We tracked again today, and once again Hans was awesome! Dave and I are exhausted from all the running, but so excited that our dog is doing what he's supposed to do!
We learned about tethering in class today. This is going to be a huge challenge for Jonathan. Even wearing the special vest has been an issue, but we were able to get him to keep it on for 1/2 hour today (I distracted him by letting him listen to my iPod the whole time.) We haven't even tried attaching him to Hans yet. He still doesn't want to have much to do with Hans unless they are chasing a ball together...so we are playing LOTS of ball!
I got to work with Hans on behavior disruptions today. The dogs are trained to 'nuzzle' (push their nose onto a target), 'touch' (touch with their paw), 'kisses'(yeah, that's exactly what it sounds like), 'lap' (laying their head on a lap), and 'over' (putting the front half of their body over the child's legs for deep pressure - this helps a lot of kids with autism). We worked our dog pretending to do the behaviors of our child that we would like disrupted or redirected (basically it's suppose to distract the child long enough for them to forget what they're upset about). Let's just say that I was pretty much covered in dog slobber before we were done.
Here's a picture of me in training class. Hans has been in an extended 'down' position and has fallen asleep! He's starting to earn the nickname 'Big Slug' :)
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