Days 78-80 (11/23/17-11/25/17): trip to Berkeley

We didn't do anything special on 11/23-24, but today we had a big adventure in Berkeley! We met up with my parents and Agnes & Laurence, along with their dog Frankie plus a dog Agnes was caring for. I left Chimera at home since he's leash reactive and would be a bad influence on Terra. Poor guy.

First stop was climbing Indian Rock:

Next was the Aftel Museum of Curious Scents. The dogs waited outside. My mom reported that Terra was not at all concerned about being left with her, which is great.

We walked to CrepeVine on Shattuck. Along the way we had to pass many people and a few dogs. Terra was intimidated by someone's Dane mix. She was curious about all the other dogs but I'm teaching her to move past them without greeting.

I tied her behind my chair at the restaurant. Even though she was very tired from all the walking, she was too stimulated to settle down at first. Twice we were passed by people pulling scary rolling suitcases. Otherwise she ignored the passersby, and I gave her treats to keep her with me when dogs passed.

We went through a tunnel on the way back to the cars - another new experience.

She napped during the hour's drive home, and for two hours after that while I took the boarding dogs out. I thought that she would be down for the night, but nope! She still wants to play and chew on things.

Days 70-77 (11/15/17-11/22/17): socialization trips

11/15/17:
Hiked off leash on the Homestead Trail along with a boarding dog. It was a weekday morning and raining, so we only saw one other person. (Terra was scared of him.) We had to pass a very shallow creek and she was reluctant. Perhaps she remembered the previous two times she'd gone into water with abandon and then regretted. However after I had crossed and was standing on the other side, she had no choice but to follow.

In the evening we visited Rachel. Haley and Frankie crowded Terra as we walked in. I was just telling Rachel that I needed to take her through to the back yard ASAP when I saw that she had done a little submissive tinkling... and then she let her whole bladder loose. So embarrassing. I let her play with the other two for about an hour, and then put her on leash and tethered her to the table where I was knitting. I took her out every 20-30 minutes and on the third trip, she finally peed in the back yard. Then she got to play again for an hour, and then back on the tether until it was time to go.

11/17/17:
We took a trip to PetSmart. I challenged her to walk slightly closer to people than before. She's improving, but slowly.
 
11/19/17:
We've aged out of puppy class, but Nancy transferred our credit to the adolescent level. The classes are in a new location, as well. We practiced going to her mat, hand touches, IYC, and stripping her ears. We wrestled and played tug and ran around. We didn't participate in any of the training exercises the rest of the class did, since they were focused on self-control and practicing polite greetings with strangers. We skipped the play time because I have a dog boarding who plays hard with Terra and I didn't want her to have any extra roughhousing to tax her body.
 
11/20/17:
Weight at vet's is 76.5 lbs.

I needed to buy special cookies at Trader Joe's. This was a new location for her. We walked around the front of the store (away from the stream of people going in and out) and sat on a bench. She fussed at first as she didn't want to wait around, but then she gave up and sat, then laid down.

There is a Babies R Us next door, and I could see that there were very few people inside. We took 2 trips through the store. The first one was in through the entrance and out through the nearby exit right away. The second time, we went down a couple of aisles before leaving. Terra was mildly curious about the merchandise and spots on the floor that she thought might be edible. I kept her moving.

11/22/17:
Today's field trip was to Michael's. She did very well and walking around. She wanted to sniff merchandise here and there, but wasn't obtrusive. (I do let her sniff briefly as I want her to feel comfortable, but I call her to continue onward after a few seconds.) We stopped in the yarn section for a few minutes, as this is a realistic thing for me to do when shopping. She fussed and wanted to keep exploring. I got her to sit (which was great as we, uh, don't practice this ever) and after a minute she inevitably sunk to the floor. It takes so much effort to hold that giant body up!

She tends to pause (and sometimes back up slightly) when people come into her line of sight. I always give a treat immediately. I can see that she is slowly transitioning to worrying less and being more grateful for the treat.

We need more practice with stopping on cue ("wait"). Her attention and leash walking were good though, especially after I switched from the Bark Pouch to beef liver. She seems to like variety in her treats.

Unrelated, I finished stripping her ears today. Now I wait for the rest of the puppy coat to be ready to come out.

Conformation lesson with Vicki (11/03/17)

This is a belated post! I had a private conformation lesson with Vicki Ronchette on 11/03/17. We met at a park in San Leandro. There was an overly friendly cat there who walked right up to me and Terra. She went up to sniff him, then backed away and moved off to the side. Later she felt braver and made play invitations at it. It was very distracting.

Vicki had us start training on a very thick slip lead. That would allow me to position the lead high on her neck, as is done in conformation to guide the head, but the thickness would make it less of a choking hazard if Terra pulled. I'm not sure yet what I'll use for showing. I don't want to use a choke chain on principle, so I'll probably use a thin nylon/leather slip or martingale collar/leash combo. I have plenty of time to decide.

Vicki uses food placed on a chair (or other eye-level object) to give the dog a focus point when training stacking. It also allows the handler to have both their hands free but still reach for food quickly. (Same set up as bucket game, but the dog is required to hold a stand-stay instead of being free to change position.) I practiced leading her toward the chair but stopping a couple feet away. Then I practiced positioning her front and then rear legs. Terra was confused about this during the lesson, but she's fairly relaxed about it now that we've been practicing at home.

I want to use clicker training and body awareness to teach her to step forward and back as needed, but hand stacking is a necessary back up. Vicki said that with giant breeds, they really conserve their movement, and it makes more sense to hand stack than to play around with having them adjust themselves.

We also practiced gaiting, which is simple. I just need to click Terra for trotting rather than speeding up into a run when I move forward briskly.

The plan is to practice on my own, focusing on stacking and handling, until she's totally confident. Then bring in friends Terra knows to play the judge. Then we'll worry about new people approaching her to judge - that will be the hardest part by far. Along the way, I'll take more lessons to refine my understanding of how to place her legs, hold her head, etc. I'm guessing it will be a few months at least before we're reading for the show ring.

Days 67-69 (11/12/17-11/14/17): Home Depot noise and nosyness, alone training

A new boarding dog checked in Sunday. Terra was wary at first, but I knew that she would warm up to him quickly. Within ten minutes they were playing. I have to referee because they get too intense. Sometimes the other dog mounts Terra, which makes her lose her balance and fall over with a yelp.

We went to Home Depot on 11/13 as I needed to buy a larger chest freezer. She did great walking around the store, until the end - I was at the service counter placing my order for later pick up, and there was a series of loud noises from merchandise getting moved around. She tried to bolt and I had to hold onto her harness. I placed her between myself and the counter, hoping that she would feel protected, but she still kept trying to pull away after the noises had stopped. Poor thing.

Before that happened, as I was maneuvering us into line, a woman stopped right in our path and asked "boy or girl?" I gave the barest of polite smiles and moved around her. She turned and asked "is your dog a boy or girl?" I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes and ignored her as we got into line. One of my pet peeves is random people asking questions about my dog that don't actually matter, just to satisfy their selfish curiosity. In this case my dog was wearing a vest that says "in training" and I was trying to get through a crowd, so I didn't have patience for it. I almost snapped "What does it matter to you?"

Terra went to Cai's agility class on 11/14 as usual. She settles well now when I leave Cai next to her and walk the course, but she gets upset when we both leave for our turn. So I had one of the other students feed her pieces of chicken. That worked to keep her quiet. The student reported that during our third run, she wasn't so interested in the chicken anymore, but she was still calmer.

Day 66 (11/11/17): so many people

Today was our monthly pick up of raw food at a McDonald's parking lot in Sacramento. I brought Terra along. I'd though that she would have a good experience walking around. I was wrong - there was a dog barking nearby, and a few people passed close by, and one person tried to toss her some treats to help but the throwing motion scared her. Major trigger stacking. Olga was there with her Great Dane, Spark, and I thought that seeing a friendly face would help. She sniffed Spark but her tail was tucked the whole time. Poor baby.

She got a nap to recover and then we met up with some dog-savvy volunteers to help with her socialization toward men. It was Jodi, her husband Ed, and another couple: Kristin and a second Ed. I was worried since she'd had a stressful morning. We took things nice and slow and it was a great session. She played tug with a stick with the first Ed, and licked his face all over while he pet her. She sat on the second Ed's lap. Unsurprisingly, she also fell into Jodi and Kristin's laps. Here she is with Kristin:

In the evening, Aaron came over. He's visited a few times since Terra came home but she's still more scared of him than anyone else who has come over. She barked when he approached the fence outside, and hid under my desk when we were indoors. For now, I'm having him just ignore her and give her time. Calling her or trying to interact with her with would just stress her more.

Day 64 (11/09/17): bath, Stitch & Bitch

Terra was getting stinky from playing and lying on the ground, so it was time for another bath. This time, instead of standing outside the bath, I stripped down and got into the tub with her. It was a tight fit already; she almost knocked me over once. At first she didn't try to escape, because clearly you can't go through an opaque shower curtain. Until you can. I have no idea what I'll do when she's larger. On the bright side, all the yucky dog smell is gone.

In the afternoon we drove down to Oakland to attend a Stitch & Bitch. She was overwhelmed when we first walked into the store and I closed the door behind her. She turned and stared out through the glass, and didn't want to walk around. Within a few minutes, Rachel arrived! Terra tucked her tail for a moment, then recognized Rachel and was SO happy. And immediately after, was happy to wander around the store and explore.

People kept filtering in, about 15 total. She greeted nearly everyone happily. She didn't even mind when one person stood over her to wind a skein of yarn. She laid on her mat and chewed a bully stick. She also tried to approach a few other dogs who came into the store, and solicited attention from everyone sitting nearby, but I attached her 4' leash to my chair so that she couldn't wander. (People noted that once she's full grown, that may not work anymore.)

What are you doing? Do you have toys?

Why are you pushing me away?? :(

Ho hum, just my friend Wesley standing over me.

No biggie.

I guess there's nothing to do but chew on this giant bully stick.

One trans man made her uncomfortable, which was interesting to note in light of the typical male/female dynamic for shy dogs, and then the next woman who greeted her came up to quickly and loudly and carrying a large bag. Rachel and I took her for a walk to give her a break.

She felt better and started falling asleep on her mat as soon as we got back.

Too tired to care anymore.

Day 65 (11/10/17): vet visit, Sherry's, training

Terra is 5 months old today!

I expected her to be tired out from yesterday's eventful day, but she was full of energy.

She came along to Chimera's monthly chiropractic appointment. She loved on everyone there. Very happy girl.

We stopped by Sherry's and she got to play with a few other dogs in the rain.

Worked on getting barking on cue. She started getting excited/playful as soon as I started jumping around with Cai and having him bark, and demand barked or "talked" at him 5 times. I'm confident now that I'll get the barking on some sort of cue. The question is, how long will it take to get rid of it when I no longer want it offered?

In the evening we did training and saw a break through with the mat: she consistently went directly to the mat and sat down immediately. She's also quicker to get up when I say and then signal "free."

Chin target: clicking for holding still while I move my free hand around in front of her head.

Paw target: very consistent, quick response now. Starting to raise the target into the air, which requires extra coordination and body awareness, so is a challenge.

Bucket game: just started. The beginning is just like her stand-stay training with a visual target so she picked it up quickly. Lowering the bucket to the ground will be a challenge.

Day 63 (11/08/17): rain, Home Depot

We finally had a sprinkling of rain tonight. Terra does not show any reluctance about going out into the rain (unlike a certain other dog who lives here).

I'm still taking her out every 2 hours or so, but now she often doesn't need to pee until 3-4 hours have passed. If she doesn't need to, she wanders around the yard, digging up and eating cat poop. Lovely.

I needed some things from the hardware store, so we went to Home Depot. This was the first time that I actually browsed and purchased something while I had her in a store. I avoid doing real shopping on the first few trips with a dog, so that I can give them my full attention. She gave the side eye to a few items/objects, but mostly walked along fine. Was confused when I pulled a product down and carried it with us. Still wary of people, of course. One woman saw her and gave a very loud "oooo, can I pet her?!" NO

Days 51-62 (10/31/17-11/07/17): rabies, visiting parents, dog friends, outings

10/31/17:
Got rabies vaccination. Terra shied away from Shawn the vet tech. She had been friendly with him before, but he came into the room and toward her too quickly. He was in a hurry because the clinic had an emergency patient, so he couldn't sit with her and let her warm back up to him. So I positioned myself next to her side, blocking her view of what Shawn was doing at her back end, and fed her pieces of chicken. She gave a tiny flinch when he put his hands on her but it seemed surprise/confusion rather than worry.

11/02/17:
My sister dropped off her little dog Frankie for the weekend. Terra and Frankie love each other.

11/03/17-11/04/17:
I packed up Terra, Chimera, and Frankie, and drove two hours south to visit my parents. Along the way we had a private lesson with Vicki Ronchette (will detail in a separate post).

Terra loves my mom (all my dogs do, probably because she and I are very similar). She's wary of my dad. By chance, he kept startling her by popping up in doorways. I realized what was happening toward the end of the visit and told him that if he remembered to talk as he was coming around the corner, she wouldn't be startled and run away. She did approach him to sniff here and there, but would retreat when he would turn toward her or reach for her.

My mom and I took the dogs for a long walk on Friday evening. Between that, playing with Frankie, and just the general excitement, Terra was tired out on Saturday.

We had one potty accident, right as we got back from the walk. She had a full bladder but she is not relaxed enough to potty while walking unless she absolutely can't hold it anymore. Lesson learned - next time I'll take her straight to the back yard as we come in.

She didn't chew anything up except for a shell that fell from a shelf while the dogs were running around.

I brought her big crate and she was comfortable in it overnight.

A few times while we were in the back yard, she heard sudden noises from neighboring yards and alarm barked. She was also uncomfortable with the neighboring dogs doing territorial/alarm barking (which is common for puppies).

11/05/17:
Rachel and Eli brought Halley over while we butchered chickens with a couple other friends. I left all the dogs in the back yard. Terra played a little, dug a little, and sunbathed.

11/06/17:
We visited Sherry for the day. Terra played with a few other dogs. She was wiped out that evening.

11/07/17:
Had agility class in the morning, though Cai injured his foot so we left early. Terra was quiet as I left her and Cai to walk the course, but barked loudly when I took Cai out for our turn. I think I'll ask another student to feed her chicken while we run.

We stopped by the vet's for a weight - 71.5 lbs, which is an increase of 5.5 lbs in 7 days!

We went to Lowe's for a socialization trip. Terra was generally more comfortable walking all around the store. She startled at some loud noises. She was uncomfortable with people passing close by us.

In the evening we went downtown. There weren't a lot of people out since it was a Tuesday night. Terra initially was suspicious of the gourds lining the sidewalks, but her curiosity won out. She investigated, then dismissed them.

General:
She's been sleeping longer through the night, but still wakes me up to go out between 6 and 8 am. She goes back into the crate afterwards without a fuss.

She doesn't like pork but I bought it in bulk so I've been struggling to get her to eat all her meals lately. I've been adding chicken broth, warm water, and bacon fat. Not even all that is enough. I will have to buy some more beef or chicken and mix it 50/50.