Luke update

Well, so far so good. I went down to visit Luke and his new family this past Wednesday. They are such a great couple! Very committed and willing to learn. Luke is doing well, 90% of the time (wink wink). He has his moments, mostly when he is inside. I explained to them that he has lived most of his past two years outside in a kennel and doesn't know how to live/function inside. It is going to be a process, but Luke is a quick study. They are so great, and obviously love him so I remain optimistic. So optimistic in fact that next week I am going to begin work with another dog at the shelter so stay tuned! I will continue to give Luke updates as his progress continues.

Luke was Adopted!

Yes, it is true. Saturday I was at the shelter and Luke and I were sitting on a bench in the parking lot. There was a very nice young couple there looking at some of the dogs. The man came over to me to meet Luke and we spoke a bit. They then visited with a little beagle and Luke and I went to sit in the gazebo. Consequently they came by the gazebo and sat down with Luke and I. We spoke for about 1/2 hour about shelter dogs, dog behavior and briefly some of the things I had been working on with Luke. They both seemed very eager to learn and had obviously done some research prior to visiting the shelter. I liked them, but counseled them that Luke wouldn't necessarily be an "easy" dog. They left saying they would have a lot to think about. Later that afternoon I got a call from a shelter employee telling me that Luke was adopted by that nice young couple! REALLY???? I had so many things to tell them, teach them, give them! I called them right away and extended my help to them, gave them some pointers and told them to call me no matter what. Big sigh.
I called them the next day (Sunday) and they told me Luke was doing really well so far. Okay good, but there is that honeymoon period......
I will be going to visit them in their home tomorrow. I will be bringing Luke his MAT along with some instructions on what I had taught him so far and how they could continue.
I hesitate to take on another project dog quite yet. I am afraid I will jinx things ;) I will do everything in my power to make this adoption work. Luke deserves this chance. I only hope this nice young couple is up for the challenge.

Second Date

I didn't blog yesterday, but that doesn't mean that nothing meaningful happened. It just usually means that my day got away from me and it is 11:00 pm before I can sit at my computer at which point I usually decide to leave it to the next day. Enough of my ramblings.
So Friday was a beautiful day and we had another date with Amelia. This time I had my camera.




I apologize for my camera skills. It seemed like they just had to play around my legs!
It is also hard to tell them apart but Amelia is a bit bigger and for most of this video was the chasee. They had a great time.

Afterward Luke and I went inside for some down time. He was pretty pooped and hot. I gave him a stuffed moo tube (cow esophagus) and typical goofball Luke he just had to play with it! I guess his mother never taught him not to play with his food.

Cabin Fever!

Today was a yucky, cold rainy day. I took Luke into the pen to do his business then we went straight to the eval room (today is clinic day so no exam room). He went nuts! Don't know if it was because he didn't get to burn off some of his energy in the pen (raining too hard), or because of the "newness" of the room and smells of other dogs. He was all over the place, jumped on the couch then onto the computer table (while my back was turned), then proceeded to steal a stuffed animal that was tucked away in a corner of the room.



I know this sounds like terrible behavior, but if you think about his life every day 23 hours a day and then think that he has one hour to absorb, enjoy and explore everything, you can't half blame him. At least I don't.

Cabin

Great News!

When I decided to take Luke on as my little pygmalion I wanted to know a bit about him so I went to his Petfinder page. It said that he couldn't go with other dogs. Hmmm. I am always suspicious of that label. Many times the dogs in shelters exhibit behavior toward other dogs that is misinterpreted or misunderstood. Most times it is behavior exhibited under stressful circumstances so it can often look not so good.
I had posted earlier that I was going to try Luke out with another dog and finally got to do that today, but of course I didn't have my video camera! Ugh! I am also the mom who still has photos of her children in boxes. Anyway, the good news is the date went great! He met up with a lovely shepard mix named Amelia (I know, too cute). They hit it off right away, chasing each other around the pen. Luke was exhausted afterward, but it was a good tired. He is such an awesome dog.
Tomorrow is torrential rains again so we will do another play date on Friday, and this time I will have my camera!

Ooops!

I have to apologize to my all of three followers. I completely forgot to write yesterday. I did have a session with Luke, just didn't post anything.
We did our usual thing today. It is becoming a routine now which is good. It is much easier to get and maintain his attention when everything is not so new.
At this point in time I have made a few observations I would like to share......

There are moments when I "see" the real Luke. The relaxed Luke. The Luke he could be if (when) he makes it into a home. What people at the shelter see is the frenzied, stressed, over stimulated Luke. A by product of shelter life. I see this Luke when we are doing mat time and I am giving him a massage. The stress and anxiety melts away. His response to the touch of a human hand is evident.

When we walk through the parking lot Luke pulls toward every car. He knows it is the way out. Many of the shelter dogs do this and it is just heart breaking. When we are done with our session we have to walk back through the lot and Luke's whole demeanor changes. He knows he is going back to his run and the anxiety and stress returns.

This is the point in time when this training endeavor becomes difficult for me. We have passed the point of no return, we have developed a relationship. He counts on my coming every day. It is an onerous responsibility. I know there is no end to this. It will only end when my boy gets a home.

Success!

On my drive down to the shelter today it was torrential rain and I wondered if I would even be able to take Luke out. It is not good for the dogs to go back to their runs wet, after all it's not like going into a cozy home. Luckily the rain let up a bit by the time I got there and we headed for the pen. Luke finished up pretty quickly, seems he was anxious to get out of the rain as well. We went straight to the exam room which I had previously set up.
We did some targeting work on the mat and he was getting it pretty quickly. His job was to go lie down on the mat and he was consistently doing this. I was using cheese and it almost seemed as though he was working halfheartedly so I changed to liver. That got his attention! I am very close to introducing a cue for this behavior. I have decided on "settle". When I can predict fairly certainly that he will go to lie on the mat every time this is when I introduce the cue. We also practiced "leave it" and he was doing really well with this. Much less pawing and mouthing on my hand.
After all that work he was ready. I turned out the lights in the room, put on the "Through a Dog's Ear" music, gave him his chewie bone on the mat, I sat down in my chair (I had put that in the room previously) and proceeded to read my book. Luke stayed on the mat the whole time until he finished his bone. It was a very peaceful moment. If I closed my eyes we could have been in my living room. It was that perfect.

Quiet Saturday

It was a lovely warmish day today and a pleasure to be at the shelter working with Luke. There was an off site adoption event today so I had my pick of quiet places to take Luke. I decided on the coveted evaluation room. There is a nice comfy couch and I had a plan. Well, you know what they say about plans.....
My plan was to bring the Mat into the eval room. I had my Through A Dog's Ear music to play. A new chewie for Luke and my book. The plan was I would put the music on softly in the background, Luke would lay on his mat chewing his new bone and I would sit and read. Ha!
Luke had other ideas.
Teaching a dog is tricky business. Whenever something doesn't go as planned you always have to look at what you did or didn't do. It is never the dog. Ever.
I know the first mistake I made. I shouldn't have changed rooms on Luke. He was just beginning to understand the idea of settling in the exam room. I too readily jumped at the opportunity to use the eval room, not thinking that Luke wasn't ready to change environments. It's okay. He enjoyed himself as always, chomping on a tennis ball he found. Dogs are always happy and ready to go with the flow. It is we humans that get caught up in the process and the plan. I am learning every day. Hmmm, maybe I should change the name of this blog.

Good Day Today

Today was much better. It was probably 20-30 degrees warmer than yesterday. Yay! We got our exam room back in the clinic and practiced settling on the mat (FKA the MAT!) He did great. He was getting c/t for just touching the mat and soon he was lying on the mat for c/t. At one point he even put his head down and looked like he was going to go to sleep. I would say that was a sign of settling!.
We kind of got stuck in the exam room because there was a woman and her two adorable children looking at a puppy. I didn't want to walk Luke through all that stimulation. I prefer to set up situations so that Luke can be successful. So we waited. While we waited we did some hand targeting (I present my palm, Luke touches with his nose, c/t) and we also worked on "leave it" (I put a treat in my hand, Luke proceeds to mouth, paw at, lick, chew my treat hand. When he stops c/t and he gets treat). My little protege did really well. He is becoming quite the learner!
Tomorrow we are going to see how he socializes with another dog. Should it go well I will post a video of his "play date".

My Lesson for Today

I was calling today a bust. To start with it was cold outside. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am pretty darned sick of winter and everything it has to offer! Then, we couldn't find a quiet place to work on our settling exercise. Normally I use the exam room in the clinic, but today was wellness day so I knew that was not to be. The cottage was a little too hectic so we wound up in a pen called the tent. It is outdoors but it has a top so that you can use it in inclement weather.
In an ideal circumstance, when you are in the initial stages of training a dog, the environment should be as distraction free as possible. Well.... this is pretty hard to do at the shelter and this makes my job of trying to teach Luke how to settle pretty difficult. Not impossible, but certainly challenging. I am my own worst critic and set expectations very high for myself. Today I was not feeling very good about my own skill set or capabilities and went home feeling dejected and pretty sorry for myself. While sitting in my car I watched this video.
This is why I train dogs, this is why I love dogs. Because despite everything they have going against them, they can still be so joyful in the smallest moment.
I ask, who is teaching whom?

More of the "F" word today

Focus people, focus! That is the "F" word to which I am referring. Lukie did great today. I started out by taking him right to the ex pen to "relieve" himself. How many of you can really concentrate when you have to go????
We did some loose leash walking and we ventured out onto the main road. He did much better with checking in with me and turning around when he started pulling. Luke seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the activity going on in the outside world so we made the walk brief.
The MAT! Why do I phrase it that way? Have you seen the animated motion picture "Toy Story"? Do you remember the cute little alien things that came from the vending machine? Whenever they saw the claw they would express it with such awe "the claawww". That is the reverence I am looking for whenever Luke sees the MAT. Today he did infinitely better. He was focused ("f" word) on me, very engaged and was going to the mat for his c/t. We did some more massage and treating while on the mat. He did a very cute roll on his side and a wave with his paw while eating his treats. Tomorrow I will try to post a video to show his cuteness!

Day Two

We started our visit with a walk. Once again practicing loose leash (translated to "no pulling!") walking. One thing I noticed about Lukie (that's my term of endearment for him) is he is very anxious to relieve himself as soon as he gets out of his run. Since I don't get to him until around 2:00 every day you can imagine he is just busting! Often times when we see a dog in a shelter who does this it is an indication that they may be housebroken. This is not a sure thing, but a good indication.
He did a bit better with the loose leash thing. As we walked through the parking lot he would begin to pull, I would stop, he would turn around and come back to me creating slack in the leash and we would move forward again. He was getting it, but it was slow going.
Once in the pen we played a game of tug. This is a great way to burn some energy and it also is a good way for the dog to practice self control. It gives them a sort of on/off switch. There are rules to this game, which Luke doesn't know yet, but he will.
Lastly, I wanted to introduce Luke to the MAT!!!!! What is the MAT? It is a two foot by four foot padded mat that right now is nothing special to Mr. Luke. This mat will eventually be Luke's go to place. All good things happen on the MAT, massages, hand fed treats, chew toys etc. We will use it to help him learn to settle and the MAT will go with him to his new home as a point of familiarity and comfort in his new surroundings. Today Luke relaxed on the MAT while he enjoyed some treats and some massage and petting.