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.