We are so excited to be co-hosting the 2nd Woof blog hop along with Oz the Terrier and Roxy the Traveling Dog. WOOF (Working Out Our Fears) Support is where reactive dogs and their owners can come together to share similar experiences. Are you a reactive and/or fearful dog or its owner? Then please join us and share your story. The Blog Hop is open through Sunday.
We’ve had a little bit of progress since our WOOF hop post last month.
First of all, I got a question answered that I wondered about. The only episodes we have had with Cricket’s reactivity have been with off leash dogs. Since we live in a rural area, it is easy to find quiet places to walk where we are less likely to run into anyone (though one of the episodes did happen in one of those places). Since we learned of her reactivity, avoidance was my major tool. Therefore, what I didn’t know was whether Cricket would react the same way when meeting an ON LEASH dog.
Cricket went for her annual vet visit a couple of weeks ago, along with her brother Luke and both cats. She did fine with that….she hates it all, but she cooperates. Once we were done, she relaxed while we were waiting to pay our bill. That was until a woman showed up outside the glass doors with her basset hound. Cricket immediately started barking when she saw the other dog. Oh boy, I thought, here we go. She’s going to put on a display right here and now! Of course, Luke started barking with her, and I was trying to carry on a conversation with our vet. I told my hubby to shorten her leash and hold on tight.
What a pleasant surprise it was for us that when the woman walked in the door with her leashed dog, Cricket stopped barking and her tail started wagging! I was so relieved. We played it safe and still kept her with us even though she wanted to see that other dog. I know this is not a guarantee, it’s possible her reaction could depend on the other dog, but I at least take it as a positive sign that she won’t react every time we meet another dog.
I have continued to work with her on the “watch me” command and she is doing well. We still haven’t been walking a lot, but I recently made some snowshoe trails and took her out on those. I stopped every so often and said her name and then “watch me”. I remembered the treats this time too. Almost every time I called her to me, she came and sat down in front of me. A couple of times she didn’t respond immediately to her name but when I said “watch me” she responded to that.
I also tried, as I mentioned I would, to work on it when out playing ball in the yard. This is as an exercise to get her to break her intense focus that she has when walking. She is very intensely focused on the ball game, but some of the times when Luke had the ball and she was just sniffing around the yard, I called her to me and gave the command, and a treat. One day I tried it, she did very well, but the other not as well. It could be that the first time we’d been playing longer, so she was more tired and less focused. We’ll keep working on that and see how it goes.
I feel encouraged now and as soon as our very cold winter weather lets up, I hope to spend more time walking (or snowshoeing as long as the snow lasts) and continuing the training. Perhaps by spring we’ll be ready to venture into more populated areas!
If you have a reactive or fearful dog, please feel free to join our hop this time or in the future! It is held the 2nd Thursday of every month. You don’t have to be a blogger to benefit from this; we also have a Facebook support page which anyone can ask to join. There we also share tips and stories to help and support each other.
**On an unrelated note, if you missed my contest post from Tuesday, click here to take a look and see if you’d like to guess what top 3 dog breeds make up our puppy Luke’s DNA (according to Wisdom Panel). There are prizes for closest guesser (random draw if more than one closest).**
What an unexpected and wonderful surprise with the on leash encounter at the vet’s office!! Woo-hoo! It sounds like you are both doing well with your “watch me” training…remember to keep it FUN! We use “look” and have been practicing it in all situations, especially during play, so it is becomes a “fun” command.
Thank you for co-hosting the hop! I do apologize that it took me so long to get around to everyone. What a week I had…I am wiped out!
Gina and Oz
You have done so well to get around to everyone now! Once you get behind on things, it’s so hard to catch up. I hope you are getting some time to relax today!
That is a good point to remember to keep the training fun. If a session isn’t going well, I try to realize that maybe it’s just a bad time and to let it go and try again later.
Oh that experience at the vet’s office sounds great! I LOVE when our dogs exceed our expectations 🙂 With the ball – have you tried throwing it and not releasing her to get it until she looks at you? I find that takes a LOT of self control and self control exercises in general can really help with a reactive dog because most of them are lacking in self control in some way. Am I making sense about the ball thing? lol
Yup, I understand about the ball thing! I have tried not throwing the ball until she sits, but I haven’t had much success with that. She gets SO wound up about the ball! Maybe I’ll try it your way though, if I can find a way to play with her without the other dogs being there!
You are right, she definitely lacks in self control!!
Way to go Cricket keep up the good work.
Sheba.
Thank you, Sheba!!
Love, Cricket
Way to go Cricket, sounds like your improving fantastically 🙂 xxoxxx
Mollie and Alfie
Thank you so much, Mollie & Alfie!
Love, Cricket xxxxoooo
It sounds like you have made some wonderful progress! I will be happy when you can put your snowshoes away…lol…purely selfish on my part. 🙂
Thanks! Oh, believe me, I am anxious to put those snowshoes away too. I’m tired of having to bundle up and strap those on, blah blah blah. I’d much rather just be able to throw on a pair of sneakers, grab a leash, and go! 🙂
Good girl Cricket! 🙂
Yes, apparently you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! 🙂
Good job Crickett! Watch me is a miracle command if you ask me. I use it all the time with both Jack & Maggie.
I am proud that she is doing well. I am teaching that command to Sheba also, and Luke too once he gets his other basic commands down.
Geez, totally forgot about this hop. Maybe next month? Hope Cricket keeps on improving.
Thanks, Emma. I should have put a reminder out…I will try to remember to do that next month.
Sounds like she’s doing really well. That’s great that she did good at the vet’s office. Surprisingly, Rita usually does okay there too. I don’t know if it’s because she’s already a little stressed so she just kinda hunkers down into herself (that’s how she looks anyway!). I actually would have thought the stress would make her more reactive, but I think the “fear” wins out there over the “leash aggression.”
Thanks for hosting!
I also would have thought the stress of the vet’s office would have made it worse.
It’s funny because our cats are wild when we try to get them in their carriers to go to the vets. But when we get there they are as calm as anything.
Maybe in some cases, fear or stress can do like you said…they hunker down into themselves.
YAY for Cricket and yay for you!!
I’ve found that Delilah’s reaction is totally dependent upon the other dog. It that dog is doing something that Delilah doesn’t think is proper, then she’s reacting. In class I use the look command, but walking? I try to avoid. It’s just easier. 🙂
Thanks! I suppose it would be hard for a mellow basset hound to garner a reaction in any dog….lol. Seriously, the issues we’ve had have been loose dogs running at her, and that is definitely improper behavior.
I agree, avoidance is easier and my preferred way of dealing with it. But sometimes we get in places where that is just not an option (trails where there’s no place to go).
I think you are doing a great job working with Cricket. Since Bentley is a Basset Hound, he is glad that Cricket liked the one from the vet’s office. I hope your snow melts soon so the flowers can bloom! Have a great day.
Bark More, Growl Less Barking from the Bayou!
Thank you! I think I’ve told you I think my hubby would love a basset hound, so he was happy Cricket liked that one too!
Thank you…we just got more snow and ice yesterday and it’s below zero wind chills today. I cannot wait to see some flowers!!
Well that’s good news about that one situation! And good for you for working on the “watch me” I need to work on that much more! But when I get out, I just go go go, and I need to keep in mind that this is the major time to be working on these things.
Thanks for sharing your post!
I will be joining up tomorrow. I think you are doing everything right and I applaud you for working so hard at it!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thank you, Jenna.
I know what you mean about go, go, go. I do that too. So I’m trying to get away from it, because if I relax maybe the dogs will too! I’ve also turned play time in the yard into training time for all of them. We’re working on “come” with Luke, and “watch me” with both Cricket and Sheba. Sheba is not reactive but I figured it couldn’t hurt her to know this too!
That’s very good. Hopefully she will continue to get better and the reactivity will be a thing of the past.
I sure hope so. It would be so nice to look forward to a walk someplace different without the worry.
Just keep working and stay consistent and it will work out eventually I am betting. Good luck.
Thank you, Jim! I hope you are right!
I love her smile in that last picture. And she STOPPED barking and wagged her tail? I don’t think I’ve ever had my reactive dogs stop barking at anything until the thing went away, so that’s a major achievement.
Thanks for hosting the hop!
She is happy when she knows there’s a treat coming!
Thank you so much for saying that, Kari, it makes me hopeful that Cricket is not too far gone and maybe we can get this under control.