More Work

Well after that abject failure I went to the front porch again.  But this time I was giving Mae more information.  And this time the stakes were higher.  One neighbor had contractors going in and out of his house and another had Christmas lights going up.  I had Mae heel, get treats, look around, and heel, play, look around, play, try a recall, tug, practice fronts and finishes, get some treats.  She did see the distractions but they weren't enough to impact her ability to work.  We had fun and there was very little barking.

If I notice activity in the street, I'll get some cookies and hope that the distractions are far enough away for some good CC with Mae.  Today she was able to watch Kevin snowblow his driveway without barking.  I was there giving her low value rewards for the GREAT behavior.

Tonight I went to nosework early.  Mae and I sat while Pete and Lisa set up.  Mae didn't give me much attention, and she was in high yellow watching them.  Her tail wasn't tucked, but it wasn't out.  She was in hyper-pant mode.  So a little excited and a little nervous.  But she never did any OT behavior and once they finished moving around she played with me a bit and got treats.  I was thrilled!  Mae CAN chill out in a bland environment if things are somewhat familiar.  I am going to go to class early again next week for more bogeyman training.

Mae's friend came by and Mae had fun playing.  I'm feeling discouraged today.  Mae is a high energy dog.  I can work with capped drive.  Wanting Mae to be out somewhere, calm and relaxed?  That's a toughie.  She did pretty well relaxing at agility class at ACT.  I think I'm going to start going to rally run-thoughs at ACT to get us out somewhere to practice hanging out.

Today Mae growled at the living room.  She went in to investigate and it turned out that she was concerned about some pillows being in the wrong space.

I had a fitness trainer over and kept Mae gated off.  She barked quite a bit but settled after about 5 minutes.

Feeling a little discouraged today.

Next Try

Today I took Mae out in front.  She was as always, wound for sound, wanting to run.  And she was pretty reactive to things in her environment.  After about 5 minutes, she settled down and didn't react to anything unless is was a change.  For example, two neighbors who were chipping ice off their driveways were pretty much ignored, even with I talked with them.  But Fred getting out of his car earned a woof while Mae stood on two legs.  But then she dropped back down, checked in with me and didn't appear to be too stressed.

She was very barky about Anna and took a bit to let me talk with her.  Then Mae settled and was good until I came too close.  I put her into "work mode" and had her sit. She was able to work and control herself while she worked.

So I'm thinking what is realistic for a Belgian sheepdog.  I want Mae under threshhold at all times.  But she's a very high energy dog.  How much calm, casual walking is reasonable to expect?  She'll do it for me, but it takes so much control that it's incredibly frustrating for her; how much real training is going on doing something so frustrating and unrewarding for her?  However, the more energetic she is, the greater the risk that she's masking stress by going into drive and motion; motion is a "safe zone" for a lot of Belgians.  It definitely is for Mae.

Mae was very happy tugging with full commitment to play.  She was happy to get food rewards for checking in.  She was stressed at first, and then stressed with I was talking with one neighbor. Mae is learning to respond to a "shhhhhhh" cue to be quiet.

I think it's going to be a long journey to teach Mae that people, and things that move are nothing to be concerned about.

Working on Calm

Mae is wound for sound and has a faulty off switch.  I really have to teach her that calm is rewarded and desirable.  Instead of rushing to change clothes to take the dogs outside to play, I go up into my bedroom and chill out for half an hour.  I loathe rushing outside without a few minutes of no one making any demands on me.

Mae takes about 10 minutes to settle down.  Then I had a full twenty minutes of heaven and could work the dogs with a clear mind.

Outside, Mae did pretty good playing frisbee.  She erred a few times screaming while Krishna chased his toy.  I reminded her to shhhhhhhhhh and she remembered that good girls control their voices.

I decided to take her out in front for a bit.  Mae barked at a neighbor about 50 yards away.  We walked a bit and Mae was on high alert, barking at things she saw and heard.  She settled a bit and her hair went down.  She was able to sit and down, but not as relaxed as I'd have liked. We were out for about fifteen minutes and Mae was over threshhold for all of it :-(

Baseline Assessment

I decided to take Mae to Lowe's to assess her tolerance of environmental and social pressure.  I had a big bag of turkey for some training.  A man getting out of his car surprised Mae, and she barked.  I had to get her settled and seated so she had a grip on herself.  I gave her cookies and into the store she went.  We saw people, and Mae got lots of cookies for looking at people and then offering me attention.  She was a bit wound, but Mae is always a bit wound.  I didn't see any signs of stress.

So after a bit of walking around, someone startled Mae and she woofed.  I told her not to react and she stopped.  I took her into a quiet corner and we played for a bit.  Mae was happy to play and very comfortable.  Then I sat down and Mae kind of looked around for something to do.

Back to walking around.  Mae really didn't worry about people, but she was happy to get turkey when we saw them.

Then and employee sort of forced a bit of petting on Mae.  I'd prefer that not have happened, but Mae pushed into his space and initiated the contact.  She tolerated it, but it was too much pressure for her and she tucked her tail.  I gave her a lot of cookies and stepped back a bit.  We chatted for a while and then I moved on.

I tried some heeling with Mae and she was too busy looking around to heel.  So after some walking I asked her to down.  She was fine with the stays.

My take is that Mae is not all that stressed by environment.  Environment is largely static.  She is concerned about people, and although she wants to interact, she's too nervous for it to really be totally comfortable.

I'm going to work on getting out and simply get her comfortable seeing people as background noise.  The more she knows that they won't try to pet her or put pressure on her, the more confident she'll be with people.

Hopefully increasing social tolerance in calm Mae will increase her tolerant of people when she's in high drive.

I'll post with our progress.

Suggested AKC Rule Change, Allow Handlers to have spare poop bags tied to their leashes

“A leash may not have excess material dangling from it, nor may it have any attachments including a fleece or leather wrap.”

I propose changing this rule to read: “A leash may not have excess material dangling from it other than bags for collecting dog waste.”

This is two significant changes. First, it allows a dog waste bag to be attached to leashes going into the ring. Second, it allows for a leather or fleece sleeve on a leash.

There are always a few malefactors in any group, but many people find their dogs have a sudden, unexpected urge to potty on the way to the ring. It would be a great convenience to allow a spare poop bag tied to the leash handle.

People at trials often keep bags in their pockets, so it could be argued that allowing them on leashes is unnecessary. That is true, but the risk of having a small baggies tied to a leash is negligible. Since it can be a major convenience, why not allow it? Occasionally athletic clothing worn to compete lacks pockets. Having a baggie tied to a leash can make it easier for handlers to be responsible for their dogs.

The line between toy and leash is so gray it’s difficult to know where “permitted” and “forbidden” runs. Thick braided fleece leashes expressly designed for tugging and playing are permitted even though they’re designed and used as toys. Further, the current AKC rules do state that dogs may not be faulted for tugging on their leash.

I fail to see significant practical difference between fleece braided into a leash versus fleece wrapped around a leash. Consequently why not allow them both?