Aha moments and when management fails

Today has been a crazy day!

I ran all over the place searching for a possibly extremely injured dog and came up empty. The dog wandered into one of my clients yard where their dog was on his tie out. The dogs had an altercation and the strange dog ran off. I went on the hunt for the injured dog because temperatures are high and the land is pretty dry right now. Sadly, I never found the injured dog. I did check on my client's dog and he will be sore and has some gashes but overall he was in good spirits and was acting very normal by the time I stopped by.

There is a lesson to be learned here: NEVER let your dog out of your home unleashed and unattended! Accidents do happen though and I will get to more of that in a moment.

The other HUGE thing that happened today was one of my clients has a beautiful German Shepherd. He is a great dog; he loves children, isn't phased by a whole lot and he's terrified of getting into vehicles. Yep, it's a huge drawback when you want to take the kids and dog to the park and the park is all the way across town. He is a large German Shepherd too. The husband can lift him (for now since he's still a puppy) but the wife can not. So, in the last 12 sessions one of our major things we have worked on was getting in the car.

Up until today, it was still a no go. He was NOT getting in there unless he was picked up and sat on the seat. So, imagine our surprise when we were outside working on Canine Good Citizen testing and he hopped in the front seat of the car because the door was open. He got a TON of praise and played with for this! He hopped out and hopped right back in. Suddenly he figured out the game. "I jump in and I get love and attention and played with!" We repeated this several more times and needless to say he enjoyed the hot dog he got for his efforts!

Dogs have "AHA" moments. It's when the lightbulb flicks on and something amazing happens. I've seen it time and time again. In order to stop bad behavior I teach incompatible behaviors. Dog jumps? I teach the owners to have the dog down when someone comes in the door. You'll notice I don't say "I teach the dog". Why? Because I don't teach the dogs. I teach owners to work with their dogs. An owner who puts the work in like the family with the German Shepherd will see payoffs and it's more rewarding when the owners have it happen than when I do.

Now, I want to talk about Management. I have always thrived on management. My house is extremely managed because of Greyson. I have to watch who he interacts with because of him being reactive. When I got home from my client sessions I was still on a high from the car and the German Shepherd. As I got out of the car I was dancing along and realized I lost a $20 bill somewhere. I ran in the house and started going through my stuff to see if I dropped it into my bag.

One slip of not paying attention (and I'm very attentive in my house to what is going on around me) and I didn't notice the black dog walking out the back door. I shut the door behind me as I tossed my bag down to go through it. Once again, not noticing that I didn't have a dog jumping around me and going crazy because I wasn't paying attention! It only took a second for Greyson to waltz out the door.

I am lucky my deck has gates that Greyson can't get out of but what would have happened if someone had stole him? I know, it wasn't but a minute but see my point? If I didn't have that area secured Greyson could have escaped, been running and I wouldn't have realized it. Yes, accidents happen but it is our responsibility to set our dogs up for success every single time. It only takes a tiny slip of paying attention and a dog who is extremely reactive to humans and animals could have become a liability very quickly.

I've always heard "Management always fails at some point" and I've seen that a lot lately. People who have two dogs on crate and rotate having it fail and catastrophic damage to their dogs happening. People who always keep their dogs muzzled having an off leash dog confront them and their dog getting their muzzle off and almost getting out of their harness. We can only manage so much before it comes to the point of being a danger. Where do we draw the line? I really have no answer to that but I know it's something I need to start thinking more about.

In closing, I'm SUPER proud of my clients and all their hard work has paid off. I know it's frustrating when a dog can't do something that you want them to but I was able to give them options and through sheer determination and positive work their dog pulled it off!

 Syn and Jelani when they graduated basic obedience!

Wedding bells and 18 hours in a car

So, a week ago Kayla and I packed our bags and headed to the land of Cleve. Otherwise known as Cleveland, Ohio. Also known as place I used to spend my misspent youth. Cleveland houses Pit Bull Zen and we were given a chance to take some classes, spend time with friends and their dogs and get some much needed vacation time in. So we drove 9 hours to my parents and crashed for a couple hours before heading into town to walk with the Pit Bull Zen.

Zen walks are always magical for me. I see dogs who are normally scared or shy transform and walk along proudly or in my case calmly with the people and dogs. The last time I walked my own dog, Greyson, it started off a little rocky (he paw slapped a blind dog in the face) and then walked next to the same dog with no problems. There's a reason walks are a "no leash greetings" zone.

This walk was magical for me for another reason though. Her name is Polly. I know her foster mom through Facebook. Hope has done amazing things with Polly and while Polly still has a ways to go, they took a chance and came to the walk. Now, Polly has never met me. She is still very nervous around new people but this was the end result of our meeting.

 Yep, that is a Polly on a leash with me holding it and the leash is loose. When we would start getting too close to the other dogs she would shy away and start to move in the other direction. I would stop, let her sniff and happily say "Let's go!" and off we would go again. She only started eating my treats at the end when we were all wore out and sitting in the grass. 

And here we are sitting in the grass! And look, there is another dog, Inara, within feet from us and Polly is too tired to care. (That and the turkey sausage that I lured her with.) So yes, the Pit Bull Zen walks are magical. And, you can read Polly's journey by visiting her mom's blog! 

So, in two days we saw dogs, worked with dogs, learned from Laurie Schlossnagle with Side By Side Dog Training, did some PBZ accounting, Kayla got to attend CLASS with Calvin (who wilted like the delicate flower he is from the heat), and saw two new PhD's for CLASS earned. Oh, and we drove 18 hours in there somewhere. Was a whirlwind weekend. Lots was learned, lots was done, and the best part of the weekend for me was meeting this guy...

BonZai!! Bonzai was one of the "27" who were taken into custody when they were found in Collin Rand's home in December of 2011. He was adopted by my friend Sandy Smith and while she fostered him for Pitty Love Rescue, Sandy fell in love and became a foster failure. I can't blame her after meeting him. He climbed right into my lap and licked me and licked me. I didn't mind one bit. When I went to thank Sandy for loving him I started to tear up. Watching his progress from a far has been amazing. He has made leaps and bounds. Sandy has used Positive Reinforcement with him and Bonzai had no problem welcoming Kayla and I into his home and showing us love while we loved on him. Again, thank you Sandy for loving him! And thank you Cleveland Police Department for acting on a tip! 

Well, the weekend was over and we came home safe and sound. While we were in Cleveland though Kayla decided that it was finally time to get married to her fiance of quite a while. Kayla's pit mix, Cupcake, was one of the first reactive dogs other than Greyson I worked with. I still remember meeting them in the park and we were just going to walk our dogs and see how it went. I couldn't get within eyesight of Cupcake without the lunging and barking happening. In the past year I've watched an amazing transformation happen. 

Through positive reinforcement and BAT, we were able to have Cupcake at Kayla's wedding. A dog who in the past was so human reactive you would think she was trying to eat your face off was able to flip on her back and ask for belly rubs from the guests. Her trigger which has always been males, no problem! Teenagers who normally terrifies her, no problem! Kayla has busted her butt working with Cupcake and following every crazy idea I've thrown at her and this is the result...

In the middle of the park, surrounded by strangers and things that have always been her triggers, she was calm and she was excellent. (I'm sure Kayla would appreciate if I mentioned the black lab, Sasha, has always suffered from Mange and skin allergies. She has been having a flare up and she looks 100 times better than she had in the past.)

I have to say I'm highly impressed with Kayla's drive to succeed with not just her own dogs. Kayla also finds feral kittens and brings them home, socializes them, gets them spayed and neutered and then finds them wonderful and amazing homes. It was suggested on my Facebook page that this was a wedding for a dog and a cat. Nope, Kayla just happens to give her heart to every animal she helps. While I can't bring another animal in my home because of Greyson's reactivity Kayla makes up for that by seeking out the feral strays in her area. AND she starts classes shortly with Dognostics for Professional Dog Training. Kudos to you Kayla and ignore the people who just want to rain on your parade. 

In closing I leave you a picture of Greyson. Greyson doesn't play well with most people but this picture means a lot to me. A reactive dog taking his toy to a child to ask for play. This is a first for Greyson. And while I am proud, I am still vigilant as any parent should be with a dog and a child.