The Fine Art of Dog Play

With some dogs there is an ultra fine line between play and fighting. The reason for this usually is that the dogs get ramped up so quickly that they become pretty reactive and they don't know how to stop and give themselves breaks before that happens.

Both Chima and Tuttle really struggle with this problem. They start to play, the intensity quickly ramps up (by quickly I'm talking about 15 seconds here) and if I don't step in I have a fight on my hands.

At a seminar I went to once I remember the speaker talking about how dog play should be like a boxing match - every three minutes everyone is forced to take a time out and rest for awhile. And if you watch two dogs together who play well you will notice that they naturally will take these breaks, backing off and waiting until the body language of the other lets them know they are ready for round 2 or 3 or 20.

When dogs don't naturally take breaks the intensity will build until fights happen and so it's the human's job as the guardian in the situation to manage this. Some dogs will never be well matched to play together because one will end up being bullied by the other. Neither dogs are bad, they just aren't a good match. But when two dogs are pretty evenly matched in temperament but struggle with giving themselves breaks, the human can facilitate this by creating distractions and interruptions to the play that cause short little breaks for the dogs.

I will call out their names, walk between them, pick up a treat bag, etc. Anything that causes them to pause and take the attention off of each other. After a bit if they seem to have taken things down a notch then the human ignores them a bit so they will start up again. When it gets to a point that the dogs struggle to bring their intensity down during the breaks then it's time to end the play and try again another time.

I do this often by a break in their crates with a treat and a favorite chew. This reinforces the play time, gives them a chance to fully calm down, and the chew is a way to work out some of that intensity as their body slowly returns to normal.

Chima and Tuttle and I have been working carefully on this over the week. I started noticing that Chima was interested in playing with Tuttle but she was quickly overwhelmed by him and then it would turn into a scuffle. By teaching them to take breaks and relax a bit, they have slowly started creating the breaks by themselves, Tuttle jumping up on a couch or chair and lying down. Then Chima will back off and watch him, wagging her tail until he attempts to jump her from the couch and the game is back on. It's been slow going - initially I would step in soon after play was initiated but by now we've worked up to a full 3-5 minutes of wrestling punctuated by short little self-initiated breaks to calm themselves down.

The video above shows them playing and taking small breaks and it was taken after about 3-4 minutes of play. After this session I stepped in and ended the session so it would stay a fun experience and everyone could rest and take down their intensity. Chima is very loud, vocal and intense in her play so a short session goes a long way for most dogs.

Tuttle says "will you play with me Sal?" and Sal says "NO". This time Tuttle took no for an answer. Yay, Tuttle! You are learning to be more respectful of your elders. 

Chima's Journey: A Reflection on Progress

We live in a world that is always about that next step, focusing on future goals. I'm not saying that's a completely awful thing, but I think that often we forget to reflect on our progress.

Over the years I've worked with many dogs who had a long journey to get to a place where they were comfortable living in the human world. I learned to not focus on the dogs' struggles or their history, or even more importantly, not to compare them to a static "end goal" that I had created for them. Instead we learned to just live in that moment of learning - on the tiny baby step we were working on - and in that way I was regularly reinforced by the tiny pieces of progress that we made.

Unfortunately many of us forget to pause and celebrate the overall progress that has been made. After all, 100 baby steps adds up to a lot of progress. Last week I had a reminder to stop and celebrate a whole mess of baby steps that have added up to a pretty amazing dog.

Last Thursday Chima and I had a lot on our to-do list: a vet visit, followed by a trip to the pet store to pick up some supplements followed by our evening Nose Work class.

Chima has always been hypersensitive to touch and to people she doesn't have a long history with so we've worked long and hard to make our nail trims at the vet a positive experience. As the tech clipped her nails she said, "man, it's amazing how relaxed Chima is now during trims." I smiled, agreed with her and really didn't think much more about it.

After the vet visit we loaded into the car for our stop at Mud Bay, a natural pet food store, to pick up some supplements. Chima stood cautiously in the entryway as three well meaning clerks descended on us with treats. Chima slowly walked up to each of them, gave them a quick sniffdown, gently took the treat from their fingers and then walked around the store with me on a loose leash sniffing all the bulk bins and behaving herself like she's never had a naughty thought in her life.

Then it was home to unload the car and get reloaded to drive the 40 minute drive over to our Nose Work class. Chima rocked the class, prancing as she quickly found the hides, and after each search, walking up to participants and giving them a quick sniff (or licking their pocket if they had particularly great treats.)

On the drive home I had 40 minutes to think about our day together and realized that while this might be a normal day for some dogs, for Chima this was amazing. For a dog who started out semi-feral this was like an Olympic gold medal for being a domestic pet dog. I needed to value how amazing her accomplishments were, even though those accomplishments had become the norm.

So I looked back at some of the posts (Stupendously Wonderful Baby Steps and Touchdown)  that I did about Chima soon after she arrived in our home. It amazed me how far she has come - from not wanting to be on the couch if another person is there, to doing her best to always claim the spot closest to me if I am on the couch, even if that means sitting on top of Salinas. We went from dreaming that one day she would want to sit on my lap to now, complaining because she crowds us so much.

So stick with it. One day all those baby steps will add up to some great progress.

When to Bend

Most of us have had the idea driven into our brains that we are the bosses in our relationship with our dogs. In this mindset the dog is the lesser creature and does all the adjusting to live in our world. I think though that there is a difference in being "the boss" and being a leader. And a good leader understands that compromise is not a sign of weakness.

Chima, Salinas and Frodo

Why am I rambling on about this? Yesterday I was down on the ground playing with the dogs and I realized how different my interactions were with each dog. Salinas got snuggles and even semi-confining hugs. I flopped on top of her, in a mini-pin that she could easily escape and she was in heaven. Salinas craves touch and so my interactions with her include tons of it. My elderly dog Tilly is like this as well.

Frodo though is about action. He wants to be chasing and darting around with pets in between as long as they aren't grabby. Tug and fetch and growling at each other is how we interact. I talk a lot at Frodo and he talks back. A lot.

Finally we have Chima who finds touch aversive. She's doesn't seem to find it scary but she just doesn't enjoy it and her skin will shudder a bit with each pet. So Chima and I found a way to interact that is comfortable to both of us. No hands are used - just heads. When I make a smoochy noise at her she will come and touch noses. We will headbutt each other, I'll rub my cheek on hers and she'll reciprocate. Often she'll get playful and she might invite me to some wrestling time with her.

Had I insisted on petting her as my way of interacting she wouldn't have snapped at me or completely avoided me. But our relationship would not be nearly as close as it is with me respecting her need for hands free interaction. It now has a depth and a playfulness I never thought possible when I first met this rather aloof, regal girl.

Had I been rigid about a goal of getting Chima to the point where she wanted tons of petting, I probably would have failed and both Chima and I would be frustrated with each other. I could have gotten her to the point where she would tolerate it but just tolerating one's life is a pretty sad way to live. Kind of like an introvert forced to work in a job where they are constantly working with people - it can be done but it takes its toll.

So consider making a few compromises in your interactions with your dog. If we expect them to be respectful of us, we really should reciprocate. And amazing things can happen in a relationship built on mutual respect.

100 Dogs

Besides just being cute and sweet, there's something else that is special about Rothko. He is our family's 100th foster dog!

Rothko - Foster dog #100

We bought our first Rat Terrier, Frodo, from a breeder in December of 2005 and over the next year we fell so in love with the little guy that we considered getting a second Rat Terrier. We weren't sure though so I had the idea of fostering for a Rat Terrier Rescue. I figured then we could have that "2nd dog" but would be saving more than just the one we would save if we adopted a dog. And now here we are, with three Rat Terriers of our own, two foster Rat Terriers and 98 others we have fostered over the last seven years.

My heart dog, Frodo

Initially in 2007 we were fostering for another Rat Terrier organization and our first ten foster dogs were through that group. When New Rattitude formed in August 2008 we changed groups and have been with New Rattitude ever since.

Our first foster dog, Smudge

Weirdly, our first foster dog wasn't even a Rat Terrier. He was a tiny black Chihuahua puppy with a broken leg who we named Smudge. I cried for a whole weekend after he was adopted but decided I could live with the pain of goodbyes if it meant more dogs could be saved. So often people say to me "well, I just wouldn't have the heart to let go of them!" The reality is if you really have a heart, you let them go, knowing that there are hundreds of others waiting for that life saving foster spot. Happily it got much easier to say goodbye the longer we fostered. It wasn't that I loved the foster dogs any less, I just learned how to think of them as someone elses's dog and over time I saw that the families they went to gave them wonderful lives.

Catty, one of our more challenging foster dogs whose adopter has become a close friend

In the past seven years the dogs have taught me so much. I've dealt with just about every physical malady in dogs that I had heard of and some that I had never heard of. I've also dealt with some very gross stuff that only a dog could share with you - dogs eating poop and then puking it up on the carpet an hour later, a dog who left tapeworms in my bed, and every weird wiggly worm that could come out of a dog has graced our doggy septic tank.  

Mama Star and our first (and hopefully last) litter of foster puppies

My understanding of dogs has deepened as well. Whereas I started out thinking of them simply as cute pets, I now appreciate how nuanced their personalities can be and how amazingly complex their language of movement, gestures, and body language is. It fascinates me so much that I now attend many seminars a year to learn how animals learn, how they relate to people and to other dogs, how to help them manage and overcome fear, what makes them tick....

Our 10th foster Tilly was the first highly fearful dog that we fostered. We adopted Tilly and she has made amazing progress over the six years we've had her. She's now 13 years old

They have pushed me to the edge emotionally a few times as well. I've fostered and done behavioral rehabilitation on a few very difficult dogs and of course those are the dogs who taught me the most about both dogs and about myself.

Callista came to us from a shelter in Texas and had been infected with distemper. It was the first time we had to deal with a major disease. Sadly Callista had to be euthanized when the disease moved into her brain. It was one of my most difficult times in fostering. We also had two puppies at the time who caught the disease from her and one pup died and one lived.

It has become a huge part of who I am and is an amazingly fulfilling job and I thank my family for all of their support and help with caring for the dogs. I also thank the volunteers that I work closely with both as fellow foster parents and as a regional rescue coordinator for the Pacific Northwest. Now, onto the next 100!

Our current pack: Tilly, Salinas, Chima and Frodo

If you've ever thought of fostering, New Rattitude is a great organization to work with. They give tons of support, offer stipends for food, pay veterinary medical expenses, cover flea and heartworm preventative and more. To learn more about fostering with New Rattitude go to www.newrattitude.org/foster.htm

Play Nice!

Chima is by far the most playful dog in our family but due to her size and her intensity, she often scares the crap out of the other dogs. It's sad because she wants to play so bad, but typically this is how a play session goes: 1) Chima initiates play. 2) other dog accepts and bitey face/wrestling begins. 3) Chima gets excited and barks intensely in the dog's face pushing them into a corner. 4) Game over.

That scenario plays out for the most part in less than 15 seconds. Often it ends in a fight, me yelling and both dogs freaked out. We have been in this rut for a long time so recently I decided I needed to change things up so that Chima had a chance to be successful and get some play time. Since Serra wants to play with Chima still and hasn't been scarred by Chima's attempts I decided to work with her and Chima this week before she heads to her adoptive home.

Next stop: Lucha libre?!:  El Perro Loco vs La Cobra de Rosa

The problem is that Chima gets overstimulated so quickly that the play turns into a fight. How I started working on this is I let the play get initiated, let each girl get a bitey face move in and then I created a distraction so they back off each other and look at me. They then get that "break" reinforced with treats and/or praise and then when they discover I'm not that interesting they go back to playing. I keep at this, always monitoring play so that I don't give Chima the chance of driving herself into a frenzied barking fit. You can see an example of this in the video below. Slowly but surely the length of play lengthens before I step in and distract the girls into taking a break. And then miraculously over the course of a morning Chima starts to give herself breaks. Better yet, she will even pause when Serra steps back to take a breather and respect Serra's need for a break.

Note the tennis ball fuzz hanging stuck in Chima's mouth

As we have new fosters who are willing and able to play with Chima, we'll keep practicing this. The bad news is that she's practiced the intense level of play for a long time so that's a lot of momentum to overcome. However, the longer we practice successful play with built in breaks, the more she will be reinforced by this type of play. Previously, the play always ended in a pretty overwhelming, way that was no fun. But now she gets reinforced by more play, and lots of praise and occasionally treats when breaks are inserted into the play. That is a lot more fun and worth doing more of. And that is how we will make that behavior worth continuing.

Serra attempts the controversial butt pin

It's easy for us humans to get stuck in a pattern of behavior with our dogs - yelling and reacting to something that frustrates us. But the reality is that the behavior is not going to change if we, as the adult guardian, don't step in and provide some positive guidance to get things on the right track. For Chima and I, all it took to get that change started after a year of frustration was one morning of me consistently paying attention. And the payoff for that is reinforcing to me as well as Chima. Because it sure is tough not to feel happy as I watch her wiggle and flop herself around on the floor, tail wagging madly and Chewbacca sounding noises coming deep from her throat.

And now just for fun, watch how Sal enjoys playing by herself, completely oblivious to the mayhem whirling about her as she focuses on her favorite pasttime: toy destruction.

Just chewing on her ball

Serra and Chima roll closer but Sal is oblivious

They now wrestle over the top of her and she is still unphased

The result of such concentration? Successful tennis ball destruction and a carpet covered with yellow fuzz

Chima and Serra: Buddies?

Today after just 5 days Chima and Serra were actually playing together this morning! It was just short little 10-20 second wrestling matches but there were probably 5-6 of these interactions over the course of an hour this morning while I drank my coffee and watched. While it's not big news that two dogs might play together, what I want to highlight is how careful management up front can make or break the relationship of two dogs.

About the 3rd or 4th short play time this morning. Chima was getting a tiny bit overwhelmed so came over to play at my feet.

Chima is very wary of new dogs and up front I always limit her exposure to new fosters so she can slowly take them in and realize they aren't a threat to her before I ever let them spend time together without careful supervision to make sure things are staying positive. There have been times when I haven't been as diligent and an early on fight set the tone of how their relationship would be. Chima has a long memory. These time it meant that the entire time the dog was in foster care I had to keep the dogs separated for the most part meaning extra crate time for everyone and a lot of stress overall.

As I watch their interactions, I can see things start to relax between the two dogs and slowly let them have more time together. I won't kid you - up front it's a lot of work and kind of a pain in the butt to have to be so "on" all the time and constantly alert to how the dogs are in that moment. But it will save a ton of heartbreak and work in the long run because first impressions last with dogs. If things go badly in the beginning and interventions don't take place it will set the stage for the way those two dogs' relationship will play out.

I know I'm like a broken record on this topic but over and over we hear from people who have dropped two dogs together without any careful introductions and then are upset - usually with the new dog who is also getting used to new people, new home, new schedule. The dog gets labeled as aggressive, alpha, mean, bad, etc., none of which are true. We need to be diligent to set our dogs up in a way that they will be successful.

Are Chima and Serra best buddies now? Nope. More like tolerant siblings who sometimes play and sometimes argue about things. It's still going to be my job to manage their time together (although not as intensely as I did initially) to make sure things continue along a positive path.

Chima uses her sly, space invader move to get Serra to give up her nylabone chew.

Chima even was able to do her sly move to get Serra's toy this morning. She slowly gets closer to the chewing dog. Sniffs their face, etc., and keeps slowly invading their space until they either tell her off (which Sal will do) or get tired of her and drop the toy to go do something else. This video shows how she succeeded with Serra.  She later tried this with Salinas, to the point of laying her head down on top of Sal's head, and Sal completely ignored her and continued to chew on the toy.

Chima attempts to talk Sal out of a toy. Denied.

Serra: Introductions

I know I've posted about this before, but MAN is it amazing what a difference introducing dogs on a walk makes. I've seen dogs go from stressed out barking messes to just strolling along next to each other in 10 minutes. And that 10 minutes can save a person weeks or more of trying to remedy a botched introduction.

Because we have a fenced back yard with plenty of space for the dogs to roam, and because it takes 2 people to properly introduce new dogs on a walk, I often will just have two dogs meet in the back yard where they can move away from each other if they feel they need distance and the dogs can set the speed of the introduction. While this works somewhat, with Chima it often can take two to three days before she relaxes enough where I don't have to be so hyper-vigilant and careful about managing things.

Because Serra seems to have a bit of Jack Russell in her and occasionally charges at dogs to get them to play with her, I knew that Chima would not react well to her so I enlisted my husband and off we went on a walk.

We started off with the dogs on the outsides of each of us. Sometimes we have to start across the street from each other but this time we could start walking together. The key to success is watching the dogs body language so you know when they have gotten relaxed. Then you bring them a little closer together. I also like to have them do what I call stealth butt sniffs. The person walking the dog in front walks at a normal, leisurely pace with the dog leashed next to them. The other person lets their dog get up close enough to get a little bit of a sniff in and then they immediately slow down and create some distance before the front dog has time to get nervous about the sniffing. This gets repeated several times until the dog isn't really interested in more sniffing. Then we switch places so the other dog gets their turn sniffing.

Typically at this point following the sniffs the dogs noticeably relax and are fine being walked side to side. We walk back to our house and instead of going inside we end the walk with off leash time in the back yard - just the two dogs and us. At that point the dogs are old news to each other and other than doing a bit of sniffing they do great.

Serra and Chima, sniffing and keeping calm

This walk I decided to let Salinas out to join Chima and Serra and the difference between her reaction to Serra and Chima's in the back yard was amazing. Chima was relaxed enough that she just lay down after a bit in the grass while Serra was playing and bouncing around. Salinas on the other hand stayed on her feet and did a lot of avoidance of Serra and obviously wasn't that comfortable.

Chima, all chill after her walk and Sal, still working on getting relaxed

Hanging out after introductions to Serra

Are they all best buddies now? Not at all. Serra is a 1 year old dog who is very puppy-like in her play and she tends to get in Chima and Sal's face. Chima is doing her best to ignore this and keep her distance which makes me very proud. When I can tell she's had enough I try to step in and distract Serra but Serra has gotten a few reprimands from Chima to mind her manners. What people need to remember is not all dogs are going to be best friends. Just like the temperament of some people is really annoying to a person, the same holds true for dogs. But they can live together in relative harmony and that is what we are going for here.

The pictures in this post were taken immediately after Chima and Serra's introduction walk. If you want to learn more about how to do an intro walk and see pictures of it, check out this post over on A Day in the Life of a New Rattitude Foster Dog.

Ellsworth and Chima Wrestle

Chima is not too sure about Ellsworth. Both of them want to play but when Chima initiates play it is so abrupt that it startles most dogs and when Ellsworth wants to play, Chima gets overwhelmed fairly quickly.

Ellsworth (back) and Chima

Chima has been turning into the fun police every time that Ellsworth gets the zoomies in the living room so I was starting to think that they'd never try to wrestle.

Yesterday though they finally played! I caught about half of it on video. Love Chima's little Judo move of sidestepping him and slapping him with her paw as he sailed past. Chima was a little overwhelmed after about 30 seconds of this and ran under the table and I distracted Ellsworth so she could have a break but I'm happy that Ells finally got one of the dogs to play with him.

Sunny Slumber

It's wet and cold today but I thought I'd post some photos from yesterday when it was a beautiful sunny, spring day. O'Keefe and Frodo were too busy exploring the yard to sunbathe but all three girls were happy to take in the heat with a sunny snooze.

A contemplative Chima

Sal goes "splat"

Little Tilly kicking back near the fountain

Can't wait for more days like this. Here comes the sun!

Helping with Yard Work

Salinas checking in the fern for any interesting critters

Typical view of Chima: - burrowing underneath plants to check for anything worth chasing or snacking on

It was a bit drizzly on Sunday but still, the temperate rain made for good weather to weed and cut things back. The dogs found this fascinating since the ten plus large Western Sword Ferns needed to be cut back carefully which made for lots of yard waste for them to dig through. It also opened up a lot of areas around the deck for them to check out but I do think Chima misses the ferns since they made great places to tunnel through. No worries Chima - they'll grow back to normal in no time.

Salinas and Chima check out the fern I'm cutting back. I think all the dogs where a bit horrified that I was ruining their best tunneling areas.

"Why?!"

Frodo didn't like all the dirt and mess so he quickly went back inside to watch the work from the comfort of the back of the couch. The girls enjoyed it though, and since it's that time of year where yard work is a constant chore to keep things under control, they will get many chances to "help".

They also spent a fair amount of time sniffing and climbing on the wood pile. Klee just used it as a puppy jungle gym.

But Salinas was all business, digging around in the wood to check for any intruding rodents

Chima's Epic Rodent Hunt

Chima is very much a working terrier in temperament. She's independent, not sure human are worth her time, and nothing in her life could ever be as amazing as hunting small critters. I've had terriers before who barked and made a racket when they scented the trail of a rodent but Chima doesn't bark, she screams. A scream that sounds a bit like a dog being tortured and makes neighbors wonder (aloud) if you are beating your dog.

When not actively hunting, Chima loves to patrol for critters who dare to invade her lair 

But as much as she finds me mostly useless since I can't help her catch critters, I love her enough for both of us. She makes me laugh daily and definitely gives me plenty of interesting stories. Ever since the bathroom trash cans have been locked out of Frodo's reach we've had a deficit of funny stories in this house so it's nice to have some fresh material.

A couple days ago after I came home from work I let the dogs out like I usually do. We had an hour between getting home from work and leaving for Chima's Nose Work class and I try to spend most of it as a playtime for the dogs. Chima tore down to the woodpile as per usual for a cursory check for any rodents who might have returned and that was when the screaming began. Bamboo quaked, logs flew through the air and then through the hedge shot Chima mouth wide open in the song of her people.

She launched herself through 3' tall Western sword ferns and then scrambled on her belly under our 14" tall deck. That was when an epic battle began. It lasted 50 minutes and involved a long stretch of landscaping tube. Apparently, some unlucky rodent parents had chosen a smart place to build a house - nice, dry, and dark - but you know the saying, "location, location, location." They really shouldn't have chosen Terrier Ghetto as their neighborhood.

Under the deck I could hear what sounded like Chewbacca battling a 6' long monster. Much groaning and moaning was heard with the occasional screech of anger and every once in awhile a length of tube would whip out from under the deck and back under before I could grab it.

I gave up and the other dogs and I went inside and every couple minutes I stuck my head out the sliding door to listen if the battle continued. It did.

Finally, 10 minutes before we had to leave for Nose Work class, I tricked her into poking her head out from under the deck and the look on her face was priceless. Utter joy and amazement like she was saying "OMG! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I FOUND UNDER THERE!"  In a true show of progress thanks to training, I was able to get her collar and then using copious amounts of freeze dried tripe so she wouldn't freak out about me holding onto her collar, got her in the house.

She was dirty, grass stained and stinky but, dang, she was happy and off to Nose Work we went so she could ignore me some more while she hunted, this time with me paying for the privilege. That evening my husband managed to drag the evil tube out from under the deck and he left it in the middle of the yard, planning on disposing of it over the weekend. Yesterday this led to much merriment as Chima continued to work on the tube. I got some great photos and then the tube went bye-bye before Chima injured herself in her excitement.

Chima and Salinas wait it out on either end

Remnants of the nest and a couple peanut shells - you can see she had attempted chewing  the tube open under the deck

First she tried scratching it out with her paw

Then she tried poking her nose into it

Then she tried to shove her head into while walking. Alas, the nest stayed just out of reach.

How to Spend a Sunny Day

After a ton of soggy weather we've actually had some beautiful days. This is much appreciated by both me and the dogs since no one likes to stand out in the rain during potty breaks. In fact, Chima downright refuses to stand out in the rain.

So what do they choose to do once we have sunshine? Do they romp and run? Roll in grass? Nope. They chew on things. And then chew on some different things. I'm not sure why they find it so amazing but right now fir and alder cones are the chew of choice along with the occasional stick. Oh well, at least they are having fun.

Salinas, Chima and Klee on the hunt for the perfect cone

Klee loves to chew up the little alder cones

Salinas spends a lot of time looking for the perfect fir cone

Klee Meets the Pack

It can be overwhelming for a new foster dog who lands at our house and needs to get to know all the dogs. It can take awhile to meet everyone when I keep the pace slow so as not to overwhelm the new dog or take chances of a bad introduction happening with another dog from pushing things too fast.

As usual Klee met Tilly first. Tilly is great with other dogs, has very clear body language, and is very clear with other dogs as to what her expectations of their behavior is. At thirteen and just 7.5 pounds, she manages to keep everyone in line without stooping to any tyrannical behavior. Klee really likes Tilly and likes to rest on a cushy pad next to Tilly's favorite dog bed - a cat house. Since Klee is respectful Tilly doesn't mind this in the least. 

Next intro is usually with Frodo. After making sure the new dog doesn't have any ill intentions towards my sweet but awkward Frodo-boy, I usually do outdoor intros with him. He's super fast and if he doesn't want the other dog near him all he has to do is take off. Klee thought he was an okay guy and after the initial sniffs the two of them wandered around the back yard together. 

Intros to Chima and Salinas can be a little more complicated. But Klee is not a pushy dog so there wasn't much for the girls to take offense to and her introduction to them was past and pretty easy. Everyone did their circling and butt sniffing for awhile and then Chima and Salinas were back to looking for fresh fir cones to chew on. 

Getting to know Salinas

Getting to know Chima - tail up and feeling a bit more confident!

So everyone has been happily introduced and they are doing well together. Now I look forward to watching how their interactions develop as Klee builds confidence and the other dogs get used to having her around. 

Just hanging out with the big girls

New Toy: The Mighty Ball

I decided to try out the Mighty Ball, which is a fleece covered squeakie ball that is supposed to be super tough. It was a hit with all the dogs, and so far is still fleece covered so that is a good thing.

Salinas took her turn first - she loves balls - and initially was perplexed since she couldn't quite fit it in her mouth. She figured out how to get the fleece in the side of her mouth which makes me question how long the it will last. If you buy one be sure to pick one that doesn't have any lumpy seams since dogs will spot that week point right away.

In this video you see Salinas playing with the ball and Chima trying to patiently wait for her turn.

Eventually Chima got a hold of the ball and unlike the other dogs her mouth IS big enough to get around the ball. Seeing as Chima delights in squeaking toys, it got a little loud for awhile.

Time will tell if this ball is as tough as it claims to be. It is popular though so for about $8 for the medium size, it's not a bad deal. I might even try the large one eventually.

Chima and the Harness Part Two: Creating a Conditioned Emotional Response

In my last post I told you the story leading up to Chima and the harness - why it initially wasn't a good choice for her and the options we used instead. In this post I'm going to tell you about our training work to get to the point where when I put on the harness it is a happy exciting thing. We've got a lot of work to do because Chima takes awhile to trust new things, especially if they are going to be touching her.

The reason why Chima and I  are working so diligently on getting used to wearing a harness is that she is starting a training class with me and the instructor asks us to make sure all our dogs are wearing harnesses in class, preferably one with two points to connect a leash to: in front of the chest and in the typical place, over the shoulders. I really should have started working on this a few weeks ago because we only have a week until class starts so I'm going to have to get a lot of tiny little sessions in with her every day and I'm sure we still will need to use the ThunderLeash in the first couple classes.

My goal with Chima and the harness is to create a conditoned emotional response (CER) when she sees and wears the harness. The first step is I have been sitting with her, lying the harness across my lap and marking and reinforcing with a treats when she looks at it. After a couple sessions (and a session usually doesn't last more than 3 minutes or so) she was getting excited when she saw me reach for the harness because she knows it means that treats are coming. So I have conditioned an emotional response of happy excitement when she sees the harness. When we started out: harness = nothing. She could care less about it. Now harness = tasty rewards and just seeing the harness causes that CER to happen. Are you still with me?

Our tools: yummy treats, a clicker, and Chima's harness

So now that I have a predictable response to the harness every single time - prancing and tail wags and happy wiggly body language - it's time to move to the next step. Now I hold the harness up with the head loop open should she choose to stick her head through. She's not going to yet but the point is to get her curious about what I'm doing. She noses the harness and I mark the touch of the harness and reward her. Yay Chima! We'll continue this until it's obvious she loves the game and at some point when she touches the harness I'm going to hold the treat with my arm through the middle of the harness head loop and she'll eat from it there. Slowly as I notice she is completely relaxed and still loving our game, we'll move to holding a treat in one hand and the harness loop open with the other. She'll start to move her head partly through the loop towards my hand and I'll mark that movement of  the head into the harness and let go of the treat.

Do you get the point? The key to this is letting Chima tell me when she's ready for the next step. Not until she seems not only comfortable but consistently enjoying the game will I move to the next step.

Eventually we work up to her putting her head through the loop and me setting the harness in place around her chest and then rewarding while I remove it. That way she isn't paying attention to it coming off and we are all reset for the next repetition. And then the next step after that is getting her used to clicking the loop under her chest and then immediately unclicking it and removing the harness. Once she is enjoying the clicking it on and then taking it off we start to lengthen the duration of her wearing it before it comes off. And pretty soon we are walking around with her wearing the harness.

In the video below you see where Chima and I have worked up to. She is now putting her head through the harness on her own. That behavior is marked with a click and then rewarded as I take her harness off. Our next step will be to work on some duration where she will be marked and rewarded after the harness has been on her for awhile. If any of my trainer friends are reading this and have a better idea of what a next step should be, be sure to email me and let me know!

For your average dog the steps don't have to be as tiny as they do for a fearful dog. For Chima I am going to take it super slow because at no point do I want her to associate the harness with feelings of stress. Then I end up moving backwards so it pays to slow things down. This can be a pretty quick process with a confident, smart dog and can be done in a couple days of regular work. For Chima I'm guessing it will take us a few weeks but I really don't know because she is the one who will be setting the pace.

This is a long post but I just wanted to lay out how a thing that has the potential to be uncomfortable and frightening can be turned into something that instead triggers a response of joy and excitement. And isn't that what we want a harness to do? It should signal great things like walks or trips in the car or to the off leash park to chase a ball and have one on one time being the center of our attention.  The more you use this method of conditioning an emotional response as part of your training plan, the faster your dog will move through the process since they will trust you even more and know that time spent with you means great things are going to happen.

Chima and the Harness Part One: Working Towards a Harness

So I know that I have told Chima's story a thousand times but for those of you who are new to my blog, Chima arrived at my home back in late May of 2013 and when she first got here she was semi-feral and was very uncomfortable being closer than 10 feet to a person unless she was able to sneak up from behind them.

At first we just ignored her and let her get used to us and our home. She had a couple weeks of getting in her "stealth" sniffs where she would sneak cautiously up behind us and give us a thorough sniff-down while we tried not to move as her cold wet nose took everything in.

Chima, on a long lead - a little stressed out when Troy looks at her when she is trying to sniff him

Soon she was okay approaching from the front if we didn't reach out for her. But we discovered she was quite sensitive to any touch, flinching and moving away from the slightest contact. I'll skip over all the work we did in between to desensitize and counter condition her to touch but I wanted to explain how things were in the beginning so I could make the point of what an obstacle this was to getting her to wear a harness. Not only did she dislike the feel of anything against her body, she also hated all the touch that would be involved in getting the harness on her.

The problem was, I do not believe in walking a small breed dog with a leash attached to a flat collar - especially a dog who is as prey motivated as Chima. What to do? I bought a ThunderLeash.

Diagram of how a ThunderLeash wrap works

Dog being walked with a ThunderLeash

While I still believe that the harness is the best option for your average dog, for skittish, touch sensitive dogs the ThunderLeash is an option that uses a leash wrap to create a makeshift harness without much manhandling. If you link to their website you will see how it works but I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS AS A NO PULL LEASH OPTION like they do. I believe there are much better options that do not put any pressure on the neck. I recommend it as a low touch, low handling harness option for skittish dogs.

So here we are almost 9 months later and Chima has never been presented with a harness or worn one. To her it is just a weird pile of webbing (that probably would be fun to chew on.) That is a great thing! She has never learned to dislike it because of negative experiences involving it. Come back for my next post on how I am working on teaching her that this pile of webbing is the most FABULOUS piece of dog equipment ever.