At least Bella had fun.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Wordless Wednesday 76 - Snomageddon 2011
I'm sure Jan will never forget January 2011. We were hit by snow-storm after snow-storm accumulating upwards of 30 inches of snow in less than a month. And I had a broken arm. (Good timing, Leslie!)
At least Bella had fun.
At least Bella had fun.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Book review: "If I should die before my dog -"
Most of us have experienced the pain of losing a beloved pet. But I wonder how many have given much thought to how our pet would feel were they to suddenly lose us?
What would happen to them? Who would feed them? Who would take them for walks, understand their needs and know that they prefer the yellow duck to the green dragon to sleep with at night?
Authors Joe and Cathy Connolly have thought about all those questions and wrote "If I Should Die Before My Dog -" to get you thinking about it, too.
"If I Should Die Before My Dog -" is a workbook that helps guide pet parents through the process of preparing a new life for your dog in the event you are no longer able to take care of them. Told from the perspective of your dog, the book addresses the dog's health and heritage, likes and fears and tricks and treats.
And it does so in great detail.
Joe and Cathy don't just ask the requisite questions like "Who's my vet?" and "How much do I eat?" They ask if the dog likes to go to the vet or is afraid. They ask about the kind of food the dog eats and if they're allowed table scraps and what their favorite snack is. They ask what kinds of medications the dog takes and give plenty of room to elaborate on past or current medical concerns.
When I described the book to my husband, Jan, he joked that the book wouldn't be a best-seller because it's too difficult a subject for people to think about. Actually, I found in reading it to be quite the opposite. Aside from a short introduction, the book doesn't focus on loss. It focuses on love: the love you have for your dog.
You are given the chance to "tell their story" and I spent the time reading the book thinking of all of Bella's quirks and talents. How far she has come, how well she communicates and how the book gave me a place to write all that down.
Difficult thoughts
I have to admit, this book was very difficult for Jan and I to talk about because of who Bella is - a fearful, reactive dog with occasional owner-directed aggression issues. We can't even come up with a good answer to the very first question: "Where will I go now?" It's uncomfortable to think and talk about this but in doing so we have come up with some ideas and plan to put them into action. This book forced us to confront that reality and will hopefully help Bella were the unthinkable ever to happen.
I hope everyone who has a dog they love in their life will read this book and think about their answers. And if you don't know the answers? Maybe you need to go spend some quality time with your dog.
What would happen to them? Who would feed them? Who would take them for walks, understand their needs and know that they prefer the yellow duck to the green dragon to sleep with at night?
Authors Joe and Cathy Connolly have thought about all those questions and wrote "If I Should Die Before My Dog -" to get you thinking about it, too.
"If I Should Die Before My Dog -" is a workbook that helps guide pet parents through the process of preparing a new life for your dog in the event you are no longer able to take care of them. Told from the perspective of your dog, the book addresses the dog's health and heritage, likes and fears and tricks and treats.And it does so in great detail.
Joe and Cathy don't just ask the requisite questions like "Who's my vet?" and "How much do I eat?" They ask if the dog likes to go to the vet or is afraid. They ask about the kind of food the dog eats and if they're allowed table scraps and what their favorite snack is. They ask what kinds of medications the dog takes and give plenty of room to elaborate on past or current medical concerns.
When I described the book to my husband, Jan, he joked that the book wouldn't be a best-seller because it's too difficult a subject for people to think about. Actually, I found in reading it to be quite the opposite. Aside from a short introduction, the book doesn't focus on loss. It focuses on love: the love you have for your dog.
You are given the chance to "tell their story" and I spent the time reading the book thinking of all of Bella's quirks and talents. How far she has come, how well she communicates and how the book gave me a place to write all that down.
Difficult thoughts
I have to admit, this book was very difficult for Jan and I to talk about because of who Bella is - a fearful, reactive dog with occasional owner-directed aggression issues. We can't even come up with a good answer to the very first question: "Where will I go now?" It's uncomfortable to think and talk about this but in doing so we have come up with some ideas and plan to put them into action. This book forced us to confront that reality and will hopefully help Bella were the unthinkable ever to happen.
I hope everyone who has a dog they love in their life will read this book and think about their answers. And if you don't know the answers? Maybe you need to go spend some quality time with your dog.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
The "Agility" part of Agility for Reactive Dogs class
Last week I started telling the story of Bella's "Agility for Reactive Dogs" class focusing on some very basic considerations for handling reactive dogs in a classroom setting. Today, I'm going to talk about the first steps of the agility part of the class.
The class breaks down into two sections: reactivity training and agility training. But the agility training part, at least for us, breaks down into 2 further areas of concentration: the reactive part and the scared-y dog part.
The "reactive" part:
In the very earliest days of the class, we handled the reactivity part of our training in one of two ways. We'd click and treat positive interactions with the other dogs (and by interactions, I'm just talking about a glance or vague interest in the other dog.) And we'd divert and distract when the interaction was not so positive. If Bella "reacted" to another dog, we could retreat from the scene (divert) or throw a handful of treats on the floor in front of her (distract).
Initially, each dog worked on an obstacle at one end of the room while the other dogs wait calmly, or not, on their "mats". It's one thing to be calm and composed when in the same room with another dog but staying that way when they're running and jumping and making noise is a much more difficult task to achieve.
Baby gates covered with sheets provide a means of shielding the dogs from one another entirely if tensions erupt. But the classroom is very large and the dogs generally remain far enough apart to keep them under threshold for most of the time.
If the dog on the mat begins to get too aroused, click/treat or divert/distract. The dog learning the obstacle is generally too involved in what they're doing to pay a whole lot of attention to the other dogs. That's what makes agility such a fabulous tool for teaching/training reactive dogs.
The "scared-y dog" angle:
It can be argued that most reactive dogs are scared-y dogs. They are "reacting" to something that frightens/bothers/distresses them. But there's another kind of scared-y dog like Bella whose MO (modus operandi) is run first, ask questions later. She's pretty much afraid of everything new and teaching her not to be afraid is an art and science unto itself.
While some of the other dogs worked on mastering their reactivity by learning new obstacles, we worked on Bella's reactivity while trying to get her to just be comfortable near an obstacle.
One of the easier obstacles for most dogs is the jump. Dogs generally like to jump, they instinctively know how to and it's something they've probably encountered in their world outside of class.
Except for Bella. Luckily, we had anticipated she might have some issues about sticks and poles and other agility stuff so we had begun working on the "jump" obstacle months before we signed up for the class. In fact, we started by simply placing a stick on the floor and asking her to step over it. Yeah. For realz.
Learning as we go.
One of the first things we learned about agility was the difference between "luring" and "shaping".
When you lure a dog to do something, you're tempting them to perform a behavior they may or may not want to do with the reward of something they really desire. It works with lots of things, especially things that aren't terrifically scary.
Alternatively, shaping a dog to do a particular behavior involves rewarding them whenever they do something close to what you want them to do. Where a lure instigates a specific behavior, shaping reinforces a behavior offered by the dog. As such, there's less pressure and the dog's focus is more on the behavior you want them to learn than on the reward.
With shaping, the dog is trying to figure out what you want them to do, they are engaged and thinking and that makes it especially useful when trying to work with a dog on really scary things.
Luring a dog on a particularly intimidating obstacle could have the dog so focused on a reward that they don't realize where they are. And if they suddenly 'notice' that they're on something really scary, it could frighten them to the point of sabotaging the reward entirely. They could associate the reward with the big scary. They could also associate YOU with the big scary. Not cool.
Shaping a dog on a really scary obstacle allows them to focus on the obstacle and learn how to approach it. If they choose not to approach it, there is no punishment but if they do choose to do so there is a reward and therefore, a positive association is made with the obstacle.
Luring and shaping both have their place in agility training at least for us. But we stick to shaping for the scariest of obstacles.
The anatomy of a jump
The video below probably shows a lot of the wrong ways to do things. Much of it was shot before we started class and learned the correct way so you'll see luring and a pretty stressed out dog in some parts. My aim with Bella is always to make a 'game' of things and that's what I was trying to do with the jump. It worked and it's not the worst mistake I could have made but I've learned better ways to do things since.
Here's a quick recap of what it took to teach Bella to "jump".
The clips used in the video span the date range of 3/2011 to 8/2012. That's a year and a half. Working with fearful dogs isn't glamorous or exciting and it doesn't happen overnight. But I think you'll agree, the pay-off is spectacular. I've never been more proud of what we have all accomplished.
The music used in the video is "Trip the Light" byt Garry Schyman. I loved it, bought it and hope no one arrests me for it. If you like it, you can purchase it on Amazon or iTunes.
The class breaks down into two sections: reactivity training and agility training. But the agility training part, at least for us, breaks down into 2 further areas of concentration: the reactive part and the scared-y dog part.
The "reactive" part:
In the very earliest days of the class, we handled the reactivity part of our training in one of two ways. We'd click and treat positive interactions with the other dogs (and by interactions, I'm just talking about a glance or vague interest in the other dog.) And we'd divert and distract when the interaction was not so positive. If Bella "reacted" to another dog, we could retreat from the scene (divert) or throw a handful of treats on the floor in front of her (distract).
Initially, each dog worked on an obstacle at one end of the room while the other dogs wait calmly, or not, on their "mats". It's one thing to be calm and composed when in the same room with another dog but staying that way when they're running and jumping and making noise is a much more difficult task to achieve.
Baby gates covered with sheets provide a means of shielding the dogs from one another entirely if tensions erupt. But the classroom is very large and the dogs generally remain far enough apart to keep them under threshold for most of the time.
If the dog on the mat begins to get too aroused, click/treat or divert/distract. The dog learning the obstacle is generally too involved in what they're doing to pay a whole lot of attention to the other dogs. That's what makes agility such a fabulous tool for teaching/training reactive dogs.
The "scared-y dog" angle:
It can be argued that most reactive dogs are scared-y dogs. They are "reacting" to something that frightens/bothers/distresses them. But there's another kind of scared-y dog like Bella whose MO (modus operandi) is run first, ask questions later. She's pretty much afraid of everything new and teaching her not to be afraid is an art and science unto itself.
While some of the other dogs worked on mastering their reactivity by learning new obstacles, we worked on Bella's reactivity while trying to get her to just be comfortable near an obstacle.
One of the easier obstacles for most dogs is the jump. Dogs generally like to jump, they instinctively know how to and it's something they've probably encountered in their world outside of class.
Except for Bella. Luckily, we had anticipated she might have some issues about sticks and poles and other agility stuff so we had begun working on the "jump" obstacle months before we signed up for the class. In fact, we started by simply placing a stick on the floor and asking her to step over it. Yeah. For realz.
Learning as we go.
One of the first things we learned about agility was the difference between "luring" and "shaping".
When you lure a dog to do something, you're tempting them to perform a behavior they may or may not want to do with the reward of something they really desire. It works with lots of things, especially things that aren't terrifically scary.
Alternatively, shaping a dog to do a particular behavior involves rewarding them whenever they do something close to what you want them to do. Where a lure instigates a specific behavior, shaping reinforces a behavior offered by the dog. As such, there's less pressure and the dog's focus is more on the behavior you want them to learn than on the reward.
With shaping, the dog is trying to figure out what you want them to do, they are engaged and thinking and that makes it especially useful when trying to work with a dog on really scary things.
Luring a dog on a particularly intimidating obstacle could have the dog so focused on a reward that they don't realize where they are. And if they suddenly 'notice' that they're on something really scary, it could frighten them to the point of sabotaging the reward entirely. They could associate the reward with the big scary. They could also associate YOU with the big scary. Not cool.
Shaping a dog on a really scary obstacle allows them to focus on the obstacle and learn how to approach it. If they choose not to approach it, there is no punishment but if they do choose to do so there is a reward and therefore, a positive association is made with the obstacle.
Luring and shaping both have their place in agility training at least for us. But we stick to shaping for the scariest of obstacles.
The anatomy of a jump
The video below probably shows a lot of the wrong ways to do things. Much of it was shot before we started class and learned the correct way so you'll see luring and a pretty stressed out dog in some parts. My aim with Bella is always to make a 'game' of things and that's what I was trying to do with the jump. It worked and it's not the worst mistake I could have made but I've learned better ways to do things since.
Here's a quick recap of what it took to teach Bella to "jump".
The clips used in the video span the date range of 3/2011 to 8/2012. That's a year and a half. Working with fearful dogs isn't glamorous or exciting and it doesn't happen overnight. But I think you'll agree, the pay-off is spectacular. I've never been more proud of what we have all accomplished.
The music used in the video is "Trip the Light" byt Garry Schyman. I loved it, bought it and hope no one arrests me for it. If you like it, you can purchase it on Amazon or iTunes.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Follow up Friday 4 - Confession time
Thanks Jodi for letting us join you in this fabulous idea.
Just Beau
The over-riding question from this post seemed to be about blogging from my iPad. Huh. I didn't know that was such an unknown.
I can't speak for any platform other than Blogger but yes, Blogger bloggers can download the free Blogger app from iTunes and blog directly from your iPad. (Yes, there's a version for Android, which makes sense since Android and Blogger are Google products.)
I can't tell you too much about it yet but you can take pictures or 'upload' from your photo stream. I'm just really tragic at formatting photos on my iPad. The other frustration I found was that you can't do a whole lot of formatting of your post in the app but maybe I just haven't figured that part out yet.
A nice feature is that you can begin creating a post even if you're not on a network (my iPad is not 3G) and save it for later. When you get back on the network, it syncs to your web version Blogger account so you could adjust your formatting there or you could just publish the post as is from the app. So far, I think it's "okay" and it sure worked for me in a pinch.30/30 Challenge.
I really hate to fail. I'm mean really hate to fail. But alas, I must confess, January kicked my butt and we failed to meet the 30/30 Challenge set forth by You Did What With Your Weiner. We started out strong but I got hit with the flu in the second week which totally wrecked me for about a week.
I did try to stage a come-back getting on the treadmill for a much-needed run once I was on my feet again but I haven't been able to keep up the momentum and then the record cold temperatures arrived and our heating system died.
So it's time to admit defeat, thank YDWWYW for the challenge and hope everyone else fared better than we.
And then there's Bella. Probably what's sapped my energy more than anything else is Bella's injury. She is still on exercise restriction and she limps almost constantly now. She's even begun holding her left foot up so as not to bear any weight on it at all. This isn't getting better, it's getting worse. And it's heartbreaking to watch.
To update you on her situation, we have started seeing a veterinary rehabilitor. We're going to put her on Rimadyl (carprofen) for a month or two to see if its anti-inflammatory properties can help fix her up.
And then, while the Rimadyl is doing its thing, Bella will be getting some very limited, monitored exercise on the "underwater treadmill". Since the water in the tank provides buoyancy, it should reduce the pressure from weight on her leg. The hope is that she can begin to work out the pain and stiffness and strengthen the shoulder muscles in a controlled and supported manner.
Of course, because this is Bella we're talking about, first we have to get her to accept the tank and stop trying to climb out of it and into Daddy's arms. She did extremely well with her first try and we think (hope) she'll look forward to going to rehab in no time. (Given her most recent visits to the vet, she was quite a wreck walking into the clinic the first day. And she pretty much ran back to the car when it was over. We'll work on that.)
We'll also work on getting pictures/video.
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| This is my dog on rehab. |
A few updates about some of my more recent passengers that I learned via the receiving shelter who took Russell, Juniper, Garland and Poinsetta: Pet Tails Rescue. They have a Facebook page where you can see the little cutie pies all cleaned up and with their brand new moms and dads. Russell, Juniper and Garland have all been adopted and I think only momma Poinsetta is still waiting for her very own forever home.Agility for Reactive Dogs
Russell even has his own Facebook page. I wish all my little travelers did.
I guess I didn't realize just how lucky we really are to have such an innovative training center near us as this story sparked a lot of interest. There were a bunch of questions asked in the comments and I promise, I'll do my very best to cover them all. Thanks very much for the support.And thanks again to Jodi from Heart Like a Dog and this week, Gizmo and Beth from Terrier Torrent, for co-hosting the blog hop!
Wishing you all a lovely, warm weekend.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Wordless Wednesday 75 - Those were the days...
Since Bella is lame and can't go out to play in the snow, I was reminiscing today of the days she could. And she was once happy to do so with another dog, her former-BFF, Maggie.
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| As always, you can click to embiggen. :) |
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| I just ADORE this picture. |
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