It’s a crazy time here at the house. When I leave for meetings or class, I NEVER know what I’ll find when I return. One day, Tom had torn down a wall in the basement (which had been done wrong by previous owners) so that he could use the drywall somewhere he needed it. Another day, he tore out all the carpet upstairs. Despite the chaos on two of our three house levels, Lilly is coping with the changes well. We haven’t had any remodeling-related dog behavior issues. …
Last Sunday’s class posed many challenges for Lilly. We worked alongside (at a distance, of course) several big, young dogs Lilly doesn’t know. On this weird, foggy day, Lilly went into a mild-shutdown funk the minute we moved into the shady park. You’ll see in these photos the worry, in contrast to the smiling face you’ve seen lately. …
After class on Sunday, which was a bit of a rough one, Lilly and I made our first visit to PC’s Pantry in Boulder, which comes highly recommended by several of our training and blogging friends. Lilly stayed in the car since off-leash dogs are welcome in the store, and there are several cats hanging out, etc. I bought some training treats, some organic shampoo and such, but I also went for some EXTRA SPECIAL treats — raw bison bones from Boulder Dog Food. PC’s keeps them in a freezer. (And, P.S. …
Two summers ago, I wrote full-on rant about loose, poorly fenced dogs who were ruining my ability to take Lilly on a decent walk in our rural neighborhood. Today, I can report: 1) I was right about the danger. 2) Things have improved. …
When we last spoke about The Scary Kitchen Window over the sink, the one that has the nerve to slide side to side when the others go up and down, I had resigned myself to never opening this window again in Lilly’s lifetime — another 10 years, give or take. Even as our customized Relaxation Protocol work continued for weeks in 2008, I’d given up on using the window as trigger/stimuli examples because it broke my heart to see Lilly flip out. Essentially, I stopped paying attention to the window at all, and so …
I took Lilly to her usual drop-in training classes with our Rock Star of a dog trainer Gigi Moss a couple times recently. Overall, they’ve gone well. Our separate work at retraining arrivals may be paying off at class in the form of a shortened warm-up time before Lilly seems relaxed. Still, we continue to practice going places, getting out of the car, and getting into Relaxation Protocol mode right away. Here is a bit more info on all accounts. …
You know I had to dissect the one instance from our time with LuLu where Lilly gave the youngster a correction. I’m glad I got it on video so that I could really look at the sequence. I’m calling it Anatomy of a Puppy Correction. While I’ve broken out clips and added transitions, which make the video around 2:30 minutes, the actual encounter was just over 1 minute in real time. I’m not sure if it’s a matter of too many running bumps in quick succession or if there may have been razor-like puppy teeth used. I tend to think …
As promised, here is a video showing how Lilly coped with meeting a very young puppy (just over 8 weeks). You can see in her body language that Lilly is a bit nervous. Watch her offer various calming signals. Notice (IMHO) how tolerant she is of puppy antics. FYI – I muted the audio because it is incessant praise of both dogs and gets TEDIOUS. :o) So, instead watch this silent movie that offers another study in canine body language.
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It’s late, so this is just a quick note. Stay tuned this week for more info and even videos chronicling Lilly’s first extended encounter with a very young puppy. Our agility friend Betsy recently welcomed home LuLu, a performance-bred Australian Shepherd (aka agility dog). She is a total doll — as you will see. …
Yesterday, I sat in my office poking at a few things on my desk, when I heard the distinct sounds of Lilly trying to sass the mules next door. While the mules actually handle her barking and bossing quite well, I’d rather she not get kicked. So, I went to the front door and said in a mostly normal tone of voice — “Lilly, COME.” And, she did. I’m not saying it was perfect, but here is what made it better than your average recall. …
