He has also been much more uncertain on walks since we moved into the new house. Ears held back a lot, not totally into them in general, though I am not sure what the reason behind it is. My guess right now is that it is due to the cars that drive along the parkway.

In an attempt to remedy my boredom and his uneasiness I have started trying to make the walks more interactive and ask Frodo for more out of his walks. The main way I have modified our walks is that I have given Frodo the opportunity to run, and to be rewarded for running, which is something he is rarely able to do and is reinforcing in itself for him.

So I have been putting Frodo in a sit stay or a down stay, walking about 15-20 feet away from him, releasing him and hauling butt until he catches up with me. I started by holding out my hand as I ran and asking him for a hand target, which worked well, and now occasionally I let him run past me and then ask him to return to me. Both ways earn him mucho doggy-dinero. Then I pick up his leash and we continue to run for a while, as I don't want him learning that the fun stops when he comes to me or when I have his leash.

Unfortunately this game will only last as long as the snow piles separate the walkway from the road and the trails are empty enough that I don't have to worry about bikers flying along the trail. Frodo is really really good about ignoring the bikers, he really doesn't seem to care that they are there at all, but it would be too easy for him to run in front of one and hurt himself and/or a biker.

There seems to be some very large, wide-open spaces throughout the park that we can probably do this one once spring comes, though I can never tell whether these are actually fields or whether they will be bodies of water! I surely hope so as he really seems to enjoy the game.

On the same note, when he is in working mode his recall is pretty good, when we are in walking mode, it is non-existent. The other morning I walked Frodo up to Farwell Park, a very small square park that we walk to almost every day. Frodo wanted to sniff a tree in the middle of the deep snow covered park. The park was absolutely empty so I dropped the leash and just continued walking. Nothing. I called his name, he looked at me, and I took off running. Nothing. I made it all the way to the other side of the park and he did not care. I yelled treats and he came running like a bat out of hell.

Frustrating dog is frustrating.

...that ended with this:

Our homework is Ian Dunbar's The Sit Test!

This should be very interesting. I like to use hand signals and Frodo listens better to hand signals, but I am really going to try and put everything together with only verbals.

Wish us luck!

The new bed I made for Frodo.

In other news, I think it is pretty evident that I got a job, due to the severe reduction of post count this week. I got a job at a local pet food outlet and I LOVE IT!

This week was our second week and Frodo did quite well for the most part, though he did react to a greyhound who (in his opinion) came too close. After the reaction, and it wasn't a big one, he did continue to work fine with a barrier between himself and the greyhound.

As for actual shaping today we worked on muzzle work, which went really really well thanks to Megan, who brought in a basket muzzle that Frodo could easily get his snout in! He was much more willing to leave his nose in this muzzle than he has been with the other mesh muzzle that we have been working with.

The rest of the class we spent working with his plush monkey that I am trying to teach him a play retrieve with. He did really well, better even than our work at Ryan's house. If I hold the monkey he will bite it, and sometimes even hold it for a second. If I put the monkey on the ground he will bite it repeatedly, but isn't so keen on lifting it off the ground. I need to choose one of these methods and move forward with it, instead of dabbling with both!

That's about all I can think of at the moment, my brain is pretty fried. I now have TWO jobs, which is great and will definitely keep me busy (and hopefully pay the bills), one of which I start tomorrow and work pretty much every day, so if the blog starts to slow down a bit, that is why. I also finished Frodo's awesome dog bed that I have been working on, and I have pictures but uploading them seems like a giant task right now, maybe tomorrow...

The first week's challenge was to take a picture of our dog being naughty.

Done.

-Car rides! Frodo and I should start going on car rides at least once, and preferably twice, a day. This will not only warm up my car so it doesn't act like it's dying whenever I do need to start it, but I also think it will help Frodo get acclimated to riding in the back of the car without me again. I am hoping it will also help him to settle in the car, because as it is he doesn't like to sit still while in the car, though he doesn't seem particularly stressed and he likes getting in the car.

-Training! I feel as though I should be doing at least three short training sessions a day. Right now our current endeavor is trying to teach Frodo to fetch. Not a formal fetch, just a play fetch. We are following the steps that Never Say Never Greyhounds has been posting on their blog. We are on Step 1 and Frodo is sort of offering teeth grabs. He likes to try and get away with just nose bumping it, though he is all for a game of actual tug if the treats go away so I know it's not a pain thing. We have also been continuing muzzle training, though only sparingly as I want his nose to heal so the muzzle isn't painful at all.

-52 Weeks of Chazhound Dogs! I am in charge of a group called 52 Weeks of Chazhound Dogs where each week some of the members of a forum I belong to post a picture of whatever theme I give them. While I have time I should sit down with a calendar and start writing down the themes in advance so I don't get stuck when it is time for the next weeks theme! I will also be posting my own submissions every Saturday, since the week ends on Friday.

-Recall! This is something Frodo is in serious need of learning. Recently manymuddypaws posted her way of teaching a recall and it sounded easy enough. The first step is to associate Name = Cookie by calling the dog from around the house and giving them a treat every time they come when you call their name. And they should come running every single time because they know they are going to get a treat every single time! Right? RIGHT?? Wrong. I tried playing this with Frodo while I was loading/unloading the dishwasher. I would call him from a few feet away and he would come over and get his cookie. We did this about 7 or 8 times, each time with a reward, and then on the next time he just decided he wasn't coming back. *sigh* So now I am thinking I need to decrease criteria and treat him like a puppy and only call him when he is already on his way to me, and use a recall word instead of his name as well, because I think he has learned quite well to ignore it.

-Going out and leaving Frodo at the house with strange people! He will be crated and the people in the house will ignore him and they will have my number so they can call me and I will zip back if he starts out of control barking. Yesterday when I went to a job interview Ryan's mom got home before I did and she said that he barked while she was getting groceries from the car, but when she was in the house he was fine. Great news for me!

Overall, over the past two days Frodo has really settled into Ryan's parent's house. Two nights ago he actually crawled into one of Ryan's sister's laps, which is huge as he didn't even want them petting him earlier this week. He doesn't even react to Ryan's dad anymore, just wants to sniff him then move on. I'm really grateful about this, because it had been extremely stressful for me to spend all day away from people locked in a room and try and navigate the house with Frodo when he would react to everyone but Ryan and I.

Now I just need to get up the will to take Frodo on these car rides....mrrg.

Yes this is a blog about my dog, and his training, and his pictures, and his etc. etc. but I am stealing a post so that I can have a record of my own goals for 2011.

And for the record...

...Frodo would like you all to know that he thinks my goals

(and anything not revolving around him)

are boring. Duly Noted.

But since I am the one with the opposable thumbs in this relationship, here are my 2011 goals:

-Read 75 books.

-Take a cooking class

-Cook more, and be less afraid to alter the recipe!

-Be more crafty (read: learn to crochet/knit/sew/something), maybe join a group.

-Take more pictures and become a better photographer.

-Go hiking at least once a week once the weather improves.

-Start writing again (this is spurred by a person asking me a few days ago if I was ever writing another chapter to my story...my last chapter went up 2 years ago!)

-Find a job that I like going to most days, and not settling into jobs that I hate.

-Buy some new clothes! I hate clothes -.-

-ETA: I almost forgot the first goal I set! Less time on the internet, more time doing other things, especially with my dog!

I don't think any of them are unrealistic, except maybe being crafty, because I'm not crafty. At all. I have tried numerous times to learn to crochet, starting with something easy like a scarf. I mean, how can you mess up a scarf? They all turned into triangles. Mrrg.

Today, Frodo turns 5 years old! I can't believe I have had him this long already, though I also can't remember the peace that came along with NOT having him, though that doesn't sound like a nice thing to say on his birthday!

This morning Frodo went to his first shaping class and had zero reactions. Met (any by met I mean did hand touches and took treats from) Crystal, Megan, and Elizabeth without any reactions or signs of being stressed. Awesome! He also did not react to any of the dogs that were there, even though he was in a completely new place and has never met any of them before. Had you told me a year ago that he would be able to do this I probably would have laughed at you....a lot.

Anyway, last night Ryan and I made Pumpkin dog muffins for his impending birthday! And here are the pictures...

Ingredients

Frodo looking depressed and wondering when he is going to get food...

Mmmmm....honey

And pumpkin!

Birthday boy gets to lick the spatula!

Ryan tries to alter the recipe...

JUST KIDDING (of course!)

Mix it all up...

Failed attempt at a good shot of Frodo and I.

...and you get MUFFINS!!

(All of the photo credit goes to my lovely boyfriend Ryan, except for the alcohol picture and the last picture of close up muffins, I can take credit for those!)

Anywho, the reason I don't have any pictures of him eating any are because most of them went to his classmates (cause he surely doesn't need that many snacks!), and he had a lot of other treats at class today and I didn't want to upset his stomach. Plus if I wait until tomorrow then it gives me another blog post!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRODO!