Monday 17 June 2013

A little update.

Apart from an incident with a Weimaraner running towards us at full pelt which resulted in me picking Tia up to avoid conflict, today has been wonderful. We've seen several other dogs and she's been great. In fact, the last few days have all been wonderful. I'm finding that I'm not having to hide behind cars etc. with her anymore, as long as I can put some distance between her and the other dog, then it's all good!

She growled at one little dog, it came out from round the corner just in front of us, Tia gave one small growl and then stopped. We also saw a Miniature Schnauzer on the other side of the road, it was very jumpy, pulling on the lead and leaping around, Tia was also lunging but didn't make a sound. There were a few others too, I won't start listing every dog she didn't bark at but there's one more I want to mention because I was so impressed. Corners are usually the worst thing with a reactive dog because if there's another dog there, understandably it takes her by surprise. However, we turned a corner today and there was a small Labrador there and Tia didn't react apart from pulling on the lead.

The intent for starting this blog was really so I could note down when/where/why she reacted, but it's starting to become a log of all our achievements because she's doing so well. I can't even begin to express how happy this makes me, I'm just very, very proud of her.

Friday 14 June 2013

Confidence.

I'm starting to feel much more relaxed about taking Tia out again. It was quite stressful for a while, but the changes I've made in handling the situations have made it much nicer for both of us. By not trying to keep her attention on me when we see another dog using the "watch" command, she's much more relaxed too (which makes sense now I've taken the time to think about it - when you're scared of something, the last thing you want to do is fix your gaze elsewhere!) and she's definitely associating seeing other dogs with lots of yummy treats now!

On our walk yesterday, she was barked at by several other dogs in peoples' front gardens and she didn't bark back at all, she was on her 6 foot lead. We walked through the graveyard and saw another dog in there and she sat nicely and happily ate her treats which is a vast improvement from the Tia of a little while ago who got so fixated on barking that she'd never have been able to relax and accept treats.

Today in the park we saw a Miniature Daschund who was off lead and quite close to us, Tia was on her longline and she was completely fine about it. I think she wanted to play really, but I'm not allowing her to be close up to any other dogs while she's on the longline.
We saw a German Shepherd a little way away, and big, fluffy, pointy eared dogs are the ones Tia is most scared of. She was quite alert when she noticed him but not so fixated that I couldn't get her attention and she relaxed very quickly.
She also spotted the Jack Russell puppy that she was a bit funny with before and as soon as she noticed it she came straight back to me and sat down for her treat which is really great that she's made the connection.

The narrow road outside our house is always a difficult one because it's unavoidable and there's few places to duck into and hide. We saw a dog on our way home from the park today and she did growl, but my boyfriend took her out this morning and said they saw two little dogs on the other side of the road and while she did lunge a bit, she didn't growl or bark so it's not all bad.

I don't ever expect her to be okay with another dog in her face while she's on lead, a lot of dogs aren't, but to be able to pass one on the other side of a narrow road without any reaction at all is a realistic goal and one that I don't think we're a million miles away from anymore. The reason it felt like nothing was improving before is because it wasn't - I can't remember who it was that said "Madness is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results." but that's where I was going wrong with trying to get her to focus solely on me. Getting a fresh perspective on it and changing our way of doing things has made a world of difference, and I'm sure the fact I now feel confident that what I'm doing is helping her can only add to that.

Monday 10 June 2013

Yay!

I'm really proud of Tia. Yesterday we were passing a couple on a footpath who had a Springer Spaniel with them, Tia was on the longline but I had most of it coiled up and as they passed about 6 feet away from us, she was totally calm. No barking or even a growl! She did lunge towards him but in "wanting to play"-way just as they'd gone past us, she wasn't nervous in the slightest and it's so nice to see.
We passed a couple of Border Collies on the way home on a narrow road and she did growl at them. She doesn't seem to be barking anywhere near as much now, just growling and I do feel like that's an improvement.

We haven't seen any dogs today so I don't have much else to write. I'm really impressed with how much she's improved lately and wondering how much it has to do with maturity. I'll have to do some reading and write a separate blog post on that though!

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Update for the last few days.

It's been a few days again... Tia was wonderful over the weekend, I don't know if it was the heat or something but she was a very quiet girl. We met an off lead Springer Spaniel and a Collie, Tia was on a 6 foot lead and she didn't react at all. She was also on the receiving end of a very vocal Westie in someone's front garden and she totally ignored it. We saw a few other dogs on the pavements on Saturday and Sunday and she was quiet going past all of them, I was so impressed!

The quiet streak ended on Monday when we met another lead-reactive dog on a corner, it was unavoidable and they were barking at each other so there was nothing to do except walk off with her until she couldn't see the dog anymore.
She had a bit of a go at a Jack Russell today too, the street outside our house is very narrow and quite long so unfortunately passing another dog on our way to somewhere else is fairly common.

So the last few days have been a mix of successful and not so successful moments but I'm holding onto that weekend because it was great!

Friday 31 May 2013

Useless!

Me, not Tia. I've only had a blog for 11 days and I'm slacking already!

Tia's been really good since I last posted. She did refuse to go in the park yesterday morning - there were lots of dogs in there and I think she was overwhelmed, but she was happy to sit by the gate and watch them while having lots of treats. She has also spotted a few other dogs on pavement walks and not barked as long as we turn round and quickly walk off before she has a chance to.

She's also been totally fine so far on the longline which is great! I've been taking it slowly and sticking to wide spaces so she hasn't been close to another dog while we've been using it but she's been around lots of dogs, including big ones, and she hasn't barked at all. This is another step in the right direction because I'm sure she knows she had a lead on but it's obviously long enough so that she isn't worried. That means I can work on slowly decreasing the length of lead that she needs to feel comfortable at a distance.

That's all I can think of for now, it's Saturday tomorrow though so I'm sure we'll be seeing a few more dogs around!

Monday 27 May 2013

Still Going Well!

I've just realised I didn't update yesterday. We only passed two dogs, one was a Jack Russell Terrier and the other a Rhodesian Ridgeback. For some reason Tia barked at the little Jack Russell and ignored the Ridgeback beautifully, totally going against the usual pattern! Still, I'm very impressed with her for ignoring such a big dog.

I haven't been out with her today yet, I'm rather ill and got no real sleep last night, just a few weird delusional dreams, so she's just been out with my boyfriend this morning and I'll take her for a little walk this evening once I've recuperated a bit! The report I got from this morning's walk was that she lunged towards one small dog (on the other side of the road, as always) without barking at it and totally ignored another small one.

I'm also working on discouraging her from barking at other dogs out of the window while we're at home. It's a different situation from when we're out, I'm pretty sure she's being protective over what she considers to be her territory rather than being scared, but I think working on not barking at other dogs for any reason might help with the reactivity.

Saturday 25 May 2013

Little Dogs.

The distance at which Tia reacts to little dogs is definitely getting smaller. We were walking on the other side of a narrow road behind three small dogs earlier today and she's now happy to stand and watch them quietly while receiving lots of treats for doing so. That's been several small dogs in the last few days that she's not reacted to, so I must be doing something right!

She did bark at another Staffy but that was my fault, I could have waited behind a car but I chose not to, thinking that the road was wide enough for it to be enough distance for her but it wasn't. I think it's better to over estimate her threshold rather than under estimate it like I did today, so next time I'm in a similar situation I'll guess that she will react, rather than guessing she won't.

Thursday 23 May 2013

Good Day.

We went to the park again today but we had it all to ourselves this time, so I don't have that much to report again.

We did pass a lady with two Miniature Pinschers on the other side of the road and Tia noticed them but didn't bark, which I always treat her for. That's already the start of what we'll be doing when we start the BAT steps, just minus the clicker and while she can't do it with all dogs by any means, it's good that she can do it with some as it means I get an opportunity to treat her for noticing and then ignoring a trigger. She can pass a lovely Golden Retriever who sits out in the front yard of a business in our street without barking now too.

I think a big difference between the dogs I mentioned above and dogs that she does bark at, is that these dogs don't have any interest in her. She's more likely to ignore a dog if it's ignoring her, which makes sense.
She's also seen them before and I think the more times she sees the same dog and nothing happens, that must go some way towards reassuring her, as well as getting a reward for not barking at them previously.

Anyway, that's it for today but I'm feeling positive about the way things are progressing again now that I've started to write it down and realised that there are actually quite a few improvements, even if it doesn't feel like it all the time!

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Not much to report....

We managed to avoid seeing any other dogs today so I have nothing to write about in the way of barking, but I do have a tangent to go off on.

I've decided to start doing clicker training with Tia, I think it's going to be necessary for the BAT steps I linked to in my last post and help with any other training we're doing.
I'm the first to admit I don't know much about training dogs, this whole experience is a minefield for me! I didn't attempt clicker training to start off with mainly because I don't think I'm coordinated enough and it looked far too complicated, but I do know a bit more now than I did then and I'm ready to give it a go.
I think I use a marker word already by telling her "good girl" when she performs the correct behaviour, and she gets a treat after so our current way of working isn't that far off, but I don't think I'm consistent enough and I also don't know if the timing is right so I need to watch some videos to learn when it's time to click. Unfortunately there's no way I could afford to pay for the help from a trainer so I'm going to have to teach myself with the help of the internet.

I need to get a clicker first, and then I'll be working on that with her before we start the BAT steps. I've got lots of things to read about and learn so I'll end this now, we're going to be very busy with this!

Tuesday 21 May 2013

To the Park!

Tia is currently being walked on a longline again, as her recall hasn't been particularly good lately. I have been avoiding places where we're likely to run into other dogs for the last week or so because I wasn't sure if she'd still be reactive on the longline but decided to take the plunge and go to the park today, obviously not at peak time but at a time when she'd likely see a few dogs but not get totally overwhelmed.

On the way to the park, we came across a small Labrador puppy, I didn't have time to cross the road so we just stepped into a space by a parked car and Tia had a little growl but no lunging or barking, so that wasn't too bad.
Once in the park, we saw a Lurcher who we see in there regularly, a Spaniel and a Dalmation and also a small puppy. The first three, she spotted from a distance and had absolutely no reaction at all, which is great. I already knew that she is less reactive in grassy areas than on pavements, but she really couldn't have cared less about the other dogs so I'm very happy with that outcome.

Unfortunately her meeting with the small puppy didn't go so well. The puppy ran towards us and I decided to unclip her lead because even though she didn't react at a distance, I thought it was likely that she would with another dog in her face. I think I must not have unclipped the lead fast enough, because she was tense when the puppy ran over and after a split second sniff and the start of playing, Tia stood over the puppy and growled. I couldn't have apologised enough to the owner (who didn't really mind, actually), I'd never have let her off lead if I thought for a minute that she might scare the puppy, but there is a first time for everything and that was the first time she's ever growled at a small dog while off lead. I really hope it was a one off and that there was something in the puppy's body language or behaviour that I missed, but I'll have to be more careful for a while. Not because I think she'll hurt another dog physically, but it only takes one bad experience to create a nervous dog (I saw the puppy playing with aforementioned Spaniel straight after so fortunately that wasn't the case in this instance) and I'd hate to be responsible for someone having to put up with what I have. I'll also add that we passed the same puppy several times after this incident once Tia was back on the longline, and she didn't react at all again.

But apart from the one bad meeting, her total disinterest and lack of worry about the other dogs is a huge step in the right direction and overall I'm feeling quite proud of her today.

The other thing I'll briefly mention today, are the steps we are or will be taking to overcome the reactivity.
I started using a "watch me" command in the beginning to take her attention away from the other dog and keep her focus on me but she outsmarted me and now recognises "watch me" as "there's going to be another dog in a minute" and immediately starts to look around for the other dog upon me giving the command so that's become rather useless now.
I'm replacing this with keeping a squeaker in my pocket and treating her for looking at me after I squeak the squeaker, but this time I'm not using it around other dogs until it's a fully ingrained behaviour. I think I started using "watch me" around the trigger before it was a solid enough command and also failed to use it enough when there was no reason to, so that's why it went the way it did. I also don't plan to use the squeaker as frequently as I did the "watch me", I hope for it to be more of a management/last resort kind of thing.

For better ways of dealing with reactivity than simply trying to distract Tia, I have kindly been recommended this website, by somebody who has had great results with their own reactive dog using these methods - BAT Steps for Reactivity. I'm currently working on making sure I fully understand this information before attempting anything in the real world and I will update on how this is going when I've begun some of the work.
Thankyou for reading!

Monday 20 May 2013

The Beginning.

After a suggestion from somebody on a dog forum I am a member of, I've decided to start a blog to keep track of Tia's progress with her on lead reactivity towards other dogs.

So, I suppose I'll start from the beginning. Tia is my first dog, she's a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and she's 18 months old. She loves most things, mainly food, playing and cuddles. Something she doesn't love quite so much, is other dogs.
Unfortunately, the first two times she ever went outside on the ground after her vaccinations, as opposed to being carried, she was approached by two different rude, boisterous dogs who towered over her and utterly terrified her. This was not a good start. However after meeting lots of other friendly and under control dogs, her confidence gradually began to grow. She was (and still is) happy to play off lead with most other dogs and even made friends with a couple of larger dogs. This wasn't easy though. Even throughout the time while her confidence was growing, she was jumped on and lunged at by several out of control dogs, each time setting her back a little in her progress.

We were nearly at a point where she was comfortable around pretty much any dog, large or small, familiar or a stranger, and then she was chased by a Husky. I don't believe the dog wanted to hurt her, but as most people know (although apparently not the owner of this dog) Huskies and other similar breeds have a high prey drive and also do not respond as well to recall training as other breeds, so are usually kept on lead.
Her experience with the Husky set her back a lot, she was clearly nervous around any large dog after this, but not reactive yet, and for a while I had to keep her on lead or a longline at all times because she'd run away if a dog that was larger than her approached her. Unfortunately we'd also recently moved house and I didn't know anybody in the new area with a larger dog for her to build her confidence back up with.
Not long after the Husky Incident, she was jumped on by a Labrador when she was on the longline. What I think happened was, she objected to the Labrador jumping on her by growling, the Labrador objected to her objection and then a fight broke out. It wasn't a serious fight and neither dog suffered any physical damage but I have been dealing with the psychological damage every day since then.

She now barks at most other dogs she sees while she's on lead, no matter what size they are, although she is better with smaller ones. Off lead, she's still fine and happy to play as long as the dog isn't too big but on the lead, she just wants them to go away and the only way she can express this is to lunge and bark and growl. Not a good look for a Staffy, which let's face it, do not have the best reputation among the general public, who can't tell that she's doing it because she's scared and not because she wants to eat Fido on the other side of the road.

So, after that rather lengthy explanation, I'm intending to use this blog to record our progress and the work we're doing, but also to make note of things that could be important towards fixing the problem, like where we were when she reacted e.g. field, pavement, woods, what type of dog it was, the distance at which she didn't react and other things like that. Thankyou for reading!