Day 20 (09/30/17): two more people, crate barking, play, farm animals

The boarding doodle when home this morning, so no more easy way of tiring the puppy out, haha. A new boarding dog got dropped off but she is initially scared of new dogs so I have to keep them separate.

Terra was in her crate and the bedroom door was closed when the dog's owners arrived, as I wasn't sure if they had brought their dog to the front door or left her in the car. This worked out great because Terra heard them come in but it was a less intense moment. The dog was in the car, so I had the owners bring her supplies in, and when I brought the crate into the bedroom Terra was excited and wanted to come out. She immediately approached the owners, did mildly tentative sniffing, then got some petting but wasn't quite as into it as she has been other times. I bet if they had given her treats she would have felt even more friendly and wanted more petting afterwards, as that's what's happened before. As it was, she just settled down on the floor after a moment, but was nice and relaxed.

She had to spend more time in the crate than usual for the afternoon and early evening, and boy did she give me an earful. When she was having diarrhea, she learned that she could wake me up by whining and/or barking and I would take her out. That was useful then, but now she needs to UNlearn it. She quiets down quickly if I am outside of the house (as when I walked the boarding dog around the orchard), but when I'm home she thinks that the barking will work for her.

I gave her a frozen kong I'd made with Honest Kitchen and a "seal" of peanut butter. She loves the PB but only bothered to get part of the HK out. It's not so interesting since she gets it all the time. I have a few more kongs in the freezer but next time I'll put more unusual things in them - I didn't want to go wild at the beginning since I was still nervous about her tummy. Fortunately all has been well on that front. It seems like the roundworms really were the problem (probably combined with stress), and not the food change by itself.

We played tug and she was pulling hard until some blood appeared on the toy and she switched to just regripping and chewing on it. I hope I find her baby teeth! Cai swallowed all of his except one.

We did mat shaping again, and this time I had Cai in the room lying on his mat. He did perfectly; he didn't get up even once. I also had her follow the target stick around my body, to introduce the concept of following the target to learn another behavior (ie, right finish, or circling around)

She tried to play with Cai while they were outside together. She barked and pawed at him. He usually hates this and corrects strongly, but he seems to have formed an attachment to her and only gave half-hearted corrections, and didn't bother moving away from her when she stopped. A few times he even jumped toward her head with his front paws up, which was a play move. I was quite surprised.

We took a walk around the front of the house with Terra on a long line and deciding where to go (as long as she didn't try to eat goat or cat poop). She saw the goats, chickens, and cats. She was mostly relaxed and curious. She just got spooked when the rooster flew up into a tree, making loud ungainly flapping noises, and when one of the goats lowered her head and took a few steps forward in a clear threat display (which she never follows up on).

She pooped while we were out. So far Terra has pooped on asphalt, gravel, wood chips, and grass. No weird substrate preferences here!

Spoiled puppy.

What a goof.

No idea how her ears turned into corkscrews.

Growing!

She loves this rubbery toy.

Formal training status update

Despite what everyone probably expects, I don't do a formal training session with Terra every day. Sometimes the day just gets away from me. It's good to get formal training in now, as it's easier for her to "learn how to learn." I'm doing a combination of behaviors that will be useful in future training and behaviors that are just for the sake of teaching her concepts (like targeting or staying in place).

Wait: I say "wait" before I open the door leading to the barn, and only open it far enough that I can quickly shut it before the dogs go through. I say "free" to the dogs to go. Because I've done this since Terra came home, she expects it every time. I doubt that she listens to the cue "wait," and is instead doing it based on context. However she is learning that "free" means "move out of your position," so that is useful. Eventually I will also use "wait" to mean "don't move forward" in various contexts.

Eye contact / IYC / anti-mugging: I hold treats in my hand and click for eye contact instead of going for the treats. The treats are currently at her eye level. I will lower my hand progressively until the treats are on the floor and she offers eye contact instead of trying to eat them. I will also use this for food on counters/tables.

Mat: Clicking for putting both front paws on the mat. She doesn't get it yet. Today I switched from tossing the treat off the mat, to feeding 3-4 treats in a row on the mat, to help "glue" her to it.

Paw target: Just did the first session teaching her to target a coaster and she got it right away! She was consistently using her right paw today.

Nose target: She consistently touches her nose to a target stick. I have done a couple sessions teaching her to target even when I am holding food near her head as a distraction.

Counter-conditioning to hand stripping: Just started this. She was lying down and already somewhat tired. I used the Bark Pouch as a high value treat. First I tugged at various spots along her body, and she barely reacted. Then I did some real hand stripping along her right ear. She didn't really like it - she sometimes turned her head toward my hand as I reached for her ear. I implemented a "start button" - only tug out some hairs if she is looking at the Bark Pouch. This is the same concept as the bucket game, which I will be teaching her soon.

Fly: Using a PVC upright and doing clockwise turns first. I use my body position and a little prompting to get her to come toward me, first making a 90 degree turn around the pole, and more recently 180 degrees.

Stand-stay: She will usually hold still if I keep the treats coming every 1-3 seconds, but when I extend to 3-4 she sometimes walks out of position or mands. So she doesn't get it yet.

Name game: I have been a bad trainer and only practicing this when we're out and about and I need it, rather than starting it at home.


None of this is on a verbal cue yet except "wait" and "free" after the wait, and obviously her name.

Day 19 (09/29/17): Higby's, food toys and chews

I had to get chicken feed so I took Terra to Higby's feed store. I bought the food and worked with the boarding dog first. Terra is good at chilling in the car while I'm running errands.

I have to lift her out of the car because her legs are always tangled up and she doesn't quite know how to get them under her and exit on her own.

The feed store had been quiet, but thanks to Murphy's Law, three male employees came out front and started loudly moving merchandise around and talking right as I got Terra out. She did not like that. She tucked her tail and leaned against me. I gave her a moment, then she was willing to walk away from the store front and to a quieter part of the grounds. The more time passed, the more she expanded the area that she was wanted to explore. We just stopped and I'd give her reassurance whenever she needed it. She was not overtly bothered by a forklift going by, or a car driving by loudly on the main road. She did get very scared of the sudden sight of people when she went around a corner and peeked into the shop.

Getting high value treats here and there helped. I need to teach her a few more basic behaviors that I can cue and reward while we're out, to help her gain confidence. I just started a nose-to-hand target but it wasn't strong enough yet. I was able to reward manding (offered) and eye contact (also offered, not on verbal cue yet). Often I would add a paw-to-hand target as one of these basic behaviors, but she currently whacks people (and gates) with her paw when she wants attention, so first I want to get that under better control. (On the other hand, maybe it would be a good lesson in stimulus control to work on it now. Hmm.) Maybe I should add "behind" or "between my legs" as early behaviors.

All in all I would rate this field trip as "meh." It wasn't too bad but I wouldn't consider it a successful socialization experience.

In the late afternoon, the client dog with separation anxiety came for another training stay. Terra heard the commotion from the yard as he came in and said "nope." But once everyone was in the apartment, she came over for petting and treats from the owners, and was comfortable ignoring the other dog.

I put her in the bedroom with a kong filled with treats. Somehow, in nearly three weeks with me, she hadn't experienced food toys yet! She emptied it quickly. Then I offered her a frozen kong (too difficult, but it was worth a try), a smoked beef bone (only while she's small and has baby teeth), and her jumbo bully stick. She chewed the yummy crust off the beef bone and then settled for a nap.

Terra ate 1.5 C of Honest Kitchen for breakfast, 1.5 C for lunch, and raw chicken for dinner (about 10 oz of drumsticks and 16 oz of ground meat). The HK portion is providing about two/thirds the calories she should get per the box, and the raw chicken is providing about half of what I would expect her to eat per her weight. So I'm feeding her extra to help her gain weight, after the lack of weight gain during her first two weeks. I'm watching carefully to keep her lean, though - very important for growing puppies, and especially giant ones.

Day 18 (09/28/17): weight, awesome visit to Miki's, visit by Kiem & Leo

I stopped by the vet clinic to weigh Terra. She was 47.5 lbs, which meant that she was finally gaining weight! She loved on a few vet techs. She really likes it there, as it's been almost 100% positive experiences so far.

We drove down to Berkeley to visit my long time friend Miki. I didn't take any pictures as it was constant activity, but Terra did SO GOOD! She was willing to walk around and explore the entire space on her own. Miki had her nine month old son, 2 huge long-haired cats, and 3 dogs meandering around. Terra did great with the kiddo. She really wanted to lick his face (with a loose wagging tail), but we had to keep interrupting because he didn't like it. At one point Miki put him into his play pen and left the room, and he got upset and cried. Terra tried to put her face through the bars to lick him again, wagging her tail happily the whole time. So cute. She didn't react at all negatively when he was in Miki's arms and cried or laughed. (He was sick, so there was more crying happening than usual.) She learned that she could forage for pieces of banana by his high chair. She tried to eat banana out of his hand - gotta work hard on anti-mugging training since she'll constantly by at people's hand level soon enough.

With the kitties, she was calm and also licked their heads, though more tentatively. She met a dog walker who came by for one of the 3, and immediately liked her since she did all the right things. (Got down low, didn't reach for Terra, talked softly to her, etc.)

Terra was least comfortable with the other dogs. She was fine sharing space with the two that just ignored her after the initial greeting, and would ignore them in turn. But one dog wouldn't stop sniffing her privates. She gave multiple polite cut-off signals: pinning ears, tucking tail, sitting down, looking away, walking away. The other dog still wouldn't leave her alone, so we had to put him away.

She peed after we'd been there for an hour, right as in the back of my mind I was thinking that I should take her outside, but I was in the middle of a conversation...

Miki gave us the beautiful Paco Collar that had belonged to her Great Pyrenese, as her husband does not want to have any more giant breeds. The pattern on the collar happens to be the exact one that I would have purchased if I were pick a Paco for her - a rainbow Hoshi. Thank you, Miki. <3

Click to see a bigger version pop up!

In the evening, Kiem dropped by. Terra was eating in the kitchen when I opened the door. Initially she spooked and retreated from the person at the door, but when Kiem called to her and reached out with a treat through the baby gate, Terra cautiously approached. She ate a few treats, and her tail came out and her body relaxed. When Kiem entered and sat down, she was now comfortable.

After a while we brought in Leo. As usual, Terra initially fled, but soon was back and ignored him after butt sniffs.

Day 17 (09/27/17): downtown park, meeting a rude dog

Terra ate 4.5 cups of Honest Kitchen plus a few chicken drumsticks today.

We did play time and training in the morning when she was feeling feisty (woohoo!). I challenged her to touch her nose to the target stick while I held treats in my free hand. So hard! Then we did stand-stays - she sometimes mands, and sometimes walks out from the stand, so she doesn't have an understanding of the concept yet.

We went to downtown Winters, which always has a stream of people and cars going by, but is fairly quiet during weekday mornings. We hung out for 20 minutes and saw 8 or 9 people. 3 were on bikes and 1 was pushing a small cart. I let her walk around at first a parking area first, and after 10 minutes she plopped down on the grass at the edge of the park and we watched the world go by. She was getting more relaxed as time went by, other than getting scared of a nearby bathroom door banging a few times in quick succession. I managed to get a tiny amount of playful paw and head movement out of her at the end, but the part was a tad too busy for her even without the loud banging.

The client dog with separation anxiety came over again. I knew that Terra would end up needing to poop while he was here, and his owners had done a good job tiring him out right before he came, so I thought that this was the right time to have him meet her. Unfortunately he was still overly aroused and ran straight at her. She of course tucked her tail and ran. Ack! He loses interest after the initial greeting and we got him chasing after a ball. Terra recovered better than I expected. She came out into the yard. At first she gave the dog distance, but her flight area steadily decreased. After 30 minutes she would let him walk right by her, and choose to get petting from his owners rather than avoid him. She leaned heavily against the wife, soaking up the attention. She approached him from behind to sniff his butt.

There was a small increase in stress signals as all the dogs and people entered the apartment but again she recovered well, and quickly. Not long after the owners left, Terra started to play with the boarding doodle, and she just ignored the sep anx dog when he tried to butt in.

I've seen from the beginning that Terra is easily overwhelmed but has much better recovery time than most shy dogs I've worked with. A few people have asked me if I was thinking of returning her, but it's this recovery, combined with her steady improvement, that makes me dedicated to keeping her and working with her. I see a lot of potential in her.

Addendum to 09/26/17: onset of alarm barking

There are three free-ranging goats on the farm, and it's common for boarding dogs to initially bark at them. Last night at twilight they were loudly rustling branches just out of sight of the dog yard. Cai gave a few barks and my boarding dog had a reactive fit. As I led him away to the far side of the yard, I watched Terra out of the corner of my eye. She fled into the barn, barking all the way. She returned after a moment and found us on the other side of the yard. The boarding dog gave a few more barks, and again Terra also barked and retreated into the barn.

Later that evening I took her out by herself, so she wouldn't be influenced by the boarding dog. She pottied normally. Right as we walked back into the barn, one of the goats bleated and rustled. She whipped around and gave a few half-volume alarm barks. I wrapped my arms around her to give calming pressure and contact, then led her into the house. I had to take her by the collar as she didn't want to stand down.

Fuuuuuuuuuuck

Day 16 (09/26/17): agility class, vet, weight, normal puppy energy

I had Terra in the car during Chimera's runs in agility class, and took her out to explore in between. The property has a few sheep and horses, which both weirded her out. I let her choose whether to approach or retreat or just stand and watch. With both animals she took a few steps forward, watched, then slowly retreated.

At one point the instructor called out that we were in the line of sight of the next dog, and to move her to a different side of the field, which meant being closer to the action and to the other dogs. I had a split second of doubt but damn it, social pressure made me follow her directions. I should have moved farther away. Instead we had a major trigger stacking incident: Terra is walked into an area she had not yet explored at her own pace, other dog bangs teeter, other dog races through tunnel which is less than 10 feet away, other dog runs up and sniffs her butt, instructor greets her, second student approaches and tries to greet her. Poor Terra was frozen in place with a tucked tail. It all happened within half a minute, then I regained my senses and walked her away and back to the car.

Later I took her out again but to a different area, farther away, and she explored like she usually does.

In the afternoon we had a vet visit for her vaccinations and microchip. I let her lick from a Bark Pouch while the vet did it. She didn't react to the vaccination. She slowed down and tensed at the microchip needle but continued eating, which is very good for her. I showed the vet the dead worms that had come out after her first dose of Heartgard yesterday morning. They were roundworms, which we hadn't detected earlier but apparently can be hard to find as they only come out occasionally when still alive. We got a dose of wormer to give in two weeks, and the next Heartgard will be two weeks after that, and then she should be all clear.

She was quick to approach and lick the faces of all the staff at the clinic, even ones she had not met before. She seems to have generalized that everyone there (at least everyone wearing blue/green scrubs) is safe and friendly.

The scale showed her weight at 45, maybe 45.5. I was surprised that she had barely gained any weight in the past two weeks. Her breeder is very concerned, as her siblings are gaining normally. I believe it's due to the combination of stress, which meant not eating enough during her first couple weeks (she is now choosing to eat about triple the calories), the roundworms, and the diarrhea. Her appetite is so much better now, and I'm feeding her an extra meal for lunch, so I'm expecting her to normalize. Today she ate 4.5 cups of Honest Kitchen (dehydrated food) and 3 raw chicken drumsticks.

She is getting more and more playful. She is pulling more fiercely on tug toys, following the toy along the ground more consistently (though still slowly, in giant puppy fashion), and spending more time playing with toys on her own. She puts her mouth on my hands/arms more frequently when she's feeling playful (which I gently discourage but am happy to see). She got a good case of puppy "witching hour" and making mischief this evening. I had to separate her from the boarding dog as she was being too rough with him. We played together, then did training time (fly, mat, IYC, stand-stay, hand target), then she went into her crate and chewed on the jumbo bully stick for nearly an hour. Now she's falling asleep in her usual style: on top of her cuddle buddy, rolled onto her back, and panting from all the effort of chewing despite the ac and fans going.

Day 15 (09/25/17): training, food, playing at new park

Terra had solid poop all weekend while at Sherry's, eating Honest Kitchen. What a relief! Now that she's back to normal (and getting good nutrition), I'll try transitioning to raw food again.

This morning she pooped twice, peed twice, ate breakfast, and played with Luki, the current boarding dog. Then she went into her crate for 4 hours while my sep anx dog came for another training stay. She spent the first hour barking off and on, which was annoying, but I didn't worry since I knew her basic needs had been met. She also had a jumbo-sized bully stick in her crate, which she ignored. She was just experiencing FOMO.

When the sep anx dog's owners came to pick him up, I brought her out to meet them. She was curious about them both, but approached just a bit hesitantly, and was more willing to get into the wife's personal space. After she'd had a minute of cooing and gentle petting, I handed liver treats to the husband. She manded for him and wagged her tail, and after a stream of treats she was willing to come into his bubble and get "normal" petting from him. Perfect!


Since she was full of energy, we did play and a training session in the barn. I brought out two balls and rolled them slowly. She pawed at them minimally but preferred to come and lean into me for petting. So we did "personal play" (without toys), such as "got your tail!" (trying to get behind her and tapping her butt while she spun to chase me), jumping, running, and of course interspersed cuddling. (I LOVE that she's such a cuddle bug.) Then I got a braided fleece toy and we did baby-tug, with lots of encouragement for pulling back on the toy (gaining strength!), holding the toy, carrying it, and bringing it to me.

Clicker time: eye contact while I hold treats at her nose level (anti-mugging / IYC), shaping mat (seeing some intentionality there), shaping fly with body prompting (was getting consistent movement at end, rather than standing and thinking), and stand-stay (still have to keep it at max 2 seconds).

I gave Terra two raw chicken drumsticks for lunch. She was SO excited to get raw again! She danced with her paws and wagged her tail, and it prompted her first ever jump onto the counter to try to get more!

Then she passed out for a long afternoon nap.

At 5:30 pm, I loaded her and Luki into the car and drove to Pet Food Express. Luki got his training inside, and I bought a number of rubber-textured toys, since Terra prefers those. She slept (on her back, of course) while we were gone.

I drove to nearby Walnut Park, a large grass sports field. I let her off the leash since it was sunset and few people were around, and I knew that she would stick close. Initially she wagged her tail and set out in front of me, but when we got about 30 feet from the car, she suddenly became overwhelmed and clingy. We turned back and she trotted ahead of me toward the car. Once we got back to it, it seemed that she gained confidence from the ability to return to "home base," and she was ready to explore again.

I pulled out one of the rubber stick-shaped toys and we played together - a little tug, a little chasing the tossed toy, a little run and cuddle. It was a quite fun for both of us. A year ago, I would have relied entirely on treats to do counter-conditioning, but since then I have been turned on to the magic of just playing together. When we finally tired out, Terra was comfortable walking even farther from the car. She spent most of the "walk" intensely sniffing the grass. We practiced two recalls, using cuddles and licks from the liverwurst Bark Pouch as rewards. (She loves the Bark Pouch!)

On our way back to the car again, a woman and her leashed Golden Retriever walked by about 50 feet away. Terra stopped and watched them for 10 seconds, then decided to run over and say hello. On the one hand, I was thrilled that she was much more comfortable approaching a strange dog. On the other hand, I definitely didn't want her to practice running up and accosting other walkers! I ran and called her, she slowed down and looked at me, she trotted off again, I ran and called again, she paused again, and finally I caught up to her. Lots of cuddles and treats for letting me catch her.

Dinner and playtime with Luki at home. She was fast asleep before I put her in her crate, but then she decided to spend 90 minutes chewing on that jumbo bully stick. She doesn't have much jaw strength yet, as she barely shortened it.

Everything is headed in the right direction.

This was the farthest she ever got from me.

Rubber stick!

She found some crumpled paper and tore it up.

And I encouraged it, because yay play!

Whack!

New toys!

Days 11-14 (09/22/17-09/94/17): staying at Sherry's

I had been SO worried about leaving Terra with Sherry on account of her shyness. Of course I trust Sherry with my dogs' care, but Terra's just a baby! Fortunately I needn't have worried. Terra did just fine. She met a handful of different dogs, got along well with all of them (except one she bugged to play too much), met some of Sherry's clients and wanted to greet them (!), and played with a variety of toys. She complained just briefly about going into her crate at night, then settled and slept through the night. It ended up being a good, curated socialization experience for her. Many thanks to Auntie Sherry for taking such good care of my baby! (Cai, of course, was his usual self and did fine. It's nice to have a mature, predictable dog.)

Tired puppy.

Playing with other doggos.

Apparently she liked to steal and collect toys.

Pictures from vet visit on 09/20/17

Cuddling in the exam room.

She pinned my hand.

Got the courage up to explore the room.

I remember you!

Cuddles with Dr Diedrich!

Frozen chicken broth made the butt exam less stressful.

Day 10 (09/20/17): vet visit, dropping off at Sherry's

The Welshie went home in the morning. Terra did not want to come out to say hello to her owners, even after we'd been sitting and talking for an hour. That was strange since Terra had approached all of the guests during the puppy party. I definitely need to schedule more visitors to come and quietly hang out.

She did at least go outside with the other dogs and the owners and milled around. We noticed that she had a large lump on her left butt bone, next to her tail. I knew that Wolfhounds (and other large bony breeds) get hygromas and that they should just be left to resolve on their own. However due to the placement I was worried that it was an anal gland problem. (Chimera once had an anal gland abscess that ruptured.) So off to the vet we went.

Terra was relaxed as we entered the waiting area. She wagged her tail and sniffed around. She went onto the scale easily (44.5 lbs). She hesitated going into the exam room (going from large room into small enclosed one; understandable). She met Shawn, the one male tech, with a wagging tail and kisses - yay!! She recognized Dr Diedrich even though she had been mostly asleep during her first vet exam, and also gave her wags and kisses and cuddles. She is a favorite at the office already!

The doctor was familiar with hygromas but also surprised at the location of this one. Just in case, she did a rectal exam to make sure the rectal wall was intact. Terra got a little cup of frozen chicken broth to lick to keep her busy. She stopped and tried to get up during the exam, but she returned to the broth as soon as it was done. No grudges held here.

The doctor then aspirated the lump and got bloody fluid. Slides showed no significant amounts of white blood cells. It was just a hygroma. She drained it, since the needle was already in there, but by the evening it had returned to nearly its previous size. We'll just leave it to resolve on its own.

So we got our first unnecessary vet visit out of the way already.

I took Terra and Chimera in the car for a 5 pm training appointment. Terra used to whine and be restless in the car, but now she just settles to sleep. She slept all through the appointment. I asked the client to come out and meet her when we were done. As expected, she got a wagging tail and lots of kisses.

Finally we drove to Sherry's. I'll be gone all weekend. I trust Sherry to take good care of my dogs but it was so hard to leave Terra. She's just a shy little baby!! Hopefully this will be another good socialization experience for her.

Puppy party presents

Terra, Chimera, and I received some lovely, thoughtful presents from our guests at last Saturday's puppy/birthday/house warming party!

Personalized tote bag! Woo, I LOVE tote bags!!

Tuffy toy, two chews, and large and small eco-friendly toys made of rice husks (how??).

Terra likes rubber-textured toys so this was perfect.

Snuffle mat!

Cookie sheet and silicone mat for baking tiny dog treats at home! And a food toy with suction cups so you can stick it wherever!

Thank you again to my guests - of course the best present was your help with Terra's socialization!

Day 9 (09/19/17): training, playing at the creek

We hadn't done any clicker training sessions in a few days because I had too much going on mentally. We got back into it today with review of the target stick, continuing shaping going to the mat, beginning a stand-stay, and beginning going around a PVC pole. The training for each behavior goes for 10-15 treats, then there's a clear break. I need to get into the habit of using more playtime for her breaks, as I tend to just cuddle (which we both love).

I'm very lucky to have a beautiful creek just 2 minutes' drive from my house. (I would just walk but we'd have to go along a road with fast cars and not a lot of room.) So today was Terra's second introduction to bodies of water. I took the Welshie along, as she loves playing in water and I was hoping that she would convince Terra to go in.

Terra did put all four feet in three times, but each time she promptly changed her mind. But there were more times that she stood with her front feet in and I loved on her and told her how brave she was. She played with the Welshie on the shore. The Welshie is leaving tomorrow, so next time we go, I'll bring toys and play with her.

Click on any picture below to see a bigger version. I just love Terra's long, cat-like tail!