Dolce Bootcamp & The CCH Criteria for Obtaining His CGC

Now that Dolce has recovered (mostly) from his stressful encounter with the 2 off-leash dog-aggressive dachshunds, adjusted to life in the new apartment complex, and is showing signs of boredom -- we're getting back to work on his reactivity/insecurity.

Goals

• Build his confidence so he feels comfortable with me in new situations and environments.
• Be able to pass by a dog in close-quarters without stress or aggressive display.
• Be able to look into a strange dog's eyes without freaking out.
• Be able to ignore a reactive dog.
• Be accepting of even the most suspicious stranger in close quarters (no contact).
• Be comfortable enough to play with toys in public.
• CGC by the end of the year.

How We're Going to Get There

• I want to build his confidence through lots of obedience (Chris Bach's Third Way, Sue Ailsby's Training Levels), tricks, and agility training using positive reinforcement.  By working on attention to me, eye contact, cues, and handling, he'll be heavily rewarded with someone he knows and loves for interactions he'll experience with others.  I also think that because of previous training methods, he doesn't trust me as much as he would/could/should.  I want to build that bond more.
• I have three main criteria for him to feel that we've successfully mastered something.  He needs to be able to do it calmly, comfortably, and happily (CCH).  In order to address passing another dog in close quarters, looking into a dog's eyes, ignoring a reactive dog, and accepting a suspicious stranger, we are going to address all three elements separately.
• To help him be calm in his trigger situations, I'm going to do a lot of Relaxation Protocol (RP) work at a safe enough distance.  I will mark and treat for eye blinks, looking away, sitting, lying down, head down, etc.
• To help him be comfortable, we're going to do a lot of handling work at home, and do our training in new environments.  Jen over at Never Say Never Greyhounds pointed out the treasure trove of training locations with the dozens of parks at our disposal in a 5-mile radius when she gave me a lesson a couple Februaries ago.  Time to take advantage of these parks and really get Dolce socialized, but on his terms.  Distance makes a big difference, and just being out in the world and having a good training session should do wonders.
• To help him be happy, we'll be sure to begin and end training sessions doing things he enjoys most -- exploring the wildlife and new scents, as well as getting extra yummy treats for interacting with me.  The exploration portion is obvious -- we'll do a perimeter session at each new location.  As for the interactions... This means lots of name game, touch, and auto-sit practice.  He adores these games and glows with pride every time we warm up with them.  We've got the meat roll in the fridge, ready to go. :)
• To work on play drive in public, I'm going to really reinforce it at home.  When we go to places, part of our session will be to at least nose or paw touch, and chase a favorite toy.  This will likely be very slow-going, but if we can include just a little in every new environment, I'm hopeful that the connection will be made within the year.

Tools of the Trade

• We're going to walk with his SENSE-ation harness attached to his collar by the leash (or the Halti harness).  I believe this is the best way to be humane and have control.  I need to do a lot more work desensitizing and counter-conditioning having the harness (and his winter coat) put on.  Ever since the lady at the shelter put that noose-type leash over his head, he has been super paranoid about things going over his head.  Poor little man.
• We'll reserve use of the Halti halter for occasions when we will be working on proximity to strange dogs and control of Dolce's head will be essential.  He has that long, fragile Italian greyhound neck, and detests wearing it despite my utmost attempts to condition otherwise.
• I need to remember to play the calming dog music CD when I leave the house.
• I'm going to remember to take Natural Balance meat roll treats on all our walks, which will be solo save for the first walk of the early morning.  I have been using high grade kibble, but I don't think it's enough to really make the counter-conditioning process effective.
• Exercise, exercise, exercise.  We're going to get back into biking and jogging together on a regular basis throughout the week.  Good days to run are Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.  Good days to bike are Wednesdays and Thursdays.  We'll take the weekends off, I think.
• Marker word.  I feel very strongly that when teaching a new behavior, a clicker is invaluable as a marker for its consistency.  However, for behavior work, I think San Diego Pam has a point in that clickers turn a dog's brain into training mode.  I don't necessarily want training mode, because of the emotional aspect to this type of training.  So I'm going to use a marker of "Good boy!" to express my enthusiasm for his behavior.  "Good boy" doesn't always have to be followed by a treat like the clicker does, and his tail wags a little bit when I say it -- it's a reinforcer in and of itself to some degree.
• I'm going to use my realistically fake dogs, Rick, and Irvine Pam with her dogs, Lily and Bella, for setups before trying him out at IDOGS on Sundays.
• He's going to need to feel as though the car and/or his crate is awesome so he can wait there while I work with Zenzi (and vice versa).  We've been laying the groundwork at meal times for this, so hopefully this will not be a difficult transition when he has his crate in the car for our outings.

Plan of Action

• I learned a lot from Chris Bach's DVDs.  I want to build a chain, so I have to keep reminding Dolce how the chain works if he breaks it.  It's my job to set up the environment so he can be successful.  Dolce, I promise to give you more distance from now on, and to stop trying to force positive interactions on you. 
• I want Dolce to come to me and look at me for praise when he sees a strange dog while we're out on a walk -- no matter what the other dog is doing.  Cues:  Name, Watch, Attention, Heel.  After that, it's just a matter of duration and proofing.
• I want Dolce to enjoy being greeted by friendly people, and not to react strongly to unfriendly people.  He is to sit at my side to be greeted, and wait patiently to do so.  Cues:  Name, Heel (finish) + Handling.
• If we are caught off-guard and there is no way to get enough distance in time, I am going to jackpot Look-At-That and/or Watch, whichever he is more comfortable with, until the trigger is gone, with Dolce facing me, sitting (or if he's too worried, standing) away from the trigger.  Cues:  Name, LAT, Sit, Watch.
• I contacted Laurie Zurborg of Wags & Wiggles this morning inquiring about the upcoming Control Unleashed Workshop (4 hours, $120) and/or a Private Lesson (1.5 hours, $180).  I am going to take their CGC class with him when he's ready.  At the end of the class, we get to take the test.
• I emailed Chris Bach yesterday about her DVDs and Books on her method, The Third Way and which would most likely apply to us.  No response yet, but I am getting the DVDs via my subscription to Tawzer. :)

Thanks for following along in our saga.  This year may be the year it all comes together.  I surely hope so.  If not, we've got time... <3 div="div">

Zenzi's 8th Puppy Class

Zenzi, Rick and I all got to go to puppy class this morning.  We didn't do a lot, but what we did was VERY good.

• Conditioning to enjoy being handled by a stranger (or your owner, depending):  hand toward face, hand on head, hand on collar, collar grab.
• Loose-leash walking (LLW)
• Leave it + eye contact
• Puppy Play Time (PPT)

The conditioning to enjoy being handled was VITAL for Zenzi.  She doesn't mind strange people, so long as they mind their own business.  While this is by no means a problem, I would like her to enjoy being petted by other people.  Sherry taught the class again, and worked with Zenzi for me.  Zenzi did make some progress.  Initially, she shied away from Sherry's outstretched hand, but with more reps Zenzi let Sherry touch her on the head.  Sherry did progress to a collar grab successfully, but that was not consistently allowed by Zenzi, so we ended that on a high note when Zenzi was okay with it again. Rick and I practiced, but Zenzi has no trouble with this exercise with either of us.  Much to our surprise, Zenzi did seem uncomfortable about the collar grab -- we helped her overcome that in short order.  Perhaps we did it to well, she would put her paws up in our laps and shove her neck into our hands. =P

Loose-leash walking was good practice.  I discovered that when we're working, Zenzi is favoring my right side instead of left.  We'll have to work on that.  I want her to be ambidextrous.  W&W teaches it by having you gain focus from your puppy in front of you, then take one step backwards, encouraging the puppy to follow you and when they do, C/T.  We are able to take several steps without an issue... or at least we used to!  Now Zenzi started to forge ahead of me by going to one side or the other.  She remembered how this game is played in short order, and we even progressed to practicing some heelwork.

Leave it is fine if it's within the structure of treats in my hand and she has to back away.  Zenzi's got that down.  She vehemently does not like adding in eye contact after backing away!  She offered everything under the sun except eye contact when I withheld the reward.  She did eventually give me a few good ones, so we called it a day.  We're going to make a project of this.

Puppy Play Time was really good today.  There was a huge puppy dog, Clifford, who must be some sort of Anatolian/Mastiff mix; Dino who is a husky mix; and Princess, the papillon again.  Zenzi allowed herself to be sniffed while she and I played fetch with her favorite toy.

Dino was pretty reactive during class to Zenzi, which she tolerated admirably.  They were only a few feet away, and he was staring her down and barking/growling pretty impressively.  Zenzi looked at him as if to say, "Hey, chum, what did I ever do to you?" and never returned a bark, growl, snarl, or anything.  Great social skills, Zenzi!  During PPT, Dino sniffed Zenzi, and Zenzi sniffed him back slightly uneasily, but continued happily in the context of our fetch game.  She was pounced on by Princess, and followed around/sniffed by Clifford.  None of this was of much concern, because wow, fetch!  After a few good throws, Zenzi even sniffed out the other puppies from a slight distance.  Yay confidence... finally!  We had a few times of "Call your puppies, leash them up, ask them to sit, and release to play again."  I'm really glad Sherry includes this.

Then it was the end.  We had a really good class, and I got to talk to Sherry and Gretchen afterwards.  Gretchen assisted the class today, but didn't work with us, only the new large mix puppy.  Gretchen teaches agility classes, so it was good to meet her.  I liked her instantly, she radiates pleasantry, happiness, and calm wisdom.  Zenzi warmed up to her pretty quickly, too.  Both Sherry and Gretchen agreed, nose-hand touches in greetings are the absolute best thing for Zenzi right now.  She can determine her comfort level, and decide whether going to touch is okay or not.  So we're going to be doing a lot of that.

I've been fairly lax with her general training lately.  Time to step that back up again.  Sherry brought out a lab who has been in bootcamp at the facility for two weeks.  It was impressive, inspiring.  Off to work... :)

Dolce's Reactivity Progress

Early Sunday morning, I held IDOGS.  Dolce went on the pack walk with Rick, and walked side-by-side with 3 strange dogs.  Not a single episode, minimal Halti corrections, and a few licks from his Licky Treat thing.  They were all girls, but still!

After going to San Diego to work with Pam and have our agility lesson, Rick, Dolce and I headed up to La Jolla (one of our favorite places in the world) beach.  It was Dolce's first time, and he did amazingly well!  Some dogs do better at home, some dogs do better in new environments, and some dogs are just bad everywhere.  Dolce is definitely better in new environments.

Dolce had his first ever encounter with seals and sea lions.  The darker one was quite loud and vocal.  I'm surprised to say Dolce was interested, but completely unfazed.  Horses gave him serious concern when we hiked the Regional Park, so I was very proud of my brave little man!

While we were there, we encountered a black lab puppy.  He was very polite about the surprise greeting from behind!  I told the owner it's best they not meet face-to-face, my dog was in training.  She immediately gave us space, but not much.  Dolce was fine either way.  Wow!

Happy boys. :)

And then this morning, on our walk, I really pushed the limits -- or so it felt.  I have resumed walking Dolce in his Halti (even though no matter how hard I try, it really gets to him occasionally), which makes a huge difference.  He's a very visual dog.  If he can't see it, it must not be that bad.  Anyway, we encountered a golden retriever, who has set Dolce off many times before.  This golden is a quiet, older girl, but has a hard stare.  Plus the bonus of long hair and bigger dog, which I now know to be triggers for Dolce.  He saw her about 15 feet away (very close!), staring at him intently.  He stared back momentarily, and I just let him, curious what he'd do.  Do you know what this smart boy did next?  He looked back at me for directions.  Not a treat, directions! So I told him what a good boy, and we walked toward the golden head-on (who was still on our same small patch of grass, but forward and to the left) with me between Dolce and the golden.  He got by without much more than a quiet, low, very brief growl and no treats whatsoever, nor a redirection of his face with the Halti.  I was stunned.  All the while, I was praising him in a whisper, "Oh, look at you, you're such a smart boy!  Good boy, Dolce..."  When we were in the clear, he got a huge jackpot.

Dunch at People Park

So on Sunday, my fiancé and I went with his Mom to the local park.  We had brats, burgers, chips, and a great time grilling dunch out there!  We brought the dogs along:

JoJo was the least content about being tied up to a picnic table while we ate.

She would talk and talk and talk until she finally gave up and basked in the sun. 

 Dolce would keep an eye out for intruders with his 'border collie stare.'

Rick & I with the pack, exploring. 

 Here's some pretty leaf shots from the trees above us.

 couple pic :)

Me waiting for food with the pac at my feet = happy girl. :) 

YUMMY! 

It was really fun.  I felt like I belonged to the Salsido family. 

 I decided to feel like a magician and make billowing smoke appear...

from pouring water on the grill thingy.

That's where we were.  Pretty, right?!

Away from hounds (Away from home ;-)

Rick got me a great anniversary present... a trip home to visit my family and friends in Michigan.  I'm there now, and I am trusting him with the care of my beloved hounds.  We'll see how it goes!

Last night, JoJo slipped out of her collar on their midnight walk.  Scary!  All is well, however.

Hiatus

Well, hello.  I've been away for a while due to a drastic change in my life.  A guy I met who was my freshman year of college roommate's fiance finally broke up with her, and we've gotten together!  Ricky lives in CA, though, and this long-distance thing is very hard for both of us.  Now that things are settling down, I hope to come back to the intensive dog training scheme I'd been planning on.

The girls will do lots of obedience work, and learn a few tricks.  Kibeth loves to fetch her pink ball outside and her tugger inside, and we're getting some great retrieves and even a few "drop it"s.  JoJo has discovered the wonderful world of stuffies, and plays outside like a maniac with her pheasant.  My hope is to use these fun activities in our training everyday.  I also want them to learn lots of tricks to make them welcome house guests if/when we move out to CA to live with Ricky and his Mom (just until he and I can afford our own place).

Our walks have been dampened (and pretty much haulted) by the heat/humidity.  Neither dog appreciates a very long walk in the hot and humid summers here in MI.  I will try to make evening walks, when it's cooled off a bit, more of a routine in our schedule.  There's no hope of me getting up early when my boyfriend is 3 hours behind, and we usually talk until midnight his time.

My friend's pit bull, Howie, is the first APBT to get his lure coursing title.  Anyone have any experience lure coursing greyhounds?  I'm tempted to give it a try...