Daisy

A potential client calls to see if I can take her 4-month-old Lab for a few days. It has been a while since I had a puppy for B&T and frankly I am looking forward to it for my sake and that of my two dogs.

They arrive and Daisy now out of the car begins to investigate. She runs in her cute puppy manner towards me as if she has met me before and I am her biggest friend.

I noticed a big grin on my face. Ah puppies! You got to love their energy and amusing ways. And how about that puppy-breath?

Now it's Deuce's and Rio’s turn to meet Daisy. Daisy has not had any experience (besides her parents) with adult dogs so we are eager to see her reaction. I bring both dogs out and have them investigate Daisy while Daisy remains next to her owner and separated by a gate from both dogs as to not overwhelm her by their approach, and to give me an opportunity to asses her reaction towards them.

She pees a bit in submission but otherwise she is happy to interact and the fun begins. The three of them are play bowing, taking turn sniffing each other, running and just having fun.

Daisy’s mom leaves and I make sure that she is comfortable.

As part of the board & train we will work on some basic obedience (drop it, loose leash walking, off, etc.) as well as to continue with her housetraining, and dog & dog interactions.

Finally all tucked in the dogs fall asleep. Daisy in her big crate next to Rio - who is lying on her bed as close as she can to the crate.

The next morning as Deuce lays in the kitchen Daisy approaches him eager to play. I am watching them and noticed that Deuce either has not fully woken up or is frankly over the cute puppy. Daisy continues to pester him and he lets out a growl. Daisy responds immediately giving Deuce the room he is asking for. I had told Daisy’s mom that most likely Deuce and Rio would “correct” Daisy.

The thing is this. Well-socialized adult dogs will cut young puppies slack when they act crazy and rambunctious towards them. However, this license begins to fade once the puppy turns 5 months of age - the beginning of adolescence in most dogs.

Corrections by adult dogs must be gentle: A sneer or a growl and even a gentle physical correction should do the trick to having the pup mend his or her ways.

Daisy was corrected three times by Deuce when she was here – all appropriate corrections and she responded also very appropriately.

In one occasion she rushed towards Deuce as he was (again!) lying down. This time I did not see exactly what Daisy did to warrant his growl, but I am assuming that she startled him because he was lying down as she rushed towards him -  perhaps she might have even stepped on him.

When I turned around Daisy had moved away from Deuce and was now sitting all alone in the kitchen. Ahhhh, I felt sorry for her. I went to her, picked her up and brought her to the sofa with me. Two seconds later she had bounced back to her happy and confident self and was now gnawing on an antler-bone that I was holding for her.

The next morning, I was curious to see if Deuce would once again engage in play with Daisy and he did!

The beauty of well-socialized dogs is that they help socialize younger pups by teaching them social skills but they have an understanding of what is an appropriate correction.

Because of their lack of overall experience, young puppies can be sensitive to the harsh treatment of other dogs- especially adult dogs and one should make sure that the interactions that they have with all dogs are overall positive as to avoid a pre-disposition to fear when it comes to dog & dog interactions.

After seeing Deuce’s reaction to Daisy that morning I began to fully relax knowing that Daisy had learned some really good lessons and that she had the social skills instilled by her sibs to continue to positively interact with all sorts of dogs.

Before she left, I was hoping to get some cute photos of her. It was almost impossible! The results were images of half a puppy, or a moving head and paw. Disappointed at my images, I finally took a picture of Daisy that revealed a tired pup just taking a rest from one more play session with her newfound “buds”.

Mindlessness

Rio comes with Deuce and me sheepherding and waits in the car until we are done. This morning she and I took a walk while Deuce rested in the car. Besides, I like to do different things with each one of my dogs on occasion.

Rioja is so good at recall that I can let her free to explore without much worry that she will not check in or take off. So we walked on a wash and headed to an open area for me to throw some rocks and have her chase them. In the process I came up with a new game to encourage her to check in with me when off-leash as well as for her to continue thinking of me as a major reinforcement on our walks and with other distractions present.

Not only is the manipulation of the environment a “trainer thing” but it really helps in teaching the dogs to stay somewhat close to us when needed and, besides this engagement is fun for both parties.

The name of the game is Recall (with a Twist) in essence it consists of engaging with the dog in such a manner that they are happy to run back at you just before being sent off for more exploring. There are three basic behaviors that the dog must have learned: come when called (at least some recall is needed!) Sit /stay or just stay and drop it. By playing this game they get to practice all these behaviors a ton and we all know that practice makes… permanent.

Here is how the game works:
With Rio in my proximity, I start to egg her on with anticipation as I have a rock or a stick in my hand. After a few seconds of this I throw the item for her to go get… as she is returning to me, I begin to run away from her, engaging her predatory instinct of chasing. Once she gets to me, I ask her to drop the object. When she does, I take the object and ask her to stay (sometimes I ask for a sit too but not always). Stay for me and my dogs means keep your butt on the ground.

I proceed to move a few steps sideways while watching her. As I am saying r-ee-aad-yyy??? And I see her anticipating… I throw the item always in a different direction. Now she has learned that if she comes to me quickly we get to do it all over again. It only took her two trials to drop the item on the ground before I even asked her to do so. A clear indication that she is enjoying the game and has learned the "rules of engagement."

We played this game for a while and the proceeded to the car. Rioja was still off-leash smelling here and there and grabbing the occasional cow patty… No damage done... I let her carry the patty and have her drop it just before getting into the car (I thought) as I saw her happily prancing with her special find.

On our way to the car my mind wandered. I was thinking about what I needed to do next or… who knows – I sure have a "monkey-mind." My voice brought me back as I heard myself calling Rioja’s name once, twice… and then I stopped. Feeling a little bit embarrassed as if I had done something “bad” and was caught red-handed.

Ah… mindlessness. I don’t know about you all, but I am aware now that it is often that I fall into a mindless mode and I begin to ask my dogs to do something - most of the time to come to me without really needing them to do so because they are “right there”! This morning as I called her name I realized that this type of mindlessness dilutes not only our recall cue (which is bad enough) but in some way it points to a lack of connection with the dog.

Food for thought: Instead of just repeating cues as monotonous mantras or prayers why not remain quiet, observant and connected with the dog and only ask them to do something when is really needed? Besides, we must be ready to follow up with a consequence if our (mindful) request falls unattended otherwise our verbal cues will become irrelevant to our dog.