Photos for Ump

I didn't follow through on the lotto game idea, but his therapist Terri brought a camera to a session and took photos of Ump and River doing tricks. She made a great photo album, labeling thesem, with the goal of reinforcing the trick signals, as well as just having the photo "brag" book.

Ump seemed to love it and showed it to me proudly. Next time we saw him we learned that he took it along on his holiday visit to his relatives and gave it to one of them ( mom or sister?). Very generous of him; sadly, it still has not been replaced yet ( in April). We now see him with the original therapist Sheree ( she took maternity leave about 6 months after we started visiting). Seems complicated to get photos printed there. I really should bring a camera sometime and make something. Somehow, most weeks, it seems all I can do to get River and myself to the visit. Maybe I need to learn to be patient with myself - Ump enjoys what we are able to offer by visiting - I'm the one who sets the higher standards for myself. As Amanda pointed out - River could do the same tricks and we could have essentially the same conversations and Ump would enjoy his visits. He is so proud to give River the treats he made. He like to walk us to the door and if anyone asks, he insists that they get to have River do a trick for a treat from them as well. No wonder River is well-padded these days!

Four visits in Three Days, written after the fact

Tuesday - Schreiber Pediatric - PT visit with Pink Girl, she most enjoyed holding the hula hoop for him to jump while she worked at standing up straight.

Wednesday - Acadia Rehab with Ump followed by home visit to MIL, both preceded by River's agility lesson with Karen that morning equals one very tired dog.

Thursday - New visit for a reading program at Wickersham Elementary School. we were in an auditorium seated on the edge of the stage, with another team on the opposite side. I had brought along a blanket as asked, to have specific spot for us to sit. The school was extremely warm. River needed a water break and he wanted to lie on the cooler floor of the auditorium rather than the blanket by the end of our hour. The response to the dog varied; one boy who approached him eagerly had a large dog at home. One girl was utterly terrified of him. I sat between them( instead of River int he middle as usual), she still startled if he even shifted position. She watched his tricks from a distance, took the card we gave her and all but bolted out of there. Most were somewhere in between, fascinated but a little cautious. I think we saw about 5 students. They had short books, read pretty quickly and didn't want to linger. The other team with older class, longer books, I think had 3 students. We will be going weekly, but they will be rotating through different classes, so no one will be returning. From what I've read, most reading to dog programs see a benefit to encouraging readers because the dog is unconditionally accepting. These kids seemed to be adequate readers, perhaps this was a reward, for the novelty? I am even more interested in learning about the READ program now. It seems to be that seeing the same kids would be more helpful to them and even more of an incentive, and more effective as we build rapport with them.

Busy dog week - Sunday was intro to agility with Wendy, Monday - rally class with Wendy; Saturday we'll be at the Gifts That Give Hope Fair stumping for KPETS - he gets Friday off.

The following week is Thanksgiving week, so we had no visits planned. As it turned out, we did end up going to see MIL, who is now in a hospital bed ( she was in a wheel chair our previous visit, had been managing with a cane before that, and walked freely at our first encounter). Amanda came along this time and we brought Noche as well. Both dogs behaved amazingly well; at one point we had them on either side of her in her bed and she had a hand in each one's fur. That was really what she wanted and it brings tears to my eyes recalling it. I am so glad we could provide that simple gift.

Three Visits in 2 Days

Schreiber with Pink Girl on Tuesday, Acadia with Ump Wednesday at 1, then to see my friend's MIL later that same afternoon. River had some brief downtime inbetween and handled it just fine. Neither visit was very physical, unlike the repeated hula hoop jumping he did at Schreiber this week. I do try to be conscious of not burning out my dog; so far he has handled our schedule without a problem.

Pink Girl continues to be challenging, often cooperating only minimally or only briefly during an already short, 30 minute session. Holding the hula hoop seemed to work well for the position Megan wanted her in - either a straight stand or a variation. She was willing to signal Amanda by blinking at her to have her tell River "over", but she wouldn't say it herself. She did get credit for teaching River "under". When the hoop was just a bit high, he "cheated" and went underneath, so after that we gave Pink Girl a choice of which she wanted him to do and this seemed to engage her for a bit.

She didn't want to brush River but enjoyed squeezing his water bottle to give him a drink. It took a lot of encouragement to get her to walk using her walker - walking with or chasing River's tail were not incentives today. She doesn't respond to his tricks the way Speaker did. He was willing to walk a distance and pick a trick. I'm not sure what else might work to motivate her if walking is the goal. Megan would like us to come again in 2 weeks, so I guess we must be useful somehow.

Ump enjoys weekly visits. Seeing River is important to him and he never tires of repeating " He's a good dog." Besides conversation, reviewing what he can recall about River, his therapist encourages him to do tricks with River, trying to use both verbal and hand signals. When they don't match ( often), River usually favors the physical commands over the verbal. Ump is happy with whatever River does and rewards him with a treat - including some that he made with his therapist. River noticed the presence of those treats in a plastic bag as soon as we entered the visiting area and convinced the humans that he deserved to enjoy quite a few.

And then we visited where the only treats I allowed were Cherrios given by the kids - and River was just as willing to work for those. MIL seemed much the same to me, although she described herself as " in her last days." She was still eager to talk " dog" and pet him and watch as her grandchilden played with him. I hope we'll be able to see her again.

Not Able to Throw "Catch It"

Seems I remembered wrong. Ump cannot throw a treat for River to catch. We tried to encourage him to toss it a few different ways. His therapist modeled it for him by doing it herself first. River, naturally, thought this was a great game - he likes anything that gets him treats. I talked about how he had liked to play baseball and about throwing a ball for that. I had previously tried to show him just dropping it down at River. River does a pretty impressive "catch" when a treat comes straight at him from overhead. Ump would just not release the treat. He would hold it above River and say "catch it" but not let go and then switch to "ok" or "here" and feed him the treat by bringing his hand to River. Still OK from River's persepctive. When we tried to get him to do a toss instead, he said "catch it" but hand signaled for "spin" which River obliging did; then Ump handed him the treat.

I don't know if his therapist wants to have this as a goal for Ump. It's certainly not a problem for River. He does his best to follow signals and favors hand signals over verbal commands and is happy to oblige. I'm not concerned that my dog will get confused either. So, it's just an observation on my part, that something I presumed to be so simple - tossing a treat to a dog, is not, in fact at all.

Ump perhaps helped me to realize that we use the same "catch it" verbal command when we place a treat on River's nose for him to flip up and catch, although it has a different hand signal. So River has the ability to generalize that "catch it" means catch the treat or toy however it is coming at you - from above, a toss or when you flip it in the air yourself.

Straghtening Out the Mixed Signals

Wow! I really felt like Ump was clicking today. He seemed to remember with less prompting the usual details - our names, dog breed, age ( well, not this one the second time around), but the encouraging thing to me was he seemed to be clearer about the tricks he was asking River to do. It's hard to explain after the fact, but he knew which trick he was asking for and although he didn't always have the right signal, he had the name of the trick correct. Our plan to keep him to one trick and a routine didn't work out - Ump wants to try all he can remember - and he can remember most of River's tricks. Therapist Terri had made a list which they had reviewed and I think it was effective.

I did get reminded from their conversation, how important River's visits are to Ump. He truly loves dogs and has limited opportunities to interact with them. He had made dog biscuits and shared some with River - the rest he hopes to take to the Humane League. Having River visit him is his "claim to fame" at Acadia where River is know as "Ump's dog."

Acadia Visit with a Shadow - October 13

Our visit at Acadia Rehab today was shadowed by a college student. Studying pyschology at Millersville, she needs 20 hours for a course and this counts. She also attended the KPETS orientation on Saturday. A different therapist, also a Terri, was at today's session. She has been present for at least one other session and is a dog owner, and had been well briefed on the details.

We made some effort to have Ump match hand and verbal signals, but mostly this didn't happen. I realized that he has never tossed River a treat to catch. Thinking this would be easeir, I demonstrated how to drop a treat straight down, from directly above River's head and say "catch it", but when Ump did it, he held it in the right place, said "catch it" but never released the treat, then reached down and gave it to River saying "Awwww". I didn't get a chance to discuss if this is still a goal or not. Our plan to start with and focus on a single trick and it's signal/verbal command has not been very effective. Ump wants to do all the tricks that he has seen and can think of and not necessarily repeat the same one multiple times. I guess it is up to the therapist to set the goals and format if they want to work on it.

We had a pleasant visit overall. River demonstrated his usual, down, roll over, play dead, beg tricks. He did a littel heeling with Ump, which he seems to enjoy. He always remembers to tell him to sit when he stops, although River does do that automatically.

We did one "find it" with a treat, then River also spotted the basket of toys they keep for dog visits and he snagged one of the stuffed animals, so we played a bit of keep away with everyone. River got treated to some homemade dog biscuits that Ump had made. He is planning to take the rest to the Humane League.

One idea that came up when we were discussing the puppy, Noche and I mentioned that I would try to bring in a new picture - I suggested we should take a photo of River with Ump for him to keep and Terri suggested that a fact page about River might be a good plan as well. I was thinking about this as I drove to Philly today. How about a board game - like a lotto board, with photos of River alone, River with each of us, with Noche, etc. Matching cards, maybe with names on the back. I don't know if Ump's impairment precludes reading, but it would be useful for anyone else to have. I'm interested in hearing what the therapist thinks of this idea.

Acadia and Verbal/Hand Signals

Last week's visit we discussed trying to have Ump match hand signals and vocal commands as a goal for him. The therapist and I had agreed to work on sit and situp/beg to start. So that is what we did and it was interesting to see what happened. First of all, River tends to sit anyway, so it was hard to tell if he was following a command or just relaxing. He did do "beg" on command, but Ump still got it confused. Ump wanted to have him lie down and play dead, but he would say "roll over" and give the "Play dead" hand signal. Sometimes River rolled over and sometimes he played dead. Maggie hit on the idea that if she said the correct voice command and asked Ump to repeat it after her, he would use the right word to match the hand signal. He didn't always wait for her and said a different command then he signaled, but when he followed the sequence, it worked well to get voice and hand signal matched. We did it quite a few times in a row, well, maybe about 6, then moved on - to conversation and just petting. I didn't see progress and wonder if it is something that can change or if there is anything to be gained by working on it,but Maggie just said that she expected it to be hard and we can keep working on it. River is quite patient about repeating tricks - why not, he gets treats, so we will continue to work on this if the therapist wants to do so.

There will be a new therapist at tomorrow's visit; so I don't know if we will continue with this. There will also be a college student shadowing us tomorrow, so that's 5 people and one dog. Hope we get a bigger room.

Acadia Visit with Crossed Signals

The first crossed signals were mine. It's great to maintain an Outlook calendar. So easy to update from emails and my Ipod Touch. Now if I would just check it before heading out. OK, so I missed that our appointment was changed by an hour, due to a field trip and we showed up at the usual time. To be fair, I had scanned my calendar, just missed the change from 1- 2 . Luckily, we live quite close, so we zipped home and I went back a bit later. River was a little confused, but adapted quickly. Amanda didn't return as she wasn't feeling that perky to start and was fading, so I took River solo.

The other crossed signals I wanted to detail are the ones that Ump gives River. Ump often says one command, while giving the hand signal for a different one. He might be saying "roll over" while signalling "spin" - then River usually does "spin". Or he often waves his arm to the side, somewhat like "play dead" but says something else, like "Ready?" while River is sitting. Sometimes River is confused, but mostly he follows the body language or hand signals.

Today Maggie (therapist) asked Ump if he realized that his words and signals don't match and also asked if he would like to to work on that. She said it might be hard. He said he had not realized it and "ok" to working on it. So, as she was walking us out,we discussed how to tackle this.

My suggestion is to have one of us demonstrate and model the verbal command and hand signal for just one trick and then have him try it - just that trick. We often show him a few and then give him a chance to work with River, choosing what he wants him to do and I realized this may be confusing. Maybe a specific sequence and a smaller menu of choices would help.

Considering what to start with; "Roll over" and "play dead" are favorites of both River and Ump, but both sometimes need the "down" command first and then are directional - that is, River only rolls over to his left and goes on his right side to play dead, so those are more complicated. I think we should try "sit" and then "beg". From there we could add "catch it" for rewarding him. Sit and beg have clear hand signals - the hand moves in the same direction as River is to move, and "catch it" just involved a toss.

I say just, but have realized in other situations, that I am making an assumption there about throwing ability. The kids at Schreiber have not been able to do a toss that River can catch. Although, hmm, he might be able to catch a treat if they just drop it straight down from high enough - the way he catches ice cubes. We'll have to test that out. I think that Ump, on the other hand, does have the coordination and strength to toss a treat that River can catch most of the time.

So sit, and beg and then catch it are three separate tricks and I think we should really break them up separately and do one at a time. And then do them in a sequence and alwasy repeat them in that sequence. It's somewhat against dog training tenets, because River is likely to anticipate things if we always repeat a sequence, but I think it might help Ump to remember and link the hand signals and verbal commands. I'm eager to hear what Maggie think of the idea, and if approved, see how it goes.

Who's Got The Treat?

I mentioned that River transfers well. I imagine that most well trained dogs can do this at least to some extent, depending on the behaviors being requested. It has been very handy for us in a variety of visiting situations.

I hand one or a few treats to Speaker and tell him to "Watch Speaker" while pointing to him. He knows to listen to them and mostly does, at least until the treats are gone. I mentioned that Speaker like to have River "Speak!" I don't always give him the treat - sometimes he doesn't like to get his hands messy. But he can give the signal, pointing at River - and I also give it, standing behind him. River usually responds to him, but sometimes needs reinforcement. River seems to know when the person is confident or not. Sometimes he does try to take advantage of this and get treats before finishing a trick and I have to remind him to behave. I guess it's double handling, but needed in some situations.

We also have been visiting at Acadia Neurological Rehab facility. We regularly visit one 50ish man there who has had a traumatic brain injury and we have also filled in for other teams a few times in a group therapy situation.

The gentleman we'll call Ump, has a fondness for baseball as well as dogs. Because of privacy concerns, we usually don't get any background info,so we learn as we go. Our visits with him are more typical of Animal Assisted Activity, because we do a lot of general visiting, conversations about the dog. His therapist does use our visits as a topic of conversation at other times and does try to have him review and see what he recalls. Details like our names, breed of dog, River's age we touch on each week as Ump as memory issues. She also reviews with him some of River's tricks and the commands and hand signals that we use with each.

Usually we chat and visit first for a bit. River is always excited to be there. He waits a bit anxiously in the waiting area, listening for any voices and footsteps as people pass in the hall. I'd like to say he recognizes the therapist and client we visit, but actually, he is eager to greet anyone who acknowledges him.

We try to do just visiting first, because once the treats are out, River focuses on them and doesn't just "visit". After some chatting we usually ask if Ump would like to see some tricks or do some tricks with River - and he always says yes.

Often we (Amanda or I) demonstrate his tricks, using verbal and hand signals and rewarding with treats. Then, with encouragement, Ump will try a few tricks. The interesting part is, we are never quite sure what trick Ump will ask for and he usually confuses the hand signals. Fortunately, River usually responds reliably. He seems to favor hand signals over verbal. River is well trained enough that I am not concerned about him getting confused by Ump's crossed signals, especially since we are not participating in competitions where it might matter. As an example, sometimes Ump decides to walk and seems to want River to heel, but he doesn't necessarily start with River in heel position or even on his left side or use the command we do. Still, River improvises, walking along with him and usually getting on his left during a turn and usually sitting when he stops, although Ump usually seems to think that requires a command. I guess we could try to get them lined up to start and remind him of those details, but they both seem to enjoy it they way they are doing it now.