Dear Dogs

Dear Dogs,

Imagine my surprise when I discovered this empty food bowl on the bed.  Any idea how it got there?

Sincerely,
B.

Adventures with Arlo: Week 2

Arlo continues to make himself right at home, and we continue to be impressed with his social skills and easy-going, laid back personality.  Last week he spent a couple afternoons with me in my office, where--after snagging some treats from our secretary--he curled up on his blanket and enjoyed a long nap.

Over the weekend, we did a lot of entertaining,  and I was interested to see how Arlo would behave with new people in the house.  When guests arrived on Friday, I had both dogs outside in the back yard.  My thought was to avoid the potential for chaos at the front door.  Katie isn't a problem when guests arrive, but I wasn't sure how she'd be with another dog around, and there hadn't been an opportunity yet for Arlo to greet people at the door, so I didn't know how he'd behaive either.  Rather than give them the opportunity to practice bad behavior, then, my plan was to avoid the possibility all together.  In addition, with people coming to the house, I had a perfect training opportunity.  So I left a note on the front door inviting people to come to the back yard and also asking them not to pet Arlo unless he offered a sit.  The humans did a fabulous job, and Arlo responded appropriately.  As I think I've mentioned, he's not normally a jumper, but I thought he might be overly excited with so many new people around.  I think he tried jumping on the first guest, but when that didn't work, he gave up.  Good boy!

Although Arlo seems very mature to me for his age, he really is just a puppy.  And one of his puppy habits is that he follows us from room to room--just in case, you know, we might be doing something REALLY INTERESTING.  Even though I know he'll probably grow out of this, it's kinda flattering for now.  Here he is "helping" me change the sheets in the guest room by squeaking his squirrel.

Arlo and Katie are continuing to work things out, and I'm proud of both their efforts.  Arlo is of course dying to be friends with Katie who is still mostly ignoring him.  Once in awhile she'll interact, but she seems to avoid getting him all worked up.  Probably a smart idea since he's an enthusiastic player and Katie is beyond that kind of thing these days.  When Arlo is calm, though, she doesn't mind him laying nearby.

As we get to know Arlo better, we have a better sense for when he's most active and, consequently, when he'd do better playing with us than pestering Katie.  As I'm learning from Managing a Multi-Dog Household (a terrifically helpful e-book from Whole Dog Journal), the key to a happy 2-dog household is good management (backed up, of course, with solid training).  

Training over the past week included more sit-to-say-please, down, stand and touch.  On leash, squirrels are his biggest challenge.  He's so interested in them that he can't pay attention to anything else.  I've been using penalty yards to get his attention (backing away from the squirrel until he looks at me, then reinforcing attention to me with hot dogs).  This is working okay except that I don't like putting pressure on his neck when I back up, even when I move slowly.  So I'm going to order him a Sense-ation Harness.  Probably, squirrels are going to be the biggest obstacle to eventually letting him off leash.  The good news?  The very healthy squirrel population around here means we have lots and lots of opportunities to practice.

ETA:  In the first photo above, Arlo is wearing his new, spiffy collar purchased recently from Nola and Spencer, my new favorite place for dog collars.

Arlo's First Week

Arlo's first week with us has has gone pretty well.  As he becomes more comfortable, we're seeing more of his personality.  He's a little more rambunctious than when he first arrived which isn't surprising.  But I have to agree with his foster fam, who told us that after some healthy activity, Arlo is perfectly happy to settle down for a nap.  In fact, that's what he's doing right now, and that's why I have time to do some writing.

Although we've missed the critical period for socialization (the period roughly between 3 and 13 weeks when dogs are most open to new experiences), because of his beginnings, I suspect he may have had exposure to  more people, dogs and experiences than many dogs.  Still, to build on what he's already learned about the world, I'm taking every opportunity I can to continue introducing him to new stuff.  So this week in addition to daily walks, Arlo and I went for several car rides, and we visited the vet, campus, our local strawberry festival, the farmer's market, and my friend Melanie's farm.

On all of these outings, he was a model dog.  I know I keep saying this, but for a 6-month old puppy he shows very good impulse control.  He rarely jumps on people, for example.  And he's pretty good about keeping a loose leash.

Until today, I've been walking the dogs separately to get a sense of Arlo's behavior on the leash.  Yesterday for the first time Andy and I took both dogs for a walk.  I was worried that Arlo might pester Katie, but except for sometimes grabbing her leash, he was pretty good.  This morning, Katie, Arlo and I went for a walk with our friend Bob and his dog Quinn.  Kate and Quinn are old pals and walk together often.  Arlo introduced himself to Q. with typical puppy enthusiasm which Q. discouraged right away.  So Arlo tried again much more respectfully.  Good puppy.

It wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be for me to walk Katie and Arlo together.  They both did a nice job of keeping loose leashes.  What I discovered, though, was that I kind of missed having that one-on-one time I get when I only have one dog with me.  Morning walks with Katie--and now Arlo--are part sniff walks, but also part training.  And I can't do that when I have two dogs to pay attention to.  So for the near future, morning walks are going to be single-dog walks--first one dog, then the other.  I'll just get up a little earlier.  And the extra exercise will be a good thing.

But I still want the dogs learn to walk together,  so I'm going to try short walks with both of them every day or two, and be very generous with rewards for checking in.  We'll see how that goes.

Introducing Arlo

Meet Arlo, a 6 month old collie mix, and the newest addition to our family.  He's been here since Monday and is settling in nicely. 

Arlo hails from a shelter in Kentucky where he was brought in as a stray, and he came to us through the Collie and Ibizan Rescue of Central New Jersey.  In spite of a rough start, he is remarkably sweet natured and well socialized.  I'm guessing most of that is probably due to the good foster care he had before we got him. 

At 6 months, he's mostly legs and tail.  And big adorable ears.  Since he arrived, he's been getting to know the neighborhood.  He's relatively new to walking on a leash but surprisingly good at it.  And he was a perfect boy in the car yesterday and at the vet's office.

Like other pups his age, Arlo is a quick study.  Already this week he's learned that good things (his food bowl, greeting new people and dogs, access to the back yard, etc.)  come to dogs who sit. 

Starting tomorrow, we'll be going to training classes, and I look forward to writing more about that on this blog.  Until I do, here's one final image from Arlo's first day.  Notice the ears.  He was intently focused on some squirrels in the bushes. 

Crate Re-Training

In another month, Kate and I (and another friend and her dog) will be attending this workshop.  Because Katie will have to spend a little time in her crate (while I'm listening to lectures), we're doing some intensive crate re-training.  Kate was crate trained as a puppy, and I used to crate her when we were doing agility, but in the past few years, except for going to the groomer or vet, she hasn't had to spend any time in a crate.  At the workshop, she'll have to stay on her own in a room with other dogs in new surroundings.  I'm hoping that I can get her (us) ready for this.  (If I can't, my friend has kindly offered me one of her dogs to train for the weekend--now that's a real friend!)

So about two weeks ago, I set up the crate and, without making a big deal about it, I started leaving goodies in there for her to find.  Of course she went in there, snagged the treats, and left.  But still, I'm continuing to do that and hoping it teaches her that good things happen when she goes in the crate.  After about a day of this, she went in on her own and took a nap.  And that's happened a couple more times--usually in the evening when we're all down there watching TV.  She learned pretty quickly (or maybe remembered from puppyhood) what "go in your crate" means, and gradually I've been leaving her in there for longer periods.  I give her a stuffed kong, close the door, and  do some chores on the 1st floor where she can see me.  She can now do about 20 minutes before she gets restless.

In this clip,  I'm asking her to go to her crate and then reinforcing when she does.  At first I'm reinforcing for just going in, but then she offers me a down, so I reinforce that.

Knits from the WIP pile (!) and why dogs are so cool (not related)

I'm on a mission this summer to get control of my WIPs. A long time ago, I knit several pairs of this Easy Mittern pattern (by Sue Dial and available in Judith Durant's One-Skein Wonders). At the time, I had just discovered the wonderfulness that is Kraemer's Alpaca Yarn, and I was looking for reasons to knit with it. So I tried knitting the smaller size on US 9s. With a few pattern mods, I ended up with a mitten that was only slightly too big, and rather than frog, I decided to set it aside, knit a second slightly bigger mitten later, and either add a lining or felt them. "Later" turned out to be, like, three years later but fortunately I'd kept good notes, and I was able to complete the second mitten. Okay, well maybe not perfect notes, because mitten two was just a teensy bit bigger than mitten one--which confirmed for me that felting (lightly) was the way to downsize. (It also underscored the wisdom of GK's advice to always knit two mittens or socks at once.) I now have two, same-sized mittens for my Christmas 2010 gift stash. I confess that I did have a pang of regret when I tossed these into the washing machine. This yarn (on US 9s at least) knits up into such a lovely, drapey fabric,and it's kind of a shame to felt. But considering that the alternative was frogging both mittens, in the end I think felting was the best option.

Okay, I don't have a good segue here to my next topic, so here's a gratuitous Katie pic. Friends will recognize her are-you-gonna-give-me-that-biscuit face.

So, speaking of dogs, here's a cool thing that happened last week with clients whose dog, let's call him Rex, wasn't responding to "sit" but who, I noticed, was offering me a lovely sit as we were all standing there chatting. I decided to see what would happen if I tossed a treat far enough for him to have to get up to eat it. Would he come back to me and offer another sit? So I tossed a piece of lunch meat and waited. He looked a little surprised, but went for the treat. Then he looked at me again, thought about things for a minute, and went back to his spot in front of me and offered a down. Okay, so not a sit, BUT since Rex needed to learn the down command as well, I reinforced with another treat and then repeated the sequence again. Toss a treat so he has to move, wait to see what he does next. Again, he offered a down. And after a few more repeats, he offered a sit. The point here is that he was offering stuff, and what gets me every time I see this kind of thing is that moment when the dog stops to think about what's going on. Who knows what goes on in their doggie brains, but something clicks and they understand how the game works. And, because Rex's people are smart, they noticed this moment as well and were really impressed with their dog. After a few more reps, they took over, and we started saying "sit" or "down" as he did one or the other and following with a tasty treat. What I also appreciate is that Rex didn't just figure out the game, he also changed up the rules a bit and we ended up playing on his terms. I expected him to offer me a sit after the first toss because (1) that's what most dogs do and (2) that's what he had just been doing. But alternating downs and sits turned out to be more his style. And really, when you think about it, isn't that a more interesting game? Rex learns that offering sits and downs makes good things come his way. And the owners end up having to observe Rex very closely in order to correctly name the behavior as he offers it.

No Sew Bandanna

Tomorrow I'm teaching the first of 3 free "doggy manners" classes at our farmer's market. We thought it would be fun if the Market Manners dogs in training wore bandannas, so I came up with these (with some good advice from cauchy along the way). Nothing complicated, just squares of fabric cut with pinking shears so they don't frey, and then cut across the diagonal. I made a few different sizes. And I added a "Market Manners" label along one side.

Attack of the Giant Zucchini

This week's haul included those two gigantor zucchini in the back, cucumbers and a handful of beans. I'm running out of ideas for zucchini :O --especially these big guys which don't taste as good. These cukes may be the last of the summer, but we sure have enjoyed them. And next year I think we'll plant more so we can enjoy them longer. My favorite cucumber recipe at the moment is to just add some rice wine vinegar, a little sugar, and a few teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds. Totally yum.

A big distraction this week has been 365 Days of My Dog--my new favorite Flickr group. Which I joined. Because (1) I need more excuses to take pictures of my dog and (2) I need more reasons to be at my computer.

Also keeping me online these days is this podcast on dog training hosted by Jolanta Benal. If you're looking for excellent advice about positive training, this podcast is worth a listen.

At the Dog Park

A topic of discussion at the dog park this week has been whether we can say that dogs smile--which question we all answered in the affirmative. Readers of Bark magazine know this unequivocally thanks to Bark's tireless efforts to photograph smilers. The more scientifically inclined dog person might be interested in recent studies of dog laughter. But for those of us content to hang out at the dog park on a nice spring morning--really, we don't need no stinkin' studies. Consider EXHIBIT A

and EXHIBIT B.

Some dogs, smiling and otherwise, are admittedly harder to photograph at the dog park than others. It took me a few tries, for example, to get a shot in which all of Beau appears in the frame. (That's part of Beau there on the right, and behind him Snowy is investigating some interesting something or other under a pile of leaves.)

Eventually, in response to the magic finger, Beau performed a brief, but beautifully executed down, for which he received a treat.


Not surprisingly, mugging for treats is a very popular pastime.

The dogs throw us a look like I'm sooooo hungry...I haven't eaten in days...may I please have one of those treats in your pocket? and we oblige.

Another favorite game is to roll the balls through a hole in the fence so that Bob has to retrieve them. (This is something like the opposite of "Fetch" where the human throws the ball and the dog retrieves it.)

Can you hear the doggie laughter?