Agility Updates

Well, we have gone to two trials since my last post.  One over Thanksgiving weekend, in which we got qualifying NADAC runs in Novice Weavers, Novice Touch n Go, Novice Regular, Novice Tunnelers, and Open Tunnelers.  We got our first NADAC title (say hello to Sagan TN-N).  It was a great weekend!

Novice Touch n Go:  Q, 1st place:  Teeny bit sloppy, but at least we had a stopped contact!


Novice Weavers:  Q, 1st place:  Only had to correct the 3rd weave entrance.  Good dog!  Sagan had a cheering crew for this run...  Tracy and her niece Lauren came to watch.


Novice Tunneler's Run:  Q, 1st place, Novice Title:  This run was a thing of beauty.  No commentary here.  Just lovely!


Novice Regular Run:  Q, 1st place:  A little sloppy all the way around...notice how I pulled too hard off the A-frame at the beginning.  Sagan is such a good boy and listens to my directions, whether they are good or not:


Open Tunnelers:  Q, 1st place:  ZAP allowed move-ups from day to day, so we got to run Open Tunnelers on Sunday.  This meant I was running in this, and 2 novice regular runs, all within 20 minutes.  I did not have time to walk this course.  Went out cold and nailed it!  Well, it wasn't the neatest tunneler's run we've ever done, but super proud of both of us:

Then, we went to a CPE trial 12/28.  We got qualifying runs in Level 1 Wildcard and Level 1 Jackpot.

Jackpot-Level 1:  45 points, Q, 1st place.  We would have had 50 if the judge had caught our dogwalk contact, and 55 if we made our A-frame contact.  This was fun, and it was nice to not worry about missed obstacles:


Wildcard-Level 1:  Q, 1st place.  This was kind of a sloppy run.  We dropped our first bar (you can do this and still Q in CPE).  I almost fell after the dogwalk and then my handling got sloppy...had to pull him back to hit the double jump, and then I didn't give him any directionals.  Oh well.  Was a smoking time at 18.35 seconds!

Med Updates and Moments in the Agility Ring

So, we've added Trazodone onto our current medical regime.  I'm fairly certain I want to dump the Paxil and try Prozac instead after our 12/28 CPE trial.  I'm seeing extremes at both ends with Paxil, and I've read better results with Prozac.

In keeping with celebrating the positive moments (which I have a tendency not to do), we went for a run in Game Farm Park a couple of weeks ago.  I pulled him off for an approaching dog at a distance of about 50 feet.  He LAID DOWN and WAGGED.  Holy shiznitz.  Wow.  In the same run, he went apeshit at a distance of 30 feet.

Don't ever let anyone trick you into thinking your dog will be much better or easily managed.  It is a lifelong commitment with minimal improvement.

Having said that, I've entered Sagan in the ZAP NADAC Thanksgiving trial and the RAT CPE 12/28-12/29 trial. I've remarked, ironically, to people that most get nervous in the ring.  It is a blessing that my nervous moments are before we run, waiting, in the queue.  When I get in the ring, I can finally relax, because Sagan gets right to work.  Seriously, I have no ring nerves.  I have moments of anxiousness about what might happen, but no real nerves.

I have a few acquaintances struggling with reactive dogs. I'm struggling to remain positive.  After owning 3 like this, I really don't feel that reactive dogs can be rehabilitated that much.  After 20-30% improvement with management seems to be the norm.  The examples I've heard of much more are few and far between.  I also remember the adage "do one thing everyday that scares you."  My heart palpitates bringing Sagan into Argus Ranch.  Part of me wonders why I do it (why would I put other dogs in danger?) and part of me hopes statistics is in my favor.  Part of me thinks I'll find the wonder combination of drugs (which is really ALL I have left).

In absence of that, all I can hope is that aging mellows his reactivity and we manage to not have encounters at trials.

Here is hoping there is a drug combo that gives Sagan the opportunity to make good decisions.  Here is hoping that all of the training, desensitization, counter conditioning, and BAT finally take hold as he matures.  Here is hoping I run into very few people who don't at least empathize with where I'm coming from.  People can be harsh and insensitive at best, and rude and completely critical at worst.

Wish us luck as Sagan turns 3 in December.

Paxil Updates and Resources

So we reached 6 weeks of Paxil with Sagan last Friday.  I'm seeing better choices about 20% of the time and WORSE choices about 80% of the time.  Not sure if this means I need different meds, more of the same med, or an additional med.  Will give it 2 more weeks before deciding for sure.

Because I need to feel like I'm doing something positive in this vein, thought I would post links to several resources about reactive dogs that might help someone in my situation.  These are real links from real people with real frustrations, not the irritating self-help pages written by organizations that seem to say things like "if you keep the leash loose, you'll notice improvement in your dog's reactivity."  Oh my, if it were only so simple:

http://notesfromadogwalker.com/2013/10/21/reactive-dogs-interview-with-sara-reusche/
(She talks about the long haul of reactive dog ownership....  this is very, very true).

http://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/practice-makes-perfect-managing-your-dogs-reactivity/
(The importance of not letting your dog practice bad choices....I find this one the hardest).

http://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/training-your-reactive-dog/
(Training your reactive dog....a bit of a misnomer, since it much more complex that "training", but still good).

http://loveandaleash.com/2012/04/05/five-phases-of-reactive-dog-ownership/
(Five phases of reactive dog ownership.....  I feel like I'm in an "acceptance" phase not mentioned here.  I'm just stuck in limbo and I feel I've done all I can without meds).

http://reactivedogs.blogspot.com/
(Going for the Gusto...a blog)

http://bullinthecity.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/how-to-live-with-a-dog-reactive-dog-and-not-lose-your-shit-an-impractical-guide/
(Hot to live with a dog reactive dog and not lose your shit) :-)

http://thelittlebeardogblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/how-to-help-a-reactive-dog-and-their-owner/
How to help a reactive dog.

Medication Updates and Agility Trials

Well, after a few more setbacks, I decided to dump the L-theanine and go for the heavy pharmacologicals.  Sagan has been on Paxil a little over a month.  The changes I've seen have mostly been concerning.....  he is quicker to react, more likely to charge dogs, but seems like the valleys and peaks are less steep?  I don't know.  None of the drugs I tried with Winnie helped at all, so maybe I'm already coloring my experiences with Sagan....don't know.

Sagan went to another NADAC trial (put on by EAT in September).  We had 1/4 qualifying runs, and it was in Touch n Go.  For some reason, at this trial, he was unable to select the A-frame over the tunnel (resulting in a few NQs).  Thus 1st place qualifying run represents my SERIOUSLY concerted effort to get him over the A-frame.  LOL:


He did a CPE trial (put on by MudPack in October).  We had 2/4 qualifying runs...both 1st places in Standard, Level 2, and Jumpers, Level 1:





Sagan scared the bejesus out of me by charging another dog in the ring after our Jumpers run.  ACK!  Fortunately, he made a good choice, but I REALLY need to work with him on focus after runs...never a problem before.....

The Medication Journey Begins!

So, I've decided to try some medications for Sagan.  After almost 3 years, that boy is full of tools, calming signals, yet our progress has really stalled.  So, here is the plan:

He's been on L-theanine for a little over a week.  This stuff takes almost 60 days to get into the system.  There were a few times this week when I *thought* I was seeing improvement:  He had a totally soft mouth and body language when leaving agility class Wednesday night when he saw 3 off leash dogs behind a fence.  That was great.  He is back to doing better (mostly) on our runs together.  Anecdotally, he seems even MORE sensistive to noises, though he seems to be REACTING less.

After L-theanine, I will either try melatonin or some drugs through a vet (ala Prozac and the like).

I know how it all works....this will be a big experiment in dosing, correct drugs, and continuing the work we've already started with counter conditioning, desensitization, Control Unleashed, BAT, emergency U-turns, look at me, look at that, etc.  I find my default behavior management strategy is to check for the "turn to look at dog, and look back at me, then get a reward."  This is not really "look at that", as I'm not clicking for the looking at the trigger, but rather for making the good choice of looking back at me.  If he is unable to do that, I click for the looking at the dog, which will normally snap him out of it.  Then I ask for a "watch" and reward that.

I'm hopeful on the meds, and I think I will be able to read fairly quickly what is going on.  Sagan's body language cues are very easy to spot.  Tail goes from relaxed to high and curled, and ears stand straight up.

Will post with updates.

Bumps in the Road

It is funny. Every time I come here to write or post on my FB about the issues I have with reactivity training in dogs, I know there are a million people who must think I'm just high maintenance, a drama queen, or a worry wart. Some probably think "It's a dog, and that's what dogs do." Some think I must not have gone to the right training people, and some must think I'm doing something else wrong.

 It's like most other things I read about, I imagine.....until you've walked a mile in these shoes, you truly have no idea. I've come to understand I'm not crazy when I read about other reactive dogs on blogs, what other smart, persistent people have tried, and the anger that comes from these people in describing their attempts to give their dog a normal life. So in the name of education, assuming you don't fall into the categories of people described above....here are a few of the things that cause emotional reactions in me, when dealing with reactivity.

 1) The utter pang of fear in my gut when I spot an off leash dog looking at us. (Why? Partially because of the embarrassment that will ensue when my dog becomes Cujo, and you don't know the 3 years of consistent training I've done to try to change it, but mostly because I worry about the damage to my dog, and mostly for yours. If my dog bites yours, mine gets the blame, and possibly worse.
2) Reading accounts of how "long" it takes a reactive dog to see results with training, and see them describe the length of time in months.
3) Having people tell me that "tension travels down the leash." Brilliant advice. It doesn't matter if I do or don't tense the leash. At some point, your dog tenses the leash itself and you have to haul the dog away.
4) Having people get pissy when you ask them to leash their dog. There is a leash law. I have a right to be there, too...and have my dog safe.
5) Having people make excuses for my dog. (Oh, but that other dog was doing this...oh, but this was a new place....oh, but.... there was a wall next to him). I don't want any more sunshine.
6) Having to tell people not to come pet my dog. Boy, you feel like such a bad guy.
7) Having to REALLY plan, EVERY SINGLE TIME you take your dog out of the house. Where can I park? Where can I duck behind a bush? Where can I find a quiet place to let my dog potty? Where are there blind curves? Where are there likely to be uncontrolled dogs? Where are there likely to be kids? Truly exhausting.
8) Having to make sure another adult is with us (AKA Ross) on most of our excursions out of the house. Seriously, two people to handle one dog? If there is an off leash dog around, I need Ross to be able to run interference.
9) Having to carry dog fight spray with me everywhere I go.
10) Having to cross the street to avoid a perfectly calm dog and owner walking toward you on the sidewalk. (They really think you have problems).
11) Knowing that most people don't get to see how truly sweet your dog is when he isn't stressed out. 12) Having to watch arriving cars closely at the park to make sure they aren't going to let their dog out of the car, unleashed, while they get situated.
13) Having successfully avoided an off leash dog playing in an on leash park, and spending the rest of your walk worrying where they will go next.
14) Seeing a young child being walked by his/her dog. Make my heart palpitate.
15) Rehearsing what you will say to a dog owner if their off leash dog comes up to yours and causes a dog fight. Rehearsing shifting blame back to their dog.
16) Never being able to let your guard down and just WALK.

 If you think any of these are unnecessary/overvigilant, you've never owned a dog like this. Not only are you trying to ensure their training, and that they stay under threshold, but you're also imminently aware of the physical danger to your dog and others getting into a dog fight, but also the much larger repercussions of someone else deciding to report your dog as dangerous.

 I should say: Sagan has NEVER bitten another dog or gotten into a true dog fight, though he has argued (instigating and responding) to other dogs. I'm convinced the only reason why is that I have to be a complete b@#$% in public. It isn't pleasant, but I'm just protecting Sagan. Sagan will be three in December. He backslid a bit this past week, after we went to an outdoor agility trial. I would still say we are heavily managed, with my physically handling him by covering his face or shoving his face between my legs is the solution about 30-40% of the time. This is with about a year of obedience, 5 sessions of Control Unleashed, 2 behaviorists, a board and train, BAT protocols, and concerted outings to practice. If you have a reactive dog, you're in for a BIIIIIG commitment.

NADAC Trial 8/11

Well, this trial was not Sagan's finest hour, though he did have a lovely Touch n Go run (one DUMB mistake on my part), 1 qualifying (and 1st place) tunneler's run, and 2 yucky, sloppy regular runs.  He was also REALLY reactive today.  This was his first (and probably last) outdoor trial.  Too much to see and keep track of.

But, here are our runs, without further ado.

Touch n Go (so beautiful until I hesitated and sent him in the wrong end of the tunnel.  Damn)

Regular (yuck: off course, and BAD contacts.  Sagan never has bad contacts....blah)

Regular 2 (yuck:  off course, and MORE bad contacts.  BLAH)

Tunnelers (BEAUTIFUL....  and ALMOST perfect. :-)

Successes and Updates

So, it has been a long time.  Sagan and I have had a lot of successes in the past months.

In early May, our behaviorist offered to take Sagan for a few days for a board and train to help us move past this training plateau in terms of his reactivity.  After 2 years, we were still looking at 20-30 feet threshold with most dogs (calm or not).  Frustrating.

After using the "Look at that" protocol and others, she felt that with his strong, border collie prey drive, that he was being obedient to "look at that" and doing it, but was not calming as a result of it.  Yep, my own observations confirm that as well. She (and others) have confirmed that my timing and emotional cues were spot-on, so..... So she tried an old school "look at that and stare at me" protocol (ALA the old "watch" command).  She said it worked great and rarely required any kind of extrinsic reward (food, toys, etc.).  That's my driven boy.

I lost my sweet cattle dog mix, Winnie, 13 years old, right before Sagan's board and train.  She was a sweet love, also a reactive dog.  She was, in many ways, what people refer to as a "heart dog"...maybe because she was the first dog I owned in adulthood, maybe because she and I are both BEYOND stubborn and don't give a rip about it. She will be raising hell in heaven, if you believe in that construct.  I miss her like crazy and think about her every day.  She was true to reality in a way humans can't be.   EFF you, she says, "I'm the badass bitch,  here."  By God, she is and was. Her theme song was the one for CSI Las Vegas"  Who is she, Gr, bar, de wooof...."  I miss her so much.

While some people need time to grieve, I needed to fill a hole.  I am still mourning my girl, but needed a new girlie.  Welcome Roux, a 1-year old BC/whippet mix:

Roux has been an amazing addition to our pack.  She is non-plussed by other dogs, and doesn't react to Sagan reacting to other dogs.  I've begun to take both of them running together on my waist leash. Sagan started out reacting to dogs and stopped once he saw Roux not at all bothered by agro dogs behind fences and the like.  Wonderfully, Sagan has helped Roux with her fear of cars.  Roux was a beautiful addition to our pack.

In May, we ran our first agility trial in CPE. Our wonderful friends, Teddi and Cathy, helped protect Sagan on the way into the ring (our biggest worry) and got TWO qualifying runs and TWO 1st place runs!  Holy cow!  This confirms that once Sagan is involved in work, reactivity is a non-issue:

5/11 Regular Run:  Qualify and 1st place:

5/12 Regular Run: Qualify and 1st place:

So we entered another NADAC agility competition with equally impressive outcomes:

6/23:  Novice regular run (Q and 3rd place):

6/23: Novice tunneler's run (A messy Q and 2nd place!):



If I can continue to get him in the ring, he will do amazing things.  Getting him in the ring is no small feat and requires my husband as a placeholder and an army of friends who are advocates.

It is NOT easy getting him in the ring, but he is like Kevin Costner in For Love of the Game.  It all melts away when he is there, and he is the epitome of focus.  I am a high stress person, and I think the nature of Sagan's stress helps me.  He is stressed getting in, so once we're in the ring, the rest seems like absolute CAKE to me.

Still working on the reactivity, but we've jumped a few hurdles, pun intended and not. :-)

Becoming a Running Buddy

So we are in the midst of Control Unleashed 2 for the 4th time.  This class is soooo good for Sagan's reactivity issues.  It is in this class I feel that I can actually truly make progress with him.  I met up with Janey last month for some "car crash" from that class:






 Minus crappy leash manners in this video, he is doing good work in class, and is constantly being challenged in an appropriate way. I am taking a break after this session for awhile. I'm nervous that starting my Ph.D. might mean that I won't get to take this class for awhile, but I hope to make it work. :-)

 Agility is going well....I need to get some video of him doing work. We did this crazy front cross/post turn drill in class a couple of weeks ago. Several jumps and he did it all. I'm figuring it out, and so is he. He LURVES agility, so I am still really trying to advocate for him around the new folks in class. A few folks in our agility class are encouraging me to enter him in a trial in May...we will see, though I want to stay true to what I said in my last post. Want to get him more solid mentally before I attempt that.

 The latest is that Sagan and I are going to run a half marathon on 4/28. He is currently running up to 7 miles with me. I am investing in 2 different sports harnesses, since the Easy Walk is chaffing on those long runs. Trying the Comfortflex from Clean Run and the cool IDC harness with the name patches. Sagan is such a polite running buddy. I put him on a double-length bungee hands-free leash. He runs so nicely. This last weekend, we did the 7-mile run, and managed to navigate a busy street, several on-leash dogs, and a couple of off-leash ones. THIS, however, is the cutest part of our run...the start of it: This is actually a walk, but he does the same on our runs. And it is such a Pavlov moment...the beep of our Garmin watch goes off, and Sagan pulls like an Alaskan sled dog. LOL Fortunate Ross and I can enjoy Sagan in this way. :-)

Coming to a Place of Comfort

So I have a strategy that is "working" with Sagan, and that is reframing dogs with the presence of a ball, which is heroin.

While i am totally encouraged by this, this year is characterized by a reigning in of my goals.  Sagan is not my competition dog.  At least not in the near future.  After 2 years, we are still looking at 20-50 feet threshold radius for unknown dogs, even with our "secret bullet" of the ball.  I have no goals to compete him this year.  Even with behaviorists, control unleashed x 3, and practice, he still isn't calm enough to be within working distance of dogs.  Even tonight in agility, he couldn't handle dogs he has known for months.

I am OK with us never competing, but it has taken me two years to get to that point.

I'm motivated to write because there is a new student in our agility class who has no clue about reactive dogs.  They walk their dog within feet of Sagan's kennel, even after reminders from Ross and me about how reactive Sagan is.  They leave their dog out and require reminders to put him up when we run. They look at us with scorn when we ask for that.

I feel like the successes we derive out of class are in jeopardy.   I resent that there is no place we can really safely have our dog, and I am fiercely protective of this venue. Our instructor does not require crating, and this may be the reason we end up leaving class, and leaving agility as a whole.  I hope this is not the case, but I do understand that this is the result of the dog problems I deal with.  It may be that we are relegated to nosework, which seems to be one of the only venues that is truly friendly to reactive dogs.

I came to understand tonight that what is upsetting me is the pressure to compete and have Sagan be workable in this environment.  It is a humble pill to swallow that this is not reality...and it really isn't.  While he may love agility, he may have to deal with loving agility in class, and that being the end.  He is a smart dog that needs brainwork, but that brainwork has to be tempered and protected by what he finds overwhelming.

At the least, I feel I've learned agility handling skills that will benefit us in class, and possibly a solid temperament dog in the future.  Coming back to the numerical distance we have to have for Sagan not to react.  After 2 years, we are still at 20-50 feet for calm dogs.  In my estimate, that is progress neutral.

Agility Updates

Well, it has been a quiet couple of weeks.  Agility, rally, and control unleashed have gone well.  Sagan "graduated" from Control Unleashed 2 this past weekend.  We've been specifically working some pattern games, but largely, I'm trying to shift "look at that" into a new game, where I click on the look back at me.  It is actually working quite a bit better than our old "look at that" game.

Anyway, I'll keep this one short and sweet.  We did awesome in a 16-obstacle course in agility this past Wednesday.  A high point after a few weeks of garbage!

Starting Over....Again

I suppose owning a reactive dog involves a series of starting over.    I haven't posted for awhile, partially because there is nothing new to say.  While that may seem like a great thing, I think it is more about a lack of any change.  I can count on Sagan to be over the edge reliably every few weeks.  The last 2 episodes involve class-based things.  In Control Unleashed, a Bernese cross came up within about 5 feet of Sagan's kennel while the Bernese was doing off leash work and distracted.  Sagan has wanted to eat him the last three classes, to the point that both of our dogs have to have their kennels covered while the other is working.

In rally yesterday, a dog was there for make-up, and in 50 minutes, I went through 3 cups of treats, and experienced about 5 growling lunges for the other dog.  Sagan practically chewed my thumb off taking treats.  I finally decided just to leave 40 minutes early because it was clear he was not going to calm down.  Oh, don't get me wrong, he was "obedient" and doing his exercises, but was not in a good frame of mind.

I'm part of a FB group called "Canine Behavior Training," and I've been chatting with the owner privately the past couple of days.  I have a few suggestions from her that I plan to try.  I'm planning to spend a few weeks working focus and pattern games (Leslie McDevitt).  She suggests observational skill training for me.  I'm going to put my all into this, but the cynical part of me that has tried all of this stuff with three different dogs is prepared to be back at square one in a few weeks.

My friends try to remind me "how far I've come," and "how lucky Sagan is," and to "hang in there," and that "he will mature."  I feel a lot like I'm stuck in a failing marriage that I keep thinking I should get out of before I invest more of my emotion, time, or money.  I hate to think of Sagan that way, but I do.  I can't help but think someone else would have had more luck with him than me.  I don't need or want anyone to blow sunshine up my ass, but I have lots of regrets about decisions I made early on with him.  I love him to pieces, but I really don't feel like 70% of the time, I enjoy our partnership very much.

I have never felt like more of a failure in any aspect of my life than in owning a dog.  And that's the honest truth.

With how smart I am, and how committed I am, and how many things I have going in my favor with this dog, it just hasn't worked out the way I planned.

I'm dumping my socialization log off of this website, because it is honestly too depressing for me to keep up.  I will replace it with a log of our training sessions, because at least that will make me feel like I'm doing something positive.

I'm writing all of this down, because, again, I think it is beneficial for folks with reactive dogs to have a true picture of what it is like.  At 2 years, I still seriously consider throwing in the towel.

Adjusted Behavioral Plan

So Sagan had a pretty crappy time at the race we went to tonight.  What is normally an OK distance away from people and dogs wasn't.  While I had run the course before and thought it would be pretty conducive to a good experience for him, I really didn't think about the bigger picture that this run was through a suburban area with onlookers at the edges of yards (people who like staring at the 2 or 3 runners with dogs).

I've thought a lot about the strategies I've tried (look at that, look at me, behavior adjustment training, counter conditioning, etc.).  I also did a little bit of searching tonight, and I think I've arrived at a cohesive plan for where to go from here.  To this point, I've tried to broaden the number of tools I've had to deal with his reactivity, but I'm now beginning to realize some of these things work better than others for him.  I need to dump some of these things and redouble my efforts on others.  As I'm reading online, it really does seem like I should be further than this right now.  With almost a year and a half of very concerted, positive-style training and behavioral work, .......  we should really be at a more consistent place.

1)  Continue control unleashed.  This is one of the best opportunities for Sagan to practice self control in a VERY stimulating, but safe way.  I need to do this until I have some pretty predictable self control on his part in a variety of situations.
2) Dump Look at That.  He is "trained" perfectly to do this.  I don't think, however, it lowers anxiety.  The only benefit is the fact that he is conditioned to look at me after the click.  The rationale for this is that the dog  is anxious and needs to get information about his environment.  I really don't think he needs information about other dogs so much as he is worried, and the conditioned "click look at me" response is the only part of that that serves to lower anxiety and break the stare.  Border collies stare by nature.  I don't need him doing this. I'll continue to do this in CU as it is asked of us, but that is all.
3) Begin training and rewarding an auto "look at me." Rationale:  he needs to feel calm that I will handle it, so he needs to look for me for direction.  Looking at me results in food and increased distance to the dog.  I suppose this is really a modified, specific version of BAT.  The only difference is that the "calming signal" I expect is for him to look at me.
4) Consider dropping rally obedience or agility.  Rationale:  I need to focus on his behavioral issues, and find sometimes that in class, I'm more concerned with getting him to perform the required task than working on an overall "zen" in him.  Rally is a "calmer" class, and that is a plus.  It is also something we're also doing with Doppler, which is awesome, too.  However, since we've started removing the treat bag from me, I find his motivation is still low after a couple of months and it might be a good time to take a break and do some home work.  Conversely, agility Sagan LOVES, and the other people in class manage their dogs so well, that I feel like it is a safe environment for him.  He gets more exercise here too, and the brainwork associated with thinking and moving is great.  However, leaving class is always stressful since there are often off leash dogs in the parking lot. So we always leave a little early to avoid that, but it is this constant game of Pacman to get to the car anyway.
5) Goals:
a) I still want to be able to run with Sagan on my normal trails.  I like running with him in races, and I need to think about the complete picture if a race is conducive to his current state or not.  I've been doing this, but really only thinking about my knowledge of the course, and not thinking about all the variables.
b) I've mentioned before to not worry about competing in agility, but in the back of my mind, I'm still kinda working toward that.  While I really want him to be excellent in agility, I am not sure what forcing him to go to stressful environments with lots of dogs and people (agility trials) is doing for him or for me.  When I have to focus so much on his behavior, I will never be at ease in an agility trial environment.  And ultimately, I don't care about titles and letters after his name.  If I ever did do a trial, it would really be only to test our ability to focus in a new environment.
c) At some point do a rally trial.  I think this is a calm/slow enough environment that I can do this and appeal to my competitive nature.
6) At age 2 years, re-evaluate his behavior and determine if I want his thyroid levels tested. I'm not particularly convinced this is his issue, but I am really puzzled why we aren't at a more consistent place at this point.  I can rationalize (for now), that some of the strategies I've been using are not optimal for him, specifically, but once I've tried this new plan, I really should be seeing some consistency.

Ultimately, I think Sagan is dog reactive on leash, not out of a desire to get at the dog, nor a true FEAR of the dog, but a conflicted state....he wants to but is anxious about what could happen.  I think this because he figures out most dogs off leash, but even then, the introduction usually involves hackles.

I'm still not sure about the people reactivity, and I'm in a place where I'd like to manage this as much as possible (read: "avoid people that set him off").  Though I understand getting him to a similar place of self-control with this is critically important, I feel I can control this situation a lot better, so want to focus on the dog thing for now.

Summer Updates on Sagan

Yeah, so summer arrived, and I got a little lazy about posting.  So here's your summary. :-)

Sagan is still taking rally obedience (Seattle Agility Center) and agility classes  (Vortex).  Here's a look at him in agility this past Wednesday:






He is doing well in there, and we did a few privates earlier in the summer with Andrea Dexter as well.

Sagan's doggie pool stopped allowing doggies, so we are looking at continuing his swimming at Happy Tails in Enumclaw, but we just haven't done it yet. :-)

Sagan is also doing Control Unleashed classes at Ahimsa, which is perfect for his needs right now.  He occasionally has some people issues, and predictability has dog reactivity in close proximity.  However, foro the first time in a year and a half, I feel like it is getting better.  With the myriad of behavior games I'm trying, I feel like he is able to THINK given the right amount of distance.  And finally, that distance is getting PREDICTABLE.  Before, it was a complete crap shoot as to how far away I had to be from his triggers.

I'm also now carrying with me, on our runs, citronella dog fight spray.  Don't ask me why this has helped my confidence, but it has.   My number one fear is off leash dog bombings.    Sagan has become a nice little running buddy.  We ran with someone and her two dogs earlier this week (a cattle dog/shepherd/basenji mix and a boston terrier/chi mix), and within about 5 minutes, they were running side by side.  Sagan didn't know what to make of the little dog.  I can run 5-6 miles with him now, no problem.   One of my New Year's Resolutions was to take him with me to 3 races.  We've done one, and I have one in mind next week, also.  Should be fun!

We are also still taking him to doggie daycare every other week.  Seems to be doing fine with all kinds of dogs there.

So there you have it!

Just an Update!

So, no big news in Sagan's life, but a few successes and new things:

Rally obedience:  Starting to work on not having my treats on my person and have him still work.  That was a dark couple of classes, but it looks like he is getting it!

Agility:  Starting to do some cross work, and Sagan does fine now that I am using one of the classes' kennels, that is located off to the side (read:  out of line of sight of 90% of the agility arena).  He is doing some nice work here.

Private agility:  Just gonna do a few of this with Andrea.  The first one, she walked me through how to read a course.  Wow, was this helpful.  She was impressed with how far we had come, and she suggested she bring down one of her dogs as a stimulus dog and alternate us working.

General socialization:  going pretty well.  Took him to Petpalooza in Auburn yesterday (HUGE pet event).  He tends to do better in these busier environments, and actually LAID DOWN while multiple dogs walked by, 10 feet away.  Little tantrum about one goofy lab, but otherwise, very proud of him.

Seattle Walkabulls group:  Great, structured walking group that is meant to address the image of bully breeds, but also provide a structured group.  We walked (dogless) with them today, and I'm impressed.  I think this will help him SOOOO much, along with the BAT, and other counter conditioning games we've been doing.

Only other thing on the agenda is that I'd like to take a Control Unleashed class this summer with Sagan.  I think it would help a bunch too.

Here's the stinker!

Five Phases of Reactive Dog Ownership

Applied today to join the Seattle Walkabulls group that does regular walks with imposed space restrictions between folks on brisk walks.  This sounds great for Sagan.  Friended that group, and found another "Reactive Champion" who also has a blog I followed.

This article was posted and I related to it a great deal:
http://loveandaleash.com/2012/04/05/five-phases-of-reactive-dog-ownership/

The five phases being:
1) Realization
2) Denial
3) Panic
4) Progress
5) Management

This does encapsulate my frustration, since I feel like I am always trapped between panic and progress.  I intellectually know what to do, but I struggle, often, to execute and then panic. I do see progress with Sagan in the people fear issue (on a scale of 1-10, his people fear is at a 1-2....he occasionally reacts to an odd person, but often just looks and ignores).  YAY.  Now, I am managing situations when I see a particularly odd-looking person (hat, hood, odd gait, etc.).  The reaction, at most, involves staring, rather than barking or anything worse.

With dogs, we are unpredictable.  With some dogs we are fine with a few short minutes of protocols, and I can get him within 10 feet. With others, I either have to offer much larger distances, or severely manage with treats/toys.  I cannot help but tighten up on the leash with off leash dogs.  I need to practice the abandonment idea our trainer suggested and stop worrying about the random off leash dog.  Sagan ALWAYS figures this out at daycare.  ALWAYS.  I've watched hours of his daycare time, and he either ignores, or informs the other dog he wants his space (appropriately with short snark).  I've never seen him act reactively or aggressively toward another dog there (and I've watched hours of the webcam).  His connection to me, through the leash, is the issue.

Today, we met Teddi and Cathy for another BAT protocol with 2 of their cocker spaniels that Sagan has not met.  He did fabulous.  He also did fabulous with 2 dogs that showed up to play chuckit.  We move outside the fence, but he ignored them moving in as we moved out.  He watched them running through the fence.  The worst we got was a slight forward-posing stare (since I'm working on BAT, I allowed it, waiting for the head-turn toward me).....he eventually stopped, looked toward me, and got the distance he wanted.  One dog in question was a high energy Britanny spaniel, so I consider it a huge success..

As a herding dog, I know he is inclined to react to movement, so I think our additional steps (in addition to more BAT) is to find safe situations with fast moving dogs to expose him to, to practice self control.

All things told, I am very proud of him today for his ability to deal with a variety of situations at Auburndale park.

Rally Obedience Fun Run at Pawsabilities

So we took Sagan (and Doppler) to a fun run at Pawsabilities in Fife. First I'll share our novice run (we also did an advanced run), and then I'll share the experience.
 

The Bad:  The run itself was extremely unorganized.  It was supposed to begin at 6, and they didn't have any of the rings even remotely set up.  Ross and I had to tell the ring stewards that they had 2-3 signs in the wrong place or facing the wrong direction.  They fixed them, but stuff was still kinda off.  After the courses got set up, nothing happened for another 10 minutes.  We finally ASKED if we could go, and they were like "oh sure!"  Who knows how long we would have waited otherwise.  And backing up a minute...the registration form said "we have THREE rings!"  So we signed up for 2 rings, and they didn't say that the rings were differentiated by novice, advanced, and excellent.  (and it didn't match up with the numbers on the form anyway.  We signed up for rings 1 and 3, and they signed us up for advanced and excellent).

Then, the shining scary moment of the night.  Sagan goes up to (I think) the owner and sits for greeting.  Nice.  He did/does have some people fear issues still.  She then politely pats his head, leans down in his face, nose to nose, and grabs his head and excitedly says things to him

!!!!!

OK, I understand that many pet owners and others are not aware of proper dog language but holy heart attack, batman.  She was in his face before I could even say anything.  My logic and emotions prevailed, and I managed not to tighten up the leash.  Thank doG he had decided he liked her anyway.

On to Sagan:  This environment was challenging for him and the sudden environmental contrast "thang."  There were lots of places for us to separate ourselves from other dogs, around corners, etc.  But when a dog did appear, it was out of the blue and usually just one dog (the fun run was not well attended).  We did fine until we were in the main walkway and he had a little temper tantrum.  The tantrum involved a little lungie growl toward 3 separate dogs.  Was minor, he recovered quickly, but still unprovoked by the other dog staring or being spastic.  It didn't help that they were about 40 minutes late starting.  I wish they had said this up front, because I would have kept him in the car longer, and gotten him out later.  So that was disappointing, but....

The Good:  Sagan REALLY focused well when in the novice ring.  About 80% of the time we were in the building, he was completely focused on what I was asking (including for him to face me/away from other dogs and calm down).  He also was EXCITED to see new people.  This has been developing for some time, and I am happy about it.  His run in the advanced ring was OK...his brain was fried at that point, just due to the 40  minutes around other dogs.  I have to get him to focus while in the building, even when we're not working, to prevent his reactivity from appearing and escalating.  I did keep him on leash for the advanced run, and dropped the leash for the jumps and stay/come to heel exercises.  He did GREAT with these.  Given the less than ideal environment for his issues, I am very proud of the poochy!

Love this picture of us.

Added:  This was just a lovely day.  The weather was wonderful, and I PRed on my 5K this morning:  26:08 for my final time...about 8:20/mile pace!!

Agility Runs 4/18

A couple of our agility runs this evening.  Wasn't Sagan's finest hour, but we're making it:



This one was a short 3-jump sequence ending with the chute. He did very nice on this.
This was a 5-obstacle sequence. In later runs, we added on a jump, a tunnel, and two more jumps. This was 10 obstacles, kinda split up.

Removal of Drama and Calming Influences

So.... Spring Break was lovely.  Went back to work this week.  Sagan has still done a nice job this week.  He did a few visits to a tiny off-leash dog park with Ross where he encountered one or two dogs, successfully.  Though I don't worry about him off-leash, he is a definite victim of SEC (sudden environmental contrast), so was very pleased he did so well.

My life has gotten exponentially easier now that I've removed some people from my life.  It is crazy how you become connected to people who judge you and you just internalize and accept the judgment.  I had people who were judging my every last movement ("you know border collies aren't always sports dogs")....  you judgmental LOUT.  I'm talking about exercising his brain.)  At any rate, Companion Animal Solutions is the source of my drama.  Owner criticized the hell out of everything I was doing, judges every dog owner.  Someone who works for her thinks I'm a self-absorbed lout because I decided to keep Sagan and figure out what in the hell I was doing wrong.  Roommate of said person sicked her friend on me to supposedly post anonymous judgmental crap on my blog about what I was doing wrong.

Guess what?  I don't need your acceptance to determine what is best for my dog.  I don't lose any sleep at night.  I consult people in the know, constantly.  And now, I can sleep at night, not trying to please people who don't even know me.

Pardon the immature, teenage rant.  Sagan is my dog.  I will make the best decisions for him, and you can keep judging all you want.  Life is a process of surrounding yourself with people who will support, but challenge you.  I don't need to keep anyone in my life who determines criticizing what I do will somehow motivate me to be better.

And by the way, Sagan is improving day by day.  He is the loviest guy on the face of the planet.  I can only hope to keep doing justice by him.

Sagan's Spring Break with Mom

Sagan had a great week with me on Spring Break:

Monday:  A 1.2 mile walk in the sunshine

Tuesday: BAT protocol with Janey and her boxer Macy.
Wednesday:  Agility class
Thursday:  Swimming and the vet (OK, vet was no fun at all)

Friday:  Doggie daycare and running around in Mommy Monique's sheep fields with Rye and Lucy

Saturday:  Party at our place with all his favorite people (overwhelming, but he got lots of lurve).

Sunday:  Rally obedience

What a great week we had!