He lives next to a courtyard that many people pass through every day. At the same time each day, or so I've been told, he comes out to wait for his owners to come home from work. That's how I came across him one day.
And now to a certain Labrador named Katie...
Today as I was working with her I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever make any progress on this 10 year old dog that I only see for an hour twice a week ... but then I think I made a little progress on Stay! I ask her to Sit, and then hold my hand (with the treat) out in front of me and take a few steps back. She can manage to stay seated while I step back, but as soon as I step back towards her she'll get up. But she managed to stay seated through the whole routine once or twice today, and boy do I feel much better now that I think I've seen a little progress! I've always had aspirations to be a teacher, and it seems like if it is in my future, it will be a rewarding job.
I'm realising that while Katie is very much active and excitable despite her age, she's actually pretty good on walks, no pulling or lagging, she hops on and off the kerb when I need her to and waits to cross the road.
It's just other dogs on the street I need to be careful of: she is totally reactive to the other dogs on-leash on the street. I see other people walk their dogs past each other in small enclosed spaces like at the market - no way that could be done with Katie! I have to cross to the other side of the road when I see another dog. A few people have seen me hesitant to approach them and their dog and assure me that their dog is friendly - I always have to tell them that my dog is not. It's a pity.
I'm not thinking of working on that with Katie but I am curious: what makes some dogs reactive to other dogs on the street and others not? Can it be trained? Is it a matter of socialisation?
Lastly, Jackson, the sweet old Golden Retriever belonging to a friend of a friend, is likely to be out of a home by the end of the year. I have tentatively put it out there that I'd consider taking him, but I'm trying to keep a cool head and not run away with the idea, because my boyfriend and family don't think it's a wise idea. I must say I saw him the other day and he was definitely not as alert as he was last I saw him, but hopefully it was an off day.
yes it can be trained out of her and yes some of it is socialisation some of it because she is not that used to being walked on the leash but that will get better with noise and new situations each time you take her.Jackson really needs a nice home to live out the last few years of his life,being out side is hard on a dog.Jackson wouldn't require to much exercise as he is a senior dog,xx Rachel
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response, Rachel! Katie actually is used to being walked on the leash, before her owner moved away (Katie stayed behind with family) she was walked every day.
DeleteThanks also for the input on Jackson. I am not at all concerned about exercising Jackson, where he is now he isn't walked at all so I figure anything I can give would be an improvement! I am a little concerned about the financial implications and wondering if there are other reasons for my family's hesitancy at the plan.
Melon
tomorrows post will have the blog hop link for Speedy's Party assuming it works if not you can email the photo and I can add the link on the post my self.as for the Jackson thing I'm sure if you can you will be able to sort out the concerns for him,and as long as he is reasonably healthy it should be ok on the financial side too,xx Rachel
DeleteBillie is a cutie. How nice must that be to come home and there is a cat waiting for you.
ReplyDeleteAnd Katie looks so kind, people will not think it is better to cross the road.... you will need a lot of patience with this not so young girl.
I so understand that you think about giving Jackson a home. If I could, I would take home every poor creature out there. But of course that is not possible. You will do the the right decision when the time comes.
Hope you and Cocoa are well!
Greetings from Geneva,
Pia
(If you are interested, send me your email adresse , I can't find it on your profil. Find mine on my profile. Then I will answer the questions from your comment.)
Indeed! Apparently Billie's owners recently moved away, so the new tenants are Billie's new owners. I've heard they recently spent a lot on vet bills for him, so I guess he must really be brightening up some new people's lives! Isn't that nice?
DeleteThanks for your thoughts on Katie and taking in animals. I'm fairly new to animals other than guinea pigs but I am beginning to think I will be the same, wanting to open my heart and arms to them.
Melon
I will shoot you an email when I get home.
It's great that you're seeing progress with Katie. Isn't that rewarding?
ReplyDeleteThere are ways to work on reducing a dog's reactivity to other dogs on a leash but it's the sort of work that you'd probably want a trainer to help you with. In a Lab, it might be due to a lack of socialization.
I've had the same situation with Shyla, except that she used to get scared when people or dogs approached us. It's really hard to stop some of them because people always assume that Labs are very outgoing. My advice would be to keep going around the other dogs.
It's so nice of you to get Katie out for walks a couple of times a week!
I will let you guys know how it feels once I've taught Katie something!
DeleteThanks for answering my question and for your input. I'm not looking to change the behaviour in Katie, but I'd like the knowledge for future dogs.
I'm enjoying it too!
Melon
Good for you! Are you able to chat with your family and boyfriend about their concerns about Jackson? Maybe a few conversations would be helpful? I am happy that you are expanding your horizons and I am sure that it is making you feel better too. Keep up the good work, you know you are making a difference. : )
ReplyDeleteThanks acdMom! I will definitely chat more with my family if I am asked to take Jackson in at the end of the year. At the moment though I am trying to take it easy, because it's not so much more communication with my family/boyfriend that is needed but that I do understand their points of view and acknowledge them as valid and thus am unsure myself if it is the right thing to do. My obsessive/anxious nature doesn't help things: I have a tendency to pick things to fixate on and then obsess about them, with a lot of anxiety and compulsion to do things attached, but then somehow without taking action the anxiety can be resolved, showing that sometimes action wasn't needed after all. An example of this is when recently I wanted to get Coke a friend; I knew it's not practical at his age when I'm not planning to have pigs after him (for now at least), and yet it bothered me over and over all of a sudden, and then after much discussion on different occasions one day the logic finally sank in and I'm at peace with the situation now. I might need that to happen with Jackson - me making a decisions and then learning to live with it. Either way I'm going to be taking a bit more time to think and live.
DeleteThanks again; I hope I am making a difference too, and that I'll make the right decision about Jackson, for him and for me.
Melon