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

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.

Sometimes I feel like a fraud

Posted on June 3, 2017 by upwarddogmom

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 dog Yes, 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

The doggie IEP

Posted on May 22, 2017 by upwarddogmom

Ziva doesn’t really have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), but … well actually she kinda does. Remember when I said the head trainer took me aside after Ziva blew up in the parking lot of Tecla’s K9 Academy after seeing all the other dogs, and said, “we can fix these behaviors”? Well, while I watched some other classes, and Ziva waited patiently in a crate in another room (I’m kidding — she barked continuously for over an hour), Tecla wrote up a multi-page, year-long plan of training. I won’t lie — it was pretty overwhelming considering I thought I was just signing on for Basic Obedience. But she went through everything in the plan, and then told me to take some time and think about it, and then call back with any questions.

Looking at the total for all the classes, it was also a lot more money than I expected to spend on training. But Ziva is only a year old, and I started thinking about the next 10 or more years with her, and how stressful this behavior was getting for all of us — including Ziva. It seemed like an investment that we needed to make. So in January of this year, we began our series of trainings.

Ziva stands in teh doggie daycare room, with other dogs in the background

Ziva at one of her first days at day care. Looking a little unsure of what’s going on, but definitely not stressed about it.

The plan, hereafter known as The Plan, really started with the extreme basics and built up from there. We started with one week of Doggie Daycare, which let Ziva get to know the staff, and let them get to know her and watch her interact wth other dogs. I picked her up at the end of each day and she was always so happy! I felt that we were on the right track, and this gave me energy for the work ahead.

Which was good, because the next thing on the agenda was pretty scary to me — something called “Pack to Basics.” On the face of it, this sounds nuts: Take a bunch of dog- and/or people- reactive dogs and their owners, and have them walk around a room for 30 minutes. But this is one of the thing that the folks at All Shepherd Rescue had specifically mentioned about TK9 — acknowledging that “I know it sounds crazy but … it really works!” And it does!

Tecla is certified in this method, and she always has at least 4 other trainers in the room as well who keep an eye on things. It’s simple: we arrive one by one and stand spread out along the walls of a large multipurpose room (think middle school gym class). Your dog is in Behavioral Down. (We usually do some “bridging” at this time, which I haven’t explained yet but which is a reward/ redirection method that keeps Ziva happy with treats as a new dog enters the room). When everyone is settled in, we begin walking with our dogs on leash, in a counter-clockwise direction. One by one, Tecla calls out a dog’s name and the owner unhooks the leash, and keeps walking. Eventually, all dogs are off leash, and their owners are walking in a circle around the room.

The trainers have long bendy poles with a feather on the tip to tap a dog that might be getting too close or comfort to another (think, inappropriate sniffing). And they keep an eye on dogs that are too energetic. For Ziva’s first few weeks (we go every Saturday morning), they had her drag a slip leash behind her to sort of slow her down a little. She had to learn how to be social and not get in the wrong dog’s face. The owners don’t interact with the dogs at all — except to clean up after them, since all the dogs seem to make a point of pooping after a few minutes of their constitutional. But everyone helps everyone else with this, and it’s good bonding for the owners as well.

I don’t mind telling you what a proud momma I felt the first times I saw Ziva in this situation. She loves to hurry around the room, but constantly comes back and checks in with me. The dogs aren’t really supposed to “play” but they are supposed to interact and to keep walking. Some dogs stick right by their owners’ side, while others like Ziva tour the room. I have seen dogs come in on Day One petrified to be near so many strange dogs, only to see them weeks later running along with this one, then that one. It’s beautiful.

And Ziva. Well. I took this too short video recently, and that’s what inspired me to start this blog. Because here’s a dog who used to lunge and bark and be unmanageable around new dogs, and look at her now:

And here’s a slightly longer version. You’ll see that Ziva is trotting off ahead as the video begins, and she just keeps trotting along, checking in with other dogs and people as she goes. I think this video might give you a better sense of what the room is like. The owners are just strolling along, and one of the trainers takes a step forward toward Ziva at one point just to make sure everyone is behaving. She takes the hint and keeps moving, stopping to check in with a white german shepherd that she has never met before for just a second before moving on again.

So, as I mentioned, we’ve been doing this every Saturday morning for 30 minutes. And then we go right to Behavior Modification class for an hour. We have learned a ton in that class, as well as in a series of private lessons we took with a trainer at TK9. I’ll go into some those techniques in the next post ….