Sweetest Devotion

Posted on November 11, 2017 by upwarddogmom

Do you know what the title of this post represents, I mean, other than of course my undying love for this furry beast? It’s also the title of one of the few songs that help Ziva calm down when we’re in the car. So yeah, Ziva has her own playlist, and it’s very heavy on Adele. “Sweetest Devotion” starts playing and Ziva stops whining and puts her head on the arm rest. I can sometimes get her to expand her tastes to a little Amy Winehouse — “Valerie” has a nice melody. And I recently added Tash Sultana’s “Jungle,” and she seems to enjoy that one a lot. But mostly, it’s “Hello” on an endless loop.

We have been traveling with Ziva in a crate in the back of the SUV for many months because, if you have read the early days of this blog you will remember, a year ago she would be so wound up and excited in the car that it was impossible to drive. She would spin herself around on her seatbelt leash and practically choke herself, or, she would stand with her mouth at my right ear and bark, and bark, and bark. Good times.

But recently we had to take the crate out of the car in order to move some furniture, and I thought I would give it a try with Ziva in that back seat again. We’ve done a few short trips since then and she has done pretty well. She still gets excited, but it’s nowhere near the previous level. And if she sees a dog out the window, she still barks, but she is able to get calm again — a year ago that was not happening. A year ago she would just continue to wind herself up. And up. And up. I thank Conditioned Relaxation behavior modification for this change (and of course the wonderful trainers we have worked with for the past year!). Ziva has always loved to go for a car ride — in fact it’s the only way we were able to catch her the couple of times that she escaped the yard. (The fencing has been repaired!). She ran around the neighborhood at the speed of light, and there was no way we could grab her, or get her to come to us. But drive up in the car, fling the door open and say “Wanna go for a ride?????” And she would hop right in. She likes to sit and look out the window, and she doesn’t really like to sit in the crate. So I am glad that it seems like we can move her back to the back seat and keep working on her being calm. Adele is fine with me. The Enya was a little much.

Anyway, its been longer between posts than I intended. But as I’ve mentioned before: when life gets busy and it’s a matter of writing about the dog or spending time with the dog, no offense but she comes first. Right now, it’s Saturday morning and we are back home after a successful time at Pack to Basics and Behavior Modification classes. Ziva did really, really well, and is now enjoying a well earned nap:

Ziva sleeps, resting her head by a laptop

I just want to tell you how great she did this morning. We haven’t been to either of these classes in a few weeks, and there were a couple of new high energy dogs today. One in particular was a challenge to Ziva because it has so much energy. She’s a small Lab mix named Oreo, and boy does she remind me of Ziva 12 months ago! During Pack to Basics she and Ziva got a little too close for each other’s comfort and both made some ugly noises, but it was easily dispersed and they didn’t pay each other any mind after that. But what really amazed me was during the Behavior Mod class. We did “doggy yoga” to start, and we ended up being just a few feet away from Oreo. The way this “yoga” works, is that the dogs have to face away from the other dogs (i.e., their back is to the other dogs), and they have to remain calm. We started out with Ziva sitting to my left, and Oreo about 5 feet behind us. Oreo had a really hard time sitting, and she definitely did not want to sit to the left of her mom. She whined, and she kept getting up. Her mom kept putting her back in sit, and she kept getting up. My heart went out to that mom. It’s so hard to stay calm and keep putting the dog back into a “sit,” over and over again.

And do you know what Ziva did? NOTHING! oh my freaking god. She sat and she looked at me, and sometimes she turned her head and looked at Oreo, and then I would do bridging (“That’s a dog, dih dih dih dih, Yes!”), and she would return her focus to me and lose interest in Oreo, who was still whining and constantly getting up.

It was so incredible, that later, when we left the building, I saw Oreo’s mom and I told her “Hang in there — it really does get better! A year ago, this one was just like that!” And she seemed amazed and said “Really? Because there are just some days ….” And I replied “Oh, I know! Believe me, I know — all that energy!” I also told her that Ziva definitely still has her moments but ….

See, when you have a reactive dog, or a dog that is adrenalized so they are almost uncontrollable, it can be so emotionally difficult. You constantly feel that other people are judging you. It can be a vicious cycle, where the dog misbehaves in public and you get nervous and upset, so then you go out in public and the dog senses that you’re nervous and upset so they become nervous and upset. And misbehave. So it takes a lot of work to just keep going, and taking the dog for a walk even if strangers are looking at you spraying vinegar on your dog’s nose while it barks at another dog across the street. Or you’re standing on her leash while she’s in a behavioral down and still whining at the dog over there. It doesn’t look like you are doing anything, but of course you are doing exactly what the trainer has taught you. And over time it works!

I clearly remember in the early days when some of the other dog parents would say to me “She’s doing so much better!” (Shout out to Bruno’s mom, who always said encouraging things, even when Ziva was being far from perfect.) I feel lucky to have found a community where there is so much support. It is a place where Ziva clearly feels safe — and so do I! And that means we both feel confident to push ourselves. For us, that can mean just going for a hike in the woods, knowing it is quite possible we will encounter another dog. That may seem like a tiny challenge, but trust me, its enough to keep many an owner and dog at home. And that’s a shame. Because, this:

Ziva sits on a hike in the woods

Fine motor skills, and focus

Posted on October 29, 2017 by upwarddogmom

We started training on “Focus” on Friday, and it’s a lot harder (for me) than you would think. As with most of our training, Ziva has caught on pretty quickly, and it’s me who has a hard time learning. Jokes about “old dogs learning new tricks” aside, I think there is something in the adage. Ziva has that innocence that kindergarteners posses. When I was in graduate school, my prof asked us one night: “Who here knows how to sing?” And predictably, about 2 out of 20 hands went up. The rest of us thought “dear god, is she going to make me sing???” But then she said, “What do you think would happen if you ask a group of kindergarteners ‘who knows how to sing?” Over time we learn to hold back — I say “I don’t know how to sing” because I’m not very good at it, not because I don’t know how.

I think adults can learn a lot of new things — I’ve taken French lessons as an adult. I’m teaching myself to play the ukelele (no, really, I am!) But I have no doubt it’s taking me longer to learn that, just like it’s taking me longer to learn some of this handling business because I totally over think everything. As I described in the last post, to teach “Focus,” the dog sits at your left, you have their food in your right pocket. You take a handful out with your right hand, transfer it at waist level to your left hand. When the dogs you in the eye, you say a very hearty “Yes!” and left your left hand to your left eye and then down to the front of the dog — just enough in front of their mouth that they have to reach out just a tiny bit.

This very patient face will tell you that it has taken some time for me to master this process:

Ziva sits, looking up at the camera It has taken me some time to get the timing down of all the hand transfer of treats. Not to mention the actual giving of treat to mouth. We are supposed to be using their food, so since Ziva eats kibble I figured that would be pretty easy. If you read back to the early posts of Obedience 1 class, we fed her kibble from our hand for many weeks as a way to build the bond and reinforce behavior. The difference is that then we could feed a handful, whereas in this training, it is one piece per “Yes!” Our trainer suggested a couple of different brands of food that have larger sized kibble (and softer too). But to be honest they are out of our process range. So we tried with the little kibble, and guess what? It went flying everywhere.

Two sizes of kibble are shown, one much larger than the other I went to a PetValu store and asked about kibble sizes, and we are very happy to have found a kibble for large breed dogs, which has larger-sized pieces. It may seem like a silly thing, but look at the difference in the sizes here, and imagine trying to gracefully give one piece at a time. You have a small handful of food in your palm, and you manuever one piece to hold between your thumb and first finger, in order to give to the dog. And if you drop a piece, the dog is not supposed to eat it, because all the food is supposed to come from your hand. This poor dog was so patient with me when one of the little pieces of kibble would go flying and I would tell her no. I have nothing against small kibble, but my fingers just could not hold onto these things while I was trying to remember to transfer at waist level, hold up to my eye and then down to her mouth.

But we’ve been working on this for a couple of days now and we both seem to be getting it. I’m definitely much smoother with my part (thanks, large kibble!, and she understands the rules. She doesn’t get any other treats right now — not training treats, even. So we have been mostly playing in the backyard rather than going on long walks, because I can’t really do much bridging if we see other dogs. We’ve been doing a ton of fetch and tug in the yard, and so far that seems to be getting enough energy out of her (along with so)me short walks around the block when it’s not high dog-traffic time.) I’m going to work not his for a couple more days in the kitchen, and then our next challenge is to set a baseline of how long it takes to eat a meal’s worth. Say, 4 minutes. Then we go someplace else — maybe just the back yard, or the front yard — and then see if we can get it done in 4 minutes. The goal is that she can focus on me no matter what other distractions are out there. And so, while at first I was annoyed that a cat walked through the room when we were trying to do our training, or some other interruption happened, now I see that’s all part of the process. We start with the little distractions and build, build, build.

Zika’s focus is getting stringer and stronger. Meanwhile, my fine motor skills have never been better!

We’re baaa-aaccckk!

Posted on October 25, 2017 by upwarddogmom

After a brief hiatus from blogging, I expect to be back at it regularly now. Tonight Ziva begins her first Rally class, and I cannot wait! What is Rally, you say? Well, I came across this great little video of an older gentleman and his adorable middle-aged looking dog, who both seem to be having a wonderful time in their beginner competition. The video has German signs, and the dog is off the leash — two differences in our training that begins tonight. But anyway, enjoy!

I just love watching this video, because that is the world’s happiest dog. When you doubt the saying that “every dog needs a job,” remember the happy dog in this video.

So. We have some work to do, lol. But — we have come such a long way in one year. The most important thing is that Ziva has learned how to calm herself down in new and stimulating environments. She is still a very energetic dog, and she will be for many years to come. But when she came to our family 12 months ago, she would wind herself up into a state of frantic panic whenever she was stressed. (Read the very first posts in this blog to see just how far we have come.) She still barks at strange dogs, yes. She still has a hard time not getting too excited when she plays with other dogs, yes. But! Last year at this time, we were wrestling with her trying to fit a “no-pull” harness on her, and then getting dragged down the street by her. We were trying to leave the house without her practically leaping through the window, barking and whining. We were trying to keep her from going after the cats.

Today, Ziva walks on her leash, heeling with a few reminders. She is often home alone all day, and sleeps most of the time (she still steals a shoe or two and puts it in her bed. Knock on wood, she hasn’t chewed them.) Ziva and the cats are now good friends, and although she still often lifts her head when one of them walks into the room, she doesn’t leap off the couch, and a simple “Leave it” command gets her head back down and her eyes shut.

Her self-control has gotten so much better! She knows “Sit” and will hold it until you release her. The other morning my wife told Ziva “Sit” in the kitchen because she was a little bit in the way while we were both getting coffee and puttering. Then Laura started to leave the room, and I called to her and pointed at Ziva, who was holding her “Sit.” “You have to release her,” I said. Laura said “Free!” and Ziva ran to her, tail wagging and grinning face, “Look how good I am!”

A year ago? uh, no. No way.

And because she is so much better now, I am really trying to take Ziva to more places, which I know is crucial to desensitizing her to a lot of the things that stress her. Because she is better, but also because I feel more confident about how to handle a blow-up — or better yet, keep the blow-up from happening in the first place. Last week I took her for the first time to get a bath at a pet store. It was a week day, and fortunately there were no other dogs in the store at the time. But it was a totally new experience for her, and she did really well. We went for a hike beforehand, and then when we got to the store I had her do a Behavioral Down on the sidewalk just outside the door. She struggled to calm down, and while she was straining a bit two suburban moms came walking by and went “awwwww.” The one reached out to Ziva, and I said “uh, we are trying to get calm.” And she said, “Oh!” and pulled her hand back. Now, I never for a moment worried that Ziva would do anything bad, like bite her or anything, but this lady didn’t know that! Ziva was totally fine, except that it got her more excited. But really. Reach out to a dog that is obviously very excited and straining on the leash? I know Ziva is “pocket” GSD, but seriously? Don’t do it, people.

Tonight’s class starts at 6 p.m., which should be very interesting since Ziva usually begins to get sleepy about 7. But I’m working from home today, and am trying everything I can to make sure she is successful tonight. We’ve already had one good walk, and will do another later this afternoon. Hot dogs (yes, just for Rally training), lots of exercise, and some CR massage, and she should be good to go. Stay tuned for more ….

She’s better than she used to be. Except when she’s not.

Posted on September 15, 2017 by upwarddogmom

Its our last day of vacation so I’m going to slip in one more post here before we leave the beach tomorrow morning. I haven’t really had much time to write or to read this week. I knew that bringing Ziva along on this trip would mean a lot of work, but even I underestimated just how much time she would require. So, no sitting on the beach reading, which is one of my favorite past times. But I did have a few minutes where I could sit on the beach with her and she would be still (until she decided to dig a hole and get to the cooler sand — then it was “cover your eyes! look out!” and sand went everywhere.) And I certainly got a lot more exercise than I normally would have in a week at the beach. All in all it has been a good week. With some challenges, like this afternoon.

We had left Ziva alone in the house a couple of times this week for short periods of time and she did really well. She’s been so exhausted that she seems to either go into her crate or jump on our bed. But either way, she seemed calm when we got back, and she didn’t get into any trouble. So today we left her again and we did a little sight seeing at a local light house and had a quick sandwich. And again, we got home and everything was fine. The worst she had done was to drag one of my shoes into her crate. But she didn’t chew it:

shoe in Ziva's crate

After we were home for a while, I thought I would take her back to the beach as a reward for being so good. So, there I am again thinking things that will make no sense to her. By the time we get to the beach, her time alone in the house will be a distant memory. There is no way she connected the two events. This, was a mistake.

We had about a good 10 minutes or so, where she was on the harness at the beach and she was seeming calm enough. Clearly she was excited, but I could call to her when the length was at full distance, and she would come romping back to me. Some pre-teens asked if they could pet her, and she was appropriately excited, but still under control. And then. sigh. And then she saw a chocolate lab that was sitting calmly under and umbrella, and she just. went. nuts.

One of the things that has gotten me through all the training this past 12 months is the knowledge that she is so much better than she used to be. But today was like we had traveled back to Day One. Ziva barked and lunged and I really struggled to control her. I tried to get her into her behavioral down, but she was in the harness and she was trying her best to slip out of it. So I was grabbing her gruff, and she was sounding really nasty as she got frustrated, and I start thinking “Oh, great. She’s going to bite me and then she’s going to slip out of her harness. And we lost her dog tags when she was romping with Murphy in the surf.”

Right about this time, a man came sauntering up to us. I figured he was going to offer help, maybe he’s a dog trainer. But no. He just wanted to ask me her name. Hahaha. Yup. He was pleasant enough but it was kind of odd — I felt like maybe was a therapist, to a counselor of some sort? He’s standing there saying very calmly, “They should make certain color collars for rescue dogs so people know.” Me: “Uh huh. ZIVA! Dog! duh duh duh duh Oouch!”

I finally just told the man that I was taking Zva off the beach for the afternoon, and he said “oh are you going to walk past our dog?” And then I felt pretty good about myself because I said “The black dog? I think your wife — yes? your wife? I think your wife took it back to the house. So we can walk past now.”

Because even if I wasn’t handling Ziva perfectly, at least I was still looking out for her and being aware of my surroundings so that we could get a clean exit. Where upon we got lots of sympathetic smiles and nods from people who had no interest in actually petting Ziva, but who seemed to recognize that we are trying. Then I put Ziva back on her flat collar, off the harness, and had her walk “with me,” and she did great.’

So, clearly we still need to work on the dog reactiveness. But here’s the thing. She played really well with her cousin Murphy, but for a few times when she had to be told “enough.” And when she was with Murphy and Luna and saw another dog, she still barked. But we were able to redirect and bridge her, and she got through those events. The difference today was that she was alone — she still didn’t feel secure with me, the way she did with the other dogs.

photo credit: Kim Johnston

But there have been times, oh there have been times. She has run into the surf and she has had no fear of the waves. She has chased seagulls, and she has dug holes in the sand. She has even walked with me on the leash, without pulling. And she has come back to the beach house and slept for 3 hours in the afternoon.

I can’t even imagine what has been going through her head this week. Does she think we’re going to live here now? (I wish, Ziva! I wish!) The smells, the sounds, the people and the dogs. It must be pretty overwhelming for a sensitive dog. I’m glad she seems to be able to be alone, she knows a safe spot — she’s in her crate now as I write this. And we’ve had some really good times — we’ve even watched the sunset from the rooftop deck together:

Ziva watches the sunset from the rooftop Tomorrow we attempt the long ride home again. But this time, I have a feeling she’s going to be sleeping for at least the first part of the trip. Fingers crossed.

A day at the beach (actually, a week!)

Posted on September 13, 2017 by upwarddogmom

photo credit: Kim Johnston

It’s been quite an eventful few days for Ziva (and for us). We’re spending the week at Oak Island, North Carolina, in a beach house a few hundred yards from the beach. It’s been a wonderful, exhausting week for everyone. My brother and his family, including two large dogs, are about half a mile down the beach from us so we’ve seen them quite a bit. I was initially quite worried that Ziva would be afraid of the waves, but she went into the water with just a little coaxing — not so deep that she can’t keep her feet on the ground, which is okay with me. But she is not afraid of the waves crashing and doesn’t mind getting splashed. Her favorite thing though, seems to be running through the pools of water — and wrestling with her cousin Murphy. She’s still working on controlling her excitement, but for the most part she is doing much better than I expected.

The week didn’t start out so carefree — with Hurricane Irma demolishing much of the Caribbean while we were making our travel plans, we were preparing ourselves for the possibility of canceling our trip, or at the very least cutting it short. Fortunately for us, the weather missed us for the most part, with just one rainy day so far. The trip itself took forever. We both ended up working later on Friday than we had hoped, so didn’t get nearly as much done the night before the trip. That meant a lot of hurrying around on Saturday morning, and despite taking her for a long walk, Ziva started to get worked up about all the activity. Every time I took bags out to the car, she whined and scratched at the door. My brother mentioned they had give one of their dogs benadryl before a trip and it helped knock him out. I used to give our previous dog benadryl for itchy skin and it would make him sleepy too, so I thought it might be a good idea for Ziva and help her stay calm on the 7 hour drive. Wrong! It turns out a small percentage of dogs have the opposite reaction. So instead of lying down and going to sleep, she whined and barked and pawed at the crate. For the entire ride. No that’s not right — there was one long spell of about 70 minutes near the end, when she must have just exhausted herself, because she curled up and slept. But then she popped up again. Ziva is pretty good about letting us know when she has to go out, and she was acting like this throughout the trip. So we kept making stops, where she would indeed pee — but just a little. So I don’t know if the benadryl made her feel like she had to pee? Anyway, she will never, ever have benadryl again, that’s for sure.

Ziva lies sleeping in her crate Once at the house, she has settled in pretty well. We brought her crate inside, and she sleeps in there at night — by her choice. We have not put her in there or shut the door. Although yesterday, after a morning of romping in the surf with her cousins, we were back at the house for lunch. And I realized Ziva was being very quite — I found her curled up on our bed, where she stayed for the next 2 hours. This has been such a great time for her — she has gotten more exercise this week than ever before with us, anyway. She’s been wearing a harness and we keep her on a 30 foot leash. The beach is not very crowded, so we can usually just let her run on the leash — the water, out of the water, back in again.

It’s been a challenge for us to keep up with our training, but we’ve been trying. We have a nice quiet road behind our house and I try to take Ziva for a walk there every morning, so we can work on our leash work. It’s a challenge because there are so many scents, and people, and sometimes dogs. I’m sure the people who see us think I’m nutty, with my “yield to me, follow me.” But I really do not care. Likewise, when she barks at another dog — because she still often does — I know that she is so much better than she used to be, and I don’t care what you think. But, to be fair, this is a very dog friendly place, and no one seems put off by her sometimes barking. Everyone has their dog on a leash, and while Ziva barks at them they give me a wave, a smile, and a nod.

Ziva and Murphy stand next to each other on the beach

photo credit: Kim Johnston

Generally, I can distract Ziva with the water. If she is barking at a dog up the beach, and call her over to the surf. She runs in, runs to me, then sees the dog again and barks. Repeat. It’s been great for her to spend time with my brother’s dogs — both get a long great with other dogs, and Murphy at 9 months already 80 pounds. Murphy and Ziva romp and wrestle and play nicely — for the most part. Yesterday after noon, Ziva got so excited, she started in on her old ways of getting too ramped up and playing too aggressively. Play started getting too rough, and my niece and I decided they needed a little apart time. Which they were fine with. They were still near each other by a few feet, but not in wrestling distance. Ziva even went and found a shady place. So I still have to keep an eye on her adrenaline in a situation like that. She still doesn’t always know how to turn it down when she starts to get too excited. But for the most part, Ziva and Murphy play very nicely together, and that’s been a great experience for her.

I’ll try to post again this week — I really thought I would have more quiet time, but it’s been hard until now to have more than a few minutes where Ziva is not needing attention. I think she is settling in now, though. This is her first big trip away from home, and its understandable that she would be restless. All the exercise is finally paying off though, and she is able to be in the house and calm. In fact, as I write, she’s in her crate, sleeping away. I’ll have to rouse her to go the beach soon.

Our little graduate

Posted on September 1, 2017 by upwarddogmom

Ok, ok, I fell a little behind with my posting. Life comes at you fast, as they say. I work in education, and summer disappeared and the Fall term arrived with a vengeance. So now that we have a few minutes to catch our breath, I’ll try to catch you up: We passed our Obedience 2 test!

Ziva sits looking up at Sue, who is holding her certificate I cannot tell you how thrilled I was. She did great — I had a couple of flubs, but the trainer had faith in Ziva and let me redo when I messed things up a bit. He knew it was my nerves making me stumble on my words, I’m sure. Because on all the tests where it was totally on her, she did great! For example, when she had to sit and stay in place while I walked back about 6 feet, and the trainer came walking by, tossing a frisbee — she stayed in place! She had to do several commands, and I won’t list them all here unless you comment that you want to know more. But I will tell you about the elusive “Here!” command, because that was a great success.

You can see in the photo that she is wearing a harness. We did that because in learning the “Here” command, we realize that she has developed her boundary ~~corruption~~ correction so well, that any tug on her collar would make her stop. The boundary correction exercise helps her learn where the end of the leash is, so that she will not lunge and pull. To teach this, you let the dog roam around, and the second they get to the end of the leash you give it a quick pop, say a very excited “Yes!!! What a good girl!!” and reward with food. Ziva picked this up really quickly, which is great, but that meant some complication when learning “Here.” In this exercise, the trainer held her on a very long leash (30 ft), then I love on Ziva and get her a little excited, run about 20 feet away, turn, and call “Ziva! Here!” Once she reaches me, I give her high reward food (chicken) and put her short leash on.

The first time we tried this, Ziva started to run in my general direction but then felt the tug on her collar and stopped. She was really confused. So it was suggested that we try it with a harness. We have purchased a few different types of harnesses to get the right one for her. We have a Kurgo one that I really like, but it s a little complicated to put on her, and she gets so excited that it’s an ordeal. I have hopes she will get used to it. But meanwhile I found the one she’s wearing in the photo online, which is a “step in” model. Even getting her to “step in” is not a simple task, but it is easier than trying to get the other one over her head. But this one’s lightweight, mesh, and she seems very comfortable in it.

I enlisted my friend Amy one day during the week before the Saturday test. We went to a local park and used the tennis court to practice “Here.” The first couple of tries were less than stellar, but as I’ve seen before with Ziva, very soon something “clicked” and she started running right to me. It was a hot day, and there kids and dogs around, so it was really a test for her concentration. Ziva still reacts quite strongly to other dogs, and so when a man came walking along right by the tennis courts, we had to take a break. Once they were out of site though, Ziva was able to get back to work.

So! When it came test time, she was a star! I have such a wonderful memory of that moment when I turned and said “Ziva! Here!” and she came at me at full speed. Straight to me, despite there being other dogs and people in the room, with a look of pure joy on her face. It’s a good thing the trainer had her on a very long leash, because I don’t think he expected her to be quite as fast as she is. She is fast. I really hope that some day we can do agility, because she loves to run, and I think she would be great at it. But, we’ve got some more obedience to work on before we get to her listening to my commands for an entire course. But racing from one side of the room straight to me is an excellent start. And if you met her a year ago, you’d understand just how far we have come.

We have much to keep working on, so we’re taking a little break from the Obedience classes. But we’re still going to go to Pack to Basics and Behavior Modification classes for a while. The only really frustrating thing for me right now continues to be her reactiveness with other dogs. Until she understands that she does not need to bark at every new dog she encounters, we’ve got work to do. My goal is to get her to a point where we can go to public places and have her ignore other dogs. I don’t necessarily expect her to be friendly to every dog she sees, but just to ignore them, understanding that we’re a team, and we’re ok. She’s getting there. And so am I.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Posted on August 8, 2017 by upwarddogmom

I know, I know — I missed you too!

I didn’t realize how long it has been since I last blogged. It’s been an incredibly busy couple of weeks, and included a week away from home for me. While I was at a conference in Colorado, Ziva stayed at home and my wife kept the home fires burning. No mean feat when it involves working a very physical full-time job and then taking care of our lively girl. But they did a good job taking care of each other, and I missed them both terribly.

My flight home on Friday was delayed by weather, and I got in so late that we didn’t make it to our Saturday morning Obedience class. I felt bad missing it, but I let them know on Friday afternoon while I was sitting in the Denver airport that it was looking doubtful, and they said no problem. So I tried to keep working on what we have been learning, in preparation for our final test. Ziva has been doing pretty well with the sit and stay and the down and stay (better with the down and stay). She will have to do both for a minute while I leave the room in order to pass the test! We also need to do “watch me” with her making eye contact when I give that command.

We’re doing pretty well with those, and every walk we’re making progress on the leash work. She is still always so excited to be out for a walk that I do a lot of corrections for the first 10 minutes or so. And this is after about 5-10 minutes of behavioral down inside in the hallway, and then 5-10 minutes of “yield to me, follow me” in front of the house. A walk with her is no small commitment but it is so worth it — her entire disposition is so much better after a walk. She’s both more relaxed and attentive, if you can imagine that.

So then we finally made it to class again last Saturday. And I was kind of a mess.

One of the reasons I have enjoyed this training experience with Ziva is that is has also been very eye-opening for me and my own behaviors. As in, what stresses me, and what do I worry about? Because I was worried about a lot of things on Saturday morning and it slowly started to manifest itself in things going wrong. For one thing, I felt behind on being ready with her training treats (hot dog) and having everything ready for Saturday morning. Which included having given Ziva a chance to ride in the new car. Which I totally had planned to do at some point in the week, but the week came and the week went, and Ziva had not been in the new car. And Friday night I was looking for straps to lash the crate in the back (it’s a Honda HR-V and I love it, btw), and where the heck are all the straps? Well, I had two good ones and thought I had it strapped down well enough.

So Saturday morning I loaded Ziva in the crate, hoping that being in the same crate but in a new car was no big deal. But is was kind of a big deal. I have a picture but I’m not going to post it because it looks bad. We had left the house for about 5 minutes when she flung herself to one side and the crate fell over on its side. She was fine, and actually seemed pretty relaxed — she probably had more room with it on its’ side — but it was wobbly and I didn’t want to get on the highway with it like that. So, I pulled over and got the crate upright and strapped it down again.

And Ziva was not liking the new orientation of the crate. It was different. Which is stressful. Which winds her up.

So I’m driving and saying “Can you get easy?” and Ziva is barking and barking and pawing at the side of the crate. (But it stayed strapped down — yay for that!) We were now running a little late and got to the parking lot with enough time for me to gather my things and give her a quick potty break so she could pee. But then we stepped inside the building, and I said “Sit!” Have you seen that cartoon where the dog is squatting and the owner is saying “No no no! I said Sit !” Yeah, well, Ziva squatted and pooped right inside the doorway. I was completely confused about what to do. I didn’t have any bags, I didn’t want to go back out to parking lot and get one from the pole where they provide them because I was afraid someone would come in and step in it. I was just … Ack! What to do???!!

The walls in this part of the building are only shoulder high so I tried to get the attention of one of the assistants on the other side of the building to get me a poop bag, but lo and behold the person who saw me was Tecla herself. And as I explained “Well, she pooped and the crate fell over and the new car and …” Tecla said “shh shh shh. Look how tight your leash is.” And indeed I look down at my hand and I’m pulling the leash tight. And dear Ziva is just standing there putting up with it. I relaxed my grip and Tecla said she would have someone clean it up, and sent me on to the Pack to Basics room. And Ziva, not having been there for a couple of weeks, did great. She was excited but behaved herself. She trotted around the room at double time, but she didn’t get into any trouble.

And then she did very well for the rest of the morning as well — as usual, in Obedience class it was on me to correct behaviors. The class we missed was kind of an important one — recall and “name game.” Ziva knows her name really well, but she needs to know her name really really well. Like, say her name and her whips around kind of well. And recall. well, that is not really a strength for her, but is one of the tings I really hope to get out of this training. Because if you say to her “Ziva, come!” She will come about 50% of the time. Or 0.05% of the time if there are distractions nearby.

So we are essentially 1 week behind on this but have been trying to catch up. I get home from work, we go for a walk, and then we practice, practice, practice. Our final class — and test — is this Saturday. This is an intense week of training for us. I’m even taking a day of annual leave and enlisting a friend to help us get up to speed on these things! I know we can do it, if I just keep calm, loosen up that leash, and have fun with it. She is such a sweet girl, and she’s so happy when you give her a command, she completes it, and you give her lots of praise. Next month it will be one year since she came to our family, and I cannot believe how much we have learned in that time.

A day at the beach is no walk in the park

Posted on July 14, 2017 by upwarddogmom

Ziva sits by a sign that reads In my ongoing quest to expose Ziva to as many new things as I can, yesterday I decided to take her to a dog park that is on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay. As I learn more about dog handling skills, I know that what she needs the most, in order to lessen her adrenalized reaction to new situations, is … to experience more new situations. Because she really just needs to begin to understand that everything is going to be ok. As our trainers have said to me many times, “she needs to learn that you have her back.” So I took the day off from work, packed a lunch and lots of water, and we set off on an adventure for both of us. I had never been to this park, and it’s in an area of Maryland with which I’m not very familiar. But we made it with only one wrong turn (following gps leading us to a gate across the road from the actual entry to the park — the attendant said “yup. everyone does that.”)

I unloaded Ziva from her crate in the back seat, and she actually stood quite still for me to put the harness on her. The last time I put it on it her it was like putting a saddle on a wild horse. All bucking and jumping. So I don’t know why she was so subdued this time, but it was very helpful! I wanted her to wear the harness because I knew she would end up pulling on the leash, and I didn’t want her to get used to feeling it pull on her collar. She’s been doing really well on the “With me” command while walking, and I don’t want to blow that with a walk in the woods.

We walked the short distance through a wooded path from the parking lot to the beach. She did a lot of sniffing along the way and I did not hurry her. She very patiently sat for me to take her picture by the Dog Beach sign — it was only 10 am but it was very hot at this point, and we were in the full sun. When we got to the actual beach, I was a little disappointed at how small it was, but there was no one else there so we had a chance to test the waters without encountering other dogs. Ziva loves to jump into the large fishpond in our backyard, but I have no idea what her experience is with large bodies of water — and specifically, with waves. The waves of the Chesapeake Bay are very small — ripples, really. But I think it’s safe to say she found it a little stressful.

So how does it look when a dog gets “adrenalized” in a stressful situation? The following video is Exhibit A. It seems playful and fun, and I was talking to her and laughing with her, but honestly, she is ramping up the adrenaline in this video:

Notice how she runs at the water and growls? Her tail is also wagging pretty quickly but not maniacally. So she’s not out of control, but she is making herself get very excited. She’s kind of scared of this new thing, “waves,” but if she gets herself really wound up it feels good! In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have been laughing here — I probably should have been bridging her with “Water, du du du du, YES!” But it’s hard to remember what to do when in the thick of it.

But I’ll tell ya, I remembered how to bridge when another dog showed up! Because Ziva was already so wound up that she just started barking and barking and barking. And then a second dog appeared, and she was really almost more than I could handle. She barked, but she also pulled on the lead so hard that I almost lost my footing a couple of times in the wet sand. (Note to self: Why do you always think Tevas are a good idea at the beach? They are not. Sand gets in the velcro and the next thing you know the shoes are flopping off your feet. )

Anyway, I was just about at the point of thinking that we would need to leave — I was trying to stuff hot dog in her face and bridging, and also trying to distract her with a stick — when her barking began to decrease, and then she started to pay more attention to me. And suddenly I remembered the two golden rules of Ziva: Bridging and Paying for Engagement (with me). So I continued to do bridging with “Dog” and I continued to distract her with the water and really praise her and keep her focus on me and not on the other dogs. The other dogs, by the way, were both Labradors. And neither one was very interested in anything beyond their tennis ball in the water.

Ziva stands on the beach as other dogs are in the background We were at the beach for only about an hour, but it seemed like that was enough for this day. It was very hot — in the upper 90’s — and while Ziva seemed to enjoy the water, by this point she seemed just as interested in the grassy marsh area behind the beach. According to her DNA report, she is a quarter Lab, but that percentage had been used up by this point. So we sat in the shade for a little while and had a drink of water. And I was so very happy to see that she could do this — be in the presence of strange dogs with out caring much about them. She watched them at a distance of about 20 feet, without barking or getting excited. Hopefully she knows: I have her back.

A tale of a tail

Posted on July 5, 2017 by upwarddogmom

Ziva seemed very excited to be back at the Training academy. We did some socialization and behavior modification work, then took a quick break in the car with water and snacks before we went back in for Obedience 2 class. Next week I guess I need to pack TWO peanut butter sandwiches ….

We had a great day at our first Obedience 2 class on Saturday. It is a very small class — only 4 dogs, and two trainers! It’s almost like getting a personal training session. Ziva did really well with the new commands we’re learning: verbal and visual cues for sit and down, and for “watch me.” Previously we just did sit and down with leash pressure, but she picked up on the verbal cues very quickly. She also did really well with “Watch me,” which is something that had been suggested to us at the very beginning of her days with us as a way to get her to stop paying attention to other dogs. It was never successful then, and low these many months later we know that would never have worked with her adrenaline so high. So it’s really a case of understanding each dog’s personality and temperament, and knowing what will work, when — and what won’t. I guess there are levels of dog reactiveness? And if you have one at the level of Ziva when we got her, you need someone who specializes in it, not just someone who kind of just does it along with a lot of other things.

I also learned something new about dog communication on Saturday. Most of the other dogs in this class were in Obedience 1 with us, and Ziva knows them and doesn’t react when she sees them. We don’t do leash greetings in class, but we sit or stand just a few feet apart, and after having done 30 minutes of Pack to Basics, and an hour of Behavior Modification, Ziva has been just fine to ignore the other dogs lying a few feet away. So I was really taken off guard when she suddenly started barking and pulling on the leash towards Lucy Lu, a dog with whom she had been very friendly for the past 7 weeks.

Lucy Lu is young — only about 8 months old — large, white and fluffy. I knew her breed at some point, but I’ve forgotten. I just tried to google that up, as my 93-year old Dad would say, but am not coming up with the right breed. She has long, white, shaggy fur and looks kind of like an all white English Sheepdog. Except she’s not, and she also didn’t have long shaggy fur on Saturday, because she had been to the groomer. She had very short hair, and a little pompom at the tip of her tail, which was kind freaking Ziva out. My first thought was: “Why wouldn’t she recognize this was Lucy Lu? She knows her smell.” But the trainer explained that it wasn’t that she didn’t recognize her, it was that she didn’t know how to read that tail! It was only then that I noticed that the poof of hair at the tip was bobbing all around. Of course Ziva got stressed, and of course her initial reaction was to get excited.

So that was definitely a “teachable moment” — for me! I was being pretty relaxed, not really being aware of the dog near me, because Ziva “knew” her. But I really needed to be aware of the environment there as well, which on this day included Lucy Lu’s tail.

But once we got Ziva settled back down again, class went off perfectly. So much so that I decided to take Ziva in to the offie with me on Monday. I’m trying to get her into as many new environments as I can, all the time working on our leash work and our relaxation methods. Monday July 3rd was pretty dead in my office, since so many folks opted for an extra long weekend with the 4th of July holiday on Tuesday. I had gotten my boss’s okay to bring in Ziva, and made sure it was also okay with my colleagues, since we now work in a totally open office space. There would only be 4 of us on Monday in this large room, but we do try to be respectful of each other in there. They all said “Bring her in!” So I did.

Ziva lies on the office floor, panting Well, she did okay. We only lasted about 4 hours, but that was kinda what I expected. It was a very hot day, and we went on a very long walk before we got to the office, but she was still pretty excited to be in a new place. I brought lots of things from home, like a blanket for her to lie on, but as you can see from the picture, she didn’t lie on it. She also was not very interested in her usual bully sticks. She would lie down for a few minutes, and then she would start whining. I also brought in the nose work equipment, and we entertained everyone a few times by doing “Find.” She did better than I expected, to be honest! It just wasn’t enough to wear out her brain. But, she did cheer up a lot of people who were working in an office when most of their friends were at the beach or by the pool! She’s a long way from being a “therapy” dog, since although she loves to meet new people, one stroke from a new person sets her into a joyful squirm. But that’s just who she is right now. And I love her for it.

And all of these new adventures and experiences help to make her more relaxed at home, as well. I know that as time goes on, she will be able to expand her relaxation to new places. But for now, well, remember in the early posts when I wrote about how she would scare the bejeesus out of the cats because she would race towards them? Well, The cats definitely approve of the “new and improved” version of Ziva, even if she’s not sure what’s going on with them:

Ziva on the couch with a cat on her back

Juliet is the shyer, more skittish one of the two cats. But when Ziva is calm, she loves to come over and rub against her.

Hitting the wall

Posted on June 30, 2017 by upwarddogmom

In the weeks since we finished Obedience 1 Class, it’s felt a little bit like we hit a plateau. Going on our walks, Ziva seemed to consistently challenge the “With me” command, constantly trying to walk ahead of me rather than by my side. We have a neighbor up the street with a couple of dogs who sometimes bark from behind a wooden privacy fence, and that has set her off at the start of walks so that she doesn’t seem to be able to keep herself under control. It had started to feel like we just can’t get past this challenge.

Neighborhood walks have also become a little stressful since one of our little canine friends, Peggy, was attacked by a loose dog while on her walk. Peggy was fortunately only bruised, and the loose dog was collected by animal control. But it made me nervous, and I started carrying a stick with me. I should probably still carry it, but I found that I had too many things in my hands. I’ve just gotten to the point where I can hold the leash, put my hand in my pouch for treats, reach for the spray bottle of water/vinegar, and keep an eye out for dogs/squirrels/cats/bunnies. So then I started to feel stressed about not having a stick.

But yesterday we had just the best walk. It was short, but doing behavioral down Ziva calmed herself before we left the house, and immediately she sat down when we went out the front door. Then she did a very nice “With me” down the street, with just a few corrections. I kept telling her what a good girl she was, she kept glancing up at me, so then I kept giving her treats. It really was pretty much textbook good walking. And what made me even happier was how happy she seemed to be. Because sometimes she lets me know how frustrated she is that I’m not walking faster, or that I keep stopping to get her lined up beside me. (How? She talks to me! Or rather, she talks back to me. She definitely has that vocal German Shepherd gene in her mix.) But yesterday she just seemed so happy. So when we got back home, we played in the backyard for a long time, and she kept bringing the tennis ball to me — another new thing (usually she needs a lot of coaxing to bring it and drop it).

A tired dog is a good dog, and a good dog is a happy dog. Tomorrow we begin Obedience 2 classes, and while a few days I ago I was starting to feel a little stressed about it and thinking we’re not making any more progress, now I’m back to looking forward to learning new things with Ziva and helping her reach her full potential — whatever that may be! Maybe I was stressing her out, and then she was stressing me out, which then made me stress her out even more. But she can be such a big love bug, I really just need to breath deeply, and remember this face:

ZIva lying on the bed