The poop sample came back negative for parasites, so he said it could just be an irritation or it could be a bacterial infection. He gave us some Metronidazole for 5 days.

New research from University of Pennsylvania that disputes the “aversive” training methods of Cesar Millan the Dog Whisperer:

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/research/030509.html

I personally had a negative outcome with Mindy when I tried to incorporate this method of training a couple of years ago. We are still trying to reverse the result.

Mindy had issues with food aggression, and I finally realized that a punishment of taking away the food bowl wasn’t working and actually making it worse. Once she realized that I wasn’t going to keep taking the food bowl away if she growled, she learned to trust me again. Eventually, she eased out of her food bowl aggression, but unfortunately, she still has very big issues with bones. But we are still working on that.

We started working on Lexi early. She started growling with her food bowl and with bones, and I just kept sticking my hands by her head, and moving the food or bowl without removing it. She learned that it was okay when we came near her when she was eating, and now there are no issues.

Now, if Mindy walks near her bowl, that is a different story. Don’t know if that can be solved, but we watch them very closely when food is involved.

I admit, I occasionally watch the TV show “The Dog Whisperer” but I don’t agree with his training methods.

I believe in positive re-enforcement, and not forcing the dog to do something.

I am not alone in my disbelief of Cesar Milan’s training methods. Here are a few links:

• http://www.4pawsu.com/dogpsychology.htm
• http://www.ourdogsonline.com – forum posts
• http://www.komonews.com/home/video/37440019.html?video=pop&t=a – Komo news story
• http://www.k9obedience.co.uk/ – Cesar Milan
• http://www.leecharleskelley.com/ – Myths of the Pack Leader

We had an awesome time at training class last night. Mindy has been a little unfocused during the prior two classes, but I think a lot of it was due to my disorganization at the start of the class. We were just barely on time one week, which meant I didn’t have my usual pre-class time to settle in and work on her focus. Last week, we were early, but Mike was fiddling with her harness, and it frazzled me. I guess it is really true, when I am not focused, Mindy will not be as well.

Anyway, last night she did better. She was heeling very well, and she did much better with her “sits” and “downs” – although not perfect, she did a great job!

Melissa, Carol (and Jill) were terrific; they were there to encourage and praise all of us, and they gave us a wonderful Graduation. We received our “diplomas” and Mindy got to choose a little toy. She chose a squiggly furry one, she loves those toys!

I was planning on retaking the “Better Manners” class again, since I didn’t feel Mindy was ready for the off-leash training in “Best Manners” and I mentioned this to Melissa last week. Well, I guess a few people felt the same way, because they announced there would be a new class added in between Better and Best Manners classes, and would be building on what we learned in this class. Hurray!

The best part of last night was Mindy got to play (off leash) with her classmate “Sadie” (another cute little dog) and Melissa’s dog (Jamm) – they raced and played together very nicely. I was pleased that Mindy also came when I called her! She really enjoyed herself and it was good to see her playing nicely with other dogs.

Well on one hand, I am glad to have a break from training til January, but on the other hand, I love going, and don’t know what I will do when we will be finished with all the courses they offer. I really respect and appreciate Carol and Melissa and will be sad when it all ends.

During our last training class on Monday, we started the process of ‘shaping’ our dogs to go to their bed/mat and lie down.

Carol chose Mindy to demonstrate the process. Drop the rug on the floor, and when the dog sniffed, looked, touched the mat/rug, click and treat. Well, it didn’t take Mindy long to understand what she was supposed to do. It was so fun to watch.

Well, last night I started working with this exercise at home. We bought a new soft rug at Walmart. This would be our portable bed so Mindy will always have a familiar bed to lie on at home, or when we visit others.

It amazes me how smart she is. Same as in class, she caught on so quickly that if she touched the rug, she would be rewarded (click and treat) – the treat is tossed away from the rug so she must understand to go back to the rug again each time.

After the treat, it is so funny to watch her plop down off the rug and look up at me. She is assuming that just because she is lying down, she’ll get a treat. And when she doesn’t get the reward, I can see her mind working; she quickly gets up and moves to the rug. Her eye contact is excellent!

I stepped it up again today (actually we practiced this exercise three times today) and waited for her to lie on the rug a few times, and then I worked a little on duration before I clicked.

I have always felt close to Mindy, but now the bond between us seems even deeper. I understand now how training is truly a wonderful way to build a lasting relationship of trust and love with a dog. I just love her to pieces!

Tonight was our third class in Mindy’s training course, and even more than last week, I felt a tremendous amount of pride and joy because of her wonderful performance tonight.

Last week, she was calmer and more focused, but still a little flighty. It was wonderful because no fences/gates were needed for any of the dogs last week, and they all did a wonderful job.

Anyway, this week, we worked further with eye contact. Mindy did very well, even though she was very distracted from the other dogs and also the instructors.

We left our seats and came closer to the center of the room, and worked with sit duration, and Mindy did a good job. She was a little bouncy and very distracted but I thought she was doing well despite her “spaz” self.

And then we started to work on “stay”and this is where Mindy started to shine!

While away from our seats, we had to work more on sit and stay for a duration of 5 or 10 seconds. Yes, Mindy does really well with home training, but at class, the distractions are sometimes too much for her, so I wasn’t sure what to expect!

The instructors were walking around the room (trying to distract all the dogs,) and she did look at them but rarely left her spot. Her mind was focused on me rather than the distractions around the room! I felt like she had a huge breakthrough tonight.

I was especially excited with her eye contact. Her eyes were locked on mine while I kept encouraging her to “stay” – sometimes she would lie down, but I would lure her back up to a sit position. She popped right back into the sit.

Carol asked jokingly if I glued Mindy to the floor, because she was doing so well. I was thrilled.

I am still on cloud nine!

We went to our first class for the “Better Manners” training course at Community Canines at the MSPCA in Methuen, MA

There were a couple of familiar students, & a couple of new ones; Carol was our instructor and Jill was a new (for us) assistant, Melissa was on vacation and will be back next week.

Anyway, Mindy was a crazy girl (complete with crazy eyes) when we arrived and for a good portion of the class. Thankfully, they added a little gate/fence in front of us so she didn’t get too distracted when Carol was speaking.

She did calm down a little, and did a fair job with the exercises. We have a long way to go, but I was proud of her. I think I was a lot more nervous than her, sometimes *I* feel so caught up in trying to do a good job, that I totally miss the instruction from Carol. God bless her, she has a lot of patience with me! hahaaa.

This class will be practicing more “shaping” behaviors, and we learned about the 3D’s – Distance, Duration, and Distraction.

We worked with eye contact, sit & down with distractions, let’s go, recall (come), and leave it.

So, now we have 5 more classes; Mindy really loves it and it gives her a good workout!