jake's new bed

i'm so incredibly excited today. for the first time in WEEKS, maybe MONTHS, jake slept on his own bed ALL NIGHT.

i don't think i can accurately convey my excitement through this post...he's a big dog -75lbs- and since his old bed was put out of commission by bruno and luna, he had taken over my bed...every night, i would wake up with a paw in my face, or two, or a cold nose in my stomach...i would be boxed in and trapped under the covers. it sounds crazy, i know most of you would have kicked him out of your bed, even your room way sooner... but those big, brown eyes are hard to resist.

alas, tonight i celebrate! i no longer have to sleep in strange alphabet shape positions...no more S, no more C, no more L! i can sleep in whatever position I want! and while i'll miss his warmth, it's not winter for another 4 months.

"THE POODLE"

Walking Jake is getting easier and easier every time. Well, as long as I'm walking him alone.

He's very responsive to the "Halti" we've been using and, because of his size, it's easier for me to control him with it on than with just a flat collar or even the prong. Lately in our walks, Jake is going back to being relaxed and focused. We've even learned to deal with runners and bikes....as soon as we see them, we click and treat, and if Jake still gets excited, we just turn around and walk in the direction the runner or biker is traveling. Even though he continues to be curious, he's much more relaxed as they pass by us. A very different reaction from the explosions he goes through when they're coming directly at him.

my little ham

However, we're still struggling when the "distraction" is of the canine variety. Jake can spot them miles away, and his "threshold"- the point at which he can't even take treats as a distraction, requires me to stand in Decatur while the dog looks at him from Alabama. Well...kind of. However, with the work we've been doing, when it comes to most dogs, we can just go up a driveway while the other pup passes. EXCEPTION: THE POODLE.

"THE POODLE" is an 80 lb, white poodle that lives in the neighborhood. Not only is this dog big, blindlingly white and puffy, but "THE POODLE" is the running partner of one of my neighbors. Therefore, everytime Jake sees it, it is coming at him at VERY fast speeds...even I get a little freaked out.

A couple of days ago, as Jake and I had started our walk, I saw a white, comet-like vision out of the corner of my eye. You guessed it, it was "THE POODLE." It was just turning the corner but, before I could even finish my thoughts, Jake was already loosing it. Fortunately, the house next to ours has a really deep driveway and I ran with Jake to the bottom of that driveway so they wouldn't meet face to face. Even then, Jake was ready to de-fluff that giant cotton ball.

I FREAKED...but then, pulling myself together, I began, cheese bag in hand, to click and treat. Jake was not responding, so I began shoving cheese in his mouth as fast as I could. Anything I could do to get him from not exploding, I was trying to do. Everytime he opened his mouth, I shoved a handful of cheese. It was the most comical sight I had ever seen.

Even THE POODLE and the runner stopped to watch Jake, sitting at the bottom of the driver, foaming with cheese!

Once they went on their way, we started our walk again. Unfortunately, Jake was so nauseated by the cheese, the click and treat thing was going nowhere. We turned around and headed home. I feel we accomplished a victory against THE POODLE...but I also learned a big lesson...don't just bring cheese!

Click, click, click

Clickers are powerful tools and dangerous weapons...and I must admit I've used them for evil.

It has been two weeks now since we started using the clicker. Meredith, the Canine PhD trainer, recommended that we use it to create consistency in the praise the dogs get while we're out of the house. It turns out, she told us, that the reason the puppies react the way the do while on the leash is because they're scared. They feel less able to protect themselves and, therefore, their behavior escalates to get rid of the "threat." Then, the reaction is reinforced because, in their heads, by barking and lounging they get exactly what they wanted -- the truck is scary, so they bark and lounge as it goes by. While you and I know the truck kept going because it meant to kept going, to them, the truck went away because they barked and growled at it. Makes sense to me!

So now, the plan is to condition the dogs to associate the things that scare them with positive things...read, "delicious treats." The clicker is a consistent way to reinforce the good behavior. A great tool if you know how to use it. It was amazing how on the first hour of working with the pups, she got them within a foot of a cat and no one lost any fur!

On the other hand, the clicker can be used to accomplish many other things, like, a small dose of revenge. Take for example night number two of our clicker training. M had been a pain in the butt ALL afternoon...one of those grumpy, menopausal days guys go through; so, I thought it would be a great idea to do some clicker training in the room, under the light of the lamp, with smelly hot dogs as M was about to go to sleep, at midnight.

It wasn't so mean. I wanted to make sure he felt involved in the experience..after all...we're supposed to all be working on this together, right?

click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click

the breaking point

I'm a firm believer that a responsible dog owner takes the training of his or her dogs seriously. At the very least, he or she recognizes when his or her dogs need a little more schooling that the average mutt. My mutts, they need all the help they can get!

Ok... I over-exaggerate. All in all, they're good puppies...and I'm grateful we had the opportunity to enroll them in an excellent obedience class when they were very young. The trainer at the Atlanta Humane Society, Mailey, was incredible. Through her classes, I became motivated to see my puppies become good canince citizens and gained confidence to become a strong leader. The training, however, is only as effective as the human and I recognize the very human vices of lazyness and complacency have gotten in the way of my consistency.

As a result, my lovely dogs are often tazmanian devils when we leave the confort of our home...especially when a leash is involved! My desperation to get the little monsters under control reached red zone levels when Jake started turning suicidal and running at trucks and moving lawnmowers and dragging me and Luna along with him. A great student, Luna quickly caught on that trucks and lawnmowers and squirrels and other dogs on leashes and cats and runners and motorcycles and bikes and roller-bladers are evil things that must be barked at and chased at so they go away.

I reached my breaking point when I picked them up for doggie daycare a couple of weeks back. The trainer was teaching a class and I wanted to wait for her to see if I could enroll Luna in agility classes. While we waited, Jake and Luna turned the place upside down. They barked and pulled and lounged and almost knocked over a table at the sight of the other dogs walking by on leashes. Near tears, I scheduled a class with the Canine PhD instructor, Meredith, and went home determined that the afternoon's events would never repeat themselves.

Enter, the CLICKER!