JMFS
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Figured it out and chased the zebras away with the horse I found! Now to fix it . . .. The last two hurricanes that tried to hit us, but missed, managed to knock out our power. Our house is now 14 or so years old and the smoke detectors have begun to malfunction. When the power goes out, they all go off until the power comes on. Flipping the breaker does nothing because of the battery back ups, and we can't reach them now that the sir has had a massive stroke and can't climb a ladder (our ceilings are 12 - 20 ft high). So, for 36 hours those things were going off. Esther got to go to the boarder's after 12 hours because the husband's angiogram was scheduled for the day after the hurricane - what luck! Poor Gertie wasn't scheduled, so she stayed home with my kiddo and they suffered together. There was the Faintest weak beep followed by a hardly detectable click, which is why we didn't catch it before (I sleep with headphones on). Even after pointing it out to the husband, he couldn't hear it until I turned off the air purifier so that it was dead quiet in the room. I ended up going to the guest room with Gertie and the poor girl snuggled up on the blanket and conked out right away. She was snoring in less than a minute. It's just bizarre that Esther couldn't have cared less about it. She went through 12 hours of the things screeching, and 5 minutes is enough to give anyone a case of nerves if you ask me. When they're singing their cacophony Esther is right there with Gertie, freaking out. We're waiting on our electrician to come replace all the detectors. We couldn't take the one in our room down. Even with standing on the top of the ladder (the part you're not supposed to - if I could, I did not trust it) I wouldn't be able to reach with my not quite 5'5" little self. To light some fire under my husband (I've been asking since the hurricane to get our electrician over here) I'll sleep in the guest room until they're all replaced, lol. Esther = Zebras Gertrude = Horses I'm relieved to have figured it out because my imagination was going bonkers, and dark.
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So, first - I've been working with her on her bow. She was getting doggy about it and offering a quick slap of her paws on the floor before popping up to receive her treat. I've been slowly lengthening the amount of time she'll bow. She still tries to get away with the paw slaps or even lying down (cheater!), but I persist. I'm limiting it to about 3 seconds because I'm unsure whether it feels like a good stretch or an awkward position. She loves waving, and tries to use that as payment for her treat. She gets to do puppy push ups when she simply won't focus. That tends to get her to act right and focus. 😆 So 2 weeks ago, and then again last night and the night before, my Gertie Gerts has had these episodes of refusing to settle at night. She's fully knocked out when we're upstairs in my office, when we're watching tv, when I'm showering, and most nights at bedtime, but in these situations she paces and just won't relax when we go to the bedroom. This lasted about 3 days the first time, and last night was day 2 of the new event. It's as though she's trying to get our attention because she'll sit there, staring at me. When I don't acknowledge (I have headphones on for guided meditations), she goes to the husband's side to give him a stare down. She goes outside for the bathroom right before we go to bed, and she eats about 3 - 4 hours before bedtime. When it happened a couple weeks ago she kept going under our bed, so I slid her bed underneath and she finally went to sleep. This week I tried that again, but that wasn't acceptable. I tried to put her bed in the bathroom with the door open so she could see us (it's about 6 ft away from her normal position), turned it to the side and slid it halfway under the bed so she could choose under or out, covered her with her blanket, and still no dice. In the bathroom she did try to get back under the blanket after shaking it off, but couldn't quite manage. I noticed when I put my tablet flashlight on her she calmed, so I took one of my LED tealights and put it under my nightstand and moved her bed back to the usual spot. She zonked out - exhausted after an hour of refusing to sit still. This is such bizarre behavior for her. She's our furry Valium puppy who never misses a chance to couch potato. Her preference is to lounge about all day - even outside she'll pick a sunny spot to snooze in. The room temperature hasn't changed and we haven't made any other adjustments in the room. Blinds are in the same position, furniture hasn't moved, she's had this bed for 3 years, the blanket is the same. I can't place my finger on any human-detectable environmental changes that would cause the behavior. She had a vet visit in December, clean bill of health. No arthritis or clicking in the joints, no stiffness. Vision is good with mild formation of cataracts - she runs around at night with no issues. She's only 7, perfect weight, and active (when she's not couch potatoing). I had to call her in the other day because she was chasing the crows and they were beginning to amass into a murder, lol. I didn't want to have to go crow hunting because I'm Trying to befriend them! I have one I "gadawk gadawk gadawk" with each day (we repeat each other). I asked my husband if maybe she's detecting a dang sinkhole, being that this is Florida. He, of course, brushed it aside. The only common denominator I can think of is that both times this behavior surfaced it was cold outside. But . . . not inside. 🤔 I'm so stumped by this! The confounding part is that Esther, Miss super sensitive, ultra champion forget-those-Bloodhounds nose, scared of her own shadow was completely nonplussed. She was wagging energetically because Gertie was up and moving (Esther stays crated because of the bladder issues - which have Much improved - and won't leave Gertie alone), but not showing any signs of her usual anxiety or fear. For Gertie to be nervous and Esther to be happy and chill is strange. I've exhausted all the potential causes I can think of, so here I am! It better Not be a sinkhole or as we're being swallowed up the husband is going to hear, "I told yoooooooou . . ." and I'm not sure if it will come from Gertrude or me! Maybe both.
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Teaching "speak" prior to teaching "quiet"
JMFS replied to [email protected]'s topic in Dog Training & Behavior
I once asked this! The answer was, "be careful what you wish for." Some dogs might associate "speak" with treats and end up barking More. Instead, I went with training against the specific triggers. E.g., the trash pick up or UPS (she's not against FedEx for some reason, lmao!). When the trash guys or UPS come by I get her to look, then I say, "friend" and gave her a treat. That worked moderately well, and I will admit I am not 100% fluent with it. Eventually you'll fade out the reward. We bumped into that when training our reactive dog at group class. She's dog and human reactive and our trainers put us next to the windows and the front door (but a safe distance away) because she'd spent 5 weeks with them in Boot Camp and was already trained for this. But, because the dynamic changed (it was us instead of the trainers holding her leash) people would come in and she'd bark, so we'd lure her away with a treat followed by cheers and a jackpot of treats. Eventually the trainer said, "alright, this just became a game to her," because she started watching the door just Waiting for the catalyst to the treat. It can be a task, for sure. Adrienne can help you get it fine-tuned, though! It does get better as they mature as well. For us, sometimes it's a matter of showing them what they're barking at, but only after they've stopped barking. Our pool guy is a good example. Gertie (our "never met a stranger" dog) kept chuffing when she'd hear him clanking around. I took her to the door to show her it was 'just our friend," and that stopped the noises. Since she stopped for a solid minute, I took her outside to go see him. That was like an extra reward for being quiet. -
Monkey's 15th birthday was Friday! Bittersweet because we also bid farewell to Abbi at 4:58 pm. She was assisted by her lifelong Veterinarian and went peacefully, surrounded by love. She's now with Brownie, Momo, my dad, Marshmallow, Tiger, Chrissy, Cress, Chardonnay, Punkin, Lucky, Romeo, Kelsie, Ash, Shelby (Einstein and Petra!), and the many other loving souls who have come into our lives. I'm sure she's been sitting on my dad's lap getting attention lavished upon her, and probably some prime rib too! She's chasing, and catching squirrels. But not to worry! The squirrels for chasing in that realm are highly realistic illusions, complete with eau de squirrel to tantalize doggy noses. The real squirrels are sitting safely amongst their gigantic pile of nuts, happily chittering away at the would-be predators who are chasing the illusory squirrels. Oh, badgers, too! She and Brownie are torpedoing their oddly long bodies down burrows to flush out badgers. Be sure to tell your loved ones of her arrival - she will gladly sit upon their laps to accept pets, or run with the non-human variety.
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I'm willing to try it all at this point! I got a backpack for her recently and had the idea to put a bluetooth speaker in it. We could play white noise on walks or practice with barking dogs at a low volume, upping it as she desensitizes. Gertie simply readjusts her position when Hurricane Esther blows through. She Appears to be unaffected and continues to look at me rather than shifting attention to Esther. Honestly considering changing her name to Extra. 🤦♀️ Gerts also tends to opt for the bed over the couch, which makes the couch time decision easy. Sometimes the hubby will swap them out, though, to give Gertie a turn. As long as we block Esther's exit with a chair, she resigns herself to the bed. For the next house we'll have an open floor plan, which means we can have a bed on either side of the couch. Right now it's a small step down to the living room with a wall on the left side of the couch and a path to get to the couch between the couch and the outside wall / fireplace wall. It's fairly confining, though a large space, due to having only one exit route. I'd share a picture, but my yarn barf is an embarrassment, lol. Next house will have a craft room with ample storage for my fiber arts. 🙂 I practiced the jacket routine again tonight when watching Cabinet of Curiosities. There was this weird rat thing with a human head that she was barking at (understandably!) and I put the jacket in front of her. She alternated from burrowing into my legs and trying to peek around the jacket. We might be on to something here with breaking the visual connection.
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Thank you, yet again. 🙂 I found where I contacted Dr. Curtis back in August of 2021, but didn't get a response. I'll try again. Maybe now with pandemic issues being less present I can get a response. The other two are 2 and 4 or 5 hours away (Lisa Rodasta has 2 locations). The article I read reported there are only 90 Veterinary Behaviorists in the US. No date on the article, though, so it could be more or less now. I think Gertie needed a few days to process. About 3 days after the fight she approached Esther and sniffed, then play bowed. Indoors, so I put the kibosh on that, lol. They're not allowed to rough house indoors. She's back to being under my feet, and everything healed up nicely. I failed to mention that Esther is crated when I'm headed to the bathroom. Gertie's bed is on my side of the bed, then my nightstand is between my side of the bed and Esther's crate - kind of an L shape. The husband is onboard with one dog at a time on the couch and has been consistently following the rule. Thank goodness! If the dogs are fighting, the humans need to be on the same page! Esther jail broke yesterday while Gertie was eating (Esther eats in her kennel upstairs, Gertie eats downstairs). She ran right past Gertie, which was in a narrow spot through a doorway, bumped Gertie on the way through (because she Is a bully with her herding tendencies), and over to me. Gerts didn't even look, just kept eating. I found that interesting (a little shock to the heart, too). Another interesting, but unrelated item: Esther was barking at a dog on the tv last night and I had my jacket laying on top of me. I lifted it up and put it in front of her face to break the connection. She immediately went into a playful dive into my lap and crawled up to my face to lick (which she is Not allowed to do - no lickins, especially from She Who Eats Every and Anything, and Especially not on the face! Yuck!). It was a little chaotic, but preferred to the barking. She mostly ignored the dog on the tv, even though it was barking. She froze, ears perked, when the dog barked, but she stayed under the jacket with me. I'm so confused! How she can instantaneously switch like that? Am I truly that high value, or was it the comfort of the hidey hole, a combination, luck, or something else at play? I'm going to get a blanket that's larger than my jacket to see if she'll do it again Without smothering me in the process. If she does, then I suppose we have something to consider here. 🤔 A tent for Esther while tv watching perhaps?
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Amazon has some relatively economically priced beginner sets. Without knowing the age of your GSD, though, I'll throw this caution out there: until 18 months their growth plates aren't fully able to handle the load and if they land wrong the soft tissue can get damaged. For smaller dogs it might be more like 12 months, but our bigger dogs are late bloomers. 🙂 The tunnels and weaving poles are still a-okay to use, I'd just avoid any jumping exercises until mature. There was a gal at the dog park once who had two GSDs and she would put them in a sit stay while she walked off into the wooded section (this dog park was Awesome). She'd hide two balls, one for each dog. Then she'd walk back and release them to find. It was fun to watch them proudly bounding back to her with their prizes. Meanwhile, there was my dog, head under water, fishing out rocks . . . lol. When he was a puppy I had a plastic pool for him and I'd put sinkable toys in there for him to pull out. I never did find a good use for his skill (I didn't know Adrienne, yet!), but he sure enjoyed it. This is the course I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017TBQ4Z2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Most of them are around $60 for the poles, ring, and tunnel. If you have anyone crafty you could get them to build a ramp (I don't know what type of space you have available). In fact . . . I think I need my husband to do that with our spare lumber - glad you asked this question! 😆
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You know just the right words. 🥰 You're right - it's the once-in-a-blue-moon thing that makes it difficult to correct. They go months on end with no issues, we manage carefully, and then suddenly something we didn't consider sets off the fireworks. They're back together now. I waited until Gertie gave the signal - she went up to Esther and sniffed her - instead of letting Esther decide when they should have contact again. I really like this idea of Esther seeking us out when Gertie has something. I have a feeling Esther would be easier to condition than Gerts. Both would be the best solution, but we can start with Esther. Steph didn't teach us much, if I'm honest about it. It was basic training, which was rather irritating as we already had that down. When we get time again (hahaha - we started building the apartments . . .) I will reach out to Leah and have her come over since she responds to me. We gave up on getting Steph to contact us, and I get the feeling she ghosted us because she and I were like oil and water. I'm not sure why, but we did Not click. Alpha Female Syndrome? 😆😆 We're both accustomed to taking the lead, perhaps. I tried to dance the 2-step with an older gentleman when we were in Vegas and I kept trying to lead, thus stepping on his feet. I apologized and told him I'm used to leading, and he laughed and replied, "so am I!" I really don't Want to lead, but my subconscious says otherwise. There are few people I don't get along with, but when they're similar to me it's either best buds or they simply don't like me. Women - we're sometimes a mess. 🤷♀️😆 So far Gertie has been preferring the bed on the floor next to my side of the couch, so that's been working out. When Esther is on the bed she's constantly popping up, so Gertie choosing the bed is helpful. I was ¼ kidding when I told the husband that the next house needs a leash anchor next to the floor outlet so we can tether Esther when she's being "extra," as the kids say these days. We're building a kennel into our bedroom sitting area so we'll have that as an option. We're strategizing how to handle the next fight (fingers crossed there isn't one, but if wishes were dollars . . .). We have the water bottle, which Esther fears greatly. You would think it's filled with acid with how she reacts to it. Leah said she has black pepper caches around the house, and when her girls get into it she throws a handful of that onto their noses. The sneezing is uncontrollable so they have to let go, which gives her opportunity to remove one or the other from the situation. Talk about management, though. She has 3 boxers and they do a carefully orchestrated dance to get the girls outside, fed, watered, etc . . .. The girls are both dog reactive, one is human reactive, and their boy has no cares to give. Typical, lol. If we can remember to push them together so Esther has to let go, that might help, too. This was one of those sudden ones. Neither of us were paying them any attention, husband was just about to sit down and Wham! The god awful sounds started and they were locked. Gertie's swelling has gone down. Her paw pad is almost healed enough to where I can stop bandaging it - I'm doing it now just to keep it clean. There is a little bruise by her claw that will probably take a week or more to heal. She has a little abrasion at the corner of her nose and a bigger one on her front lip. Esther's definitely getting more proficient and there wasn't a single wound on her this time. Gertie ran after the mailman's truck today so that's another sign she's feeling better. She's been moping about, not following me to the bathroom and opting to stay on her bed instead. I wish we could explain to them that fights aren't necessary. There are more than enough resources to go around!
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Well, we went a good long while without a fight. I was in the kitchen, hubby was bragging about how good the girls did on the couch while I was gone. I had a one dog at a time rule enacted before I left. He put his plate of food on the coffee table, and I'm sure you know where this is going. It took all we had to pull them apart. Esther would Not let go of Gertie's lip, and Gertie was making this Horrid sound. 😞 We both completely forgot to push them together so Esther would have to readjust. I had Gertie by the hind legs, hubby was between them, and then I realized it was Esther who wasn't letting go so I ran over to Her back legs and grabbed those. She finally let go. I love my animals, but I was ready to drive Esther down the street and set her free at that point. We put her in her kennel instead to let everyone calm down. No wounds on her this time; Gerts got the worst of it. Her lip is swollen, there's a puncture on the inside of it that's probably going to need the Vet (I think there's pus, but it's hard to see), there's a puncture wound on one of her toes, and another on her eyebrow. I've been soaking her paw in salt water, spraying it with Forticept Maxi Wash, then slathering it up with Forticept's blue butter and wrapping it so it stays clean. Husband got three good scratches on his neck from Esther. With every fight Esther escalates in her tenacity, and I'm losing my patience. Now that nerves are soothed and tempers calmed, we're Thinking it was one, or a combination of: me being home after 5 days of being gone, the girls wanting the "seat of honor" next to me and Gertie having it, the food on the coffee table. My money is on the food with an underlying current of excitement about me being home. I wish I could train the husband . . .. I'm starting to resent Esther, and I don't like that. Gertie started it, but I've said it numerous times - Esther is going to finish it. She hurt my Gerts, and we know how special Gertie is to me. I know we're not supposed to have favorites, but . . . I'm human. I'm fearful that the next fight is going to be too much, and I really wish the husband would tone down his confidence when he doesn't fully understand all the underlying issues and body language. For now the one-dog-at-a-time on the couch rule is reinstated. Honestly, I want no dogs on the couch so the husband and I can sit together and we can take the couch cover and sheets off of it, but we don't have a good set up in the current living room to put two beds down. Next house! Anyway, I had to vent, and I know dog people would understand. <3
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Ah, ~5 years around here and I'm still learning! You touched on a good point. I forgot to mention that our removals of Esther are done as a result of evaluation, and recommendation, by two behaviorists. I knew you would set the record straight! ❤
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Adrienne covered it all. I'd like to lend some moral support. While our situation is a bit different than yours (ours is towards other dogs, less so humans, and certainly not us), I understand well the aggravation, irritation, desperation, helplessness, and desire to just give up. Been there, done that, have a stack of t-shirts! I want to echo Adrienne's tethering suggestion. When Esther starts acting up, we tether her to the stair railing. She spent a large portion of Saturday there, because every time we gave her an opportunity to knock it off (she kept jumping on our elderly 8-lb dog, bouncing from the couch to the floor and back again despite brain games, exercise, and a long lasting treat - some days she just can't settle), she opted instead to do the Opposite of what we asked. This is after about $3k worth of training. Our trainers ghosted us so we never got to finish up and I haven't had time to work with our primary trainer. Some dogs are simply tough nuts to crack, but with time, work, and patience they turn out to be some of the best dogs we'll meet. I have that hope for Esther. To offer a light at the end of the tunnel - most days are good enough and she's off leash most of the day now. She used to be leashed during all waking hours because she'll eat any and everything. Day-by-day it gets better, but we do still have our off days. You asked about crating and using it as punishment. If he is okay with his crate, then it's okay to put him there. It's called positive punishment (I hope I got that right - Adrienne will correct me if I didn't). Like putting a child in time out. We put Esther in her kennel when she's over threshold, which is when there is a dog on the television. Even a cartoon dog! But, we don't just toss her in there. We give her a treat or maybe a Benebone to make it a positive experience, rather than a negative one. If we know we're going to see a plethora of animals on the tv we'll put her in the kennel before starting the show, but we're often taken by surprise and then we have a barking, lunging, slavering dog losing her mind over a pretend dog. To digress - the other night we let her go to the television. She started whining and looking behind the tv, then sniffed all around. She went over to our other dog, Gertrude and sniffed her. Then looked at the television and sniffed Gertrude again. She was utterly confused and that broke the tension. Sometimes it boils down to figuring out how to address the issue, and it's not always a cut and dry solution. We're still riddling it out. You might question why you need an in-person trainer when you bought this program (many people ask). It's because there are things that Adrienne can't see that an in-person trainer will. E.g., ears, eyes, stiffness of the body, position of the tail, etc . . .. Adrienne has to rely on retellings of situations, and we often leave out pertinent information because we don't know what to look for. A trainer who can be there to take in the scene will have far more information to help than we could ever provide for Adrienne. If you have any videos, though . . . that's a big help, too. Still not as good as in person, but better than the written word. I hope y'all are able to hang in there. I understand your wife's position. The elderly dog, Abbi, is my husband's (we have 3 total) dog and she and I never bonded. She drives me up the wall with her behaviors, but she's 16 and ailing so it's not as though we can do anything other than attempt to make her comfortable. It's miserable being held captive by a dog, especially if there are health issues (I have arthritis and herniated discs), and that's compounded by not being on good terms with the dog. I struggle to help Abbi toilet - she can't walk - with my discs so there's a little resentment there when it's hurting me. It doesn't make her a bad person at all, and Adrienne would never think that (nor do I). ❤️ It's wonderful that she has a husband who is sensitive to her health and who is willing to protect her.
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I don't know how much longer it's going on, but I just grabbed some Nina Ottosson puzzles for the girls for $10'ish! They're normally almost $30. https://www.chewy.com/s?query=nina ottosson Spend $100 and get a $30 gift card when you use the code SPRING to check out. Does not apply to autoship, but the 5% discount for autoship wouldn't count for one-time items anyway. Be sure to look for the label for qualifying items. I tried "code: spring" for a search term, but it didn't work out 100%. Just know there are Gobs of deals right now.
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Oh my gosh, Frederyk! He looks so regal! He's matured - I can see it in his eyes. I would be playing with those ears all day long. 😍
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2 year old dog not listening like she used to
JMFS replied to AdaramolaRedmond's topic in Dog Training & Behavior
Recall is the one thing all trainers seem to agree on. It has to be reinforced throughout their lives. It's Really tough for we boring humans to compete with that rotting plant, or those squirrel droppings, maybe a bird looking for worms that we can't see (but our dogs sure can), etc . . .. I remember Adrienne telling me how the Same spot smells different to them day-to-day. Our dogs have a couple spots they investigate every time they go out. My human brain is going, "there's nothing there!" Adrienne's dog-tuned brain goes, "ahhh, but it Smells new to them each time." They are ruled largely by their noses, with sound and sight coming in close after. I have two who play rough, and I have to recall them often to get them to settle down. My Momo was good about coming to me during play, so Gertie learned. Then Momo passed and we got Esther and had to start all over again. My first caution - take the collars off. They can get caught in each other's collar and break or dislocate a jaw, or worse. Collars also give them something to grab on to, which means one dog ultimately gets dragged around by the other. Not My idea of a good time, for sure! When I call them in from play - I Try to time it just before it gets too amped up - the first one to me gets a jackpot of treats and the other gets "a treat." If neither of them comes right away, then inside we go and play time ends. If they Do come within an acceptable length of time, I have them sit and wait before I release them to play again. Rinse and repeat. The other thing we do is separate play time. If they can't listen, they don't get rewarded with play time. They have to play with me and me only. Boooooring! Sometimes I'll take Esther out first, run her around for about 5 minutes, then let Gertie out. Gertie is the calmer of the two so discharging some of Esther's energy is helpful. Adrienne will likely give more in depth details, but those are some ideas to get your brain working around how to implement things until she does. 🙂 If I think of other tricks I'll comment again, but otherwise I leave it to Adrienne's more-than-capable hands. ❤️ -
Thank you! She has one more day of pain meds, then I'll let the girls be near each other for a short time to see how it goes. Esther's nose is so doggone sensitive that she's all over Gertie's mouth, so I'm definitely keeping them under a watchful eye. They're kicking the rocks as they chase each other. Momo knew better than to run through a group of people, and he kept the play away from us. Gertie goes with the flow, which means Esther is in the driver's seat, and Esther has zero care to give about humans trying to relax. 🤦♀️ I tried tying them with a 30 foot lead for each, but they just got tangled up and we're only using the pit at night. I don't want to risk injuries, or worse, so that idea went out the window. Next I'll try tie outs where they can be near each other for jaw play, but not close enough to get entangled. I like the idea of click the trigger. I'm pretty good with timing, so I'll give it a whirl. She does stay calm in her kennel, so we have that option. When she gets over-the-top (nothing like a sudden heart jolt when a loud bark disrupts an intense scene) we put her up there with a treat. We avoid doing that too often because she will pee in the kennel about 30% of the time. If we're around she'll indicate her need, but left to her own devices she's going to go when and where she needs to. She got the front door mat the other day after I had her outside for 20 minutes and she didn't pee. I mistakenly thought she didn't need to, but no, she was just too busy sniffing. Ah, dogs. I got the human version of Rescue Remedy for myself. 😆😆 (For stress relief, not because I'm incontinent - just want to clarify that, hahahaha!)
