I was glancing back over the training notes for Itzl, and came across this one when he was 13 months old and well into his hearing training.
I remember vividly just how frustrating this sort of behavior was. He clearly knew he was supposed to be alerting, and even knew what on, but he also clearly was rebelling and not pleased with himself for doing it. He didn't want to be at work, he wanted to play.
He had worse spurts of this sort of behavior back when he was in his basic behavior and Canine Good Citizen training, the training he needed before he could be task-trained - puppy behavior.
But instead of telling you about it, I'll let you read what I wrote as it happened.
He wants in my lap and as soon as he gets there, he wants back on the floor. On the floor, he wants to play with his "fingers" (a plush ring with 5 jingly balls on the ends of wide ribbons). As soon as he gets his "fingers", he abandons them because the wind made a weird noise and he has to pointedly ignore it. A shadow passes outside the window and it makes him yelp. So he wants back into my lap, but as soon as he gets there, he whines to get on the desk. On the desk, he wants back in my lap. He'll wander over to his food dish and scoop up a mouth of food, forget he has it and scoop up another mouthful, spilling what he already has in his mouth. That will frustrate him so he'll drop all the food he's scooped up and walk off. Then he'll go back and do it again, several times - never actually eating.
And so it goes, over and over again.
He won't listen to any of his Commands, he won't engage in play, and he won't settle. I can't engage him or distract him because he's a bundle of distractions right now.
This won't last long, though. He'll fidget himself into exhaustion (usually within an hour), and then he'll nap for a few minutes. When he wakes, he'll forget he was ever twitchy. The whole rest of the day, he'll be charming and calm and work extra hard to prove he's really a good boy.
If he were a female, I'd say he was in heat, but he's a neutered little boy doggie - timmed, as we call it, from when we exclusively had cats. When we neutered the toms, we'd say they were tims, now. So neutering is "timming".
He hasn't been this antsy and difficult for weeks, but I suppose the ocassional set-back is to be expected; he's still technically a puppy.
He's gotten much better. Those days where he plainly doesn't want to be working have faded away. Now and again, he'd much rather I not go to work. He wants me to stay home or go somehwere else, somewhere interesting because working in my office is dull and boring and not muc happens there except some people coming in and the phones ringing.
Those are the days he'll alert on the train that he knows is 3 blocks away, and the ambulance sirens arriving at the hospital 2 blocks away in the other direction from the train tracks, and he'll alert on the helicopters, and even on really loud birds outside just to be doing something.
But he doesn't get the up/down and on/off antsiness he got as a puppy.
Sometimes, working is tough because it's too easy and too boring.
And so Itzl rebels in his quiet "I'm doing my job, but you're no fun" way.
I highlight this today because come Monday, I'll tell you all about his exciting work at the OU Medieval Fair, with pics!
OK, to be fair, most of the pics will be of the Fair itself. It's hard to take pictures of a dog that's in a carry bag on my chest. But I'll take him out for pics.
Because this year's Fair is hot, he's wearing mostly his wings so he won't fry, and I'm carrying a parasol to keep the sun off his black fur.
This morning, he and I are working in the Information Booth on the south end of the Fair (9:30 - 1:00), and tomorrow, we'll be working the closing in the Fair Office (4:00 - 8:00 pm). The rest of the Fair, we'll be wandering to help vendors out and meet with friends.
It may be Monday before I can respond coherently to comments. I love the "post later" feature here, so I can write diaries and have them post when I'm not online!
I guarantee you, Itzl is not bored today!