This is part two in my five-part blog series chronicling our one-on-one training sessions with Pike. If you're curious about what happens in them and how sessions like this might differ from group classes, follow along. Read part one in the series. If you're just joining us, welcome. To recap the situation, Pike is a two-year old Weimaraner-Vizsla mix. A Weizsla or Vizmaraner, if you will, depending on which camp you belong to. We are the former because it's way easier to say: Wee-shlah. Wait ... that's a thing? Who on earth would put those two breeds together??? I know, right??? I don't know what to tell you. Both breeds are beautiful, but high-strung and with off-the-chart energy levels. It seems sort of crazy to double up on the energy end of things, but hybrids are all the rage these days, so I guess it was bound to happen. Despite having been through puppy obedience training and a more intensive two-week boot camp series, we were still having some issues with him. He was obsessed with barking out the window at people and animals. He was reactive to loud vehicles and anything on wheels: motorcycles, scooters, bikes, large trucks—you get the picture. And he was frequently leash- and dog-reactive. Not in an aggressive way, but he would be unable to control his impulse to jump, bark, lunge, and bite his leash if we encountered another dog while on a walk or run. He really, really, really wants to make friends with them. While not dangerous, per se, we felt that we needed to get these behaviors under control before they did become a danger to either someone else or to him. So we enlisted the help of an amazing trainer--Ashton's K9 Classes—to help guide us on how to be better parents to him. WEEK THREE Class was held in the park again. And, right out of the gate, we had our first test: a just arriving motorcycle club. Now, granted, this club consisted of three seniors on trikes which are barely louder than an electric car, but still ... wheels and a motor. It's a trigger for Pike. Or, should I say, was a trigger for him? He was definitely curious, but he didn't react outside of looking in their direction a couple of times. You might not think that's a big deal but, trust me, it's YUGE! Score one for Ashton and Pike! We proceeded to practice our leash walking as we navigated to our destination for the evening: a busy bridge with lots of pet and human traffic. And I have to tell you, the prong collar I was so hesitant to use has continued to make a world of difference. He still does some minor pulling, but it's easily brought under control with a slight correction. I'm fairly certain this is happening because my partner and I aren't necessarily on the same page about when and how to correct. His legs are longer than mine are, so he's able to walk faster and his strides are larger, which allows Pike to walk at a quicker pace than he can with me. But I think it's important for Pike to be able to walk properly for both of us, so we'll continue to work on that. THE LESSON This week's focus was working on Pike's reactivity to other dogs. Ashton brought her insanely well-behaved dog Bentley to aid in the training. That's him in the photo above. She and Bentley would start at one end of the bridge and Tracy and I would take turns walking Pike towards them. Then, we'd all turn around and do it again. The goal was to get to a point where Pike wouldn't react to Bentley. In a relatively short period of time, we went from his wanting to go over and check out Bentley as they passed one another, to Pike completely ignoring him. Ashton had us move to a second location to continue working on the task so that he didn't just become accustomed to performing it in a single location. We also learned how to do a neat, quick pivot with him mid-walk to change direction. It's sort of like doing a pick and roll in basketball and—humblebrag—I totally nailed it. Darius Garland, if you are reading this post, I am totally here for you if you need someone to practice with. Because we were in a public park on a glorious evening, there were lots of people out. And lots of people with dogs. How did Pike do? FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. He kept his cool and didn't bark or run towards anyone. He didn't really even pay any attention to them. Another point for Ashton and Pike! OFF-LEASH TRAINING We ended our session with some off-leash training using our e-collar. Tracy is a big runner and loves to spend time out on wooded trails. He's taken Pike with him before, but doesn't completely trust his recall skills enough to have him unleashed. This has led to at least one incident I am aware of where feet were tangled in the leash resulting in a fairly nasty fall. For the human, not the dog. We want to make sure nothing like that happens again. The Dogtra e-collar is a great training tool for practicing this skill. We set the two dogs loose and allowed them to run and play and then we'd randomly call for Pike to come to us. If he didn't, we'd use the vibrate feature to remind him what his task was. Does that hurt him? No. In all honestly, the vibrate setting feels very much like when your phone is set to vibrate and buzzes in your pocket or hand. So, it's like we're "calling" him and the collar is his phone. And, great, now I have "Hotline Bling" on repeat in my head. Sigh. Oh, and did I mention that another motorcycle cruised through the park while Pike was off leash ... and he didn't react at all? That right there is a solid hat trick for Ashton and Pike. OK, BUT WHAT HAPPENS OUTSIDE OF CLASS? Kids are always better at school or when they're in the care of someone else, right? That may be true, but I can honestly say that Pike has been doing really well. There are two super reactive dogs that live down the street from us. Last night, I could see Tracy and Pike rounding the corner as they were returning from their walk, and I could hear that the dogs were outside (one is a Border Collie with an insanely loud, distinctively high-pitched bark, and he was going to town). I asked how Pike did in that situation and Tracy said that he really wanted to react but didn't. He managed to keep it together. Yes! In an ideal situation, they would have turned and gone a different direction to avoid that situation altogether. But people in our village love dogs. They're all over the place. And very few are well-trained. I'm not sure we could continue to find paths that would have us avoiding every crazy dog out there. And as much as we want to make sure we're setting Pike up for success, he's eventually going to have to learn to deal with these situations. We just need to continue to manage our expectations and be patient if he doesn't always nail it. But he did, so it's a win. His barking at things outside is also improving. And I'm not even having to distract him. He's just doing much less of it on his own. It's not perfect, there are still some barks by times, but he now stops on his own much of the time. Or, instead of barking, he'll do the classic Weimaraner grumble. I'll take it. But my favorite win of the week was when I dropped him off at daycare. He really loves going there and gets super excited as soon as we pull into the parking lot. When we get out of the car, there are times when he's pulling on the leash so hard it makes it tough for me to control him. And when he gets inside, his energy level ramps up even higher, with lots and lots of jumping. But this week, he was relatively calm as we got out of the car and walked inside. Once we were inside, I made him sit until I told him he could break. And he did! Now, he did jump on Liz, the daycare person, but he loves her so very much. We'll probably need to work on that because Liz is tiny and he could do some damage if she's not prepared for him. Baby steps. IS IT WORTH THE COST AND TIME? I am enthusiastically recommending one-on-one training. I think classes are great, especially for socializing a young dog and getting them used to being around other people, but one-on-one training allows you to focus on specific behaviors that need to be addressed. The one thing I didn't love about the boot camp training was that it did indeed give us a well-trained dog, but *we* remained untrained. And the whole thing about training is that you're not just teaching your dog to perform skills or tricks, you're learning how to communicate with him or her so that you're both speaking the same figurative language. Even though Pike knew how to do things, we didn't know how to ask him to do those things. The trainer knew, but it was impossible for him to teach us everything we needed to know in the few hours we had as a follow-up when Pike was returned to us. And, yes, the trainer said that we could call or message with any questions and that he would come to us and do refreshers if we needed him to, but you know there would have to be limits to that. The guy has a billion dogs he's training. And those owners have a billion questions. There's just not enough time to deal with all of them. In-person training has absolutely helped us bridge that communication gap. I also want to point out that, just like humans need to continue learning throughout the span of their lifetime, dogs do as well. They're smart, inquisitive creatures with brains that need to be enriched. Once we complete these sessions, we'll be looking to continue in some form. I'm not exactly sure what that will look like, but I think it's important for people to have this information in the backs of their minds. Training isn't a one-and-done thing. It's a lifetime investment, from both a time and a money perspective. Please make sure you're willing to commit to that before you add a fur bud to your home. The shelters are overflowing with people who weren't. So, with that said, bring on lesson four! Until next time ... WOOF! Associated song: Cool & Calm by Sticky Fingers
#mybarkinglife #woof #weislasofinstagram #weisla #weimmix #weizsla #vizmaraner #frenchie #frenchiesofinstagram #pike #beezy #omar #bostonterrierlove #bostonterriersofinstagram #bostonterriersforever #frenchie #frenchielove #dogs #dogsofinstagram #dosomegood #rescue #donate #shelterdogs #obedience #dogobedience #dogtraining #dogtrainer
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |