Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Off-Roading

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Lately when I go to walk the dogs on Monday or Wednesday, I head over to the second entrance to avoid the commotion of the LaCrosse team arriving at our regular entrance.  Last night I was bit later than normal and thought maybe most of the people had already arrived.  I was wrong.

I turned around and headed over to the other entrance.  This takes about 5 minutes since we need to go down one hill and up another.  As I pulled up to the second entrance I realized there was already a car there and the person inside had a dog.

The woman was fussing about in her car doing what I don’t know, but her music was blaring and I could see a small Cocker Spaniel type dog sitting on her lap. I waited a minute or so and got frustrated with her just sitting there, so I said too bad; we’re going to back to our entrance and we’ll deal with LaCrosse!

I basically wasted about 15 minutes trying to figure out the best way to get to our trails.

There was one young boy getting dropped off as we entered the park, I could see him focused on the dogs and walking cautiously.  I kept both Sampson and Delilah on leash and guided them off the main path.  As we got to the top of the hill I saw their friend Brady and his mom entering from their side.  I said, “Go get Brady.”  And Sampson took off.  Delilah of course was forced to wait and go at my pace.

We started down one of our paths and ran into my next door neighbor of all things, with her two small boys and her dog Gunner.  I still can’t figure out what kind of dog Gunner is.  His face reminds me of an Akita, but he is not large and he is all black.  I call him… Sirius Black.

They were all sitting on the top of a large rock and while we live next door to each other, the dogs have never met.  My neighbor says that Gunner is friendly and the only time she’s ever seen him act aggressively is protecting the children.  While I thought the woods were a fairly neutral place to introduce the dogs, I preferred to do it while Hubby was around.

My friend said, “What do all these people see in these woods?”

I laughed and responded with ,“Probably the same thing we do.”

So my walking friend said, “We’ll have to go to my place.”

Turns out she just had a survey completed and she owns a LOT of land behind her house, which is wooded, has a creek and lots of boulders!  So we went off-road. 😉

Naturally we discussed all the things she could do with that extra land she has, most of which included places for the dogs to run without running into a lot of other people.

We ended up with a longer than planned walk, but the excitement and change of scenery helped tire the dogs out.

It's Been A Great Monday!

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Last Thursday Delilah and I did a drop-in agility class.

I was  a little disappointed with our performance.  Truthfully it has been a while since we did agility on a regular basis, which may be why Delilah seemed like she was too intent on the treats instead of on me. She would dart off course and snarf around to see if the dog before her had left anything.

I’ve been thinking I’d like to try different activities with Delilah to find something that really motivates her and that might help us get more in sync.

I heard of this new dog sport called Treibball, it is sort of like soccer for dogs.  I was checking their website out to see if there was a facility near us and as luck would have it, there is one about 20 minutes away.  I called last Friday and left a message requesting a phone call to get a few questions answered.

This morning I had a phone call from the person in charge of Pet Education and Therapy, we spoke for over half an hour.  I started off with asking if they accepted titres and they do!!

I then went on to explain the issues I’ve been having with Delilah and the training we have already completed and how I am looking for a new sport to help us develop a deep bond.

We talked about Treibball but after hearing that Delilah doesn’t really care much for fetching a ball, Audrey thought that Nosework might be a better fit for her.  Unfortunately there are no Nosework classes currently scheduled but Audrey suggested I sign up for the newsletter which will notify me when the class is scheduled.

I told Audrey how food motivated Delilah is and she recommended we start with an Intermediate Training class which is a positive reinforcement class designed to help wean the dogs off the treats.

Audrey says she loves working with labs because most owners are amazed when she can get their dog to run down the center of the room and not eat the treats.  I laughed at that because it will be certainly a day to be circled on the calendar when Delilah passes up a treat!

The kicker is that since I don’t vaccinate for Kennel Cough she doesn’t recommend we take the class offered at the Doggie Daycare, so we need to wait for the next Intermediate Class offered at the other facility, which isn’t until July 10th.

I’m really OK with waiting because Delilah’s annual check up is scheduled for June 6th, which gives me plenty of time to get the titre results and vaccinate if needed.

Positive things are happening at Casa de Stone, I’m quite excited for Delilah to learn Nosework and hope we can get good enough to bring Nosework to the Mellow Mutt.

How was your Monday?  Anything exciting to share?

It Takes A Blogville To Raise A Delilah

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Sampson and Delilah go to daycare twice a week for half days.   They don’t do a lot at daycare, they like to lie around and sleep (much like they do at home) and occasionally they get up and play with the other dogs or interact with Sara or her mom, Sue.

Hubby and I know this, which is why we dropped them to half days.  I feel that even though they lie around much of the day they are stimulated more by the comings and goings at The Mellow Mutt then they would be by sleeping their day away on our couch.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this here, but Delilah has issues with dogs behind fences.  In the case of daycare it is dogs in crates or dogs on the other side of certain gates.

The Mellow Mutt is set up as such:

(I hope you can get the idea from this ‘drawing’.)

The drawing is not to scale, so along the right wall of where it says “fenced area” there are crates.  These are mostly used for the grooming dogs but sometimes someone needs a time out or certain dogs just like to sleep there.

When I drop Delilah off I have to make certain there are no dogs in the fenced area or in a crate with the door shut, if there are she will charge up to the crated dog, and bark like a lunatic, baring her teeth and snarling.  To say this is disturbing to me is an understatement.  To manage this I just make sure that she remains on leash and is guided through to where she needs to be.

Lately she has continued this behavior at the gate. Which brings us up to Friday.

When I picked them up on Friday a man was coming in with his big yellow lab, Tyson.  Dianne (one of the groomers) had to hold Delilah back as Tyson went through the fence, once he was through she was fine.  Sara clipped her on leash and handed her out to me.  I keep her on a fairly short leash in the retail area because she likes to shoplift shop.

Typically I’ll stand there chatting for a few minutes before I leave, which is what I did on Friday.

While I was standing there, Tyson came up to the gate and Delilah charged him.  I was so caught off-guard that I reacted poorly.  I yanked her and I pushed her down and told her NO! ( I’m not proud of this, but if I’m to help her overcome her issues I need to be honest with myself and with you on how I handled this.)  We left almost immediately after.

Yesterday while working the Labs 4 Rescue adoption event, I had the opportunity to really sit down with Sara and discuss Delilah.  I found out that when Delilah went at Tyson on Friday, she actually bit him through the gate.  Sara said he had a puncture in his lip and two teeth scratches on his face.

I feel horrible.  I offered to pay for any vet bill but Sara says the owner was ok with it.  Really?  (I wouldn’t be, but that is a topic for a different post.)

I told Sara that I don’t think me pushing Delilah down is the proper way to deal with this issue and I don’t believe it helps Delilah with whatever is bothering/scaring her about the fence/gate.

Since Delilah is like the biggest Alpha female I’ve ever heard/seen, Sara thinks she is disciplining the other dogs at the gate.  Sara thinks that Delilah thinks she owns the place and it is her responsibility to monitor it.

We decided it’s in Delilah’s best interest to not go to daycare for a week or so and see if that doesn’t help alleviate the issue.  I’m not really sure a break will work but I’m willing to give it a shot.

I’m anxious to hear what you think about this?  Have you heard of dogs with this issue?  Have you heard of any solutions that work?

I have no problem keeping Delilah permanently out of daycare, but I know Sampson enjoys going and once again it would be Sampson who misses out on something he enjoys because I just can’t get a handle on Delilah.

Whadda ya say, Blogville?  How would you help this dog?

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