Thanksgiving Thanks

3 Stars for this week:

1) Sagan is really driven to find the entry to weave poles....ok, relatively driven.  He is doing a great job with this!
2) The contact training I am doing at home translated to a nice "stop at the end of the teeter" behavior in agility foundations class.  YAY!
3) When Sagan ran away with the toy I was using as a reward in Fun and Focus, I was able to get him back with a second toy (remember, the toy drive thing has been an issue).  Score!
4) Sagan kept a down in agility class with moving dogs this week.  Super score.

1 Wish:
That Sagan did not figure out the new game of "keep away" with the reward toy.  Damn.

Bummed our Fun and Focus class is over.  We've been working with Andrea for almost 5 months!!!  But, I will be glad to have my Tuesday nights back, and we do have a *lot* to work on.  Tops for this week include:

• Recall (it is really broken, so it needs some work)
• Build a jump out of PVC.  I am realizing how much training I could do with a jump. :-)

Thankful for all of human and pet family this holiday.  Will post pics of the special dog dinners later. :-)

Agility Continues

So three stars and a wish for this week:

3 stars:

1) Starting asking Sagan to DOWN before we do any obstacles, particularly when we have all of the dogs circling, and he is amped up with the movement.  I thought this would take some time, but he did beautifully on this on Wednesday.  Self control=access to fun, stimulating stuff.  Excellent.
2) Sagan was able to WAIT while I walked out in front of obstacles.  Held his down beautifully until I released him.
3) The toys are continuing to be exciting and Sagan was able to tug as a reward for doing things, and was interested in the toy as something thrown after an obstacle.  Even when I threw it and he ran off with the toy, he was still ultimately interested in engaging with me and the toy.

A wish:
That I not have to use the toy as a lure to get him to come back to me.  I do not feel confident that his recall is as strong as it should be.  If I am using the toy as a reward for doing the work, I really shouldn't also use it as a lure to get him back when he does NOT do the work he is supposed to.

Three Stars and a Wish-Part 2

Three stars:

-I could call Sagan off of reacting to other dogs in agility class with a "drop" command....it lasted about 20 seconds.  This is huge for him!
-Was able to square up Sagan's fronts so they were nice and perpendicular (rally obedience)
-Sagan was able to work in agility class for me, and ignore other dogs when it was his time to work.  I was skeptical of this, given how amped up he was...nice!

A wish:
-Desperately need Sagan to exhibit self-control in agility.  E-mailed instructor about opting for fewer repetitions and more self control (I'm trying to exert the things I learned in Andrea's fun and focus classes). I'd much rather Sagan show self control than get multiple practice through obstacles.  Going through obstacles won't be the issue...he gets that.

Feeling overwhelmed this week and worried agility is not my thing.  I feel all that old hatred toward class I felt when I ran Doppler.  Just not having fun.  I am having fun in rally obedience...I think because it is moving slow enough I feel like I can succeed.  I really gained a perspective on my students and those that wish things were moving slower.  It is hard to get kids on board at the pace you need them to be to succeed.

Also, 2 weeks ago, our rally obedience instructor gave us a challenge and turned over the signs on our rally obedience course (point being --> pay more attention to you dog, less attention to signs).  She made a point that you couldn't even think about signs in agility.  It made me really pause and think that agility was not something I was capable of.  I *know* Sagan is capable of it, but am 80% certain I am not.  I don't get spatial relationships, must plan out everything, and don't think well on the fly.  Not a good combo for agility.

I have Sagan entered in a rally obedience fun run 11/27....  should be good fun.  Need to decide where else to go from here.  I have him enrolled in another 6 weeks of agility class.  I will decide if we need a break or something else.....

Three Stars and a Wish...a new Sagan blog tradition

Alright, so it is no secret I'm a worrywart when it comes to my freckled friend.  I decided I would start a new tradition each week...and it is a school thing...three stars and a wish.  Since we had a great class tonight at agility, I thought I would start with this class:

Three Stars:

• Sagan actively tugged obnoxiously today on TWO toys. (Thanks Andrea).
• Sagan went in his kennel with no fuss in class (first time he was contained in the flimsy twisti-kennel) (Thanks Andrea)
• Sagan was able to redirect his attention to me after really reacting to the setup where there were 5 dogs actively circling, going through the chute, with hooping/hollering going on.  After 2 rounds of him burning the leash through my hand to react to every running dog...I GOT HIM ON MY TUG TOY!!!!!  And even better, he was able to work when it was his time to work.  I think I could kiss him, but he might break my teeth if I do, so..... (Thanks Andrea!)

A Wish:

• That Sagan learn how quickly how to show some restraint and self control in a pretty typical agility environment:  dogs actively engaged and moving.

Tonight, we did some contact work, chute, left/right turn, close/side, and a couple of sample tight turns...

Some pics are coming up...Sagan gets to see TWO of his litter this weekend!  Rye and Ben will be down at Fido's Farm.  Awesome.!

Updates on Sagan after a long break!

Yeah, so the new school year always eats up a lot of my time (I do have to teach, after all).

Sagan is doing well.  I have not updated his socialization log in some time, but much of it is the same.  USUALLY, he does not go ballistic with strangers.  We continue to have the odd bad interaction (he growled at a girl at one of my runs....  snarfled at someone in a parking lot).  But he also has moments of loveliness....running up to someone, tail wagging, able to stand in a crowd full of people waiting for a run to start.  He is making progress, but still requiring vigilance on my part.

In terms of activities, I've turned into a soccer Mom.  Here is Sagan's current schedule:

• Tuesday night:  Pre-agility fun and focus with Andrea Dexter with Agilityflix.  Classes for the winter being held at NW Paws at Play.
• Wednesday night:  Agility foundations class with Sandra Katzen at Vortex Agility.
• Sunday afternoon:  Rally obedience with Monique Feyrecilde at Seattle Agility Center
• One day a week:  swim with Tracy at Rema's dog therapy pool
• At least one day a week:  2-3 mile run with me.

I guess right now, I am most thrilled with his progress in rally obedience.  He is still a puppy and has some attention issues, but he is turning left like crazy right now.  I think he is doing really well.  In the past 2 weeks, he has held TWO 5-minute downs the whole time.  I am reinforcing like crazy, but I am walking away from him, and there are distractions.  GOOOO SAGAN.

I am most anxious about his progress in pre-agility.  He will tug and fetch like CRAZY at home, but it takes me way too much effort to get him engaged on toys in public environments.  He is soft to people pressure and finds these environments overwhelming (not shocking).  I've worked him a couple of times taking him to Argus Ranch.  Last time (September), I got him within 5 feet of the barn, laying down, with dogs and people walking past.  SCORE.  But in terms of using tug and fetch as rewards and training tools, we have a long way to go.  We start the agility foundation class on Wednesday, and I have decided (with Andrea's help) that we will focus on good treats there for now.

Can't believe he is coming up on 10 months old!  In a couple of months he will be on adult dog food.

Milestones:

• Ran his first 5K race with me on 10/1 with a crowd of about 100 people.
• Is  now jumping into the pool of his own accord to fetch and absolutely LOVES it.

By the way, people, it takes an army.  In addition to the folks mentioned above, thanks to Chris Haworth at Manners Unleashed, Cody Pollock for housesitting, Tracy Middleton for being Sagan's obedience instructor for 2 classes, and my husband for allowing me to have a third dog. :-)

3 Stars and a Wish. :-)

The post title is a teaching thing.  It is when you have a presentation and you have the student (or his/her peers), list 3 good things about the presentation and 1 wish (or thing to improve about the presentation).  It made me think about making a list of things I love about Sagan and things I don't like so much.  In actuality, we were asked to do this in his puppy obedience class too.  So here goes:

Loves:
*He is super affectionate
*He is easy to train
*He has a lot of impulse control
*He is potty trained
*He loves playing with Doppler
*He is calmer than I expected a BC to be
*He is able to play with dogs off leash with no problem
*His ears (pointy and intimidating straight to folded and doe-like)
*His freckles
*Watching him figure out he loves someone
*Watching him figure out he knows someone he at first is snarfly about
*How adaptable he is in many circumstances (the booties on his feet, kenneled in the car vs. not, kennel in a new location
*He is not a barky dog, generally speaking
*He can entertain himself with a toy for quite some time.
*He has lovely crate behavior.
*He has lovely running behavior (stays on my left without trying to cross over or go in front).


Not so Loves:
*I really have to micromange him in new, quiet situations
*I cannot let him meet other dogs on leash
*He still jumps on me and guests
*He likes to dig (I need to get a sandbox for the backyard)
*He likes to put his nose in crotches (not so much to sniff, but more to just have a place for his nose)
*He has combined things we've taught him to try to "make us" do something he wants.  He noses me (to the point of charlie horses) when he wants me to throw the ball.
*That he is genetically programmed to stop 3/4 of the way back to me. :-)

Selecting a dog trainer

Well, having had 3 problem dogs now, I must say I've had more than my fair share of experience with dog trainers.  Six, to be exact.  These range from inexperienced dog obedience trainers to medical doctors licensed to deal with fearful dogs.

Besides all of the "normal" things people encourage when selecting a trainer (how much experience they have with problem dogs, etc.), I have a list that it has taken me 6 years and 3 dogs to come up with.

1) Know yourself.  Do you do better with someone identifying everything you're doing wrong?  Or someone who will give you some reassurance and identify what you're doing right?  I've come to understand that the second is more my personality.  I want someone to say to me: "Oooh, that click was perfectly timed, you prevented him from staring at that dog..... etc."  I want someone to say to me "your dog is going to end up fine," not "your dog will end up a biter if you don't follow what I've told you to do."  While the latter may be true, I ALREADY KNOW THAT.  It is why I'm coming to you in the first place.  I don't need to become more nervous about that possibility.  Believe me, my mind has already gone there.

2) You want your dog trainer/behaviorist to be a problem solver, not a prescription-writer (and I don't mean a medical doctor...I mean someone who prescribes protocol A for behavior X). Don't buy into anyone saying "this is the way to do it, or else".  There are TONS of ways to train dogs.  Yes, I'm into positive training, but a dog also needs a stick sometimes.  As my favorite dog behaviorist person told me "You don't teach a teenager to drive by only telling them what they're doing right."  A good dose of "knock it off" has worked wonders with Sagan.  I'm a huge fan of clicker training to train new behaviors solidly, but then some other strategies can help.  The best advice I got was to stop talking to my dog so much when all the scary stuff happened.....I was "attending" to his behavior too much.  You don't need to be afraid you're going to scar your dog permanently.  Things can be undone.  The problem with a trainer that says "do this or else"....  or "only do this because".....is that it causes you (me) to be paranoid.  YES, I've used a water bottle with Sagan in the backyard to break his cycle of barking....you know what?  It works.  Lots of things do.  I didn't have any kind of breakthrough with Sagan until I started using multiple approaches.  Is he "fixed?"  No, but he's a hell of a lot better.

3) Find someone who doesn't feel the need to correct you while you are doing something with your dog. Of course, if something dangerous is about to happen, that's different.  I can't stand being in the middle of something and being told to do something differently.  I can't focus on you or my dog, and then I end up doing something else wrong.  This will be hugely unpopular but...CESAR MILAN does this.  He lets people do things, observe, and then provide discussion, ideas, critique.  I don't do well with the "No, don't let him do that" business.

4) Regardless of credentials, you need to be comfortable with who you're working.  If who you're comfortable with doesn't have as many credentials, it doesn't mean they don't have helpful information to impart.  My dog obedience instructor (who is really just starting to train dogs, AFAIK), suggested one of my protocols with Sagan was backfiring, and suggested the water bottle.  I needed that jolt out of namby-pamby land to start looking at dog training as a trouble-shooting mission, not just an "apply and hope" method.


Above all else, don't let anyone make you feel bad about what you're doing with your dog.  If you're seeking help, you're better than a million other dog owners out there who give up on their dogs.  I had someone (ironically a dog trainer who works for one of the dog trainers I went to), tell me I was selfish for wanting to train my own dog instead of letting  him go live with someone else while I "cooled off."  There are lots of judgmental people out there.

Keeping it in the Family :-)

Well, Sagan was fortunate enough to see his biological mommy and his brother twice in the past week or so. It is hysterical to watch 3 border collies stalk things and each other.  Thanks Monique for evidence of this obsession:

We had a great time at Auburndale Park that day.  All dogs ended up pooped!

Me and the little stinker!

The family.  Keeping it red.

As Monique says, a "horde" of red dogs.

Sagan discovers a new ball game to obsess about!

Brothers!

He loves his new ball.

Even learned how to carry it.

So we had another playdate this past Saturday at Nancy and Scott's place, since our normal area for dog play was occupied.  Besides, who needs a dog park when you have a yard like this!

8 dogs parties here!

The chase is on, though Smokey is going the wrong way.

Sagan had a big crush on Keegan, though Keegan didn't like to be stared at so much. :-)

We finish intermediate obedience this week, and signed him up for rally obedience classes with Monique (that will present a new challenge for Sagan!).  We continue his pre-agility classes, though getting him to fetch has been quite challenging!!!  

Yeah, Definitely Jinxed It

Well, after writing my lovely post about how much better Sagan's behavior has been, he has had some fairly large difficulties this week.  But let's start with the positive.  I've started running with Sagan, doing Couch to 5K with him and Ross.  He already has some nice running manners.  It has been fairly easy to control the leash reactivity while running.  I need to make sure I am proactive and only run in places where I can take a wide berth to avoid possible conflicts.

He also did a wonderful job in obedience...ignored a leashed dog making contact with his butt.

On the negative, had a defcon 10 moment with both dogs and people this week.  The encounter with the person happened when Sagan was meeting Duncan, a 4 month old sheltie pup:

Sagan tolerated a LOT of puppy behavior.

And tolerated a young child well.

We did our meeting at Dacca Park, a very TINY off leash park.  Figured we were good being along here.  Toward the end of our time, a man, daughter, and old hound came up.  Rather than leash him and ensure a bad dog reaction, I decided to leave him off leash and let him have a good dog experience and chance the people.  Sagan saw everyone, sniffed the dog (calm dog), and then realized that the scary man was suddenly scary.  Hackles, repeated crazy barking with Sagan standing 5 feet from the man...circled, barking.  Scared the poor girl half to death.  Finally got him back.  Leashed him for 5 minutes, and decided to try again.  He TORE around the park trying to find the man.  Fortunately, he looked back at us and decided to come back.

In retrospect, I should have leashed him and left when I saw the other dog, but....

The dog experience came today.  Arranged a dog playdate with the folks(dogs) I normally have Sagan play with.  When I arrived, 2 new dogs were there with my friend...2 boxers.  Again, my decision making skills and advocacy for Sagan were faulty.  Knowing his reactivity, I should have asked her to leave the 2 new dogs in her car until I got Sagan in and off leash.  Instead, her dog ran up to Sagan.  I consciously kept the leash very loose, and started to turn away with him after a short sniff.  I am not sure who aggressed first, but I kept spinning with Sagan's head, and the other dog kept aggressing, and aggressing.  I am pretty certain I got nipped on the hand in the process, and I am surprised this didn't end up worse.  The lady had to physically remove her dog (LARGE boxer).  I find out her dog is also leash reactive, which is why she didn't leash him.  They did figure it out off leash, though her dog was continuing to harass Sagan a bit for the first 10 minutes or so.  Time will tell if my one-shot learner learned something that stuck.  Otherwise, we had a nice time playing chuckit at Algona Pacific Elementary in Auburn.  A young boy joined us for the whole time...and was crazy, throwing the ball (accidentally) at us.  Sagan did GREAT with him, despite his crazy behavior.

Lessons (re)learned:  advocate, advocate, advocate, and know who you're letting your dog mingle with.

6 Month Behavior Changes

Well, this week saw a lot of changes in Sagan's behavior, for the better.  Hard to say if these are the result of training, habituation, maturity, or neutering.  Probably a combination thereof.  One of my frustrations as a science teacher is that I can't really isolate variables.  Oh well, not complaining!

Great social things this week:

1) Watched 3 construction guys and a pressure washer in an adjacent  yard.  No barking, pegging, or anything.
2) No reaction to any dog, even at close proximity in obedience.
3) Did great meeting 3 year old and 2 new people.
4) Super gregarious with people at a big get-together.  Existed with 6 dogs, 3 of them new
5) Made good choices when worried about a strange group of people at a park.  First barked and charged, then stopped himself, looked at us, then returned.

Sagan really liked his new friend Duke, a Weimeraner:

And he loved playing stick with his best bud:

 He is looking so much like an adult!

Well...sometimes still a little goofy. :-)

Sagan's Neuter and Fun & Focus Class

Well, Sagan had his neuter done yesterday.  No big deal.  The vet was nice enough to let us give him his pre-op shots in the back of our car since he is still freaked out by the vet a bit.  Funny.  We gave him the one shot and within about a minute, he was already somewhat out of it.  Within 5 minutes, he was laying on a towel on the floor. :-)  He was sleepy the rest of the day, and had no trouble keeping small amounts of food down.  Day 2 and he is a HOLY terror, and the incision site looks fine, so.

We went to our first fun and focus class with Andrea Dexter, and there is one other dog in class, Zhonda (sp.) who belongs to Shelly.  Zhonda is a cute Brittany spaniel, about a year old.   We practiced transitioning from crates to new environments and worked on our tugging skills.  While I didn't take pictures at the first class, you can see us practicing tugging here in Ballard Park:

Do I look as mean as the big truck?

I run for pleasure, but Sagan, I train for endurance, not sprinting!

He pulls pretty hard.

A nice small little park about a mile from our house.

So for the uninitiated, getting a dog to play tug is critical to getting them to be motivated to work with you and work close to you.  We learned a lot at class about activating Sagan's prey drive (door to the ferret room is closed people) ;-), and we learned a lot about transitioning him from the crate to novel environments and having him still focus on us.

He is also doing lovely on his obedience class tasks this week:  front, left and right finishes, drop from a distance, and 1step,2step,3step.  He always has a little tantrum upon entering class though, but usually short-lived.

Socialization is continuing.  While he is better about people, the on-leash dog issue needs lots of work still.  We took him to Bradley Lake a few days ago.  Fine with people and dogs from a distance of about 25-30 feet, and gradually got closer, about 10-15 feet toward the end of the visit.  Keyed up on hyper beefy dog at Petsmart after and had to move almost down the end of an aisle to quell the growling.  Worked him a bit in front of their doggie daycare window, which was better.  He was very pegged on one guy in Ballard park today, and very interested in dogs that passed by.

However, the good news of all of this is that I haven't seen him at anything greater than Defcon 3/10 for a long time.  He might growl and resist me pulling him away, but only for a second and then his attention is redirected to me.  I am super impressed with his trainability, so need to work that angle in those distracting environments more.

Also, at my annual OBGYN appointment (of all places), my nurse practitioner runs her dog with Cascade Comets (a flyball club).  Sent them an inquiry e-mail to see about their classes, which run in Fife in the Fall.

Me and the the little devil, er, um, I mean Sagan!

Sagan turns six months, and oh yeah, it's SUMMER!!!

Well Sagan turned the big 6.0 (months) this past Tuesday.  He is coming along nicely in many fronts, though the on-leash reactivity is still something to be worked.  He still can get snarfly at people, but isn't cowering, and isn't snapping anymore either.  Progress.  Unfortunately, for his birthday, Sagan picked up (we think) some bug from doggie daycare.  He had some runs like I have *never* seen in a dog.  So he is currently on clavamox and metranidazole and doing hunky dory now.

He started intermediate obedience (with his brother Doppler) on Wednesday.  Other than a temper tantrum about the 2 new dogs in class (about 30 seconds of the approach/retreat stuff, and I finally took his snout in my hand and told him to KNOCK IT OFF.  He did, and then he was a ROCK STAR the rest of the evening.  Really focused, able to be around dogs on leash, etc.

Next week, we get to take a pre-agility fun and focus class with Andrea Dexter.  I'm excited about this!!

This week are some fun little videos and pictures from a day in the life of Sagan:

Dinner from toys (obviously he has the Wobbler, but also about 4 Nina Ottoson toys and a few treat toys we haven't used since he was a puppy...also has a Manners Minder):



A little bit of ball obsession......  note the smoke coming from his ears:



And we fueled his ball obsession by visiting a tennis club near Ross' school.  They gave us a LOT of balls.

We're still working on "bring it here"....this is an improvement from where he has been. :-)



And lastly, a couple of cute pictures from his playdate this past Thursday:

Shhhhh, I'm hiding with my ball in the grass!!!!

Nothing but joy...let me run!

Looking handsome!

Playing with the Camera and Leanna as a Border Collie

Well, it has been a busy few weeks.  Lots of progress made in the people socialization front, some progress made in the leash reactivity stuff.  Sagan's report card:

People:  B+

Dogs off-leash:  A

Dogs on-leash: C-

Trainability: A

Cuteness: A+

Doggie daycare at Positive Approach was a winner.  Not only did they give us a nice report card and invite him back, but we also watched on the webcams.  Sagan was EXHAUSTED, but had a nice time, it seems like.

Puppy class on Wednesday was another story.  Immediately reactive, not super appropriate off leash, and lunging aggressively at dogs several times.  It seemed to ramp up quickly and besides that, the room is small, so really no where to get away.  Need to decide for myself when I choose flight rather than fight with him in obedience class.  Also deciding if I should take a break between puppy and intermediate obedience to work on the dog/leash related stuff.  I know I can continue working on it in intermediate, but not sure I can keep him under threshold.  I want to keep him in class, because I think it is good structured practice being around other dogs, and it is a great way to practice distractions with his obedience.  Would still like to do rally obedience with him, at least.

Worked him at Petsmart and at Bradley Lake in Puyallup today.  Did *awesome* at Bradley Lake.  I'm beginning to learn that Sagan gets to threshold faster with fewer stimuli.  At Bradley Lake, where it is busy, his attention is so divided that he doesn't have time to amp up on thing.  It keeps me more on my toes (constant vigilance, constant vigilance), but seems easier to get multiple repetitions.  Will work on busy environments and then ramp down.

Other good developments include a big improvement in loose leash walking.  Oh yeah, and Sagan finally lost all of his baby teeth.  We were able to find SIX of them!!!!

SEE!!!  Adult teefers!

Throw.the.ball.

Ball squish -playing with camera and shutter speed.

Hey baby, you come here often?

Darn framing.

Gag in 3...2....1

Really nice one, my fav of the evening!

Does this dog need the Heimlich maneuver?

Also realized something on my run today.  Sagan and I are VERY similar.  I am a border collie.  Here are the similarities.

Intelligence?  Very smart

Ability to herd fast moving objects?  Yes, I teach.

Reactivity when "leashed":  Very high.  If I don't trust my trainer, I take matters into my own hands...and it is never pretty.  If I really don't trust my trainer, I bite.  Hard.  (Thinking of a job I left almost 7 years ago).

Reactivity when unleashed:  low and very quick to figure things out on my own

Friendliness with people: only close friends I trust

Friendliness with strangers:  general unease

Obsess much?  YES

What a difference a week makes

So we thought my last entry was a low point, then came last Wednesday.  I started keeping track of Sagan's  socialization, and got a comment that I needed to do more "thoughtful setup" with him.  Stuff like this just sends me over the edge right now.  So I was in a crappy mood, and then we headed to puppy class.  Great combo.  Sagan was reactive right off the bat, and showed aggression toward most of the dogs in class.  Fabulous.  Needed to be spritzed several times right off the bat.  Tracy (our puppy class instructor), felt that his behavior showed aggression rather than fear.  Awesome.  Also felt that our "Look at That" game may have backfired on us a bit to where Sagan felt that aggressive display/lunging=cool game.  It did make me wonder.  We used the squirt bottle for a day or two after that when he was really going off to break his attention to things.

Then, we met Chris at Manners Unleashed.  I really went to her on a lark.  Our petsitter and his friend know her and recommended her to me, and said they loved her.  I thought...well, I can always use more dog friends.  Went over Saturday in the dumping rain, and really loved what she had to say and how she said it.  Basically, the whole approach was:

1) modified "Look at That" (movement instead of sitting still, multiple different directions of approach and repeatedly giving him relief from the stressor).  Awesome.
2) Gentle leader.  We used one on Winnie, and combined with all of the other stuff we did, I get why Sagan needs one right now
3) Leash control.  Short leash, short leash, short leash.  To prevent the "pulling him away by the neck while he is lunging and barking" business.
4) Leadership turns.  Turning into him rather than pulling him with me when I turn. (only possible with short leash).
5) No treats once object is past ("bar is closed" as she puts it)
6) A dose of "put your big boy panties on" (less chatter while walking....  just continuing on if he is turning back to look at something).

So instead of one strategy that wasn't working, I had a bunch to put together, that will work in any environment...dogs, people, noises, etc.  She also talked to me about how to set up the environment so we weren't having...good experience, bad experience, so-so experience....but were consistently having good experiences under threshold.

Then we had another session today in Bradley Park in Puyallup so we could practice in a "real" environment and she could coach us on how to set Sagan up for success in the real world.  He was *super* this whole time.  Only having one small incident in an hour with a bit of lunging at a bulldog at the end.  Otherwise, we passed tons of dogs, skateboarders, geese, screaming children......  super success.

So I feel like I have a different dog.  I know some of it is my sense of confidence...so I wish I had gone to Chris earlier.  And rather than getting criticized for how I was doing one thing....I got a complete package of what I can do to control situations....without judgment and "if you don't do this.....your dog will be this" kind of stuff.

So tomorrow, we take him to Positive Approach dog training to see if he would be appropriate for doggie daycare.  We'd like to do one day a week of this to get him some socialization with appropriate dogs.  Then tomorrow night is puppy class.  Hopefully we can translate some of our work to class in a small space.  Hoping tomorrow night is a better class!  Also signing him up for intermediate obedience with Tracy, since I really love her as a trainer.

Soul Searching

So, I hit a low point while running yesterday, as it hit me:  I have a problem dog....it isn't going to change, and he isn't going to "snap out of it."  I stood in total exasperation Sunday when we were having a nice playdate with Kane...and a bicycler walked past.  Insane, out of control barking, off leash.  Could not get his attention....could not call him off.  The only positive is that he did not decide to solve the problem for himself.  This will not be my dog park dog.  This will not be my "leave him at a kennel on vacation" dog.  Doubtful this will be my agility dog (getting him calm in a room full of strange dogs and strange people seems years away).  So where am I and is this OK with me?

I am angry and bitter we got the seemingly one dog in the litter with problems, but we love him and are committed to him now.   I believe I can get to a point where I can run with Sagan. This is important to me.  I cannot keep a border collie holed up at home. When we are moving, it is better.  

I do not think I will ever be competing with this dog in agility or otherwise.  Possible that rally obedience might be calm enough for him to handle. I would love to at least be able to do agility classes with him, but I also think that is years away.  Must accept this.

I do think I can continue to make progress with him, but I've begun to accept this is not the bulletproof dog I expected/wanted/hoped him to be. I am an informed person.  I know what triggers are, what thresholds are, and I knew what this all meant years ago with Winnie.

Sagan is an extremely sensitive dog.  Whether we have "done this" to him or not is a mystery, but genetics has some say.  His fear is widespread and ingrained and affects all of his new exposures...noises, sights, dogs, people.I think I need to be realistic and hope for behavior management......  His fear, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being debilitating, I would rank a 7.   50% of the time, he is debilitated by his fear. Unable to listen, respond, or cope.  He will be joining our dysfunctional pack at home. :-) We will continue to work with him and help him to be confident.  But after 3 months of this, I am convinced our impact will be minimal, and I have to accept this and stop blaming myself.  From Day one, hour zero, he has been fearful of new stimuli.

High point #1:  He loves Doppler and understands his pack order in our house of 3.  Winnie is Alpha, and Sagan is not challenging this.  Winnie > Doppler > Sagan

He can test the waters with Doppler and get corrected without bleeding.  Plus.

He loves almost all dogs he meets appropriately.  This precludes normal dog park visits, but at least tells me if I need to him to love a particular dog, it is possible.

Hopes:

• to run with Sagan without him barking and lunging at strangers and dogs (Think there is an 8/10 chance at this)
• to be to take him to the vet without muzzling (5/10...  will see after neuter appt.)
• to be able to walk him in most neutral environments (7/10)
• to take him to agility classes (2/10...not without a lot of calming on his part)
• to take him to continued obedience classes (7/10)

There is still a chance he will outgrow this, but I need to be realistic so that I can love and not resent my dog.  He is a sweet lovey guy, who wants to please, and loves most people.  Hoping things get better than where they are now.  Constant vigilance of environment is exhausting, demeaning, and confidence-shattering.  I hope I can give him what he needs.

A Study of Triggers

So I got a great book from Amazon this week called Help for Your Fearful Dog by Nicole Wilde.  In it, there was a suggestion to keep track of a dog's fearful reactions to pinpoint triggers more effectively.  In other words, what *specifically* is setting your dog off.  So I made some mental notes this week, and have come up with the following sets of triggers for Sagan:

• Men.  If Sagan is going to react to someone, 9 times out of 10, it is a man.  He is not afraid of all men, so I'll have to do some digging to figure out what it is specifically.  At Reber Ranch yesterday, he was passed VERY closely by 2 women, one with a noisy, squeaking cart...and had no reaction.  Man walks by=snarfle.
• Sudden Environmental Contrast (SEC).  I read about this in the book, and it really fits.  In the hallway at my school (very quiet, long, no movement, white, no sound dampening), Sagan always reacts (sometimes just stiffening, sometimes barking), when a student or adult comes out of a room into that hallway.  Also, after school on Wednesday, Sagan watched a group of track students noisily run by, but started to bark when one student (who had met Sagan before) came out of the pack to greet him.  He is able to walk through crowds of people with no problem, but when there are one or two, he can focus on that and tends to react more.  It is possible he is fearful in the crowd, but not barking, however, his body language does not seem to indicate this is the case.
• Adults more than children.  I'm not sure if this is a height thing or what, but I've rarely seen Sagan react to children....even one that came baseball sliding into him at Ross' school.  Yes, he snarfled at this kid, but no bark your head off reaction.
• Dogs (this is a big one right now).  Pretty much all dogs from all distances.

Counter-conditioning notes:  

We have been continuing the "look at that" game, while clicking and treating.  We've had some progress with that, but feel like I've come to a standstill with it.  I feel like Sagan is not generalizing what we are learning to different environments.    Because his threshold distance to what sets him off is so variable, I frequently have him over threshold before I can correct.

Given his ball obsession, I decided to ditch the hot dogs and treats and clicker, and start trying his jingle ball as a counter conditioning tool.  In other words, strangers=lovely jingle ball with which Sagan is obsessed.  We tried this twice...once while visiting the vet's office.  Sagan still barked upon entry and still barked at folks coming through the door, but he was quicker to forget about it and focus on play.  We also tried this at Reber Ranch...stood close to the checkout and entrance door with lots of people coming in and out.  Only 2 small snarfles in 2 separate instances, and his focus was still on the ball.  I have to be careful, though, that I am allowing him to see the strangers and not blocking him with the ball play.  He needs to learn strangers=ball.  

I was really encouraged by this, because I'm feeling like we aren't making much progress with the fear issue.  I'm still perplexed by where the fear came from.  For quite some time, I was convinced we had done something, but this fear is soooooo ingrained, I have to think some of it is genetic. I know that border collies in general can be sensitive to noises, and don't generalize well.  So I think we're on the far end of the spectrum.  I don't think the breeding or whelping was the culprit.... nor do I think we exposed him to something incorrectly....  And I'm also aware we're coming up on a second fear period, so I'm hoping to make some really good progress before that occurs.  Feel like I'm watching the sand run out of a timer.

Lots of Dog Socialization, Manners Minder, and People Update

It has been a bit since I've updated...seems like eons!  Sagan is 28 lbs., has 8 adult teeth, and lost 2 more baby teeth since the last entry.  He seemed to have regressed a bit this week with the people thing.  I've determined the hallway at my school is scary for him....  totally quiet, then one person walks out a door.  He is not being super reactive, but taken to doing a "bark, bark...  oh, you're OK, model".  We did, however, have a great experience at the Fred Meyer parking lot playing "Look at that."  We parked in a far corner of the parking lot so he could see lots of people, but get passed by very few in close proximity.  He did not startle or snarfle or bark at anyone, including a very large man who limped.... VERY close by and taking forever to get out of eye range. YAY for Sagan.  I sat in the back of the CRV with him and clicked and treated for proper behavior.

Sagan got to meet Kane, belonging to Nancy and Scott, on Sunday.  We met up at a mostly fenced, unnamed park in Hobart.  After some initial barking, Look at that, and calm behavior, (about 4-5 minutes to do the intro), they were off chasing sticks together and generally having fun.  They did get into some play bowing and such once they had been together awhile.  Kane introduced Sagan to the water....Sagan wasn't so sure.  Great outing.

Kane and Sagan showing their SKEELS. :-)

Puppy class was a mixed bag this week.  Sagan really pegged on people before class started, BUT, REALLY played with the pups this week.  (Week 6 of 12 week class).  He wrestled with the Rhodesian Ridgeback pup, Athena, and investigated all of the other dogs.  He likes the calm Shih Tzu, Sugar.... :-)  Also a major plus....during puppy play, Sagan went up to EVERYONE in class and did a polite, non-jumping plea for attention...no hunkering away from hands or men or anything.  GREAT!

Thursday night, we met Cody and his dog Tipsey, and Tracy, and her dogs Kimber and Nugget for a playdate at the Edgemont track.  Sagan had met these dogs before (Cody is one of our housesitters).  He got to play run and chase while the other 3 played Chuck it.  Sagan FINALLY didn't always get the ball, like he does at home.  He loves these dogs...great experience for him.

Two majorly ball-obsessed dogs.  Notice immense focus on Chuck It. :-)

Clockwise...Sagan at Cody's feet, Nugget, Tipsey, and Kimber

On Friday night, we got our Manners Minder, which is basically like a dog training robot on steroids.  WOW, am I impressed with this thing.  It is sturdy, and the perfect level of scaffolding to teach a lot of things.  YES, I paid almost $90 for this thing, but it will be soooo helpful.  We have already taught him to target a stick, and to down stay for a full minute, with treats dispensed every 7 seconds.  Go Sagan.  I only wish there was a Manners Minder that dispensed people of different varieties in such a consistent manner to deal with his fear of people. :-)

Saturday, we went down to Argus Ranch.  We watched Nancy run with Kane in agility (and he did well, go Kane!).  Then, we got Sagan out to meet Rye, his brother.  Sagan was really overwhelmed with Argus Ranch.  I knew this would be the case (stacking stressors and all), but he was able to recover once I provided visual barriers.  He also was able to turn to me and "touch" twice while he was slightly agitated.  The best came with the crazy play with Rye in an off-leash, unmowed area.  Here is the cute shot of the day with the two of them sharing a frisbee.  Thanks to Monique for sharing the pup for a bit. :-)

Nice of them to share, no?  Two peas in a pod!!!!

Sagan is growing up!  When I posted the following picture on my Facebook, someone commented on his very adult eyes.  He is 4.5 months old!!!  And what fun it has been to train a smart dog.  He is also really fairly calm for a puppy of this age.  He has his spastic moments, but is also a very gentle, lovey guy.  We just need to keep working on his confidence.  This week, I'm feeling like the more things we teach him, the more things we can ask him to do in distracting environments (like touch, etc.)...to get him to focus on other things.  This week we worked on targeting with a plate, puppy burpees, bow ("do your Yoga"), and leave it.

Fun Tricks and Socialization Update

Well, the past few days have given Sagan a few socialization challenges, but he has done pretty well.  These are his experiences since Wednesday:

1) Met Tipsey, our housesitter's dog.  I got pictures of them laying together on a mat, so I assume all went well there. :-)

2) Met Kimber and Nugget, our housesitter's friend's dogs.  Did great with them, apparently played with Kimber, and tugged with Nugget, who is elderly.  Sagan was described as tentative, but not fearful.

3) Met 3 different men while we were gone, reacted fine to all 3.  YAY!  One was in a uniform.  Scary.

4) Lowe's Duck Pond.  Loved this.

5) Lowe's.  We intended to take him inside, but instead worked in the parking lot, since he was immediately pegged and snarfling at things.  He calmed down.  All in all, a success.

6) My trail run.  About 100 people there.  He snarfled whenever anyone passed us on the sidewalk walking to the start.  Ross took him as close the crowd as he could to still have Sagan's attention.  After a few click and treat sessions, he took him back to the car.  Just fine!

7) Met Donnelle and Jason again. Some sentry barking at the door, otherwise fine and quick to warm up.  Maybe 1-2 minutes.  Then we took him in the front yard to meet their dog, Chunky, who is an enormous, but very sweet, 9-year old black lab.  Chunky very patiently sat or laid down waiting for Sagan to get close enough to sniff.  We played look at that.  It took a little while, but he did warm up to play bow and jump at Chunky.  He got one little snarly correction from Chunky and took it very well.  YAY Chunky and YAY Sagan.  This was great.  Here are Chunky and Donnelle (from their FB...I forgot to take pics):

Sagan was only irritated that he spent so much time in his pen this weekend while we were redoing our office flooring and walls.  This is his irritated look.

Cody taught him to "spin" while we were gone.  Awesome.  We also started working sit-stays and down-stays this week.  No specific command here.  I want him to sit or stay until I release him.  Sagan is also doing nicely on "heel".  This week I want to do some fun stuff with him:

-downward facing dog (bow)

-some naughty trick where I flip him off and he does something (I know, terrible, but fun)

??

He is also doing great on potty training.  It has been well over a week since any accidents in the house.  Awesome.  He is getting better at asking to go out.  

Four Month Birthday!

So....this week began my Spring Break, and we had lots of time to work with Sagan.  I am happy to report that his stranger danger seems to be lessening somewhat.  He has had lots of people experience this week.

1) Isaac Evans park in Auburn (very quiet day...did great with people, really pegged on dogs)
2) Petsmart in Puyallup (ROCK STAR....and I owe Cody and Tracy huge thanks for their help here...  they facilitated Sagan being in Banfield exam rooms to get experience at another vet, asked people to come up and pet him.  I did not see a single instance of people fear here at all.  YAY...and we stayed for almost an hour...an eternity in Sagan's little brain)
3)  Four sets of people coming over to meet him.  Cody and Jade (this one involved submissive peeing, but ended well), Donnelle and Jason (rock star), Patti and Jon,  Kim and Kwami (rock star).  We did the game "Look at That" each time.  Sagan did a bit of sentry barking at the doorbell, but took less than a minute or two to want attention, getting closer with Look at That.  All of these folks stayed for quite some time, playing ball with Sagan and generally getting ear kisses.  At least he learned those folks were lovers. :-)  I owe everyone BIG thanks for the help here.
4) The vet 2 times.  This one is gonna take some work.  He had a bad experience his 2nd set of boosters and absolutely HATES the vet tech, Heidi.  We took him into the lobby just to give him lots of hot dogs.  He is very alert and pegged, and the lobby isn't quite big enough that we can get him far enough away for effective look at that.  I opted for classical conditioning here instead.  Lots of hot dogs, me running and jumping like a goon so Sagan was more interested in jumping on me and chasing me than worrying about Heidi.  Ironically, he is far better in the actual exam room (our vet is wonderful and let us traipse him around through the building).  He was fine being put on the table (tail wagging)...and this is where he tried to chomp Heidi last week.  The best outcome of all of this, though, was that our vet allowed us to take his 3rd set of boosters home and do the shots at home (we've done this lots before, including IV fluids for the ferrets, so we weren't worried about this).  Shots went great.  Now we have about 2 months to get him used to Heidi before his neuter.
5) Puppy class. He was still pretty tentative during puppy play, but did come out to investigate, and did play bow once at the Shih Tzu puppy, Sugar, in class.  He did great on all the obedience stuff, but we're working that lots, successfully, at home.  He seems to be generalizing in new environments *really* well on this front.  We exchanged numbers with Debbie, who is Walter's mom (pit bull brindle pup...Adorable) to enjoy the quiet off leash park at Reber Ranch sometime.


So, we are off to Woodinville for 2 nights, and will be leaving Sagan with Cody.  I am so happy we have a great housesitter who also does dog training and understands what Sagan needs.  He is going to introduce him slowly to some well-behaved trainers' dogs while we are gone to continue the work socializing him with other dogs.

This week has also alerted me to something important concerning puppies that I think I knew, but got reminded about.  There are lots of people who have advice about raising your puppy, and there are lots of people who will judge everything you do.  While it is always important to keep an open mind and hear what people are saying, you don't have to put up with anyone criticizing your every move. Those of you that know me, know we've been through quite a ride with this guy and are working our asses off to ensure he is socialized appropriately and often.  You also know that this has been very emotional and we don't need negativity right now.  So imagine my absolutely seething ANGER when someone I thought was an ally criticized how we were playing fetch with Sagan, and told us to worry about him kissing us....that it can turn into obsessive behavior.  Then this total BAD WORD had the gaul to tell me I was being selfish by not allowing Sagan to go live with her for a month while I cooled off.  That somehow, my being emotional about the problems my dog is experiencing will prevent me from doing the right thing by him. Seriously, people, life is too short to accept this kind of BS from anyone, credentials or no.  So please, if you have anything nitpickingly negative to say right now, keep it to yourself for awhile.  I'd rather enjoy Sagan's ears:

New digital SLR camera;  Nikon D3100

Or watching Sagan and Doppler play with cardboard:

Or watching Sagan sleep in his favorite spot in the house:

Or watching him look handsome in the few moments of sunshine we have outside:

How handsome is that!!!

Or marveling at the fact that he has already lost FIVE baby teeth!!!!

Sagan is sooooo loving us right now!

Or generally catching adorable shots of him, like this one:

This is what Sagan thinks of the scariness level of the world.

Or capturing funny shots that need no explanation, like this one:

Uh......

So really, follow the adage your Mother told you....if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.  Sagan and I would really appreciate it.