roxy's first valor agility event

Roxy and I went to our first VALOR event this past Sunday.  VALOR is a venue for agility dogs that might need a bit more space or management in order to compete -- dogs that are nervous around people or other dogs, for example.

We ran in the training division, which is just the beginner level courses, but they allow you to bring treats or toys into the ring.  Roxy ran 2 different Jumpers courses, and one Standard course.  She ran qualifying runs (what is referred to as a 'Q') in all three courses, which is really exciting considering it was our first event.  All that is required for a Q is for the dog to complete all the obstacles in the right order without lunging at or aggressing towards the camera person.  There is no time limit in VALOR.  I'd still like to work on our speed, and we more practice on distance handling, but in the meantime, I'm really happy with our progress and specifically Roxy's ability to adapt to a new environment so well.

Roxy also received a lot of compliments, she met a few people (and of course checked their hands and pockets for treats) and she saw several dogs, but didn't react to any, aside from mild curiosity.  My favorite comment was when we walked into the ring on our first turn, in a brand new environment with strange people everywhere... Roxy was so relaxed, mouth open, tail wags and paying attention to me, and someone said, "Wow, she's so happy!"

Here is my favorite video of the day, primarily because it's her fastest run.  She was really booking it, and even though she knocked down a bar and missed the last jump, I was so proud.  We re-ran it for a Q, but this run is the one I'm happier with because her speed is better.

And here is our standard run (I know the video says Jumpers, it's just labelled wrong).  I'm really proud of her, she went up the A-Frame and the Walk without any hesitation.  We've been doing it in practice without a problem, but this was a new venue with equipment that is new to her, we were outside, which we hadn't done before, and there were new people and strange dogs as well.

It was a very successful day, and we're looking forward to doing it again!

sonny tugs (with video!)

Sonny has been back with me for almost 13 days and he is doing very well.  He warmed up to be almost immediately, and is back to licking my face, play-snuggling, and just running about like the goofy dog that he is.  Sonny has always been semi-interested in playing fetch, and he's not biased towards tennis balls -- he wants me to throw whatever toy has caught his attention at the time, regardless of what it is.  So he's been bringing me the rope tug toy, the Kong Wubba, tennis balls, and these tennis-ball-sized squeaky toys that are shaped like gummy bears.  I've been throwing everything he drops for me to throw and he's been having a blast doing it.

But last night when I came home from work, it was different.  Sonny didn't want to just fetch the rope toy, he wanted to TUG.  He ran towards me, rope dangling from his mouth, and he was prancing his little paws around, instigating me to grab the rope.  The moment I grabbed on, he started walking backwards with the rope, attempting to tug.  I was encouraging him to tug and play and he started to tug back, tail wagging like crazy the whole time.

So, of course, I captured it on video just so I could see the difference from earlier on... in the beginning, if you went to grab the rope toy while he had it, he would drop it immediately and run the other way.  Now, he's playing tug and waiting around for me to throw it for him, too.

Last night, before bed, Sonny got a case of the zoomies and was running around like a madman, wiggling and jumping around with toys in his mouth.  We were in a different room than the rope toy, but he discovered the Kong Wubba in the corner and he and Sugar began playing tug.  I turned to watch, and he stopped immediately.  I thought I'd ruined the moment and he was done playing....

But he only stopped playing for a moment.  Then he wagged his tail in full-speed Sonny fashion, and latched onto the Wubba harder.  Then he proceeded to use the Wubba to drag Sugar towards me, where he placed the bit of toy that was not occupied by a dog's mouth directly into my hand. He wagged his tail, full wiggle-butt style, and waited patiently.

So, although he was enjoying playing with Sugar, he really wanted to play with ME.

sonny had a breakthrough

Sonny came back to me last Wednesday night.  For a variety of reasons, his adoptive home didn't work out.  I'll spare you the details, but the situation was unsafe and Sonny was extremely stressed out.  When I picked him up, he was petrified and literally molting.  He was hiding in the back of his crate and avoiding human contact.  He didn't seem to recognize me. I was so scared for my boy, worried that we would be starting from square one.

When we arrived home and I got Sonny out of the car, he perked up.  He wagged his tail a little, but he was still not engaging with me like he used to.  But the moment we walked in the door, Sonny was high as a kite.  He ran around the house like a maniac, wagging his tail, sniffing everything, and smiling! He remembered Roxy and Buster, and was immediately fond of Sugar, our other foster dog.  Rob and I sat on the couch and let Sonny get comfortable.  He kept coming over to me and checking in, and was even checking out Rob.  He would run over to him, sniff his feet and fingers, lick him, and run away.  That behavior didn't last past the first and second nights, but it was so nice to see, especially because that is how his initial interactions with me were.

The night following his return, I spoke with the veterinarian and we agreed to put Sonny back on his medication.  He is on 16mg of Fluoxetine 2x/day.  He's been off the medication for 3 weeks, so I expect it to take a few weeks to see any effects.

Anyway, on to Sonny's break through.  Our typical night with Sonny used to involve Rob and I sitting on the couch watching a movie.  Sonny would spend most of the time in his crate with the occasional exploratory adventure.  I'd been keeping treats handy and doling them out whenever he left his crate.  If he chose to hang back, I'd toss treats for him.  If he approached, he got treats.  Each day was different than the last, and I just followed his lead as to what he could handle on any given day.  He would rarely take his eyes off Rob, regardless of the food in my hands, so there was a lot of offering food while he continued to look at Rob.

Last night, we started an official game of "Look at That!" with Sonny, with Rob as the stimulus.  We have had a large amount of success with Roxy using LAT, and I had been eager to do some overt conditioning work with Sonny, but had been waiting for him to be ready (i.e. waiting for him to be able to stand still long enough to do a few trials in a row).

So, we were sitting on the couch in our normal formation (Rob furthest away, lying down) and Sonny was spending a good amount of time near me. He kept looking at Rob, so I began marking and treating him.  When I marked, Sonny would look back at me, expecting a treat, which was pretty big progress in-and-of-itself.  So, I asked Rob to say a few words every couple of tries.  The first time Rob spoke, Sonny ran back to his crate, and then came back to me when he realized I had marked, "Yes!"  Then we did a few non-verbal trials, where I marked/treated for Sonny looking at Rob without any vocalizations from Rob, just to keep it from getting too scary for him. Then we tried again with Rob speaking and Sonny ran mid-way back to his crate before coming back for his treat.

The third time Rob spoke, Sonny looked at me, expecting a treat, rather than retreating.  He took his treat and stuck around, waiting for more.

It doesn't seem like a big deal on paper, now that I'm re-reading it.  But it is huge progress for Sonny.  He seems to realize he's in a familiar place, And sure, he's still avoiding Rob under normal circumstances, but for him to not run back to his crate when Rob spoke was something like watching a miracle occur.

roxy, rocking it.

Rob's Dad has a small airplane at a local airport near us, and every year he has a BBQ there. We like to bring the dogs because there is some wide open space in the bark part of the airport that is surrounded by trees and brush.  It's a safe place where the dogs can truly run, because there is nowhere to go.  Sure, we have a yard, but if Roxy were to run at full speed in our yard, she'd hit the fence in 3.2 seconds. So she usually runs in circles, which just doesn't provide her the same ability to run as hard as she'd like to.

The airport BBQ was two weekends ago, and we brought Roxy and Buster, a ton of treats, a ball, and of course, plenty of water.  There were probably 20 people there, plus a handful of kids.  While we were with everyone else, the dogs were on-leash and they were so well-behaved.  They normally are well-behaved anyway, but I was still very proud.  Neither pup jumped on anybody, and everyone had questions about them and remarked on how well behaved they were.

First and foremost, Roxy wasn't fazed by any of the people that were there. Nada. Zip. Zilch. People were coming up to say hi, ask questions, and talk about their own dogs, and both Roxy and Buster were soaking up the loving. Yes, that's right -- ROXY was soaking up loving from STRANGERS.  And multiple strangers, at that.  The owner of the airport came over, and she even commented on how far Roxy has come since the last time she saw her (which was last year).  ROXY WIN!

Could it get any better? Of course it can... and it does!!


There were kids running around, and they were just kids being kids:  running, playing, screaming, popping balloons, crying, and laughing. But Roxy was relaxed the whole time.  We kept our distance from the kids, but even in the past, Roxy would have been very concerned about their erratic behavior.  She would have been hypervigilantly watching their every move; her neck would have been stretched up and out, her ears forward, and she would not have taken her eyes off them.  I could be trying to feed her a steak, and she would take it, all right, but if she had to turn her head to the side, she would find a way to keep her panic-stricken eyes on the strange 2-legged creatures that were running about and screaming.... which meant she was nibbling on whatever I had while subsequently swinging her rear end around to make sure her back was not to the kids at any given moment.

Now, we have been working very hard with relaxing around little kids.  We've done work anywhere from 5-30 feet away from kids, depending on a number of factors.  And when we first started working, she had a super rough mouth when taking treats, and she would try her darnedest to take the treats without ever taking her eyes off the kids.  But on Sunday, Roxy chose to lie down and ignore the kids.  She was relaxed and evidence of that is in my fingers. She had an incredibly soft mouth, even when the kids were running about and screaming.  And really, the only noise that spooked her was a balloon popping, but she perked up for a moment in response to the noise, and then went back to relaxing.  Roxy's ability to recover from the balloon popping really impressed me -- in the past she would have kept looking for whatever caused the noise for at least several minutes.  And her ability to lay down and relax while the kids were running around was incredibly rewarding for me... it was also very rewarding for her considering I was randomly shoving stinky fish treats in her mouth. Nevertheless, Roxy was so relaxed and happily soaking up attention from strangers, despite the added trigger.  I couldn't be happier.

Later on in the day, Rob and I meandered over to the secluded field in the woods.  We dropped the dogs' leashes and just let them run.  Roxy was a dream -- she would run full speed out in front of us, then stop at about 30 feet, turn, and wait for us to come closer. Sometimes she would turn and run back to us to check in, and then off she went again.  Buster just sort of followed Roxy around, being his normal, happy-go-lucky self.

I had brought some awesome treats to do some recall work, because every opportunity is a great opportunity to practice Roxy's recall in new and not-so-familiar places.

 

I venture to say she's doing pretty well.

Of course, there is always more work to be done, but we're making big progress, and she's becoming a more relaxed and happy dog, overall.  All of this makes me incredibly happy, and I can only imagine how much it's helping her to feel better about all these things going on, as well.  I am very proud of her.

sonny came home

Week 1 with Sonny

Sonny came home with me the last few days of January. In the 4+ months he has been with me, he has grown and changed so much.  He started out hiding in my bookshelf, then hiding in his crate, and hiding in the closet for hours at a time.  If you touched him, he would cringe and cower.  A few weeks ago, he began snuggling with me.  My boy that spent the 1st day in my house hiding in a bookshelf, the rest of that first week hiding in a closet, and the next month plus in his crate, learned how to cuddle, just before he went to his forever home this weekend.

I can't even begin to describe how much he's grown.  The difference in his behavior from his first couple of weeks is indescribable. I could see it in his eyes; he went from petrified and frozen stiff to pure love and being full of wiggles.

His initial progress was only when he was around my dogs, Roxy and Buster. And once he stopped trying to jump the fence and he was allowed to run and play in the backyard, he made a lot of progress.  He began running, jumping, and playing in the yard.  He was fetching (or at least, chasing) the ball.  He got curious and started exploring things, he began relaxing on the couch, and he was freely jumping up and down the retaining wall in the backyard.  He figured out the routine and began responding to his name and to certain cues, like "Outside?" "Inside!" and "Are you hungry?"  He began voluntarily coming out of his crate and approaching me to play with him, throw his ball, and of course, to give me kisses or collect his dues (treats!).

When Sonny came home with me originally, he spent probably the first month in his crate, pressed up against the back bars so far that when he moved, you could see crate lines on his fur.  When I'd come home at night, I'd walk over and let Buster and Roxy out of their crates and Sonny would ever-so-cautious come out of his crate, but only after I had walked away.  I spent 90% of the time I was home thinking of creative ways to drop treats in his crate without spooking him.  And slowly, I began to notice progress in his face and body language when I would approach his crate.  It started with the fast-paced, only-moving-a-little-bit, still-nervous-and-unsure little tail wag, and it progressed to the full body wiggle and play invitations you see below:

When you work with a fearful dog, the little things are, in fact, monumental.  Sonny is seriously special to me; I adore him to pieces.  And I knew this day would come, where I would have to let him go, but I honestly didn't think it would be as soon as it was.  If keeping a third dog was an option for us, it would be ridiculously unlikely that I would have let this dog go.  Seeing him progress from the semi-feral dog he was, to the dog he is now, has been the most amazing thing to see.  Sure, he'll always be a little special, I'm sure, but this dog is happy, despite whatever previous neglect or abuse he may have endured. He has such a zest for life, it's incredible. He gets the zoomies like a puppy, he squeaks tennis balls while rolling on his back, he chases toys, and he literally bounces around the yard like a bunny. He still flinches when something scares him, but he is recovering faster that he was before.

Our last morning play session on Saturday.

Needless to say, saying goodbye to Sonny this weekend was not the easiest thing.  In fact, it was one of the hardest things I've done.  Despite knowing that he is in a wonderful home where he will grow and learn and be loved, I can't help but worry about my boy. This new adventure will undoubtedly stress him out, but I know it's the best place for him. His new family adores him and wants nothing more than to help him grow into the dog he has so much potential to be.  Luckily for me, his new family has agreed to allow me to visit him, but we'll obviously wait until he has settled in there and bonded to them.  The last thing I want to do is stress him out or confuse him more, so I get the feeling it will be months before I get to see him again. Although, I'm sure I'll get pictures.  But until then, Sonny is home with his new family and despite missing him, I am truly happy for him.

sonny's wordless wednesday

progress is as progress does.

Sonny is doing fairly well.  He's learning to relax a bit more and playing a bunch more as well.  He's also recovering from scary events much quicker than he was before, which is huge progress in my book.

We've been playing a lot outside, seeing as he hasn't tried to climb the fence or shown any interest in climbing the fence in just over 3 months.  And since his new default behavior when he's scared outside is to run to the deck and wait to go inside, before recovering and coming back into the yard to play some more, we've been spending a lot more time outside playing.

About 2 weeks ago Sonny started breaking out of his crate a bit, and that's about the time he started showing more interest in playing, so I put two and two together and guessed that he was just letting me know he was ready for more exercise and interaction.  So we've been playing a lot more, him with me and him with Roxy and Buster, and he's been eating every meal out of a work-to-eat toy.  His favorite one right now is the Atomic Treat Ball from SitStay.com.  He likes to move it around in his crate and watch the treats fall out, and pick it up in his mouth and drop it so the treats fall out.... it's really cute to watch him, I can actually see his brain working to figure it out.  I also tried the Tricky Treat Ball from Omega Paw, but he had a much harder time with it.

Anyway, here he is, playing in the yard, leaping and hopping around like a bunny and enjoying the fresh air.

I briefly started clicker training with him, as well.  He's surprisingly not afraid of the noise the clicker makes, but he's still a bit hesitant in general so we haven't had a lot of success yet.  I usually spend just a couple of minutes a day when he's really excited and interested in approaching me to work on some hand targeting.  I just sort of capitalize on his excitement and playfulness because I've found if he's exploring quietly and I try to engage him, he gets a bit suspicious and wanders back to his crate.

So, all-in-all we are seeing some progress.  It's minimal, but progress nonetheless.

all-around update

Roxy's leash-walking skills are getting better and better.  We're now able to do most of our walk with minimal stopping.  We're actually down to walking in a heel position without any treats when there are minimal or no distractions -- and when she screws up, I can mark "oops" and she'll come back into a heel because she knows we don't go anywhere until she's next to me.

She still pulls when she sees something moving (a person, a dog, a leaf, another animal) but we're working on that.  It's tough because once she notices whatever it is moving, I mark "oops" and stop but she stays at the end of the leash, pulling. So I have to come up with a new strategy for handling that because it's not working.  She'll just keep pulling until the moving object is out of sight, or close enough for her to recognize. Then she'll come back into a heel position.  So, we need to work on heeling with distractions.  I need to up the ante with rewards for not pulling with distractions.  So I'll probably start in the house, then in the backyard, then the driveway.... all before working in the street.

Roxy's agility class is also going fairly well.  She still gets really excited when I ask her if she wants to go to school.  We've been learning left and right turns, rear crosses, and we've been working on the teeter, which Roxy is doing wonderfully on.  I thought she'd be spooked by it, but she's really doing great.  She'll jump up when it's at the highest height and pull it down, then climb on it with all fours.  We haven't worked up to walking across it yet, we're taking it slow to make sure it stays happy. I'm debating what we'll do after this class, though.  The class is really for competitive agility and although Roxy enjoys agility, she isn't as driven as I think she might need to be in order to actually compete.  I think I need to work on some crate games with her to build her drive a bit and see if that helps.

As far as Sonny goes, his behavior continues to fluctuate.  He came out of his crate once last week and zig-zagged his way towards Rob, who was laying on the couch.  He got close enough to sniff Rob's legs before retreating to his crate.  That's how he started interacting with me, so albeit it's slow progress, but it's progress nonetheless.

He's been playing with Roxy and Buster a lot more, and Roxy is becoming more tolerant of him.  He had been licking her muzzle feverishly and she let him know she didn't like it and he's getting better.... he's down to a drive-by-licking instead of a full-on make out session with her face.  Roxy's also been instigating play with him more, and her and Sonny tear through the backyard, running in circles after each other some days.

Sonny has also been playing and interacting with me more.  He has such personality; there is so much spunk and puppy in him.  He is really a goofy dog and he makes me laugh.  I'm fairly certain he learned to play fetch from Buster because he keeps coming up on the couch with the ball in his mouth, allowing me to take the ball and throw it for him, and then taking a flying leap over me after the ball...  When he comes out of his crate in the morning, he wags his tail feverishly while play bowing and grabbing toys to carry about.  It's nice to see him acting like a dog a little bit.

He is still pretty scared of men.  He's been sneaking about and snatching Rob's stuff and running to his crate with it, and that has helped me devise a plan.  I'm going to start desensitizing and counter-conditioning Sonny to smaller parts of Rob... i.e. his smell, his voice, etc. One piece of Rob at a time.

And Buster is, well, Buster.  He's wonderful.  This morning he was watching me do something on the counter in the kitchen and he turned around quickly to go elsewhere, and in the process he smacked the whole side of his face into the cabinet and then sat down with this pathetic look on his face.  I crouched down and he buried his face into my body and let out a big sigh.  He's a silly dog, but he's really such a sweet, sweet dog.  He loves to just climb right into my lap and snuggle. 

We spent a few hours at the park on Sunday and later on, I caught him sleeping on the couch with his tongue sticking out...

roxy's first night at agility training

Last night Roxy and I went to our first agility training class at Morris K9 Campus.  This class actually helps you train for agility competitions, so there is a lot more learning involved, and a lot less "run over the equipment as fast as humanly (doggedly?) possible!"

We walked in the door about 10 minutes early and the prior class was wrapping up.  Roxy and I stood there, sort of taking it all in.  The agility room was huge, in comparison to where we'd been before.  The equipment was newer, larger, and there was a lot more of it.  I was super stoked, and so was Roxy... she was so excited that she was talking up a storm and prancing her paws around while trying to sit.

Roxy wanted to be friends with literally every person that walked by us.  She approached everyone with excitement and tail wags and she was happy to be pet by several people, all without being offered any treats or soliciting treats from me.  This is seriously a big deal for her; she was in a new environment with new dogs, new people, and lots of exciting smells and she did amazing.  The fact that she went and did this all on her own was such a proud moment for us.

And then of course, came the Pit Bull bias.  Some woman darted across the room as soon as she saw us, and asked if Roxy was friendly with other dogs, and I guess I didn't respond fast enough for her, because she said, "I have a really friendly dog and I don't want your Pit Bull to bite him," and she walked away. I was really taken aback and by the time my brain caught up, the lady had already walked off.

On to training.... We did some exercises on the equipment, specifically the A-frame and the Dog Walk.  Roxy didn't blink at the equipment, even though it was definitely larger than what she was used to running on.  We worked on slowing down, focusing, and contact points, and Roxy seemed to do pretty well.  We also started training left and right turns, which Roxy did well with also.  I'm psyched to practice them for next class and get her using them while moving.

Everyone in class had a clicker on their wrist, and the instructor was great.  All humane, positive reinforcement training, just as expected.

The woman I met earlier approached me again, without her dog, and said abruptly, "I don't have anything against Pit Bulls, it's just their owners." And I didn't know how to respond, because, well, I'm a Pit Bull owner... But she continued, as she pet Roxy and just said she's had a lot of bad experiences, not just with Pit Bulls, but with American Eskimo Dogs and German Shepherds as well.  I politely explained I volunteer in rescue, and work primarily with Pit Bulls and other bully breeds, that I'm fully aware of their potential dog-dog issues, and I know my dog very well.  She seemed apologetic (minus the actual apology) and went on to tell me how her last dog was attacked by an off-leash American Eskimo Dog so she is just extra cautious.  She introduced herself at the end of the conversation, and she was nice the rest of the class, but her comments still turned me off a bit.

Then, half-way through class, Roxy and I were working on the A-frame and another girl came in with her dog, Katie.  They started working at the table and the girl took Katie's leash off and wouldn't you know that Katie immediately made a beeline for Roxy.  She charged her, full-speed and got right in her face, snarling, and within half a second, Roxy and Katie were battling it out.  There wasn't any contact and neither of them had a mark on them when it was over; it was all snarling, growling, and barking in each others faces, and it was easy to separate them because they really didn't want to be near one another to begin with... but wow.  Thirty minutes into a class with literally 5 dogs total, and this is what happens? Go figure!

But Roxy didn't seem phased by it.  Once it was over, it was over.  She moved on, and I followed suit.  She did wonderful during the rest of class, and was actually tired by the end of it, which made me happy.

All-in-all a good class, in the sense that the class itself was great, and I expect that we can avoid the almost-fight next week.

This morning, we spent some time relaxing in the sun, where she proceeded to be the laziest stick-chewer ever...

sonny smiles

Sonny is fearful of people, but he's absolutely petrified of men.  This week Rob is away, so Sonny has been exploring, playing, and relaxing a bit more than he was previously and I was finally able to snap some photos of him relaxing and smiling.  Last night he spent a good portion of his time out of his crate. He had some major zoomies! He kept running at me full speed, smothering my face in kisses, and then leaping to the ground in a play bow with a really big woo-woo, howling noise.  I probably had the biggest smile on my face watching this dog run about like a little loon after spending the first month completely traumatized. So, without further ado...

He would run up to this spot on the couch, lick my face furiously, and then lay down for a few moments before getting up to run off after a toy or Buster again.

If you look closely, his tail is a little blurry... he was wagging that thing non-stop!




Since he was so happy and playful, I took the time last night to start a little bit of targeting with him using the clicker and it seems like he was starting to understand the game.  We'll see how he does tonight when we do some more!

update on bobby

I got an update on Bobby from his adoptive family today!

Bobby is now Brody, and he's doing fabulous!!

From his new mom:

"He's just the happiest most playful boy and we adore him. We take him to obedience school on Sunday and he is the star student. The trainer is helping us work on some of his bad behaviors like barking and jumping when people come over."

He's got some allergies that they are working on with the vet, and hopefully they get them resolved soon.

I was, and still am, seriously in love with this dog and I couldn't have asked for a better home for him.  They love him, and he looks so incredibly happy.  Here he is, with a tug toy in his mouth, of course.

Sometimes we see some awful things in rescue, and updates like these give me the warm fuzzies I need to keep going, despite it not always being easy.

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.

i guess sonny is feeling more comfortable

Well, Sonny has been more interested in playing lately, and last night he was even brave enough to run in and out of his crate when only Rob was home (huge!).

Rob was throwing Buster's ball, and after Buster ran into the kitchen, Sonny would run after him. Then he'd follow him back to the living room and go back in his crate.  But he kept peering out, watching Rob and then following Buster back into the kitchen.

When I got home, Sonny was even brave enough to come within a foot of Rob's feet and attempt to smell him, and even ventured towards the TV, which is further than he's gone before.

And then he collected all the toys in the living room, one-by-one, and carried them back to his crate.

Then, I woke up to this... Sonny's bed, with a giant hole in the bottom of it, with the tag torn off.  The picture I wish I'd taken was him in his crate, on his bed, with stuffing surrounding the bed, like an ocean of fluff.  But he doesn't like when people hover near his crate, so I didn't want to make him wait there while I took a picture.

Now I'm trying to figure out ways to exercise this boy more.  Walks aren't cutting it, and I can see his energy starting to come out.  It's difficult because he can't be off leash in the yard because he climbs fences and seeing as he isn't likely to come back, that's not safe.  I've been bringing him out on the retractable leash to give him some more room to run about, and he chases Buster around a bit... but his play style is different than Roxy and Buster's.  Roxy and Buster run a little, then wrestle and bite and romp.  Sonny is more of a run-and-play type of dog, where he wants to chase, chase, chase, and maybe play bitey-face a little.

I may have to take up jogging in the morning and take him out with me. Not exactly my idea of fun, by any stretch of the imagination....

a wiggle butt in disquise!

Every morning I leave the bedroom with Roxy and Buster running and leaping towards the backdoor for our morning potty break.  With the addition of Sonny, nothing changed initially because he was sick and we were going out separately; so I crated and fed them while taking him out the front door.

For the last week and a half, I leave the bedroom and Roxy runs to the backdoor and Buster runs to Sonny's crate.  I approach his covered crate, (he's usually laying down,) and as I approach, he presses himself up against the far side of the crate, watching me intently.  So, I open Sonny's crate without talking, without looking at him, without making any noise or providing encouragement in any way.... I walk away and ask Roxy and Buster, "Want to go outside?" after I've sufficiently turned the corner into the kitchen. That's when I hear Sonny's paws scramble to follow us to the backdoor.

He's been slowly relaxing when I approach his crate, because only good things happen when I come near him.  I only approach his crate for feeding, opening/closing the door, and random acts of yummy kindness.  He has been quicker to leave his crate, and he now seems to know what "Outside?" means, so he's more comfortable with the process.

Today, however, we experienced a small (large) miracle.

I walked towards his crate, and he stood up for the first time while I was that close.... and I heard his tag, bang-bang-bang on the side of the crate, and I saw his butt and tail WIGGLE with excitement.  He ran out of the crate as soon as I turned away, and scampered past me towards the back room with Buster....

When I got there, he play bowed to me, in our normal morning-play-before-we-go-outside routine... and he offered the first noise I've heard him make yet, a little woo-woo-woo growl while he bowed.

a play bow, a hike, and little victories for sonny

I'm slowly getting to know Sonny's personality, and I'm totally in love with him.  He's adorably playful and he's starting to show some excitement when he sees me in the morning.  He bounds out of his crate and follows me to the backdoor, where we commence play session #1 for the day.  He bows. I bow. He half-jumps, with his front paws in the air like a puppy who has no clue how big he is, or even what balance is, for that matter. I put my head down and he comes over and nuzzles my head a little, licks my fingers, and runs back a couple of feet and play bows again.  At this point, Buster usually runs to me, half tackles me for the morning cuddles, and then Sonny runs over and licks my toes.  He's totally adorable, with his mouth open just a little, his ears relaxed, and his tail up. And the whole time he's observing, watching what's going on and trying to figure this "home" thing out.

Then we go outside, and he eliminates right away; something that was previously took upwards of 30 minutes. I've been taking him out back in the yard on the retractable leash to give him some space because he seems to prefer to go further away from me, rather than closer.  Lately I've been taking him out with Roxy and Buster, now that our introductions are done... and they go off running and he so badly wants to join them and play.  He bounds and leaps after them, with that same goofy, puppy-antic-style leaps and bounds, and I do my best to keep up, but when they start running under and around bushes, I can't follow and neither can Sonny because the leash will get tangled.  I feel awful when he wants to run with them and can't.  But he can't be off-leash, not even in the yard.

The problem is, Sonny has shown that he's easily capable of jumping and climbing 7+ foot fences.  My fence is only 3.5 feet tall. So there's no way I can trust him.  So far, the only way I've got him to approach me is if I'm squatting down and loving on Buster and Buster gets super excited.  So I have that as an emergency backup plan, but I'd really rather not have to go combing the woods in the middle of winter (or any season, for that matter) with Buster, my 3-legger, hoping Sonny will come to us.  I can't risk it.  He's way too much of a flight risk. 

Yesterday, Rob and I took Roxy and Sonny for a hike.  I took Buster for a long walk earlier today, but the hike would have been too much for him, especially with all the ice. Plus, I wanted Roxy and Sonny to be out there together; walking together, getting treats together, and smelling stuff together.  Sonny did really well, overall.  We avoided the few people that were out there, but he was taking treats and drinking water with us right there, which has previously been difficult for him to do.  He even took a few treats from Rob.

Roxy struggled a bit when we saw some people with dogs, unfortunately, and made me realize how far we still have to go with her.  I was actually quite a bit surprised by her behavior, because she's been otherwise doing great when we see other dogs.  But this was a new environment, and Sonny was there and his anxiety probably didn't help.  I can't wait for the weather to get nicer so I can do some more work with her.  It's been so cold I haven't been able to find anyone else outside (with or without dogs) to do some desensitization and counterconditioning.  We also walked her on her flat collar because we figured the halti head collar would get frustrating on her face for 2 hours or so, and boy, do we need to start working on her heel.  She's great on the halti, but once we get on the flat collar, she pulls like a freight train! So rather than having her try to learn "keep the leash loose," I'm just going to train her to walk next to me (in a heel position) all the time.  I think she needs more exact instructions about where she should be walking, as opposed to the general "loose leash" work we've been doing.

Sonny, on the other hand, seems to be leash trained.  Go figure...

sonny, week 2

Sonny has started spending less time hiding in the closet and more time trying to interact with Roxy and Buster, now that his medical quarantine is over.

He seems overwhelmingly more comfortable outside than inside, and he's still fearful of Rob, but is getting more curious about him, which is good news in my book.  He's also progressed to feeling comfortable enough to eat while Rob is in the room.  There were a few days early last week that I was worried he was becoming more fearful of Rob, but it seems like his behavior is fluctuating back and forth a bit.

He is very excited in the morning, and wants to play with not only Roxy and Buster, but also with me! Today I got several play bows, sniffs, and licks.  And, when I go into the computer room, he'll follow and lay on the bed.  He'll even come in there if Rob is in there, but he goes to the far end of the room, the closet, to watch everything rather than go to the bed, which is closer to Rob.

Overall, Sonny is a million times more comfortable when there are other dogs around.  He is great with other dogs; he shows lots of appeasement gestures, he play bows, he plays gently and appropriately, and overall his body language is much more relaxed when he's trying to play, while he's playing, and after he's played.  Even when we're outside, when he spots Roxy or Buster, his tail immediately goes up, and when they're close to him, his tail is wagging like crazy.

We have a long road ahead of us, but seeing even just the smallest amount of progress brings great hope.

sonny, day #3

So, Sonny is doing okay. Sort of. He's starting to adjust.  He's less panicked than he was on Sunday night.  He's still jumping at unexpected noises and movements, which we're not expecting to change for a long time; but he's walking closer by me, and allowing me to move about without bolting.

The weather sucked today so I worked from home and Sonny spent most of the day in the closet pictured, next to my computer.  It's about 4 feet from me, closer than he's spent most of the last few days.  He slept and snored there for a few minutes.  And throughout the day, he was venturing close to sniff me, then turning and running back.  And I can feel him watching me, absorbing everything we do.  He won't take treats from my hand, but if I give him something yummy and walk away, he'll snag them as long as I'm not watching.  If I accidentally look at him while he's grabbing those treats, he stops and puts his head down.

We're still working on the routine, but I think he's house trained. Which, honestly, breaks my heart the most. This poor dog has probably been through hell and back, yet he's house trained. Someone took the time and energy to teach him to do his business outside, but couldn't just plain be nice to him? And, although he's house trained, he's still terrified to go.  When he's going, he looks up at me, as if to check to make sure I'm not going to do anything. If I move while he's going, he freezes, stops mid "go."  He's been here 3.5 days and has only pooped twice and peed 3 times.  He didn't poop for the first day and a half, despite eating all his meals (only when there's no one there to see him or hear him).

He's definitely more scared of Rob than me. It's no fault of Rob's, but he's much taller than I am, has broader shoulders, a deeper voice, and he walks with more purpose than I do. Plus, I'm the one feeding Sonny and taking him for walks, potty breaks, etc.

He absolutely adores Buster. We found out he has giardia, so I'm trying to keep him separate from Roxy and Buster, but sometimes he will just freeze and won't move. I've got a leash on him so I don't have to get close and freak him out, but sometimes it's not enough.  So I call Buster over and Sonny immediately perks up, and is likely to follow him. And Buster will go wherever I ask, for the most part.  He's been a great helper.

Roxy is none-to-pleased with the whole situation.  She's doing okay... the first day was fine, but the last couple of days (prior to knowing about the giardia), Roxy has been raising her hackles when he gets close.  He likes to run up to Roxy's face and kiss her, and Roxy's not a fan of that.  So I've been doing some body blocking to prevent him from getting too close to her face, and doing a lot of marking and treating for her.  She seems to like him, but just not like that he's a total mess.

Today we were outside, and I was bent down on the ground loving on Buster and Sonny came up on the side of me and sniffed my hat (while it was on my head!) and then offered a few licks and walked away.  I was so proud of him.

He's still a huge flight risk, so we are on leash, even in the yard.  I think we'll be that way for a long time.  He does, however, seem to really enjoy taking walks.

sonny came home.

We brought Sonny home to foster yesterday.

I brought Roxy and Buster to meet him at the kennel. We did one-on-one intro walks and short play dates in the yard after that went well, and then brought all 3 in together just to make sure there were no immediate issues.  It's important to me that there are no issues up front because of Roxy.  We've tried the crate and rotate thing with her and she just plain doesn't tolerate it; and she's come so far in her training, I can't jeopardize what we've accomplished.

Anyway, so Buster, Roxy, and Sonny hit it off.  Roxy was play bowing and inviting him to play left and right.  Buster tried to hump him a hundred times (he has this thing for other male dogs) and we did some Time Outs and that fixed Buster's humping issue.  But whenever he tried, Sonny didn't mind. Sonny was licking both of their faces, in between trying to jump over the 7+ foot fence to get away, poor baby.

When we got home, I took Sonny for a walk. Then I took Sonny and Buster for a walk together. Then I took Sonny and Roxy for a walk together. Everything went great.  Sonny even peed while I was there, for the first time since I've met him.

When we got home, Sonny went in his crate and slept with one eye open for about an hour... then we went outside and he did pretty good out there, aside from trying to jump the fence. At this rate, he'll never be allowed outside without being on leash.  Once we came back inside, though, he went and hid under the fake Christmas tree we have yet to take down.  He crawled underneath the front of it and hid in the back and underneath it.

I went to the back room to prepare their dinners, Roxy and Buster followed me, and Sonny followed behind them. While I was there scooping food out into bowls to bring to the kitchen and stuff into toys, Buster snapped at Sonny.  I never feed them there, ever. But the food comes from there.  And when I first got Buster, he had some major guarding issues.  He's amazing now, he's never guarded toys, and doesn't guard food/chews/high value items from people.  He's great with toys and other dogs.  And I haven't had a problem with him and the food-prepping station with Roxy, but Sonny is new and Buster is just showing that he's a little nervous because there are big changes going on, with a third dog in the house.  Okay, mental note -- dogs go into crates prior to me preparing their food. Done. I do high-value items in their crates already, so this isn't a big difference. Sonny doesn't seem to be holding it against Buster, in fact, he seems to love Buster and is taking cues from him as to what to do.

So, I fed them dinner in their crates, and while he was eating in his crate, I took the silly Christmas tree down before he came out of his crate.  Once everyone was done eating, I opened his crate and he followed Buster around the house.  Then he walked back towards his crate, and instead, he chose to literally crawl into the bottom shelf of my bookcase, on top of some picture frames.  The poor guy just laid in there for a while cowering.

I tried dropping high-value treats somewhat near him, but he didn't budge.  So I went and grabbed a dark colored sheet and covered his crate with it, to see if that helped him any.  I walked into the other room and my guys followed, with Sonny in tow.  When we went back into the living room, Sonny went right for his crate.  Poor guy just wanted his crate covered. Done.
 
And now he's using his crate as his hideout, runs back to it when something scares him, so at least he has somewhere to go where he feels safe. And he's not trying to break out of it (knock on wood) so I'm thankful for that.

He only eats if I leave the food with him and walk away after a few minutes, and he refused to pee last night so this morning he peed for a good minute and a half or more. And he's totally terrified of Rob right now, so Rob's completely ignoring him, except for occasionally dropping high-value items in his general direction.  He scrambles into the corner when you walk around, if you accidentally look at him, he flattens out on the ground.  If you talk while he's exploring, even if you're not talking to him or looking at him, he stops what he's doing and just stares, curiously.

But Sonny just loves Buster and Roxy. His tail wags for them and he wants so badly to play with them. We saw a couple of play bows (Sonny has the cutest play bow ever) but he's still not sure of himself. But any dog-friendly Pit Bull is uber-special to me.

We have some work to do, but he's already perfect to me.

bobby, adopted!

Dear Bobby,

Your new family is awesome, I can tell already.  I truly hope you are a GOOD BOY for them.  They already love you, so there's no need for you to show off to get attention.  I will miss you, Bobby. You taught me the most about pit bulls, and taught me to love them so much more than I already did.  Be safe and happy in your new home, Bobby Boy <3

Love,
Megan

P.S.  Your new mom and dad saw how much you loved me, so they're looking forward to getting that much love from you, as well!

sonny

Meet Sonny.  Well, don't meet him. Don't try to talk to him, pet him, feed him, or cuddle him. Sonny is a fearful dog, and people are his kryptonite.

Since Bobby has a good looking meet and greet tomorrow, I'm exploring to find my next pet project dog.

Sonny is a very dog-friendly Pit Bull, but he is terrified of people.  He army crawls on the floor when people walk him places, unless he is with another dog.  Then his whole body perks up.

This picture was taken of him at the kennel, where I'll be working with him.  I have yet to take any pictures of him myself, seeing as he's terrified of people.  I don't think he needs a scary person with a flashing box pointing at him, so I'll wait on that.  It may be a while before I can get a better picture.

And I've only "met" this dog once, but I love him already.