Day 32 (10/12/17): Sherry, Kiem, nose work

In nose work training, we've progressed from having the scented tin in my hand to placing it on a suitcase, as a halfway point to placing it on the ground. Terra did not have any trouble with that change - she would still put her nose right over the tin. I'm still working on increasing her motivation. I have to keep the training sessions below 1 minute, ideally below 45 seconds, which is harder than it seems when she feels the need to chew each treat 5+ times and sometimes a piece falls out of her mouth.

I took Terra, Cai, and a boarding dog to Sherry's. Sherry helped me train the boarding dog by having her dogs out in the front yard while we did BAT. When her turn was done, she napped in the car and Terra and Cai got to play with the other dogs. She got overwhelmed when two dogs focused on her at once (which we tried to avoid, but an extra one muscled his way through the gate). She was eager to interact one on one. And of course she was very happy to see Auntie Sherry.

 
In the evening Kiem came over again. Last time Terra had been startled by Kiem's arrival, and had been a little hesitant to approach. This time she was at the gate and trying to push through to say hello! I'm so happy to see her making a positive association with people coming to the house.

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 6 (09/16/17): puppy party

Terra and the boarding Welshie played a lot this morning. Terra ate and drank water and played with toys and had diarrhea and went back to sleep for the entire afternoon.

My sister (Agnes) arrived early and brought her chihuahua-type dog (Frankie). I had them go into the yard ahead of us, then brought the three dogs out. When Terra saw Agnes and Frankie, she immediately turned and went back into the barn. But after a minute she came back out, sniffed Frankie, then cautiously approached Agnes. Another minute and they were friends.

We let the dogs hang out outside for a while as we finished prepping for the party. When we came back in, Terra went to the bedroom and fell asleep again.

Becca was the next guest to arrive. Terra didn't come out from the bedroom, and was asleep every time we checked on her. The other dogs hung out with us in the kitchen and enjoyed petting.

(Chimera says: This is a GREAT puppy party so far!)

Finally Terra woke up, came into the kitchen, and went to Becca and crawled in her lap. Awww!

Two more guests arrived during the next hour (Kiem and Sherry). Each time, Terra retreated when they came in, then returned when she judged it to be safe. The more activity there was at the door, the longer it took her to return, especially when Sherry's Papillon Jacques came in. We always let her choose what she wanted to do. When she chose to approach the guests, they praised and gave her cooked chicken, and petted/cuddled her when she wanted it. They never lured or cajoled her to come over; they just let her decide on her own. That is very important for building up a dog's confidence. When they feel they have control over the situation and can retreat to safety if needed, they are more likely to make brave choices that we can reward and build on. I also did a short session of tug play to bring on those positive associations.

She ate about 2/3s of a pound of cooked chicken. Over the course of the party I cooked up 15 pounds of chicken breasts in my Instant Pot. I'll be feeding her the cooked chicken and cooked sweet potato for a few days to help her GI tract recover. This evening's poop was still unformed, but not as watery or gelatinous as before.

I'll be hosting more puppy parties for remedial socialization. It's great to have dog-savvy friends.

Here are bonus photos of puppy tetris: