Otto's Third Week

We are really getting into a grove here at Casa De Misfit Dogs! We have a good routine. There is less screaming. Otto is really picking up on how things work here and how to be a patient puppy! He had his 15-week shots and weighed in at 20.2lb. I swear I put him in his pen for a nap and when he woke up his nose had grown an inch! I moved him from a 24" crate in the car to the variocage and he now sleeps in a 36" crate!

Our third week together focused on getting outside and working focus and attention! We did not do as much with training fun behaviors, but we did make some progress on a few things. We took lots and lots of field trips! 

I was a little alarmed when he first came home by his BIG reactions to dogs and people out and about, staring and barking/boofing even at people 100 yards away. Turns out I needn't have worried. We got on that behavior fast and he is VERY quickly learning alternate behaviors for dealing with things out and about. 

He has quickly caught onto a "look" cue (Leslie McDevitt's "Look At That" game) so I am now able to cue and reinforce looking at distractions in his environment that might otherwise surprise him. He's really good at this game and the time he needs to process what he is seeing is decreasing.

We've also been working on auto-reorienting. In other words, people, dogs, and other "things" in the environment are cues to look back at mom rather than cues to stare and escalate arousal. Again, he is doing GREAT with this. On one outing he saw the first person before I did and quickly snapped his attention to me! I had to look around to see what had cued him. 

We worked: 

• In the yard (Otto big, tough, guard dog!)
• A spot in the neighborhood adjacent to a walking path
• At Monday night training (worked around other people he did not get to greet and focused around another dog working)
• At the gym, watching people doing all kinds of crazy stuff
• At a park
• In the grocery store parking lot (at the back the first day, and worked up to the sidewalk on day 2)
• At a different park on a walk with Stafford puppy friend Cicely
• At Wednesday night training (barked at his new friends until they got down on his level, but they were close and staring at him, so that was a tough one)
• On a walking path with Terv friend Nova (joggers and bikers!)

I'm super, super happy with how his focus is coming along and how well he's learning to handle all the exciting things in the environment.

Otto and Cicely. Photo credit: Laura McKinney

Housetraining

The momma has been trained! If one thinks "maybe I should take the puppy out"....one takes the puppy out. One does not justify that he "should" be fine because he was just out fifteen minutes ago. 

Otto apparently decided that litter boxes are for babies and so that thing in his pen must be a weird kind of bed/chewing station. So we no longer have a litter box. 

Socialization

Daily outings, as described above. We had a nice reprieve from winter here in Minnesota (temps in the mid 30s or above) since Otto came home, but we are about to enter the deep, cold, dark. I will be keeping up as best I can and hoping I only lose a couple fingers to frostbite. Luckily, Otto will soon be able to go to indoor locations to work.

Things (weird sculptures, workout equipment), noises (dropping barbells, dropping stuff in the kitchen, loud music, shaking open a garbage bag), surfaces, obstacles, all continue to pass without notice or with happy, curious interest. So confident! 

Goal for this week: A trip to Home Depot, a trip to a farm, a trip downtown.

Manners

He's so good! This week I've been able to go to "the fun places" (outside and the basement) without him with....less....freaking out. He came to Wednesday night class to hang out in a crate, and he was quiet the whole time, even while I worked Jun! Good boy!

Training

This week we focused on:

• Focus and attention, as described above
• Recalls and cued collar grab (put your collar in my hand)
• Shaping rear foot movement on a pivot disc. What a super-star!
• Go to mat - I still have not managed to turn a camera on for this. Right now I'm teaching his mat as more of just a foot target. No particular behavior is expected on the mat. I just want him to run to it with enthusiasm. And since he LOVES slapping things with his paws, he thinks this game is great! I'm working on both send AWAY from me, and stopping on the mat on the mat while running back TOWARDS me (foundational concept for drop-on-recall).
• Release cue: worked on adding some duration with my movement to his crate behavior. It's so cute, when he self-releases he corrects himself and goes right back in. Worked on stationary duration on his pet cot (up to 10 second).
•  Nose touch. This is my most interesting challenge with him so far. This week we worked on a nose touch to an electrical plate instead of my hand to see if he would be more into it. My training mechanics are atrocious, so no video, lol. My click timing is bad and he really wants to get his paws in there and I keep accidentally clicking paw movements. He's only offering me super light nose contact and sometimes it's hard to tell if he even made contact or not. I will keep puzzling through this one. I have an idea of teaching him to put his nose in a little nose-sized box attached to my target with duration and then cutting down the box over time. Do I NEED a nose touch? No, but I like a sustained nose touch for scent indication. And if I can get a sustained nose touch to my hand, that will help with retrieve to hand. 
• Stationing. Introduced the pet cot and the idea of a required position on a station (a down). Adding a cue "place."
• Added distance and varied my position on his kennel sends. 
• Worked on luring tuck sit.
• I did not get around to playing with scent. Next week, hopefully.

Goals for next week: Introduce stimulus control, now that he has at least one verbal (kennel send only pays when I say "kennel."). Add duration to stationing. To teach a sit or not teach a sit (yet), that is the question.....

Play Skills

Fave toys this week were mostly trash and recycling, haha! But he's getting a super nice trash retrieve and learning about reusing and recycling! 

Grooming

Face done, ears cleaned, brushing done a couple times, feet....(why do his nails grow SO fast?!)...check and check. One of these days he should get a bath.

Hunting

The most anticipated event of the week! My sweet puppy is a mighty hunter! I introduced him to live pigeons and he took to them right away. Feathers are tasty, tasty snacks! This is totally new to me, so I am doing tons of research to try to educate myself. Currently reading "Force-Free Gundog Training" by Jo Laurens, and really enjoying it.

Just Otto Things

He is an absolute joy and makes me laugh! His first priority in the morning is cuddles and he will cuddle as long as I let him. This dog LOVES physical contact and personal play. We end every training session with personal play. He loves to have his neck and back scratched and will droop his head down, his nose just about touching the ground and just stand to be scratched. He loves having his belly scratched/rubbed. Basically, the dog just loves being doted upon. 

Sometimes in the house or the yard or on walks, he just stops and stares at me. I have no idea what he's thinking or waiting for.

He REALLY loves Ira and tries to get him to play every day with wiggles and bounces. It's adorable! Sorry, buddy, Ira is lame. 

His favorite chew is a pig's ear. Everything else is meh.

Otto's Second Week

 Otto had a BIG week! So many new things to experience! We introduced a lot more behaviors this week, went on more outings, and met more people and dogs. Here's the recap:

Potty Training

Going great overall, all the mistakes are mine. I finally got my litter order, so now he has a litter pan in his pen and that's a big help. He has an appropriate place to go if he needs to and I don't have to stress over accidents. I've learned that yes, he still does need to go out before/after training/playing and I can't just use the clock to know when to take him out.

Socialization

• Met a few more people at small family thanksgiving and adored them all.
• Had a photo shoot, met the photographer and saw (and bit) camera equipment
• Met dog friends! Nova and Eevee the Tervurens. He hung back and watched them mostly, but played with Eevee a bit at the end. BC puppy Everest! They were great playmates. He met Everest's brother Meru the Koolie as well.
• We went to the (empty, closed) gym to check out the sights. He was a confident puppy and happily explored.
• Came to training on Monday. Explored the space, no problems! Walked on different surfaces. Met three people, and worked on supervised separation to prep for the CGC. He did great!
• Went to petsmart to get some of his favorite pig ears (I carried him so he wouldn't be exposed to germs). He was VERY excited to see other dogs. I thought he was shaking at one point, but it was just his tail wagging so hard!
• Out and about in the big wide world is harder. People are bark-worthy and he's a bit environmental. He does a lot of looking and freezing and needs time to process. As we get out more, his body language is changing to happier and more playful, so that's good to see. Working on a plan to change his response to seeing strangers and strange dogs at a distance out in the world.

Goals for the coming week: We exceeded last week's goals! This week we plan to meet at least two dogs, get outside for outings every day, and go to Monday and Wednesday night training.

House Manners

What a good, patient puppy! Confinement is an unfortunate reality of life in the House of Misfit Dogs, and he's rocking it. We have a good routine down. Train and play in the morning. Go in the ex pen with a chewie for some chew time and a nap. He's been spending a couple hours in the pen in the living room while I work in my office and is such a good, quiet puppy! We've been introducing crate time in the office while I work, and he's happy either with a chewie or napping. We've been introducing crate or pen time while I leave the house for an hour or two. He gets a stuffed Kong and has been calm and happy when I get back. He's figured out that the basement and outside are fun places and he freaks out if he's in his pen and sees me go to those places, especially if I take another dog with me. We're working on counter-conditioning that. He picks up on the rule structure of "just chill out" very quickly. He's good at chilling, which I'm thankful for.

He's got pen and crate exit manners (wait for release) down pat. We're working on staying off the counters. Overall, he's just a super easy, good, willing to please little pup.

Training

SO many things this week!

Review:

• Name game/recalls. We've taken this on the road. He's done recalls in the yard, at puppy playdates, at the gym, in public. Yesterday he recalled away from barking at kids at the fence. What a good boy!
• Collar grabs are super easy now.
• Crate games: Added a verbal cue ("kennel"), he sends from about 3' now, gives eye contact to wait for his release, releases on "ok." Adding my movement into his stay.
• Puppy zen/reverse luring: Gives eye contact with treats in my hands and treats on the floor. Stays with eye contact to wait for release to his food bowl. Added zen hand into his chin rest and stand-stay.
• Shaped mouth behavior/hold. This one is still tough. We're taking it slow. We have a full-mouthed bite from my hand and a bite and pick up on the floor. 
• Lured positions: more work on this, started asking for a tuck sit, which is hard!
• Lured heeling: more work on duration sitting in heel and got some advice on getting a prancy heel with food follows, so working that on the right side. He's still little for this, so not doing very much.

New this week:

• Free shaping! First session he turned on 30 seconds in and starting offering a back up. We will keep playing with this here and there.
• Chin rest. His FAVORITE trick!! He learned this in about 10 seconds and we are adding duration with eye contact, adding distraction with motion, and varying my hand position. 
• Go to mat. Shaped this as basically a paw target. I am not requiring any position on the mat and prefer to keep him up and moving. Vary my position and distance in relation to the mat. He thinks this one is fun too!
• Hand touch. He is just really not a fan of this for some reason. It helps to work on it with motion in between other behaviors. Doing it sparingly. Honestly, it's not something I need from him, so not a big deal.
• Drive-to-target with restraint/opposition reflex, focus forward. We're starting this with a food bowl. I figured he would happily run to food and I was right. 
• Shaping a wrap of a jump stanchion. He picked it up, but wasn't a super-fan. Figuring out this feature with him. He offered a few reps and then laid down. I'm not sure if this was confusion, him just being lower energy when we worked this, or what I keep hearing about poodles not liking repetition. My hunch is he just didn't really get the point. We will revisit this in the future. I think he'd like it more if it were higher-energy, but his toy play is not there yet to reward with a toy.
• Shaped two-feet up on a pivot platform. No problem! He got this very quickly! 

Goals for next week: Introduce scent work, continue to build previous behaviors, shape some rear-end movement on his pivot platform.

Play Skills

Coming along! His retrieve this week is a bit stronger than his tug. Last week he really wasn't fetching at all. This week he's happily chasing toys of all kinds and his instinct is usually to bring them back to me to play together. He doesn't really drop for another throw right away, but that's ok. He definitely prefers to play together rather than on his own, which I love about him! The udder tug is his favorite and his tugging is getting stronger. I bought him some fur tugs, but he's not a super-fan. He prefers rope/fringy tugs. We started working on some two-toy games. He easily switches to the toy I'm asking him to engage with. I found that I really don't enjoy working on play skills, and having rules I'm supposed to follow. It's a buzz kill for me. I prefer to just play, engage naturally with him, and have a good time. He likes this better too, so we will skill build gradually as his drive increases. He also really loves personal play and I love that about him, so we build that in to all of our play and training sessions and throughout the day as well. 

Grooming

We did his face twice, his feet once, and brushed twice! He is great with his feet and ok with brushing. He is not a fan of the face clipping. On the advice of a groomer friend, I am being firm but patient with him. That and working on it after a nap while he he's still a little sleepy seems to work best.

Hunting!!

Next Friday....Otto meets birds!!

New Adventures

Meet Otto (Waypoint's Step 4 Stroke of Luck)! He is my first poodle, my first puppy, and my first purpose-bred dogs. Well, my other dogs may or may not have been bred for a purpose, I guess I'll never know, but this pup is the first dog whose lineage and upbringing I know everything about. He had a great start for the first 12 weeks of his life in his breeders home. I brought him home one week ago and so much has happened already! I needed a place to document and log this experience, so here I am. 

Potty Training

Super, super easy! He was litter trained at his breeder's home. He has only had two accidents (my fault, of course). My goal was to really ace housetraining, since I have not done so great a job with my past foster puppies. His breeder made my job pretty easy, since he already understands the concept of holding it and appropriate places to go. But I'm taking some credit for keeping an eagle eye on him and taking him out 50,000 times a day.

Socialization

He has been to my mom's twice and was a happy, friendly, playful, outgoing puppy! He went to the vet. He went to a friend's house and met her in her yard. 

He loves everyone. He has no fear of objects, surfaces, or noises. He's adventurous and loves running over, under, and through things! He has not met any new dogs yet, but has seen Jun through barriers and in my arms, and has seen Ira in multiple contexts. We have been slowly exploring the big yard and he's getting more confident running around. He's a little unsure of people and dogs at a distance out in public. We had our first big parking lot outing yesterday and he spent a lot of time looking at things. He did a great job processing, shaking off, and reorienting to me for cookies. If only it were not winter, my hands are going to freeze socializing him outside, but it will be worth it when he is happy and confident in public places this summer! Puppy K was canceled due to Covid, so this is all on me, and I'm up for it! 

Goals for the coming week: Meet two friendly dogs, come to training groups on Monday and Wednesday to hang and take it all in, go on two outdoor adventures.

House Manners 

Otto is settling into a routine nicely! We get up in the morning and train and play, and then he goes into his pen for a chewie. Pig ears are his favorite and keep him entertained for quite awhile. After a noisy first day, he's generally pretty good in his pen. He has slept all night since day 1 and only barked about 30 seconds the first night. We went from a crate on my bed for a few nights to a crate on the floor next to my bed. He has been on several car adventures and has gotten comfortable in his car crate and rides quietly. We are also learning about quiet crate behavior in other places: he hangs out in a crate in my office for a couple hours a day while I work, and hung out in a crate during dinner at my mom's. 

I am teaching quiet mostly by ignoring barking and whining. I'm finding it unproductive to randomly reward quiet in his pen. All that seems to do is break him out of "settled" behavior and start the cycle over. I have found it productive to systematically teach quiet on car rides and in his crate. Since he's a smart puppy, I'm being careful not to let his whining be a reminder to me to reward quiet. I count. Starting at 5 seconds quiet. Working up from there and ping-ponging between longer and shorter intervals. If he whines/barks, I start over on whatever number I was working on. I haven't needed to work to more than 45 seconds. After he makes it that long, he's usually nicely settled. 

Today we started working on "paws up" and "off."

He's working on waiting for a release to leave his ex pen, although he's basically doing this automatically so maybe his breeder worked on this.

Training

• Name Game. We started with Puppy Ping-Pong and now I am working on calling him randomly throughout the day. He comes to me prancing and enthusiastic!
• Collar grabs. He likes to wiggle away from me. My criteria is I will not chase you or grab for you. You will come very close to my hand so I can grab your collar. Sometimes I catch him and other times he gets a treat and gets lets go to play.
• Crate games. I used the crate to start shaping with him. We shaped a crate entry. We are shaping a stay. And he has learned, and loves, the Release. It's so cute, when he self-releases and realizes he gets nothing he turns around and goes right back in. Next step will be building duration in the crate, adding distance to the send, and putting a cue on it.
• Nose touch. Surprisingly, this is not his favorite. He does better with it out of motion. If he's sitting he doesn't want to break his sit and look away from me to go for the touch.
• Puppy Zen. Working auto-leave-it and eye contact in the presence of treats in a hand and just started with treats on the floor. Also working on an auto-sit and leave-it while I put down his food bowl. This kind of blows his mind, but he's getting it! I'm trying not to do too much control work, since his favorite thing in the world is to sit and stare at me. We need motion and energy!
• Shaped hold. Starting with a sponge, a welcoming texture for a little puppy mouth! He gave me three nose touches and then gave me teeth on the sponge, and now the criteria is a "full-mouth" grab, and then will start adding some duration. Mostly, I am looking to teach the concept of interacting with objects with your mouth.  
• Luring: sit, down-from-sit, stand-from-down, fold-back down from stand, spin/twist, through my legs. Just to build the skill of following a lure and build some muscle memory for behaviors I will teach later.
• Building value for heel position. Every day we spend some time sitting at heel and walking in heel with a lure. Again, building muscle memory and value for a position.

Goals for next week: continue the above, introduce foot targeting with a mat, shape a chin rest to introduce stationary face behavior, restrained recalls.

Play Skills

Play is coming along. He really loves the Udder Tug and will focus on that for a good while. He has played fetch with me a couple times for a few throws with a rattley stuffed cow. Mostly, he loves Things That Are Not Toys, like shoes, rugs, and human flesh. The building blocks are there and we will keep working on it. My favorite thing right now is that his instinct is always to bring his toy to me and play with it in my lap or nearby. 

Grooming

I am excited to learn to do my own grooming! We have dremmeled nails twice and trimmed feet once. He is great for that! Face trimming didn't go so well, but that is my inexperience. I am not used to taking the "this is just the way it's going to be" approach to grooming, but apparently that's how you do it with poodle puppies, so we will try again this week. We have handled ears a bunch, but not cleaned them yet.

Poodle vs. BC

This is my first non-herding-breed dog. So far, I haven't noted any major differences that I consider to be breed-related. He is naturally straight in heel position vs. Ira who came to me C-shaped and that is just an absolute gift! Reinforcing that a whole bunch right from the start!

 

Jun's First Agility Trial

I have been training Jun in agility for about a year, doing online classes. We have mostly worked in our back yard with jumps and tunnels, but I have occasionally had opportunities to train contacts and other obstacles. Recently we decided to give trialing a shot. She knew how to do all of the obstacles required for CPE level 1 and in our practice, she was doing qualifying runs on full courses with no toy in my hand, in brand new places. She even got her ACT1 a few weeks ago no problem! So I kind of expected the trial to be a breeze! I expected a little sniffing, maybe a couple "refusals" (but CPE doesn't fault refusals). I did not expect what I got....a completely disengaged dog that I had to walk off the course her second run. We Qd zero out of five runs. We didn't even finish a course. BUT, I learned a TON and in watching the video I got, I know how to do better next time! Here's a recap, and the video below shows our first run (Jackpot) and our last run (Jumpers)

Jackpot
I was a little worried about this being the first class of the day. Jackpot involves a gamble, which requires sending your dog to obstacles from a distance. The distance was probably only 5 feet (which she can easily do at home), but in a new place without a toy, I was pretty sure we could not do 5 feet. I was right, she wouldn't send. We just went on and did a few more obstacles, but we were over time trying to get back to the table that stops time. I was bummed at the time, BUT---watching the video later that night, I saw so much that I missed at the time! I saw a dog that performed TWELVE obstacles for me! Five of those were HARD obstacles for her: A-frame twice, dog walk, and two tunnels. She doesn't like tunnels away from home and I guess I can't blame her--being deaf, she completely loses me in a tunnel. She did ALL of that for me! She disengaged twice, but CAME BACK TWICE, and she was with me on the last line of jumps! And what did I do? Pushed her off the last jump since we were over time to go to a 4" table, which is something she'd never seen in her life, and then instead of having something I could praise her for and throw a party, I got another disconnect and had to go collect her. ALL that hard work, and she got nothing for it. Makes complete sense that her next run went like this:

Standard
Jump, jump, disconnect, A-frame, disconnect, jump, disconnect for good. Lots of sniffing. Had to collect up my girly and walk her all the way across the ring. Sad times.

Wildcard
I may be inexperience at trialing, but I'm not completely dumb. I asked my friends to help me come up with a plan to do 1-2 obstacles, throw a party, and be done. I switched to FEO with the judges permission, set her up in front of the last two jumps on the course, had her do her startline stay, but didn't really lead out at all. Ran two jumps with her, and lots of praise! I had her leash in my hand and she grabbed it and tugged a little. She was HAPPY!! So that was a good decision.

Colors
It was tempting to try to run the whole thing, since it was only 8 obstacles and I could avoid the contact obstacles, but there was a tunnel and she had only just done two jumps before, so that would have been 4x as much. I went with a nice looping arc of 4 jumps, partied, and left the ring. Happy girl again!

Jumpers
She did so well the last time, I decided to go for it. 15 obstacles and two tunnels, but I decided I would just skip the tunnels if she didn't want to do them, ignore any off courses or refusals, and just do as much as we could, get to the last jump and party at the end. This one is on the video as well and while it wasn't perfect, it was SO MUCH improved! I didn't make her stay at the start, but I did have a little trouble getting her collar unbuckled, so she unfortunately had time to look around while that was happening. But she started running! Ended up having to skip the first tunnel, but she did the second one! Got some disconnect a couple times, and a quick visit to the judge, but got her back, finished the course, and partied. And LOOK at her!! She understands praise and accepts it as a reward. So cute!

So what next?
1. Build value for contact obstacles and tunnels
2. Next trial, do a short run first to ensure success and build value for the ring, increase number of obstacles as she is ready.
3. Skip contacts and tunnels for a bit in trials, or limit the number
4. We are doing a UKI trial in December, so I will have the opportunity to use rewards in the ring. I will make it a priority to reward after contact obstacles or tunnels

Understanding and Being Understood

My very first post on this blog was called: What Does The Command Actually Mean (to your dog)? I was still new to dog training and it was the first time it occurred to me that just because I thought I had taught a particular behavior that didn't mean that was the behavior the dog actually learned. I like to think I've become a much better dog trainer since 2009. My doglish has become a bit less awkward. Sometimes, I even feel fluent. But I still have moments when my pronunciation is off.

I've been struggling to teach Ira a formal retrieve. We got off to a poor start, with my eager, super-operant dog refusing to even interact with the retrieve object. A quick look in his mouth revealed a badly broken canine that was the source of our issue. A $2,000 vet bill later, I thought we'd be good to go, and we got the "sit in front of me and hold" part fairly quickly, but the "take" part was lackluster (despite the fact that he LOVES to fetch and tug) and the "move while holding" part....nope.

There are some things that just take patience to teach, but fairly often if my dog isn't really getting it, know I'm just not explaining things properly. But I had tried every method I knew and nothing seemed to be clicking. Then today I had an epiphany!

We were working on a glove hold. Ira was rocking it. Quiet mouth, nice duration. Usually I just give his release work when I want him to let go, but today I decided to ask for a drop. Despite this cue being 100% in any other context, all I got was a blank stare! I was confused--he doesn't seem to really like his holds all that much, so he should be happy to be allowed to drop it. After a couple more reps it dawned on me.....HE DOESN'T KNOW HE'S HOLDING SOMETHING IN HIS MOUTH!!!

Not really. Not like he does when he's tugging or fetching or picking up something he shouldn't have. What to me was a hold was to him a completely random set of actions with no connection to anything else he knew. Here I thought I had taught him "hold an object in your mouth" but what I actually taught him was "close your mouth and sit very, very still until released." NO WONDER he was so confused when I tried to ask for movement! In his mind I was asking him for two completely contradictory things!

Ira is a very literal dog. Once a cue means something, that's what it means. And don't go trying to give it a different meaning in a different context! We have "come" (put your collar in my hand), "here" (run towards me generally and through my legs if I toss a treat) and "front" (come sit in front of me formally). And he gets very worried if I ask for "here" but then stand straight and formal. So this hold issue is really not that surprising.

Tonight, I ditched the "take it" cue. I tossed his toy and told him to "bring it" which is his informal retrieve cue. We did that a few times, then I presented him the toy while walking backwards and asked him to bring it. It took a bit for him to catch on, but he DID IT!!

This is what I love about dog training--the conversation! It's like learning to speak a foreign language. It's those moments when you think you have the words right, but you're still not understood. And eventually you figure out that you have the words, but your pronunciation is off just enough to change the meaning. Oh, but when it comes together! Is there anything more magical than understanding and being understood? If there is, I haven't found it.

Here's the boy, being awesome with his heeling and hold breakthroughs tonight:

The Relationship Part

Eight years in, I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of the relationship part of dog training. The respect and trust part. The part that puts one's own agenda aside and listens to what the dog is telling you.

Not that anyone reads this blog I never post on, but there is a new kid in town. Meet Ira.

Photo by Sara Bruekse

Ira is perfect. He is the most honest dog I've ever met. He has a huge work ethic and is so very full of try! Ira is a dog who will work his heart out for his person. But he is also sensitive.  He needs his person to be his anchor. He needs his person to support his choices. Eight years ago, I wouldn't not have been able to do that. The concept truly would not have even crossed my mind! I am so thankful for Lok, Jun, and Elo for slowly chipping away at my ego and selfishness. If it weren't for them, I think I would have truly struggled with this dog. This fantastic, amazing, perfect, willing dog who wants nothing more in life than to make me happy. I don't think I would have been able to see it. I would have pressured and been overbearing and constantly disappointed. Me--a "positive trainer!" I would have ignored him when he told me he was uncomfortable with strangers touching him. I wouldn't have heard him when he told me he didn't want to be touched anywhere other than his head. I would have gotten upset when he didn't let me trim his nails or bathe him. When he was unfocused in training, I would have seen a stubborn dog, not a worried dog who was doing his best.

Because my previous dogs taught me (or maybe more accurately, forced me to learn) to listen and respect their choices, my relationship with Ira is starting out on a foundation of trust. And it's beautiful. He has a choice. Always. For example, I made it clear to him that he had a choice in interacting with strangers and that I would respect his choice and make sure others did as well. And now instead of hiding behind me or rolling over at people's feet like he did in the beginning, I have a dog who happily greets people---some people, the ones he wants to--and he knows that when he is done he is allowed to be done and he can just come back to me. I have a dog who trusts me to touch him all over, because I worked on desensitizing and counter-conditioning, rather than forcing. I have a dog who will lie still for nail trims. He knows when he gets overwhelmed he can just get up, and he can make the choice to lie back down when he is ready.

A couple months after Ira came home, I was working on teaching him a dumbbell hold. He was NOT getting it, which made no sense, because he loved putting toys in his mouth and he had proven to be a quick study at shaping. He was very operant and creative with offering behaviors. I blamed the training first. My criteria must not be clear enough. I must not be splitting the behavior down enough. I must not be explaining this to him well enough. I put my "good dog trainer" hat on and made a better plan--short sessions, clear criteria, HIGH value rewards. The first session I got mouthing. The second session I only got nose touches. The third session, I got sniffing the ground....... Despite the fact that Ira had JUST had a dental a few months earlier and his teeth should have been fine, I thought, I should check his teeth, just in case. Sure enough, he had a canine that was absolutely mangled! Broken in half the long way and the short way. He also had a premolar that I suspected may be abscessed (it was). Wow! All this time he had been playing tug, catching discs, chewing on bones. There was no indication that he was in pain, except his "refusal" to learn a hold. I suspect the higher arousal nature of toy play allowed him to work through the pain. But the pain was there and it was our entire problem. After surgery to remove the painful teeth, we had our hold in one session.

Ira likes to stare at other dogs. He's a border collie. He's motion sensitive. It's normal. But 99% of the time he redirects easily and focuses really well on me when we are working around other dogs. Then occasionally he doesn't. To others, it probably looks like bad behavior. It looks like a dog I need to be harder on, to demand focus from. But in reality he fixates on other dogs when is nervous or afraid or over-the-top aroused, and has nowhere to hide. It's like a default behavior. A familiar behavior pattern he reverts back to when his brain just can't process anything else. Thanks to my previous dogs' lessons, I figured this out after the second time and not years down the line.  He was like this in class the other day. I'm not sure why--maybe the weather (he doesn't like storms, but it wasn't really storming), maybe he wasn't feeling well. The reason doesn't matter. What matters is, he was clearly telling me with his behavior, "Mom, I can't." And I listened! We went home early. Despite external pressures (that, lets be real, were probably all in my head) of potential judgment from others, and internal pressures of the need to perform well in class and the feeling that my dog should be ok. It didn't matter what should have been. Only what was. I respected my dog that day first by hearing "I can't" where I would have previously heard "I won't" and then by responding to "I can't" with "that's ok, you don't have to." I think it's that kind of thing that builds trust. And trust builds relationship. And when you have a relationship with dog........it turns out, that's what this dog training stuff is really all about. That's where the magic really is.

So, this happened...

That's right. That's a picture of Elo with a first and second place ribbon. Contrary to what you might think, this was not a "biggest asshole" competition!! It was legit rally obedience. How did this happen, you ask? I'm still not totally sure. About a year ago, my goal for Elo was for him to be able to perform cues, like sit, around other dogs. I can gauge where he is in relation to his threshold pretty well by his response to the cue "sit."

• Barely hanging on = no response, will either start looking around or just stare at me with the "I'm trying SO hard not to bark right now" look. 
• Doing ok, but moderate management required = will look around on the first cue but sit on the second cue. 
• Well under threshold = Immediate response to cue, but breaks attention and looks around after getting a treat. 
• Normal dog response = Immediate response to cue and remains focused on me.

A year ago, "barely hanging on" was the only level we had. Sometime last summer, Elo developed an actual threshold. Last fall, he began to be able to actually work while under it. Within the past couple months, we have gotten to "normal dog response."

I can't tell you how this happened, except that I've put a ton of work into my dog. There came a point, when BAT, LAT, CC/DS and all the other alphabet soup of reactive dog rehab just wasn't getting us anywhere anymore. I can't describe what I'm doing now with any of those terms, although they're all still a part of the plan. I'm just working my dog, pushing his limits as appropriate. Asking him for a little more every time. We are taking "normal" classes now and they require me to be 100% ON the whole time. It's exhausting, and so rewarding as he seems to be making exponential progress now! I've discovered that Elo LOVES to work! And I've been able to use the opportunity to work as a reward for not flipping out at other dogs. Now, when I have him on his mat behind a barrier, he gets all growly and sassy at me, telling me mat work is boring and let's go work around the other dogs. Some of his recent accomplishments include:

• Working in a class of 3 other dogs WITHOUT a barrier! This is a tricks class and the other dogs are in motion constantly including riding skateboards. Elo has been able to focus and work, even doing complex tricks and shaping exercises. There is a bathroom that we escape to for breaks every so often, but when we're out all the dogs are in full view.

• In that same class, last week, he spent the last 10 minutes or so pretending he wasn't reactive. He was just chilling on the floor, giving me eye contact. I wasn't playing any particular game with him. I was talking to the instructor and only rewarding every 30-60 seconds. Every once in awhile he'd calmly glance at the other dogs, then back at me. Not in the "I need to look back at mom before I lose it" manner, but in the "huh, the other dog is a mildly interesting thing in my environment manner." (And, might I add........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

• Oh, and then there was the rally trial. This was a fun match that was held for the dogs in his rally class. Granted, there were no other dogs in the room during his run, but there were dogs in the building. And 6 dogs ran the course before him and got their scent all over it. He was focused, he was engaged, he was brilliant. He showed off what a happy little worker he is! So proud!

There is a light. It's faint, but I think I can make it out! I'm starting to think that we ARE in a tunnel after all, and not in an abyss!