And Three Steps Back

 From the time I added new words (Coffee, Help and hike), Maizy has seemed a bit overwhelmed and I wonder if she'll ever get it. As a teacher, I know that learning is never linear... just some upward line. That line has a lot of peaks and valleys. But I swear, we have more valleys than peaks! 

If you are following online on my data keeping, you probably wonder if I remember to write it all down or just skip days. Truth be told, I do NOT! She has days on end with no words! It's so frustrating. 

I know Maizy is smart. She's almost "Mabel-smart" (hey, Mabel could triangulate math!). She takes to things so quickly and I guess that makes this journey all the more frustrating. 

I'm sticking to the advice of waiting a week or so before adding new buttons, even if she is not interacting with them. Keep modeling - I'm so freaking tired of announcing my exits and dining habits. Keep target training. 

I thought I had an original idea the other night. Maizy loves to watch tv. I've never had a dog give a flip about television. The bad part is: There cannot be a dog on tv... Maizy barks her freaking head off. Jeez, she's loud for a little dog! But I put Bunny, Bastian & Stella videos (google those names with "talking dog" if you want to be amazed!) on tv while I was getting ready for bed. 

After one of our videos played on accident, Maizy was scream barking at herself! I was kinda dreading what was next. To my surprise, she watched intently!!! The next day, we had a record breaking FIVE button presses! Turns out, watching other dogs interact with their buttons is a recommended training technique. I'm not so smart after all! 

Since that day, we've had one a day and NONE today... and yes, we got new buttons yesterday! We are up to 12 now. So I guess today's regression is expected. But is sure is disheartening to deal with.

The Sweetest Request

 Eight days after giving Maizy her buttons, she FLOORED ME with a request. 

First a little backstory. My knee is a hot mess....worker's comp issue from teaching emotional disturbance. It really slows us down on our morning neighborhood walks. We used to get home early enough for both of us to have a leisurely breakfast and time left over for me to drink coffee on the back porch.  Maizy True loves to sit next to me as I drink coffee... She's hoping for the dregs of my cup and the scritches make it all the better. 

But with my knee acting up, most days for the last few months, I've walked the door and had to start work immediately. I don't have time for coffee, much less food and MT has to wait until I can take a quick break for her breakfast.

But we had gotten an early start that Saturday about 10 days ago. I fed Maizy and decided I had time to put my leg up while I drank coffee. I was standing by the sofa, cup in hand, trying to make sure I wasn't about to sit on the remote. Maizy had been finishing her breakfast and I wasn't really paying attention to where she was. She pressed her WATER button! I looked at her bowls... she had water. 

It slowly started to dawn on me that you drink water and you drink coffee... Could Maizy be generalizing?  No sooner did I decide she was making some reference to my coffee, she pressed OUTSIDE and looked out the door! 

Was Maizy asking for coffee on the porch?? I pressed WATER and OUTSIDE and headed out the door, followed by a very happy Maizy True! 

I was so excited. She was not only engaging with the buttons, she was applying meaning! 

And naturally, I had to mess it all up.