Jack does a roll on a hard surface. We have been training on soft surfaces, and this is his first attempt on a hard wood floor. Then on to sand, snow, and road!!
Reason number two has to do with my own behaviorally challenged dog, Jackie. Day three of increased freedom and no attempts on Leon's person, even with some things he has been obsessing around, I am not saying there haven't been one or two looks, I am saying we ended week 4 without the attempts to be bad that happened previously. This does not mean I can prop my feet up and breath a sigh of relief, and let Jack up to his own devices. This does tell me the improvement is ongoing, and I most likely won't need to live with two seperated dogs. Jack makes me work for it though, he does.
End of yesterday, day four, Jack was allowed a stuffy on his dog bed in the bedroom. When Leon returned, Jack started the growling with the I am about to lunge pose. This was stopped much eaiser than it had been in the past, with Jack dropping into his down on command immediately, even though the "anger sequence" had gone into "launch mode". More importantly, Jack settled right after that and did not continue with the looks or guarding. At this point, he is still dragging a six foot lead, and at any point where there is potential, I am at the other end of that loose six foot lead. Additionally, playing and wandering times are strictly supervised. That means I am actively watching them and involved, when Jack is allowed any freedom to roam or go up to Leon.
Also today, a terrier was loose in the neighborhood and running towards us, and Jack did not challenge my leadership by trying to take care of matters himself. I am not saying he was not thinking about it, but for the third time in the last two weeks when a potential problem situation occurred, he did recognize that I was taking care of it. It's so much easier to do that, when you don't have to worry about what your own dog is attempting to do!!! There really needs to be a partnership developed to do this with certain dogs like Jackie. Jack looked a bit tense, but he didn't bark and remained in his heel position. I did my job, and kept the offending beasty away from us. Leon and Manny were with us, and so this remained a time where Jack's protective instincts would kick in.
I am happy with the potential that is being demonstrated in Jack's behavioral modification. It could not be done without the use of obedience and the additional advanced retrieving and fetching skills that both boys have learned. It has been equally important that Leon listen to commands and directions as well in order to have planted situations that I can train Jack around.
One incident happened on January 18th, where I did not catch the fact that Jack was guarding the couch from Leon. Unfortunately Jack did connect with his teeth briefly. The leash should have been in my hand so I could have diffused the situation immediately. So we took a training step backwards that day. Being that this is at least a three month training process, that happened less than a third way through our training plan, so I wasn't surprised that Jack tried something. He had made me a bit complacent by being a good boy up until that point. Much of the plan is to test or proof Jack's responses when it "seems" like he has the freedom to make the choice, but in fact he does not.
Here is the summary of his training plan:
- First, the rules. (scroll to the middle of the post to see what the rules were on week 1) Some have been updated. Jack does not need to sleep in a crate outside the bedroom anymore, but is allowed on his dog bed in the bedroom. He is exhibitting enough self control to not be muzzled for two weeks now.
- Relaxation and molding exercises. Teaching Jack to release the tension in his muscles when I touch him. Also using this exercise for posing as well, so I can manipulate his limbs et, and have him begin to instantly relax as I do this. Massage and petting are helping this along as well. This has to do with yielding (ie owner says something or needs to physically manipulate the dog, dog allows this willingly and is used to it).
- Relation to relaxation and molding, really firming up left turns for attention and movement.
- I have been teaching the commands of roll over and over even in distracting areas where other dogs are or on different surfaces.
- Open exercises of fetching and jump around dogs and "wanted items" that Jack normally obsesses over.
- Leon doing his play retrieve taking items that are placed around Jackie. Jackie does not have a muzzle on, but he is mostly tethered or back tied during this exercise. He has never attempted to get up, but this is a safety measure during the early part of the training.
- Leon and Jack have at least a half hour a day where they are trained on obedience, freestyle, tricks, or retrieve together. They are actually a great team when they are working.
- Leon and Jack have at least one walk where they are coupled together during the day and must heel with me.
- Jack has one heel or loose leash walk alone with me a day. Preferrable to areas where there are dogs out. He is expected not to reacte if another dog comes running up to us.
- Jack and Leon are allowed to play with their toys in close proximity as long as Jack does not reacte to Leon. If only Leon has a toy, and Jack is not interested in his, Jack is not allowed to obsess or try and guard that toy, and certaintly not reacte to Leon.
- Jack is doing fetch and retrieve with and around things that he becomes obsessed about.
- Jack trained not to follow Leon's every move or think he can dictate what Leon does. Obedience combined with commands such as look, leave it, and out have been combined to achieve this.
Every week a little more freedom and a little more free time is given to Jack. He is praised and rewarded in times where he would have reacted before, but now chooses not to. Times where he is relaxed and is not obsessive are times where he gets some special atttention or alone time later. At any time there is a set back, those freedoms are reduced again or taken away for a time.
Here are some before and after shots of body language (note Jack is muzzled in the before):
Gradually over time, it is my hope, that as the freedoms increase the control that Jack has been exhibiting over his "over reactions" will take hold and become part of his personal behavior under his own steam.
So far so good. Some really nice progress and self control has become apparent. Many times with a dog like this, the misunderstanding that their previous reactions "weren't that bad" or "didn't get to the point of drawing blood" can cause some of us to not take the action that we should have (or were unable to) sooner. I take heart in the fact the list with Jack was so long two years ago, that I thought walking this dog on lead would be a huge feat (even though I am quite used to doing this with many and plentiful dogs). I never dreamed that we would be able to accomplish a Companion Dog title, as we did last year. This required Jack to heel off leash while many people and other dogs looked on. Now the list has become smaller 1) finally fully address the resource guarding AND 2) make it crystal clear that Leon is not an appropriate scapegoat or punching bag for Jack.
As for doing the open exercises, Jack is bright and smart enough to get that easily. Put all of that together, and Jack will be a dog will A LOT of work into him but truly exceptional. This is so much easier with a dog that is not "behaviorally challenged". On the other hand, the work that Jack and I have done together have not only strengthened an already strong bond, BUT will benefit "behaviorally challenged" students so much in the future.
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