Weekly Training Update (March 21)

Our 3rd Date with Pitsch
Rather than allow Pitsch to play with Lilly right off, like we did last time. Betsy wanted him to earn it. So, I took Lilly around back to the deck (in the sun) and waited while Betsy and Pitsch worked their way around. Lilly and I did some Relaxation Protocol work, including her getting rewarded for staying put despite noises. I even tried moving out of her sight, around the corner of the house. She popped up the first time, but the second time I talked to her as I walked away, and she stayed put.

When Pitsch came into sight, I continued to reward her for staying on her mat. She got antsy after a while, so we did a little heeling. I tried moving her closer to Pitsch after that, but she shutdown, which in this case meant getting up, worming/hover-crafting her way to the sliding glass door and laying down up against the house … like she wanted to go inside. So, I moved her mat close to the house, then she seemed happy enough to lay there and watch him work at staying calm too.

Eventually, I went and sat on the stairs, closer to Pitsch and Betsy, so I was about 10 feet from Lilly and about 15 feet from Betsy and Pitsch. Lilly crept her way over to me and laid down sort of behind me.

So, the 4 of us sat there for quite a while. Both dogs were quite calm and relaxed by the end.

So, we cut them loose to play for a while. Lilly was alternately fine, even allowing Pitsch to kiss her, and a total B****. She bosses him around SO much. She barks, lunges, growls, but he is such a saint that he doesn’t care. Some of it is clearly play on her part, but sometimes she MEANS it.

I’m not sure letting them play is helping Lilly.

At one point, Betsy and I had a good laugh because both dogs stopped dead in their tracks, essentially face to face, and both lifted one front paw (which is a calming gesture). They stood there for the longest time, and eventually began playing again.

On Sunday, I asked Gigi what that would be about, and she said it’s a way for dogs with “good dog skills” to slow down the playing when it gets too intense. So, I guess, Pitsch knew that Lilly was getting over-threshold, so he stopped the game with this gesture, and for some reason, she mirrored him.

If that’s the case, then maybe she *is* learning some things about playing nice.

I don’t know. Her calming work was great, but she did shutdown and she did act snotty. So, it wasn’t a totally successful session.

Meeting Katie (a Borzoi pup)
Later that day, we went to a neighbor’s house to meet her new puppy. I’ve managed to lose the photos she emailed, so you’ll have to wait on that. BUT, Katie is a 9-month-old Borzoi, so she’s a baby, but she’s gigantic. She came out of a rescue situation (maybe I’ll write more about that later) and is a bit shy.

Pat, my neighbor, lost her last Borzoi to cancer, if I recall correctly, a few years ago. She waited a LONG time to begin her search. And, then, came Katie. She’s a lovely black-and-white one, which I guess is kind of rare. As you know, I’m partial to black-and-white dogs, so I adore her already.

Katie came out of the house with her tail tightly tucked to her tummy (been there, done that). They really have to cajole her to even walk a bit on the leash, so Lilly and I were there to show her how fun it can be. We did not demand the two dogs interact. I did not want to give Lilly the chance to be bossy with Katie. We simply let them be in close proximity and do what they liked.

With Lilly’s leadership, Katie walked all the way up her long driveway to the road, then the four of us walked down the road about 3 houses and back. It was pretty cold and windy, and Pat’s getting over a cold, so we didn’t venture too far.

As we went along, Katie’s tail came untucked, and she started showing interest in Lilly, so we let her sniff, and Lilly was totally fine. Later, Lilly also approached and very nicely sniffed Katie. Both had relaxed, smiley faces.

I even put Lilly in a down stay, back at Pat’s house, and walked over to love on Katie a bit. And, Lilly, didn’t get upset (as she sometimes does when I pay attention to other dogs).

Sure, Lilly was having a great day … getting to see 2 other dogs … and she was likely quite tired, but she was very sweet, and showed really nice leadership skills around a HUGE dog she’s never met.

We hope to do more of this kind of work in the future — not only because it’s good for Lilly, but I think we can help Katie gain confidence.

Sunday Class With Gigi
Despite a weekend full of winter storm warnings, Sunday broke as a cold, but sunny day. The white-white snow clouds rolled in after lunch, but the roads were clear and dry, so Lilly and I ventured to Boulder for class. Just as class ended, it started to sleet/snow. We drove straight home and pulled into the house, just as snow from the full-on storm began sticking to the mountain roads. Whew! Close one.

Once again, class consisted of our 3 reactive dogs, including Lilly, and one other dog. Here are the highlights and lowlights. Since we met outside the main library, which is near the creek, with many intersecting paths, Lilly faced some challenges from the ever-changing, ever-moving landscape. Lots of people. Lots of dogs. Lots of strollers. Lots of bikes.

So, she was a total mooch-mugger. She wanted treats, treats, treats for hanging in there with me. I joked with Gigi later that I bet I use 300% more treats than anyone else in class.

We practiced really controlled walking up and down stairs. It’s not something I do often with Lilly, but she got the idea fast and stopped when I stopped going down. She’s not as good going up, though.

While working on down-stays at the top of the stairs, with us at a distance away, something spooked Lilly, and she came creeping down the stairs to me. Gigi suspected it was that I had Lilly sitting between 2 dogs (one reactive, one not), so I moved her off to the end by herself, and she was fine.

We worked on close heeling on tight trails, and that went OK since we do that a lot. But, when we came out of an underpass, there was someone using a high-pitched saw nearby, and that noise unnerved Lilly. Poor thing. (If you haven’t read the piece I did on sound and dogs, I recommend it.)

Later, we poked at some statues of people, including one hunched down on the top of a big rock. I asked Lilly to check it out, and instead of just looking, she jumped up on the big rock and stood next to the statue. Silly!

At the end of class, when a squirrel ran in front of us, Lilly went into alert mode. So, I clicked her for looking at the squirrel, then when she relaxed just enough, we ran to the tree. After she got to do that, she was fine, and walked back with the group. Love that Premack concept.

So, it was a busy, busy weekend. Some good, some not … training-wise.