Another Outing with Langley: Blueberry Farm Park

Langely and I are continuing to work on helping him get better at managing his anxiety outside of our house. This time I decided to try to go somewhere that we would be less likely to see people or other animals so we headed over to Blueberry Farm Park. This park was a blueberry farm and orchard that was gifted to the city. Since it's just basically a grassy field with blueberry bushes, apple trees, and blackberry patches, no one really visits when the fruit isn't ripe. Before we really get into this post I have to apologize for the crazed camera work and smudged lens. Trust me, it isn't easy trying to intensely focus on an anxious dog for signs of approaching threshold while holding said dog's leash in one hand and a camera in the other.

Part of Blueberry Farm Park - Langley and I explored the edges but didn't head down the rows of bushes yet.

A fairly steady stream of traffic passes the park at all times

We started out with a puzzle again and this time he was able to concentrate a little better. But he was pretty concerned about the cars whizzing by on the road.

 I decided that rather than keep working on puzzles I'd just let him explore on leash. We walked on different textures of bumpy concrete, gravel, mud, and short and tall grass. Langley was very alert but seemed to be enjoying himself - especially when I wasn't paying attention and he found a big pile of downed apples that had been rotting away under a tree all fall and winter. He ate about three of them - the last one whole when he saw that I was probably going to take it away.

 

We continued our exploring for a few minutes, Langley sniffing his way with occasionally glances over to the road. While it probably doesn't look it to you, in the previous video Langley was staying pretty close to me with minimal pulling and no full body lunges for things. If you have ever seen Langley in full on hyper alert mode you would realize what a big deal this was for him. But even as well as he was doing it's really, really important in this kind of work to end on a good note. Never push a dog until he's over threshold because then you leave with him remembering that negative end part.

To see where we were at anxiety wise, I asked Langley to "check-in" which is a cue for him to stop what he's doing and just check back with me. He was able to check in, which was great but he also did a pretty long stress shake so I decided we'd head back in the direction of the car.

Back at the car, Langley had remembered this part from last time - the chewy treat! So he was ready to hop in his crate and get the prize he'd earned. I handed over the tendon for a job well done and we headed towards home.

So during our outing he was pretty anxious - lots of pacing spinning, shaking etc., but all along he was able to check in with me. I let him take the park at his pace and go where he wanted to sniff (except the middle of the 3 food diameter rotten apple pile). The trip became more about letting Langley take the lead and make some choices of where and what he felt comfortable doing, rather than me having an agenda of what puzzles we'd play with and what tricks I wanted him to be able to cue to. Much more successful than our last trip and I think we'll visit the park again soon.