Offering Behaviors

I haven't posted much about what Vivre and I have been doing. There have been a couple of times I was thinking "Oh I have to blog about this," only to get busy and forget. The last week or so I have started working on having her either lay calmly on her side. I want to work her through the relaxation protocol and start the mat work from CU. We have done several of the other games in CU, but not the mat work. I opted against using her regular down because it has such a strong reinforcement history I don't think she will relax in that position. Instead she will be ready to keep working. So now she knows that if she lays on her side she will get petting and puppy massage. (Rubbing circles on her jaw just knocks her right out.) And a position that I hope to condition to mean "this is calm time."

Since it is so easy to let her roll all the way over on her back from that position I have also rewarded her rolling over with all four feet in the air. What she usually does is roll over first and bat at me with one of her paws then when I start petting her she rolls back and lays on her side. So it has become a way to solicited calm petting time. (She either nose bumps me or drops a ball at my feet if she wants to work)

I absolutely cracked up last night. Apollo, my golden mix, doesn't really care for Vivre and will mostly completely ignore her. After calling her away from him after repeated pestering attempts I watched her go right over to Apollo, look at him for a second and then lay right down in front of him and roll over then start batting at his face with her paw. The exact same behavior she uses to solicit attention from me.

I don't really do puppies. The house training and the teething and the complete lack of a decent night's sleep (and this is just a few weeks, I can't imagine parenthood.) But having a dog that has learned from the start how to trade behavior to get what she wants is just great. She is such a hoot.

What We Can Learn From This....

There has been a lot of news around town about Bugsy's death. I have heard several comments and reports blasting animal control. The fault in this situation lies not with Wayne, who tried for four days to catch that dog, and finally had to make a hard decision, but with the dog's owner. Bugsy's owner failed his dog in many ways. The most obvious by not keeping him confined safely in his yard and then by not coming to get Bugsy when he broke his chain. But his irresponsibility goes much further than that.

Before I go any further I would like to say that while I personally have no problem blasting this individual that isn't the purpose of this post. I want people to look at the mistakes made in this situation and learn from them.

The owner (who hasn't yet been named) picked a breed with a tendency to roam even though he didn't have any way to properly confine the dog. Please do your research when choosing a dog breed. (If you go to the shelter to pick mix it can be difficult to narrow down breeds, but these dogs are usually full grown and hopefully the shelter staff can give you an idea of the dogs personality and temperament.)

Puppy Socialization is very important. Dog's have a finite period of socialization during that time they need to be properly introduced to a number of different people, places, and situations. Dog's with protective tendencies (such as Great Pyrs) require extensive socialization and that shouldn't be forgotten. Puppy socialization is an important and extensive subject beyond the scope of this post. However because it is so important Dr. Ian Dunbar has made his books Before You Get Your Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy available for free online. Socialization is a big thing for me, it needs to be done and it needs to be done well. As a vet Dr. Dunbar is concerned with balancing the socialization needs with the need to keep the dog safe from disease. Personally I would avoid public dog parks and similar places, but consider lack of socialization a far more dangerous disease than parvo since it kills so many more dogs.

Socializations isn't all there is, genetics and temperament also play a huge role in personality and can limit how friendly the dog will be with strangers. As live stock guardian breed he was never going to be an outgoing loves everybody kind of dog. According to the AKC the Great Pry should be "strong willed, independent, and somewhat reserved, yet attentive, fearless, and loyal to his charges -- both human and animal." From the descriptions this didn't describe Bugsy. As time went on I heard more about how it took time before he would come to the people trying to feed him and his timid personality. This was likely a combination of poor socialization and genetics.

Picking a breeder and a puppy is a very important part of getting a puppy. A dog with good genetics can over come a lack of socialization. It is important to note that a good temperament genetically can come from a crappy breeder. My aunt has a puppy mill poodle who spent the first several years of his life in a small crate full of his own filth and now is very friendly with strangers. (Though he has still bitten in fear.)

If you don't have the time or the experience to put in to a dog that will require more training and/or socialization then either pick a breed and a breeder who will give you a dog that is naturally more inclined to be friendly or go to a rescue and get an adult dog that will fit your needs.

The "Come Game" is a wonderful tool for teaching both puppies and adult dogs to come to people. Directions can be found here. If you have a puppy or adult dog that seems to be reactive to strangers the best resource I can suggest is Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt. The book is worth at least twice its weight in gold.

Please learn from this tragedy and do what you can to make sure that your dogs and Wayne never have to go through anything like this again.

Crazy

Years ago my mother and I were at the hospital answering medical history questions since my great grandmother was about to go in to surgery. When they asked if there was a history of insanity in our family, our reply "You Betcha." I am only now realizes how true that was.

Trip to Dog Slaughter

So we went out to Dog Slaughter Falls tonight. It wasn't a bad hike, but I think it would have been easier if I hadn't been hauling several pound of camera equipment and being dragged along by a little doggy dynamo. Although no where near as fun without Vivre. There were a couple of places that were so steep I had to take Vivre off leash. It would have been to big a risk to have her navigate some of those rocks while attached to me.

Once we got down to the falls I took her leash off and let her run and play in the river. I'm probably not supposed to let her off leash in a national park, but she sticks close and we were in a bowl so nobody would suprise us and she was unlikely to take off.

I scared her big time when we started back. I tripped on a wet root and went down hard. I have a huge bruise and poor Vivre probably thought I was about to fall on her. When I fell I lost my flashlight. Which was a real pain, though we did make it back to the car before full dark. Though just barely. I am uploading some flickr shots, though it was so dark that I had to use a fairly high iso. Which means that the shots are noisy. I will head out there earlier next time so I can spend more time and get some better shots. Anyway here is a quick video clip I took of her wandering around the river.

Mini Terv

Vivre went in for her shots this morning. Renee and Todd had their dogs in, a GP and a newfie- flat coated cross. Vivre has never seen dogs that size before. So to distract Vivre we went to work. It was pretty crappy heeling, but it was the first time she has ever heeled on leash. That combined with the interesting doggy smells and the black giant watching her she did pretty well. I was happy with her performance.

I have been guesstimating her weight since I don't have a scale. She is tiny! She is about 20 inches and 35lbs. It is supposed to be cooler today and tomorrow, so weather permitting we'll go hiking this weekend. If it rains tonight then I will try and go to dog slaughter, if not then we'll head somewhere else. I will definitely have my camera so I should have some pictures from the trip when I get back.

The Wonder of Water

Vivre has never been crazy about water. While her sister, Juno, loves all things water, Vivre considered water a form of cruel torture. Today we walked down to the creek so I could play with my new camera. her normal behavior is to get across the creek as quickly as possible so she can stay as dry as possible. However I was walking up the middle of the creek to get some shots. Then I noticed splashings sounds. I have never seen her voluntarily get wet, but when I turned around there she was running up and down the creek and splashing through the deep part in the middle.

She didn't get up the nerve to lay down in the water, but a few more walks on hot afternoons might get us there.

Hot!

Last summer when Vivre made the trip from lovely northern California to Kentucky she wasn't happy with the heat. She just layed stretched out like she was dying any time she started to get hot. Not so this year.

My AC has been on the blink. We had somebody come out to fix it, it ran for a few hours and quit. Then the weather got cooler and his motor fell out so I just didn't worry about it. Lately the weather has gotten warmer again so he came back out over the weekend to fix the air, it ran for a few hours and quit. It is almost 90 degrees in here and Vivre keeps dropping tennis balls at my feet. I can't believe she wants to run and work in this.

Though I vastly prefer this to the 12 degrees and seven inches of snow, I am certainly more willing to work and play when it gets cooler.