I've also managed to get video of Hermione ringing her bathroom bell. She knows that ringing the bell will cause someone to jump up and open the back door for her. I taught her how to do this ages ago by pushing her nose against the chimes, praising her, and opening the door. Here's the video.
Hermione has also been working on a new trick. She is learning that oh so complicated art of walking on a treadmill.
I started by having her sit and lie down on the treadmill while it was stationary. She got treats every time she got on. Then I turned the machine on to it's slowest setting and had her sit and lie next to it. She got lots of treats for that too. Then I took it to the next level. I picked her up and lowered her down onto the treadmill. I kept her leash tight near the front so she wouldn't go running. The first time I did this she naturally panicked and jumped off the side. By the 4th time she was walking a pretty steady pace but still wouldn't take a treat from me. The 5th time she was comfortable enough to take a treat. It's a work in progress, but here is some video from the first day's training.
I also wanted to post some pictures of Hermione in our most recent series of blizzards that have hit Maryland. And yes, the snow is up to her topknot.
I am beginning to suspect that Hermione needs to attend TBFA (Tennis Ball Fanatics Annonomous) meetings. A month ago she had little interest in tennis balls and she certainly couldn't catch one to save her life. Now she's a fanatic. After I filmed this video I had a tough time editing it because Miss Green Mouth kept putting a tennis ball on my keyboard. Enjoy!
One more thing I'm working on with Hermione revolves around the word "good". To a service dog the words "good girl", "good boy", and "good dog" are very important. They are a way of targeting an action you really appreciated. Your telling the dog "Yess, I liked that, do that again!". When these terms are over used, or used at the wrong times, the dog starts to forget the more important meaning of them. When your a service dog out in the public, people come up to you all the time and say "good dog" for no reason at all. Thus it begins to loose it's meaning. This has happened for Hermione. She no longer really responds to "good girl". To her it's just something people always say to her like "your so pretty" or in the case of little kids "A DOG!". So now I'm working on reconditioning myself to use a different word. I tried to find a word that Hermione could be taught means "good" and that people generally wouldn't say to a dog. It also has to be something that can be said happily and has a unique sound so it won't be confused with other words. So I finally picked platypus. Yep. You read right. Platypus. It can be said cheerfully, and there aren't many people who would walk up to a dog and say "Platypus!".
Platypus Bye!
