Heart Like a Dog

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

New Horizons….Day Two Hundred Fourteen

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I stepped out of my comfort zone of the little park at the top of the street this morning.

A couple of friends were taking their dogs to a local hiking area with a pond for swimming, they were going at the butt crack of ass 6:30 on a Saturday morning.

Originally I told them I didn’t think I could make it; but when I woke up at 6:00 am wide awake, I thought “What the heck.”

It was a lovely place to walk first thing in the morning.

There was a little bridge to walk across.

Some lovely little streams meandering through.

Sorry the flash wasn't bright enough to capture the beauty of the brook.

And a swampy, marshy area where I lost Delilah.

I could hear her splashing around in tall grasses, but I couldn’t see her and I was losing my shit freaking out.  I will probably never be invited to go with my friends again. 🙁

Eventually she came out, but then I kept her on leash until we got to a proper swimming area.

We played fetch for a bit, but my friend’s black lab Raleigh beat her every time. 🙁

My crazy friends decided to continue hiking but since it was now about 7:10 and the dogs hadn’t eaten yet, I decided to head back.  I was nervous to let Delilah off leash in an unfamiliar area, so I clipped Sampson’s leash to the end of hers and let her drag both leashes.

The leashes did get dirty, but it kept her close to me.  This is a great way to train your dog in off-leash walking.  You get a long leash or a long piece of rope and tie it to their collar and let them drag it.  This gives you the option of grabbing them should the need arise, but still allowing them freedom of not being tethered to you.  As they get better with recalling and staying close to you, you gradually shorten their leash/rope.

Follow-Up Friday…Day Two Hundred Thirteen

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I decided I am implementing a new *feature* on this blog, it is going to be “Follow-Up” Friday.

Friday is going to be the day I take the opportunity to wrap up the week.

DID you ever write a blog, finish it, post it and then say, “Crap, I should have said that!” ?

OR someone  makes a comment or a point on one of your blogs and you think “Wow, I never thought of that” or “That is a really good point that I missed.”

PERHAPS  you posted about something that happened during the week and another chapter has been added.

YUP Follow-up Friday baby.

So here goes!

FOLLOW-UP:  Always Have Your Camera Ready– One of the ladies who posed for pictures with the dogs found Delilah on Facebook and liked her page!

Andrea is the one on the far right.

FOLLOW-UP: Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Dry Bones– I debated, should I call the police?  I was pretty sure the bone was animal but on the off-chance that it wasn’t, I was hemming and hawing about calling the police and having them come out there and look at me like I was nuts.

Yesterday was the last day to license the dogs (I totally spaced it) so while I was up at the town hall I asked where the Parks and Rec department was.   I figured if anyone should know if it was an animal bone it should be someone at the parks department.

I explained the situation to an older lady, after I was finished she very sweetly asked, “So do you want it removed?”

I wanted to say, “Are you shitting me?”

Instead I said,  “Actually I’d like to make sure it isn’t a human bone.”

I’m not really sure she knew what to do, so she asked another woman and we explained the situation to her, she said she would have one of the guys check it out if I could tell her where it was located.  I found a map and *X-marked* the spot. 😉

I left them my phone number and went on my way.  A short time later one of the ladies called to let me know the bone was in fact a deer bone.

NOTE:  Even though someone from the Parks and Rec department went out to the trail, the bone is still hanging on the tree.

FOLLOW-UP: Desensitizing This method can work with just about anything your dog may be afraid/excited about.  I was reminded of this by 2 Brown Dawgs who used this method to help de-sensitize Thunder to his cone after he had surgery.

In fact, I did use this method with Delilah to help her get used to her outside collar.

So what do you think of *Follow-up* Friday?

Desensitizing….Day Two Hundred Twelve

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Sometimes the best topics occur quite by chance.

I had a friend discover my blog last night; the ensuing conversation (via facebook) compelled me to write this post.

My friend has a three-year old chocolate lab that won’t walk with the leash.   If I understand the situation correctly, the dogs are used to being outside in the yard with no leash.  When it comes time to leave the yard and the leash comes out; the dog panics and runs away.  The last time she brought the leash out, the dog became so upset he threw up. 🙁

In our brief exchange I told her she will need to desensitize the dog to the leash.

Some of you may have already heard of this, but it is always good to get a refresher course. 🙂

My dogs are sensitive to their collars.  Because they have an indoor collar and an outdoor collar, they know when the outdoor collar comes out that they are usually taking a walk or going for a ride.  I can literally stand on my porch and shake Sampson’s collar and he will come running from any point in the yard.

Delilah use to be extremely sensitive to her collar, she would get so excited that she couldn’t sit still; moving her head this way and that way in the best impression of Stevie Wonder that I have ever seen.  She is much better now although I admit sometimes she still wiggles.

So just exactly HOW do you desensitize a dog?

For my friend’s dog I would start out by picking up the leash and setting it right back down many times throughout the day.  Of course, at first the dog will probably run away, but that’s ok.  Eventually the dog will get that you aren’t trying to put the leash on and will simply stay and look.  When this happens, I would immediately treat the dog and compliment him with a “Good Dog!”

Once the dog is just looking at you holding the leash, I would approach the dog while holding the leash and then set the leash back down.  At this point you don’t want to clip the leash on, you just want to be able to approach the dog.  I would do this many times throughout the day as well.  Once you can approach the dog without the dog running away, then they get the treat and the “Good Job!” or “Good dog!”

Now that you can approach the dog without him running away, clip the leash on him and leave it for a couple of minutes, then remove it.  Each time you do this,  reward and praise him.

To start out, once I got the leash on him and he was comfortable running around the house with it, I would begin picking up the leash and walking him in the house.  I would gradually ease him into the yard, then outside the fence (maybe just on the sidewalk or a quick two-minute walk) eventually easing him into a full-blown walk.

It is very important to note, that any time you want to try to walk the dog, you mustn’t have some where to go; you must be very willing to turn around at any point in this training exercise and say this isn’t the expected behavior and go back to last step that your dog was successful at. 🙂

Always end your training on a positive note, with your dog succeeding and feeling happy with themselves.

Thank you Donna, for a great topic.  I hope this helps!

If anyone else has any suggestions on this topic, please leave a comment. 🙂

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