Nail Day

I had "big" plans for today - that is big for someone with a bum hand.  I thought we could get in some training, but I find we are limited to things where I can spit treats.  Right hand does nothing, left hand operates clicker and mouth spits treats.  So we worked on a few things.  Gimme reeeeeeally wants her Mom back to normal. 

Also thought we'd get to go walking with Mary and Grafton, but by the time Mary got off work, I was having problems with feeling light-headed - so I clearly couldn't drive.  They warned me at the hospital after my surgery that I would need to drink a LOT more healthy fluids than usual.  It seems your body uses up all the water it can to flush out toxins from the drugs, so you are more likely to get dehydrated.  I feel like I am constantly drinking flavored water or koolaid, but it is still not enough.  <sigh>  At least everything else is going well and I feel fine.

One thing I am determined to do is get Gimme's front nails back to normal.  The parrot-toes look has got to go.  I won't be able to do anything about her back feet until I am two-handed again, but I can work on her front feet using the nail board.  My plan is to do her nails every other day.

I talked about this in a blog entry in January 2013:   Doing Nails

and then in February another entry with a video:   Doing Nails Video

I should mention, in the first blog I talk about putting the 3M tread on my front stairs in hopes her nails would be filed in the course of her coming and going through the front door.  I did put it down last summer and sadly, it doesn't appear to file her nails at all.  Plus I notice it is pealing up at the edges. 

Doing Nails II

I made this quick video of Gimme doing her nails.  Early in the video, the board developed a split down its length.  I'll have to screw a couple 1x2 across the back to fix that.  In the meantime, used one of our platforms to support it.

I think I edited it out, but there was a spot where she was catching the top edge of the sticky back tread texture stuff and peeling it up.  If/when I make another, I would wrap the stuff over the ends to the back and tack it down.  In any case, you can see Gimme likes doing her own nails - since her tail just never stops wagging.

BTW I forgot to mention yesterday that our little game during the walk where Gimme was learning to sniff out bread I dropped during our walk... it seemed to pay off during nosework class.  She did indeed bring her head down during her searches.

I'm sure it helped that Joyce kept all the hides at or below her usual nose level.  I'll have to watch in the future and make sure to do a session of low hides any time Joyce does a bunch of high ones during class...

Nails

Gimme and I are doing a lot of free-shaping lately.  I am working on tightening up her spin.   I'm also trying to get her to go in the other direction.  She prefers counter-clockwise (left turning) turns/spins/pivots, so I want to get her going the other way to keep her body balanced.  Not to mention that we'll need spins in both directions. 

I'm also teaching her to file her own nails.  I have to confess, I really hate doing nails, but have done them all my dog-owning life because its a necessity.  Now though, its gotten to where doing them really makes my back hurt.  There is something about the posture that just does me in.  So I read on line about making a nail board and free-shaping the dog to scratch (front feet) and kick (back feet) to do their own nails.  

So I made a board and thought I'd put it in a spot where she walks through several times a day... wouldn't you know she neatly steps around it every time.  For now I'm placing it right inside the dog door, where she goes through about ten times a day.  Since she doesn't really see/notice it, she doesn't try to avoid it.

Plus we've had two free-shaping sessions where I prop the board up and shape her to scratch at it.  I tried it laying flat, but she kept thinking it was a platform that she should stand on.  Last night I was able to easily get her to scratch with the left front foot.  At the time I thought it was the location of the board relative to where I was sitting and planned to reverse that tonight to do her right foot.  However, it turns out that isn't the issue at all.  Gimme is decidedly left-pawed.  It took longer, but I did get her scratching with the right foot. 

I was pleasantly surprised how well the nail board works and could really see where it had filed her nails.  Come summer I will video tape her coming and going on the front and back stairs to identify where she steps.  I'm guessing it will be toward the leading edge.  Then I'll put that stuff on on the stairs and she can do her own nails for life, eh...   I don't actually know if that will be enough, but usually her back nails stay reasonable length, so it should keep them down enough.  And if it doesn't keep the front nails down, it won't take anything to just spend ten minutes a week clicking and treating her for doing them herself. 

BTW the "stuff" I'm talking about is that adhesive backed "outdoor tread" made by 3M.  I bought a roll of it from Home Depot in the paint department; its 4" wide by 180" long for $20.  Most people put it on stairs for added traction and safety.  It'll stick to wood or cement, can be used outdoors and lasts a long time. 

Bad Mommy 'fesses Up...

I don't know why I've put this off for so long. I expected a big prolonged process after how outraged she was about it before. It seems that in growing up, she's decided she can do anything if the pay is sufficiently motivating. I'm so glad I decided not to push it when she was so set against it. By letting it go, I think it became less of an issue.

What am I talking about? The dreaded n-word. No, not THAT one, the one that dog owners the world over stress about... "nails".

When I brought Gimme home, her nails were beautifully done and her breeder assured me she was a delight when it was time for her weekly pedicure. Either we have very different definitions of "delight" or something happened in Gimme's mind about the whole nails thing. Interestingly I was also assured she never even noticed the needle prick for her vaccinations. Yet, when I took her to the vet she was immediately dubbed "The Drama Queen" for her histrionics. When I first tried to do her nails, her drama-queen histrionics at the veterinary seemed a mere warm-up act by comparison.

At the time, I just thought the stress of all the changes in her life had gotten to her... so I let it go. From time to time I'd think "I really need to get her nails done", but something always came up. This weekend I was going to my parents', and both my parents adore her, so I knew I had to at least get her front feet "un-sharpened"... So I cleared the grooming table and set to work.

She got clicked/treated for:
standing on the table
standing on the table kissing me
standing on the table and letting me stroke her legs
letting me touch her feet
letting me hold my hand around her foot
letting me lift her foot
letting me lift her foot while holding the trimmers

Then put the grooming arm on, noosed her up and more click/treats for:
standing on the table with the noose on
standing noosed while kissing me
standing noosed and letting me stroke her legs
letting me touch her feet
letting me hold my hand around her foot
letting me lift her foot
letting me lift her foot while holding the trimmers
letting me touch her body with the trimmers
letting me touch her shoulder with the trimmers
letting me touch her leg with the trimmers
letting me touch her foot with the trimmers
trimmers touching the nails
trimmers touching her leg while I held her foot
trimmers touching her foot while I held it
trimmers touching the nail while I held the foot
trimmers touching the nail while I fiddled with the nail
trimmers touching nail while fiddling, then set trimmer down while still holding foot

NOTE: Years ago I learned by accident a secret to using the clicker to mark a good nails behavior. At the time I had the idea that I would attach a clicker to the nail trimmer handle, so I could click at the exact moment I clipped the nail. Unfortunately it wasn't as effective in practice as it was in theory. I never could get the coordination going to clip and click at the same time. My efforts led to my dog sometimes jerking the foot away as I clicked, which I knew was not something I wanted to happen as I was clipping. So I purposely delayed a moment. In delaying, until after the clip so there was no jerk in mid-clip... I was actually clicking for letting me hold the paw AFTER I clipped. Since then I've refined the behavior even further - now I continue to hold the paw while I set the trimmers down and then click. As I get to this point in the behavior, I leave the clicker on the table, so its right there when I lay the nail trimmers down.

That first night I proceeded to take the tip off each of the front nails, one at time. After which I did two back nails one at a time, then the other back nails in twofers. It took less than twenty minutes and about a hundred treats. Who knew it would be so easy.

We actually did her nails again on Saturday before leaving to for my parents' - getting the front nails more rounded. Then we did them again on Sunday evening after returning.

I started by luring Gimme onto a chair and then onto the table from there. By Sunday night she wasn't having any of that and for a moment I wondered if we'd worn the fun off getting a pedicure. Yet, the moment I got out of her way, Gimme leapt from the floor to the grooming table top. (I'm still requiring her to use the chair to get down.)

BTW on Saturday as we were doing our morning cuddle, I happened to stroke her leg all the way down to her foot. Suddenly her eyes popped open and you could see her waiting and listening - could there be a click coming, followed by a treat?

She is who she is.