Our little graduate

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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 certificateI 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

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Ziva looks at camera and rests her head on banisterI 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

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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 backgroundWe 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

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Ziva sitting in the car

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, pantingWell, 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

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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

Before we get too ahead of ourselves ….

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My original plan was to post about Ziva’s wonderful progress last week, graduating from Basic Obedience 1 and also getting a certificate for completing the Intro to Nosework class. And I’ll still get to that, but not before letting you know I was just reminded that, at somewhere around 18 months old, she still has a lot of puppy left in her. So when I was vacuuming, and she was being sooooooo good, I probably should have been suspicious. I thought she was just lying in her bed waiting for me to finish the hallway. But no, she had grabbed a baseball cap that I had found on the floor of the hall closet. In my mission to finish vacuuming I tossed the cap next to me when I found it, rather than putting it back on the shelf where it belonged. And at some point Queen Z came up beside me, took the cap, and proceeded to give it an “extra” distressed look:

A yellow baseball cap that has been chewed on the billIt’s been a while since she chewed anything, so I guess I had this coming. (I still need to catch you up on “What Ziva Ate While Her Moms Were in Scotland,” but that’s an entirely separate  post!)

So yes, it’s stops and starts. But mostly starts. And with the starts come milestones like this one:

Ziva lying down behind her Obedience certificateAnd this one:

Ziva's certificate if Achievement for completing Nosework classJust the fact that Ziva could be in a room full of strange dogs long enough to complete these classes still amazes me. She still has her moments, of course. During the final Obedience class we somehow ended up being positioned between the two most restless dogs in the class, and Ziva struggled at times to ignore them. But working as a team, we got through it. And if you can read the tagline on these certificates, it reads “Obedience through relationship.” What I have learned in the past 8 months is not just how to train my dog but how to read my dog. So, at the beginning of the class, when I realized who we had on either side of us, I certainly had a moment of “oh no!” But the difference between now and 8 months ago is that I felt confident that I could anticipate a problem before it happened. And when Ziva started to pay too much attention to one of these dogs, I took her a couple of steps away and redirected her and had her lie down back in the original spot. And at this point, that is all she needs. But we have to work together on this. I have to anticipate, and she has to obey.

In a week we start Basic Obedience 2. I cannot wait!

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks!

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Our apologies for not posting sooner, but Ziva has been a very busy girl, which means I haven’t had much time to sit down and write. I’m on my lunch break now, and she’s napping after a long walk on a hot summer morning, so let’s see how much I can get us caught up.

Two weeks ago, Ziva had a photo shoot. As a first effort, it was mostly successful, considering that it was 95 degrees in the shade, and she was not standing in the shade when being photographed. But she did a pretty good job being patient as my friend Pam took pictures of her in front of a very large mural in Annapolis, Maryland. Ziva sat or stood in front of several different places along the mural when we asked her to — until she wouldn’t. After about 15 minutes, I tried to get her to sit and she just looked at me and barked. And then she looked at Pam and barked. “Nope. I’m done.”

I need to check with Pam before posting any of the photos here, but in the meantime you can check out some of Pam’s blog for her other work and even purchase a copy of one of her previous books, “A is for Angel,” an alphabet book of rescue dogs, which includes our dear old boy Fritz who passed away just about a year ago. Pam’s blog is called Dancing with the Digital Doggy .

Ziva sits on a brick sidewalk, her tongue hanging out as she pantsWhile we sat in the shade, Ziva barked at a guy across the field, and while we were walking across the grass she pulled on her leash, but mostly I was just so proud of how well she did when we walked to and from the mural area and the car. We walked past sidewalk cafes and she stayed by my side very nicely. Yes, she needed some reminders not to get ahead of me, but when walking by a table of pizza I do not blame her! It was a lot of new sights and sounds — at one point even a very big dog about 20 feet in front of us — and she did not bark or pull or otherwise misbehave. It was a really big step on her path to being able to travel the world without getting anxious. I was very happy, and so was she! She is still such an energetic dog, and that’s ok. As long as she understands that she doesn’t need to get worked up when she in is new or unknown situations, the sky’s really the limit for her.

I’m also working on getting her used to spending the night in new places, and last weekend we spent the night at my brother’s house. He has two big dogs and I knew it would be great for her to spend some fun time with them. She has been around a lot of dogs in all the training we’re doing, but not for play time. She’s only off her leash with other dogs inPack to Basics class, and playing is not allowed then. The fact that she can do that — walk (well, she usually does run a bit) — around and around a room with 12 other dogs and not play, is actually pretty impressive for her. So I was really looking forward to her having this freedom to socialize with her canine cousins. As expected, her initial reaction when she saw them as we were getting out of the car, was to bark. But we all stayed calm and I did a bit of bridging and she quickly remembered that she had met these dogs and soon all was fine. Thus commenced 24 hours of dog circus, with Ziva and Murphy running and wrestling and wearing each other out, and Luna keeping a watchful eye on them both.

Ziva and Murphy chew on a stick while Luna lies sleeping in the background

I was so happy to see Ziva playing with Murphy and understanding how to share and give and take! In this picture, Ziva and Murphy each have an end of the stick in their mouth. Nobody got jealous or fussy about that. In fact at one point they had a rope toy that they played tug of war with inside the house. I wasn’t sure at first how that would go, but they did great. There were a few moments during the visit where these two got a little too worked up (well, Ziva got a little too worked up, really), but one of the things I was most pleased about with this experience was that I was able to just say “Ziva, uh un!” or something like that to them and they took it down a notch right away. Murphy is only 6 months old, and each time Ziva sees him he will be even bigger, so although I think she’ll always be able outrun him she needs to understand how to keep play at a safe level. And she did!

Next up: Two Certificates of Achievement in One Week!!!!

Travels with Ziva

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Last night we had our “Nose Work” class, which is kind of an extra thing we thought we’d just try out to keep Ziva interacting with other dogs -and also because she has such an active mind as well as body, it seemed like a good “hobby” for her. She has turned out to be pretty good at it, considering we don’t practice as much as we should. But she really seems to enjoy it, so I think it is something we will continue with, at some level. It’s really very easy to practice: I have a collection of small cardboard boxes, and in a couple of them I put some hot dog (of course!). Then I bring Ziva in the room and say “Find!” and she races around the room from box to box looking for the ones with the hot dog. When she finds one, I can tell because she tries to open it. We’re not working at any specific way for her to indicate to me that this box is “the one.” That can come later if we choose to do this “officially.” For now, it’s just a fun game.  She enjoys it more than I ever thought she would. And it has the added benefit of exercising — and therefore wearing out — her brain.

I’ll share some pictures, and maybe a video if we can get our act together, in another post. In this post, I really wanted to talk about Driving with Miss Ziva. Traveling in the car has been a learning experience for all of us. The first few times we went anywhere, I think she was still in sort of a daze about where she was and who we were so she was relatively calm. But as we began going to more places and she seemed to understand that we were all together now, she started to get a little crazy in the backseat.

That is, when she wasn’t suddenly appearing in the front seat.

I’ve never had a dog that was so restless in the car. At first, we tried just putting her in the back seat, but it became clear immediately that she was not going to stay back there, no matter how you put your arm across the divide, or if you had one person driving and another holding her back. So next we tried the seatbelt attachment that clips onto the collar like a leash, which is what her foster mom had used. The first time I took her to our private lesson by myself, she spun herself around in circles so much that she had shortened the leash until there was only enough length for her to be lying on the seat with her head next to the seatbelt. Scary to me, and pretty darn uncomfortable — not to mention dangerous — for Ziva.  A few more spins and she would have been choking.

We had started working on teaching her how to “get easy,” so I began using this phrase with her on our drive to and from lessons. I lengthened the leash attachment and used the phrase and she seemed to be calming down. “Seemed to be” because I didn’t hear her. I didn’t hear her because she was busying chewing through the leash. She appeared in the passenger side front seat while we were stopped in traffic on I-895 one evening. Traffic began moving and I put my foot on the gas but we weren’t moving — Ziva had leaned on the gear shift and we were in Neutral.

We eventually got to class that night, and the trainer suggested we put vicks vapor rub on the leash to keep her from chewing it. That did indeed work for a while (and cleared my sinuses). But then she seemed to understand she could step n the seatbelt clip to undo it, as one does to release the seatbelt.

And on top of all this, she was still really worked up during these drives. One time she stood behind me and barked in my right ear for the entire 40 minutes.

Eventually, we tried a new tactic, which is what we do on all trips now and which seems to be working for us all: a crate. I got one of those plastic travel crates, which has ventilation holes but which limits how much she can see outside. We did a few really short drives to get her used to it, and she seems to be pretty happy in it for the most part. She does better if I’ve really exercised her before we go anywhere, and settles down. But she also knows when we are almost at our destination and starts whining and moving around as we get close. I drive a little Nissan Versa hatchback, so the crate sits on the backseat. I’ve strapped it down as best I can so it won’t go flying in case of an accident, but there is still little give when she is really moving around in it. She gets really excited when we’re almost home, and that’s when she really starts moving around int he crate. Last night we were about 5 minutes from home, sitting at a red light. And she’s back there, whining and spinning around, because she knows we’re in our neighborhood and almost home. And all I can think is that the people in the next car must think I’ve got a T-Rex back there, or some other Jurassic Park wannabe.

Safety experts will tell you that you should have your dog restrained in the car, and you really should, especially if you’re doing any highway driving. You wouldn’t let your kids sit without a seatbelt, why would you let your dog? The best setup is either a harness and seatbelt arrangement, or a crate. I’m happy the crate seems to be working for us, and I think she will continue to get more and more used to being in it during car rides.  (She loves her crate at home, and even puts herself to sleep in it at night. She sleeps in there all night, with the door wide open. She doesn’t come out until my alarm goes off, and then she jumps on the bed. No sleeping in around here!)

As with all things Ziva, we are both learning. Happy trails!

Sometimes I feel like a fraud

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It’s Friday evening, which in my life right now means I’m pouring a tall gin and tonic and chopping an enormous amount of hot dog. Because Saturday is a full day of training and behavior modification. We start with “Pack to Basics” from 8-8:30, then right into Behavior Modification class from 8:30-9:30. That class often runs over a bit, and then we have Obedience 101 from 10:30-11:30. (I bring a cooler with some water and snacks, and we stroll around the area and Ziva rests in the crate  before Obedience class.)

So it takes some planning to be ready for Saturday mornings. For example, need a lot of chopped hot dog. Any one class might require a baggie full of chopped hot dog, but we have Behavior Mod and Obedience. Plus, we have bridging to do all morning. Because as soon as Ziva exits the car, she is still learning to ignore the other dogs. So after a 30 minute car ride, we head to a grassy spot for a wee, and she sees another dog and starts to get excited so I start bridging: “Dog! duh duh duh duh. Yes!” and hot dog. We get into the building and she needs to lie quietly in behavioral down  until Pack to Basics starts. Sometimes that’s easy, but sometimes, like a couple of weeks ago, there’s a new dog (or two) that make all the dogs get worked up. So there’s some more bridging (and hot dogs!)

My experience has been: prepare more than enough treats for training — and then add some more. I have just finished chopping up an entire pack of hot dogs for tomorrow. How much hot is that?

containers of chopped hot dogYes, that’s an entire package of hot dogs. Other folks in the class use different treats. Some use cheese, or other brands of treats (Zukes is popular, and I also use that sometimes, too.) For us, hot dog seems to be the highest value treat, and with bridging it’s all about high value.

But okay, so what’s with the title here. Why do I feel a fraud sometimes?

Because sometimes it feel like as much as I see progress — I also see setbacks. For example, walking on a leash. We’ve been working on this for months, since we started the private lessons in January. Ziva is so much better than she used to be, but there are still days when we are walking and i feel completely uncoordinated and out of control. This often seems to happen right after a day when I’ve felt like “we’ve got this!” We’re walking, and Ziva is by my left side — not pulling. Those are great moments. But then the next day, she’s all over the place — pulling, wandering off to the left. I’m turning right and she’s not following. It’s kind of a mess.

And then we go to Obedience class — after being in Pack to Basics and Behavior Mod all morning — and she’s great! Last class we had a competition of leash walking and we got a 10 out of 10. Whut???  It was a great feeling to be one of the best in class, but then we get home and walk in the neighborhood, and she’s all over the place again. And the first Obedience class (this go-around that is — remember, this is try #2), Ziva and I were asked to demonstrate the first leash walking activity.  We did well — she was exhausted, after all. But knowing how she still is in the neighborhood, I really felt like we were a bit of imposters.

It’s slowly coming together. There are good days and bad, but mostly days that are just in between. My fear in writing this blog is that I’ll come across as someone who knows what they are doing — I surely do not. I am learning every day, and every step along the way.  All I know is that there are more days when it works than days when it doesn’t.

I guess that’s what it’s all about?

Ziva lies next to Sue on the couch

Continuing “behavioral down” … and more

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, the holy trinity for us has been behavioral down, conditioned relaxation, and bridging. Doing these three things has had an amazing effect on Ziva and her ability to control her energy. It has taken months of work, and some setbacks along the way, but we are so far from where we started. She is still such a happy joyful dog, and still very energetic. But she is able to calm herself in most situations, to a more manageable level. She’s still not able to ignore other dogs without assistance, but she’s getting there.

We do behavioral down before every walk. For the past few months, Ziva has been doing pretty well at settling down quickly.  But I have noticed that in last week or so, she has been getting really ramped up when I put the leash on her, and it’s taking longer to get her to settle down. I’m not really sure what’s causing the backslip. The weather? The hot dogs? Who knows! But this is the way it goes — a few steps forward, a few steps back again.

So here’s what we do: We practice, practice, practice.  Yesterday, I took a video of Ziva doing behavioral down on the front porch, which we haven’t had to do for a long time, but clearly we needed a refresher. We always do behavioral down before we leave the house, usually in the hallway by the front door. For a long time, this has been enough to get her into the right frame of mind to have a successful walk. But when we first started this method, we did behavioral down in the hallway, on the front porch, and again at the bottom of the steps.  In this video, Ziva had struggled to get calm in the hallway, but finally did settle. But once we stepped onto the porch, she was wound right up again. So I just stopped and did behavioral down right there. In the beginning of the video, she is lying down but still very alert. If your dog is sitting like a sphinx, she’s not relaxed she’s still very alert. Eventually Ziva put her head down, and on the scale of 1-10 I would guess she was at a 3/4. I got her up at this point because I didn’t think we were going to have much more time before neighbors/children/dogs/squirrels etc. etc. came by and she got herself up again. In a perfect world, I should have  stayed there until she reached a 1. Let me know what you think:

This is probably a good time to talk about the collar. I’ve been putting off broaching this topic because it is a hot button one — everyone has an opinion. Here’s our story:

We are using a “pinch collar,” which you can see clearly in the video. This was recommended by our trainer, and we were not allowed to use it on walks until we had been trained in its use, which took several weeks. We use it on walks as Ziva learns to walk on a leash, and for specific training such as “sit” and “down.” Ziva does not wear it around the house, and doesn’t wear it when she is with other dogs.

What is a “pinch collar”? It is a metal collar with with short prongs that put pressure on the dog’s neck when the leash is pulled. Sounds horrible, right? Of course, because that’s only half the story. The other half is that we are learning to use the leash as a communication tool, so that it is never tight and the prongs are never more than a reminder pressure. When we are walking and Ziva starts to get ahead of me, I don’t “pop” the leash as other trainers have recommended with other collars. Instead, I very lightly give the leash tug and turn to the right. I give Ziva a big “Yes! What a good girl!!” and a treat. It is a very conscious process, and the collar should just put enough pressure to get Ziva’s attention, never to cause actual pain. It’s the difference between a tap on the shoulder, and grabbing an arm. I’m tapping.

It would be nice if Ziva would just listen to me, but she won’t. It reminds me of when I was at the mall recently. It was pretty crowded, and as I strolled past the Baby Gap store, I heard a little squeal and then saw a toddler making his way out the door and into the crowd of people walking along. I glanced around at the people near him, and no one seemed to belong to him, so I quick glanced back at the store from which he appeared, and out came a very tired looking mom, whose shoulders visibly slumped when she saw how far he had gotten. I caught her eye and smiled, because he was right next to me now and I wanted to let her know he was ok. She started to make her way toward us through the mass of people, and I wanted to stop the little guy, but not startle or scare him. So I just tapped him on the shoulder and said “Hey there little man. Where are you going?” It was enough to make him stop and look up at me, which gave his mom time to reach us. Now, I could have called out to him, and his mom could have called out to him, but he wouldn’t have stopped.  He needed a physical correction, but nothing forceful or certainly not painful, just a tap on the shoulder. That’s what we’re aiming for with Ziva.

Every collar or harness has its pros and cons. The pinch collar must be worn up under the chin, so that it won’t put pressure on the trachea which could cause injury. (You can see in the video, Ziva is wearing it properly. ) No-pull harnesses are very popular, and are great for some dogs, but have also been shown to cause shoulder damage to other dogs. “Halti” and other head harnesses can cause neck injuries to some dogs. “Choke” collars, which I have used with previous dogs, usually slide down the neck and end up putting pressure on the trachea when pulled.

So. Find a trainer who is experienced with the collar you choose, and get trained yourself. The bottom line is that whatever you choose should be pain-free and effective for your dog. Onward and upward.