We have an appointment with the behaviourist at 6pm next Friday. When he called he asked what the basics of our problems were so I explained a little. He said that unfortunately he won't have any dogs with him on Friday but he could show me some training exercises to do with her around other dogs, but did I want to see him on a Tuesday afternoon instead when we could do some work with other dogs there. Tuesdays would be tricky for me as I would have to book a half days leave from work. So said let's go for the Friday evening at the moment and then see how we get on and then consider doing a Tuesday. The more I think about it though, the more I think maybe I should try for the Tuesday... I don't know... What would you guys do?
Re: Seeing the behaviourist You'll probably need more than one session Lauren, so why not stick with your Friday to begin with
Re: Seeing the behaviourist I think either would be ok, maybe if you do the Friday you'll be able to talk about Penny and her history without worrying about her interacting with other dogs. Then when you've been through all that you can do another day with a stooge dog or two. I would mostly be guided by the behaviourist though Good luck !
Re: Seeing the behaviourist Yes, I'm fully anticipating at least a couple of months of 1-1's but I just wonder if it would be better to get her into the class setting sooner rather than later... Or if working on the exercises he's going to talk us through for a week or so first would be best... So we can practise them locally before going into a class setting.
Re: Seeing the behaviourist Personally I'm a practice out of sight first kind of person so I feel a little more prepared but I can see the other side of it too and I wonder if you think the answer is go to Tuesday as you're pushing back (very nicely, I don't mean to be rude) on the suggestions that Friday will be fine?.... I know if I ask someone for their opinion and I start arguing the other option it usually means I've already decided ;D
Re: Seeing the behaviourist If you ever want to meet at Snuff Mills and do some training let me know. I can bring Harley as she ignores most dogs in lieu of her ball/dummy might help??
Re: Seeing the behaviourist I'd say a 121 first without dogs would be good - this would give you chance to discuss with the trainer a full account of the problems you are trying to tackle, and be very clear on how to develop a programme of work to be focussed on what you need.
Re: Seeing the behaviourist I'm agreeing with the go Friday option Lauren.I know you want to get on with fixing this but I think you will be more relaxed if your first meeting is just with Penny.It will give the Trainer a chance to see Penny how she is on her own before a dog is introduced.....there's only,a couple more days to wait x
Re: Seeing the behaviourist [quote author=JulieT link=topic=7211.msg99356#msg99356 date=1407103967] I'd say a 121 first without dogs would be good - this would give you chance to discuss with the trainer a full account of the problems you are trying to tackle, and be very clear on how to develop a programme of work to be focussed on what you need. [/quote] What she said
Re: Seeing the behaviourist If it was me I would go for the Friday. That way you can discuss things with the behaviourist without any distractions. And then maybe do the Tuesday class.
Re: Seeing the behaviourist For what it's worth I agree with everyone else. 1to 1 with no other dogs will give you chance to discuss the problem, what you've done so far, how she has improved (because she has) and what you hope to achieve from the sessions with him. Good luck I will be very interested in the advice you get given my two's problems so let us know how you get on.
Re: Seeing the behaviourist I can't really offer much in the way of advice, I am sure it work out just fine. The most important thing is to enjoy the sessions, and all that time to talk about your lovely dog Penny! We did go for one to ones first, however mainly due to my inexperience with dogs Btw...Ternayas suggestion is a good one...never seen anything so ball focussed...took some considerable effort from Benson to distract her!...Benson is always available as a stooge if you need one..as ever the perfect gentleman when it comes to beautiful foxy ladies! ;D
Re: Seeing the behaviourist Hi guys, thanks it went well! We had arranged to meet at the dogs home and he did the 1-1 after hours. We were a bit early so we were allowed to use the enrichment paddock to let her burn off some steam. If you're a regular viewer of 'the dog rescuers' you may have seen behaviourists Steve and Rosie in one of the first few episodes and I think they were talking about the enrichment paddock then. Anyway, we were seeing Steve. We spent the first ten minutes catching up really! Then we got on to Penny, he asked me what the problems were and to elaborate what we had spoken about on the phone when we arranged the 1-1. He asked me what Penny did in different scenarios like if we saw a dog on lead walking down the street, how she is off lead around other dogs etc. He said it was good I opted for the 1-1 first rather than a class or meeting with dogs because my description of her behaviour was all he needed - we've worked together for six years so I guess he trusts my judgement to give an accurate description. I suppose it's hard for some owners to describe it objectively. He said there are two exercises we should start working on. The first is called 'go see'. Basically we envisage what he calls a 'ladder of temptation'. At the bottom is a really boring treat, and at the top is another dog. We start by having Penny on a lead or tethered to me, and place a treat on the ground far enough away that she can't reach it. If she is straining and pulling and focused on trying to get it we ignore her. The second her attention is off the treat in any way we praise and reward and make a big fuss. The moment she goes back to the treat on the floor we ignore her again. We did a dummy run of this in the 1-1 and she started to pick up quite quickly that she gets fuss and rewards for ignoring the treat on the floor. When her attention is 100% focused on me pretend to unclip the lead. If she goes to the treat we ignore etc until her attention comes back to us. If she remains focused on me we tell her to 'go see' and she can have the treat. The aim is to gradually work our way up the 'ladder of temptation' but incorporating as many rungs as possible so go from a boring treat to a slightly nicer one, then nicer again, then ham, warm harm, chicken, warm chicken, toys if she values them highly. As I said dogs are the very top rung of the ladder as they are the highest temptation. This aims to help keep her focus on me when she sees another dog and that she can only interact or greet the other dog if we tell her to 'go see'. I guess it will help with her lunging and pulling towards other dogs when we are out walking, and keeping her focus on me when we do see them. The second exercise is called 'this way' and the aim to improve her recall away from other dogs - it's pretty good anyway but this exercise is similar to the one above in that it will make her attention on me her priority instead of other dogs. So basically we are to practice this in an empty field with no or minimal distractions. When she's off doing her own thing and sniffing around I am to call 'this way!' To her and then turn and run in the opposite direction. No repeat command or even looking back to see if she follows. When she catches up I am to throw a treat for her. Steve said a lot of people have trouble with this because they tend to keep calling and calling until the dog comes to them and it takes away the whole point of the exercise. I think Penny already has the basics to this because I will often call 'this way' if I'm changing direction in the field or she's going the wrong way. We can also use the 'this way' exercise when she is on lead. He said we can allow Penny to have interactions with other dogs but they must be kept to literally two seconds maximum even if it is going well - a common problem people have with this (and I admit I am guilty of this) is thinking the interaction is going ok and allowing it to go on a bit longer, still going ok so a bit longer, still going ok so a bit longer... And them bam! It goes south. By keeping the interactions short and sweet every single time, even if it's going well will ensure she has nothing but positive interactions with other dogs. When it's time to come away from the dog we can say 'this way' and she will know that it's time to be off no matter what because she will associate that command with me leaving and will come no matter what so I don't have to drag her away - the lead going tight when if I have to pull her will increase the tension in the situation and make it more likely for a negative reaction to happen. We also got on to talking a bit about zoopharmacognosy and self selection. It started in passing really until I mentioned that I worry sometimes that some of her reactions are defensive because I don't know if she's in pain because of her hips. Steve got to telling me about his own dog who has elbow displasia so severe that he was immobilised in pain, on the highest level pain meds possible and had started being aggressive through the pain. He had recently started working with one of the forerunners in zoopharmacognosy at the dogs home in the hope to reduce stress levels in dogs. She helped him with his dog and showed him how to use the dogs self selection for medication and he said it basically saved his dogs life because they were at the point of the putting him to sleep, now he's as good as he's been in years! Here's her website if you want to read up about how it works as I'm not sure I can explain it well myself http://www.ingraham.co.uk Anyway, just on the off chance it might help Steve got out some of the oils they use, more to demonstrate to me how it works than anything else. To both our surprise Penny self selected the same two oils the his own dog did for pain! I will be looking more into this myself as I'm wondering if there's something there we can use for anxiety as well. I seem to have waffled on a bit... My apologies... But as you can probably tell I'm quite motivated and feeling quite positive moving forward from this, so we will see how it goes!
Re: Seeing the behaviourist It's really fantastic that you had such a positive, motivating time and feel upbeat about it. That's really great to hear.
Re: Seeing the behaviourist Lauren,thanks for writing ,there's a few things in there that may help me,I'll reply properly tomorrow, Bed time here!
Re: Seeing the behaviourist There's a lot to think about there, Lauren! I hope it will be really helpful to you and Penny.
