Tuesday Of Shame

OK, these post headers are starting to feel ridiculous... But, whatever, more to be ashamed of! Obviously that must be a good thing, then?

I think you're starting to lose the plot...

• Walks:   ... I don't know! I've been pretty good at remembering to keep a record of at least our walks since I started these posts, but today I couldn't even manage that. Tuesdays are a bit special though (more on that later), so I think it's just because of that. I'd say somewhere between 1h and 2h, closer to 2h but no more than. Something like that.
• Exercise:   0. Again, Tuesdays are a little "special rules apply", but since I've been slacking so much all the other days that's not such a good excuse!
• Training:   Well... We did try out the new "do as I do"-thingy with The Kid as an interested audience, but that's about it. Five minutes, probably...
• Planning/preparation:   0. Again.
• Other:   And this is where we get to why Tuesdays are special. Every Tuesday belongs to The Kid. I pick him up right after school, he eats a snack in the car while we talk about our plans, and then we go home and bake, bake, bake! We spend all afternoon and most of the evening baking, always something new and usually something a little advanced. Whenever something is resting, proofing, baking, cooling, etc, we focus on homework. Monster has to take a back seat, this is The Kid's day. Ideally I make sure Monster's had a full morning, but lately this hasn't been going so well... Now, Monster loooooooooves The Kid. Just seeing him sends Monster into raptures of joy, so it's not like he suffers and sulks on our baking Tuesdays. Plus The Kid likes Monster too, so usually he gets a few minutes of attention here and there (would probably be more if I didn't insist that hands have to be rewashed whenever they've been in a dog's mouth!) and we often get to have a little "show" where we show off any new tricks Monster may have learned lately, or something old but with The Kid as handler, and the like. But still, they're a back seat day for Monster. Not today, though. The Kid had a bad headache and was really tired. After less than an hour baking he was crawling around on the floor wrestling and playing tug with an ecstatic Monster. So while I did the baking The Kid and Monster played (and no one did the homework). It's maybe not the most impressive activity, very little learning and no organization what so ever, but on the happiness scale it's a bullseye! And while I think it's good for Monster (in general he needs to be physical with people other than me, plus he's pretty careful around The Kid - who's twelve, so no one panic about fragile children, OK - and he develops his "play nice" skills), it's also good for The Kid. A couple hours of relaxing Monster therapy and his headache was gone.

That's just how awesome I am!

So, not a great day (obviously, we're not really having any of those lately) but all things considered not a disaster either. I guess.

Sunday Of Shame

Today started off sort of slow, but then it picked up and I was really optimistic half way through. Now I have a headache and a surprise visit from Tilly (neighbor's dog who stays with us from time to time) put us completely off course again.

• Walks:   1h 45min. I won't try to claim it would have been a lot more, but having Tilly come stay with us meant we can't go for more than very short walks. She has an issue with her shoulder and isn't to be exercised. 
• Exercise:   0. I meant to do the ball (etc) exercises this evening, but with Tilly here it's not possible. (She's a resource guarder with a very low stress threshold, I can't train anything high energy and I can't reward with food or play, so...)
• Training:   25min. This was what made me feel so happy today! We put about 15min into a partial obedience program (heel through a course, stay under march, stay, recall to heel, send, distance control). Not the most impressive stuff nor the most precise performance, but we had fun! Monster was so involved in the training, he sort of made me wake up... While competition obedience has never really been my thing, today it was so much fun. As wind down/reward (I managed to end the training in time this time, rather than drag it out until it became boring!) we did a nosework session outside as well, where Monster had to search for a piece of plastic in the garden (I hid it up a tree) and got a bully stick for finding and retrieving it. It took ten minutes. I meant to do some more obedience training indoors this evening, focusing more on precision, but, you know, Tilly.
• Planning/preparation:   0. I'd like to say I've spent this quiet evening with Tilly planning to make up time tomorrow. But I haven't. And I won't.
• Other:   0. I realized today that I can't remember the last time I just played with Monster. Just for no other reason than it's fun, just got down on the floor and wrestled him or something. Can't do it with Tilly here of course, but she's not here all the time and like I said I think it's been quite some time since I did it. Must be remedied. But hasn't been today. I also haven't read any of the stuff I meant to read about precision obedience before I messed it up any more...

Is blaming Tilly really the way to do this...?

No, it's not. I just... It feels like climbing up a steep, sandy slope. You fight like mad to get anywhere at all, and the smallest thing will knock you back again. But it isn't Tilly's fault, I'm just looking for a scapegoat. Again. That's ugly behavior.

Monstermom Gets Her Act Together (... you know - maybe)

Listen up boys and girls: vitamin D is not to be messed with. I've been feeling increasingly weak and tired for months now (you may remember me complaining...), and about a month ago it got so bad I had to lie down just from walking upstairs, I found myself getting disoriented on walks not remembering where I was or what I was doing, and my entire body ached nonstop. I finally pulled myself together and had myself checked out, and it turns out I had severe vitamin D deficiency. I've been eating prescribed pills for about a week now, and I feel like I'm returning to myself - it's ridiculous how bad I've been feeling, and how poorly I've been functioning. Not just physically, but mentally as well. Perhaps I'm just having a placebo effect right now, but either way it's working so I'm going with it!

Hear, hear! You were not the only one affected...

Today was the first time in a long time I did a spontaneous and fun training session with Monster. For I-don't-know-how-long all daily activities has basically been focused on finding ways to give Monster something to do which required very little from me. Even days when I really tried to do proper training, I'd get so exhausted in under a minute that I had to sit down - I can't believe now that I just went with it and didn't seek help! But today we've been working through a basic obedience program (modified for him being kept on leash, as we still don't have a fenced in area to work in), with a lot of running, wrestling and playing tug. And it was so much fun!

Yeah! Finally!

I complain a lot about Monster. This whole blog is actually all about complaining about Monster, in a way! I think I may be presenting a very skewed picture of him. So I want to say this: Monster is an amazing dog. With a better trainer, and with an early, correct approach to his issues, he'd be a freaking miracle in the ring! He is hyper responsive to minute signals from me, he is a workaholic - I have never managed to push him to the point where he doesn't want to continue training - and he is curious and inventive. He has a huge chase drive, and an innate interest in objects and activities. If a human handles something around him and puts it down, he will immediately investigate it and try to engage with both the object and the person who had it. He will pick up the book you just put down, retrieve your hat and shoes for you when you take them off, and immediately unpack a bag of groceries when it enters the house. There is so much potential in him, I'm just bad at channeling it...

I know, right!?

Then again, it's not all sunshine and roses. He did try to eat a group of Jehovah's Witnesses today...

Today's Sunshine

Today I finally managed to start some of the training I'd been planning! Monster and I did three sessions today focusing on impulse control. Obviously we've trained in that area before, but I've decided to put more focus on it for a while. I've sort of just been skimming the surface, mostly because Monster is surprisingly difficult to "tease" like this. Since he doesn't really care all that much for food rewards, putting a treat on the floor (or on his paws or nose) and asking him to not go for it until given permission isn't that big of a challenge. We did it once when he was a puppy, he figured out the basic idea, and since then he knows what it's about and pretty much just sits there and waits. Tug toys and similar are more of a temptation, but even with them he gets the basic principle and it's not much of a challenge. Also, due to his general lack of focus (on me...) while out for a walk, we've mostly been doing this training at home - even easier!

Wait, are you trying to say I'm not this good because I'm smart!?

But, again, looking closer at this it's all just a bunch of lazy excuses, right? Right. Impulse control is important, Monster is good at the training we've been doing but he's not so good at actual impulse control when it counts. What this means is that I have to use my superior intellect

What!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!

and think of ways to make it more challenging for him. So, today I've put the harness on him for a walk, brought out a high value tug toy, and just stressed him out and wound him up to the point of actually biting my hands to get it (see?! lack of impulse control!), and then quickly taking him and the tug toy out for a walk. Whenever he seems to start to wind back down, we do a bit of impulse control with the tug toy (dangle it in front of his face, throw it away, play with it myself, put it down between his paws, leave it behind as we walk away, etc), and make sure to reward with some stressing tug of war. It's a bit too early to say if I can see any general results from it, but I can say that it at least works in the sense that it's a lot harder for him to ignore the teasing. See, I am smarter than him!

HAHAHAHA, oh please stop! You're killing me!

Monster Has A Bright Idea

You know how a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, what about a video then? That's got to be, like, a whole novel's worth, right?

I'm banking on that, since we're still Far, Far Away and I can hardly ever get a minute by a computer for the blog. So, to make up for these months (and for however long we're still staying) of silence, here's a dose of the Marvelous Monster:

Sorry about the video quality, the shaky camera work, the glare and washed out colors, the weird editing, the... Well, sorry about all of it really. I suck.

Still, Monster can make up for anything!

Today's Sunshine

Today Monster and I have been spending some time on focus and attention, hanging out in the somewhat sunny Sunday weather and trying to ignore all the neighborhood activities. I've basically only been asking him to focus on me, although sometimes also requesting some fairly simple behaviors. About 50% of the rewards were play rewards, getting him pretty worked up...

I'm gonna get you!

All the same, it seems to me that it went pretty well. In spite of screaming children, hammering neighbors, passing bikes, barking dogs, and whatever else was thrown at us, he did mostly pay attention to me. On occasion he'd react to something and look away, but he'd quickly return attention to me. He also seemed to be enjoying the training itself, not just the rewards.

This... Is... MINE!

Monster is absolutely hilarious to play tug with (as long as you don't mind the odd scrape or bruise...), he'll growl and stare and tackle and really fight for the tug. At the same time he has pretty bad control, and has zero confidence in his grip so he keeps shifting. Inevitably he either loses the tug completely or grabs something else entirely, to his confusion.

Wait... Why is the leash in my mouth!? Are you trying to trick me?!

I usually let him win, he's just too adorable to disappoint.

Let me?! Hah! Just wait until I get my breath back...

Alright, I admit it, he is a little strong. Not to mention inexhaustible. I've managed to tire him out once in his life. When he was a puppy, perhaps five months old, we went into town one morning and hung out in rush hour with traffic, noises and hurrying people all around us. When we got home from that he went straight to bed and took a nap. That's the only time he's had enough, from either mental or physical activities. Don't get me wrong, he's not a stressed out basket case. He'll go lie down if I'm boring, but he'll always check first if we're going to do something else. Tracking, training, playing, hiking, learning, new environments, new people - nothing wears him out.

OK, I won. Let's go again!

I wonder what he could achieve if he had a better owner... Well, we'll never know, because I'm not giving him up!

Another Dog Game!

This one's a favorite, and gets played almost daily: "Where'd you go?"

You can play this both inside the house and outside, all you need is something to hide behind. As you and the dog are walking together somewhere, let him get ahead of you and then slip away and hide. Below, Monster and I was leaving the kitchen for the living room, when I instead hid behind a cupboard.

There you a- eeek!

And when the dog comes back to see where you went, you jump out at him and roar (from dog height, not from above). So the dog backs off around the corner again, and the game resets. We like to repeat a "found you" three or four times, but you'll quickly see how long your dog thinks it's fun.

In the case above Monster also has a rawhide bone in his mouth, that works fine for us but isn't necessary. If your dog has resource issues you may want to avoid that, though.

If your dog is skittish or uncertain, you can of course be more gentle in the "jump out and scare him" part! Or skip that entirely.

What's it good for? Maybe it helps Monster feel less threatened by people doing unexpected and odd things, moving suddenly or raising their voices. I wouldn't play this game if Monster showed any signs of discomfort, but it's clear he loves it. You can't quite see it in the photo above, but to the left of the refrigerator there's an oven with dark glass making a kind of mirror. Often when we play in this particular spot I can see Monster stopping just before the corner and looking at the "mirror" to see where I'm at, then he'll grin and trot around the corner. He's not actually scared, is my point, or even surprised.

(And yes, Monster can see and understand what's in a mirror. He also likes to watch TV - especially sports or anything with bears. And no, he's not just listening. And yes, I'm sure about the mirror. In fact, he often comes up behind me when I'm brushing my teeth in the bathroom and seeks eye contact through the mirror. It's a bit of a pain, because I try to make sure to always reward eye contact, meaning I now have to keep dog treats in the bathroom which goes against my hygiene principles... Still, it's also kind of awesome, so I'm not really complaining!)

You know, people say I look kind of dumb... Shows how smart they are.

Dog Games, Part Deux

Quick and simple game today: Where's the doggy?

What? I'm right here dude.

This game is played by putting a blanket (or jacket, or whatever) over your head and letting the dog "find" you. I call it "Where's the doggy?" because that's what I said (whispered actually) the first time I did this, much as you do with a small child when you cover your face and ask where the child went. Monster loves this game, and will jump up on me and frantically try to dig my face out from whatever is covering it. Once he's "found" me he's so happy he almost ties himself into a knot, wagging his tail and jumping and running around.

Fun, quick and simple. What's it good for? No idea... Maybe it helps make your dog interested in keeping contact with you?

A note of warning though, as this is again a game which may be a problem to play with a large dog, at least if they get as into it as Monster does. You may need to set some rules about how the dog is allowed to dig you out, as well as how he's allowed to celebrate once he's succeeded.
(Black eyes and claw marks usually aren't what we're going for.)

Winter Wonderland

Today is a day of fog and hoarfrost. It's really gorgeous, so I brought the camera along on a walk.

Bedazzled birch trees.

In some places the fog had lifted, and there was sunshine and blue sky. In others, we could barely see 100 feet in front of us.

Heading back into the fog again.

It was nice to have some variation in what I honestly feel is a bit of a dull landscape. Monster wasn't quite as appreciative as me, though...

Eeeeeek! Who dumped an avalanche on me!?

Still, we can't just wander around and enjoy (or hate) the frost, we need to do something useful too.

Whoa! Can I come down now?

It may not look that impressive, but to Monster this rock is a bit too small. He can't fit comfortably on it without balancing a bit.

When I bring the camera along on walks, there really won't be much training though. I'm clumsy enough trying to keep track of Monster, Monster's leash, the clicker, the treats, the tug toy, and so on. With a camera taking up one hand, I've got no chance. And most of the photos come out like this:

Too late, sucker!

Which, when I think about it probably illustrates to you all just how bad my clicker timing is... No wonder Monster isn't learning any faster. Poor Monster.

The fact that everything today - even the air - is bright white and glittering isn't exactly helping my headache, but you can't have everything after all. It's really beautiful, and I'm not complaining.

I Promise To

... brush Monster's teeth today.

It may not sound like training, but Monster is a little hesitant at being handled, and I'm apparently very bad at training him to accept having his teeth cleaned. Instead of brushing Monster's teeth, it becomes a fun game of chewing on Monstermom's fingers. I've gotten to the point where he'll let me get to one or two teeth before he has enough, but no more. Today, these white mountains shall be conquered!

Aaaand: mission failed! I haven't gotten very far at all actually. It's really my own fault, of course. I've been sluggish and reluctant all day, not getting around to things or paying enough attention. Obviously, this means: Bad Monstermom! Bad!

Partly Cloudy... Or Something

I'm confused. I don't know what's the right thing to do.

Wait... You think normally you do? Don't make me laugh!

Monster made some new friends out walking a while back, as I told you about. We keep running into these dogs and their owner fairly frequently, and we're always invited to greet - and preferably even play.

Hey! Remember me!?

Of course, playing on leash is a bad idea... So the other owner, let's call him Boots, often asks me to let Monster off leash to play. There is a place a little off to the side, where there usually isn't anyone around and I have a fairly clear field of vision to see if anyone's approaching, so I've agreed to this a few times. Monster loves it, as do the other two dogs, and they play and shove and chase sticks and each other...

While I stand there tense wondering if I've done the right thing.

Forget about her, let's go!

I think it's a good thing for Monster to have positive experiences with other dogs. This will help remind him that not all dogs are like Dobie, and make him feel more secure. I'm also not really worried about the safety issue about letting Monster off leash - all his aggression behaviors have only appeared while leashed or behind a fence, and he's never bitten another dog, even in self defense. He is big though, and clumsy. He could hurt someone just by running too fast and not looking where he's going. Although I suppose that's true of most dogs.

But the real problem I'm having, is that this will also make Monster more excited about other dogs! I'm no expert, naturally, but to me Monster appears to have both some fear aggression and quite a bit of barrier frustration. The bit that is fear aggression could perhaps be helped somewhat by meeting other dogs like this, but won't it make the barrier frustration worse? The more he wants to reach other dogs, the more frustration he will build when he can't, right? On the other hand, the fear aggression may be more important, right?

Augh! 

We meet again, my dear!

Boots is very clearly in the camp of "For god's sake, let the dog play! He'll never learn to act normally if you don't let him!", to the point of him repeatedly asking me to come along to a large off leash area for dogs (in the city, with no fence around) and let Monster run free there... I have decided against this, it seems too risky - not just for fear of Monster doing something bad, but something bad could happen to him too - but I remain on the fence about these play dates by the stream (another problem, since Monster can't swim). I feel guilty about not letting Monster "just be a dog", and Boots is pretty impressively good at playing on this guilt.
(Not a complaint against Boots, he simply feels I'm doing it wrong and is trying to help by guilting me into doing the right thing - what he believes is the right thing, that is.)

But guilt is not a good reason for doing something, there should be a clear intention and a plan. Unfortunately I seem to be too stupid to figure out what the frak to do. What is the right choice in this situation? Should he play, or should he train? In one situation I appear to be mean and a Nervous Nelly, in the other I appear to be careless and nonchalant...

Augh! Indeed...

Do I get a vote?

Sticks And Stones

When we're out walking and training, a successful meeting with another dog will still make Monster's stress levels go up. So after we've left the other dog in the dust, Monster is allowed free play time (although still on the leash) for a minute or two. This, for him, inevitably means sticks!

YEAH!

He loves picking up sticks and playing with them, he'll jump and bounce and throw the stick around. To think I spend a lot of money on dog toys...

When he first moved in with me this enjoyment was reserved for rocks. Thankfully, I managed to get that out of him fairly quickly! When I was a child I knew a wonderful Boxer, by the name of Hassan, who would fetch rocks for us all day long. He had no teeth...

Don't let your dogs play with rocks, people!

Today's Sunshine

Monster went and fetched a clicker today, when he was feeling bored. It was in my jacket pocket, so he had to work a bit to get it. I think that's a great sign that he enjoys training.

(Well, I already knew that, but I get unreasonably happy when he takes own initiatives like that!)

Well? What are you looking at? Get to work!

Hot On the Trail

I like to do nose work with Monster (not the plastic surgery kind). It's fun and challenging, he loves it, and we can do it pretty well all on our own. So I figured, why not show off my pretty boy at work!?

Now, I'm no expert tracker, and we haven't taken any classes - yet (you know why...), so if you're looking for how to train your dog to become an expert tracker you may want to keep looking. I think Monster's pretty good, but I have no real clue how much we're doing wrong if we're talking competition level...

Anyway, I brought the camera along on Monster's latest tracking mission, so let's go!

First of all, I take the car to where I'll lay down the track - you'll see why shortly - and walk a distance, this time it was about 1200 feet I think. I let the track cool for at least an hour, and this time I think I left it for perhaps four hours. I then take Monster for a walk, heading towards the tracking area.

And the tracking begins at the front door...

Aha! She got into the car here!

This is why I drive. Monster will track me from the front steps as far as he can. When we have guests over and he doesn't get to come outside and watch as they leave, he'll track them as well once we go out, trying to find out where they went. Even after he finds where they got into the car he'll continue searching, I don't know if he's trying to find the trail again or if he's actually trying to track the car...

Anyway, we go for a walk, and once we get to the start of the trail (which I've marked just by kicking up a little patch of dirt or something) I give the command to track and Monster sets off.

Don't bother me, I'm working.

This trail wasn't really meant to be all that challenging, mostly I wanted to take some photos. However, nature decided to play with me...

When I first walked the track, I did notice a slightly funky smell in the area, but I didn't pay that much attention - it's nature, stuff smells. But when Monster and I got there, it reeked! The smell of a thousand incontinent and horny cats would be a close description, I think. My first thought was fox, but I don't know. Something appears to have become upset at my blundering through their territory and decided a thorough marking was called for. I walked through around 9 am, so I may have disturbed someone who was sleeping. We quickly came upon this:

Uh-oh...

Now, I'm not from around here originally, and where I grew up we didn't have these things, but I'm pretty sure this is the calling card of Mr. Boar. I know there are boars down here, and I know they attack and kill dogs from time to time, but I've never seen one. And do boars make a big stink? This appeared to have been left pretty recently, anyway.

Still, Monster just sniffed this and moved on, completely undeterred. As we kept walking, I saw more signs of boar around (disturbed earth, more droppings), but Monster never veered.

I don't use any markings for our tracks, mostly because from the first time I tried him Monster worked very confidently and I didn't need to make sure he was keeping true to the trail. Instead I just set up sight markers, like "walk to the crooked tree, turn left 45 degrees and aim for the fallen stump", and the trails aren't planned out, I simply walk as I feel like and try to vary the terrain a bit and include some angles.

What, is this supposed to be hard?

This time, however, not only did nature mess with us, I did it myself too. I'd lost focus as I was wandering around and (apparently) thinking about other stuff, and walked into a snare of something sharp and snagging. Not thinking about it I backed up and walked around it instead. I didn't even realize/remember I'd done it, until Monster got there...

Hang on... I know she went in here...

I know this is in no way impossible for a dog to handle, I just hadn't meant to add backtracking just yet - and certainly not without even thinking about it! Monster didn't waver for long though, but set to tracking again after a moment's thought, and was soon back on track.

Which is when I discovered I'd been even more unfocused than I thought! Maybe I should start drinking coffee again? Because I had stepped right over this:

Unnecessary difficulties...

Apparently, a deer carcass is very well camouflaged, to the point where a Monstermom will actually lay a track across one... I thought all things tracking were now over and done with, but Monster stopped and smelled it, regally peed on it to make sure everyone knew it was his, and continued on.

In all honesty, I think my dog is amazing.

There is one thing, though, I just can't get right. Monster will not stop. I don't know how to make him accept that tracking has been completed. When I decide to make the end of the track, I kick around some dirt and leaves, and leave a reward of some kind. I've tried treats - they don't get eaten, he'll just track right across them. I've tried various toys - same reaction. I've cheered, clapped, rewarded, played tug, brought an audience to help cheer and clap, and still nothing. If I react with a big fuss as he finds the toy (I've given up on treats, they barely interest him when he's bored even), pick it up and play with it, have a tug of war, pet him and praise him, he'll accept it, he'll play with me and focus on me, and he'll move away from the track with me. But the instant I stop rewarding him, his focus is back on the track...

After a track's end, I make a sharp turn and walk out of the area in a way that will not disturb the trail and in a direction we will not be moving in once we've done the tracking, but Monster cannot let it go. He becomes anxious at being forced to abandon the track, and will continue to focus on it. The track work itself appears to be too rewarding, nothing I do can measure up to it... I need to make a clean break at the finish, but I am so far unsuccessful.

Either way, though, Monster really likes doing this, and once home he'll conk out nicely.

Whlrrrghzz..?

Oh, and the next day we were close to the area again, and I decided to go check if there had been any more activity. We (well, Monster really) found this:

Yup.

That would be a dead fox... It appears to have died during the night as nothing has been touched, even its eyes are intact. I'm guessing a traffic victim, although there were no visible injuries to it. So was I right after all, was it fox smell? Or did the boars and the fox work in tandem, and then the boars turned around and (literally) backstabbed the fox?

Either way, who needs TV when you have nature?

Oh, just in case you think Monster is the only one with any tracking talent, let me show off my skillz.

Aha!

This is unmistakably the tracks of a young animal, male, a little over 100 pounds, and about... two - no, make that three miles away from an urgently needed washing of the paws. How about that!

Today's Sunshine

Not entirely sure if this is actually good, but at least I think it's interesting. Out walking today we again spotted Monster's new friends. Instead of his usual aggressive behavior towards strange dogs, and - more interestingly - instead of his usual playful, tail wagging, almost begging greeting towards old friends, he began stalking them. He moved like a lion spotting prey, lowering his body so his shoulders became sharp points and moving very smoothly towards them. At one point, about 40-50 feet off, he lay down in the grass. He's never shown this behavior before, and I was fascinated. I have heard trainers warning others against this behavior in aggressive dogs, so I was a bit apprehensive. But curiosity won out, and I allowed him to do as he wished (while keeping an eye out for any of the usual warning signs).

In the end, when we reached them he happily jumped up at them, paws spread out in front of him like he was catching a large ball, and then greeted them normally. I think he was playing them some sort of practical joke, kind of "Ta-daaaah!"...

I wouldn't be without this dog for anything in the world.

Today's Sunshine

Monster and I had a couple of kids stop by for a while today. One of them is Monster's most favorite friend/toy in the world, and the other is an incredibly annoying teenager who just can't hear words like "Don't rile him up, he gets too excited!"
(I hope you're reading this, Teen Monster. But then again, it wouldn't do any good...)

Oh, boooo! I think they're fun!!!

Having Monster around kids always makes me nervous. Not because he's vicious or defensive, but because he loves them so much his size becomes a problem. He wants to play, he wants to cuddle, he wants to show them all his toys, and his brain just short circuits trying to do it all at once. He'll run around in circles, bumping into people, throwing toys around, and trying to get up to lick faces... It's nice that he's so friendly, but I still have to watch carefully and try to manage the situation, because while he doesn't mean harm he can still cause harm.

Oh, come on! PLAAAAY!!!

But today, he was practically mellow by our standards! Sure, he tried to sit in their laps when they sat down, and he fetched some things to show off, and he wanted some kisses, but he was much less intense. His movements weren't the near panicked bumblings of trying to do it all at once, and he was slow enough to give us a chance to see what he was doing before he rammed into us.

(This makes it sound like I'm just standing around watching Monster mow people down left and right, crossing my fingers and wishing on a star he'll stop soon. Of course I do actively try to manage his behavior. I don't have a big enough basement to bury the evidence if I would just turn my back and hope for the best every time someone walks through the door...)


And to top it off, when we walked them out to the car as they were leaving (for any chance of peace and quiet Monster needs to see people leave - if they just walk out the door he'll keep waiting and searching for them for the rest of the day - so we always follow guests out and watch them drive away), a dog was passing by just across the road. This would ordinarily be a very bad situation, the dog being so close to our home, it being dark out, Monster being already wound up from playing with the kids, plus a chance to show off/defend his guests. But while Monster did tense up slightly, and start to fixate a bit, he didn't move up to acting out aggression. He turned away when asked, and followed me walking in the other direction. He did want to look back, but even when I turned around and walked us closer to the other dog he still paid attention to me and dropped his interest when asked to do something else.

Obviously this doesn't mean he's cured, but it's still nice to get a little encouragement out of thin air like this. It's going to work.

So, What Have We Got To Show For Ourselves?

Our current situation, as the year starts to wind down (while the blog is just starting) is as follows:

• Monster is 1.5 years old, weighing in at about 100 pounds, and as far as he will tell me of sound mind and body.
• We can go for walks even when other dog owners are out, but I must be alert to make sure we don't get too close (at around 100 feet away Monster will begin to focus overly on other dogs making it difficult for him to follow commands or pay attention, at around 30 feet away he will display aggressive behavior such as barking and lunging).
• If allowed to reach a point of aggressive behavior, it's still possible to get some minimal moments of attention from him, he can be brought away from the situation, and he doesn't redirect his aggression towards me.
• He no longer reacts just towards dogs, his behavior can now be triggered by people, cars, cats, bikes, blowing leaves, etc...
• He is starting to show more enthusiasm about training, no longer avoiding eye contact or refusing to try.
• He is in a higher level of stress than before we started our current method of training. He has difficulty focusing for almost any period of time, on almost any activity (does not show when tracking, although he has trouble giving up the "hunt" once he reaches the target). He constantly tries to pull on the leash when out walking.
• He is becoming more interested in food rewards, although it's still not very important to him.
• His behavior towards dogs he considers friends (those he grew up with) is becoming ruder. He will play more intensely, with gestures of dominance and some resource guarding.
• He is showing insecurity towards sudden surprises, like things falling down or sudden noises.

So, it's mixed results, I suppose... Certainly, we're nowhere close to done - or even acceptable. For people reading this for the first time, the fact that I'm willing to keep at it with a method that's showing a worsening behavior in some aspects probably seems insane. I understand where you're coming from, the increase in stress and the expansion to all things being a trigger is not a pleasant result. But the overall result is still positive, for us.

I'm starting this blog when we've had aggression issues for a year already. I can't bring you up to speed in just a few posts, unfortunately, so let me just say it's been a lot worse. And I suppose I have faith in where we're headed. Some results are undesireable, but I think I understand why they're cropping up (maybe), and I think they'll die down again if we just keep at it.

But hey, I've been wrong before... At least it will feel familiar if it turns out I'm wrong again, then.