SocializationTag Archives

Jet Is A Bit Spoiled

Curious Jet

On New Years Day we went to a friend’s house for a party. It was fun and we love to visit and bring the dogs. Jet and Tatum got to come with and they loved it! They had a lot of fun. The first thing Jet did when he went inside was try to pee on the Christmas tree. Doh! The silly boy! Then he went and jumped on everyone’s laps and squiggled and snuggled and everyone falls in love with him instantly. How can they not?

He didn’t try to chew on the tv stand thank goodness, but he did try to jump… okay I take that back. He DID jump on the dinner table and had a bite of pumpkin pie! We don’t sit down to dinner at our house… I wish we did, but we just don’t seem to have time and we don’t really eat the same food. So he hasn’t learned table manners. But he was the life of the party and everyone seemed to laugh at him even after he ate a mouth full of pumpkin pie.

I love bringing Jet and Tatum with wherever I go. It’s fun and for me it’s a lot more relaxing to have a dog with. Dogs are much more easier than people! I hope everyone is having a good January.

Cynthia

January 13, 2010

Daily Posts, Jet, Tatum

1 comment

Holidays, Jet, Socialization, Tatum

Some Thanksgiving Fun

Jet, Tatum, and Cocker Puppies

Well we had a big Thanksgiving Day. I hope you all had a good day, whatever you do on this day. We love to spend time with family… both human and canine. We were lucky enough to bring Tatum and Jet with to my husband’s sister’s house for a bit.. even though Tatum peed on the carpet, UGH! She is a brat. They got some new cocker puppies and they sure are cuties!

We got there late as we visited my parents first. Chatted about various life things, auto insurance quotes, movies, life, calories, and stuff.

It was a lot of fun. Jet had a great time, as did Tatum. Hopefully they will both have an easy quiet evening now. I ate too much, but tomorrow I’m going to eat better again. And maybe I’ll go out in the morning and do some walking too, try to do some exercise.

Jet, Socialization, Tatum

The Importance of Getting a Good Start

Socializing!

I love all my dogs. I have two purebred collies I bought from breeders, Lucy and Levi, and I have four rescue dogs, Angel, Chase, Tatum and Muffit. Of all my dogs Chase has the most potential to go far in the dog sports I love. I am certain he can get a UD in obedience as soon as I start training him up. But none of my other dogs would be capable of it. Levi maybe would have been, if he’d had the right training as a puppy. Lucy had too many physical problems, though fortunately not mesothelioma. Tatum, Angel and Muffit are wonderful dogs but I don’t think will be able to really go far in dog sports.

Even getting a pet dog that is well socialized is very important. The first weeks of their lives puppies need to experience lots of people and things. If they miss out on this, they will have harder times when they are older.

So three weeks from today I’ll be on a plane to pick up my new puppy! Isn’t he sporting a gorgeous blue collar! And he is getting an amazing, wonderful, perfect start, thanks to his breeder. I don’t think even Lucy or Levi had great starts from their breeders. So I am going to love having a well bred and well socialized puppy to work with and love!

Because although I love doing the dog sports, the dogs are more my kids and my family and I love them to peices. That’s why the dogs that don’t do dog sports… I don’t love them any less.

Farmdog, Puppy, Socialization, Training

Calm Down, Muffit.

Muffit in the Snow

Yesterday Muffit and I went to our obedience instructor and had a private lesson. Muffit is such a sweet boy, but he doesn’t know how to calm himself down. He’s like a kangaroo on a pogo stick, he comes out of his crate bouncing and sitting and downing and bouncing and twirling like a crazy dog.

In order to get this boy to do any sort of dog sports, he needs to calm down enough to think instead of throwing himself around without any thought. And so now I have some good exercises to do with him, and I’m looking forward to see his progression.

The first exercise is to have him lie on his mat, and just hold his chin in my hand. He’s so reactive that a click or a word of praise brings his drive up. So when he’s still, a treat is silently slipped into his mouth. When we were doing this it was working great and he was already catching on! And I will intersperse this with shorts bursts of play with him, to teach him he can be high, then he can come down again and be still. So he can think in a high state, and also to get that high state, maybe, to not be quite so frantically high.

Next we will work on him coming out of the crate. I will have to lure him out slowly, and have him sit. Because when he comes out he’s a bundle of energy bouncing all over the place. So we will work on control coming out of the crate. As well as restraint staying in the crate with the door open.

Lastly we’ll work on going to a target plate to get a treat, then coming back to me and sitting in a calm way, maybe with some more chin holding.

I think Muffit will be staying home from trials and practices for a while as we work on these things. He can still go to the dog park… he’s a great dog park dog. He runs out some energy, stays in shape, and he doesn’t get over the top. Okay on the walk into the park he barks quite a bit, but once he’s off leash he’s great.

Muffit might start learning agility before flyball, even. It might be more calm for him. I just don’t think, at this point, he’ll be able to really focus or do any sort of dog sports until he calms down. And he’s such a dear. Sometime soon, hopefully, he’ll be able to go on some Vegas vacations with me, to do agility or flyball or something else. And… I guess I haven’t decided if I should take him to flyball tournaments or not. UGH it’s too hard to leave him home!

Muffit, Socialization, Training

Misundersood Muffit

I think poor Muffit has been misunderstood most of his life. Fortunately (and yeah I’m tooting my own horn here but oh well!) he now is in a home where he is very understood. I think this, because last weekend at flyball practice Muffit was being held by my flyball captain, and he didn’t want to be so he was snarking at her… fake snapping. She didn’t let go, because she understands him too and is good with dogs, so he stopped after only a couple of snarks realizing that it wasn’t getting him anywhere.

Misunderstood Muffit

I think in his past Muffit’s behavior, such as being squirmy and twisting out of people’s grasp, as well as the snapping behavior, has gotten him what he wanted and so he’s learned to utilize it. He is pretty bad when getting his nails trimmed. He will let me handle his feet as much as I want, unless the clipper or the dremel comes out, then he’s a squirmy worm buggy boy and flips all over, mouths me, and does anything he can to get away from me.

So now Muffit gets to learn that those behaviors that intimidate and scare people who don’t know dogs, will not work on me and my dog friends. And I do think he will learn it quickly. He’s also learning to control himself more. I was at a USDAA agility trial today (I’ll post more about it tomorrow) and Muffit did so good! He only yapped in his crate for about an hour in the morning, then he was quiet! And when I brought him out he was interested in other dogs, but he didn’t get completely frantic like he has in the past. So I am very hopeful for this boy now!

I am pretty tired this evening, and Muffit is as well. The rest of the dogs are also sleeping too. Even Lucy and Angel got to go on a big long walk with their Dad. I love when the dogs are tired… a tired dog is a happy dog. Though they dogs really are due for baths, maybe under a Hansgrohe faucet… and baths don’t make them happy! But not today. Tonight is for rest and recuperation. Especially my old boy Levi. He did such a good job! I need to take pictures of all the ribbons Chase and Levi won me today!

Muffit, Socialization

Does Your Dog Trust You… Completely?

Most of my dogs are rescues. Four of Six are rescues. Two are not rescues, I bought them from breeders back in 1999. Each one of my dogs, current and past, are all very unique and different int how they learn, what they like, their mannerisms, and all their little quirks.

Chase Sleeping

I have been wondering, lately, how much my dogs actually trust me. I think they trust in context… they trust me in certain situations, and not in others. I think they trust me in most situations.

Lucy and Levi are the dogs that I bought from breeders as puppies, and I think they trust me a great deal. They let me trim their toenails and handle them when I need to. Of course I tried to work with them when they were little. Levi doesn’t like it when my pager goes off, and I think he doesn’t trust me that much when it does. Pre-Medication when I got paged I got very upset, and of course he picked up on that. Now, though, I don’t react so badly, but Levi still does react. Even when the same page noise goes off on the TV! Lucy is very stubborn and sassy, and sure of herself, and I don’t think she has any problems trusting me in just about any situation.

I think Angel trusts us now. She didn’t when she came to live with us. She was afraid of everything. And still she doesn’t want her toenails trimmed, but she suffers it for a constant supply of treats. I can’t think of a situation where she reacts now in ways that says she doesn’t trust us. So that is good.

I think Chase trusts us too. He is good at letting us handle him, his toenails, and all over when we need to. When we go to the vet he hides behind us too. Poor boy.

Tatum Sleeps

As for Muffit and Tatum, I think they are still learning. The whole point of this post was to wonder if Tatum trusts me or not. I think Muffit still has his doubts, but he’s only been with us since February 2008… which has been nine months. Angel has been with us for six years, and Chase three years.

Tatum was treated poorly by humans when she lived at the hoarders. When she had contact with humans at all. And I think Muffit, also, wasn’t treated well by people. He’s a bit protective of me now and he’s been known to snark at people he’s not sure of. By snark, I mean a fake snap. I’m 95% sure he wouldn’t actually bite anyone. But dogs do have a bite threshold. Just as we do if pushed.

I wonder if rescue dogs will always have a lack of trust for humans. Be it any other human than their family. Or any human, even those in their own family. I guess it depends on the dog and what the dogs have been through. I like to think that my dogs trust me. That I earn their trust, and keep their trust. i want Muffit and Tatum to trust me more than they do. Of course with Tatum, instead of a lack of trust, she could just be showing off her sassiness! Which she does a lot, now. And I find it interesting with Muffit, that I can touch his feet and toenails just fine when we are sitting together. But if the nail clippers or the dremmel come out, he will not let me near his feet. He will squeal and scream and whine and put his mouth on me. I find it interesting that he associates nail trimming as bad with all humans. Not just with a past human that hurt him. He just thinks it’s bad all the way around. I want to convince him it’s not so bad after all!

So do your dogs trust you? Are they rescues or did you buy them as a puppies? I’m just curious.

Chatter, Philosophy, Rescue, Socialization

Easy Weekend and Tatum Training

Well, I’m taking it easy this weekend. I have no dog sport competitions. I wanted to have today be dog-training free, but I ended up having a private lesson with Tatum and my obedience instructor. We took her to a local dog park and walked outside the fence to start to train her to pay more attention to me, instead of other dogs. Both for comfort and for training.

She got very stressed. Enough to come home and go after Angel.. which Tatum does when she’s stressed. But Tatum needs to learn how to be pushed a little bit, and that it won’t hurt her, she won’t die. She needs to learn to deal with pressure and then come back from it quickly, and preferably, with me. Currently when she gets stressed she will recover faster, and better, with the other dogs. And I want her to trust me so that she will recover with me.

I have read a ton of dog behavior books and they have helped me tremendously to understand dogs. Though I have more to read… but I’m kinda tired of them now, and just want the practical application. So me and Tatum get to work together on this. It will be a challenge, but I’m confident we can work through it.

An example of Tatum’s stress is.. this morning after breakfast the dogs played, like they always do. And Tatum was playing with a toy and I want to encourage this. Well, Chase is a toy hog so I put all the other dogs in the kitchen and take Tatum outside and play toy with her. Tug and chase and fun stuff. She ran around, ran by me, and hit me in the arm. It didn’t hurt me at all, but I don’t know how much it hurt her. She immediately shut down. Her tail dropped a notch, she did her nervous trot, and no longer wanted to play.

In order to bring her back to her happy self, I could have brought the other dogs out. But I want her to understand that she is not going to be hurt. She doesn’t have to be afraid, and she can trust me. I think this will come. And I’m willing to work through it.

It’s like having a child who was abused, or suffered some awful thing when younger. Tatum was abused as a puppy, and did suffer some awful things. Coming from a hoarder/collector who had 50 collies running amok, she has issues we need to work through and overcome. And she is smart and spunky and has already come so far, I know she can come even further!

Anyway… after that my husband went and saw a movie, Iron Man, it was good! And now I’m relaxing. Tomorrow I’m going to my parents for a late Mother’s Day, and then flyball practice. Then Monday is hectic with agility practice, getting my nails done, taking Lucy and Levi to the vet, and then going to see a tax guy. Whew. Then Memorial day weekend I have a 3 day agility trial.

Lucy will get re-xrayed to see if she has cancer, or calcification of the lungs. Let’s hope for calcification.

So this weekend isn’t is activity free as I would like, but hey, it’s nice to not do a dog sport!

Lucy, Socialization, Tatum, Training

Tatum’s Stressors

Just wanted to make a bit of a list of the things that seem to stress Tatum out… hopefully with time, and work, this list will get less and less. When she is very stressed she wont take treats, and if she is semi stressed she won’t pay attention to toys. Only when she’s very comfortable and happy will she play with toys.

Stressors:

New Places – Though the more new places we go, the less nervous she is in them.
Strange Noises – The more strange noises she experiences, the better she is at excepting new ones.
Being Tired – The more tired she gets (from activity or learning) the more stressed she gets.
Being Restrained – Like many dogs, she does not like to be restrained and it frightens her.
Collar Grab – She does not like her collar grabbed or to be pulled with a collar. We are working on the collar becuase all dogs need to be collar touched once in a while. But we don’t pull her. No reason, she is small enough to guide or herd along or carry.

Signs of Stress:

Tail – A tail is such an excellent way to read a dog. I feel sorry for dogs that don’t have them… When Tatum is happy and excited, her tail is high and almost over her back. The more excited, the more erect. The more stressed and unsure she is, the lower it goes. When she is completely overwhelmed, it’s sucked under her tummy.
Treats – She won’t take treats if she is highly stressed.
Toys / Play – She will not take a toy or play if she is stressed.
Gait – When she is stressed she will not run… she will only trot or walk. If she gets away from me and is afraid, she will trot around looking for her crate.
Facial Expression – You probably have to know her pretty well, but her facial expression will change to look worried and frightened if she is stressed.

She’s fairly easy to read if you know what you are looking for… she is a doll, and cute in her pink coat don’t you think? LOL… anyway,

Socialization, Tatum, Training