Rocket man

Hot on the success of our weekend exploits, Sally and I were keen to test the boy still further with his first close encounter with another furry paws.  Rocky was the chosen contender.  A dog well known to Sally and trained by her, so in a good place to behave himself, at least that's the plan.

Rocky was an absolute doll, and won my heart in a matter of seconds when he gave me a 'cuddle', this involves snuggling into your legs and laying his head against you in such a heart-melting kind of way that you could forgive him almost anything.

Sonny was really good and started well without 'swearing' at him.  We set off for our walk, plodding the now familiar trails around the lake.  Sonny did most of his avoidance behaviour, walking the other side of me and sniffing, weeing and generally ignoring Rocky as much as he could, with the occasional sneaky peak out of the corner of his eye.  The best part was that Rocky (normally a very friendly and lively dog off lead) recognised the very subtle signals that Sonny was delivering, so he made absolutely no approaches to him and remained relaxed, chilled and in good order. 

At this critical stage of closer introductions it is really important to ensure that the dogs he gets to meet have the right 'energy'.  As you know my observations of neighbour dogs have shown that many of them are not 'balanced' and therefore would set him off, rather than improve his confidence.  Collies in particular are a problem due to the aforementioned 'stalking behaviour' which is natural to them but he immediately reacts to by lunging etc.  


We interspersed our forays around the lake with circling one another in the fields and doing the passing exercise where we pretend not to know one another and say 'Hi'.  This is all good practise for other walks where we will meet people unexpectedly.  In addition Sonny will now walk quickly or, slowly on command and I am to put as many of these exercises into our normal walks so that I can use these as a way to divert him out of a situation if a potential problem presents itself to us.

Sonny is still reactive with the more assertive dogs but in the main his reactions are becoming less than they were which is so great to see.  He is genuinely starting to become desensitized.  We did have a few hairy moments.  There was the passing of the elderly couple, the lady looking quite frail and holding onto a walking frame, with the dog in tow.  I couldn't risk Sonny maybe lunging and causing a fragile old lady to crash to the floor, so diverted away from her.  At another turn of the road, we met a rather dominant mongrel type.  In my efforts to divert my runaway brain from  anxious thoughts, I was busy counting backwards.  Unfortunately, Sonny was having none of it and decided to lunge at the other dog, whereupon I found myself shrieking out '356!!!!' out loud, and in a public place.  I fear it's only a matter of time before the men in white coats come to get me....

Fright flight avoid?

The Autumn equinox is past and with it comes the misty mornings over the fields and a chilly snap leaving you unsure what clothes to wear for dog walking.

This week has seen the fall and rise of this owner's confidence with the breakneck speed of a Blackpool roller coaster.

On Wednesday Sally and I were at the local country park where we were walking the paths encountering dogs on lead, off lead, children and bicycles.  Annoyingly, my tendency to reassure or praise Sonny inadvertently before he passes the object in question is still an issue.  I am reminded that my emotional state is likely to keep him where he is, rather than to help him move on.  How to stop this ingrained behaviour which I have attuned to over so many years of having him is proving incredibly frustrating for me and today disheartening.  It is hard for me to see all his progress when I feel I am not coping as well as I should, I'm starting to feel that sense of being a failure again which I have met so many times in the past in trying to train him.

After we get back, I recognise I have to sort this out if it is not to become a barrier for me.  I recall my childhood piano teacher, telling me 'there's really no point in coming for lesson's if you don't practise in between'.  What have I been doing then with this dog?  Avoiding walking him that's what, because I do not feel 'ready' and am still too fearful of meeting other dogs!  It is then that I realise that the long gaps in between these lessons is allowing my anxiety to accumulate rather than decrease and so I decide that I have got to do something different!

The next day I tell my partner that I want to start walking Sonny in the mornings, I just have to become less sensitive to all the potential hazards so that I can build up my confidence.  

Our first day out together is a bit of a wet one.  On the way back we meet an aging collie cross in the churchyard.  He is way out in front on a flexi lead and I am in the process of putting 'you know what' in the dog bin.  Not much time to think of a strategy, we just have to face it.  Sonny does his usual reaction, giving the other dog his 'leave us alone' routine and the other dog gives him a mouthful back. I realise the other owner is walking my way home.  Rather than leave this situation on a negative note, I decide to ask her if she wouldn't mind asking her dog to sit.  After a bit of persuasion, Sonny does the same.  Over the next couple of minutes both dogs are calm and Sonny accepts treats and even 'gives paw' in the other dog's presence, whilst I explain to the owner the importance of what we are doing for Sonny's benefit.  She is very understanding and tells me about her own dog's problems which she has successfully cured over the years. 

It's interesting how presenting Sonny as a 'frightened' dog rather than an aggressive dog has changed my own and other people's perceptions.  It seems that people are more forgiving of a dog that is showing signs of aggression in the face of being overwhelmed, rather than seeing him as 'dangerous'.  He's just a little dog inside a big dog's body who's never learnt the rules.  10 years old and he's still trying to get there.

Saturday was pouring down so I decided not to  do to much but today when my partner suggested going to a local food and drink festival, I decided to use the opportunity to bring Sonny along.  So to set the scene, imagine a muddy field, rain pouring down.  A few dogs (on lead fortunately) but masses of people, small children, pushchairs and yes, a brass band.  In short for a nervous dog, SENSORY OVERLOAD!!!

I think about the way Sally has been helping us to approach new situations, circle the edges of it, let him sit and take treats, taking it in, let him suss the situation out, then......there's nothing for it.....in you go.  I've got the radio on in my ears (another of Sally's suggestions to give me another focus, other than thinking about all the things that might go wrong).  Unfortunately the reception is bad and what with the brass band it's almost impossible to hear anything of the station I am tuned into.  Nevertheless, I lead him into the midst of the stalls, passing every conceivable object of fear, things with wheels, lots of two-leggeds, small, wobbly two-leggeds with high, squeaky voices.  So far so good.  We stop by the brass band which is LOUD, my poor dog's ears!  Despite torrential rain and him looking like he doesn't know where to put himself, I ask him to sit amidst the madness  He takes treats and gives me his paw.  We turn around and come back and in a few minutes try it again.  An older couple ask me about Sonny and start to approach, why is he wearing a muzzle, does he need it all the time, am I his owner, oh good so he has a home then (were they offering?).  A few short months ago I almost felt that I was no  longer the right owner for my boy and that I had in fact made his anxiety worse over the period that I had had him. However always came to the conclusion that it would be terrible to pass the problem onto someone else.  Euthanasia was the only other option.  Today, that thought could not be further away.

If anyone could have told me that I would have the confidence to take my dog into this sort of situation I would not have believed it could be possible.  It just goes to prove that as a pack leader you have to be confident otherwise your dog cannot put his confidence in you.

Sonny I am so proud of you today, let's see how we get on tomorrow.... 

Pay it forward, another lovely blog

In honour of Tilly's award I am recommending the following blog also for the Lovely Blog Award:

Vick Dog Blog 

This is a great story of hope for some really traumatised dogs and the photos are terrific!

We've got an award

Thanks so much to our dear new friend Tilly who has just awarded us:

We've never had an award before, so we're very proud!


Tilly is a rescue too and sends us notes of encouragement about our troubles, read her blog, isn't she gorgeous!

Thanks Tilly you're a pal!

Village life

The last couple of weeks have seen Sonny and I working on acclimatisation to other dogs in our locality.  Unfortunately or, fortunately for us, many of our local dogs do not appear to be 'balanced' as Cesar Milan would say, so it is difficult to find the right sort of dogs for Sonny to meet.

However Sonny and I have persevered with the help of Sally and we have now made a few encounters which are helping us to see his progress.  Sally is noticing that the barking and lunging that often takes place seems to be losing a measure of intensity.  This is where having a trainer working with you is so invaluable.  There are so many things to concentrate on that if I was trying to do this on my own I would not be able to see the progress always and become disheartened.

The scenario goes like this, approach dog, if Sonny reacts, get him to sit and then take treats opposite the stranger dog.  This is because a large part of his fearful reaction is because he wants to get out of the situation as quickly as possible, another words it's an avoidance tactic.  Sally tells us that it is important that we don't allow him to avoid and that he needs to face situations and end them on a positive note.  The message is if you meet another dog, nothing bad is going to happen.  

Do you recall his previous experience with Colin the Collie?  Well, we did meet him again recently and fortunately Sally was able to tell me that this collie's stance was 'stalking behaviour' a prelude to play which was friendly and typical of the breed. Next time you are watching a collie herding some clueless sheep, you'll see what I mean! For a nervous boy like our Sonny this was however clearly too much for him to deal with at his current stage, so no wonder he was reacting badly.  Unfortunately I have not seen his owners since but if I do will try to find out if we can walk them alongside eachother again, as he really needs the practice.

On another occasion the good old boy (13 yr old black lab) who lives opposite came to help us at the local field.  Despite being docile as anything and very arthritic, Sonny made no distinction.  If it's got four legs and canine it's a threat me and my owner!  A dog that lacks confidence has to take his opportunities to big himself up and make himself feel important.  A good reason therefore to show him that his owner might decide to walk this other dog and feel fine about it.  Part of Sonny's fear gets projected onto me, because he fears other dogs he automatically assumes I need to be protected too!  Of course I didn't start out as fearful of meeting other dogs as I have been since having Sonny, but I've had a lot of conditionig.  Thus he is fearful, so I am fearful and it all goes round again.

I need to work a lot on my fear of us passing by people, particularly children.  We practiced this as an exercise with Sally today and he just sniffed her.  My fear is about him lunging but I know that anticipating a problem,praising him in a slightly tense voice before he has successfully passed the distraction,  jerking the lead and changing my pace or, direction are all triggers for him to see a reaction from him is needed.  How to break this habit in myself when it is now so automatic?  It is very hard, before you've even registered the thought properly your body has taken avoidant action.  Sally even tried to block me doing this today but I expertly dived around her, not even realising what she was doing.  More practice needed here I feel. 

Also on a positive note, I have been working separately with my other mongrel (welsh collie, possibly yorkie cross) who is also I have discovered. a real wind up merchant with other dogs.  Although not directly aggressive,' years of living with Sonny has led her to 'eyeball' any dog that comes by.  This needs to be stopped because we will not be able to walk them together if she is feeding him the bait every time.  So, I have been rewarding her for passing other dogs by ignoring them and in the same way, if the other dog is reactive, making her sit in front of them and focus on me.  This seems to be working well and I notice she is become much more trusting and leaving me to make the decisions in these situations.  However, she's a real diva so any day I'm not on top of it and she'll step right back in there, I'm sure.

Our next step is to meet up with Sally and another dog she knows to walk Sonny and this dog together, this dog is apparently quite lively and friendly.  We will let you know how it goes... 

Vets and TV men

It's been a busy week for Sonny.  Last Saturday we had our annual trip to the dreaded vets, never a pleasant experience for owner or dog in our case.  Unfortunately we were also due a visit from the Sky TV men to put in a new aerial, the very poor TV reception in deepest darkest rural England has meant weeks of watching CSI Miami (what is the point of that bloke in the sunglasses?) and serial episodes of The Hotel Inspector who, much as I love her, can get a bit tedious after a while and I began hearing the signature tune in my sleep!

Anyway I digress, we felt that two burly TV men on a mission to fit a satellite dish were not going to be best placed to go for a dog walk.  If you recall we are now under instruction to get all visitors to come on a quick walk around the block to help desensitise Sonny to their presence.  We somehow felt that the garage was going to be the best place for him in this instance, only this time the peanut butter was missing (see earlier post for rather unfortunate early  experiences with said food stuff)! 

Whilst the Sky Men were busy, Sonny and I headed off to the vets.  My plan:  arrive really early before too many dogs and people.  I leave him in the car and announce our arrival to reception.  The surgery area is nice and quiet, no dogs, good.  One man is quietly sat with what looks like a cat in a box on his lap, not a canine in sight.  It's going well so far.  I return with the boy, in the few minutes I am gone the reception area has exploded into action, the receptionist is pre-occupied with a phone call so not able to operate the scales and there are now two dogs in reception.  Sonny and I take the only hidey hole in the room next to a door.  He has already spied one of the dogs, which, although quite old and docile, is causing him to shake visibly.  He is not happy.  I sit myself and make him sit too, he's desperate to climb in my lap.  No Sonny you're not a cat, I don't let him.  He sits again, too scared to take a treat but at least he's behaving.  

Within seconds the nice young vet has called us in.  What is it with vets they never seem to know how to approach dogs who are nervous?  She crouches down beside him and gives him eye contact.  I suggest that she doesn't do that as he doesn't like it.  She leaves the room to consult a colleague about vaccinations, Sonny is desperate to vacate the area, he's heading for the door.  I gently guide him back and start walking him in circles, making him sit, give paw etc.  He is willing to do this and accepts a treat when just now he wouldn't.  This is good.  The vet returns and Sonny gives her a baleful look, people moving around him always make him nervous.  I hold his head and she gives him a jab, he doesn't flinch and immediately takes my treat.  Well done boy, he's never agreed to accept treats before in the vet's office.  Nor have I ever been prepared to take him there by myself, always asking my partner for backup in the past.  Further small signs of progress. 

Playtime

We took this vid of Sonny last week. It's great to see him free, happy and no muzzle. Hasn't he got a great grin!

For some reason we can't upload the video on Blogger as yet, but check it out on this Youtube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVvaLwWwD0Q

Who says dogs can't smile?

There's nothing better than a tummy tickle...

I am sitting on a bench by a pond, the sun is out and around me are the sounds of
other dogs, children, pushchairs and the like.  Sonny is facing me and I have my back
to the various distractions.  He has his 'soft eyes' and gently takes a treat through
his muzzle.  After a few goes at this, he lies down on his side, I stroke him
'good boy' and then he lies with his legs up in the air, the ultimate request,
'come on mum, give me a tickle'.  My boy lying on the floor asking for a tickle in
the vicinity of children?  Are we talking about the same dog?  Two weeks ago I could
not have done this with him.  He has improved so much from the fearful boy who
wanted to go for anything that came his way.

At one point earlier this morning we were sat on another bench and we were facing
feisty dogs, barking dogs, running children, children making music (the park play
equipment incorporates some sort of musical instrument), the works.  Each time he
managed to remain focused on me and not be distracted or, fearful of what was
going on around him.  The treats are creating a new situation, it means good
things happen when I see this stuff.  Good things happen when I see a child.
Sally points out that Sonny is beginning to look at me now whenever he sees these
things, he's anticipating a treat, this is good.  Much better than 'Cruise Missile
Mum' that he's been used to.

My partner, also reported a good morning with the boy. Meeting several dogs on
his walk and he found he was able to stop and yes, hold a conversation with some
of them.  Socialisation not just for dog but the owners too, whoopee!!  This
is something he has never been able to do before and a particular part of the
pleasure of dog ownership that we have always missed out on.  In fact, Sonny was
better when my partner was not focussed on him and asked him to sit whilst he
talked.

This is BIG, all those times when we tried with various different training methods,
trainers, books, gadgets and every time, we would get stuck.  The underlying
issues of dog aggression, general nervousness and unpredictability not fading.
It was so disheartening and sometimes downright depressing!  I, in particular
felt a complete failure as a dog owner that I could not cure his problems.  But...
we are beginning to see some signs of change and in what feels like quite a
short space of time.

Sally says that he is going to have 'blips', of course he will but, that I mustn't
let this get to me.  That he can't do any damage to anyone when he's wearing a
muzzle.  I still worry about him frightening people, particularly knocking over a
toddler, dealing with an irate mother.  BUT, I know anticipating these problems is
more likely to create a reaction.  I still need to work on this and it's a massive
act of will not to let that fear run away with me. There are times I still pre-empt
situations by saying good boy before he's passed the incident without reacting.
There is a danger here I could set him up, so I need to watch it, timing as they
say is everything.

Sonny had a great morning and he was very tired at the end, just flopped down in the
car. Sally and I were so proud of him, hope you are too..