Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Defeated And Lost – Part Two

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When we left off, I had just gotten Delilah free from her concrete entrapment.  If you missed that story you can read about it here.

I head into the woods where I unclipped Sampson so I can at least have one hand free and I wrap what’s left of Delilah’s leash around my hand.

We meet Kingston’s mom about half-way up, get into the field and walk to the area where we part ways.  I walk out to the car, load the dogs and head home.

I am defeated and resigned.  I am lost, treading water in a vast ocean of disappointment.  I am an utter failure in trying to train this dog.

After almost five years, I give up.  I’m done.

Hubby comes home and says, “How are you?”

“I’m ok.”

“What’s up?  You seem like you’re in a pissy mood.”

“Yup.”

Then I go on to tell him the story.

We talk about it.  Seriously talk about it. I am conceding, I am giving in and getting an electronic collar for her. I don’t know what else to do.

I thank him for not being an ‘a’ hole about the whole thing and saying “I told you so.”

Meanwhile, the dog that sprang from Satan’s loins will not sit while I’m in the kitchen.  After trying to teach her for 1,746 days, I’m frustrated.  I yell at her to “SIT DOWN.”

It’s time to feed the dogs.  They need to sit on the edge of the kitchen when I am preparing their meals.  She will not.  She gets up, she changes spots for a better vantage point.  She tries to advance into the kitchen.  My frustration with her from her earlier adventure hasn’t gone away.  I have no patience for this.

Then yesterday morning she comes into the bathroom while I am trying to get ready for work.  My frustration with her from the previous day has not gone away.  She comes in and shoves her head between my legs and gets brown goo (from Dog knows what) on my work pants.  I banish her from the bathroom and once again I feel lost.

Hubby says she is stubborn.  It’s not that she isn’t smart, she is stubborn.

So am I. I am not a defeatist. You can knock me down and I will get back up. Do it 100 times, I will get back up.  I might cry and rage, but I will get back up and I will figure out a way to knock you down.

Not this time.  This time I’m defeated.  It’s a horrible feeling.  I’m not quite sure how to deal with it.

Crying, lots of crying.  Which is another thing I don’t do well.

I have no confidence, if I can’t help this dog after almost five full years, then maybe I’m just not the right person for the job.

I’ve failed.  I failed myself.  I failed you, my faithful readers.  I’ve failed all the positive reward based trainers out there but most of all I’ve failed my dog.

I wonder if the rescue will take her back.  I wonder if this is the reason she was surrendered in the first place.

I wonder how people do this, day after day and still manage to put a smile on their face and accept the uniqueness that is their crazy, wild, untrainable dog.

P.S. This was written yesterday and I am in a much better place today, I haven’t put the collar on her yet (even though I borrowed one from a friend.) I want to order the DVD by Dr. Patricia McConnell and give it one last shot.

The Dog I Need

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I was having trouble deciding what to blog about tonight and decided I would chug through my google reader and see if one of you could inspire me.

Sure enough, Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes had a post titled, “Do You Have Dreams For Your Dog?”  After reading the post I went to leave a comment, and as I started to write I realized, damn I’m gonna write a blog post.  So I shortened my comment and headed home.  Do you think that’s cheating? (Ok. Maybe.  But would you really want a 500+ word comment?)

This was the line that really resonated with me, “I know several people who never anticipated competing in dog sports until they realized their dog needed an outlet for their intelligence and energy.”

She hit the nail on the head.  Some dogs such as Sampson are quite content to live the couch potato life.  Hanging with his humans, sitting out in the yard while daddy works in the garage, and while he really does like his walk/hike, if he didn’t get it he would be okay with that too.

Delilah is the kind of dog that not only needs physical activity, she needs mental stimulation as well.  Even though there are many times I call her stupid (in my head of course) I realize that she really is extremely intelligent, which is where her need for mental stimulation comes into play.

I admit it took me a while to figure this out, but once I did I think she has become a happier dog, which in turn makes us much happier.

Truthfully I think I should probably do a bit more training or game playing with her every day, but I don’t always have the time.  When I do, or when I can tell that she is really bored, I will take out her Paw Hide toy or play hide the carrots.

Paw Hide

We have a schedule that includes physical exercise with a little mental stimulation thrown in.  On Saturday and Sunday we take at least an hour’s hike each day, with lots of running and sniffing.

In the winter on Mondays and Wednesdays they get a twenty-minute around-the-block leash walk, once the time changes and the days are longer, they will get at least a half hour hike.

Tuesdays and Fridays they get a half a day of daycare, and yes it’s true most days they don’t play a  lot, but they are awake the entire time and it is a different type of mental stimulation.

Thursday nights are obedience class, which is where Delilah really gets her mental stimulation.  Sampson just doesn’t care for it at all and I think I’m going to have Hubby start walking Sampson somewhere else, because I don’t think he should have to do it if he’s not enjoying it.

Last year the training center had drop-in agility classes on Saturday morning and I’m hoping Sara will start those up again, because Delilah really likes those classes.  Sampson of course does not, but I will take him with us just so he can socialize.  If we do the agility class then I won’t walk them for quite so long, but they will still get a walk.

So I guess the point to this blog is you need to find something your dog loves, that (s)he can have fun with, it will strengthen the bond you have with your dog and make for a happier everyone.

Thanks for the great idea Pamela, I think I got the dog I need, it just happens to be in two very different dogs. 🙂

She's At It Again

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Delilah has a nasty habit.

I really thought we had broken her of the habit, in fact last week at obedience class I proudly said, “She doesn’t do that anymore.”

This Thursday she proved me wrong by burping in my face, I can’t even begin to tell you how disgusting the smell was, it lingered for at least five minutes.

Yes, my dog eats poop.

I had been using Solid Gold S.E.P (Stop Eating Poop) but the supplement was expensive, and since we feed them raw well I had to cut expenses somewhere. I heard that pineapple will make the poop undesirable so I’ve been packing their kongs with pineapple chunks.

Someone suggested that I should put hot sauce on the poop, but I figure if I’m going outside to sprinkle hot sauce I might just as well pick up the poop.

Which is what I did this afternoon.

This is our yard.  As you can see (which somehow we missed when we looked at the house) it’s really not all that functional.  It is fenced in so the dogs can be outside without us.  But it also has a lot of low, scrubby growth out there so we really don’t use it a lot.

I’ve told you before I am a lazy busy dog owner.

My friend Sherri once told me, “I don’t worry about the poop, it dissolves on its own.”

Well that doesn’t really seem to hold true with my dog’s poop.  At least if you are judging by the amount of poop I picked up today.

I’m pretty sure there is still some poop out there, but I got a LOT of it up.  After about a half an hour out there my back was killing me and I’d had enough.  Plus we were leaving for my grandson’s 4th birthday party.  (Between picking up poop and an hour at Bounce Town, I’m just about ready for a hot tub.)

So now my treat bag, and clicker are next to the back door along with my boots and I am going to see if I can teach Delilah to “leave it.”

After picking up so much poop I told Hubby today

1) I want a pooper scooper

2) I want one of those Doggie Dooley’s

3) I know why she eats it, there are bones and chunks of carrots in there, it is just another food source for her.

I realize she will probably always eat deer poop, she couldn’t possibly pass that up.  But I thought we’d broken her of the habit of eating dog poop.

Hubby said it best today, Delilah is in survival mode.

ALWAYS.

Knowing she came from Louisiana around the time of Katrina and Rita it’s very possible she had to survive on her own for a period of time.

How do you help a dog with these issues overcome them?

I’m open to suggestions.

 

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