Training and thoughts

After our last walk I have only taken Alki out front once, and it was just onto the front porch where I scattered 1/2 c of kibble for her to sniff & eat. Just a quick, low-key positive association session.

I have also decided that I'm not going to walk her anymore until she can start exercising again. And Im going to work on getting her able to exercise hard again. I really dont even know what to do or where to start. Im pretty sure Im going to have to take her into a vet to be examined. UGH. For now Im just trying to do 1 or 2 really short and low-impact play sessions a day, and lots of stretching & massage. Oh and I got her some joint supplements. I had her on some in Sac and they noticeably helped. She has weird knees as it is, so I want to prevent anything major happening as she ages.. (assuming we arent already there..)

I have also started doing daily, structured training sessions with all the dogs, but especially Alki. I need to work that brain ESPECIALLY since I cant work that body right now, and build up our relationship which clicker training does wonderfully. Plus, she L O V E S to train!!! (And she's really fucking smart.) And I think Rally-O competition is a reasonable long-term goal for us (all on-leash [in novice anyway] and no other dogs in the ring).

So the last few days Ive been doing some short training sessions with her at least twice a day. So far we have mostly just worked on the target stick. Oh I have also started training all 3 dogs to stay out of the kitchen when we are in it. So far so good. :)

So today was my first time working on obedience stuff with Alki outside. A lot of interesting things happened. First, I put her no-pull harness on, even though we weren't working on-leash, just because Im curious/afraid of it becoming associated with scary walks.

So, long story short, we headed out (after some sit practice at the door). I noticed right away that Alki was already acting...suspicious? and flinchy. Just subtly. I wasn't able to get a decent feel for it though because seconds after we got into the yard, the neighbor dogs started up barking. I can only assume this made her much worse. I will be very curious to see how fearful she is out in the yard with NO barking. Though at least those dogs are relatively non-scary, as far as dogs go with her (they are safely behind a fence & she has already had a few weeks to get used to them, though she is not yet totally over them).

So.. basically I just decided to work free-shaping with her. I stood or walked around, and just clicked her for turning her head toward me. It seemed like she would look to me each time the dog's barked (in the beginning; she eventually stopped caring about them as much). This doesnt surprise me since we've worked on this routine a lot over the last year & a half.

pretty soon she was pretty much glued to me, staring at me or walking right next to me. I wasnt luring her on purpose, but was holding kibble in my hand and she was following it. very quickly she started exhibiting her flinchy taking-treats-while-heeling behavior.

So. I dont know what to do at this point. In the past, this behavior wouldnt show up:

-when I exercised her heavily every day
-when I walked her after she'd been exercised (not immediately after, but same day)
-until she was exposed to a trigger (often just a dog barking was enough, but in California we worked up to being able to handle some barking & even seeing some dogs at a distance before her tipping over)

ALL THREE of these things had to be in place, and I wouldn't see the flinching behavior, AND we would make lots of progress in our D/C progress. So, Im at a huge disadvantage right now since I cannot exercise her.

Im exhausted trying to come up with reasons why, and I tried today to just treat this as: "I have a dog that does XYZ." And try to figure out what would work to change it. But, I've tried that. I've tried D/Cing her to my hand movements, taking food by my side, kfl;skf I mean on and on and on, but nothing ever seems to change. I know I may very well need to break the behaviors down even more and D/C much smaller, but I don't know how. And that is what I'm trying to figure out now.

However. I don't feel comfortable completely ignoring the fact that I KNOW the flinching behavior is directly linked to her emotions. That is what I did originally (I didnt realize it was directly linked to her emotions). I used to think, "as long as she isnt barking, she is under threshold." Then one day I realized, that is completely inaccurate. That is when I realized the flinchy stuff was happening long before she started reacting audibly. And that is when I made the association btw dog barking & flinchy stuff. It was from that day on that I started actually making progress with her.

From then on I took the flinching as my clue that she had tipped over & could no longer make progress--we needed to go home/end the session, or otherwise lower the amount of stressors in the environment. I completely stopped thinking about it at all, I treated it as a side effect that would go away as long as I kept her adequately under threshold (I used to push her too far).

But I think I need to modify my thinking some more and combine both views of the behavior: Yes, it is emotional, but it is also a separate behavior that needs work. Methodical D/C.

I think its safe to say that a lot of strong associations have been made. The flinchy behavior started immediately after the dog fight. It is the only thing I can say with 100% certainty is directly related to the fight. For whatever reason, taking food from my hand at my side/while I am walking, scares her. And I have definitely noticed it is worse after she experiences a trigger.

Where I am at now is, figuring out if it can be D/C'd or not. If I can identify EXACTLY what it is I am doing that makes her flinch, break it down into enough little behaviors. I am also wondering if maybe it has just turned into a reflex for her, that is making her more fearful needlessly??? I dont want "heel" to turn into a prediction of "scary walks." So I'm trying to figure out how the picture can be changed.. Maybe I can use my Manners Minder, click her for walking next to my side, but she turns to go get the treat from the machine, thus breaking the pressure on her? An interesting thing I noticed today, when I clicked her for heel position, gave her the treat and as she was flinching I clicked again--this very quickly (5 repetitions) made her MUCH more flinchy! Im thinking being in position too long is scary for her, so since she was essentially "stuck" very close to me (she was "forced" to keep coming close to take a treat before being able to move away & get a brief break). I dont think Ive worked much/any heeling with her anywhere but on walks. So Im also going to see if she is still flinchy doing it in the house, and in the yard when the neighbor dogs are not barking.

That said...I KNOW she doesnt always do this. I know in the last year there were weeks & months at a time where I would not see this behavior. Im curious why it is seemingly worse now. Maybe heel has shifted into a predictor of stressors. Or maybe it is just the lack of exercise. Or the huge life change that came with the move. Or a combination. I think exercise (PLAY) is so important for her because it dumps the "happy hormones" into her body. But it also drains her energy, and a tired dog has less energy to put into stressing about stuff. .....And it also takes place outside usually, thus QUICKLY building VERY strong positive associations with where she is and the sounds & other stuff going on at the time (i.e. next door neighbor dogs).

So, thats where we are right now. Going to do some more "tests" and also start playing "find it" with Alki everyday. It won't physically wear her out like pure hard core fetching does, but she does love it, and I hope it will help her get her needed dosing of happy hormones, as well as tire her brain, while not hurting her injury.