take the good with the "bad"

At agility today, Roxy decided she only wanted to wander around the course when it was our turn to run... she had no interest in actually running, or even walking around, with me.  But she did run with our instructor, and she greeted every person that came within a few feet of her with tail wags and butt-offerings ("Here's my rear, please scratch!"), including a complete stranger.

And on the way home we stopped to get gas, and Roxy didn't bark at the gas station attendant and responded to "leave it" when I asked.... which has been something we've been working on, but haven't had a whole lot of success with.  After all, the gas station attendant is a monster who attacks the car, and Roxy doesn't like it one bit.  So, this was a proud and happy moment for us.

I guess I'll take a dog who occasionally ignores me on the agility course (the "bad") if it means a dog who happily greets strangers and doesn't make the gas station attendant pee his pants (the good)!!

wordless wednesday!

 

roxy's learning to play

Roxy and I have been playing agility for a little over a year now, and she really seems to enjoy it. My goal has been to keep things light and fun. I want agility to be a positive experience for her, a happy outlet for energy, and another way to help build her confidence. So far we've been pretty successful, although there are times I get a little frustrated when I can't figure out what is going wrong, but I've learned that when I get frustrated, we get nowhere, so instead of getting frustrated, I just run around the agility course with her, pretending there isn't actually a course to run. Anything she does is fair game and then we're done for the day. It helps me get my frustration out, and makes sure to keep it fun for her without much pressure to do certain things.

So, with agility we've started playing a bit more, in general. I'm experimenting with different techniques to get Roxy to play with me more, so I can transfer them over to agility and help build speed and drive in her. The first thing I did was put her play bow on cue.  I say "Roxy, play paws!" and she play bows.  I use it to get her excited, because "play paws" is how I get her excited to play with me at home.  It's transferred over to agility class a bit, but I really want to find other ways to get her excited (partly so I don't have to get on my hands and knees anytime I want her to run fast, but also because it's good to mix things up with her and use different motivators!).

So, I've been working on getting her interested in playing with toys that don't involve food (like tennis balls, tug toys, stuffed toys, etc.). Some days, I come home from work and she's beyond happy to play with a tennis ball. Usually she only wants to play with the one that Buster has, but nevertheless, she wants to play with it, which makes me happy! When we play, it's not a formal game of fetch or tug or anything -- it's playing however she wants to play and however she's having fun doing it.

So, here's a short clip of her playing and chasing a tennis ball. Although I don't think she's really too sure how the game works yet, she does seem to be enjoying herself, at least a little bit.

This is a huge improvement over her previous interactions with tennis balls, which included the patented, "Why you fro dat fing?" look with the long-winded, "I aint gettin dat," sigh.

In addition to playing with the tennis ball, Roxy has also been learning how to tug!  Prior to a few months ago, the only thing she'd tug was her flirt pole.  That's literally the only toy she'd play with, besides from de-stuffing toys, and that isn't a team sport for Roxy.  Her normal flirt pole is taller than I am, which makes it a bit cumbersome to use while running a course, so I made a small flirt pole, but she wasn't quite as interested in it, so I still need to troubleshoot that.  In the meantime, we started playing with the easy "Tug-It!" toy, which she wound up tugging into 2 pieces in a matter of 30 seconds (thanks to turkey sausage!), so we moved on to the advanced version, which she enjoys and tugs with, but hasn't destroyed yet (whew!).  I also have a rabbit fur tug style toy that we can put food in, but the interest in that is still short-lived, so we'll keep working.  Either way, I'm happy she's tugging on something small enough to bring to agility classes.

sugar is home

I didn't think I could part with Sugar.  And actually Rob and I considered keeping her... it was a frequent discussion, honestly.  She was with us for 5 months, but it felt like she'd been with us forever. She fit right in with Roxy and Buster, adored Rob and I, and was just overall the dog we were always looking for.  She didn't mind being the last one in the bed (snobby Roxy needed "her" spot) and Sugar was perfectly fine to sneak in later, and snuggle by my feet.  She was able to read Roxy and Buster so well.  She knew Buster didn't want to share his ball during fetch, so she'd chase him towards the ball, but veer off to the side when he got close to it and come back to me, so she could chase him again when I threw the ball.  She figured out quickly that sharing her body heat was the way to Roxy's heart. She snuggled like a champion, and was a pro at surprise french kissing you.  She was always ready and willing to go with you, even if that meant sitting in the yard watching you rake the leaves.  It was incredibly hard to let her go.  I mean really, who wants to let go of the perfect dog?

But in the end we found her the perfect family. They love and adore her, and she loves them back.  I knew it was meant to be when, during the meet and greet, she completely ignored me and my play requests, in favor of belly rubs and snuggles for her future Mom and Dad. She's doing wonderful and I seriously couldn't be happier with her placement.  Below is an update I got from her new family, I guess I can stop crossing my fingers that she'll come back now, huh? :)

From her new adopters:  "Sugar is doing great and we're definitely enjoying her! She fits right in and is perfect. We had her around Amanda's whole family last week for her bday and she was great. She listens very well and she learns quickly too. I already taught her high five! lol. At first she was kinda nervous. After a few days she started learning that this is her new home."

"She loves car rides. Any time we go by the car she wants to jump in. She is doing great though. She loves jumping on the bed with us and I think she already claimed one of the couches as her couch. Haha."

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.

sugar's story

I went to the kennel with Roxy and Buster to bring home another foster dog.  We tried one male pitty who Roxy absolutely adored, Thunder.  Roxy and Thunder were play bowing and wrestling in no time, and I thought we were sold on bringing him home.  Then, I brought Buster out to meet Thunder, and, unfortunately, Buster had no desire to interact with Thunder at all.  Buster would growl whenever he came near.  We tried parallel walking and slow introductions, but Buster just wasn't having it. So, we opted to try another dog -- a female -- and hope that worked better for Buster.

Tammy, the foster coordinator and one of the only people I trust to help me introduce Roxy and Buster to dogs at the kennel, came out with a dog named Sugar, a white dog with red freckles and spots who had the most pathetic look on her face.  It was obvious that she had multiple litters of puppies in her life, and she was listed as only 3 years old. I was told she was friendly, and had been surrendered to a shelter without her puppies. The puppies had come in a few days later, but they were all adopted.  Sugar was recently treated for heartworm, and was to be kept calm for the next 4 weeks.

Buster was a much bigger fan of Sugar... his body language was so much more relaxed, he wasn't avoiding looking at her, and he was even sniffing and wagging his tail.  His whale eye was gone, and there were no growls of disapproval.  Roxy tried to play with Sugar, and Sugar just stood there, looking completely lost.... so we took her home for foster.

She spent the first several days asleep on the couch right next to me.  If I got up to go in the kitchen, she followed.  If the other dogs began playing, she would lift her head and watch for a few moments, before putting her head back down with a heavy sigh.

Her body was in rough shape.  She was practically molting, she had intense diarrhea, and her teeth were beyond yellow -- they were actually becoming orange in some spots.  We offered lots of bully sticks and chews, gave her a bath, and brushed her often and her body began to heal.

Slowly, but surely, Sugar showed that she was genuinely a loving dog, who's mission in life is cuddles, snuggles, and kisses.  She started to figure out our routine, and began running into her crate at meal times, and hanging by the backdoor when she had to go out.  She began zooming around and smiling, and was pretty much content to be loved all day long.

We started working on training, and Sugar was thoroughly confused.  She knew how to sit, but not on cue, and it was almost as if she offered a sit when she didn't know what to do, or when she thought she was in trouble.  But she seemed to have no idea that there were things she could do that would be rewarded, that she could alter her behavior to earn treats and other rewards, so I spent a lot of time working on that with her, and you could see she started to understanding that sit = reward.

Then, after a couple of weeks and she had settled in, Sugar started digging holes in the yard.   I approached her to redirect to a toy, and when I reached down for her collar, she literally cowered.  She flinched, sat, and rolled half-way on her back to expose her belly to me.  I felt terrible, knowing that someone had likely mistreated her... so as she rolled over, I rubbed her belly and she wiggled her little tail nub at me while staring in disbelief.  We did this a lot, I "practiced" approaching her and just loving her to pieces and after about a week of that, she stopped cowering and rolling on her back, unless she just plain wanted a belly rub.

Next, I wanted to teach her to target my hand... I called her name and she ran over to me and sat at my feet. I lifted my right hand up, about a foot in front of her face, and Sugar flinched.  Again, here is this literally perfect dog, and she was expecting someone to hit her.  So we worked on that, too. 

Sugar settled in very quickly, and her and Buster became fast friends.  Roxy was a little less tolerant of Sugar's play attempts, but all-in-all, Roxy liked her.  We had gotten very lucky with this dog that no one knew much about aside from being "friendly."  And, in the mornings when we get up and get ready for work, I would often find all three dogs, snuggled up on the bed together.

Sugar accompanied me on a trip to upstate New York, where I met with some of my rescue friends and volunteers from Rescue-a-Bull.  She met many dogs, and plenty of people, and she was fabulous.  By the end of the weekend, she was tired and bit less interested in making friends with the other dogs, but she had behaved ever-so-wonderfully.

I've been taking Sugar to adoption events, but we haven't gotten a lot of interest in her, despite her loving personality and adorable wiggles.  I've been updating her pictures, and posting about her frequently, to keep her fresh in everyone's minds.  And, we've been getting more inquiries for the last week or so, so I am beginning to get hopeful that she may be going home soon.  And although I'm hopeful, I'm a bit sad, because Sugar is literally a perfect dog.  Roxy and Buster both like her, her energy level matches theirs, and so does her intensity.  She adores Rob, she is funny, and snuggly, and just a completely lovable dog in all possible ways.  She is going to make someone very happy, that is for sure.  And the difference in her, from the day she came home and pouted while sitting on my deck for our adoption pictures, and now, is pretty amazing:

remembering to celebrate little victories

With all the time and effort I spend working on Roxy's existing fears, I sometimes forget about her old fears.  The fears we've overcome and tucked away in blog posts, hoping they're gone for good.  But I think it's important to sometimes be reminded of those fears and recognize progress based on them.

The other day, Roxy and I were visiting someone we hadn't seen in a while.  We were in a neighborhood that we occasionally visit, but not often enough to say it's a familiar area.  We were walking down the street and a woman we know was dragging a trash can down the road, from one house to another.  When she saw us, I waved, and her initial response was, "Well, here comes Roxy, she's going to be afraid of the trash can..."

Well, we stopped to chat, and Roxy didn't flinch at the trash can.  She didn't look at it while it was moving towards us or while it was making noise.

Two years ago, Roxy would have avoided the dragging trash can, putting her body on the side of me that was furthest from it.  About 1.5 years ago, she would have barked at the trash can.  One year ago, she would very cautiously explore the trash can with some encouragement, making sure to leave all her weight on her hind legs while she slowly leaned in to sniff.  If the can moved during that time, the can would have been "scary" and required some major desensitization and counter-conditioning work.  But just a few weeks ago, Roxy completely ignored the trash can.  She ignored it upon approach, and she ignored it while I chatted with the woman.  In fact, while we chatted, Roxy was more interested in saying hi to her friend than anything else.  Oh, and she ignored the trash can when we started walking in the same direction as the woman, with trash can in-tow, rumbling and scraping on the pavement directly behind her. Two years ago, if something was behind her making that much noise, she would have been panicked, looking over her shoulder and attempting to get away from it.  Even a year ago, she would have struggled with that scary noise.  But a few days back, Roxy wasn't even curious about it.  She was relaxed and enjoying her walk as if there was nothing different going on.

Now, this may not seem like a huge deal, but remember, Roxy avoided the evil bush for over a month, after just one unpredictable incident.   Her other behaviors consisted of cautiously investigating falling leaves (occasionally barking at them), barking at the trash can in the back yard when it was in a different place than normal, running from the sound of the dishwasher turning on, avoiding the house's attic fan, and backing away and cowering when strangers moved in her general direction....

Obviously her behavior has progressed since we've had her, and even more so since we've been working specifically on her fear issues, but sometimes I am so focused on working on her current fear issues, in the here and now, that I forget that she has come as far as she has. But this little encounter with the garbage can was a wonderful reminder of just how far she has come, and has reminded me of a variety of other little victories that I have since forgotten.

a new foster for sonny

Sonny went to his new foster home this weekend.  He had been back home with me for a total of 17 days and he was doing really, really well.  Of course that made this whole thing more difficult for me.

Sonny was still nervous with Rob, but had begun playing in the same room as Rob, as long as Rob was sitting still.  Previously, he wouldn't even come out of his crate if Rob was in the same room as him.  Sonny was also going out of his way to venture into the second bedroom (where the computers are) when Rob was there.  He was doing some "drive-bys," where he would run in, sniff a little, and run back out.  He would do this several times in a row before going back to relax in the Papasan chair in the living room.

Sonny and Sugar were also becoming fast friends.  Sugar and Buster were doing a lot of interactive play with toys, instead of just wrestling, and Sonny was always trying to get involved.  I actually think that is part of what helped him make the leap towards tugging -- he was watching Sugar and Buster play tug together, and then participating in their game.  I would grab the tug toy while they were playing, and tug with him a little before letting go and wandering away, to let him take in what had just happened.  Soon after, he began bringing me the rope toy and attempting to tug with me.  It was pure bliss for me.

Anyway, when we were told Sonny was being returned, it was never in the cards for him to come back to my house.  We had our two dogs and one foster, and that was sort of our limit.  In addition to that, we have several weekend and week-long trips coming up in the next six months. We typically bring the dogs with us on short trips, and leave the dogs with a dog sitter on the longer trips.  So, every planned trip would be a huge stressor for Sonny with the potential to set him back pretty far.  Leaving him with random people each time we went away would be traumatizing for him.  Attempting to take him with us on short trips would be equally traumatizing because there is no way to avoid his two biggest triggers:  people and changes in his environment.  So, the goal was to find Sonny a foster that could take him long term at the moment of his return.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The situation became unsafe, and poor Sonny was panic-stricken, so I went and got him less than 12 hours after I was told his adoptive family wasn't keeping him.

I knew when I got him in my car that he wouldn't be staying for long. And I knew when he walked in my house and went from frozen-stiff and terrified to the wiggly, happy little boy I remembered, that he wouldn't be staying. And I knew every morning, when I got up and was greeted with his speeding tail, thump-thump-thumping on his crate, that he wouldn't be staying.  And I knew every evening, when I came home and he jumped up on the couch to snuggle me and kiss me, that he wouldn't be staying.

But none of that made it any easier to send him off to his new foster home this weekend.

more progress for sonny

One of the biggest challenges thus far has been getting Sonny to come out of his crate when Rob and I are relaxing in the living room.  Lately he's been coming out more to explore, but he doesn't do a whole lot while out there.

With Sonny's newly discovered love for tug and high desire to play tug, last night we saw something different.  Sonny came out of his crate and grabbed his tug rope.  He spent a good 10 minutes playing tug with me while Rob was sitting on the other side of the couch.  Rob moved a few times, and although Sonny stopped to observe, he went back to tugging right away.

I know it's hard for Rob to see, but these behavior changes in Sonny are monumental.  For Sonny to be relaxed enough around Rob to play is something serious.

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.