I tried to stick with Part 2, the advanced SIT-STAY section of our behavior modification plan, but boredom won out. So, this week, I began Part 3, which includes people doing 13 tasks. Essentially, they approach me and Lilly in a variety of ways. Three vignettes from this week’s work. Only one follows the rules.
Tom in the Basement
We started Monday with Tom as our behaviorist suggested. In our basement, he performed all 13 tasks. I fed Lilly and praised her for each one as she sat still, not concerned. Honestly, she barely noticed all the things Tom was doing. She just sat there, happy for cheese.
The final task is to approach, say something to me, make eye contact with the dog while talking for 15 seconds, then bend down with eyes averted to see if the dog will approach. Of course, she did and smooched all over his face.
Neighbor Walk
The next day, a neighborhood friend joined me and Lilly unexpectedly for our morning walk, which isn’t exactly in the rules of the Part 3 structure, but I’ll take the training opportunity when I can.
Lilly tucked her ears, but otherwise, she seemed pretty relaxed. I went ahead and fed her throughout the entire walk. Sometimes, she swung to my far side. Sometimes, she walked between us. At the end, she did NOT approach, which is fine. She doesn’t have to interact with people, if she doesn’t want to. The goal is mostly for her to just relax and not be afraid of them. In other words, aloof is OK. Afraid isn’t.
Man Dropping By
One of Tom’s friends dropped by twice: once on his motorcycle to deliver something; once to chat with Tom in the garage for a while.
The first visit, I let Lilly hang out in front of the house. I threw the ball, and she continued to play as if he wasn’t there. He did not try to interact with her in any way, but she did sneak up and sniff his leg a couple of times.
The second visit, she barked at him when she first saw him because he was backlit. But, she settled in fine and walked right past him. I stood nearby and fed her cheese. Since she seemed fine, I went ahead and asked her to POKE him (target his leg with her nose). Technically, I’m not supposed to ask her to do such things, but she seemed to think it was funny and ran over again and again to POKE him. The entire encounter lasted maybe 90 seconds.
Again, he did not try to interact with her.
Ramping Up
Basically, I’ll continue to use encounters with people as they crop up. I also need to find people willing to do the 13 tasks as many days each week as I can. That will likely be hard, and I worry about that.
But, we’ll start with people Lilly knows, then move to others she doesn’t. Eventually, we’ll even try kids young enough to be “scary,” but old enough to follow the rules with instruction. One of our nieces is coming over tomorrow. So, I might ask her.
It’s entirely possible that this stage will last through the end of the year. I hope not, but it’s possible.
0 comments