Adventures, Adventures, Adventures

Training has been going great, no real major milestones nor defeats... just gentle progression. Avery is doing excellent at communicating with Porter, and I believe it is transferring through to the way he communicates with his peers and his family. He has been talking more and more progressively, and I, Dusty Dad, can't be more relieved and proud.

Here are some recent photos I managed to take recently, we've been on lots of adventures.

 

 Porter getting official downtown (got his license at the courthouse downtown).

Now he has a license, and he's a teenager...dangerous?

 

 Porter enjoying an Easter Sunday.

We went to a hotel resort place for our anniversary and Avery's birthday (coming up). Here is Avery after the waterpark (left), and Porter still all sparky having not gone down a waterslide all day/night (right).

Super reader in his cape Gramma Peegy got him.

Avery serving Porter ice cream (bubbles) from the ice cream shop, as he calls it.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Wash, Rinse, Repeat = A lot of the same boring routine, not many exciting events outside of SIT, DOWN, STAY, repeat. We've been going on regular outings in public, and Porter has officially started his Teenager Dog Training at The Dog Den, and of course enjoying our weekly Custom Canines training.

Porter has been growing fast, and learning well. He knows his SIT, DOWN, SIT from DOWN, and WAIT... although he performs these flawlessly for me everyday I train him at home... but he is still working on flawless public execution due to all the distractions. As his trainer, I am lucky to have such a smart student. It takes pressure off our already squirrelly home life. Avery has been learning how to communicate "personal space", which has been an amazing hidden gem embedded within this arrangement. When a wiggly licky puppy comes bombarding Avery with his puppy energy, Avery is learning the NO command, and Porter is respecting and listening. Avery also asks Porter to SIT, and WAIT, but Porter doesn't quite understand these commands from a little man. It truly is awesome to see them work with each other, both good occasions and bad occasions.

Yesterday, I got lucky and had a chance to snap a few pictures. Another reason why there hasn't been many updates: I've got my hands full. My favorite part was when a woman at the cash register asked Avery what his doggy's name was, he said "Porter". Another hidden gem, where Avery is provoked to communicate with general public, and he is actually talking and responding, where he normally doesn't speak. Avery has also been doing remarkable on public outings in general... very calm, curious, but stays by Mom or Dad, listens, and no real meltdown tantrums. I can't really express how awesome this is in words.

Avery at Menard's, a local home-improvement store:

Our trip to the grocery store:

Jessica and Porter are bonding more too, Porter is happy as you can tell. He doesn't normally lay with me, maybe because I am a warm person, and he likes cool temperatures... but this past weekend he layed on Jessica for hours, sound asleep. He loves his Momma.

Another favorite note of the past weekend: I had the stroller wheel down on Avery's bike trailer (our frequent morning school transit option). Porter hopped right in and refused to get out, so I let Avery push the stroller gently. All of a sudden Avery jumped in and sat down happily too. Please keep in mind, Avery has hated to share this space in the past. He especially won't sit that close to Porter for that long. One main goal of Avery's current therapy is to socialize with his peers, in close proximity (in a sandbox for example). Since he was thought to have delays in this area back when he was 2 years old, which is what lead to his Autism diagnosis, this is a huge difference from where he started. I can't be more proud of him, he's working really hard to fit in to everyone else's world.

And one last one of Porter's preferred way to sleep...silly puppy.

Bump it up a notch

This past wednesday, we attended our weekly Custom Canines training outing at West Towne Mall in Madison. It was great to see everyone as usual, and get some feedback and ask questions. I think at this point, I (Dusty, his primary trainer) need to bump it up a notch with his training, in more simple specific areas. By simple I mean SIT, DOWN, and STAY. Since we have regular early morning "training walks", where I religiously practice HEEL, and then COME with some off leash play, I have been slacking on the more simple core commands. Switch gears, bump it up a notch by taking it back to the basics, check.

Although we have been lightly practicing WAIT (or STAY) during every meal, as well as various front door encounters, and ESPECIALLY when Avery and Porter try to go down the stairs together... I guess that was enough for Porter to get the idea. I was impressed at how well he did waiting on command at the mall, with various passers-by, including Custom Canine pups. (I am located to the left of Jeff walking Cooper in the photo, waiting with a treat). Porter is loyal to his treats, and I need to be more focused and consistent with my commands.

Porter got bumped out of the Puppy Class into the "Teenager" Class at the Dog Den where he will receive his first official training classes. I guess all that puppy kibble has made his grow big enough to pick on puppies smaller than him, either that or he is ready mentally for more "teenage" focused commands. Either way, we are excited to get training!

Humbled by a teenager

As we approach Porter's 5 month birthday, Lisa and Jeff (Custom Canine's Awesome Training duo) couldn't have said it best... that Porter would soon exhibit "teenager" behaviors. I prepared for it in my head, but as any parent with a child who doesn't listen knows... it's not easy. I find myself reminding myself to take a breath, stay calm, and try again. Boy, that sounds easy, doesn't it.

Of course, I probably sound like it is much worse than it really is, but in the 5:00am cold on our training walks, it is a challenge to stay patient. Although it's difficult, the ultimate purpose immediately faces me, and I become like a Monk, able to focus and catch flies with chopsticks. (That is what Monks do, right?). There aren't that many flies awake that early though.

I am grateful to have such awesome people to lean on for help. Lisa and Jeff are great resources on our weekly public training sessions. Another family is training a Custom Canines lab puppy (who is Porter's half-sister), and I like talking to them to see where they are at, although the visits are brief, we can all learn a lot from each other.

We have also been attending every workshop session we can at The Dog Den in Madison. They are super awesome, and help so much with all my thousands of questions and emails (giving Marlene, CCSDA's Program Director a break, I hope. :) If you live in or around the Madison area and want to train your puppy or sharpen up your pup, this is the place to go, they have won BEST OF MADISON repeatedly, and I definitely see why.

It feels like one big puppy training family. Thank you so much to everyone! For now, I will practice my patience pushups.

Hospitals, Snow Races, Children, Children, Children!

This weekend was very eventful for Porter and Avery. On saturday (Momma Jessica's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Happy Birthday!!!!!!), we started our visits with a puppy play group session. Porter and Avery have grown accustomed to this visit, and we all leave (a little more) tired out.

Avery's Aunt Tessa recently had surgery, so we went for a visit after the playgroup, with a very calm happy dog in vest for some real world training time. This was Porter and Avery's first visit to a hospital, so it was interesting for all, with plenty of things to be afraid of, as well as plenty of pleasant things (lots of happy staff/patients to greet us all).We mainly focused on SIT, and HEEL commands, with a few DOWN commands... all from our recent dog training classes. Porter is doing very well, I think for his loyalty to his treats, but also because he is a very smart puppy. He experienced elevators, creepy cold stairwells (which he seems to dislike quite a bit), big turnstile revolving doors, hospital rooms, and much more.

I think we may make the hospital a regular saturday visit with a calm tired out Porter. As soon as we walked in the door, there were two requests for Porter to visit some patients, one woman who had been there for 109 days, and all she would love is to see a smiling Porter. I am seeing the therapy through others now as we visit and educate about our training and scenario. I am growing even more heart for my community and I am so grateful to be in the position that we are because it is forcing us all to get out in our community and share time with others.

After the hospital visit, we headed home for some rest for all. It was a lazy day the rest of the day, a proper saturday. Sunday we took Porter and Avery downtown in the late afternoon to the Madison Winter Festival. The whole capital area was full of distractions, happy people, and frequent ski-racers zipping by. Porter did great, and so did Avery. Recently Avery has been covering his ears a lot when he is overwhelmed, whether it be too loud, or a scary situation. When Avery needed alone time to cool down, Mom and him would seek out a fun safe place while Dad and Porter fielded the crowd of puppy lovers. We even had a group of young people approach, quickly learn about our family's situation, and ask to pray to God for us. It was so very nice to hear their reflections, after such a brief meeting, and to hear them all pray for Avery's positive development.

After the downtown walk-around, we had a sincere request from Avery to visit the Children's Museum, which is right across from the capital building. Avery LOVES this place, it is chock-full of learning tools and FUN really. As soon as I walked in the door and heard the hundreds of children running/playing/screaming/laughing, I knew this could be a great experience for Porter, as well as terrifying. Alas, Avery ran off and played happily with Momma, and Porter and I walked around and practiced HEEL. Porter did AMAZING, he didn't seem to even flinch at all the distractions and noise. He sat so well for all the inquiring parents, and patiently waited as I shared my knowledge so far about our situation. Again, it was so nice to experience this communication with parents and children in our community.

Below are the only real good pictures I could get all weekend, mainly because I was focused on training, with very little time to pull out a camera. Porter was VERY curious about the chickens in the rooftop garden on the top of the Children's Museum. With his tasty treats, I was able to keep him focused, which I think is a major feat. He also was very curious about what those small walking things were down below...

 

.....and an Awesome Picture Jessica took:

 

Getting to know oneself

Avery and Porter are spending a lot of time together... not as much time as Daddy does walking/training, starting at 5:00am everyday...but regardless, Avery seems to really acknowledge that Porter is his doggy, and he is here to stay.

Above are a few quick shots I got lucky taking... two quick movers = bad photography. Avery plays his beloved MobiGO Video Games, and Porter sleeping in between activities.

Above is a photo I snapped quick during our morning routines. Avery loves to crawl into Porter's crate, and invite him in. Then they just sit there. Just hanging out.

We had a great weekend, including a trip to Cottage Grove to hang with Grandma and Grandpa and Family for Aunty Tasha's Birthday. Here he got to romp around with Sadie (Family Lab) and Mercy (friend's Doberman pup). This was Porter's first trip to hang in a HUGE backyard, where we practiced some off-leash freedom. He did very well, returning when I called, knowing I had tasty treats in my freezing pocket.

Can you see the flying Lab?

We completed the weekend with a trip with just Jessica, Porter, and I (Dusty) to a frigid frozen Lake Mendota. Not being native to Wisconsin, we think all locals are nuts for playing on the ice, but when we saw people driving on it, we deemed it safe to have some puppy playtime. Again, more practice off leash, which Porter stayed loyal to our side... our puppy treat smelling side...

This week Porter has two doggie classes (Recalling, and Autism Program specific). We are signed up for Puppy Training class in March, so I fill the time with any workshop I can, to get mr. smarty learning. We attended a "heel" workshop last week, and Porter latched on to the concept right away (again, treat-driven...can you blame him for being so loyal?)

First Public Outing

This weekend we took our first trip out in public. We went to East Towne Mall in Madison, and a good time was had by all, in all it's brevity. Jessica and I were amazed at how well Avery did, very attentive, calm, and no major melt downs. Porter did amazing too, and loved the attention. I think he was so calm and polite because I had treats in my pocket, regardless...it was a fun first trip out in the wild.