Long Weekend!

Hey all!

Maggie and I just got back from our weekend as a therapy dog team at a kids camp and I figured that we would give an update. :)

My plan for the weekend went off well and it looks like Maggie has a limit of about 2 hours of 'on duty' work if the interaction is continuous and about 4 hours if we are just walking around, being available as needed. When we took breaks, they were usually about 30 mins minimum and several of an hour or 2, depending on the schedule. Given the rainy weather, our breaks were usually indoors with her in a crate asleep or with a chew bone.

Maggie did great with the kids (about 50), and they definitely did everything we've trained for except actually hurting the dog. I was very happy with their dog interaction skills, although Maggie was hugged quite a bit, which not every dog would respond well to. She did startle a few times when kids ran straight up to her or were running around her (she has the Border Collie tendency to want to control the environment I think).

The most stressful thing for Maggie wasn't while she was 'on duty' - it was living in a cabin with three other dogs, one of which is big and fluffy (a point of concern in her mind) and one that lives near us and reacts to Maggie on walks in the neighborhood. When Maggie is stressed I've learned that her tolerance for other dogs in her space decreases quickly, and so we compensated with lots of crate time, careful handling, TTouch, a body wrap, and lots of yummy treats. She did react a few times, but overall did well.

**Something to proof for with dogs that might go to camps or something similar: being around campfires! Maggie was very concerned about the fire and tried to stay as far away as possible. I ended up having to stay about 20 to 30 feet from the fire just for her to stop trying to pull away from the fire ring and about 100 feet for her to be relatively relaxed. Lucky for us we only dealt with the fire issue once as all other activities were not centered around this traditional camp area.

I did find another stress reducer for Mags: doing tricks and/or agility! She seemed a lot more relaxed when the kids had her doing tricks or I was showing them what she could do. We even got to play on an agility course one of the other teams brought and that seemed to put some bounce in her step as well. That reaction really bodes well for an upcoming agility trial!

Overall everything went well, although I do have a very tired dog now. The people who run the camp noticed how great an impact the dogs had on the campers and have invited us back for next year's camp already. :) The dogs have been credited with helping several children relax enough to stay for the whole weekend and with moderating to some extent the semiaggressive behavior of a few older boys. Ah the power of our four legged friends!

Practice makes perfect

This weekend I was out of town, so I didn't get any training in, but yesterday I took Maggie to Buckles Feed Depot and then rollerblading.

I just had Maggie on a regular leash and collar for the feed store and she did well, very little pulling and good attention. I was looking at cat food and litter, so I was turning and stopping a lot. I think the unpredictability contributed to her good behavior since she always had to be watching me. She met the manager and was a bit shy at first (normal while in just a buckle collar oddly enough), but warmed up some and followed my 'go say hi' suggestion. The manager mentioned that she was much more behaved than most dogs and he was surprised she was so quiet and friendly.

Maggie did alert on a small dog in one of the aisles, but it didn't seem to be an aggressive alert - her tail was low and wagging fairly quickly, ears up but not stiff, eyes pretty soft, whining not growling. I just walked her into another aisle, worked a bit of obedience and her focus was back on me. We probably spent a total of about 30 mins in the store.

Next stop was the trail near the sports fields near my house. Maggie runs while I blade. Her "uniform" for blading is a 1.5 inch wide, padded "agitation" collar and a 6ft long adjustable nylon lead w/ a buckle in the handle. The collar distributes force from pulling or quick stops (this type of collar is used in protection training for the same reasons pretty much), the leash allows me to loop it around my waist to keep my hands free or adjust the length depending on the traffic level.

Maggie ran full out w/ me skating as fast as I could for about .1 mile I think. I slowed her down, allowed her to potty, and then headed toward our normal loop around the lake. We alternated running and trotting for 3 or 4 loops, dunno how far that is. Maggie didn't pay any attention to the kids on the playground and didn't react when a person rode past on a bike several times (very good for Maggie, we've been casually working on this for a while).

I practiced having her cross behind me and run on the right a few times since I use this when someone is passing us on the left where she usually runs and she did well. We did pass two dogs on the trail that were barking and lunging and Maggie ignored them after a quick glance and a preemptive "leave it" from me. I did a bit of work with her w/o the leash and practiced stopping and slowing me down as well as catching up for me to grab her collar and reattach a leash. She seemed a bit worried about being offlead and allowing me to grab the collar, but switching my catchup method to a targetting cue rather than a word seemed to help.

Overall two good sessions; very nice to see her behavior improving while just on a flat collar and lead.

Two training sessions in two days!

Tuesday and Wednesday of last week were both good training days for Maggie and I.

On Tuesday we visited the College of Ag Ice cream social. The social is a large event with the several hundred people attending all crowded into a small circle of displays and tables out on the lawn in front of Lilly Hall. I took Maggie to this event last fall and overwhelmed her, so my goal this year was to pay more attention to the dog.

As soon as Maggie's feet hit the pavement in the parking area I noticed that she was more active than usual. I put her vest on and we set out. About 200 feet from the gathering of people, Maggie started showing signs of stress: tail tucked, panting, hyperactivity, lack of focus. I ended up taking the vest off - no change in behavior - and working for about 5 mins about 100 feet from the group before moving further way (~200 feet off). We worked on basic obedience for a total of about 25 mins before I decided to quit - Maggie remained stressed the entire time w/ a few brief moments of relaxed behavior that increased the further away from the crowd we moved. One good thing: Maggie met and allowed two young kids pet her and feed her treats; amazing given her shyness around toddlers and the stress over the gathering of people about 100 feet way.

On Wednesday Maggie and I attended the dog park association's dog walk benefit. Maggie wore her front lead harness almost the whole time and we only had one growly incident (low growl, stiffening, no lunge). Maggie did amazing with several hundred dogs and people and didn't react, even when another dog approached, sat down, and hit her with his tail! That dog even was allowed to lie about 6inches from Maggie for a few minutes without protest. I was thoroughly impressed. :)

Interesting note: there were probably more people here than at the social on Tuesday, but they were more spread out. Maggie showed very few stress signals over the 2.5 hours we were there and was very tolerant of petting and dogs in her space. She was even relaxed enough at the 2 hour mark that she won 2nd place in the talent contest.

Two very different training sessions to be sure!

It's off to work we go!!

Well after spending almost 3 months at my parents' place and running amok (Maggie) or in DC (me), Maggie and I are back at school and thus back at work for both of us.

Today was an evaluation day for Mags, no specific goals. We ended up hopping into the car and heading to Petsmart. Upon our arrival, I decided to put Maggie in her Delta Society vest before entering the store. I had noticed some problems with attention and heel work at my parents' place and wanted to see if this would be a problem with the vest on.

Maggie was amazing! Even with two Rotties (an adult and a pup) charging up to her, Maggie was on her best behavior. The heeling was almost perfect without any cuing and she ignored rude dogs with only a bit of stiffening upon close approaches. We did have a few issues with wandering attention at the register and picking up dropped food on the floor, but nothing major. She greeted a guy who petted her from overhead very appropriately.

On the way home we swung by a produce stand and I took her out on a plain leash and collar. Maggie's attention was much more scattered and she pulled on leash. She did sit for me while I got my corn, but stood up as I was paying and pulled on lead again.

It appears that she knows that vest = work, which is great for therapy work, but not so great for other times. I need a dog that is well behaved regardless of what she's wearing, especially if I'm going to try and expand my training business - Maggie could be great advertising if her performace is spotless or could be detrimental publicity if she's less than steller on lead. New goal: polish behavior on just leash and flat collar.

I am considering buying a vest like her Delta Society one that says "Dog in Training" and then my business contact info - she could be a great billboard lol and it would help cut down on distractions I think. :)

Starting Point

For those who don't know me and/or my dog, Maggie, here's some background info:

ME: 20 yo college student with a passion for all things canine, animal science major with behavior/wellbeing specialization and psych minor, president of Campus Dog Owners' group on campus (new website is at http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~cdog thanks to my wonderful bf and his new web design company :) ), Animal Science Abassador, ANSC Mentor, well you get the idea. I alternate between procrastinating on everything and being super busy, go figure.

MAGGIE: 6 yo spayed female Border Collie, adopted from the Bloomington Animal Shelter (check out their pet listings on http://www.petfinder.com) at 11 mo. When Maggie came to live with me, she was severely undersocialized and was an escape artist (jumped a 5ft fence from a stand still on the first day home). People who meet her now say she is a completely different dog. Currently she has 2 Jr. Handler titles with the United States Dog Agility Association, works with me as a Delta Society Pet Partners therapy dog team, holds a Canine Good Citizen title through the AKC, serves as a clicker training demo dog, and is an all around highly accomplished canine member of the family. Maggie is the reason that I am into dog behavior lol.

So you're prob wondering what this blog is for aren't you? Well here's the idea: I need to work with Maggie on various training goals and I figured this would be a good way to keep my nose to the grindstone and increase accountability. The original goal was to document Maggie's training as a detector dog (I visited the National Detector Dog Training Center this summer and got to work a few dogs there; I figured Maggie could be my guinea pig), but I think I will make this into a general training log.

Now on to the main attraction!!