Prozac and Patchouli

Hey, it's February! That happened quickly! I have to admit that blogging has not been a top priority (good thing, or else I'd be doing very poorly at that). But that doesn't mean we haven't been working!

Ela's Level 2 obedience class at TCOTC wrapped up. They were kind enough to accomodate us for the last few classes by letting us work in a ring of our own. Some classes Ela was a super star - showing me that she met every requirement to pass Level 2; heeling, sitting, and targeting with energy and enthusiasm. Other days she was a nervous wreck, staring at the ceiling, hypervigilant, and almost catatonic in her response time. Those are the days that we spent only doing RP and lily pads.


Ela will start taking Prozac to assist with behavior modification

 The magnitude of the inconsistency of her performance was one of the main reasons that led me to consult with a veterinarian that specializes in behavior. The other reason was her ceiling-staring. She often ducks, crouches, and rolls her eyes up to the ceiling. When she does this, she loses focus on whatever she was working on, and wants to retreat to a quiet place. It is difficult to engage her after she stares. This initially happened after a light-weight hollow door fell over toward her - but didn't land on her. She was very spooked, and after that was very wary of this particular room. However, her behavior quickly generalized - to all doors, all doorways, all ceiling corners, all ceilings, and then the sky.  Staring repetitions were repeated daily, sometimes several for a couple hours. My attempts to counter condition this were not effective - I can CC a noise, an object, an object dropped by me or pushed off the table, but I cannot CC a randomly falling object. I was worried that she was developing a severe phobia, and I needed to halt the progression immediately.

Our behavior vet recommended Prozac to help me with my general training plan for Ela. She thought that Ela's odd ceiling-staring behavior might need to be solved with plain old life-experience. If I can help her to feel less anxious (through medication and confidence building training), then perhaps she can process the idea that it is actually statistically unlikely that things will fall from the sky and hurt her. Ela doesn't believe me on that right now.

I also consulted with a shaman - why leave any rock unturned? Per her suggestion, I smudged the house with white mountain sage and Ela stopped her ceiling staring behavior by 95%. I see her glance at the ceiling (no more freeze and stare) maybe once every three days. It was astounding. Apparently, she is sensitive to spirits, and they only add to her generalized anxiety. I'm also looking into other spiritual therapies to help her, but alleviating this part of the problem has been very relieving for both Ela and me. (Don't worry, we won't actually be using patchouli in this program.)

Ela starts Changing Attitudes at TCOTC in two weeks, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with her in a very flexible space. She'll have her own corner, and when we get open ring space the other dogs will be behind barriers. I'm also hoping that Ninso will switch dogs with me and handle Ela during the course. I'm very curious to see how she will respond to someone else.

If Ela likes Ninso better than me, it will probably ruin our friendship, but I'd rather find out now than later.

Ela and Oliver love each other

Oliver had his second week of nose-work at AGDN. He is absolutely thrilled to find hot dogs and string cheese in cardboard boxes. I am fairly certain that he will sustain a head injury by diving into a box at some point throughout the course, but that will be okay, I bought health insurance for him.

So, that is more recap that revelation, but I mostly still feel that I am collecting information on Ela's situation. I've got a few ideas brewing, but I'll have to save them for another post.

2012: What will my dogs learn before the world ends?

At the request of a friend, I am writing this post about goals for Oliver and Ela. This also means that I sat down and thought about what goals they should have. I’m not a New Year’s Resolution person (maybe it is obvious, since this post is not on January 1^st), but I’ll admit that it might even be fun to have training goals – then we can celebrate the accomplishments! What a great reason to make dog treats and drink mimosas!

Monthly Skills

Each month the dogs will have skills that they are working on, to remind myself to actually finish a skill before getting bored and moving on. “Finished” will mean reliable response to either an aural or visual cue. I’ll post those each month, perhaps with video. (But the video part is not one of the goals.) 

Ela

 Ela’s Year Plan

Ela is working on reactivity and resource guarding issues. Although she attends dog daycare, I cannot bring her to the dog park or otherwise handle her around new dogs – she guards me with complete dedication. The absence or presence of food on my body makes no difference. Ela is currently in a Level 2 obedience class, simply for the exposure to other dogs. She is usually working in her corner, with barriers, although we sometimes venture out. We did about 4 weeks with the Gentle Leader on, and now I am transitioning to her martingale. The first week without the GL was a little tougher, I’m not sure if it was due to calming from the GL or simply being more aroused since we worked on CC/LAT in the car for 15 minutes before class (she did great at this task).

I want to focus very strongly on AT and/or BAT for a few months to tackle the reactivity. I think both could work very well, but I need to be diligent about arranging set-ups. I can build treatment for resource guarding into these, so I am excited about seriously working these methods (and collecting data).

After that, I want to incorporate Pattern Games (from Leslie McDevitt’s new DVD) into our daily work and a class situation, so we can continue with obedience. I’d like to get into a Rally-O class with her, and possibly agility. I’d love to take her to a Rally comp to observe or compete, but that might realistically be a next-year sort of thing.

Our first benchmark goal is to earn the CLASS BA – maybe in January, but hopefully by the end of spring.

The CLASS MS requires walking past dogs (10 ft away) without reacting, so that is our goal for the end of the year.

We’re also focusing on building the tug drive, so we have two goals there: 1) to be motivated to tug as a reward for training with me one-on-one, and 2)  to be able to tug in the presence of other dogs without worrying about them.

As a subjective goal, I’d like for her to walk around the lakes being relaxed. I think that we can achieve that in one year of work.

Our final goal is confidence building. Ela is very worried about objects falling from the sky, so I have been working on DS to that. At first I was asking (free-shaping) her to touch objects of which she is fearful. She seems to gain confidence when asked to respond operantly to situations. However, this may have backfired – when Becca was getting the kibble out, Ela bumped into a door we have propped up against the wall (long story), and the door fell. This may have been Ela seeking to touch the ‘scary thing’ to earn the kibble. A better default behavior is needed. I’d prefer for her to be by my side (instead of approaching or lunging) when she is frightened or startled by something. I could ask her to come to me and finish at my side, and reward. I’m also thinking that introducing falling objects while working pattern games may help. My other strategy is to drop items and then immediately scatter kibble on the floor. The problem is that accidents happen, and I really can’t control if something accidentally falls. I’m also hoping that she simply gains confidence as a result of training and learning coordination. 

Oliver

 Oliver’s Year Plan

Oliver has blown me away with his progress around people and dogs. I have been so proud of his happy, loose greetings with new people. I want to continue to work on this with him, by having him meet and work with new people at our open ring session, parties, and setups. One new person a week is a good goal, but actually difficult, since I tend to not work him around novice dogs/handlers, i.e. “My dog is friendly” people. If I qualify this as receiving a treat from the pet store or hardware store clerk, we can probably accomplish that. I’ve found that the larger stores (like Petsmart) give us enough maneuvering space, and if I may say so myself, I’ve gotten pretty darn good at observational analysis and defensive handling so that Oliver can stay relaxed and not worry about the other dogs. 

I want to work AT and/or BAT with Oliver as well. I’m not sure if AT would affect him or not, but definitely curious. Ultimately, BAT will be his ticket, because from my observation he simply has no idea how to communicate with new dogs, and I’d like to teach him to show more calming signals.

We’ve been doing some CC work by hanging out at the lakes, and when dogs pass we play disc, when they are gone we just do obedience work. I’d like to continue this once a week when the weather is nicer. I also want to do long-line setups where we play disc in a field with another dog.

Oliver will hopefully earn his CLASS BA in January. I’d love to test his MS by the end of the year. BAT should help him with the passing-by-dogs portion. I think he’s nearly there, but I want to be confident. Heck, I want Oliver to be confident.

I also want to get Oliver in a class. Nosework might be an easy start, and then move on to advanced classes where I don’t need to worry about novice handlers. I’d love to compete with him in Rally Obedience. Maybe we can this fall? I’m not sure what to expect with him, but I know he is ready to handle classes.

Another of Oliver’s goals is to get better at free-shaping. I’m currently shaping him to stand, simply because his default is sit or down and wait. After the stand, I want a simple head turn. Then we can shape spins, paw lifts, the sky is the limit! I’m trying to start every free-shaping exercise with the phrase “Do you want to play a game?” so that he can easily tell when to sit-and-wait and when to offer behavior.

My Goals

I’ve always focused on (and loved) behavior modification. I also enjoy teaching simple pet manners to foster dogs and client dogs. I’ve never had a dog that could compete in sports, but now that I do, I’m actually thinking that maybe obedience looks fun. Maybe. At any rate, it is time for me to learn some more formal maneuvers with my dogs. Whether it is bit by bit, or by taking a formal class, I’ll continue my education in that realm.

Do more leash walking. Moving out of my slightly-scary-after-dark neighborhood will help with this goal.

I also need to remember to release my dogs. I don’t do this consistently, and I need to. Plain and simple. Say “okay”. Okay? Okay.

And, there you have it. I think I got as concrete as I can be, given two dogs that need behavior modification. But I am excited about the possibilities, and I love working with them. Maybe I didn’t quite get The Dogs I Wanted, but I sure got The Dogs I Needed and most definitely The Dogs I Love. Now isn’t that cute?

Oliver and Ela

Play is a Behavior

It is a happy talent to know how to play. -Ralph Waldo Emerson



I know I can be more than a pez dispenser. Maybe, at the least, I am a really sophisticated vending machine. At best, I think Ela and I can achieve a training partnership that exists beyond food. I do think Ela enjoys the problem solving aspect of training with me – if she could choose between the various training games we play, she’d pick free-shaping. (Qualifier: While at the top of her personal list of activities, chasing and killing squirrels is not a game that we play together. I sit that one out, and strongly encourage that she choose to do something more productive with her time.) While she still receives a treat when she earns a click, I think it is more than just about the food. When Ela realizes that it is time for her to get creative and figure out the solution, her body posture relaxes, she gently wags, and she seems to have endless focus. (This is in contrast to her response to 'basic' obedience cues.) Her response to this is incredibly reinforcing to me, and so we play this game a lot.


I realized after some time that I had stopped trying to just play with Ela. She was the most serious puppy I have ever met, and she has grown to be possibly the most serious dog I have ever met. It’s not that she isn’t happy – this dog wants for nothing, her brain is engaged every day, and she gets outside and physically exercised. She barks, she wags, she wrestles with her playmates. She has bed privileges and is a great cuddler. But when we are together she is just – so – serious. I had stopped playing with her without even noticing, because it just wasn’t reinforcing for me. I’d attempt to engage her, and I got a pretty quiet response each time.


This became especially troublesome when I was trying to fade out the food treats and use play more often as a reward. I spent god-knows-how-much money on different tug toys, to see if she would be motivated by a certain texture, shape, or size. Cotton rope, nylon rope, Vibram rubber tug, smooth canvas tug, rough canvas tug, stick, frisbee, stinky sock… Super cute stuffing-free skunk with a squeaky? Faux fur? How dare I? Short of using an actual carcass as reinforcement (which I am opposed to, because I’d probably cry), I was losing hope that I’d be able to play with Ela as reinforcement. And in case you are worried I only tried tug, fear not. Ela also doesn’t retrieve for fun. Not a disc, stick, ball, Nylabone, stinky sock… She wouldn’t chase me, didn’t particularly like being chased herself, wasn’t that into jumping up on me, and didn’t wrestle with humans. I didn’t think lugging a digging box to location would be a very feasible solution for real-life reinforcement. And allowing to her sleep on a pile of laundry next to the radiator would also hamper training sessions, if only from a time perspective.


How had I ruined my dog? Had I not spent enough time with her alone as a puppy? Had she been somehow oppressed by the other dogs, and I hadn’t noticed? Had I somehow punished her in the past for playing with me? I can’t delve into her brain, so I’ll never know for sure, and I’ll drive myself crazy if I try to find the reason why. But any behaviorist will tell you, it doesn’t matter why. Just work with the behavior that you have.


Aha! Instead of derailing into an (overly dramatic) emotional meltdown and wondering how I have just screwed up the next 14 years of Ela’s life, not to mention my own, I could instead focus on something easy. Play is a behavior. I know how to shape behaviors. Any dog’s behavior is on a continuum – they are constantly learning and adjusting. I can plot Ela’s play behavior on a continuum.

The Continuum

Fig. 1. Ranking of items with which Ela enjoys playing. Rankings are a composite score of objective count of numbers of play behaviors displayed when interacting with the item, as well as subjective interpretation from the emotional human caretaker.      

There are, of course, many methods to teach and reinforce a dog to retrieve, or tug, or play chase. We do incorporate some of these, but the progress is slow. Sometimes, slow progress is your ticket. It builds a strong-as-rocks foundation, boosts confidence, and allows for technical integrity. Sometimes, it is appropriate to look for a faster route.

Right now, reinforcing these games with food will result with Ela taking out her serious-hat. Maybe, after some time, she’ll loosen up. But, is there a faster way? Can I somehow cajole that goofy side of her into appearing – the side that she only really shows to her dog friends? 

Fig 2. Ela, in Madison. “Sidewalk chalk” is not on the continuum (Fig. 1), but may rank lower than “Katie”. We must remember our small successes.

 So, we’re trying something new. Ela is excited – jumping up and down, zoomy, mouthy – in exactly one situation: when I get home. So, out is our careful cultivation of three quiet, sitting dogs upon my arrival. Instead, I now open the door, so she can sneak out, and I leave the other dogs in the house. I let Ela whine, bark, jump on me, mouth me, whatever she wants. I figure that I can train what I don’t like right back out of her, later. For now, I’m going to show her that I’m not a super up-tight goody-two shoes, and that the two of us are going to be bad. Together.

Last night was our second night trying this. We played tug with a wooden stake that she found. Obviously, this is a very safe thing to do… But you know what? She growled! And then she let me chase her! And then we repeated the game! Then we went inside, while we were both still breathing harder, and excited about playing – before the play lost enthusiasm.

I have often longed to transform into a dog so I could play with them as they do each other. Until then, Ela and I will try to figure out how we play together. And I’m feeling optimistic!