Why Ice?

In the 4 months I have had Ice, I have had many a comment about his name.  Some people love it, some people politely try to not show they don't like it, and a very special few have outright been like "YOU NAMED YOUR PUPPY ICE? Like I-C-E, ICE?"  (yes no joke that has been asked more than once).  So let me try to explain why Ice has a not so normal dog name.

First, My Angel With Paws names every litter that we breed after a letter.  This was started after Serena and Jack were named.  Jack's litter was technically the first litter born at MAWP so they should have been the "A" litter but at that point we were still using themes (Jack Daniels, Boones Farm, Grand Marnier if that give a hint on the litter theme).  We then realized to quickly keep track of everyone and remember who is the same age and what not without having to open up the massive filing cabinet, naming everyone in the same litter with the same letter was very effective.  This began with the "B" litter.  But what to do with rescues and donated dogs?  Well, rescues were already being named with the letter "H" and we hadn't gotten to the "D" litter yet so donated dogs were to be named with "D" names (hence Darby). Ice's litter happened to be the "I" litter.

Now "I" is not a very easy letter.  I kept a list on my phone of potential "I" names.  Basically it was anything I could think of that started with an "I" and wasn't completely out there.  (My dad was voting for Ignoramus but he obviously didn't win that argument).  At first I really wanted Illini after University of Illinois, where I went to school.  But I quickly found that unless you went to Illinois or were an Illini fan, no one had a clue what I was saying when I said Illini.  So my hopes and dreams of letting my puppy wear all Illini gear all the time were put aside.

I finally settled on either Ice or Isaac but MAWP still had final say in what he would be called.  I mentioned that the reason I liked Ice was because my last name begins with "T" and so on all his paper work he would be Ice T for the first 2 years of his life.  Apparently, after being up birthing puppies all night, everyone in Florida thought this was just as funny as I did.  Also, my dad decided that if he couldn't call the puppy Ignoramus that Ice would be okay since he could make all sorts of bad jokes about the Titanic and the iceberg and iceberg lettuce and anything and everything to do with Ice.  The final thing that pushed me over (as silly as it sounds) is the song Ice Ice Baby.  For those of you who know me, know that I know the first half of the song by heart and enjoy "rapping" (that is in quotes for a reason) the lyrics randomly.  All right stop, collaborate and listen, Ice is back to with a brand new invention... I regress.

Ice water

Ice was then officially named, along with his siblings, by the person who so wonderfully donated money to specifically help with the birthing and whelping costs of the "I" litter.  So we have Ice, his brother Ike and his sisters Ikia, Irish, Izzy and Indie.  (He also has two sisters who were sold as pets who are named Montana and Bella.)

Ice watching hockey 

So yes, Ice is a slightly weird name.  Yes, it is also the acronym for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Intercontinental Exchange.  Yes, it isn't your typical dog name that has two syllables and is super easy to say.  But it fits him.  He is slightly sassy and slightly weird.

I also get a great kick out of find things that have the word 'ice' in them.  There is a new drink at Walmart called Sparkling Ice, there was a sign in the winter that said "Caution Ice."  During the NHL playoffs that Ice so loved to watch, they would say "icing" all the time.  This would cause Ice to turn his head to watch more.  Plus I get to say "nice Ice" and "easy on the Ice".  I hope that whoever gets placed with him finds his name as fun and entertaining as I do.   

He doesn't melt when the temperature gets over 32* F but that is probably best.

Cast of characters

With all the new people liking Ice's Facebook page I figured I would give everyone a breakdown of the main characters you might see pictures of or hear me talking about.

The main character, as most of you hopefully already know is Ice.  In case you don't know this is Ice:

The biggest supporting roll is Serena.  She is my right hand man.  She is a 4 year old black lab.  She is a fully trained service dog, released from My Angel With Paw to me (her puppy trainer) due to failing her hip x-rays.  She was my first service dog in training and plays a HUGE roll in training Ice.  I couldn't do this without her.  If you want to read more about her training go back to the archives as she was the reason I started this blog.

Another supporting role is Reggie, my 11 year old off the track thoroughbred.  He is probably the sweetest most wonderful horse to introduce dogs to.  He is so sweet in fact that Jack (trainee #2) used to sit between Reggie's front legs and eat his food with him.  Reggie also allows each service dog I have to lead him up and down the aisle.  When the dog drops the rope, he stops and waits until they pick it up again.  I think sometimes Reggie wants to be a dog.

Reggie

Serena leading Reggie

The next lovely helper is my guinea pig Gus.  He is almost 6 years old and has helped train every dog that has come through my house.  Gus's main purpose is to teach the dogs that even though he may smell like a wonderful rodent they have to leave it.  He is super good about patiently waiting while they sniff him.  I have also put the dogs in a "down stay" and put Gus on the ground.  He happily scampers around and the dogs can't move.  Eventually the dogs learn that little scampering rodents are boring.  This makes it super nice when they see squirrels outside.

Gus and Darby.  They turned out to be best friends

You will also hear about Jack and Darby.  Jack was service dog #2 and Darby was service dog #3.  Jack is currently an animal assisted therapy dog at Body Fixx in the town where I work so I see him around a lot. He also comes to visit when his dad goes out of town and can't take him.  Darby is currently at the MAWP facility completing advanced training.  He will be hopefully placed with someone soon.  These two goofy labs taught me so much about dog training and working through situations.

Darby (yellow) and Jack (black)

I guess I should also introduce myself (though you probably can just read the little about me section over there --------->).  My name is Sarah.  I am a volunteer dog trainer for My Angel With Paws, a Florida based not for profit.  I do not live in Florida; I live in Illinois and do this long distance.  This hopefully helps explain why I allow my dogs to run freely at the beach and go in the water.  It is Lake Michigan where there are no sharks or alligators.  I am a HUGE animal lover and training the dogs allows me to do something with animals while working at a job that has nothing to do with animals.  Hopefully you are enjoying watching Ice grow up and learning about all the adventures we go on!

Me and the Iceman

Ice's big day out

My dad and I had to run a couple errands today so Ice came along.  First stop was Home Depot to get stuff to update the kitchen.  We looked at drills then went to find new handles or knobs.  Ice thought I was taking too long to decide and got comfy by frogging out...

Frogging out in the hardware aisle

 Then we went and got some paint for the cabinets.

Patiently waiting for our paint

He then helped me pick out paint brushes and carried them to the checkout for me.

You can do it, Ice can help

Ice then helped carry a bag to the car.  He was such a good boy!

Next stop was PetSmart to get Ice and Serena food.  Ice was very interested in the birds. He really wanted to be this one's friend.  

He also did really good seeing other dogs who were barking and lunging all over the place.  His hair went up but and "leave it" and "watch me" was enough to get him to focus back on me.  After getting Ice food we went to get me a smoothie at Jamba Juice.  He was super happy to be there.

After being so good in all three stores Ice was wiped out and got comfy in the car on the way to the barn.  And by comfy I mean this:

Sometimes you just need to drop everything and work on something...

Today I took Ice with me to grab a few things at the grocery store (and by few I mean steak, basil and mozzarella cheese).  He has never been to Jewel before, but has been to Dominick's.  We walk in and he is just fine, parading along like he normally does.  Which of course makes people smile and giggle because how can a strutting puppy not make you smile and giggle?

Ice and I made our way to the meat section and the minute we get into the section his tail tucks between his legs and he tries to run away.  He didn't do this in Dominick's meat section but that one is just a meat section on a wall.  Jewell's meat section is more of an out-cove where you walk in-between containers of meat.

I ignored Ice at first and went about picking out what I needed. He stayed next to me looking super petrified.  As we go to leave the area he tries to flee again and is now visibly shaking.  I took a few deep breaths and as calmly as I could get him to go made our way out of the meat section and directly to the pet food aisle where I found the smelliest, tastiest treats they had.  I opened them up and had him sit, down and shake (things he knows how to do really well).  Then we made our way back to the meat section with a treat in front of his nose.  He was fine until we made it back into the middle of the section and then he started panicking again.  So I stood there with treats and kept getting his attention back.  He was willing to do a watch me so we kept doing that until he calmed down some.  We then moved a little bit and had him do it again.  We did this all the way until we were out of the meat section.  He still had his tail down and wasn't looking very confident but he was no longer trying to flee.

We continued our shopping into the fruit and veggie section and the more I rewarded him for "good heel" or "good watch me" the more his tail came back up and the more he got his puppy strut back.  We got our veggies and made our way to the check out.  At this point he was completely back to normal.  He did a "come around" while I purchased my items (and his treats) and happily carried his shopping bag to the car.  Yes he gets to carry a shopping bag.  This time it had his treats in it.  When I give him whatever bag he is to carry to the car he first does a little dance by throwing his head all around with his paws flailing.  Then he gets to work and proudly parades out of the store to the car.  It really is pretty adorable.

So I think we ended on a really good note and he didn't leave Jewel being afraid.  It just goes to show that while training a service dog you might have to just drop all the plans you had and work on what you need to work on.  Ice is the first one I have trained that had such a strong reaction to the meat section.  Serena and Jack didn't care and Darby got very hopeful that it was all for him.  It is very interesting to me to work through something like this and see what causes different dogs to have a reaction.  Thank you Ice for teaching me something new today!

Airplanes

A couple weeks ago, Ice and I flew down to Florida.  I realized that this was the first time I have ever traveled to Florida without Serena since I got her.  Ice had a big act to follow!  Many people are curious about how to the whole "traveling with a service dog on a plane"thing works.  It is pretty fun but requires a little planning.  

First the dog I am traveling with does not get food or water the morning of the flight.  We don't know if the plane/traveling will upset their stomach so having nothing in there helps nothing come up or out.  

I usually get to the airport about 2 hours before my flight.  I used to do that to give me plenty of time to get up to the counter to check in and get a bulk head seat (if you are traveling with a service dog, you have the right to request a bulkhead and the airline has to try to honor that request).  I have learned, especially with United, to just check in online with whatever seat I have, print my boarding pass and go straight to the gate and request a bulkhead seat there.  So now I get to the airport 2 hours early so I can be one of the first at the gate so I am most likely to get a bulkhead seat.  

With Ice I had to plan out how long I thought he could hold going to the bathroom.  Being just 4 months old, his bladder isn't very big and I have never asked him to hold it for longer than 3 or 4 hours.  After Ice went "busy" we made our way to security.  Sometimes a TSA agent will pull us to a special line and sometimes we have to go through the line like everyone else.  This was one of those times.  It was a great way for me to teach Ice how to handle crowds and lines.  He got really good at moving a few feet, chilling for awhile then moving a few more feet.  Eventually we made it up to the security checkpoint.

To get through security, I put my dog in a sit-stay and walk through the metal detector.  I then call my dog to me.  The dog's collar and leash always sets the metal detector off but TSA cannot ask you to remove anything from your dog.  Because of this, I always tell the agent that the collar and leash will set of the detector and that they are more than welcome to pat down the dog.  I have found that smiling, talking to, and explaining to the TSA agent that I am cool with them checking my dog makes them very happy and feel much better because you can see they usually aren't sure what to do about a dog setting off the detector.  I have had a variety of security checks on the dog.  Serena has had a full pat down, a glance at while I lift up her collar and her vest and a couple of TSA agents who ask to just pet her.  The new thing I am finding is they pull me aside with my dog and do a bomb residue swipe on my hands.  This is what happened with me and Ice.  I asked the nice lady if she would like to also pat down Ice and she was like "oh no sweetie, he is working, I don't want to distract him!"  So cute.  

After passing my bomb residue test, Ice and I headed to our gate.  I was able to get bulkhead very easily.  Then we sat and waited.  Some airports have service dog pee areas behind security, O'hare does not.  If they did I would have taken Ice out again but alas he had to sit there.  I had him do a "go-in" under the chair so he was out of the way of the super crowded waiting area.  Half the people there didn't even know I had a dog.  What a good little man!

Ice waiting to board the plane

With a service dog, you are the first to board.  This is great because it gives me time to get me, my dog, and all my stuff on the flight and settled before people come on.  The biggest question I get while traveling on a plane is "where does the dog sit?"  Ice will gladly demonstrate:

  

The cutest carry-on luggage a girl can have

They sit at my feet, which is why getting bulkhead is the best thing!  Ice really couldn't have been a better floor sharing buddy.  He basically slept like the above picture the whole time, giving me plenty of room and not bothering the person sitting next to me.  He wasn't bothered by the take off or landing and waited patiently during the commotion of everyone getting up to leave.

Another benefit of being in bulkhead, is that you are WAY closer to the front of the plane so you can get off pretty much right away.  The minute we get off the plane, I book it to outside.  In Orlando airport you have to ride a tram to get from the terminals to the exit.  This makes getting outside as fast as possible a little challenging but it is what it is.  Ice did great!  We ran outside to Orlando's lovely flower pots, where Serena gladly pees.  Ice thought we were there to eat the mulch. After about 5 minutes of pulling mulch out of his mouth, I gave up trying to get him to go busy there and quickly ran to the bathroom so I could pee.  Then we made our way to the ground level and the grass.  Ice held it all the way until then.  I couldn't believe it!  He is awesome.  Then we made our way back upstairs and Val picked us up.  Our flight home went pretty much the same way, with him now sleeping through take off and landing.  Ice blew me away with how he handled the airport, planes and crowds!

Thank you junk mail

For a couple of days I have been trying to teach Ice push (opening and closing doors, cabinets, etc by using his nose to push them in the direction needed).  We weren't getting anywhere.

I first tried with the push board (a clear piece of plastic with holes cut into it).  He would just stare at it.  Eventually he would touch it but when I would put it near a door or cabinet he wouldn't go anywhere near it.

Then I tried sitting on the other side of a partially closed door and calling him towards me.   He would just sit on the other side of the door and whine then eventually body slam his whole body into it.  Or he would be wagging his tail so much it would hit the door and open it.  Neither of which is a "push".

I tried the door approach this morning and ended up with a very frustrated puppy, Serena getting frustrated that no matter how many times she tried to push the door the other way I would ignore her and focus on the puppy, and a very frustrated me.  This wasn't working.  I thought about it and figured I would try just target training, where all Ice has to do it touch his nose to something and he gets a treat.  I wanted something that is somewhat sturdy but could be taped to doors and cabinets.  Thank you junk mail...

What a handy little flyer!  Within 5 minutes I could hold the flyer anywhere and Ice would run over and put his nose to it.  I then taped it to a cabinet and TA-DA! he started pushing.  He then got really into it and liked hearing the cabinet slam and would try to close it with his paws.  This is a big no-no.  We don't want dogs pushing with their paws as they could scratch and damage things that way.  I walked a fine line today with correcting the paw slamming but  rewarding the nose pushing.  Here is a video of Ice pushing.  The paw touching the cabinet at the end isn't ideal but we can work on that tomorrow!

We're backkkkkk!

Back to blogging, back from Florida.  Oh how it has been a glorious month with a certain puppy named Ice!

Since the last time I posted, Ice has gone from a ball of fluff to an awkward teenage dog.  His tail is super long, his ears are super big and his legs go on for miles.  I can't feed him enough!  Last week he weighed 30 pounds and I am pretty sure he has gained 5 pounds since then.  His brain is like a sponge and he is soaking up anything new I teach him.  We have been working hard on getting a super good  base in his training; sit, down, stay, wait, heel, front, side and of course walking nicely on leash.  We have also been working on speak and shake because he loves to bark and he loves to use his paws so I am trying to channel that into something productive.  He is a smart little man.

This was all tested this past weekend when Ice and I traveled to Florida to visit everyone at My Angel With Paws and to go see Cesar Millan Live in Jacksonville.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect puppy.  He paraded through the airport like he owned the place, slept on the plane like he had been living there the whole time, handled the crowds at the show like he was Moses (yes they parted for him and his service dog friends), rode a water ferry like he was the captain of the ship and had a blast playing with all the other dogs.  He has a new girlfriend named Kiera.  She is a chocolate lab puppy who will hopefully be a breeder dog for My Angel With Paws.  He couldn't have picked a cuter first crush:

Kiera and Ice

So I don't forget, at some point I need to blog about the people we met while traveling, Ice's first trip to Walmart and of course seeing Cesar Millan Live.  Until then, have a wonderful week everyone!