What a terrific day for Pippy. We started the morning with a long walk at the hotel. At one point, I left an unattended scone on the desk and walked away. Pippy snagged the scone. This is a bad TRAINER moment – NOT a bad dog moment. I have not had the time to teach Pippy cues for wait, off, leave it, or down this week. That I failed to manage the situation was my fault. She just did what any normal dog would do – get the yummy stuff for herself.

I do not believe that Pippy barked at a single horse today. I could not be one hundred percent certain as she was in the kennel outside when not involved in behavior modification sessions. I was able to hear the dogs from where I was sitting and she was very quiet throughout the day - even when one of the horses was directly in front of her kennel. There was one point where I fully expected an outburst. I was unable to find a way to avoid passing very close to one of the horses just before one of our behavior modification sessions. She was a trooper and managed to pass by the horse with nothing more than making a few whining noises (and being fed a little bit of chicken).

She made HUGE progress in reducing the space between herself and another dog today. I even have hopes that we can begin a new protocol tomorrow afternoon where she parallel walks with another dog with a substantial distance between them. Like we have done with looking at a moving dog, we would plan on slowly reducing the distance between the dogs.

I believe Pippy managed to stay completely under threshold the entire day today. The vocalizations and behaviors I heard and saw today were those of a happy dog, who wanted to draw animals closer to her not chase them away. She even seemed to want to meet Pat’s pot bellied pig Sturgis today! I did not let them get very close, but I was ecstatic that she happily made the attempt.

In addition to our two behavior modification sessions, Pippy fully explored the tack room and barn. She found eggshells in the arena that must have fallen from a nest in the rafters and chased a few flies. She even climbed up onto a hay bale and checked out the food for the horses, mini-horse, burro, and pig.

She is now sleeping soundly on the bed while I do homework and type up this blog. This week has asked a lot of both of us, from stretching our creativity and flexibility to increasing our knowledge base and expanding our view of the world.

This is not the same Pippy I saw when we arrived a few short days ago. This is a much happier and confident girl with growing knowledge of basic manners, a sparkle in her eye, and a prance in her step as she continues to expand her horizons.

I am very happy to report that we had another good night last night with only one wake-up call to go potty (and pounce on a few more moths). Today, we started to get into a fairly consistent routine. While there is a slight variation in the daily schedule, each day begins at the hotel with taking Pippy out for a walk and practicing manners in the hotel room. Each Peaceable Paws day begins at 9:00 am with a mix of lessons for the humans mixed in with two or three behavior modification sessions with the dogs and a break for lunch. The day ends between 5:30 and 6:00 pm with us heading back to the hotel or observing a class or two at Peaceable Paws.

Today went better than I had dared hoped! It helped that I went into today’s session with a plan on managing Pippy’s behavior during the people training sessions and a written protocol for the behavior modification portions. Those plans made a world of difference for both of us. I need to say a huge thank you to Pat Miller for all of her support and flexibility and to the rest of the class for helping us deal with an unexpected issue!

We went for our morning walk where Pippy did very well working on leash manners. We then went to our class. I left her tethered in the car while I set up a designated space for our use during the human lessons. I set up visual barriers behind the classroom entrance so that Pippy could not see the other dogs enter and exit the building. I also set up a long-line hooked to the wall that gave Pippy some freedom and allowed her to have an all but bark free morning. She did get a little jumpy a few times when another dog would bark or somebody would enter the room suddenly, but she remained relaxed enough to explore the area, eat tiny bits of food and play with her squeaky toys a few times. During this time, we also played some crate games.

Then it was time for implementing more of our behavior modification protocol. We did have to punt on our set-up, but Pippy was a trooper today. Not only did we change the other dog, but the other dog’s handler and the location where we worked. We started out at the distance where we left off the day before with no noticeable stress! We achieved a positive conditioned emotional response (CER) in only a few looks at the other dog. We were able to decrease the distance between the two dogs significantly in only twenty minutes. It was a lovely, cool day so I then opened up the car and left Pippy crated there for the rest of the morning. She did beautifully as long as we kept at least a part of her crate covered.

We made an excursion around the barn during lunch, practiced some sits, and chased a few bugs. She remained under threshold the entire time and did not even return the barking of another, much larger dog. We also practiced trading high value items for treats when she managed to find some pieces of horse hoof behind the barn.

Our second twenty minute session had us moving locations again while keeping the same dog and handler. Even though there were dogs barking and other animal noises in the background, Pippy did a fabulous job. Again, we started at the distance we left off during the last session. She had one startle event when somebody entered the barn during our session and she regained her composure in only a few minutes. We were again able to decrease the distance between the two dogs during our session. The final distance change of the day made a noticeable alteration in Pippy’s behavior and she became more worried about the other dog. That is also when the startle event occurred. We were able to end on a high note when she was able to regain her CER at this new distance.

Pippy was a terrific teacher today. The lessons include that not all terriers chew shoes and get into things they should not, that one should never underestimate the resiliency of a terrier, that not all reactivity is created equal, and that very rude little girls can learn manners in a big hurry when somebody spends the time to teach desired behavior. Here are a few pictures from this evening.

First – a note about last night. Pippy is a real cuddle bug. I decided to leave her loose as she was sticking close to me. She was so quiet when she was ill, I did not want to take a chance of her becoming sick in her crate and being stuck in there miserable even part of the night. She snuggled right in on the bed and went to sleep (Okay, I did have to hide the squeaky toy she was gleefully eviscerating). At least she wasn’t eating any of the parts or stuffing, just happily pulling it apart like all good terriers do. About 1:30 am she became restless and we went outside for a quick potty break. She snuggled right back in and slept soundly until 7:00 am. She then played a bit while I got dressed and we made an uneventful trip out for her to go potty. 

Now, on to today. There is a reason today’s blog includes the word pioneer. As the accounts from our human pioneers make clear, a pioneering life of any kind can be horribly difficult. This trip is turning out to be truly pioneering for Pippy. I started seeing signs of problems on the trip out, but chalked those up to the stress of long-distance travel with a veritable stranger.

We really started our day around 8:30 am. There was another dog on a leash in the parking lot at the hotel and Pippy reacted in a way I had not seen previously. She began barking and lunging at the other dog long before the two of them even came close to each other. She and I did an evasive maneuver (having a party as we ran away) and I placed her in the car where she quickly quieted down. During the drive to Peaceable Paws, I kept trying to convince myself that I did not inadvertently bring a reactive dog to my internship (they try to avoid this situation in order to limit stressing the other five dogs and interns). This one event turned into several more as the day progressed and I quickly altered my plans and focused my efforts on working with a restraint frustration problem. All during the people portion of class, I used classical counter conditioning with Pippy in an effort to diffuse the behavior with some success. We use treats for the classical counter conditioning as it is the easiest of the primary reinforcers to manipulate. Of course, she is a little dog and fills up FAST! During our lunch/hike break, she did take a nap and we used the opportunity to move her to the tack room in preparation for serious work with modifying all of our dogs’ behavior while working in teams of two. Since Pippy was full up, my partner and I decided to work with her last.

During Pippy’s session, we did make some noticeable progress with her and were able to slowly bring her towards another dog while keeping her under threshold. She only let out a few short barks and was easily redirected. At this point, a new person made a sudden movement, and the behavior started anew – this time directed towards the human. She also reacted with a similar response to the sounds of horses neighing and a pig oinking. While we are still evaluating what we are seeing and making changes to the behavior modification protocol I had already started, it appears that Miss Pippy may have more issues than we suspected.

What would have been a dream world to so many dogs (and people, for that matter) has the potential to be a scary place for Pippy. Peaceable Paws is located on an 80-acre campus with woods, horses, wildlife, and a lot of things that Pippy would never have experienced on the urban streets of Indianapolis. All of these are now novel to her and every one of them a potential source of anxiety.

Now, before anyone thinks that Pippy is a “bad” dog, I want to remind everyone of a few things. We have no idea what she experienced as a stray on the streets of Indianapolis or how she was raised. She does appear to very much like other dogs, but have inappropriate manners. In addition, her successes in only two days have been huge. Pippy has learned her name, learned to sit to ask for food, has stopped actively begging for food while I eat, is one of the best cuddle bugs I have ever encountered, has quit mouthing my hands in play, has not had an accident, has not damaged anything other than her own toys, and has made measurable improvements in only few short minutes in response to the behavior modification protocol we started today.

While disappointed to discover the new behavior problem, I am exceedingly happy that the behaviors came to light at this time and place where there are experts available to help us help Pippy. Pippy is a lovely girl who only needs some time and dedication to help her succeed. I took these pictures of the now exhausted little girl earlier today and only a few minutes ago.

I picked Pippy up at the Humane Society of Indianapolis (HSI) this morning at 9:00 am to begin our adventures. At this point, Pippy and I had an entire history of a whole one and one half hours to get to know each other. This included our first meeting and a short photo session the following day. Of course, both these meetings included some quality training time, but mostly consisted of me watching Pippy be Pippy to see if she was a good fit for this trip or trying to get cute pictures. Eight and a half hours in the car with somebody you know well can be a challenge for people with close relationships. Put two strangers in the car and all bets are off. That the two of us had met only twice before created the potential for a horrible trip. Not only are we relative strangers, we did not even speak the same language - yet! (As far as we can tell, Pippy has never been taught anything except that she should pay attention when she hears a click and when she hears kissy noises. Oh, and she does seem to know that the horrible Ach Ach noise we humans make when annoyed means she should stop doing something.)

I wanted the trip to be pleasant for both of us and had come prepared with several small squeaky toys, treats, toilet paper tubes to fold over with treats inside, water from home, and two toys that could be stuffed with food and/or chewed on. Because Pippy and I were all but strangers, I was determined to make the trip and every interaction as positive a learning experience as possible.

I only have a short time with Pippy and my plan was to get training started the moment I picked her up. She had already demonstrated that she is one smart pooch and I knew she was going to be stuck in a kennel most of the day. I also knew that I was going to be tired and probably grouchy when we arrived at our destination. I was sure that dealing with a wild young terrier was not going to be high on my list of things to do after a long drive. Pippy might as well start thinking (and wearing herself out) early. I had already identified a list of several things I wanted Pippy to learn fairly quickly including her name, down, sit, relax, wait, the “look at that” game, and a start on a really good recall. I also wanted to at least start working on a go to place cue.

Of course, we all know what they say about the “best laid plans”. Pippy behaved beautifully in the crate in the car. After only a few minutes of whining, she settled right in and was quiet and alert when I regularly checked on her in the rear view mirror. She was lying on the towel just watching the world go by and seemed to doze off about an hour or so into the drive. Somewhere before we made our first stop in Ohio, she became sick. I did not hear a peep out of her. I had made a point to turn the radio down low so I could listen for signs of stress or in case she would notify me that she had to go potty. Either due to anxiety or carsickness (I am leaning towards anxiety at this point), Pippy threw up quite a lot of water. So I got her out, took her for a walk, cleaned up, put the now wet towel in the sun in the tail end of the car, put a clean towel in the crate, and proceeded on our trip.  

Now that she had been ill, I really wanted to avoid giving her much in the way of treats or other goodies until we arrived at the hotel and could get settled in. This is where most of my plans went out the window.

Even with an unhappy puppy tummy, the trip was much better than I ever expected. Not only did Pippy do exceedingly well in the crate, the weather was cool enough that we were able to get out and explore at each stop along the way. I learned that Pippy adores chasing locusts and crickets in the grass and we even went for a short jog at one stop where there was a mown grassy field. I also learned that Pippy LOVES to be held and carried.

We settled in at our hotel after I did a thorough check of the floors and under the flat surfaces in the room to make sure there were no dropped pills, chewing gum, or other items that Pippy might get into. In hopes of keeping her tummy happy, I placed on a few pieces of kibble at a time in a bowl for her to eat. She did very well and waited nicely while I put the food down each time. Once she seemed relatively calm, we went for a walk during which we met a lovely lady from Maine who was driving home from the races at Bristol. We then played a game with a squeaky toy where Pippy had to sit to get me to squeak and throw the toy. She then curled up quietly in my lap while i caught up on some computer work.

I brought my own food for the trip, so we worked on table manners while I ate. Pippy was surprisingly well behaved. Based on behavior I observed before the trip, I had made the assumption that she would need to be tethered while I ate and rewarded with little bits of food for calm behavior. She did try to beg once, but I only gave her tiny pieces of my tortilla when she would sit or lay down. I am now finishing my dinner while I type and she is sound asleep on the foot of the bed.

Goals achieved today: Name learned, practiced wait for food, and sits/downs during dinner. All in all, we did have a good day with bug chasing, some cuddle time, and a lot of the two of us learning about each other. I am going to go wake her up for another trip outside to potty and then we will have to work out our sleeping arrangements. Nighty, night everyone. The adventures resume less than twelve hours from now.

I have the delightful educational opportunity to attend a weeklong behavior modification internship with Pat Miller at her Peaceable Paws facility beginning on August 23rd. This will be my second internship. One of my goals while attending is to help a borderline shelter or rescue dog find a home. As with my last internship, I had opted to work with one of the shelter dogs from the Washington County Humane Society in Maryland (WCHS). Less than two weeks before class, I was made aware that WCHS had a lull in the relinquishment of dogs and that there may not be enough appropriate dogs to choose from. I truly wish every shelter in the country had such a problem. Of course, I already had in mind what type of dog I wanted to work with. This wasn’t looking good.  

Then I was informed that I could bring a dog that did not belong to me (my misunderstanding). I only needed permission from the owner (or organization) to bring one of their dogs. Thus began the search for the perfect training assistant.

I sent out a “Training Assistant Needed” ad to several well-connected friends in the shelter/rescue community on FaceBook (along with making a few phone calls). The “ad” indicated that ideal candidates for this position would have the following credentials: be four legged, furry, and of the canine persuasion, over 6 months old, friendly with other dogs and people, healthy, fully vaccinated, and weigh less than 20 pounds. Oh yes, they also had to come with some sort of behavior problem that needed addressed.

I might as well make a confession right now. I have never particularly liked small breed dogs.  Intellectually, I KNOW they can be wonderful family members or people would not adopt them, but I have met only a handful of small breed dogs that I truly liked. I had three reasons for choosing a small dog for this trip.

1)   Ease of handling – I have asthma and the heat wave has been very hard on me this summer. A small dog would be easier for me to exercise and adequately care for during our weeklong adventure together.

2)   Overcoming my own biases – Pat Miller, along with many of her assistants, loves small dogs. This would be the perfect place and time to learn about the delights and pitfalls of small breed ownership.

3)   Avoiding “Little Dog Syndrome” – I know that I am going to be the proud owner of a small (or smaller) dog some day and want to do my best to avoid raising a dog with all of those characteristics that tend to make me avoid small dogs. These characteristics include constant yapping, snapping at people, ankle biting, jumping all over people and objects, etc.

I knew there were several hurdles to cross if I wanted to borrow a rescue or shelter dog. Timing – I had given everyone less than two weeks notice to see if this was even possible, identify a dog, and make sure it was a good match. Lack of a foster history – I have training credentials, but have never registered with any agency or organization as a foster parent. Rules – I had no idea what rules I might be asking an organization to bend by taking one of their dogs out of state for a full week.

Much to my surprise, I need not have worried. The Humane Society of Indianapolis (HSI) and the Alliance for Responsible Pet Ownership (ARPO) viewed this as an opportunity to gain assistance with a dog that might otherwise have difficulty finding a home and quickly made arrangements that would allow me to borrow a dog in their care.

In a city of this size with record numbers of dogs being relinquished into shelters and rescues, one would think there would be plenty of dogs to choose from. Between the mandated class requirements and my own preferences, the field was quickly narrowed down to a handful of dogs. After meeting the candidate who appeared to be the most qualified on paper, the decision was made.

The chosen training assistant is……(insert drum roll here)……

Pippy Longstocking
from the Humane Society of Indianapolis

Pippy is a lovely rat terrier weighing in at 14.5 pounds who was taken of the street as a stray by a local animal care and control officer. She is believed to be about 8 months old. She was transferred into the care of HSI just about three weeks ago. She is almost overly gregarious with people and dogs and has a tendency to be a bit, okay, a lot on the rude side. She has obviously never been taught how to behave in polite company and might be on her way to developing a small resource guarding behavior with food. Both of these problems can be addressed during our internship together.

Our trek begins with an eight and a half hour car ride to Maryland on August 22, 2010. I will be updating the blog on a daily basis so others can follow our progress. So…let the quest for knowledge and new beginnings commence....

Man that stuffed chicken was good!

I'm not really sure why, but I get lots of treats
when I lay here just like this.

Sittin' pretty!

How 'bout this, does this get me treats?