Feisty Fido II

We had a great class this morning. Dottie had been so freaked out in the car last time, I had to lift her in this time. This time, however, I didn't turn on the heat or defroster so there wasn't that scary blowing noise. I also put the window down for her. She spent the whole ride with her head out the window and was markedly more relaxed by the time we got there. In addition, I spent a good deal of effort making sure she'd pooped beforehand. Dainty Dottie won't go just anywhere, she especially doesn't care for deep snow. I had to walk her around the block, play with her in the backyard, and walk her around the front yard before her highness finally found a suitable place.

At class we did attention work (looking at my face when she hears her name) and got to do some nice counterconditioning while other dogs were led into the room one by one. I especially liked the "make a choice" game. In this game, you hold a treat straight out by your side, then wait for your dog to look at your face instead of the treat. This took Dottie a little while, but she got it. It's basically like shaping, where your dog has to volunteer a behavior and learns to offer it up without a cue. The game can get harder by bringing the treat closer and closer to the dog's face, until they can ignore the treat and look at you instead.

Dottie and I took a walk afterwards, behind the dog training place. I think it's only fair after forcing her to pay me undivided attention for an hour in the presence of other dogs.

Now we're home and she's absolutely pooped. Gustav was super happy to see her, which was cute.

Two things I'm thinking about: one, Justin thinks we should work on Dottie's admittedly terrible treat-taking skills. She is very snappy. We think this might be partly due to tossing treats at her a lot, which encourages her to snap in the air, and also due to anxiety (a "hard mouth" is evidence of stress in both my dogs). Lisa, a teacher in the class, advised giving the treat in a fist pointed down at first, then when the dog seems ready flipping the fist over and allowing the dog to take the treat. I think offering the treat from below the dog's mouth is really helpful too. Half the time, though, we're tossing the treats on the ground so Dottie can pick them up while we get Gustav's attention.

Two, when I took the dogs jogging a few days ago, Gustav barked and hackled and pulled towards a few people. Justin is always surprised to hear this, as Gustav is on better behavior with him. This makes me sad and I'm trying to figure out why it happens. I've been trying to act more relaxed and put a little more swagger in my walk, like Justin, to see if it helps. Gustav doesn't think I'm a very effective leader, apparently. At least compared to Justin. I hope to ask one of the teachers of the class about this if I can. It could be that there's nothing I can do about it, but if there is I'd like to do it.

I'd love to take another Reactive Rover class with Gustav, I think it would be really helpful.

A few days ago my brother came over to pick something up. The dogs freaked, but I got them to sit and take treats and then he came in. Then I had him knock and enter a few times and give them treats. That part they did beautifully with. I wonder how to bridge the gap between practice sessions and someone actually coming to the door for the first time.