Saturday, March 12, 2011

Lane, the imaginary reactive dog part 2

The saga of my imaginary reactive dog continues…..
Last we left off, I had just determined my new rescue dog “Lane,” had reactivity issues with boisterous dogs and puppies in particular. I arranged one session with my mom using her pup as a trigger and achieved success.

I will point out here that I am “playing” myself in this role as my imaginary dog’s owner. As a trainer, if I were to ever find myself owning a reactive dog, I would be able to write a thorough training plan and follow it. For those that are not professional trainers, this blog should not serve as your roadmap because every dog is different. I would highly recommend we get together for me to evaluate your dog and determine your dog’s training plan. Some owners also need my assistance in providing the “trigger” that is a willing and calm dog. Most of my reactive dog clients meet with me weekly or every two weeks to have a session and to check on their progress.  Now back to Mr. Lane.

In order to ensure I don’t cause chronic stress, I have decided that I will work Lane 3x per week.  Sundays I will take him to flyball practice and he will chill out in the crate in the car and when I have time in between runs, I will take him out when the puppies have their turn and do some walk-bys with my clicker and treats. Wednesday evenings I will take him to my dog training classes for two hours and crate him with a blanket away from the ring. I will get to class early and work him off the dogs in the store, take him out for appropriate demos and work him after class. Fridays we will take a walk alone after my husband gets home and walk to the dog park and stay on the outskirts. In between those “working” days, he will get to play with my other dogs, play with puzzle toys, and play some fetch in the yard as well as learn more obedience commands as necessary.

Sunday
I take Lane and Lex to flyball practice in Novato. My crates are zip-tied in the car, so I find a shady spot and pop the back open. There are two puppies in flyball class and they both get turns at the same time. Flyball however, is a fast paced sport, so I am pretty sure ALL of the dogs are triggers for Lane. After Lex’s turn, I get Lane out with my treat bag, string cheese, clicker and fleece tug toy. We walk towards where the 2 dogs are practicing. At 100 feet he is alert. I click and treat for looking the dogs (no words or commands from me) and we turn around and trot in a circle. 95 feet, click and treat. 90 feet he stops taking the food. This means we are too close. I back up to 120 feet and get him to tug with me. He does so half-heartedly. I put him back in car. This whole scenario took about 5 mins.

Next turn with 2 dogs out, I get him to go potty near the car then tug out of sight of the dogs. He is really into the tug. We tug towards the dogs. 110 feet and still into the tug, 100 feet and still into the tug, 90 feet, he drops it and looks alert then a dog looks at him and he loses it. We retreat and re-group by having him do doggie push-ups (sit, down, sit, down) near the car. Then we go to 115 feet and do some watches, click, treat, about 12 in a row, and I put him back. He is done for Sunday.

Wednesday
I go to dog class early and leave Lane in the car while I set up a plastic crate with blanket over it and soft x-pen around it. I set up my training area, get hand-outs ready, load my treat bag and get Lane out of the car. I have recently discovered he also enjoys liverwurst from a squeeze tub that I picked up at a sporting goods store. I get his harness on and let him potty then we practice walking into the store nicely. Any pulling towards the store and we make a u-turn, until he enters calmly. We see a dog about 30 feet in straight ahead, so I quickly tell him “this way!” and happily trot with him down the main side aisle. He didn’t bark or do anything since the dog caught him by surprise. We walk around the perimeter of the store just focusing on walking nicely and doing frequent watches for liverwurst. We see a dog at 50 feet that is sniffing the floor near its owner. We stand still and I have Lane sit and do looks and watches. The dog leaves, so we continue walking. I hear one of my puppy clients entering the store and tell Lane to down/stay and I walk 20 feet away and peer around the aisle and ask her to please go to the ring for me. Since I now know where the puppy will be, I release Lane and we heel to the side of the ring. We do fast pass-bys with almost a constant flow of the liverwurst into his mouth and me clicking for looking at the puppy that is only about 15 feet away frolicking in the ring. This lasts for about 2 mins. I ask the puppy owner to exit the ring on the other side and put Lane in his crate, crate facing away from the ring, covered and with its “reinforcements” of x-pen and clothing rack boxing his crate in. There is no way a dog can see him nor can he see a dog. He is crated for the 2 hours of class except when I bring him out to show something, and then I ask the puppy owners to stand outside of the ring and practice their puppy’s watch commands and duration stays while I demonstrate. At the end of the two hours after everyone has left, I let him off leash to run around and enjoy the store while I pack up.

Friday
Friday is the day I dread working with Lane. It is the most unpredictable setting: the dog park. There is an official dog park near where we live (Newhall Park). I won’t be taking Lane into the fenced park to play with dogs off leash. I will be using the whole park and be off to side as the dogs walk into the fenced park, or use the dogs walking by on leash to the trails with their owners.

I wait until my husband is home to watch our daughter and drive to the park. We could walk there, but the trails are too populated en route there. We go the less frequented parking lot on the backside of the park and approach the back side of the fenced area. We are about 200 feet away from the fence and about 150 feet away from a main gravel trail. There are lots of dogs out walking and Lane is very very interested. I get him to engage in a game of fetch with a tennis ball with him on a 30 foot line attached to his harness so he isn’t so into the dogs. He is still wary of them, but playing ball with me. Then I get the liverwurst out and we do big circles towards the fence and trail, clicking and treating for looking at any dog, even if it is a dog that he probably wouldn’t react to. We are doing quite well until I see a man with a lab puppy on his way to the gate start pulling towards us. I have a decision to make. I can tell the man to back off, I can stand there and work Lane or I can walk away.  Since the lab is out of control and the owner obviously is being dragged, I choose to walk away, well literally jog away and do the “jolly routine” with Lane. “This way!”  He lets out one bark, but then trots with me, looking nervously over his shoulder. The owner seems confused and his lab now charges to the entry of the park. Now further away we begin to make a straight line to the fencing working off the dogs playing in the park. Walk, sit, click, treat, walk, sit, click treat. I am working on him being in control and sitting at heel and seeing the dogs, then giving me eye contact. Now within 20 feet of the fence we have attracted some dogs, so we turn around and I have Lane down at about 50 feet, treat, treat, treat, treat for nice duration down. Then I release him and we walk back to the car.

My next idea for him: work on Karen Overall’s relaxation protocol and mat work for taking to the park and work and flyball. Also, finding another treat he loves so I can rotate them.

Any literature or protocol I refer to is linked on my discussion page under links at Tailored Dog Training on facebook.

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