Duke and his dad successfully walked The Gauntlet!
For those new to the page, The Gauntlet is an exercise I set up in which I place several of the dog's known triggers, and the owner has to apply all their various training skills to get their dog safely through on a loose leash without the dog lunging, growling, or barking. Skills that may be used include polite leash walking, LAT, relaxation on a mat, emergency U-turns, being mindful of space, and knowing your dog's body language.
Great job, Duke and Dad! We're off to apply these skills to the real world now.
I meant to post these yesterday. However, it would seem that Duke got to experience the YesDogMobile's final trek, as we blew the head gasket on the way home (to be confirmed today). I was able to limp the vehicle home, but it was super comforting to know that Duke would have been able to handle whatever was required of him had that not been the case, thanks to his training. But once we made it back to Lupine Lodge, my training brain quit, and I spent the evening assessing my options, so you get this update this morning.
Rather than return to the Sundial Bridge, we instead experienced some other rights of passage for dogs: A drive-thru window, baby's first pupcup (Okay, I have no idea if he'd had one before, but it was his first with me!), being a coffeshop dog, and a Home Depot tour. About halfway through the Home Depot tour, Duke's arousal went up, evidenced by taking treats like a chompy alligator, so we headed out before something caused him to go over threshold, but he had relaxed before we even made to the Garden Center and ultimately had a wonderful experience. He was surrounded by and in close proximity to big carts and little carts, pieces of lumber being wheeled around, forklifts moving and beeping, staring strangers, and novelty with lots of loud noises, and he took it all in stride, mostly maintaining the behaviors we've been training. We even saw a dog in the store.
The boy made me very proud.
Check out the comments for pics as FB no longer allows posting video and photos in the same post. 🙄
We practiced Duke's guest setup with a man!
Dogs are often more concerned around men than they are women, so it's important to expose them to both when training. Duke was definitely a little more guardy when we brought in a man, but he settled into his routine quickly.
Notice also that Prince isn't barking this time. He also has gotten more comfortable with the arrival of guests and learned that quiet dogs get chicken.
Jalapeño tolerates an otoscope! Most dogs dislike pokey otoscopes in their ears, and Jalapeño was no exception. But he's learning that it's just another tasty chicken game.
We have voluntary contact between nails and nail grinder!!
It may be difficult to hear over my little noise machine that always sounds deafeningly loud on camera but is a pleasant trickle in real life, but the nail grinder is on. I am not actually touching Prince's nails with the sanding drum yet. I'm starting with getting him accustomed to the vibration before adding in the friction. But given this boy's strong aversion to having his feet touched and his spirited personality, I'm very proud of him.
Here is Duke's setup for having guests over. Someone knocks on the door (or rings the doorbell). Duke gets sent to his mat, which is behind an exercise pen. The guest is let in and greeted. Duke gets reinforced for not getting up. The guest is given some instruction ("Have a seat over there. My dog is in training, and we'll let him out to meet you after he's shown that he's calm and relaxed."). Duke gets periodic reinforcement for chilling on his mat while owner engages with guest. When everyone is calm and relaxed, Duke may be released from his mat and let out of the exercise pen.
This exercise will help Duke to not feel it necessary to bark whenever someone comes to the door. He will know what to expect and have tools to deal with it. The exercise pen prevents over-zealous people from reaching for a dog who is unsure of the situation, so he never feels the need to react defensively. When everyone is calm and relaxed, Duke and guest can meet, which ensures good greeting manners from Duke, eliminates the tension of greetings done too soon, and gives Duke reinforcement for chilling out.
Disclaimer: The Doggy Grandma was given specific instructions to be overly effusive and to make direct eye contact with Duke. She knows better, but many guests will not, so we are training Duke to the level necessary to tolerate not-dog-savvy people because he can handle it.
Apologies for Prince barking in the background. We need to work on a version of this with him as well.
I'm preparing Jalapeño for a DNA test. This requires rubbing a cotton swab against his lower cheek for 30 seconds. The test also requires that the dog not have eaten anything for at least 30 minutes prior to the collection, so I'll need to make sure he's good and comfortable with the procedure first so that he's ready to do the whole behavior for the full 30 seconds on his first go since he can'thave treats leading up to it. We are getting pretty close!
It's hard to tell from the poor camera angle, but I've got a swab rubbing his cheek for about 15 seconds so far.
I'm fairly certain that nail trims have been a repeatedly traumatic event for Prince. It took a lot of work before he'd let me touch his feet. Now, I can touch his feet to place on his harness as well as for this exercise.
In my left hand is a nail grinder, and it is on. If Prince's chin is resting on the platform, I have permission to continue the game. If his head pops up, I'm being asked to pause. This is his first exposure to the grinder.
The other day when the Doggy Grandma came to help us train, I failed to get video of the beautiful work that Duke did for us. We practiced having Doggy Grandma enter the building while Duke remained on his mat behind an exercise pen. This is a planned setup that I'm hoping Duke's family will be able to use at home to encourage Duke to show off his excellent manners while also giving him time to acclimate to new guests before they attempt to pet him (Don't pet dogs you don't know unless they overtly ask for it, folks!).
We'll get Doggy Grandma back here for another session soon so we can practice more, and I can show off Duke's skills.
In the meantime, we are having another terrible, stormy day, and no one wants to work outside, including the dogs. Full disclosure, my camera tripod is standing out in the pouring, 34-degree rain, and I don't want to get it. So, instead, you get this terrible video of Duke and me barely in frame while my camera is precariously balanced on a bench with some books.
Duke's dad had mentioned that he wanted Duke to be able to hold a stay while a ball was tossed and only run to retrieve it after being released. That's a tall order after a dog's enormous ball drive has already been developed! But I like to take on challenges, and all impulse-control exercises that result in Duke having a good time are a very good thing, so here I am building up his ability to remain on his mat while I play with the ball. While I'm out of frame, I'm pretending to throw the ball. I can also roll it gently. I can *just* kick it gently most of the time. I can drop the ball, lightly toss the ball underhand, and bounce the ball. Actually throwing the ball is still too advanced, but we are getting there!
Little Prince is keeping me on my toes! He has both "stranger danger" and resource guarding of his humans, so in this video, we are working both. It's not perfect, but it sure is progress from where we started. By the end of our training session, Doggy Grandma was right up at the fence tossing treats herself but only if I was also outside the fence so the guarding component wasn't there. But we learned some things that wil help our next session be more effective, and we made good progress in this session. Now, we just need to do it about a hundred more times!
We are finally introducing little Prince to other dogs! Here is working with Hank. This is our second training set. The first was, admittedly, a little rougher, but the little guy caught onto the new rules quickly. It's no longer growl, lunge, and bite first and questions later but rather check if the trainer lady is shelling out treats!
After this, our little man went for an actual walk that HE LEAD all the way down to the end of my street, at which point a car went by, and he showed me all sorts of fun behaviors, like lunging, spinning, snarling, and redirecting onto handler. He missed me because I'm pretty good at anticipating who is a redirection risk and keeping my body parts out of harms way. But it's good information!
So our training session was super successful in that he was able to see Hank and still feel safe enough to offer some lovely behaviors I could reinforce while we worked on desensitization and counterconditioning, and he felt comfortable enough to trot along my street while wearing a leash and harness. And now, I know the next thing we need to work on.
This little man sure is keeping me on my toes!
This video is long, but I couldn't decide on which bit was the best, so I'm posting all of it. Jalapeño's people will be thrilled to watch the whole thing anyway.
This is the first time Jalapeño is meeting Frank the Husky. For those following along, our helpers are Hank the Boxer, Tank the JRT, and Frank the Husky. Frank, even though his mouth is open and his head is turned slightly away, has a very erect posture and high tail that many of my canine guests find quite off-putting.
I had not asked Jalapeño to go to his mat. This is what he chose to do as I walked to my camera to hit record. He has a little nervous, frenetic energy, but he knows what to do, and he's actually pretty happy about it. He's relaxed enough to get a drink of water, though he chooses to keep an eye on Frank as he does so. Then, he gets silly and snuggly and chooses appeasement and affection over food. I humor this for a bit, but as his arousal starts to escalate, fueled by nervous energy, I settle him back down on his mat. When I release him and we walk away, he has no trouble turning his back on Frank and leaving.
Right after this session, we practiced polite leash walking. We walked farther than we ever have before, and Jalapeño had to pass within 5 feet of Frank twice. It was such a beautiful day of progress!
