July Day Four -- Tools in our Toolbox

Both the boys are developing really nice recalls. I love the recall because, if done right, it can be such a fun and exciting thing for the dogs to do. That makes it a very nice tool to use to help out with reactivity, distraction, etc. If you are walking your dog on leash and there is something ahead of you that will either distract your dog or cause your dog to react...

Say their name and "come" and back away really quickly. This is a fun and exciting way for dogs to interact with you which can help get them out of a bad situation but also help to change their association with something that causes to be fearful.

Once you are ways away from the distraction, you can then work on attention. Practicing this a lot in non-stressful situations helps to make this tool sharp and ready to use when needed.

Because while Kiko accepts new dogs very well, Poni is still reacting to new dogs he meets (although he is much easier to redirect and the barking is at a lower intensity and duration).

Kiko participated in Puppy Playgroup today and had a great time! He met new friends and played really well with everyone (and did great recalls out of play!). Poni sat this one out. He's met a lot of new dogs this week so we don't want to flood him. Sometimes people think that saturating a dog in the thing that makes him fearful will help but it tends to backfire on people. He's doing really well with slow introductions and now he seems very comfortable around my labs (even playing tug with Sinbad today).

The boys, as they are affectionately called, are doing really well together. I've made sure, though, to work with each puppy alone and also given them separate play times in addition to their together time. Neither one seems attached in an unhealthy way which is great! That can be a big problem with puppies raised together who never spend time apart.

Poni knows how to beat the stress with a little bit of play. I've even noticed when he's stressed about a new dog behind a barrier, he'll bark, I'll interrupt him and he'll go grab a toy and run around. Nice way of coping!

Kiko just plain loves to play. If only he could figure out how to get this ball in his mouth, all would be right with the world.

Kiko's making progress on his downs. He's doing them much faster and we've weaned off of the lure. He's a busy little guy so sometimes it's hard for him to pull it all together but it doesn't take very many repititions before he gets in down (so to speak).

Oh, and Poni too. He loves learning and enjoys practicing his downs. And besides, look how cute he is...

Both dogs have figured out checking in pays off. It's ok if they are just after treats right now. A big part of what we are doing is conditioning them to like the behavior. It won't be long before they will still love to check in with you even when you are not giving treats. It's really handy to have a reactive dog who is pretty keyed into his people. Much better than a reactive dog who is more keyed into the dogs around him.

I almost forgot to mention, Kiko got lots of really good socialization in today with kids during the Puppy Playgroup. Once again, he's happy to greet the world.

It makes a guy thirsty...

June Day Three --- Comfort

Poni is clearly showing a greater comfort level with my dogs. No more barking when he is surprised by them. The wide berths around them are getting smaller and smaller. All in all, very little barking today.

Until we tried to meet a new dog. This was a much slower process than it was with my dogs so we changed up some of our routine. We did a lot of introductions with barriers in place so there was an element of security for Poni (and for the other dog because it can be startling when a dog is barking so much). Who knows why this introduction was more difficult for him. It may be that this dog looked different than any other dog. Dogs don't generalize well so just because they have met one dog, it doesn't mean they are going to get along with the next dog. There might have been a chemistry between them that just didn't mesh. And that's fine. It's ok if there are certain dogs they just don't like just so long as they have more tools in their toolbelt to handle it when they are frightened or uncomfortable.

And just because Poni's introduction to the new dog didn't go as smoothly, he had many other successes today. He played with Thistle today!!! Lots of praise for him while he was playing appropriately with her.

Don't look now, Poni, but that's another dog that you are sharing a bed with. We'll happily take those successes as they are huge for Poni.

Kiko was hoping we would spend more time on the dog beds. He was really tuckered out today. You can rest some, Kiko, but we have a lot of work to do.

We worked on down. I'm luring Kiko into a down and waiting for his elbows to be down and his rear on the ground before I say "yes" and give him the treat. We started to work towards transitioning off the lure to just a hand signal.

The nice thing about using a marker word like "yes" is that you can capture cute behavior and put it on cue. I didn't notice that Kiko had winked just as I was taking the picture but had I noticed, I could have marked that behavior with "yes" and given him a treat. After getting him to repeat it several times I could start adding a cue for it like "wink." Kiko is a very enthusiastic boy and LOVES his treats. He'll be fun to teach cute little tricks too, especially when he has developed a little more self-control.

Both boys are learning to wait at doorways. I teach this by using my body to block them as they try to cross the treshold. Dogs respond really well to body movements and areas of space. It doesn't take force to keep them on one side but merely leaning in towards them and blocking with my body.

Poni has his sit down pat and he's starting to figure out to sit automatically for greetings, doorways, etc. He does well with downs with a hand signal so now we are working with him to respond to a verbal cue.

Just like this, right Kiko?

Poni still prefers to be close to people.

And, although he will snuggle a little bit, Kiko really wants to play with the dogs. Instead he'll just use my knee so he can get closer to kiss Thistle.

Of course, all he has to do it bat his big georgous eye lashes at you and he will melt anyone's heart.

June Day Two -- Nice to Meet You

We worked on a couple of different kinds of greetings today. We met a couple more new dogs (and more scheduled for meet and greets throughout the week). Poni's initial reaction is to bark and run up towards the other dog. But this lasts for a much shorter time every time we greet a new dog.

Kiko is Mr. Social and goes right up to Mitch and initiates play.

Slowing Poni down when he was getting worked up around Mitch and giving him a short break helped him in that introduction. He was willing to interact with Mitch but not quite ready to play.

Poni still prefers to play with Kiko. At least for now...

We are getting him used to a variety of dogs (soon we'll have some different breeds to meet). Just because a dog is well socialized with one or two dogs does not mean that it will transfer to other dogs. Socialization to other dogs also is a life long endeavor. It's one of those things, even if you have done a good job socializing them when they are young, if they don't have exposure to other dogs throughout their lives they can have some tension and nervousness around other dogs.

He's still a little nervous and occasionally shows some calming signals like a lip lick

But overall he's feeling a lot more comfortable and he's able to respond to commands even in the middle of a bunch of dogs (big ones no less). We spent a lot of time working on being surprised by the dogs. We would go into another room and do something else for a while and then open the door to find all the dogs waiting to greet us. His recovery time (the amount of time it took him to recover from his startle) was less and less each time. By the end of the day, he had stopped barking when the dogs surprised him.

As a side note, he seems to have a similar reaction to cats. My cats are behind a baby gate so he cannot make contact with them but every time he saw them he would bark, lunge and nip towards them while occasionally jumping back in fear. My cats, of course, don't even bat an eye. We worked on this throughout the day. When he barked, I said "no" in a very calm voice (I don't want it to sound like I'm barking too -- that would really worry him). Then I said his name and rewarded him for sitting in front of me to give me attention. By the end of the day he was walking past the cats without saying a thing to them. Very nice progress!

I also wanted to make sure Poni was still able to manage being around the dogs when Kiko was not around. Success!

Not to worry, it wasn't all stressful today. We had plenty of time for play in between training sessions.

Kiko worked some more on his recalls. This is coming along really nicely. He's responding very quicking in heavy distractions and from long distances. He's even doing well when I'm out of his sight. Such a good boy! We're working on a little bit of self-control once he gets there now. He's got a nice strong recall foundation so now we can tidy it up by adding a nice sit when he comes. It's not easy, though, the boy loves his food so...

Part of building a really nice recall is rewarding random check-ins. Even though there is a lot going on around Kiko and he's having a good time playing with his new friends, he's taken the time to come check in with me in the middle of all those distractions. That's a really big deal. Rewarding that behavior will help him learn to keep an eye on you even when he's got a lot going on around him.

He's working hard on his automatic sits for greetings. Such a hard task for such a social guy.

Don't believe any of the stories Kiko tells you about all the water bowls being designed for big dogs. He has two water bowls to choose from that are on the ground but he much prefers to act like one of the big dogs.

He does like acting like one of the big dogs and he's particularly fond of their big, cushy beds.

Poni, on the other hand, will take the hard floor as long as it's close to me. What a snuggly boy!

June Day One -- Getting to Know You

First day here and we're happy to have the boys! We took it slow today to make the integration with my dogs go smoothly. They first spent quite a bit of time checking out the new surroundings. There are plenty of dog smells and sounds from the dogs in the house (not to mention the JRT next door). The sounds were a little muffled and there was no dog in sight. Perfect opportunity for the boys to get use to their surroundings.

Poni was a little nervous about the dog sounds but I just let him do everything on his own time and just let him explore.

Kiko was curious about the sounds as well. He is not as fearful or uncomfortable with other dogs as Poni but it's still important for him to approach new things on his own time.

It was not long before the boys were happily playing regardless of the dogs nearby but out of sight. Play is such an important part of training and their wellbeing in general. It helps Poni build a more positive association with the things around him. He can still hear an occasional dog bark but instead of associated that with fear, he's learning to associate it with play.

Exploring the inside of the house is next. The sounds are a little louder and there are more dog smells around. Although occasionally nervous when entering a new room, Poni quickly worked through that and explored all around.

Poni was very quick to point out that this container holds dog food. Not to worry boys, it won't be long until dinner.

When they had some time to be relaxed in their new surroundings, it was time to introduce one of the dogs. Thistle first. She's my peace-maker and plays really well with the puppies (but will also ignore them if that's the read she gets from them). Poni was anxious and barked quite a bit at first but it didn't take long for him to be a little more settled around her. Kiko took a lot less time to warm up and was pretty smitten with Thistle.

 He was even happy to give her a little kiss which, of course, made Thistle's day. She loves puppies...

It was not long before Poni and Kiko were playing with Thistle nearby. So now, it's time for Thistle to go inside and we'll meet the next dog.

Poni was a little nervous at first but the time it took him to warm up was far less.

Healey is a more cautious dog and she is not the first to go play with the puppies. But she gives nice boundaries to the dogs with a low growl if they are behaving inappropriately. It's just the perfect amount of discipline for puppies.

Next, it was time to put Healey away and bring out Sinbad. He's my youngest boy at 2 years of age. He's a big softie but he also can be a little louder than my girls. Poni went through his usual barking when he first met Sinbad which made Sinbad nervous (note the lip licking and turning away from the boys -- those are calming signals he is giving indicating that he's a little bit nervous). Not to worry, Sinbad, it did not take Poni long at all and, Kiko, well, he was ready to play with them all.

It was evening time by the time I started introducing multiple dogs at the same time. So it was a nice and slow process but, it really went much more quickly than I had anticipated. I was expecting that we would get to this point by tomorrow. Poni was still giving the dogs a wide berth and he was nervous about crossing a threshold if one of the dogs was taking a nap there but I suspect this will be much better as the week wears on.

Which just means that Poni will be able to join Kiko and I while we are learning manners.

And practing things like our recalls

And, of course, playing. Both boys were so tired by the end of today. It was hard work!

One last note, Kiko started to pee in the house once today. This is very normal for puppies in new environments. I actually like when that happens because I can interrupt the behavior and make it really clear to the puppy where they need to go to the bathroom. No more accidents after that and they have both been good about letting me know when they need to go outside. Good boys!