All the Things We’ve Learned

To say that Johnnie has come a long way from the day she stepped foot paw out of the shelter would be an understatement. Johnnie Cash, once thought to be out of control and insanely energetic, turned out to be very bright, a quick learner and a model student. Together we learned how to communicate with each other. Training is not a one way street – I have to figure out how to tell her what I want just as much as I have to figure out what she is trying to tell me. I have loved every minute of growing and learning with this little girl.

Here are two videos of some of our accomplishments. This first one is a demonstration of how lovely she is to take outside. She learned in probably the first twenty four hours what it took to be allowed to head out the open door, which was sitting quietly. The last thing I want is a dog who drags me around, especially out the door before I’m ready! All we had to do was slowly open the door while she was sitting, and immediately close it (gently, so we didn’t squish her!) if she moved towards it. Heading out without a release = door closing! As she progressed with the polite sitting, we began to ask for eye contact. Now we are – as shown in the video – to the point where we can have the door wide open before she heads out.

You can’t tell in the video because the door frame is in the way, but she is holding perfect eye contact until I release her.  Also, notice that I do not need to use treats for this. The simple release through the door is the reward, but only after the use of negative punishment, meaning we took the open door away (negative) to decrease the behavior (punishment) of moving towards it without release. Dogs learn what works for them, and Johnnie quickly learned that sitting and making eye contact meant she would be able to head out into the world, and jumping towards the door meant it would close and the fun things on the other side would go away.

This next video is a short compilation of some of the tricks that Johnnie has learned. She demonstrates sit pretty, touch, sit, high five, down, paw and say bye.  These tricks are great for so many things, like distracting her if I need to keep her mind busy, helping to win over the public, or teaching new behaviors. Plus, they’re fun and learning them together was a great bonding experience. At one point you’ll notice I ask her to sit from a down, but then I realize she doesn’t know that (yes, “sit” from a down is an entirely different behavior than sitting from a standing position!), so we moved to another cue.

In the video you see how she does most of the tricks without treats. I gave her one at the beginning, but then she performed the rest without a reward. So many people, when they are introduced to reward-based training, get frustrated about how much we use treats or other rewards. “Will I have to be giving my dogs treats and using the clicker for their whole life!” they ask. The answer is: not necessarily. We use a high rate of reinforcement when we are teaching new behaviors, but once the dog has learned and practiced the behavior, we move to rewarding only every once in a while (there are real scientific words for these different techniques but I have not mastered those yet – check out your high school psych textbook for more info, ha!).

This ends up being a fun game for the dog because they know that “one of these times she’s going to give me a treat!” – it’s just a matter of when. Johnnie is a pro at “sit” now, so I don’t have to reward her every time she sits when I give her the cue. But, to make sure she continues to be a pro, I reward her every once in a while. Make sense? Unfortunately it works the other way too: if your dog is able to snatch something off the counter 1 out of the 10 times he tries, he will continue counter surfing because he’s waiting for just that *one time* he hits the jackpot. Also like begging. If you give your dog food from the dinner table every once in a while, they will likely continue to beg all the time in hopes that it’s one of those special occasions where they get a taste. Animals are smart little beings!

So, who made it through all the training talk? If so, congrats – you now have a heads up that Johnnie has a special announcement to make tomorrow. She promises it is one you won’t want to miss :-).

Best Toy Ever

Over the weekend I made an impulse purchase of a new toy for Johnnie. It was a combo of her two favorite toys: a strong rope and a big ball. Called a Jolly Pet Romp-n-Roll Toy, I figured Johnnie would really like this new find. I was wrong – she *LOVED* it.

This toy is perfect for our new found favorite form of exercise: moving vertically. Nothing tires Johnnie out faster than the exceptional effort of trying to grab a toy I’ve waved right above her head.  It’s also a great outlet for her natural need to chase/catch things. We absolutely love it, as does she!

Just like tug, we make sure that we have rules when we play a game like this. Johnnie must always be sitting calmly and making eye contact with me before she gets the “okay!” cue to go for the toy. By realizing that moving towards the toy makes it go away and most definitely does not get her closer to catching it, she quickly learned to sit and wait politely.

She also must drop it when we ask. Her “drop it” cue is a little rusty, so we use this game as a way to practice. As soon as Johnnie gets the rules down, she is free to play away! Check out this little jumping bean in action.

Can you see now why it tires her out so well? We went ahead and expanded on this concept by buying her a flirt pole from Squishy Face Studios. We are in love! This type of play is so much fun because it’s both a bonding experience and ultra-fast exhausting tool. Aside from crowded public events or difficult new experiences, I’m not sure there’s anything else that makes little J work this hard. Look at her tired smile!

Does anyone else use a flirt pole or other similar exercises to work their dogs?

#Cutedogproblems

Bad dog, bad dog, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

Oh yeah, you’re going to do this. . . and then get away with whatever you want.

#cutedogproblems

Our Big Day

Sunday was a big day for me and Johnnie. Like I believe I mentioned last week, it was the day of my humane society’s dog walk, Paws in the Park.  Paws is our biggest fundraiser of the year and a ton of planning goes into it, so I was absolutely thrilled when the event was a huge success (despite some serious rain the second half!).

You might remember last year when Otie came to visit me at Paws in the Park, and this year my mama was generous enough to bring Johnnie (foster dad was supposed to come too but he was sick, poor guy). I’d been wrestling a lot with the decision of whether or not to have her bring J to this event because there usually hundreds of dogs in attendance. Hundreds, literally. A few weeks ago I was very “noooo way!” to the thought of bringing her, but as Mark and I talked it out, I started to change my mind.  I wanted to give her the chance to have positive new experiences. But Johnnie Cash can be sort of hot and cold with other dogs - which isn’t unusual for a dog, I just didn’t want to set her up to fail by throwing her into an event with a TON of other dogs.

But luckily we had a couple things going for us: it’s an extremely open venue so we wouldn’t get caught in tight quarters which stresses her out, and, for the most part, the other dogs at the event are pretty social too. It’s when another dog reacts towards her that she’s especially prone to a melt down. Also, to be honest, it was probably good that my mom was the one to handle her for the most part. Unfortunately I have become quite the worrier, and I know Johnnie can feel that stress on my end! My mom promised that she’d only stay for as long as J could handle the event, even if it was only five minutes.

So the ultimate result of Johnnie’s trip to Paws in the Park was an exciting, positive experience! I was so, so happy and relieved when she met face to face with a few other dogs and wanted to play, and when she walked by the other attendees without batting an eyelash for the most part. We even tried some agili-dogging! And, no surprise here, she ROCKED it! She’s so confident in trying new things that she thought walking up a skinny beam just for a treat was the best thing ever. Whoever adopts her should really consider agility as a form of exercise and bonding!

As you saw yesterday, she also made a friend with MCHS mascot Henry. She thought he was a big stuffed toy to play with!

I was so proud of her for doing so well. There were many moments when I asked her for her attention by saying, “Hey Johhhhniieeee” in my fun voice, and she checked right in even though there were other dogs around. She is really learning how to focus!

A big thank you to my mama who made this fun break possible during my chaos of running the event. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to bring J and deal with my micromanaging! You are the absolute best Foster G a dog and daughter could ask for.

Since Johnnie came in, made doggy friends and rocked agility, all with no problems, I told my mom they had to leave :-) I was thrilled (and wanted to make sure) to end on such a good note! So in addition to the fact that the humane society raised a ton of money, this event was also a big success for our foster family. Now I have two things to celebrate!

To adopt Johnnie Cash and enjoy fun learning experiences like this one, check out her Adopt Me page.

Caption These

Our favorite submissions will be featured on our Facebook page this weekend!

1)

2)

3)

Happy Friday, my creative friends!

To adopt the goofball Johnnie Cash, check out her Adopt Me! page.

Johnnie & Other Dogs

Ah, the lovely journey of discovering how your dog feels about other dogs once they get comfortable in their environment. Our two months with Johnnie Cash have been interesting and informative, and I think we’re at a place where we pretty much know her feelings about other dogs and how to handle them.

Johnnie was in a playgroup at the shelter and I took her on a playdate with one of her shelter buds the first day I brought her home, so I knew that even if some reactivity began to show, there’d be hope. Lots of dogs are reactive on leash because of the added stress, but can safely participate in playgroups. It’s all about knowing your own dog. So for the first few weeks of having Johnnie, I kept leash greetings to a minimum. I wanted to figure her out before I had to figure her and other dogs out. In the neighborhood we crossed the street when we saw other dogs and I worked on keeping her focus on me, not them.

The first day I had her as a foster, playing with her BFF China.

She did very well at this for a long time. Barking dogs in yards were nothing to her, especially if I had some string cheese, and passing other dogs on the street wasn’t too difficult. After about a month though, she started getting a little barky at adoption events. It wasn’t usually at particular dogs – meaning, she wasn’t being reactive in a way that is often interpreted as scary – it was more just in general, seemingly out of frustration or excitement.  Then on walks it seemed like she was focusing on other dogs more. Operation prevent-the-reactive-foster-dog immediately went into action.

I knew I needed to work on Johnnie’s feelings about other dogs before the frustration turned into reactivity or aggression. It was the incident of getting stuck at the cherry blossoms that helped me realize a few things: I have to be very mindful of Johnnie’s threshold, I can’t get too relaxed with training around other dogs and if I don’t manage situations around other dogs well, Johnnie has the capability to cause quite a scene.

The major thing we work on is focus. Every walk we’ve taken since then, I’ve had treats and a clicker. To help Johnnie stay focused, I always make sure we are below her threshold around other dogs. This means we are at a far enough distance where she doesn’t feel the need to bark or try to get to them (usually it’s a playful trying to get to them – but if they react towards her, sometimes it’s a “get back” bark). We also always have high value treats. For Johnnie, string cheese usually does the trick, or sometimes hot dogs. Food is a primary reinforcer for dogs, so it’s very important and helpful to have that be your strongest tool.

Dogs are often reactive for two reason: fear or excitement. It’s important to realize this when working with a reactive dog and know that they’re acting out because they’re uncomfortable. Also, it’s important to try to keep them out of situations where they feel the need to react. Every time a dog reacts, they reinforce themselves. It feels good – and, most of the time, it works because whatever is making them uncomfortable moves away. If it works so well, wouldn’t you keep doing it?

So when staying below threshold, I click and treat Johnnie for just acknowledging the other dog and then looking away. I start with this and then build up to her acknowledging the other dog and then making eye contact with me. This way, it becomes her decision to look at a dog and then immediately look at me because it means treat time! This redirection helps her from getting too intently focused on the other dog – something that often leads to a reaction. It is actually helping her re-wire her emotional response to other dogs, instead of just nixing the symptoms and having her still feel uncomfortable around them. We usually practice it at a park or somewhere that I know there will be other dogs around but that we’ll also be able to stay a safe and comfortable distance from them.

This method is most helpful when we’re on our Pit Crew walks or at adoption events. She does not need it as much when we’re passing dogs on our walks, as long as I make sure our route keeps her below threshold. At events where we’re in closer proximity to other dogs, it is helpful for us if she is continually doing something, whether it’s walking, watching me (our cue is literally “watch me!”), doing touch, etc. – we have found it important to keep her little brain focused on a task so her thoughts do not wander to the other dogs! We also do lots of practice on parallel walks with low key friends that won’t bother Johnnie while she works on her calm and focus skills.

Johnnie practices not worrying about the fact that Nicky’s in front of her. She gets rewarded any time she “checks in” with me because it means she’s being super relaxed around Nickster.

 

This past weekend we had a few breakthroughs after many weeks of practicing acknowledging other dogs and staying calm. We attended an adoption event in a busy town center. Johnnie was able to be around many other dogs and she did not have one barking melt down! I was sure to constantly keep her focus on me or redirect her with a cue if her eyes started straying, and I was also sure to keep her below her current threshold (which is actually a closer distance than it was four weeks ago – yay!). She made a puppy friend, which is usually easy because puppies are so easy going, but she also met a couple other dogs on a loose leash and was fine with them. Go Johnnie!

What I will not do is take this awesome performance and use it as an excuse to say, “Yay! Let’s attend all the doggy social gatherings in the area this summer!” In fact, I’m not sure Johnnie will ever be the type of dog to attend or live somewhere with heavy dog traffic. I think it will always be too much for her, unless her adopter works extremely hard with her to continue improving that emotional response. I’m okay with it because it is who she is, and her adopter will appreciate that just like I do. She might not like every other dog she meets, or she might not like being around a lot of other dogs in a close space – but hey, I’m the same way with humans.

I knew that a lot of Johnnie’s barking was probably frustration, so I kept thinking about trying to find her a play date. I know she is an over-zealous player though, so I wasn’t sure who would be a good match for her. Turns out the perfect playmate was an old friend who was just an email away, and we hadn’t even thought about it! Tune in tomorrow to see who Johnnie played with this weekend (who can guess?), and how it went.

To adopt your very own work-in-progress, check out Johnnie Cash’s Adopt Me page.

There’s a Certain Kind of Sunshine in a Smile

If you’re a dog lover, you’re probably familiar with the canine smile. It’s that big, cheesin’ grin us pups like to give when we’re happy, relaxed and having a good time. Other happy characteristics are often relaxed eyes and a rolling tongue hanging out the side of our goofy grin – all meaning we’re pretty excited about what we’re up to! Now, don’t confuse this face with stressed panting and looking/feeling tense – that’s completely different.  Isn’t it great how subtle we are with our body language signs? You can read more about the canine language and what we’re trying to tell you in this article from Whole Dog Journal.

Anyway, back to why I’m taking over the blog today. I want to announce that I have officially shown my smile to the world! For about two months, because it was pretty cool out and I didn’t have a reason to get SUPER excited, my smile was hidden. I wasn’t stressed or anything, I was just good at being calm, cool and collected. You can see examples of that in some of my glamour shoots. I’m still good at being miss Calm-Cool-Collected, I’m just letting loose a little more now! I am loving this warmer weather and am finding it to be the perfect reason to smile. I also just love life!

Cheer up, buttercup – because you never know who’s falling in love with your smile!

To adopt Johnnie Cash and her beautiful smile, check out her Adopt Me page.

Our BFF Management

When I attended a seminar last year about working with your dog’s problematic behaviors, the first thing the CPDT-KA trainer told us was, “From now on, don’t let your dog perform the behavior you want to solve.” Of course everyone in the room looked at each other like “hey lady, if that worked then we wouldn’t be here!” – but she was right; when you are dealing with a problematic behavior, you should do everything in your power to keep your dog out of situations where they can practice the behavior.  This is because of one key point: practiced behaviors get rewarded, and rewarded behaviors get repeated.

This concept of management has helped immensely with Johnnie while teaching her to be a well-behaved house dog.  Whenever we are presented with an “issue,” we first see how we can manage it. Sometimes you can simply better manage behaviors and not necessarily change your whole life or spend buckets of money on training to solve the problems. Note: this is obviously for minor stuff, NOT aggression or safety issues, which should be dealt with by a professional trainer (although if you have a reactive dog, definitely keep them out of situations where they feel the need to react for the same reason of preventing practice!).

Some examples of easy-to-manage behaviors: putting lids on your trash cans to keep your dog from stealing nasty stuff, making sure you pick up and put away all your socks and shoes and valuables so your dogs can’t chew them when you’re not watching (seriously? he ate your Ray-Bans? why were they within doggy reach to begin with?), closing your blinds so your dog can’t be reactive out the window, keeping your dog away from the door when strangers come over so he cannot jump on them, etc. These small adjustments can make a world of difference in your dog’s behavior. Furthermore, if you do end up investing in training, a lack of management can totally throw off your progress. Because, like we said above, practiced behaviors get rewarded, and rewarded behaviors get repeated.

Anyway, back to how this has helped with Johnnie. There have really been very few problematic behaviors with Johnnie that we haven’t been able to modify with management. When she kept getting into our living room – a space we wanted her to stay out of because it wasn’t dog-proof – we bought a higher baby gate that she couldn’t jump over. Problem solved. When she started doing her leash biting, I walked her on two leashes so I could simply drop one if she started tugging. This specific behavior also took some other training steps, but the basic concept was still management to avoid reinforcing the behaviors (turning it into a game of tug) – and she got over the bad habit.  When she wanted to chew things that weren’t appropriate, we gave her plenty of appealing, appropriate outlets and the “bad” chewing pretty much stopped. As we are working with her excitability around other dogs, we avoid situations where she has the opportunity to practice barking, which prevents the behavior from becoming too engrained. Do you see what I’m getting at? These management techniques vary between solving the problem entirely or just being a stepping stone in improving a behavior, but they are all extremely important.

If your dog has a behavior that’s really bugging you (again, other than aggressive or unsafe behaviors) think of ways that you can prevent the behavior before it arises again. What simple steps can you take to set your dog up for success and avoid situations where they’d practice the unwanted behaviors? Depending on how serious the behavior is, you might want to then consult a professional trainer on what to do next – but you’ll already be off on the right foot.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to close all the bedroom doors before I leave the house to manage Johnnie’s ability to get into things she shouldn’t!

To adopt Johnnie Cash and see how management will help you two adjust through the transition, check out her Adopt Me page.

Our Weekend in the Mountains

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Why You Want Me Wednesday because we just couldn’t resist telling you more about our weekend!

After our exciting and slightly disastrous trip to the cherry blossoms, we hopped right on the road to head to Shenandoah National Park! You might remember that we hiked out there for the first time a few weeks ago and absolutely fell in love. Mark and I wanted to do something for our three year anniversary, and knew this was the perfect dog friendly getaway. We found an adorable little cabin online that was a great size for the three of us, included a hot tub (um, yes please), sat right on the bank of a river and was only about 15 minutes outside of the park – jackpot!

Johnnie proved to be an absolutely amazing travel partner. She of course fell asleep the instant we got on the road, especially after how hard she worked staying half-sane at the cherry blossoms. Check in wasn’t until 3 pm, so we went straight to hiking and site seeing when we arrived at the park late morning.

Yes, Johnnie wore her pack again (but I didn’t think ahead enough to order a new one per your suggestions from out last hiking post – doh). It really is such a huge help to have her carry some of our supplies, including her own water bowl and our snacks.

Since we didn’t mind taking a more leisurely hike, we goofed off a lot as we went. We love the outdoors and hiking but this wasn’t the trip to cover many miles. We spent about two hours enjoying the weather, exploring the trail and taking in the scenery.

When we finally called it a day with the hike, we loaded ourselves up in the car and made the brief drive to the cabin. We didn’t quite know what to expect, but were absolutely thrilled with what we found! This would be the point where I show you pictures of the cabin and the grounds, but I don’t have any of those so I’ll just show you the view off our deck. Johnnie was in sun spot HEAVEN after all that exhausting hiking we did (yes, those rocking chairs are our make-shift baby gate).

We spent a lot of time relaxing that afternoon since, after all, that was what the trip was for. These are pictures of our deck taken with a fish eye lens. They give you a good sense of why we loved the place so much!

It was just a few steps out the back door to the water, which brings me to tomorrow’s post. Guess what water adventure little J Cash was brave enough to go on! Here’s a hint:

Tune in tomorrow to see how it went!

To adopt Johnnie Cash, the perfect little traveler, hiking partner and adventure buddy, email peacelovefoster@gmail.com.

The Cherry Blossom Situation

Our first stop on our exciting adventure this weekend was to the DC cherry blossoms! They actually weren’t quite blooming yet because it’s been so cold, but they were budding and it was still gorgeous scenery. Even as DC natives, the cherry blossoms are something we look forward to every year.

But, for the record, anyone who has a dog that’s working on not being overly-excited around other dogs should probably think twice about heading to the cherry blossom festival. . . even if you think that going at 8 am is early enough to beat the crazy crowds. Because it’s not. And you’ll show up unprepared and you won’t have enough treats and neither of you will be ready when a sudden mass of dogs and humans appear nearly on top of you out of what feels like no where. So then because you show up unprepared and the alarming amount of dogs overwhelms you and the crowds and pathways totally don’t lend themselves to DINOS (dogs in need of space), you and your dog have a near meltdown. This includes but is not limited to your dog acting like a total lunatic, you getting extremely flustered and embarrassed, and total failure in the whole “set you dog up for success” category. Oh and of course you’ll be meeting up with some blogging friends who are seeing your dog for the first time and it will be a *perfect* first impression – especially when your dog gets loose from her leash and your friend needs to catch her as she flings herself towards their dog.

So, in summary, folks with dogs who are working on their skills around other dogs will have a totally uneventful and calm trip to the cherry blossoms! What, that’s not what it sounded like I described? Okay, you’re right. It will probably be an exhausting and tough trip. But on your way out you’ll realize how well your dog actually did do, given the circumstances. Slowly you’ll start to put together every moment where she was actually great and you’ll begin to forget the general picture of “bat-sh*t craziness” that it feels like you left with. Then you’ll head out to a secluded spot where you can take pretty pictures in as much personal space as your little heart desires!

And you’ll breathe a big sigh of relief and say, “Good job team”. . . then run to the car before anything else can go wrong right :-)

To adopt Johnnie Cash and her nose that matches the cherry blossoms, email peacelovefoster@gmail.com.