Developing Calmness

We've seen a change in Sprocket.  He's getting calmer.  Here's what I've been doing.

First I've been very deliberately working on "down" with a significant wait time for him to clam down before he gets rewarded or released.  This is particularly helpful when he's trying to ask for play and nosing us or jumping around excitedly.   We then reward with a game of fetch where he can run around and enjoy the play he was seeking in a constructive and positive way.  We also work on dropping the toy and giving treats (a little light training with treats and play rewards).  If he ignores our 'down' cue and hand signal then we leave the room (because turning our backs doesn't work) and return as soon as he sits, lays or stands calmly.  We then resume where we left off.  This has probably made the biggest difference because it was taking the most extreme excitement (bounding around trying to incite play) and turning it to calmness (laying down until calm). 

Additionally I've been working on how I deliver treats.  Sprocket isn't exactly the most gentle dog when it comes to taking food from your hands.  So I've switched to exclusively setting it on the ground.  I have not allowed him to mug my hand as I set the treat down.  If he does I pause until he moves away then I proceed with setting the treat down.  It's made him much more calm when it comes to receiving treats. 

Lastly I've been massaging him more.  I know, sounds silly right?  Well, Sprocket has never been big on snuggles and petting.  But, when he's calm he does enjoy a good rubbing.  So, when he comes up to me calmly or when I see him being chill - say on the couch - I'll go over and give him a rub.  Typically it's a neck and shoulder rub just like you and I would like and would feel more relaxed afterward.

Tiny little extra things:  We aren't raising our voices which avoids inciting any excitement.  I've been specially using a quite calming voice - the sort you might use to calm a crying infant.  We've also taken off his collar.  No more collar around his neck removes our temptation to grab it.  We also returned to bed time in kennel instead of his bunk bed. 

It's getting better but we still have a ways to go.  Next thing I'm going to add it surprise treats to capture calmness.  Much like the random massage I'm going to catch him being calm under his own choosing and give him a nice chunk of hot dog or similar.  I'm also working on decreasing his reaction to stimuli - such as the nail clippers.

So far so good.  We'll keep working on it.

Dear Petsmart: Don't Shock a Puppy

If you take a class at Petsmart with your pup they'll fill you in on how effective and scientifically proven progressive positive reinforcement training is.  They only offer positive classes.  So you'd think they're firm believers.  But when you look at their shelves you see them supporting the ownership of other, less effective, less kind things like shock collars... for puppies.  Why are you selling those?!  People might buy them!  You're enabling the shocking of puppies! PUPPIES! <whimper>

Cruising the web I found this cool little petition.  I've added it to the right side of our blog here and copied the letter as it will be sent to Petsmart below.  Please take a read and decide for yourself if you will sign.

Greetings,,

PetSmart's training program is very clear in advocating for positive training methods, stating on the website: "Learning should not be painful or harmful and many of the 'old school' training techniques were based on using pain or the fear of pain to get dogs to respond. Clearly this is not how we train at PetSmart."

Yet just down the aisle from the training centers, your stores sell a variety of electronic collars designed to shock dogs and puppies, that anyone can buy without experience or instruction in how to use them.

Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Karen Overall wrote, "Shock is not training -- in the vast majority of cases, it meets the criteria for abuse." She cites both personal experience, with patients exposed to shock being much more likely to end up euthanized for behavior than dogs trained with positive methods, and research that has shown that the adverse effects of shock collars continue long after the collar has been removed.

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers warns that electronic collars can result in trauma to your dog. Shock collars can cause physical injury ranging from burns to cardiac fibrillation, as well as psychological distress. A simple malfunction can result in nonstop shocks being administered to the dog.

Your trainers wouldn't use shock collars in their classes. I urge you to make your product line as humane as your training philosophy. Please set an example for the industry by no longer carrying electronic collars.

Thank you.

[Your name]

Roommates Of Fur

If you don't know much about puppies, and particularly working class breeds, then allow me to inform you that Sprocket is and endless fountain of energy.  Seriously.  When Sprocket goes to Camp Bow Wow he plays for about 10-12 hours straight.  The camp counselors tell us that he bops around the indoor/outdoor pen the whole time looking for playmates.  The other dogs take turns keeping him busy.  The camp bow wow marketing and other customers all speak about how much fun the dogs have and how they sleep afterward.  Sprocket comes home and plays more.  He loves tug and doesn't get to play it at camp. 

So as you can imagine, we're having a little bit of trouble keeping him occupied all the time.  So we thought that a second dog, though adding some work, would also give us one else to share the job of keeping Sprocket busy.  We weren't sure that a second dog was for us though.  So we gave fostering a try.  We had the pleasure of hosting Byron the Weim from Great Lakes Weimaraner Rescue.  He's the sweetest, most loving dog.  We are so hopeful for him to find a perfect forever home.  He's just so good.

Byron and his sweet orange eyes

He's exactly what most people want in a pup:

• good natured & polite
• a perfect "medium" size
• very loving and mellow
• obedient
• potty trained
• a minimal barker
• protective when needed
• food motivated (easy training)
• can be left alone in house
• favors the floor over furniture
• "begging" is sitting at a distance quietly

He has a drawback or two.  His life has changed a lot and he's not yet confident about toys, food, or people sticking around so he's protective of what's he's got, but only to other dogs, not people.  He's also not yet fully trained to enjoy his kennel.  He does have one in our home and we reward him for being in it.  He's chosen it a couple of times but we cannot shut the door and leave the room for more than a few moments - he'll throw a tantrum.  But he's getting better and better at this.  We can say "kennel" while we're near-ish and he'll head there, though he might come right back out if we're not near enough. 

He gets along with Sprocket after some initial trouble.  They don't snuggle but they do lay around together and play in our bonus room.

Sprocket & Byron lounging in on the bunk beds

Despite all the good, and all the love, we've come to the conclusion that we're a one dog kind of house hold.  It's just a bit too much to be keeping an eye on both boys all day and night.  It complicates training, playing, eating, and nearly every other aspect of our puppy parenting lives.  So this will be the last week we spend with Byron.  We're sorry that he's going back to the rescue instead of to a forever home. 

It was good to have you Byron, thanks for loving us.  We love you and wish you the best on your voyage to your forever home.