Terra's World: 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.