Barking dogs=cookies!

I'm happy with Pro's progress in his reaction to dogs barking in yards we pass on our walks. He totally gets that barking dogs=cookies! Yay! Hey Diane, did you notice that dog barking down the street? I get a cookie for that, right? Yay! Barking dogs are awesome!

We're still having variable success with dogs walking near us, but I think that will come with time.

Basking

Pro proofing

So, Pro loves (?) squirrels. Well really, he's obsessed with them. His obsession didn't really start till the little critters became active in the spring. Once he gets into squirrel mode, that's all he can think about. Outside, he'll run around and around the oak tree in the front yard, occasionally trying to climb it. He is also able to jump straight up onto the stone wall, not to get out of the yard, but to get closer to the squirrels. I was afraid he might find himself outside the fence by mistake. So, I put some piping along the top of the wall, and that seems to keep him form getting up there.

Pro, watching for squirrels.

The piping makes the top of the wall too narrow to jump onto.

In the house, he spends a lot of time looking out the window for squirrels. In the living room, with double sliders overlooking the backyard, it was all just too much. He would run back and forth from the sliders to the kitchen door whining and barking all the way. It's possible to interrupt the obsession by blocking the view out the sliders, but pulling the curtains makes it awfully dark in the living room. So I'm trying some frosted window film.

The weird part about the squirrel chasing is that it doesn't tire him out in the least. Otherwise I might consider it a harmless passtime to burn up some of his boundless energy, though as a general rule I'm not looking to increase his predatory behavior toward small animals. He gets more and more wound up. It really seems to increase his overall stress level, and we're really looking for relaxation and settled behavior. So I try to break the squirrel cycle as often as possible.



Relaxation

I'm starting to notice a new level of relaxation in Pro's body language- ambling along, head and tail low and loose, instead of up on his toes. I think he is finally getting comfortable with the routine and what is expected of him around the house. This is not to say that he is always calm- half the time it's still like having a hurricane in the house. But there are definitely more moments of relaxation. My worry is that is will take this long (he's been here five months) for him to get comfortable in his new home once he's adopted. I'm afraid a new family won't have the patience to wait five months to see the real Pro.

Door manners

Now that Pro spends most of his time hanging out with us in the living room, we have discovered his appalling door manners. When someone comes up the stairs and knocks, we get intense over-arousal, barking and barging toward the door. It definitely could be dangerous for him to go careening toward visitors like that, so we're starting to work on his door manners.

My plan is to have his default behavior to be to go into his crate when he hears someone at the door. He already does this when he hears the word "chewie"- that's where he gets to have his rawhide chews. We had a funny incident last week where Pro managed to get into the unlatched bin where we keep the chews. He grabbed the whole bag of chews, ran to his crate, dropped the bag outside the crate, and ran inside to get his chew handed to him! So he has lots of good associations with is crate and is used to going in on his own.

Tonight we tried working on htis, but I hadn't put together any kind of plan, so it didn't go especially well. At first, he started out off leash, so when Mark knocked, he tore out to the kitchen all in a tizzy to see who was there. So then we tried the same thing with him on leash so I could guide his behavior better. We also started with him in the living room, and Mark knocked softly. Pro still went way over the top, but of course our first awkward repetition got him revved up and he stayed revved. We did a couple more reps, but it had gotten off to a tough start so we stopped. We'll definitely have to work on this more. Also, he needs to have his harness on for this- pulling on his collar doesn't help his stress level.

Sharing the couch (or not)

It seems like, little by little, Ziggy and Pro are getting to be friends. Or rather, Ziggy is liking Pro a little better- Pro has always liked Ziggy. They have started sometimes sharing the couch, but it's interesting to see the negotiation body language happen.

Last night, Ziggy was on there and Pro wanted to get up. Usually if the first dog is on one end of the couch, it's no problem for the other dog to get at the other end. But last night Ziggy was in the middle and didn't want to move over. Pro approached so that their two heads were about even, and Ziggy got pretty still. Not super tense, and no hard eyes, just still. Pro just held his position, hoping I guess that Ziggy would relent and soften his stance to let Pro up. But Ziggy held his position so it was an impasse. At that point we called Pro away and suggested he sleep on a blanket on the floor, which he did. But he really, really wanted up on the couch, so he tried the exact same thing a couple more times. Neither one escalated, it was all very polite, and then we would call Pro away. Finally he gave up and settled on the floor.

Pro's higher energy level and still rather oblivious manners can be wearing on Ziggy, so Pro will continue to be excluded from the upstairs so that Ziggy has a quiet peaceful zone.

Town Forest and PetSmart today

It was a beautiful day for a walk, so we went to the Town Forest.

Pro wore a snazzy new backpack, actually it's not new, it was Ebony's. Maybe if I fill it with rocks it will use up some of Pro's energy! But today it was empty, just getting used to it. Pro took it in stride.

Handsome, eh?

Now that the weather is nicer, there are a lot more dogs at the Town Forest, and it didn't go super well. Most dogs are off leash, and don't really listen to their owners, so all in all it is way too uncontrolled for Pro at this point. A couple of times dogs ran up to him, and his behavior was way too over the top, not paying attention to me at all, not good for him to practice. Though each time, once the other dog moved along, he settled right back down. But for now, we'll need to work somewhere more below threshold. Hence, our trip to PetSmart:

As you can see, we're starting a loooong way from the store. This was actually the perfect distance to start. You can tell by Pro's big wrinkly forehead that any closer would have been too close:

I think we'll be spending a lot of time right about here. He actually worked quite well here, some loose leash walking and hand touch, and just lots and lots of hanging out and looking. Pro really seems to need a lot of looking time. I just read a good article about taking things slow with training, and just letting your dog learn to do nothing with you, it fit in perfectly with the training place we're in right now. I think at first I did well with taking it slow with Pro, but I've started moving a little too fast. I think it is because he acts so normal most of the time now, I forget that he still has so much to learn.

Crazy week, but doing better

So, this week I was really getting discouraged. My life has been so extra crazy, not a minute to spare, and so stressful that I was completely drained. The dogs haven't been getting the attention they need, and Pro has really been the worse for it. Major cabin fever- there is still too much snow in the yard and on the sidewalks to get out much. The crusty snow hurts Pros' paws- more on his paws later. By the middle of the week he was being a very naughty boy indeed, mouthy and dragging things around the house, barking and getting way obsessed about the squirrels (I think this needs separate work).

I was starting to get discouraged about my ability to get this big beast civilized- 'not enough time' the oldest excuse in the book!

But, by the end of the week, we were starting to get some good melting and it was actually possible to take the pups for a walk. I got Pro's flirt pole out for a workout. We're working on training every day at least for a little while. Thursday night Ziggy and I even got to do some obedience at the club. It's amazing what a good stress reliever dog training is! You really have to concentrate, and the rest of the junk in your brain has to move over for awhile.

Here is a picture of one of the few peaceful moments of the week:

Training Plan, week of Feb. 20th

• It has been awhile since I wrote out a training plan. It's easy to get lazy when the dog starts to act more like a regular dog, and life gets busy. But Pro still has a long way to go.
• Some kind of field trip every day- at least a walk, but try to fit in a couple of short trips to Petco etc.
• Work on all his training exercises, but especially self-control exercises like stay and leave it, in a new place every day.
• Start over with his headcollar desensitization- very slow and happy. I made the mistake of trying a walk with it on before getting him comfortable with shorter sessions.
• Continue with go to mat from a distance.
• Frisbee etc. in yard every day.

House manners- need tuneup!

On the furniture? Really? Actually I don't care if he gets on the furniture, Ziggy gets on the couch, but maybe his new people won't like it. Plus I feel like we need to ramp up his house manners a notch. We are working on  door manners- he tends to barge through doors like a truck, knocking anyone or anything aside. Not good. So now we are working on waiting for the ok, even if the door is open. We'll have to work on the same thing in the car, but right now he's so excited to get out that he can barely sit while his crate is opened, never mind wait. All in good time.

Another biggie is respecting Ziggy's personal space. Monday night, I think Pro knocked into Ziggy once too often, and a scuffle ensued- noise on both dogs' part, bloodless chomping on Ziggy's part. I don't want Ziggy to feel like he always has to defend himself against rude dogs in his own house, that is my job. So I'm verbally correcting Pro and making him wait if he tries to knock Ziggy aside to get to something.

Pittie Love Boy!

Life has been crazy so I haven't had time to post for awhile. Pro went to visit Noreen from Pittie Love Rescue, and is now officially a Pittie Love dog! He is on their website and facebook page. Being such a handsome boy, he has gotten many admiring comments, but it will take just the right fit for a new family. He is our boy for now.

Once the reality of him going to a new home sank in, I started to think about what skills he still needs work on. He is doing beautifully on his training. Work=attention and food, so it's all good as far as Pro is concerned. We'll need to turn his house manners up a notch, and his biggie is getting more comfortable in many more situations with other dogs.

That means lots of trips to Petco and Petsmart, continuing his Ruff Diamonds class, and any other way we can get out and about. For awhile I was so busy with my folks, and we were so buried in snow, that it really was hard to get any training or exercise in at all, never mind field trips. But things are easing up a bit in the 'life' department, so back to work with the boy.

Today we went to a little train-the-trainer session at Marjie's where practice dogs were needed. I took Ziggy and Pro, and Mark for an extra dog wrangler. Ziggy of course was a star- anything for chicken. Pro was initially pretty over the top with exitement, had a couple of little blow-ups with some barking and lunging (not aggressive, just nutball excited), but overall he was a trooper! He definitely transferred his work at Ruff D to this new situation, doing a beautiful settle and giving me lots of good attention. I was very happy with him overall.  We really need to find more opportunities like that to get him just working around other dogs.

Backdating

Tonight I have a little free time for a change, so I'm starting to put in older posts, from October through December, that were hand written in the training journal I've been keeping since Pro came. It could be that this process I've been documenting will be useful to other people trying to foster or rehab a dog, so I'll try to put it all online. The older posts won't have many pictures, since I wasn't thinking blog at that time. Probably will only be interesting to dog geeks or fans of Pro anyway!

Just now I was entering the December 13 post entitled 'Mainstreaming Plan', and it's amazing to me how far Pro has come. Tonight before I put him to bed, he was snoozing loose on the floor, Ziggy sleeping on the couch, Mark in his chair. Zzzz...

Expedition

Two new things happened today, both dogs riding in the car together (crated separately of course), and a trip to the Town Forest.

It was great, just what we needed to get rid of the cabin fever that all this snow has been causing. Zig got to go off leash, Pro stayed on. As I've seen with lots of new experiences for Pro, he really didn't look especially happy on our walk. He sniffed like crazy, every single pee mark left by every dog before us. It made me think of the first day he came to play in our yard, when he kept jumping back into the truck which was safe and familiar.

We saw a lot of cross-country skiers. The first set made Pro's hackles go up a bit- he has never seen skiers before. We stood to the side, watched them and ate cookies. True to his resilient nature, the second set got no hackles, and he sat quietly while I chatted with the two nice ladies. Third set, it was like he'd been seeing them all his life. What a guy!

Here they are on the trail, Ziggy way ahead.

Pro is now zonked out in his crate, brain probably busily processing all that new information.

Vicious pitbulls and their special locking jaws

OK, this is the cutest picture ever, you have to admit.

I think I've figured out the locking jaw myth, with Pro's help. We've been doing lots and lots of self-control work, from the minute he came home. Big, powerful dogs really need self control. I've read that a 60 pound dog is stronger than a grown man, and Pro weighs 75 pounds. So the thought of me wrasslin' with him just doesn't fly. It's got to be a combination of strong relationship and self control.

So anyway, when Pro gets excited, which he does a lot, he really, really wants something in his mouth. It would be great if he didn't choose someone's sleeve, or the leash, or any number of other things that don't do well with teeth marks and drool on them. So from day 1, he has had his special football tug. Whenever we're doing something exciting, like leashing up for a walk, the tug keeps his mouth busy. We've been working a little on "Go get tuggy!" but that's still a work in progress. Mostly we stick it in his mouth before doing any of the fun stuff that gets him excited.

The other day, Pro was hanging out in the living room with Mark and Ziggy, when I came home. Excitement! Pro had to grab something, and his tug wasn't handy, so he grabbed the edge of the area rug. Not ideal. We're working on "drop" too, of course, but that wasn't working- he was REALLY happy to see me. So I went and got his tug, held it out and called him from the kitchen. Pro came running, but unfortunately his vicious pitbull locking jaws wouldn't open (feet getting one message, mouth getting another), so he did a somersault still holding the rug in his mouth! Silly boy.

Snoozing Pro

Today Pro got to spend most of the day hanging out in the living room. Here he is conked out in his crate, comfy next to the woodstove. He now goes in there for naps on his own, though we also sometimes close the door to keep him contained when we need some peace.

I'm so happy with how he's doing with Ziggy. He's really getting better at interpreting Ziggy's signals, most of which are "leave me alone!" But, now that Ziggy sees that Pro will listen to him, he's getting more relaxed around Pro. So they really are getting friendlier with each other.

Training plan- week of 1/17

It has been awhile since I wrote out a weekly training plan, but it's a good thing to do to keep focused.

• Do training exercises from Ruff Diamonds daily. Recalls, LLW in the yard, others inside. 
• Flirt pole and fetch for exercise daily. Frequent calming stops, drop toy for treats, no grabbing allowed.
• Door manners- no rushing doors, needs permission to go through. He does well for going outside, but the new exciting door into the dining room is harder for him.
• Lots of relaxed time with us in the main part of the house, making sure to keep Pro and especially Ziggy feeling relaxed.
• It would be great to get out and about for some field trips, but with the extra stuff going on in my life and the expected bad weather, we probably won't get to do much of this.

Good day today

The flirt pole is working out great- I can see more relaxation in Pro's face and body. That makes it easier to concentrate and stay calm in different situations.

We're really trying to increase his time hanging out with us in the house- soon he'll have his own house, and he needs to know how to act.

Now that the kitties are being held captive on the third floor, they are safe and Pro can have more freedom to move around. He is able to go into the dining room more freely now- he runs in looking for kitties each time, with great excitement- a daily reminder that he will do better in a home without cats. This is a great opportunity to work on door manners- the door to the dining room stays shut unless he's sitting, and even then he is not allowed to barge through- he has to wait for the ok.

Today was Sunday, and a rare day off in these days of crazy busy-ness. It was a beautiful sunny day, not too cold. After Wednesday's big storm, the roads are too salty for the dog's feet, so we've been playing in the yard a lot. Big fun with the flirt pole for Pro, then he came in while Ziggy had some Frisbee fun. The dogs can hang out in the yard off leash now with good behavior if we keep things not too exciting. If we're doing something exciting like frisbee, the tension level rises. Though Pro listens very well and can be called away when getting too excited, it's too stressful for Ziggy, so for now we'll separate them for exciting stuff.

I was very happy to see one thing that happened yesterday. The dogs were both outside, and Pro got excited and tried to jump on Ziggy. Ziggy vocally reprimanded Pro, and Pro stopped right away and gave good body language- crossways to Ziggy, head and tail down, back rounded. He was saying "Sorry, no offense." Then I called him away.

Pro spent several hours hanging with us today, and it went great. The dogs mostly can chill out off leash in the house. There was one point where we could see a little competition developing over sitting near us and getting petted. No hard eyes, but some maneuvering for position. Pro was seeming jealous, and kept moving into position between Ziggy and us. So he went into his crate with a chew, and Ziggy got a chew in the kitchen, so everyone could chill out. After the chews were done, Ziggy came into the living room to hang out with us, with Pro in his crate. He cried a little, then settled down for a nap. Yay!



Ziggy having a good run



Pro in the living room- his eyes don't really glow like that!

Zig and I went to the Town Forest for some one-on-one time, and Ziggy had a nice run in the woods.

Flirt pole

Yay for tired dogs! I'll try for a little video when the weather is better. He was happy to trade the toy for a cookie after each time he caught it, but I had to hide it in the garage after we were done!

Good night at Ruff Diamonds!

Pro was a good boy at class tonight! Went into class much calmer and happier, and worked great! He loves his food! In the middle he had a little barking fit, not sure what set him off because it wasn't the most active time of the evening, but he did settle quickly afterwards.

Tomorrow we'll talk about his new flirt pole. Tired boy, here we come!

Kitty Safety FAIL

Yesterday, I made a big mistake, and was lucky it didn't turn out too badly. I was distracted by my mom's impending surgery, and left the door to the dining room open when letting Pro out in the morning. Pro went into the dining room and started to chase the cats. Octavia is young and agile and got away, but Rudy is old and crippled. Pro got him cornered. I had also been brushing Pro the night before and forgot to put his collar back on, so I had no easy handle to grab. I got my arms around his neck and Rudy got away. Amazingly, Rudy wasn't injured at all- it appears that all Pro wanted to do was bury his nose in Rudy's fur. He got a few scratches for his troubles.

Later in the day, I walked both dogs together, which went well. Then I let both dogs off leash in the yard. Pro appeared still a little wound up from his kitty adventure, so there were a few moments that I thought he was too aroused when running around with Ziggy. He would start making the typical pittie aroused squeal. However, he stopped and came to me right away whenever I called him, so we did that a few times, and called it a day.

I think this was pretty nerve wracking for Ziggy, even though there were no scuffles. I'm sure he can tell how wound up Pro is. I really need to up Pro's exercise and tire him out, and go back to some calm walking around with both dogs.

We went inside, crated Pro in the living room while I did chores, and gave both dogs a rawhide. It took forever for Pro to settle, lots of screeching and pawing, and Ziggy finally had enough. I put him in the other room with his chew so he could relax.

I have to say it was an exhausting day and I was thoroughly sick of Pro by the end of the night. Really I was very disappointed in myself for making mistakes with him today, and discouraged. It just goes to show how quickly a situation can go bad with one wrong move. Can we really handle this?

Playtime!

Well, I'm kind of glad I missed this- I would have been so nervous! While I was out today, Mark let Pro and Ziggy play off-leash in the yard! I guess it went well- they tore around the yard like maniacs, then Ziggy ran up onto the porch like he always did with Ebony if he needed a break. Pro followed him up there, they had words, and Mark settled them down. Later we went for a nice, relaxing walk.

Great day today

Today was the first day I took both dogs for a walk together, without a helper. It went great! I put Ziggy's leash on him and put him outside, then leashed up Pro and took him out. They bounced at each other a little, which I put a stop to so it wouldn't get out of hand. Pro had his harness attached to my waist belt, then another leash attached to his collar. Ziggy just had his regular leash.

Our only tough moment was when they both started barking at a dog walking by. Ziggy started it, then Pro joined in. I wasn't organised enough to keep their attention focused. Better next time! But they did settle well afterwards.

Tonight, I brought Pro into the living room to hang with us before bedtime. We crated him and gave them each a chew. This time, they settled in to chew in a more relaxed way, not gulping the chews down.

Good day all around!