12/23/17-12/26/17: White Christmas

We spent the past few days up in Truckee. Snow had recently fallen and the dogs got to go on morning and afternoon off leash walks in the woods. Terra didn't hesitate at all about walking in snow, even though she had never seen it before. She did really well both in the condo and walking outside. She frequently played with my sister's little dog, Frankie. I brought her crate and was diligent about potty training, so we didn't have any accidents, thank goodness! At first she held her bladder as long as she could because she wasn't relaxed enough outside. That also got better as the days went on. The only negative was that she's still scared of my dad, but she's getting better every time they're together. We had a few reactive barks at noises early on, and on the last day at a little girl with a snow shovel playing outside the back patio.

Here are my favorite pictures from the trip. Click on any photo to see it come up larger.

Trying to be a lap dog on the couch.

She enjoyed tearing up the tag on her Christmas present.

Beautiful view.

Playing with Frankie.

Besties.

She liked to lie down against the L-shaped couch and rest her head in the coffee table.

12/22/17: Recent pictures, CVS

Terra weighs 91 pounds today. After getting her weight at the vet's, we went next door to CVS. Terra walked down the aisles with me to pick up a new toothbrush, then waited in line to pick up medication. We've been in this CVS twice before, and she was relaxed the entire time. She was still impatient while we waited and while I paid, but she repeatedly offered a sit. I was happy with her demeanor.

Resting with her Malinois friend.

Raw food prepped for Christmas vacation.

If Cai is in the crate first, he won't let Terra in. But if she's there first, he feels free to join her.

Growth update

Day 100 (12/15/17): chiropractic appointment

It's a milestone day; Terra has been with me for 100 days! And a few days ago, she turned six months old. She weighs 88 lbs. Her fur has lightened considerably since puppyhood and she's big and strong and beautiful.

I made an appointment for Terra right after Chimera's monthly chiropractic appointment. Dr Wallace is amazing and I knew that having her feel Terra over would help her stay healthy as she goes through her enormous growth spurts. Dr Wallace could see that yes, Terra was slightly favoring her back right leg; the stride was shorter on that side. (We had recently gone to our regular vet about this.) It was subtle enough at this point that I hadn't been seeing it at home. She felt her up and found that her pelvis was slightly tilted, which could be causing the problem. She noted that Terra was uncomfortable having her back toes handled, and found a fungal overgrowth there. She told me to soak the feet in a strong green tea for 5-10 minutes, for 1-2 weeks. The tea is astringent and will get rid of the fungus.

I was skeptical about being able to do the soak for so long, but once again Terra has proven to be amazingly mellow and tolerant. Of course, I do it when she's sleepy and less likely to fidget.

We still sometimes made a mess.

Day 99 (12/14/17): park trip, craft night at Rachel's

I took Terra to craft night again. On the way we stopped by Alan Witt Park to run around. I had her on a long line just in case, but she stayed close to me. We literally ran in circles and played. After a few minutes I realized that my phone had bounced out of my pocket. I walked back and forth across the grass. Terra still wanted to play and kept bouncing up and down beside me and running around in circles. It was quickly getting dark and I knew that my phone had fallen out within a certain small area, but I just couldn't find it, and for some reason the Tile was not connecting and making it ring for me. Fortunately there was a family playing nearby and they had a couple of flash lights. With six pairs of eyes, the phone was located within a minute. Terra shied away from the strangers but wanted to play again as soon as they left.

She peed in Rachel's back yard as soon as we arrived, which was a relief as it meant that I could let her hang out off leash. She was tired out from the park and was perfectly behaved. I let her up on the couches and she did her best to be a lap dog with Eli.

Day 98 (12/13/17): Pet Food Express, Office Max, conformation class

Terra has been stuck indoors the past couple of days, so today I gave her a few outings. First we went to Pet Food Express in Davis. I had the leash clipped to the back of her Freedom harness, signalling that she was free to wander this way and that. She's big enough now that I sometimes have to brace myself to bring her to a stop. It's not that she actively pulls against the leash; the problem is that she has so much momentum that it takes a solid effort to halt her. I may need to switch to using the front clip or using collar only. I'm still working on desensitizing her to a head halter, so that I have that as an option, but we don't practice it every day and it's slow going.

Terra is always perfectly behaved around the bins of treats and chews because she's too inhibited to grab something. She wagged her tail at the women we passed and gave a wary stare at a man. We spent some time cuddling in the aisles. She was impatient at the register, as usual, but she was more willing to stand between me and the counter. I like that position because I can still keep an eye on her and no one can sneak up on us.

I dropped off our shopping in the car, switched Terra to her "service dog in training" harness, and clipped the leash to her collar. She is already walking and acting differently between the two types of equipment, however I have the feeling that she's cuing off the short leash on her collar more than the harnesses. We went to Office Max. This was her second time in this store and she strolled through it without a problem. We had to wait in line and this time, instead of trying to wander around me in a circle, she sat down and leaned against my left side. Perfect. She was still antsy at the register but decided to sit down, got up, and sat down again.

In the evening we went to a conformation drop in class at Solano DTC. Only two other people came, and one of them was Grace, the Wolfhound we'd met at a Fast CAT event in October. Her owner was happy to see us again and gave me information about some upcoming Wolfhound Club gatherings.

Terra did well at the class. It was a great example of using a structured protocol to ease her into the new activity and give her confidence.

1. I put her mat in a corner of the room and paid for class before I got her out of the car.
2. Terra balked at the doorway, but I let her take as much time as she needed, and even back out of the building if she wanted to (twice).
3. We went straight to the mat and I kneeled next to her as she looked around. I didn't let anyone come closer than she could handle. The other two dog owners got started with gaiting around the ring.
4. When I saw that Terra had relaxed and was interested in what the other dogs were doing, we joined in the gaiting, though I let her look and sniff around rather than worrying about how she moved or whether she was on the correct side.
5. We went back to the mat after one round to give her time to process.
6. When she wanted to return, we did another round of gaiting, this time keeping her on my left side and on a shorter leash. I was still using her regular walking leash and collar.
7. I talked to the judge but she didn't touch Terra. She let Terra sniff her hand.
8. On our second turn in front of the judge, Terra wanted to say hello. On each turn, she was more affiliative, and was leaning against the judge by the end. Terra was comfortable with petting around her head, neck, and back. No real exam.
9. After the third trip around the room, I switched to our show slip lead.
10. At the end of class, when Terra was totally relaxed and comfortable, I practiced hand stacking her.

This was the last class the club is holding for 2017. We'll be back in the new year.

Day 92-95 (12/07/17-12/10/17): outings in public

12/07/17:
Went into Pet Food Express in Napa. Terra had not been in this particular store before, but she was relaxed as she explored. She wagged her tail at a few people.


12/08/17:
One of my friends had a painting on exhibit at an art gallery, and the opening was this evening. I was a bad trainer at first. I dragged Terra down some narrow, crowded hallways before I realized that I'd passed the painting in the very first room. Terra was overwhelmed and wanted to get out of the building. I gave her some minutes to decompress outside, then we went for a walk. It wasn't too busy outside so this was okay, though she didn't like passing people on the sidewalk. There were boxes on the sidewalk here and there, and usually after a pause, she would cautiously sniff them or go around them with a wide berth.

12/09/17:
I had written down that there was a knitting group at the Vacaville Library. It turns out that the group meets on Fridays and not Saturdays. I decided to sit down on a bench outside and just chill with Terra. I put down her mat and she immediately laid down on it... for 30 seconds, and then she was bored. Some show finished up in the building next door and people streamed out for the next hour. Terra did well. A few times people stared at her too intently and she would back away, but for the most part she ignored them in favor of fidgeting and pestering me for attention (which I indulged).

She napped in the car while I did grocery shopping. On the way home we stopped by downtown Winters and went for a very short walk. I wanted to make sure that she had a chance to see the Christmas decorations. She didn't pay them any mind and was relaxed on the walk.

12/10/17:
I took both dogs to Alston Park in Napa. This was my first time there. We stayed in the on leash area. Of course we saw multiple dogs off leash but they were all polite and passed us by without bothering us. Terra was nervous about them. She's usually more relaxed around dogs, but the combination of direct approach, narrow trail, and sudden appearance was too much for her.

Overall she IS improving in her comfort level with passing people on sidewalks or in other narrow spaces, but it's slow improvement.

Usually around strange dogs she is curious and wants to approach. (I am working on teaching her to ignore them instead.)

She is much more comfortable getting out of the car in a brand new place and immediately heading out to explore.

She is moderately improved in passing or approaching "strange" objects.

Day 91 (12/06/17): downtown Winters, running fun

We drove downtown and walked up and down a couple of blocks of Main St. We also practiced walking at my side, left, right, and wait on the narrow wooden patio wrapping around Steady Eddy's. When practicing for public access, I have previously been using the ring on the back of her service harness, however she's now too big for to be useful. Her front end is too far ahead of me for her to respond well to directionals. Also controlling her head is useful in highly distracting situations. So for the first time, I clipped the leash to her collar. She's always been a natural at responding to leash pressure cues, and she didn't have any significant trouble with the switch. It was certainly easier for me. I still grabbed onto the handle on her service harness when I wanted her to move into my left side and to help her stay there. She does well when we're moving at a steady pace, but she gets antsy/bored/nervous when I want her to just stop and wait.

I thought that she would be tired out after that, but I forgot that she has more energy nowadays. So at sunset we ran around the yard together. She can easily outrun me now. Because of our previous games in which I would change direction when she caught up to me, she would run past me, then turn quickly and face me. I would either turn and run in a different direction, or stop and let her run up to me and give her cuddles. I adore her happy play face.

Day 90 (12/05/17): vet visit

Terra stopped favoring her back right leg by Sunday morning, but I kept our Tuesday afternoon appointment. She shied away from the ear thermometer but allowed Dr Diedrich to bend her back legs this way and that. The doctor couldn't feel anything wrong with her back right leg. Surprisingly, her back left leg was more tight and she didn't want to stretch it as far back, but no sign of pain per se. So at this point, we're assuming that the problem was probably just normal boisterous puppy play.

I wish I had taken a photo of the tech trying to listen to Terra's heartbeat and getting licked all over her face and hair.

Her weight was 83.5 lbs. She's continuing to grow but is a bit slimmer since she's been having diarrhea for multiple days again. I think it was set off by eating a bunch of cat poop in the yard, and it seems to always take her a long time to normalize once her GI tract is inflamed.

Day 89 (12/04/17): training with Sherry and at home, outgrowing her gear

We drove down to Auntie Sherry's again, to record Rally-FrEe with Chimera. Terra had to wait in a side yard while we trained and you can hear her whining loudly on the video. What a sad dog.

Terra got training time, too. I put on her "in training" vest, asked her to wait at my side, and rewarded her for ignoring Sherry. Separately, I pulled her collar up her neck and held my hand at the top to cue her conformation stay, and rewarded her for ignoring Sherry reaching out with her hand. Finally we did a ring gate exercise - I cued "let's go," we walked through the gates, and then she got a treat! This helps establish a positive association with entering a training ring.

Back at home, we practiced nose work. Our intro class at FDSA finished up a couple of weeks ago. We were progressing through the material quite slowly, and were still on week 2's lectures. So I signed up for another gold spot in this term's 101 class. I really want her to be a nose work superstar!

We practiced hand stacking. It's time for me to learn how to properly stack her instead of just practicing moving her legs around. I need to set up a mirror so that I can see how she looks from the judge's perspective.

We did the bucket game, and she's pretty much got the idea that she should ignore me touching her and just look at the bucket. I'm just doing touches on her back.

We did chin targets, and again she's learning to just hold the target while I very lightly touch her head. Having a hand move right in front of her is still a challenge.

Put on a head halter for a few seconds between treats. Right now I can control her with a back clip harness 90% of the time, but I might as well train it as another cooperative care exercise just in case.

Terra was on the cusp of outgrowing the training vest, so I ordered a new one with labels that say specifically "service dog in training." We'll see how comfortable I can get her to be in crowds and around noises. It's a big "if" right now, but we'll take it one day at a time.

She's outgrown her puppy collars, but I already had three adult sized collars on hand, purchased before I even brought her home. She's also outgrown the medium sized Balance Harness. I don't have a large one on hand, so I switched her to an extra-large Freedom Harness. (Funny how different sizing is between brands.) I'm still using the back clip since she usually doesn't pull hard.

Day 88 (12/03/17): older puppy class, Office Max, bath

We attended our last week of the adolescent dog class at Thinking Dogs. Nancy welcomed us to continue the class but I'm going to look around for conformation classes next. Either way, I will be using the class to practice being relaxed and hanging out around other dogs, with small bursts of training or play time. It will benefit me to learn more about conformation, though.

We skipped play time at the end of class due to Terra's previously mentioned injury, which I was able to narrow down to pain in her back right leg. She was favoring it intermittently during the day. (We have an appointment with the vet tomorrow.)

We participated in an exercise involving leash walking close to other dogs. We also practiced IYC, stand-stay, chin target, and nose target. We played tug a lot and walked around.

After class we went to Office Max to buy printer paper. Terra was initially frightened by my swinging a shopping basket around. By the end she didn't mind it moving closer to her face when I would move in to treat her. She needs more practice just standing around when I am looking at products, paying the cashier, etc.

She was acquiring a funk again from rolling around and playing outside, plus she got a little diarrhea on a back leg after we got home. So it was time for another bath. This time she didn't fuss as much and we didn't have any near-accidents with me being pushed out of the tub. She did try to nose past the shower curtain and I had to reprimand her sternly. I wish that there were a way to tether her into the tub. When I have my dream house, it will include a large walk-in shower with a dog tether.

Days 81-87 (11/26/17-12/02/17): visiting friends, CVS, trial, mystery injury

11/27/17:
Terra's weight was 82 pounds.

I took her into the CVS next door to the vet's. She did very well walking around and showed only minimal interest in sniffing merchandise. We even went down a junk food aisle, with me holding the leash very short just in case, but she followed me lead and just walked straight ahead. We worked particularly on "wait," which is difficult for her because she has a lot of momentum to stop! I sat down by the pharmacy to practice settling in public. I cued her to sit and then lured her down. At first she fussed but, as usual for her, she then gave up and just watched the world go by.

On our way out we stopped to let a couple of ladies pass by. They stopped in front of us and one asked if Terra was "friendly." I put my hand out in a "stop" signal and replied, "She's in training and I need her to focus right now." The lady nodded by stared at Terra and then started to make kissy noises. I quelled my rage - I HATE it when people call out to my dog or otherwise try to get its attention without permission - and stuffed a treat into Terra's face. I then side-stepped to my right and gave a leash cue, Terra did a beautiful side-step to join me, and we walked out with the treats continuing.

A friend commented that in the future I should directly address the person's behavior rather than the dog's needs, ie, "don't interact with her." That's a good suggestion. I fell into the trap of using language that is understood by dog nerds but not by ignorant non-dog people. But I am also, clearly, training my dog to ignore people doing that, as some bullies will intentionally try to distract a dog just to be mean.


11/30/17:
We drove down to visit Sherry and act as decoys for a leash reactive client of hers. Terra got excited and pulled toward the other dog when it was just 10 feet away. Otherwise she happily walked around and sniffed as usual.

I wish this photo hadn't been washed out by the sun because her face is so cute!

Taking a break in the bushes.

Om nom nom.

In the evening we visited Rachel for another craft party. Terra pooped (actually had diarrhea) in the back yard shortly after our arrival, but had to stay on the tether for nearly two hours until she finally peed outside. Then she got to be in the house off leash, but was so tired that she just slept on a dog bed until we left.

I had Rachel help me with a short training session. First I put on Terra's "in training" harness and cued her to wait at my side. I rewarded her for staying as Rachel approached, as Rachel said hello, and then as she used the lilting "talking to a dog" voice. It was hard for Terra because she loves Rachel! We need to practice this a lot more with a variety of people so that she will be able to confidently ignore the public.

Then I had Rachel hold a small handful of treats and I practiced hand stacking Terra. It's one way to make a positive association with a conformation "judge" approaching.


12/01/17:
Chimera has his first AKC agility trial today. Since it was on a Friday, the entries were small. I let Terra sleep in the car all morning. She would be in a different position every time I checked on her, but was always sleeping soundly. Finally, after Cai's second run, which was the last run of the day, I brought her out. She wanted to sniff every tree and post we walked by to get information about the other dogs. She wanted to say hello to almost every other dog that passed within 10 feet. I was happy to see her so curious. A loud noise dampened her enthusiasm for a few minutes, but she recovered enough to practice touch, chin, stand-stay, and IYC.

Sometime today Terra hurt herself, probably while playing with her Malinois friend. I think it's something around her back, hips, or hind legs but she didn't respond negatively to me handling her. She's been a little slower to get up and occasionally whining as she does so. At one point she stood up and then hunched over. She still wanted to play with the Malinois but would sometimes get pissed off if the other dog jumped on her back. The Malinois went home so I no longer have to deal with puppies who are desperate to play but have to be kept apart. I'll keep an eye on Terra tomorrow and see how she recovers.