roxy is not the dog i adopted.

Two and a half years ago, I fell in love with a rescue dog outside of a Petco in Ledgewood, NJ.  We named her Roxy.  That day, we went shopping at the pet store, where she proceeded to panic when walking down the aisles.  In our backyard, an unpredictable noise and movement in a bush resulted in her avoiding the bush for months.  Roxy would run from most people and occasionally sniff others with all of her weight on her hind legs, prepared to run at any moment.  She would not allow strangers to pet her, and if they reached out, she ducked and ran away.  She jumped and ran from loud noises and any objects that were unfamiliar to her.  She growled and barked at the garbage can in the backyard when I moved it from one location to another.

Two years ago, Roxy would have looked like the saddest dog on the planet.  Her face was constant worry and she was always on the lookout for scary things.  When people were visiting our house, Roxy was literally depressed.  She'd go to the bedroom and lay there, unlikely to venture out and explore. She wanted nothing to do with strangers.

Now, I could go on here about Roxy's behavior. I could literally talk for hours about her fearful and shy behavior from 2 years ago...but I won't.  This post isn't about the dog I adopted over 2 years ago.

This post is about the Roxy I have now... about the Roxy that greets new people and solicits petting from strangers.  The Roxy that doesn't simply look for treats from strangers, but actually solicits attention from them.  The Roxy that bolts out the back door, runs directly to the no-longer-evil bush to check for fuzzy creatures.  This post is about the Roxy that drags me down the aisles at the pet store, enthusiastically sniffing everything, and occasionally turning back to me, smiling and wagging her tail.  This post is about the Roxy that shows off her play skills when strangers come over, by promptly play bowing to Buster, and chasing him around the house.

Just a few weeks ago, Roxy made a completely ridiculous spectacle of herself trying to play with Buster while there were people in the house.  I was sitting on the couch with my best friend, and Roxy ran into the living room and dove under the coffee table towards Buster.  She play bowed from her under-the-table vantage point, and demand barked at him to play with her.  She wanted to play, and she wanted to play NOW.  It didn't matter that someone else was in the house, and it didn't matter that the someone else was sitting right near where she wanted to play.  A little later in the night, George walked into the house while I was on the couch, and Roxy ran to the door and eagerly greeted him.  Now, this was a man that Roxy had previously ran and hid from.  It is the same man who, two years ago, stopped by to let Roxy out one night, and Roxy refused to come back inside the house without a line of treats for encouragement, and him not in sight.  So, on this night a few weeks ago, he walked into the house on his own, and Roxy greeted him with tail wags and she was asking for attention -- there was no barking, no running away, no ducking away from his hand, none of it.  Just happiness, excitement, and tail wags.

Blurry tail = happy dog!

And just this week, our foster dog Sugar, had a meet and greet at our house.  I had Roxy and Buster in another room initially, so the couple could meet Sugar independently.  But Sugar was pretty preoccupied with sniffing the door where her buddies were, and eventually just sat by the door (that's what I get for teaching her to "ask" to open doors!).  I asked the couple if I could let Roxy and Buster come out, and they said sure, they are dog people and the more dogs, the merrier.  I cautioned them to simply ignore Roxy, as she would likely sniff them but prefer to explore without being pet initially and they were completely comfortable with that.  Roxy and Buster ran to greet the strangers, and Buster was his happy-go-lucky self.  Roxy ran out with Buster to greet the couple, and eagerly sniffed them. She sniffed them while they pet and interacted with Buster and Sugar, and then playfully skipped away and picked up a Nylabone to chew.

Then something amazing happened.  Roxy looked up from her bone and saw the other dogs getting some loving.  She tilted her head to the side, then got up and walked over to greet these "strangers."  The male stranger was squatting down and petting Buster, and Roxy walked right up to him and turned into him, between his legs, effectively positioning herself between the "stranger" and Buster.

My Roxy, who used to cautiously sniff strangers and always positioned herself with an escape route, was soliciting attention from a strange man, and there were no treats in sight.  I had not asked her to "go say hi," and she was not greeting him and running back to me, expecting treats.  She approached and solicited prolonged attention from someone who was, in fact, a stranger.  She then walked away from the no-longer-strange-man and approached the stranger-woman and nudged her hand with her head.  She was asking for attention, and specifically soliciting petting on top of her head, rather than ducking away from a hand.

Not only did Roxy solicit attention from these "strangers," Roxy also made a fool of herself... she was throwing her front paws on the ground with zest, and inviting Buster and Sugar to play with a tail wag and a play growl.  She was excited and happy, and relaxed enough to let herself go in play, despite "strangers" being present.

Now, we still have some things to work on, don't get me wrong.  I'd like to get to the point where she is greeting strangers with tail wags because they predict awesome things are about to happen, but this is huge progress for a dog like her, and I couldn't be happier to see her growing, learning, and changing.  The simple fact that she is able to relax enough to play while strangers are present is huge, and I am thrilled that she is able to leave some of her past behind, and keep moving towards happier times.

changing minds

So, yesterday I posted about a conversation I had with someone in rescue.  The conversation started out with an individual who was looking for help with his dog's behavior.  He mentioned that he's been using alpha/dominance techniques and it seems to be working on his dog's behavior, and he was hoping his dog was "getting the point" so he could deal with the leash aggression issues he was having.

So I posted a bunch of links about the alpha/dominance fallacy and how there are different methods that can help without making the situation worse. Then I got into it with someone else in the rescue because she thought her opinion was more valuable than science...

But anyway, on to the victory.  I emailed the person whose original post it was, and was essentially able to tell him about his dog's behavioral issues, how the dog escalates, and how leash corrections could actually make the problem much worse.   He said my posts were very helpful and informative and made him think more about his dog's behavior.  He said his dog acts exactly as I described, and he just wants to get the behavior under control so his dog is happier and everyone is safe. 

So I recommended "Click to Calm:  Healing the Aggressive Dog" by Emma Parsons and showed him a few videos of the methods in action, and he went online and bought the book and can't wait to get to work.

It's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.  I'm looking forward to hearing about his progress and the progress his dog makes.

science, smiance!

Recently I had a debate with a fellow rescuer.  I was sort of dumbfounded by some of the things that were said.

It started out with someone discussing being the alpha with their dog, and how that's worked in training him since he's become aggressive towards people and dogs on walks, but is fine at dog parks and loves when people (strangers or known people) come over.  I mentioned how dominance and alpha training methods have been disproved by science, and I posted several links, including Using 'Dominance' To Explain Behavior Is Old Hat, Rethinking the causes of canine aggression, The Alpha Fallacy, Debunking Dominance Theory, The Myth of Alpha Dogs, and a Dog Behavior PDF from Dog Star Daily.  

I also mentioned how using dominance and alpha techniques, including being physically forceful with your dog (including shock collars, leash corrections, any sort of physical punishment or intimidation techniques) can actually cause harm to your dog, and cause more aggression or other issues down the line.  I also mentioned that they may appear to work great in the moment, but rewarding your dog for good behavior ultimately shows more lasting results.

I mentioned how Learning Theory, a scientific theory that is taught in schools and universities across the country to psychology students, teachers, animal behavior experts, etc., can be used to teach every dog because it's training based on scientific research, and does not have the potential to leave the dog with lasting scars or other behavioral problems down the line.

So, the individual whose original post it was said he was going to read the links I posted, because he's interested in understanding his dog's behavior as much as possible.  I thought that was wonderful; I'm thinking, "One person at a time..."

Then, of course, someone else chimed in and let me know that she's learned, throughout her experience, that not every method works with every dog, and she disagreed with my posts.  I let her know that training based in science CAN and DOES work with ALL dogs, and, in fact, punitive-based methods work because they rely on the same principals of rewards and punishment that Learning Theory discusses.  I let her know my point was not whether these methods can work, because they have worked in the past; my point was that they work, but at what cost to the dog, and the dog/human relationship?

She let me know that there are tons of theories out there, and it's important to read them all, and then choose what method works best for ourselves.  I went through the process of explaining what a scientific theory is, and that Learning Theory is not just a random idea someone came up with; that in order to become a scientific theory, years of research goes into providing a hypothesis; and to become a scientific theory, the same results must be replicated and duplicated in hundreds of studies, results are analyzed for errors and tested repeatedly, and they are applicable to the real world.  I reminded her that technically, gravity is a scientific theory as well, but I wasn't going to test it by jumping out of a window simply because I haven't experienced it for myself.

It culminated in her disagreeing with me based on her experiences.

That was it. 

She said nothing to support her statements, and when I asked which part of my comments she disagreed with, she simply said we should all read different "theories" and make our own decisions on how to train a particular dog because not all dogs can be trained the same way. Yes they can! We're talking about the same thing here.  Learning Theory encompasses reinforcement and punishment.  The problem is that aversive punishments can and do lead to other behavioral problems, including aggression, that you'll ultimately have to deal with.  Why not work from a point that will not increase aggression instead?

 

My last response was this:

It's important for people to read and learn, of course. And that's why I will continue to educate people about more humane methods of dog training for as long as I'm alive and capable.

In the meantime, what I can tell you is best for ALL DOGS, whomever they belong to, is to be trained in a way that does not physically harm them.

It's best for ALL dogs not to have their leash jerked over and over again because it causes pain.

It's best for ALL dogs not to have prong collars jabbing them in the neck, causing pain, or shock collars shocking them, causing pain. 

It's best for ALL dogs to not be physically accosted, hung by their leash, rolled on their back, and otherwise abused in the name of training.

Not only that, but it's best for ALL HUMANS to train humanely because not only does it increase the quality of the dog/human relationship, it encourages the dog to want to participate in training (and thus, make our job easier) and also doesn't leave room for a dog to feel it needs to defend itself against a human that is abusing him in the name of "training."

I mean, what gives? Simply saying, "Science, smiance!" and walking away.  Why do people feel as though the experiences of one individual transcends science?  What happens when 2 people have different experiences?  I mean, to suggest that someone knows everything based on experience, and there is nothing to learn beyond that is, well... embarrassing!

Not only that, but how on earth can one person suggest that physical punishment can not leave harmful or hasting effects on an animal? To suggest dogs need aversive or physical punishment and dominance in order to comply is simply ignorant.  To refuse to learn about better methods of training because of "experience" is beyond ignorant... it's obtuse.

training: never miss a moment

Roxy's training walk yesterday was very productive... not only did we get to work on some stuff I had planned for, we had the opportunity to work on a few things I hadn't planned for.  Namely, the ice cream truck, screaming kids, and basketball-playing teens!

First, Roxy's leash-walking skills are definitely getting better. We've been walking on her martingale collar 90% of the time.  On walks when I don't have time to make sure I'm paying attention to her pulling, we walk on the Halti to prevent her from rehearsing the pulling behavior.  I initially gave her too much leeway on the regular collar, and let her walk wherever, as long as the leash was loose; but we were not having as much success as I wanted.  So I've been keeping her on a much shorter leash, next to me, and simply stopping with a no-reward mark of "oops" and going with our release word, "okay," when she comes back into a heel position.  We've been doing lots of work with rewarding her for her standing next to me, and she's getting better now to the point where if she forges ahead, and I stop and say "oops," she'll come back to my side and look up at me.

Second, we'd been struggling with cars, trucks, etc. on walks.  She watches them so intently, and attempted to lunge at them a few times, so I knew we needed to deal with that behavior.  We worked a lot on "leave it" and today we got to put it to the test with the ice cream truck, while the music/sound was going on.  I asked for, and got, a solid "leave it" -- not only did she look away from the truck, but she wowed me by looking away from the truck and making eye contact with me. Big win!

Third, we had several solid "leave it" trials with dogs barking from their houses, doors, windows, yards, etc.  Not a single reactive moment.  Of course she was on alert when she heard them bark, but she did great, just perking up to listen, and then kept walking!

Fourth, there were kids playing basketball and she walked (almost) perfectly by them on the leash.  We stopped a short distance before them (about 20 feet) and did some basic obedience and then we moved on.  She did great walking by them, although we need to work a little on walking loosely on the leash around people, because she gets excited and wants to check everyone out.

Lastly, a few houses from home, there was a family outside with 5 young kids (between 5 and 10 years old), 2 adults, and a walking toddler.  They were all on the front lawn, playing, randomly screaming, running about, and just plain being kids. I definitely hadn't planned for it, but I couldn't miss out on this perfect opportunity to do some desensitization and counterconditioning, so we stayed across the street and I just kept popping treats in her mouth.  She got extra treats when the kids screamed, made random or unexpected noises, and when they moved (they were stopping and going a lot).  We stayed across the street until I was almost out of treats, and then we left.

We ended on a great note, she walked next to me for 3 houses straight without any reminders and sat perfectly at the front door waiting to come inside.

rescue-a-bull, a new and improved way to rescue

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an up-hill battle

Sonny and I have been struggling a lot lately.  He seems overall better inside the house.  He's more relaxed with me, Roxy, and Buster.  He's slowly getting more relaxed with Rob, in the sense that he'll come out of his crate when he's around, as long as Rob isn't moving or talking.  He doesn't cower in his crate when Rob walks around, but he's still obviously uncomfortable and watches him like a hawk, just in case.

Outside is a different story.

Sonny's walks have been shorter lately because he seems to be becoming more fearful and anxious than he used to be.  We've just been going outside for potty and back inside because he literally will potty and then drag me back inside because he doesn't want to be out there. Any noises he hears outside set him into a panic where he will lay down on his belly and try to leap-frog away, despite being attached to me by a leash.  I've learned that the moment he hears a noise or see's a human, it's over.  We have to go back inside, he will not go potty after that, even if the person leaves or the noise stops.

Some mornings, I'll jog him a few houses up in the, to get him some sort of exercise; but it really depends on what time we get out in the morning, how he's doing, and if there are people out there.

We went to the veterinarian on Thursday to discuss his loose stools, and after much debate and argument with the rescue Sonny is being fostered for, I was given permission to discuss the idea of medicating Sonny as part of his treatment.  It has been almost 6 weeks and although there is some progress, he was definitely regressing in some areas and he was obviously suffering mentally.  I went and talked to the force/aversive trainer that the rescue uses, despite my protests in using him because of the force and aversion techniques he uses.  But I was told he needed to see their trainer before discussing medication.  I spoke to the trainer without Sonny and explained that I thought bringing him there would be too stressful, and after telling him about Sonny's behavior, he also said it sounded like Sonny was a good candidate for medication and "the gimmick" of clicker training, even though he doesn't really like gimmicks.

(Ironic note here, I brought Roxy with me to see this guy, to get an idea of how he responds to fearful dogs in case the rescue refused to medicate him unless the trainer actually saw him.  I was less concerned about her, because she's at a point where even if he went to pet her before she was ready, I could easy mark and treat her for the interaction without doing damage.  Anyway, it worked out nicely, the trainer was great with her and very polite in his actions towards her, which made me feel better in general.  But he was saying how clicker training was a gimmick, and he doesn't use it, but it might work for Sonny. In the same breath he was saying how wonderful Roxy was, and how well she was trained, etc... so I politely let him know that she was clicker trained, with a marker word instead of the click... he didn't know what to say. I giggled.)

Anyway, at the vet Thursday, I explained Sonny's situation, and we spent over an hour discussing his behavior, our struggles, and his overall anxiety.  I explained how Sonny is too afraid to learn, that I haven't had success with any desensitization or counterconditioning, that I couldn't even teach him to sit or target my hand, that he wouldn't reliably approach me or anyone for food or anything, we can't approach him at all, etc.  I also explained to her about his loose stools that he's had since he came home with me, and she decided to put him on a prescription diet in order to "reset his digestive system."  He can't have any other food or treats for the next week while we work out his stomach issues.

When it came to discussing his behavior, it culminated in the vet telling me that she didn't want to medicate him because he wasn't showing any signs of aggression -- she told me how she has several fear aggressive patients that she's chosen not to medicate, and they are much worse than Sonny.  I asked her how long she wanted to wait, and she said he might need to be medicated "down the line."  So I told her I honestly didn't care about any other patients, that we're not here to discuss how Sonny's behavior compares to other patients, we're here to discuss the fact that Sonny's quality of life sucks, and will continue to suck since we can't make any progress training wise.  I don't understand, does she want to wait until after he bites someone? Medication is not a solution to aggression, it's a training aid meant to bring Sonny's mind to a point where he's relaxed enough to actually learn to prevent him from becoming fear aggressive....  And as she forcibly pet Sonny, she told me, "he looks like he's going to be just fine," and then told me that when he's afraid, I should have him sit.  Right. Because he knows how to sit, or I'm able to teach him to sit.  I can't even approach the dog, let alone attempt to teach him to sit!

Then, when we were leaving, Sonny was running back and forth in his typical panicked state of mind, and I was just talking to him, "It's okay, Sonny," and "Let's go see Roxy and Buster," and "It's okay, buddy."  I know ultimately if he's that afraid he probably doesn't hear me, or doesn't get any benefit from what I'm saying, but it's natural to want to console your pet.  And the veterinarian told me not to do that because it was rewarding his fear.  I politely told her that you can't reward fear.  I don't think she expected it, to be honest.  But she said she would send me the behavior evaluation and we would see about putting him on meds, but I got the impression she wasn't interested in medicating him.

Late last night, the vet emailed me information on desensitization and counterconditioning, and a tranquility protocol that was similar to Dr. Karen Overall's Protocol for Relaxation.... I wrote back letting her know I've more than familiar with d/cc due to having my own fearful dog at home, and I'm working with her on the Protocol for Relaxation right now, but that Sonny is not capable of handling any of that work at this point because he's always in an anxious state and I can't even approach him or toss or roll treats in his general direction without sending him running.

We're supposed to go back for a follow up next Thursday. I expect that once she's read my email, her mind will be a bit more open to the fact that Sonny is not going to just "be fine" and even if he would be "fine" in several months, that he will be mentally suffering in the meantime and that's unacceptable.

Even today... he was laying in the Papasan Chair, with one of his ever-so-watchful eyes open.

training: targeting

I've been teaching Roxy to target things for a while, but prior to working with our trainer, I didn't really realize I was doing it.  I initially taught Roxy "touch" to mean I point to an object and she put her muzzle on it. 

After I got schooled on the proper touch command (Roxy targets the palm of my hand with her muzzle), I started using targeting more and more to aid in her training.

We started out shaping that behavior; first looking at the object, mark/reward, then she had to move closer to the object for a mark/reward, and ultimately where she had to touch the object with her muzzle for a mark/reward.

We've progressed to her targeting other people's hands; it's how we introduce her to new people and it really helps keep the pressure off her.  I've learned that most people can't be non-interactive with a dog, especially since Roxy will typically go right over to smell them.  People's first instinct is to reach over her and pet her; Roxy's first instinct is to duck and back away when they do this.

So, I give people an active part in the game.  Initially, I didn't want other people speaking to her or giving cues until I knew how she would do, so I would ask people to put their hand out, horizontally, next to their bodies, and ignore her. I started asking her to "Go say hi!" which is her cue to literally, go say hi to the person, and target their hand.  She'd run over and touch their hand, and get a mark/treat from me.  She's now at a point where other people can ask her for a touch, and she'll run to them to do it.  Literally any adult can make this happen, whether they are giving the cue or I am, or whether I have the treats or they do.

So, we do this a few times, and then she's properly "introduced" to the person, and often she'll run over to them repeatedly, looking for additional mark/treats.  After she's done it herself (without a cue) two or three times, the game is over and she will go over and stand next to the person, which is her invitation to be pet. It was really amazing to watch her figure this game out and then suddenly not be afraid of that person.  Even if she's not interested in being pet by them, she's not afraid of them.

So, on to the video below.  Roxy is the type of dog that doesn't like other dogs in her face, for the most part.  Dogs that she's already "friends" with can be, but it just depends on the dog, really.  She initially liked Sonny very much.  She threw out all sorts of play bows and vocal invitations to play.  But after his quarantine period, Roxy seemed less interested in him.  And Sonny is a muzzle-licker.  He'll be wandering by another dog, and just reach over and lick their face a few times, and keep on walking.  Needless to say, Roxy is not a fan of this.

So I initially started capturing the behavior.  Each time he approached her and licked, Roxy would get a mark/treat.  She started looking for the face lick and anticipating the mark/treat.  I moved on to teach her to target Sonny's muzzle with the cue "Where's the puppy?" so not only is she getting a mark/treat for Sonny approaching her, she's getting one for actively seeking him out, and specifically seeking out the muzzle-muzzle interaction.  I used the word "puppy" instead of using Sonny's name because when we started this, Sonny wasn't comfortable hearing his name, so I wanted to keep the pressure off of him while still helping Roxy feel more comfortable around him.

She's now seeking him out and making attempts to target his muzzle. It's not a fix-all, but there are much fewer avoidance behaviors when Sonny approaches her face, and now we're getting NO snarling, whereas before, he'd lick her, and she'd lift her lip at him.  She is also inviting him to play more often, and taking the initiative to jump into Sonny and Buster's play sessions.  I keep them short and sweet and it's a lot of management on my end, to make sure no one is getting too amped up, but I'm really impressed with her progress.

Also notice Sonny approaching me in the video.  It's his nighttime thing, as of late.  He will come out of his crate and jump in the papasan chair in the background, and when Rob or I throw Buster's ball, Sonny will run after Buster and the ball.  Last night, during the video, he was approaching me to see what sort of treats I had.  I was using chicken chips, something I never considered high value before, but Sonny seems to be very interested in them, so I'll have to get some more since we polished off the last bag during Roxy's targeting session and Sonny's occasional approaching me session last night!

roxy has bragging rights

This was so awesome it needed it's own post.

At the kennel today, when Roxy saw Tammy, she didn't blink at first because she was focused on meeting Sonny.  After that was over, and she looked up and saw Tammy, she was seriously just in love with her; she was all wiggles and bouncing at her, butt bumps and just plain loving every minute of it.  Tammy said she was a totally different dog.

Then she met Marie (who she's never met before), jumped on her, wiggling her little wiggle butt, then got down and butt-bumped her and just laid into her legs for scratches.

All of this from a dog who, only a few months ago, would barely even approach strangers without heavily considering an exit route.  All of this, without looking at me or coming back to me for treats.  I was so proud of her today. This dog is my soul mate dog, and she has seriously become such an amazing dog that I am happy to brag about.

another training session

Yesterday was our 3rd session with Erica.  I crated Roxy and Buster, like usual, when she was expected to arrive.  When she came inside, Roxy was in her crate barking, but once she saw who it was, she was wiggling her little wiggle butt to see Erica!! We let her out and she ran to Erica... she was so excited to see her, it was pretty amazing to see such a huge change in her.

We tried to go for a walk but Roxy was struggling, a lot, with the walking piece of it.  She was dragging me down the road.  I think she was just excited to show Erica how good she was doing.  Erica also said Roxy was a totally different dog than she met a few months back.  So, I'm glad to say I've done something right with her.  We still have work to do; in fact, I think we'll always be working, but I'm so proud of her.

Anyway... we wound up coming back to the house and I was explaining to her the trouble I was having with Buster, how he'd become a little bit more reactive and we brought him out and did some work with him also, and she pretty much said I should work on the same things with him that I've been working on with Roxy. So, I have more work to do!

Roxy is a true testament to what humane, positive training methods can do and how amazingly they work when applied correctly and consistently.  I'm seriously so happy with how far she has come already, and it's only been 4 months!

agility

With all of Roxy's progress, I started taking her to the weekly walk-in agility class at Pawsitive experience in Rockaway.  This is the training facility that my local rescue uses.  Honestly, I'd never take a dog there to do any sort of actual training.  Although they have banned prong collars from use inside their facility, they still do a lot of correction based training (read: non-humane training) and I will not do that type of training with my dogs, or any dogs I foster or work with at the kennel.  But this place is 5 minutes away from home and has literally done wonders for Roxy's training.  Now that it's getting colder, there are fewer people to encounter on walks, and fewer dogs to practice ignoring, and fewer stimuli in general.  So this once a week course has been great.  Plus, I think it's important to mention that the instructor realizes Roxy's issues, respects what I choose to do to train her, and doesn't suggest that I give her a leash correction for barking.  She gets it, and we have a mutual respect for one another, despite the fact that I think their ways of training are, well... outdated and can be pretty barbaric.

We started a couple of weeks back and Roxy was pretty reactive the first couple of weeks.  The instructor said it's pretty normal for a new dog to act that way, because there is a lot going on, new smells, new dogs, lots of movement of said new dogs, new people, etc.

Anyway, this has become a great place to practice Roxy's self-control and do a lot of focus work.  Plus, she really seems to like agility.  The instructor was very impressed with Roxy's first class, especially being a fearful dog.  She struggled with the tunnel and the chute the first class, but did everything else without a problem.  At the second class, she was going through both the chute and the tunnel with ease.

The other great thing about this class is it's a "no-touch" class for the dogs.  No dogs are off-leash and no dogs are wandering around or getting in Roxy's face.  But I get the opportunity to mark and pay Roxy for calm behavior while there is a lot of stuff going on.  And there are tons of people there that think Roxy is just beautiful, so we get the opportunity to meet lots of dog-savvy people who ask before they give her treats and ask before they attempt to pet her.  We've been going through our "go say hi" protocol and it's been working great.  There are some people she likes almost immediately, and others it takes a little longer, but overall she's doing really, really well and I am so proud of her.

training: progress!

Roxy seems to be getting better at "look," "touch," and "leave it."  She's also starting to see people and check in with me, which is really awesome.  She doesn't do it all the time without me asking, but she's done it SOME of the time without me asking, which is huge.

We're struggling with leash walking still, but I think I'm seeing a little bit of difference.  The biggest thing I've noticed with the leash walking so far is that when she's walking well on leash, and something makes her nervous or anxious, she immediately starts pulling again. So at least I can start to anticipate those things and work on keeping her focus before that.

Overall her reactivity seems to be slowing down a bit also.  She's getting less nervous with cars passing by, she's less nervous when she sees people approaching, and seems to be doing better with other dogs.  If the other dog is ignoring her, quiet, or around 10 feet away, she seems to do fine.  She still perks up and wants to check them out, but overall seems more relaxed with their presence.  She does seem to do the best, so far, if we stop and do some obedience drills or focus work, as opposed to us trying to keep walking.

There are a few dogs on our street that do seem to cause problems though.... Although, it's more the owners that are problematic.  One is the black lab who is super dog-aggressive.... he's often off-leash in his front yard with the family's children, who aren't quite large enough or mature enough to understand what could happen if he gets close to Roxy barking like that... Or, the psycho little puggle who, Roxy met and played with months ago, but now all of a sudden is chasing and lunging at us on a retractable leash. And the puggle's human? Oh, she doesn't seem to see the importance of stopping the dog from lunging at us... Those are the worst incidents.... they typically happen in the middle of a great training walk, and they totally screw up Roxy's focus and raise her anxiety levels.

I think I need to start looking for other places to train. Our street is becoming repetitive and we don't have enough new people to expose her to. I think we'll start with the strip mall by the Rockaway Mall in the next couple of weeks.

our first training session

Yesterday was our first day of training with Erica. I think I'm a bit overwhelmed, but I guess that's expected. And sort of a good thing. We have LOTS of work to do, but I'm pretty psyched to get to work.  Roxy seemed to pick up on things pretty quickly. And she definitely wants to work, which I think makes the process easier. I mean, who am I kidding, if you've got treats in your pocket, she'll learn just about anything.

And we did a training walk this morning... we definitely need to practice this stuff at home and in the yard before we will get better with it on walks.

I'm really looking forward to the desensitization and counter-conditioning part of this though.  Erica said I probably won't see much of a difference in Roxy for at least several months since I'm trying to change 2+ years of behavior. Which makes sense.... but I'm a little disappointed.  I understand why it will take that long, but damn, I can't wait to see her more relaxed and at ease.

Here we go, Roxy.... I hope you're ready for this!!  

certified and humane

So I contacted a trainer this weekend.

I wound up going with a trainer who I "know" from the Pit Bull rescue forum I've been on for the last year.  I'd been following a lot of her advice already, and she is the "no bull-shit" type of person I was looking for.  She's certified, experienced with fearful dogs, experienced with Pit Bull and Pit Bull mixes, and I already have a certain level of respect and trust for her based on advice I've already gotten.

She's listed on http://www.trulydogfriendly.com/blog/?page_id=4 .... a website of trainers committed to dog-friendly methods of training. i.e. Humane training. Training designed for dog to be an active participant in his learning. Training where you teach the dog to something specific, rather than teach it nothing and hurt it for not doing what you expected.  Training that teaches the dog to choose the behavior you have asked it to do, because it's a more rewarding choice.