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

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.

Continuing “behavioral down” … and more

Posted on May 30, 2017 by upwarddogmom

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.

Beginning with Behavioral Down

Posted on May 19, 2017 by upwarddogmom

The first Obedience 101 class at Tecla’s K9 Academy was people only, but with lots of homework. So we thought we did pretty good with the homework, but with no context of how far along we should be, it seems we hadn’t done enough. The most important part of this week was to learn “Behavioral Down.” This is a really simple technique that helps the dog learn to control their own behavior and understand that they can get quiet and settled — and that it is a pleasant feeling. Just the ticket for Miss Ziva.

But Miss Ziva was not so enamored of the technique at first.

Ziva in a moment of calm, when she was not barking in my ear while I was driving home from obedience class.

So, the actual technique is just to put the leash on the dog, and then step on the leash towards the dog’s end, so that it pulls them down slightly. That is, it’s just taut enough that the dog decides it would be more comfortable to lie down than to continue standing. So this is where we start to move away from purely positive training. And let me say, if purely positive training works for your dog, that is awesome. But I believe some dogs — and Ziva is one — benefit from a gentle nudge. I mean, if you watch actual dog moms and their pups, they will give more than a “gentle” nudge when a pup is misbehaving. This technique is in no way painful to the dog, it is simply less comfortable standing like this than to lie down. The dog makes the choice.

The class was warned that the first few times we tried Behavioral Down it might take up tor 90 minutes for a dog to lie down and become completely settled. The goal is to reach 0: lying on her side, eyes closed, calm breathing. The good news was that it never took a full 90 minutes for her to cut her energy in half. The bad news was that we never got below about 3 or 4. I realize typing that, it sounds like we just needed to persevere. But she would get to 3 or 4 after about 30 minutes and never get below that. And the first 10-15 minutes was pretty wild: she would stand for long time, leaning forward. The she would start barking. Then she would finally lie down and start trying to roll around.

Ziva and Laura in the park practicing leash work

Some early leash work in the park.

We practiced this in the house, several times a day for a week. She got better, but couldn’t seem to get below 3/4. By the time Saturday morning rolled around, we felt nervously ready. We tried to wear her out a little by throwing the ball in the back yard, and then loaded her into the back seat for the half hour ride. During which she barked the entire time. Somehow we managed to survive that first class — she was pretty bad at her Behavioral Down, constantly trying to get up, barking, and being in general, very wound up. But other dogs were also doing some of that as well.

We practiced our next homework for the week (some basic leash work), and then on Saturday I took Ziva on my own because my wife couldn’t make it that week. “No problem,” I said. And 30 minutes later — after Ziva had stepped on the seatbelt release and ended up in the front passenger seat, and I had gotten her back in the back again, and she stood with her head behind my right ear and barked for the rest of the trip — we pulled into the parking lot. That’s when Ziva saw the other dogs also waiting in the parking lot, and basically went out of her mind. She barked and spun and barked and spun — all in the back seat. I tried redirecting and then distracting with treats, and finally I carefully put the leash on her, and let her out of the car, both hands holding tight on the leash. My biggest fear was that she would get loose and run away.

She didn’t get loose, and she didn’t run away. But she did bark and pull and lunge. Tecla and her assistant came over to talk to me, and I realize now that she knew immediately what was going on with Ziva at that moment. She led us into the building in a quiet room apart from the other dogs, and said that she believed that Ziva is a dog that is addicted to adrenaline. That Ziva had learned to deal with stressful situations — such as being around dogs, being in a new place, meeting new people, etc. — by ramping up the adrenaline, because that feels good. She said she could help us with a plan of training for Ziva to address the adrenaline, by teaching her how to be calm, and helping her see that calm feels good, too.

She also said: Ziva is only a year old, and this is completely fixable. “Or, you can wait a couple of years until she has gotten into a dog fight, or has run away — which is when most people come to me.” I remembered Ziva’s foster mom telling me over the phone, before we met, “The sky’s the limit with this one. She can do any activity you want to try.” And I felt we owed it to her to help her learn to be a better dog. The awesome dog she could be.

So, doggie IEP in hand, we left the building that day with a new outlook and a new future. And we haven’t looked back since!

Next up: Just what was in that doggie IEP, anyway?

EDIT:

So, I tried to to a video of Behavioral Down tonight, which we do now every time we go out the door. She had been alone in the house for 8 hours today, and we had taken a trip out back but we usually also go for a walk in the neighborhood. Excuse the mess in the hallway and the crazy camera work. I’m new at this. The key is at the end of the second video, when she lets out a big sigh.