Who's Minding the Manners

Well - our animal family has undergone many changes over the last 6 months.  We lost two very dear souls to the rainbow bridge.  We had a sudden influx of mice - in our house?!  Whether or not that was Schmadios and Tiace nudging us on to our next animal adventure I will never know.  If so, I have to say it worked.  We now have two new cats - Squash and Mango.  

In the mean time, Chewie and Gromit have done some adjusting.   Our neighbor from Greece baked holiday treats and stopped at another neighbors house to get support and join her in delivering them to our house because she was afraid of the dogs.  We started thinking that perhaps we needed to work on the door manners with our boys.  There were other more serious reasons but we decided to call a trainer we had become acquainted with from animal communication to help us work with Chewie and Gromit on manners and ... ahem...self-control.  

So it all started out pretty innocently.  Marilyn arrived at our house and witnessed the bowl 'em over with happiness greeting from Chewie and Gromit.  Then we talked about our goals.  I demonstrated how they would do anything for a treat.  She helped remind us of shaping behaviors and how to use a clicker.  Kristin listened with a training focus I had never seen in her before.  We started working on developing a relationship change in an effort to remind the boys that we are not just room mates - we deserve a little more respect than that - LOL!  

On the second visit Marilyn dropped off a machine called the Manner's Minder.  She told us to watch the DVD and get some batteries so it would actually work.  Now in my mind I am thinking - "bravo Marilyn "- I have a techno geek girlfriend and if you want her to focus on training a new gadget is exactly the ticket.  I realize now this might have been a bit of a projection.  After all, I was the one that watched the DVD and nagged Kristin to get the batteries for three weeks.  

The Manners Minder is an electronic treat dispenser.  It drops treats into a dish using a remote control.  The idea is that we would train the boys to stay on a matt/bed/rug while guests enter the house.  The reinforcement for this would be treats dispensed remotely so we did not have to be in the same place as the dogs.  http://store.clickertraining.com/mannersminder.html

If you know Chewie at all you know he is the safety inspector in the house.  He saw that big plastic turtle sitting on the floor and walked around it for a couple of days.  When we turned it on the first time he jumped backwards.  However, once he realized that food was dropping into that bowl, nothing, not even a beep or grind of gears would give him pause.  He was all about that treat dispenser.  "Hmm - if I lie down on this matt magically treats dispense - Gromit has talked to me about the magic french fry window, I know about the endless bag of Bugles, but this deal is too good to be true, if I lay here and look happy, give Heidi a little eye contact, i get treats? - yee haw"

While we had a session to train Chewie, Gromit was placed calmly upstairs where he proceeded to yip dramatically until we were done with the exercise and let him our from the entrapment of the upstairs.  The Manners Minder was placed on the fireplace mantel behind the rocking chair and atop the book shelves. It is a corner and behind the rocking chair is a bean bag chair. 

For dinner that evening we had Roasted Potatoes with Fresh Rosemary and Crunchy Kasha Burgers.  Chef Kristin made dinner and I did the dishes.  I was careful to insure all the dishes were done and food put away.  

As I lay in bed that evening, reading my iPad and chatting with Kristin about the day, we heard Gromit trot down the stairs to the main floor.  I proudly said to Kristin there was nothing left out and he would be back up in a minute.   We laughed and waited.  Kristin asked me if I was sure as  heard him rooting around and shuffling about...finally she asked me if I would just go down and see what he was up to... I went to the bottom of the stairs and realized that the sound was not coming from the kitchen - I walked around to the living room and there behind the rocking chair, head leaning over the bean bag chair and nosing the Manners Minder was Gromit.  He was not on his matt, the treats were not being dispensed automagically, he missed the special time with three people working with one dog and yet still, I'll be doggone if he didn't get himself that whole Manners Minder machine quietly down off the mantel, dropped onto the bean bag chair and have himself a little of whatever the heck Chewie was getting.  Who needs a remote...when it comes to Gromit who is minding the manners will never be in question - it will be the answer.