In my first blog I said I had 3 pictures. Wrong. I only had 2. So I won't be posting again until I cook something. No fears though, the plan is to make Chicken Jumbalaya on Sunday.
I also have a new quest for myself. Last night at a delicious restaurant (BJ's) I had the Santa Fe Salad. It's one of my favorite meals so I'm going to try to reproduce it, probably not as a salad though. The main challenges will be figuring out the dressing (I'm guessing sour cream and salsa) and how to blacken chicken. Maybe we can learn together!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Panko Crusted Chicken with Tomato Sauce
Today’s creation is Panko Crusted Chicken with a tomato sauce. I found this recipe because I want to use up the panko crumbs I have left over after I tried to make salmon cakes (disaster!). Panko crumbs are basically bread crumbs…I think they are usually used in seafood – like the breaded shrimp I believe is with panko crumbs.
I should have known that I was not going to nail this recipe the first time I tried it. I always burn breaded chicken. For some reason I just haven’t gotten the hang of it. So here’s how the evening went…
Since I was trying something new I read through the entire recipe, and then I got out my ingredients. I like to be extra ready the first time I try something because I just never know how it’s going to turn out. In order to bread something, you generally coat it in flour and then egg (the egg sticks to the flour - without the flour, the egg would slide off the raw chicken). Then comes the crumbs. For this recipe the crumbs were mixed with seasoning and parmesan cheese. This recipe is a little messy and dirties a lot of dishes (one for the flour, one for the crumbs, one for the egg) which is something that turns me off of a meal but this one is good enough to at least try again. I preheated the oil in the skillet while I was getting everything ready (maybe that made the oil too hot?).
While I was burning the chicken I was getting the sauce ready. This was completely new to me and I have to say it was amazing. The recipe calls for cherry tomatoes and basil and garlic. The tomatoes basically stew in the saucepan and then they burst from the heat! They become incredibly soft. I usually don’t use fresh herbs even when the recipe calls for it. I substitute with dried. Fresh herbs can be pricey, and I can never use an entire package before it goes bad (add a papertowel to the package to help them last longer). For the basil though I went with the fresh kind and I was extremely happy I did. I think basil is sort of licorice-ishy. It was fantastic with the tomatoes.
The tomato sauce tops the chicken (ideally chicken which is not charred). I then sprinkled the combo with fresh parmesan. I believe this recipe to be a slightly healthier version of chicken parmesan. It was pretty tasty even though the breading was burnt. The chicken stayed moist and the tomato sauce was extra yummy. Next time I make this (planning to in a couple weeks) I’m planning on using less heat than what the recipe calls for. I have a gas stove which I think tends to be hotter than electric ones. I’m also thinking that I will pound the chicken breast slightly or maybe even use tenders. Hopefully that will help prevent burning!
And here’s the recipe: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3313
Since this is a Rachael Ray recipe, I’m just copying the link. Not sure how reproduction rules work in this case, but I like to avoid legal trouble.
I should have known that I was not going to nail this recipe the first time I tried it. I always burn breaded chicken. For some reason I just haven’t gotten the hang of it. So here’s how the evening went…
Since I was trying something new I read through the entire recipe, and then I got out my ingredients. I like to be extra ready the first time I try something because I just never know how it’s going to turn out. In order to bread something, you generally coat it in flour and then egg (the egg sticks to the flour - without the flour, the egg would slide off the raw chicken). Then comes the crumbs. For this recipe the crumbs were mixed with seasoning and parmesan cheese. This recipe is a little messy and dirties a lot of dishes (one for the flour, one for the crumbs, one for the egg) which is something that turns me off of a meal but this one is good enough to at least try again. I preheated the oil in the skillet while I was getting everything ready (maybe that made the oil too hot?).
While I was burning the chicken I was getting the sauce ready. This was completely new to me and I have to say it was amazing. The recipe calls for cherry tomatoes and basil and garlic. The tomatoes basically stew in the saucepan and then they burst from the heat! They become incredibly soft. I usually don’t use fresh herbs even when the recipe calls for it. I substitute with dried. Fresh herbs can be pricey, and I can never use an entire package before it goes bad (add a papertowel to the package to help them last longer). For the basil though I went with the fresh kind and I was extremely happy I did. I think basil is sort of licorice-ishy. It was fantastic with the tomatoes.
The tomato sauce tops the chicken (ideally chicken which is not charred). I then sprinkled the combo with fresh parmesan. I believe this recipe to be a slightly healthier version of chicken parmesan. It was pretty tasty even though the breading was burnt. The chicken stayed moist and the tomato sauce was extra yummy. Next time I make this (planning to in a couple weeks) I’m planning on using less heat than what the recipe calls for. I have a gas stove which I think tends to be hotter than electric ones. I’m also thinking that I will pound the chicken breast slightly or maybe even use tenders. Hopefully that will help prevent burning!
And here’s the recipe: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3313
Since this is a Rachael Ray recipe, I’m just copying the link. Not sure how reproduction rules work in this case, but I like to avoid legal trouble.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Peanut Butter Chicken and Fried Rice Recipe
My first meal is Peanut Butter Chicken and Fried Rice. This is probably my favorite meal. It’s pretty simple and it’s delicious. I mean you can’t go wrong with peanut butter. I have made this dish a handful of times so I’m really getting the hang of it. Here’s how I do it.
First I cook the rice according to the package directions. I always use brown rice since that’s supposed to be healthier. The rice needs to cool before you actually make fried rice with it so this is more like the preparation stage (if you’re cramped on time just use the refrigerator to help cool it down). I like to incorporate tofu into this dish. I like to eat tofu on a regular basis just for the health benefits. This is one of the easiest dishes to add it to I think. So after I get the rice started, I drain and dry the tofu. I use half a package for the 2 of us.
Next is the chicken. I cut the raw chicken (2 breasts) into cubes so that it cooks faster. My standard method for cooking chicken is pan-cooking. I drizzle the pan with extra virgin olive oil and heat it to medium. Then I add the chicken, let it brown on one side, flip and let the other side brown. Usually a few minutes on each side. At this point I add chicken broth to the pan and cover and let the chicken cook the rest of the way (I also add the tofu here too). I turn down the heat just a little too, but keep the broth simmering. Since we are smothering our chicken in peanut butter it doesn’t matter too much how it gets cooked.
While the chicken is cooking away I start on the sauce. In a small sauce pan I melt butter and peanut butter and add a little oil (I use extra virgin olive oil most of the time). I don’t usually measure things anymore; it’s usually not necessary. But roughly it’s a tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of EVOO, and 1.5 – 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. I just stir this all together after the peanut butter softens up enough. I keep the heat very low as well.
Now it’s time to get back to the rice. I use a large skillet and heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add some garlic and onion to this (I’ve used anything from red to yellow to green). Sometimes I save some of the tofu and add it to the rice. If I did, this is the point to add the tofu. Now beat 1 or 2 eggs (1 is usually plenty for 2 rice servings) and mix the egg with the rice until the rice looks evenly coated. By this time the garlic and onion should be browning up. Add the rice to the hot skillet and stir as needed. After it looks like the egg has fried up, add teriyaki sauce (soy sauce would also work). I use about 5 shakes of the bottle. Enough to turn the rice darker, but don’t soak the rice. Keep stirring, but it only takes a few more minutes for the rice to be complete.
By this time the chicken is cooked so I add it (and the tofu) to the peanut butter sauce that is melted. I cover all the chicken and tofu. Then I pile the rice on a plate and top with the chicken! Delicious. Here’s the finished product! And after the picture is full recipe.
Peanut Butter Chicken and Fried Rice – 2 servings
Peanut Butter Sauce
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
In small saucepan melt ingredients together over low heat. Stir to combine.
Chicken
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
2 chicken breast, cubed
Half package extra firm tofu, cubed
Drizzle EVOO in skillet. Brown chicken 3 minutes on each side over medium heat. Add tofu. Add chicken broth. Reduce heat slight, but still allow broth to simmer. Cover. Cook until done. (Add more broth if all broth boils off but the chicken isn’t done). Stir the chicken and tofu into the warm peanut butter sauce to cover completely.
Fried Rice
Cooked rice (cook according to package directions) and allow to cool
1 clove of garlic, diced
½ tbsp EVOO
½ onion, diced
1 egg, beaten
½ cup teriyaki sauce
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion and allow to brown. (If using green onion, add when the rice is added). Mix the beaten egg with the rice to cover the rice. Add the rice to a hot skillet. Allow the egg to fry on the rice – stir as needed (few minutes). Add teriyaki and stir to coat.
Top the chicken onto the rice and serve!
First I cook the rice according to the package directions. I always use brown rice since that’s supposed to be healthier. The rice needs to cool before you actually make fried rice with it so this is more like the preparation stage (if you’re cramped on time just use the refrigerator to help cool it down). I like to incorporate tofu into this dish. I like to eat tofu on a regular basis just for the health benefits. This is one of the easiest dishes to add it to I think. So after I get the rice started, I drain and dry the tofu. I use half a package for the 2 of us.
Next is the chicken. I cut the raw chicken (2 breasts) into cubes so that it cooks faster. My standard method for cooking chicken is pan-cooking. I drizzle the pan with extra virgin olive oil and heat it to medium. Then I add the chicken, let it brown on one side, flip and let the other side brown. Usually a few minutes on each side. At this point I add chicken broth to the pan and cover and let the chicken cook the rest of the way (I also add the tofu here too). I turn down the heat just a little too, but keep the broth simmering. Since we are smothering our chicken in peanut butter it doesn’t matter too much how it gets cooked.
While the chicken is cooking away I start on the sauce. In a small sauce pan I melt butter and peanut butter and add a little oil (I use extra virgin olive oil most of the time). I don’t usually measure things anymore; it’s usually not necessary. But roughly it’s a tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of EVOO, and 1.5 – 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. I just stir this all together after the peanut butter softens up enough. I keep the heat very low as well.
Now it’s time to get back to the rice. I use a large skillet and heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add some garlic and onion to this (I’ve used anything from red to yellow to green). Sometimes I save some of the tofu and add it to the rice. If I did, this is the point to add the tofu. Now beat 1 or 2 eggs (1 is usually plenty for 2 rice servings) and mix the egg with the rice until the rice looks evenly coated. By this time the garlic and onion should be browning up. Add the rice to the hot skillet and stir as needed. After it looks like the egg has fried up, add teriyaki sauce (soy sauce would also work). I use about 5 shakes of the bottle. Enough to turn the rice darker, but don’t soak the rice. Keep stirring, but it only takes a few more minutes for the rice to be complete.
By this time the chicken is cooked so I add it (and the tofu) to the peanut butter sauce that is melted. I cover all the chicken and tofu. Then I pile the rice on a plate and top with the chicken! Delicious. Here’s the finished product! And after the picture is full recipe.
Peanut Butter Chicken and Fried Rice – 2 servings
Peanut Butter Sauce
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
In small saucepan melt ingredients together over low heat. Stir to combine.
Chicken
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
2 chicken breast, cubed
Half package extra firm tofu, cubed
Drizzle EVOO in skillet. Brown chicken 3 minutes on each side over medium heat. Add tofu. Add chicken broth. Reduce heat slight, but still allow broth to simmer. Cover. Cook until done. (Add more broth if all broth boils off but the chicken isn’t done). Stir the chicken and tofu into the warm peanut butter sauce to cover completely.
Fried Rice
Cooked rice (cook according to package directions) and allow to cool
1 clove of garlic, diced
½ tbsp EVOO
½ onion, diced
1 egg, beaten
½ cup teriyaki sauce
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion and allow to brown. (If using green onion, add when the rice is added). Mix the beaten egg with the rice to cover the rice. Add the rice to a hot skillet. Allow the egg to fry on the rice – stir as needed (few minutes). Add teriyaki and stir to coat.
Top the chicken onto the rice and serve!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
New Look New Subject!
My dear blog I have abandoned you. For awhile I've been thinking of posting about my new hobby - cooking. Since it's a new subject, I decided the blog should have a new look!
I guess since it's technically the first post of the new blog I'll start with background. (Oh don't worry, I'm sure I'll be compelled to add stories about the puppies every once in awhile).
When I was in school, cooking consisted of spaghetti. Actually this was the first meal I made for Brian. He claims to have liked it, but I now know that Brian does not like spaghetti. I guess back then his taste buds were clouded since he had a crush on the chef. When I started cooking for both Brian and myself, the meals were generally easy ones: hot dogs, veggie burgers, pasta, etc. Thanks to Rachael Ray I have matured in the kitchen. I think RR was a good way to learn cooking because her meals seem repeatable. The main advantage is that she cooks them in 30 minutes! After a few years of watching her show and getting a cook book or two, I'm pretty comfortable in the kitchen now.
So my current idea is to blog about my newest culinary achievements. My goal is to try 1 new recipe a week. I'm pretty good at meeting this unless soccer gets in the way. I've started taking pictures of the dinners too so I already have a few meals to catch up on. Those will be the first blog posts.
Here's what you can look forward to...
-Panko Crusted Chicken (RR recipe)
-Peanut Butter Chicken (Krista original)
-I know there was one more, but I can't remember it now...
By the way, I use chicken in about 93% of my meals. Every once in awhile a meal will be meatless (I have to sneak these past Brian), and sometimes I use beef. Chicken just seems the easiest to me.
I guess since it's technically the first post of the new blog I'll start with background. (Oh don't worry, I'm sure I'll be compelled to add stories about the puppies every once in awhile).
When I was in school, cooking consisted of spaghetti. Actually this was the first meal I made for Brian. He claims to have liked it, but I now know that Brian does not like spaghetti. I guess back then his taste buds were clouded since he had a crush on the chef. When I started cooking for both Brian and myself, the meals were generally easy ones: hot dogs, veggie burgers, pasta, etc. Thanks to Rachael Ray I have matured in the kitchen. I think RR was a good way to learn cooking because her meals seem repeatable. The main advantage is that she cooks them in 30 minutes! After a few years of watching her show and getting a cook book or two, I'm pretty comfortable in the kitchen now.
So my current idea is to blog about my newest culinary achievements. My goal is to try 1 new recipe a week. I'm pretty good at meeting this unless soccer gets in the way. I've started taking pictures of the dinners too so I already have a few meals to catch up on. Those will be the first blog posts.
Here's what you can look forward to...
-Panko Crusted Chicken (RR recipe)
-Peanut Butter Chicken (Krista original)
-I know there was one more, but I can't remember it now...
By the way, I use chicken in about 93% of my meals. Every once in awhile a meal will be meatless (I have to sneak these past Brian), and sometimes I use beef. Chicken just seems the easiest to me.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Dog Obedience Round 2 Begins
Unfortunately a lot of time has passed since my last blog update. Sometimes there’s no stories to tell and sometimes there’s no energy to tell the stories. I’m not sure there’s either right now, but I’m going to try!
Heineken was sick. One night she puked. Then the next day she was coughing. And then there was diarrhea. So I took her to the vet. I was worried that Heineken might have a worm, so I took Stella along too. I figured if Heineken had a worm then Stella probably caught it as well.
Rewind to the last visit (pre-dog training) to the vet: I struggle with Heineken and Stella as I get them from the car to inside. Once inside, we bark/lunge/scream at an innocent dog at the counter. The receptionist asks us to wait outside until she can get a room ready. So yes we got demoted to the parking lot waiting room. Then when we were in the exam room, Stella was so out of control that the vet could barely examine Heineken. Not to mention that Stella would tackle every new person that came into the room. I left feeling very frustrated and pretty much like a failed dog owner.
Ok, back to present times. So for the first time in a long time I had both dogs to contend with. I did practically get dragged inside again, but once inside we were able to act fairly normal. I got Heineken on the scale, then I got Stella on the scale. Stella actually stayed still enough to get a reading. Heineken even saw a cat in the waiting room, but I was still able to maintain control! Once in the room, we did a lot better greeting visitors. Stella also handled Heineken’s examination much better. She sat next to me and waited her turn. This time I left feeling like I actually could control my four legged friends!
Heineken has started her school. We missed the first class, but I still worked with Heineken on the heeling. We had our second class last night. It’s a lot easier the second time around. Plus Heineken is much calmer than Stella. We started out a little shaky. When we were walking in circles, Heineken just wanted to either get to the dog in front of her or behind her. But after the first round she was getting the hang of it. We did the normal heeling exercises with the sits. Then last night we started the stay as well. And we also learned the lay down. Heineken felt like a breeze student though compared to Stella. We will be busy as we work through our lessons!
Heineken was sick. One night she puked. Then the next day she was coughing. And then there was diarrhea. So I took her to the vet. I was worried that Heineken might have a worm, so I took Stella along too. I figured if Heineken had a worm then Stella probably caught it as well.
Rewind to the last visit (pre-dog training) to the vet: I struggle with Heineken and Stella as I get them from the car to inside. Once inside, we bark/lunge/scream at an innocent dog at the counter. The receptionist asks us to wait outside until she can get a room ready. So yes we got demoted to the parking lot waiting room. Then when we were in the exam room, Stella was so out of control that the vet could barely examine Heineken. Not to mention that Stella would tackle every new person that came into the room. I left feeling very frustrated and pretty much like a failed dog owner.
Ok, back to present times. So for the first time in a long time I had both dogs to contend with. I did practically get dragged inside again, but once inside we were able to act fairly normal. I got Heineken on the scale, then I got Stella on the scale. Stella actually stayed still enough to get a reading. Heineken even saw a cat in the waiting room, but I was still able to maintain control! Once in the room, we did a lot better greeting visitors. Stella also handled Heineken’s examination much better. She sat next to me and waited her turn. This time I left feeling like I actually could control my four legged friends!
Heineken has started her school. We missed the first class, but I still worked with Heineken on the heeling. We had our second class last night. It’s a lot easier the second time around. Plus Heineken is much calmer than Stella. We started out a little shaky. When we were walking in circles, Heineken just wanted to either get to the dog in front of her or behind her. But after the first round she was getting the hang of it. We did the normal heeling exercises with the sits. Then last night we started the stay as well. And we also learned the lay down. Heineken felt like a breeze student though compared to Stella. We will be busy as we work through our lessons!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Dog School Graduation!
We have passed graduation! Really graduation was much easier than Trainer Jason hyped it up to be. That’s ok though. By the end of the class, there were 5 student dogs (we probably started with 10). All but 1 dog passed (this dog made improvements, but he still liked to lounge at other dogs/people if they got too close to his human).
We started with our heel, right turn, left turn and sit. We did a warm up sit-stay. I’m proud of Stella. Not only does she sit when I stop walking (she’s on about a 90% rate when we train), she also mastered her stay. Then we did the races. We raced on the paper plate recall game. The first round was Gracie and the greyhound, Sweetness. Gracie easily won. Sweetness got distracted and thought it was time for socialization so racing wasn’t even on her mind. Next up was Stella and a lab, Baubers. Baubers basically did the same thing that Sweetness did so Stella won. Boomer, the last dog raced against Sweetness and won and then he raced against Baubers and won. Then Stella had to race Gracie (Fierce competition). Gracie had Stella on the recall, but Gracie either didn’t sit or didn’t stay so Stella was declared the winner. (Stella then had to race Boomer, but Stella easily won). We all think it was pretty close between Stella and Gracie so they are sharing the title “Paper Plate Recall Champion.” (They don't mind though because they are BFF). Then the dogs had an extra long time of socialization.
Now that we’ve passed we can take Heineken through free of charge and we can also bring Stella back if she ever needs a refresher. I’m still debating, but I think Heineken will be a student in the next class.
I don’t think I ever blogged about my initial desire from dog school. My goals were simple.
1. I wanted to be able to walk both Heineken and Stella without fear (basically meaning if we saw another dog I wanted to be able to keep them in control). All the while retaining my arms. This does not seem like too much to ask.
2. I wanted Stella to stop jumping on me.
While being in class, my goals have expanded (I want Stella to listen to me all the time, I want Stella to be better behaved with visitors, etc).
So did training meet my goals? 50%. I still don’t feel that I can walk both of them enjoyably, but if I do try to walk them I won’t be so nervous about it. We can get out of the house without Stella screaming and this is a huge accomplishment. I also think that Heineken needs to learn to heel before walking both of them will be completely enjoyable.
For the jumping, Trainer Jason did tell us how to handle it, but it was very difficult to practice. Stella is such a spasoid that it’s hard to anticipate her jumps. But I do think the jumping is better but I think this is mostly because she listens to me better. So when she jumps, I tell her to sit and she actually does as opposed to before when she would just continue to jump.
Stay tuned because we will probably have Dog School Part 2 in the near future. I’m sure taking Heineken through will result in different challenges too.
We started with our heel, right turn, left turn and sit. We did a warm up sit-stay. I’m proud of Stella. Not only does she sit when I stop walking (she’s on about a 90% rate when we train), she also mastered her stay. Then we did the races. We raced on the paper plate recall game. The first round was Gracie and the greyhound, Sweetness. Gracie easily won. Sweetness got distracted and thought it was time for socialization so racing wasn’t even on her mind. Next up was Stella and a lab, Baubers. Baubers basically did the same thing that Sweetness did so Stella won. Boomer, the last dog raced against Sweetness and won and then he raced against Baubers and won. Then Stella had to race Gracie (Fierce competition). Gracie had Stella on the recall, but Gracie either didn’t sit or didn’t stay so Stella was declared the winner. (Stella then had to race Boomer, but Stella easily won). We all think it was pretty close between Stella and Gracie so they are sharing the title “Paper Plate Recall Champion.” (They don't mind though because they are BFF). Then the dogs had an extra long time of socialization.
Now that we’ve passed we can take Heineken through free of charge and we can also bring Stella back if she ever needs a refresher. I’m still debating, but I think Heineken will be a student in the next class.
I don’t think I ever blogged about my initial desire from dog school. My goals were simple.
1. I wanted to be able to walk both Heineken and Stella without fear (basically meaning if we saw another dog I wanted to be able to keep them in control). All the while retaining my arms. This does not seem like too much to ask.
2. I wanted Stella to stop jumping on me.
While being in class, my goals have expanded (I want Stella to listen to me all the time, I want Stella to be better behaved with visitors, etc).
So did training meet my goals? 50%. I still don’t feel that I can walk both of them enjoyably, but if I do try to walk them I won’t be so nervous about it. We can get out of the house without Stella screaming and this is a huge accomplishment. I also think that Heineken needs to learn to heel before walking both of them will be completely enjoyable.
For the jumping, Trainer Jason did tell us how to handle it, but it was very difficult to practice. Stella is such a spasoid that it’s hard to anticipate her jumps. But I do think the jumping is better but I think this is mostly because she listens to me better. So when she jumps, I tell her to sit and she actually does as opposed to before when she would just continue to jump.
Stay tuned because we will probably have Dog School Part 2 in the near future. I’m sure taking Heineken through will result in different challenges too.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Dog Obedience Training Progress!
Ok, so another month has gone by. Quickly too. Stella has had 4 classes in dog obedience school. She is progressing better than I am! After the second class, we have learned how to quiet Stella when she’s barking and going crazy like she was for the first class. Apparently what happens is that she gets so excited, she just becomes pure adrenaline and has no control. I have to snap her back into the real world, remind her that her main responsibility in life is to focus on me. I learned how to correct this at the second class. At this last class, we got to the yard and took our spot. The trainer turned around and saw us, and I said, “You didn’t even hear us coming!” He was impressed with the improvement.
In class we have been gradually learning more and more and sending less information to the dog.
Here are the training goals – as in what needs to be demonstrated at graduation, yikes! and where we are (in class and Stella’s progress):
1. Walk in heel including the dog sits when the person stops walking – our new assignment for this week is that Stella will sit with only the command spoken (in the past, we pulled on the leash, and pushed her butt down – we are slowly taking information away). I have not worked with Stella on this part yet, but she does fairly well now at stopping when I stop, so I feel confident that this will be a smooth transition for us.
2. Lay down for 2 minutes – this is a newer item and one that we struggle with a little. I haven’t been disciplined in working with Stella on this one as much, but I will have to get better if I want to graduate school. Right now Stella is fighting going down, but on our 3rd go around, she’s generally ok laying there until I start walking.
3. Recall (maybe with a dog race too?) – this one is tricky. In our last session, we started working on this with a distraction. It’s easy to get a dog to come to you when it’s just sitting there, the real test is if it’s distracted on something else. Will it respond to your call then? Our assignment has been to recall the dog 5 times a day (Stella has an inside leash now and is in the pinch collar often). Stella does great with this. Actually I have a hard time even testing her because usually when I start to walk away, she follows me. However, when I am calling her after socialization, she’s not as quick to come. It always depends on how tired she is. So now we are learning with treats! The exercise is this: we approach a plate a certain distance away. I tell Stella to stay. I step away from Stella and walk toward the plate (the first time, it was 1 step). I place a cookie on the plate. I walk back to Stella. (This is assuming she has sit/stayed the entire time). Then I allow her to get the treat. As soon as she gets and eats it (they are small so this is seconds), I start running backwards and call Stella. When she gets to me, I tell her to sit which she does and she gets the treat. I have a feeling Stella will learn this exercise extremely fast because she loves treats.
4. Sit/Stay, this is where Stella sits and stays and I walk around her or to another person or wherever. Eventually dropping the leash. – Stella is getting really good at this one. We practiced with a tennis ball (it’s tough for a dog to sit and stay when a ball is thrown) and the first couple times she would always get up, but she got the hang of it. In our last class, I was able to drop the leash and walk to the fence and she stayed the whole time. I think the graduation task is to be able to walk across the yard which will be hard, but I think she can do it. Once in our neighborhood I dropped the leash (in a controlled manner). It was nerve-wracking, but Stella stayed!
5. Meet and Greet – this is a new one. Also one that he doesn’t expect us to make much progress outside of class because a second person and dog are needed. For this one, we walk across the yard and shake hands with another person. The dog sits when we stop and stays in a sit until we are ready to walk. We struggled with this one. Probably more me than Stella because I was weak in my corrections. But Stella got too focused on the person and dog approaching us so she wasn’t focused on me. The trainer taught us some corrections that I need to work through. I might use Brian and Heineken so that we can in fact get a head of the class.
When I think about graduation, I get really nervous. I feel that it is unlikely Stella will graduate. I also feel this is more of a reflection on me than on Stella. Stella is learning though.
So we will continue to work through our homework. We are also going to start working around Heineken. Heineken is a big distraction for Stella so it will help to test her and get her really good at her exercises.
Now I just it need to stop raining so that Stella and I can get outside to practice.
In class we have been gradually learning more and more and sending less information to the dog.
Here are the training goals – as in what needs to be demonstrated at graduation, yikes! and where we are (in class and Stella’s progress):
1. Walk in heel including the dog sits when the person stops walking – our new assignment for this week is that Stella will sit with only the command spoken (in the past, we pulled on the leash, and pushed her butt down – we are slowly taking information away). I have not worked with Stella on this part yet, but she does fairly well now at stopping when I stop, so I feel confident that this will be a smooth transition for us.
2. Lay down for 2 minutes – this is a newer item and one that we struggle with a little. I haven’t been disciplined in working with Stella on this one as much, but I will have to get better if I want to graduate school. Right now Stella is fighting going down, but on our 3rd go around, she’s generally ok laying there until I start walking.
3. Recall (maybe with a dog race too?) – this one is tricky. In our last session, we started working on this with a distraction. It’s easy to get a dog to come to you when it’s just sitting there, the real test is if it’s distracted on something else. Will it respond to your call then? Our assignment has been to recall the dog 5 times a day (Stella has an inside leash now and is in the pinch collar often). Stella does great with this. Actually I have a hard time even testing her because usually when I start to walk away, she follows me. However, when I am calling her after socialization, she’s not as quick to come. It always depends on how tired she is. So now we are learning with treats! The exercise is this: we approach a plate a certain distance away. I tell Stella to stay. I step away from Stella and walk toward the plate (the first time, it was 1 step). I place a cookie on the plate. I walk back to Stella. (This is assuming she has sit/stayed the entire time). Then I allow her to get the treat. As soon as she gets and eats it (they are small so this is seconds), I start running backwards and call Stella. When she gets to me, I tell her to sit which she does and she gets the treat. I have a feeling Stella will learn this exercise extremely fast because she loves treats.
4. Sit/Stay, this is where Stella sits and stays and I walk around her or to another person or wherever. Eventually dropping the leash. – Stella is getting really good at this one. We practiced with a tennis ball (it’s tough for a dog to sit and stay when a ball is thrown) and the first couple times she would always get up, but she got the hang of it. In our last class, I was able to drop the leash and walk to the fence and she stayed the whole time. I think the graduation task is to be able to walk across the yard which will be hard, but I think she can do it. Once in our neighborhood I dropped the leash (in a controlled manner). It was nerve-wracking, but Stella stayed!
5. Meet and Greet – this is a new one. Also one that he doesn’t expect us to make much progress outside of class because a second person and dog are needed. For this one, we walk across the yard and shake hands with another person. The dog sits when we stop and stays in a sit until we are ready to walk. We struggled with this one. Probably more me than Stella because I was weak in my corrections. But Stella got too focused on the person and dog approaching us so she wasn’t focused on me. The trainer taught us some corrections that I need to work through. I might use Brian and Heineken so that we can in fact get a head of the class.
When I think about graduation, I get really nervous. I feel that it is unlikely Stella will graduate. I also feel this is more of a reflection on me than on Stella. Stella is learning though.
So we will continue to work through our homework. We are also going to start working around Heineken. Heineken is a big distraction for Stella so it will help to test her and get her really good at her exercises.
Now I just it need to stop raining so that Stella and I can get outside to practice.
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