Crazy Day!

Most of my days with Mokey follow a routine. Meaning that there are certain things we do every day: we play outside for an hour or two, go for a walk, practice training, eat three meals, enthusiastically greet the relatives, smell the breeze, relax on the fireplace and eat lots of treats. Most days are not like today.

Today Mokey and I went to our 'Special' Class. She started to learn 'Bow', progressed with 'touch' and completely freaked out over a stuffed dog. No kidding. Everyone in class is practicing a 'Who's that?' command - which basically means 'Thank you for looking calmly at that weird creature, now look back to me before you freak out and here, have a yummy treat.' Mokey does quite well at it - we've practiced it ALOT. So today, in preparation for having a real doggie distraction next week, she brought out this overly stuffed basset hound. It's stiff form and beady black eyes were too much for Momo. Those eyes were staring into her soul and she flipped out like a true pro. When charging and barking got her nowhere (why wasn't this thing running away like all the others? was it stupid?) she tried the opposite approach and backed up. That, plus calmer looks, earned her some treats. Unfortunately however, the thing fell over. Oh boy! There goes Mokey! She freaked out so badly that she managed to contort her shoulders and pull her harness off over her head. Luckily I saw it in time to grab her neck collar before she completely got out of the harness and the stuffed animal went bye bye after she'd calmed down some, but I think it was a bit of an adrenaline rush for everyone.Then, later this afternoon, Momo blessed everyone with even more adrenaline. I took the dogs out to play ball when I noticed a strange dog on the other side of our fence - loose, but with a collar and tags on. Since the dog was giving freindly signals I went back through the house, meaning to come out to the front yard, catch the dog and find out where it belonged. Silly me. In the 30 seconds it took for me to get through the house and out the front door. Mokey saw the other dog, freaked out, hit the fence, popped a board off and followed Chase through the opening. I open the front door and see Chase and Mokey's rear ends as they disappear around the back of a house across the street. Every horror scene imaginable went through my head. Here's my reactive, fearful, huge puppy running off at a break neck speed after a much smaller dog. If she does get away, I have little hope of catching her and little hope of anyone else being able to catch her. So I go running out of the house, my mother and sister bursting out after me and as I hit the front yard I scream "Mokey! Come!" To my sheer and utter amazement, she does. She turned right around, saw me and came sprinting back. To say I was amazed would be an understatement. We've practiced 'come' alot, but never under such extreme distractions. Unfortunately when she was about arms reach from me she noticed the amazed and innocent bystander to our right and went loping off to investigate. After she realized she didn't know the stranger, she ran back across the street - we frantically waved off a car and I tried to remind myself that I shouldn't jump out into the street to stop Mokey from doing so. Finally, Mom called my goofy dog, Mo took note of her for the first time and happily responded to the summons. Mom and I wrangled Mokey into the house while my sister ran ahead, called Chasey, caught and picked him up and brought him home. Safe! So, even though I went out to 'catch' someone else dogs, I ended up catching my own. Dad had to go out and screw the board back onto the fence and now Mokeys not allowed to spend any time outside in the yard without a supervisor. Sigh. What a day. But thank goodness for so many things. After it was over we could only laugh about the spectacle we must have made bursting out of the house like mad women, screaming and running through the street in our pj's after two happily clueless dogs.

The Elusive Water Hose

Last week Mokey discovered a new prey - the water spout. As I was filling up her pool, Mokey came over and, as she usually does, stuck herself in the middle of it. This resulted in the hose coming out of the pool and watering the grass. Mokey saw the water hitting the grass in a concentrated spot and decided to pounce! I picked up the hose and Mo followed the trail - thus came about a new game! Mokey will quite literally chase the water in circles and alternates between pouncing and catching it in her mouth. Once I turn it off, she'll run around for a short time looking for it, waiting for the game to start again.Training Update!
Last week we did another formal BAT training & practicing it on walks really seems to help Mo keep cool.
Also working on putting calming signals on cue - sniff, lifting paw, licking, turning away. So far 'lick' seems to be the hardest.

Hello Sun.

This week has been so beautiful that Mokey had her kiddy pool available 24-7. It's actually very convenient because after she chases Chase around the yard she jumps into her pool and cleans herself off. Very handy. ;) Plus she likes to dunk her feet and cool off - when it actually gets hot I expect I'll find her in the pool more than out of it. This week Mokey and I started Behavioral Adjustment Training (BAT). We've only tried one formal session and a normal walk with it, but I'm hopeful that it will help Mo overcome her fears. So far she's doing well with it & we're going slowly. Really, I'm the one who has to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing ;) Mokey also got a harness this week and I love it! It is quite possibly the nicest harness I've seen and has leash attachments in the front & back! - might not seem all that grand but it gives me peace of mind to know that I have more control if she does lunge and it's padded so it's comfortable for her too.

Baby Steps

For as long as Mokey has known my brother, she's known his wheelchair. About a year ago he found out that both of his hips were dying and as a result he had two free vascularized fibular grafts (one for each hip). Just this week he received the all clear to begin walking again. The human family rejoiced while Mokey donned her worried face and submissive body language. It had never occurred to me that she had only ever seen him sitting and that his sudden uprising would be cause for worry in her mind. She made up with him quickly, but when he walks and leans over I can sometimes see the wrinkles in her forehead start. Of course it could partly be because he is walking a little differently from the rest of us until his muscles grow back. But I have to admit, it was kind of cute when she walked by his empty wheelchair, sniffed the seat and then looked around like "Where's the rest of this person?"

Yesterday Mokey also joined, what I am going to call, her "Dogs in Need of Personal Space" class - since it's a class designed for more fearful/reactive dogs. Mokey did quite well for her first day, partly I am sure because she's used to the building and took puppy classes in the same room & partly just because the trainers do an excellent job at managing us. This first class was probably more beneficial for my own peace of mind than Mokeys growth. It was kind of like AA for reactive dog owners. I think it's really easy to feel alone when you have a fearful dog. Like the entire world is made up of Golden Retrievers and their blissfully happy owners and then here you are with your cringing, barking mess. But class was kind of cathartic, a chance to see a larger world. A chance to see that there are people like you, in the same situation you're in, with sympathetic ears and the ability to understand that just because your dog is reactive doesn't mean it's a 'bad dog'. It was also kind of funny to hear how people have learned to deal with the unleashed, "my dog's friendly," canine-human duos of the world. While I'd love to have a happy, go-lucky, everything in the outside world is grand type of dog, I don't. I have Mokey, a very sweet & loving yet shy and fearful puppy & unfortunately I usually end up having to protect her from the 'my dog's friendly' callers of the world. Yesterday I learned a few more funny ways to dissuade even the most oblivious of individuals - like yelling out, "My dog's contagious" or "She bites children" and other such amusing phrases that while largely exaggerated do have the desired effect of gaining space . . . that last one would probably clear an entire block for you. ;)

Eventually I hope to help Mokey overcome her natural shyness - to become more at ease when meeting strangers and new dogs but until then it's all about managing her life so that she can feel safe while still growing. I'm sure I won't do a perfect job at it, but luckily dogs are pretty forgiving and at the very least I can meet up with a couple other like-minded owners and commiserate.

I'm going to try and keep a record of what training I do with her, so that I have a way of tracking our progress and what seems to help Mokey the most. Right now we're mainly working on looking at her triggers and then receiving a treat and putting other calming signals (like 'sniff') on cue.

Snow in March

Not much has been going on recently. But we did get a very pretty snow.
So here's a few pictures of the week:Mokey likes to mouth her toys on the couch & will frequently put herself to sleep by doing so, but she also drools a lot when she does. It's actually a surprising amount of drool considering that normally she doesn't drool at all. So, now she gets a towel stuck under her whenever she grabs her favorite toys. But we all think it's still really cute. :)

Mokey also has her cutely naughty moments - like earlier this week when she discovered that pulling the elastic cord on my pants was great fun. One minute I'm sitting innocently on the couch with Mokey asleep on the floor and the next second I feel and hear a 'thwack' as the elastic hits my leg. Thanks Momo.

Mokey enjoys the snow and patiently waits for her ball to be kicked :)