The Dalmatian Diaries Blog

Browser has learned to crawl. Well, ok, he taught himself to crawl, but now he'll almost always do it on command. Yes - he just keeps getting cuter and cuter!

I'll be getting some updated video footage of the pups on the treadmill soon. Tomorrow will be one month since we got the treadmill, and frankly the progress the dogs made amazed even me.

This morning I was about to leave to run some errands. I went up to my office to check email before leaving and the dogs, of course, came with me. Browser immediately went to the treadmill and started whining. He wanted to go jogging.

I decided I had a few extra minutes so I warmed up the machine. Widget hopped up first so I was going to let her jog first. Browser took offense to that and got up on there with her. I knew they couldn't run in unison (Browser is a bit clumsy) but I turned the machine on anyway. They both ran for a few minutes but finally Widget gave Browser a shove so he'd leave her to jog in peace. I let Widget jog for a few minutes at a good pace. She's so comfortable on there. She actually sort of zones out while jogging. She has gotten to the point where she can also look out the window on her left while she jogs (at first, that really tripped her up). I then let Browser jog and he was SO happy it was his turn. I turned the speed up to the highest he's tried yet and he found his rhythm pretty quickly. He seemed disappointed when we were done.

Now, the challenge is getting to use the treadmill myself! When I'm on it the dogs sit and stare (I think they are afraid I'll eat all their jogging treats) and even drop toys on the machine. I think they are trying to distract me so they can hop on!

It hasn't been quite a month yet since we got the treadmill. I'd say, things are progressing nicely. I did some training with the dogs myself to get them used to the noise and feel of the machine but then Diana Smith from Hearts and Paws came over to give us an official lesson last week.

Widget, as I originally thought, has excelled at it. She seems to actually enjoy it. We're only doing small stints right now - only a couple of minutes at a time - until they are really comfortable and don't require a handful of treats as incentive. Then we'll start to adjust the speed and duration of our workouts.

Browser is less sure of the whole process. He lacks a little confidence with it but I see improvement each time. He's very eager to please so he's being a real trooper about the whole thing.

Here are a couple of videos of their progress. Widget is first, then Browser. Oh, and that whining in Widget's video? That's Browser protesting being excluded from Widget's workout.

It arrived today. Our new toy. The Treadmill.

Or as Brent calls it, The Paperweight.

I have been wanting a treadmill for a long time. We have an elliptical machine but I don't much care for it. It is too bouncy. I would rather walk. I've also wanted a treadmill to burn off some of Widget's insane energy.

Brent is convinced that both the dogs and I will not use it. We'll show him. I actually thought only Widget would use it. She's very smart and loves activity. Browser is a bit spooked by sudden movements by objects (such as a broom falling over) so I thought he'd be a tougher sell. I might have been wrong. The treadmill isn't fully assembled yet but Browser was the first to hop up on it. He didn't seem scared at all. Widget just looked at it and decided it was of no importance to her.

Tomorrow I'll finish assembling it and we'll begin the training process. I watched some videos online for tips on how to introduce the dogs to the machine and how to safely teach them to use it.

Should be interesting

Recently, someone on a dog-behavior email list I'm on casually mentioned something called a "Thundershirt". Being a curious googler I had to look it up. Turns out it is a dog sweater type thing that is supposed to help with anxiety. And if you've been reading this blog for long, you know I'm willing to try anything when it comes to Widget's anxiety... so I ordered one.

Let me just say... OMG.

O.M.G.

This is the second best invention, ever! (the first best being doggy daycare).

Day One: Widget met my mom for the first time. We let them meet first without the Thundershirt. Widget did her usual crazy routine and barked nonstop. On went the Thundershirt and off went the barking. No, it didn't just turn down the volume, it changed Widget. She stood next to my mom and HAPPILY accepted ear scritches for 10 minutes. Yep.

Day Two: I brought the Thundershirt along when I picked up the dogs from daycare. I wanted our friends at Hearts and Paws to see this amazing creation in action. The timing couldn't have been better either. I put the sweater on Widget as they brought her out from daycare. All the staff was there AND a stranger. Normally Widget would have barked like crazy at the stranger, and often even at some of the staff. Not today. She not only didn't bark at anyone but she let the stranger pet her! Let me say that again: she let the stranger pet her.

Widget wore the sweater on/off for the rest of the week (while my mom was visiting). Today was housekeeper day. Widget has known Laura for over 2 years. And she's barked at her almost every week during this time. Poor Laura LOVES dogs and I think her feelings have been hurt that Widget doesn't love her back (Browser loves her, so that helps). Well, today I had Widget greet Laura with the Thundershirt on. There was no barking. None. And... Laura *almost* got kisses. It was so close. Widget touched her nose on Laura's cheek a couple of times. You could tell she was thinking about giving kisses.

Next up on the Thundershirt Tour? I think Widget is ready for her society debut!

Widget and I trekked across Austin today to meet with a new trainer. It's not that Widget hasn't been making progress - she has - it's just that I didn't feel that she and I were "understanding" each other like we should. I know she reads me like a book so I wanted to learn a) what she was seeing/learning from me, and b) how to better respond to her during training.

One thing that the trainer confirmed was something we already suspected: Widget doesn't do well when left to make too many decisions on her own. We encountered this when she was a puppy and we were trying to housebreak her (I posted about this I think somewhere WAY back in the early days of the blog). When we removed some decisions from her daily routine we found that she was housebroken in no time!

I think Widget's biggest problem is that she feels that she is supposed to take control of all situations. She doesn't have the confidence to do so (as Tara the trainer pointed out) so that's when the crazies come in to play. Tara taught me how to respond to Widget (to remove some of the decision making from her list of responsibilities) and some great exercises to work on to help build Widget's confidence.

I don't expect overnight miracles but I will say that just after today's lesson Widget was looking at me differently. She did what I asked (and she got rewarded) and I think understanding the rules of the game a little better made her feel better.

She's such a cool dog, I really want everyone to see the Widget I know. Hopefully someday they will!

Yep, you read right. Widget went to the mall today. Her Paw Trek class met at the Arboretum. It didn't start off very well. Not awful, but Widget was pulling a lot on the leash and really fired up. I think part of it was my fault. We were running late and I was disorganized. She reads me like a book so I think she sensed my tension. After a little exercise she settled down a bit. We also worked on "ignore" when she spotted something "scary". I'd say "ignore" and give her a big bite of treat if she focused on me instead of the scary thing/person/noise. The mall started off very quiet but by the time class was nearly over there were more people and kids around. At first she didn't like all the new people she was seeing but with "ignore" and treats by the end of class she was actually taking treats from strangers... AND KIDS!!!! Yep, you read that right!

In her Thursday class she did fantastic up until the last few minutes. She didn't have problems with people or anything... until the last few minutes. Then she decided that she had been quiet long enough and barked at a woman (who is actually in her Saturday class too) approaching her.

I have to say though she's really making amazing improvements. It's frustrating when she'll be doing well and then take a step backwards, but we're taking way more steps forwards these days. I'm proud of her. It's exhausting for me but it's necessary.

It's been so hectic I didn't get a chance to update after Widget's first Paw Trek class. I thought she did great! She was a bit wary of the other dogs in class as she'd never met them before. She was SO much better with humans than I expected her to be though! I was so impressed! She didn't didn't walk all that nicely on leash for me (pulled a lot) but I think it was mostly because we were WAY at the back of the pack and she wanted to be up where the other dogs where. On the way back from our trek (we went to a park) she was at the front of the pack and at first was great but then she realized all the dogs were BEHIND her so she kept turning around to look at them!

Today I went to daycare to be there while Widget had a massage. Christina from Skillful Paws is awesome! The reason I went was because we wanted to see how Widget would be with a massage while I was around - would she be protective? would she relax? The answers are no and yes! She didn't really seem bothered or concerned by my presence. She kept her eye on me and if I moved she looked to see if I was going to take her home But she did indeed relax. A couple of big sighs and definitely fought off falling asleep (if I hadn't been there I'm sure she would have been napping during the massage!). There were even two active GSDs there which I thought would be more distracting but she didn't really seem bothered by them. At least not like she would have been previously!

I think everything we're doing for her is really working. It's not an overnight fix of course, but she's slowly learning to accept that life isn't so scary. People are nice and if you let them they'll pet you and give you tasty treats. She still needs some work on her dog-dog interactions. She loves some dogs and others she's not happy about. But I think she'll get there!

Another Gameskills (CGC) class tonight then on Saturday the Paw Trek class is going to the Arboretum (it's a shopping area for those of you not in Austin). She'll get to check out Amy's Ice Cream and Barnes and Noble. It should be interesting to say the least.