Mica the Lab's training wishlist

I am a dreamer, but more so an ambitious executer! Let's hope Mica gets some of these wishlist down in the next year, or two? =D

Training wishlist for Mica:
( ) indicating key words.

1. Licks face on command (Kiss)
2. Sit when I stop walking
3. (Jump)
4. Hides face on command (Hide face)
5. GI Joe (Crawl)
6. Play dead (Bang)
7. Ring bell for potty (Potty)
8. Brings leash to me before walk (Leash)
9. Close the door behind her (Shut Door)
10. (Speak) and Stop - lol don't want to teach him that barking is okay hence the stop command
11. Nodding (Do You Agree)

Advanced wishlist;

1. Carry newspapers and grocery bags, gently (Fetch and carry)
2. Put away toys (Drop in Basket)
3. Turn off the Light (Lights Off)
4. Hide and Seek (Find It)
5. Sing-a-long (Sing)
6. Tracking (Trail, Find)
7. Mathematician (Count)

Training tips

Training tips:

CONSISTENT + POSITIVE + PATIENT

Training to be done before meal times
3Rs: Restriction, Redirection, Retraining
Training duration: 5-8 mins (April thinks 3 mins is max!)

Train respect: Sit before food, water, toys, going out of the door
Training reward: Verbal cue 'good girl' and her food kibbles as rewards (before using higher value treats with time)
Trainer: Maintain calmness myself and minimize raising of voice to avoid desensitization to normal volume speeches
Treats restriction: Strictly no treats allowed unless it's for training. Treats should be a reward for 'work'. You do not want to lower the value of the treat and raise her expectations

Bite inhibition - esp hand, feet, shoes and clothes (and reward non-biting licks)
Reward calmness (during time-out)

Training against people(or internet)'s advice:
1. Did not bring toys/towel to rub on her litter mates for her to sleep better to not make her miss her litter mates more and to allow better adjustment to home and new parents (us)
2. Did not let her sleep with us the first few nights in order to give her time (few days) to adjust to new home with rewards for calming down before allowing her to sleep in the master bedroom, in her crate of course. 


Key words trained up to day 12 (listed in order of training):
Mica
Come
Good girl (positive cue)
Leave it
No
Sit
Down
Go to your bed
Okay
Stay close
Up
Paw
Heel

Key words left to train:
Leash
Off
Stay
Toy (name of toys?)
Drop
Watch me

Mica the Puppy Schedule

This diary continues to understand her potty schedules and to keep tabs of her training progress. From a working line and a dad with a two-time national qualifier in field trials under his belt, this little girl is on the high spectrum of energy levels for Labrador Retriever, which means with constant exercise and consistent

JC (the breeder from Cripple Creeks Retriever) said she is very exploratory who was the first to enter the house compared to her littermates so she is clearly the very curious type, or maybe even the alpha of the littermates!

Dr. Ali from Montrose Veterinary Clinic said "A tired lab puppy is a good lab puppy."

Strict schedule STARTS today...

Day 4 (Tues)
Weight: 9.5 pounds
Vet appt: DHCPP booster, deworming, Triflexis
Training: First descend of two flights of stairs!

Poop: 7am, 3pm, 7pm
Food: 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7/8pm

Water stopped by 8:30pm

Bedtime potty 12:30am, 6am
Sleep in master bedroom with relaxing music, crying stop

Day 5 (Wed)
Introduces 5-minute ignoring rule upon returning home before letting out of crate
Training: Sit, come, leave it, (check-in)

Poop: 7am, 12:30pm, 10pm (Accident!)

Last water 4:45pm and A&D out for 4 hours 

Accident pee: closet and pen (5.30pm) stairs (10pm)

Water stopped by 10pm

11pm before Bedtime potty

Sleep in master with relaxing music.

Day 6 (Thursday)

Training: fetch and return ball, heel, off leash 'stay close'
Walk: Burnett
Poop: 7.30am (accident), 2pm, 

Water stopped after 8:30pm

Day 7 (Fri)

Poop: 7am, 12pm, 5:30pm

Feeding: 1 cup

Body: Ribs slightly shown so will increase food portion
Sleep in master with no music.

Day 8 (Sat)

Training: executed down responsively!

And overfed ~ 1 3/4 cups (overkill!)

Day 9 (Sun)

Rest day!
Weight: 11.0 pounds (+ 1.5 pounds in 6 days!)
Training: Refine Fetch

Walk: pm Burnett

Looked for pool (but it's empty lol) after walk 

Day 10 (Mon)

Held bladder all night!

Train: come close (instead of heel), sit and walks out of door last
Walk: pm Burnett
G&M: Just growl and snap.
Poop: Accident in master (my fault for not allowing her enough time in am)

Day 11 (Tue)

3am potty!

Training: Sit Down Up progression, paw, Bite inhibition, Calm

G&M: No snapping

No accident

Walk: pm Bayou

Feeding: 1 1/4 cup

Day 12 (Wed)

Held bladder all night!

Train: improve Paw, Up (from down position)

Walk: am Burnett (leash training)

G&M: M cornered G in mudroom and bite. No blood
Filled pool up for her
Last food and water at 9pm (too late!)
Accident: Poop in kitchen and by living balcony door in the evening

Day 13 (Thur)

Potty at 4:45am
Training: Leash, Heel, introduced 'Roll Over' (very quick at it!)
Walk: 7am Burnett,
G&M: Snapped when M disturbed G by biting his bed that he is laying in.

Puppy's first three days...

Black labrador Mica is a new addition to the family! Being an Asian parent means that a strict schedule, early training and eyeing her like a hawk during free roaming is a MUST :p

So here is my little diary to find that balance between what I want her to do and what her inherent personality is and bladder/bowel schedule is like...

Day 0 (Friday)
Got beautiful girl Mica followed by a 6 hour drive with two potty stops.
Introduce potty spot in backyard and master balcony

Training: Crate, First ascend of two flights of stairs

Food out all day
Last potty 11:30pm

Sleep: guest bedroom in her crate
Cried most of the night.

Day 1 (Saturday)

3am, 7am, 9.30am potty

Training: Crate
Food out all day
Pee accident x2 (master and living)

Last potty 10pm

Sleep: guest bedroom. Cried most of the night.

Day 2 (Sunday)

12:30am potty but cried after 2h30m

3:30am cried when removed but no potty

7:30am cried when let out for food and potty
Training: Crate, Collar

Food: getting used to solid food with some water.

Note: since she didn't potty at 3am should have brought her out directly in am and not worry about food+water until after!

Swim test: she's still scared (but water is too cold it's 8am lol!)

Training: Slept in crate well from 9am to 11:30am!

12pm Accident pee. Happy to be in backyard but not calmed yet so peed in pen.

Slept in guest bedroom. Less crying.

Day 3 (Monday)

7am: Pooped
Training: Sit, Separation Anxiety (in bathroom)
Socialization: Metro rail, Downtown, Bath
Went to find pool for water on her own

Walk: Bayou
Water stopped by 8:30pm
Bedtime potty 12am and 5am(?)

Slept in guest bedroom, mostly quiet all night

Strict schedule STARTS

Day 4 (Tues)
see next post...

Music Log

Guitar

7 Years (Lucas Graham)

Pillow talk (Zayn)
Lost Stars (Adam Levine)

Love Yourself - guitar rhythm needs practicing

Electric Guitar (while A is at her guitar lessons)
Are You Gonna Be My Girl (Jet)
Hands Down (Dashboard Confessionals)

Music log

January

Piano
Falling Slowly (Glen Hansard etc)
Hello (Adele)

Classical
Moonlight Sonata 1st and 2nd mov (Beethoven)
Romance Anonimo/d Amour or Spanish Romance
Fur Elise (Beethoven)
Clair de Lune (Claude Debussy)
Minuet in G (Bach)
Rondo alla Turca/Turkish March (Mozart)

Contemporary
Ballade pour Adeline
Marriage D'Amour

Wishlist
Nocturne no. 9 no. 2 (Chopin)
Fantasie Impromptu Op. 66 (Chopin)
Canon in D (Pachelbel)
Moonlight Sonata 3rd mov (Beethoven)
Habanera from "Carmen" (Bizet)
Liebestraum or Love Dream (Franz Liszt)

Drums

Favourite books

They say you are what you eat and what you read.

Reading List
Fiction
A Dog's Purpose (Bruce Cameron)
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Housseini)
All The Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
and more on this list...

Non-fiction
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (Malala)
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption The Boys in the Boat (Laura Hillenbrand)
Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (Daniel Brown)
and more on this list...


My favourite books.

Fiction:
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir (Frank McCourt)
The Alchemist (Paulo Coehlo)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
State of Fear (Michael Crichton)
The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
The Bone Collector (Jeffrey Deaver)
Art of Racing In The Rain (Garth Stein)
Marley & Me (John Grogan)
Sycamore Row (John Grisham)

Non-Fiction:
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies (Jared Diamond)
The State of Africa (Martin Meredith)
From Third World to First (Lee Kuan Yew)
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Levitt, Dubner)
Think Like A Freak (Levitt)
Microtrends (Penn)
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Malcolm Gladwell)
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Dan Ariely)




“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.” ― Oscar Wilde