Quote: Jenny Arntzen

Jethro is now two years old.

That can be the most trying time for some large dogs, I love the new signature pic BTW.

I am so discouraged I couldn't even post last evening after our 'walk' (wrestling match). It feels too difficult to put into words all the different events that happened. Suffice to say, I was walking Jethro solo and for some stupid reason I decided to take him out on his flat collar. I really don't know what I was thinking, other than, some misguided pity for Jethro always having to go out with a head harness on.

In my neighbourhood there is a large high school campus / park that covers two blocks. There is a walking track, swimming pool, and softball field at the east end, and a fenced soccer field at the west end. This is the area where I do my distraction training with Jethro because I can always count on encountering some form of distraction. Generally speaking we stay on the far side of the street, some days we can work in a little closer.

Last evening, even though were were on the far side of the street, we had four reactive incidents. It was a comedy of errors of sorts, because:

1) the aforementioned flat collar;
2) I met a friend walking his dog and we walked together (Jethro is fine with his dog);
3) we were walking clockwise around the high school campus / park;
4) the dogs Jethro reacted to were walking counter-clockwise.

We were doing fine, with two small dogs (one white) oncoming on leash across the street. Jethro was interested but I distracted him without incident.

Further on, another small grey dog was oncoming across the street and this time I didn't catch Jethro's interest soon enough and he went into a full blown reaction. I stood my ground and hauled up on the leash, effectively choking off Jethro's growl and bark. In the quiet, I was able to give my commands, "Leave It" "No" and "Sit". As he realized he had no traction and he couldn't breathe, he Sat. I said, This Way, and we moved forward out of the trouble.

About half a block further, Jethro just threw himself on the ground, flat out and lay there looking at me. We decided to head home and I decided to walk my friend Larry and his dog Bandit to his house first, and then walk Jethro home. Well, that course put us on a continuing clockwise direction around the fields. And who should be oncoming, but the two little dogs again, that we had passed earlier.

This time I applied a much more concerted effort to keep Jethro with me and picked up the pace. Jethro still got into enough of a reaction that I had to stand my ground. This time, I placed a well timed knee just behind his rib cage and that was enough to get him to slack off and let me get his attention back.

We rounded another corner, getting closer to Larry's house and our way home and there is the little grey dog coming counter-clockwise on its lap. This time I kept Jethro's eyes on me, and as they were getting closer, I threw a handful of treats on the ground and Jethro got busy eating those, not paying any attention to the passing dog. I knew it was risky, because Bandit was close by and also a treat pest, so as soon as the other dogs had passed, I called Jethro away from his nosing in the grass for treats. Of course, as Jethro moved out, Bandit moved in, and Jethro made a feint to go after Bandit. I caught him though, and we got away without too much trouble.

As we moved up the block, the little two little dogs were oncoming again, across the street. At this point we were able to put a big tree between us and the little dogs and I had Jethro Sit and Focus until they were past.

It was not a relaxing walk and when I got home I just cried with frustration that I had made so many handling errors:

1) flat collar;
2) not getting at least a block away from all the activity around the fields;
3) my timing continues to be a problem and I just don't seem to be improving;
4) deciding to walk my friend home instead of just going straight home after the first incident.

If I hadn't been walking with my friend, we would not have stayed in such a high distraction zone. I fear my decisions are just making my dog worse.

It seems, for every two or three good walks we have, when I get some confidence that things are going in the right direction, I have a walk like this and my confidence tanks.

for some stupid reason I decided to take him out on his flat collar.

In my neighbourhood there is a large high school campus / park that covers two blocks. There is a walking track, swimming pool, and softball field at the east end, and a fenced soccer field at the west end. This is the area where I do my distraction training with Jethro because I can always count on encountering some form of distraction. Generally speaking we stay on the far side of the street, some days we can work in a little closer.

Distraction work while walking with another person and the person's dog?

Walking with another person and Jethro for me would automatically mean "safe walk" and not "working on distractions walk."

Last evening, even though were were on the far side of the street, we had four reactive incidents. It was a comedy of errors of sorts, because:

1) the aforementioned flat collar;
2) I met a friend walking his dog and we walked together (Jethro is fine with his dog);
3) we were walking clockwise around the high school campus / park;
4) the dogs Jethro reacted to were walking counter-clockwise.

Why didn't you change direction?

We were doing fine, with two small dogs (one white) oncoming on leash across the street. Jethro was interested but I distracted him without incident.

Great! And enough for one walk!

Further on, another small grey dog was oncoming across the street and this time I didn't catch Jethro's interest soon enough and he went into a full blown reaction. I stood my ground and hauled up on the leash, effectively choking off Jethro's growl and bark. In the quiet, I was able to give my commands, "Leave It" "No" and "Sit". As he realized he had no traction and he couldn't breathe, he Sat. I said, This Way, and we moved forward out of the trouble.

Again, why not change direction after (or even BEFORE) the first incident?


We decided to head home and I decided to walk my friend Larry and his dog Bandit to his house first, and then walk Jethro home. Well, that course put us on a continuing clockwise direction around the fields. And who should be oncoming, but the two little dogs again, that we had passed earlier.

No kidding.

This time I applied a much more concerted effort to keep Jethro with me and picked up the pace. Jethro still got into enough of a reaction that I had to stand my ground. This time, I placed a well timed knee just behind his rib cage and that was enough to get him to slack off and let me get his attention back.

Why didn't you turn around, calmly, and stop facing the other dogs over and over?

We rounded another corner, getting closer to Larry's house and our way home and there is the little grey dog coming counter-clockwise on its lap. This time I kept Jethro's eyes on me, and as they were getting closer, I threw a handful of treats on the ground and Jethro got busy eating those, not paying any attention to the passing dog. I knew it was risky, because Bandit was close by and also a treat pest, so as soon as the other dogs had passed, I called Jethro away from his nosing in the grass for treats. Of course, as Jethro moved out, Bandit moved in, and Jethro made a feint to go after Bandit. I caught him though, and we got away without too much trouble.

Lots of actions you knew were bad choices.

As we moved up the block, the little two little dogs were oncoming again, across the street. At this point we were able to put a big tree between us and the little dogs and I had Jethro Sit and Focus until they were past.

Again ....

It was not a relaxing walk and when I got home I just cried with frustration that I had made so many handling errors:

1) flat collar;
2) not getting at least a block away from all the activity around the fields;
3) my timing continues to be a problem and I just don't seem to be improving;
4) deciding to walk my friend home instead of just going straight home after the first incident.

If I hadn't been walking with my friend, we would not have stayed in such a high distraction zone.

I fear my decisions are just making my dog worse.

I fear those decisions were unwise too. So move on! You've thought about them and written them. You know them now.

It seems, for every two or three good walks we have, when I get some confidence that things are going in the right direction, I have a walk like this and my confidence tanks.

"Gain some confidence" turned into "careless risk-taking."

If I'm reading it right, timing was a small part of the issue. The big thing was choosing to encounter situations over and over that were too close, while you were distracted with a friend, and continuing after the dog was ramped up and you were anxious.

Human error. That means "easily correctible by human."

I'd really focus on not putting the dog into situations where he is set up to practice his reactivity. Too much, too fast .... and you knew it.

So .... easy to fix something you know, and counterproductive to indulge in guilt and confidence-flogging. Right?

PS

When I work with a dog like this, I'm alone. Or, if I'm not alone, then it's a no-distraction no-trigger walk, because of my own divided attention.

The first incident would probably have prompted me to shake it off and let the dog shake it off with some upbeat ob work in a no-trigger area. Then home.

JMO! Others may have different opinions about continuing .... this is just what I would do.

Oh, Jen Jen, Jen. Why should you be more perfect than the rest of us? One out of four bad experiences is about par for the course.

Keep your head up. You're trying. That's all Jethro could ask, and exactly what he needs. If you shut down, then you will undo all that you've accomplished this week.

I wasn't going to post on this thread today because we had, IMO, a lousy day tracking, but now I'm going to...
Feeling a little overconfident after yesterday's tracking (and a little inferior because a 16wk old pup was at the same level we are), I combined the two exercises that 24 hours ago I was so careful to keep separate. Combine that with a new field (with many more ants) and a disregard for wind direction, I set Sadie up to fail, and fail she did. She blew both turns, lost the track entirely twice, and didn't offer a down on any of the articles. When I tried to help with the down command, she left the track to down by my feet. (I hope you're paying atention; I really wasn't going to post this, and I may have to answer for it!)

And now, my sweet Jenny, comes the important part...
I know how to correct this, thanks to Anne.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going back to the last thing that was tried and proofed. I'm going back to working the same pattern that has worked for the last two weeks. Once she is solid again, I may offer some challenges on a baby track, independent of our norm, but that remains to be seen.

P.S. rereading this, it sounds condescending. I promise you it's not. I'm trying, in my own way, to relate to your predicament and encourage you. We all make mistakes, but that doesn't mean there's something wrong with us. Pick yourself up, ask yourself what you need to do to get back to that happy medium, and get back to helping that boy of yours.

This is how I'm seeing it, I have noticed me doing these things with Logan...

A. Your correction is too late because Jethro is confrontational before you realized it. As soon as he makes eye contact, those ears go up or he stands taller or that tail has raised behind your vision, he's already done it which is why he takes up to the next level.

B. Your reaction is not likely calm and collected, I'm betting your tense all over, adding to his tension...until you can force him to sit after the fact. Stress stress stress. Be mindful of how tense vs relaxed you are when you are walking, when you see a trigger and when you correct him.

C. Your attention is compromised with your friend there...no good. Walk the little one with him.

D. How does your friends dog react? if he does anything but ignore the other dogs, that dog is adding to it...even if its friendly antics.

Don't stay discouraged for long, learn from mistakes and move ahead. Take a breather and when you're calm and collected, go for it.

Logan broke a down stay as I was walking away, he didn't move but he stood up behind me. Its like I could feel it, I looked and here he was staring at me....I walked toward him with eye contact and he slowly laid down but never stopped staring....his next move would be to take off and run around if I walked away then. I calmly took him by the dd collar and put him back one dog length to where I left him. No jerking, no choking, just pulled him down, stay, he looked away and I knew we were good. I was ready for him to try biting me, but he did not. Good choice. He held a perfect down stay with these little sharp winged birds flying low to the ground around him. I rewarded him mid stay after seeing him longly watch one but snap his attention back to me. At the end he got to play chuck-it fetch.

When you say 'I was ready for him to try biting me, but he did not' what do you mean? Just a curious mind, nothing meant by it.

Today both Radar and Mercy are ill so we missed tracking with the group, but I worked on some pet tricks and obedience inside together and separate. Both dogs tend to forget their names and respond to the other when I've got a toy or treats, so one was in a down and had to stay there while the other went through the routine and switch. It went well.

Tracking

Today my Bindi and I went to training. We were blessed with being able to pass our canine good citizen test and the trainer says she feels bindi is ready to enter rally obedience trails. I would like to take Bindi to some matches first to help her get used to the atmosphere. Was blessed to see my girl ace the CGC test!
Today I will work with Cody on pivots and healing. Terra, has stepped on the block of wood Jerry made for the dogs to pivot on. So now I will begin to train her pivots as well.
I am trying to make sure the foundation of heeling is really understood by my pups.

Love hearing about all you guys are doing with your dogs. sharon and my motley crew!