The truth about love & affection

So I’m listening to Celine Dion’s Falling Into You album (old school!) right now. I put it on while I was showering and doing my make up, hair, etc. Sam and I are about ready to go out on a date to Carrabas. I know, fancy right? Ha. While I was doing my mascara I couldn’t help but notice that baby Trooper, the Australian Shepherd puppy that I am raising for my parents, was sleeping quietly at my feet. Oxford was in the doorway watching me and the other two dogs were downstairs, likely chewing on their bones or lounging in their doggie beds. But here’s baby Trooper, just 18 weeks old, on his best behavior. In fact, he is always on his best behavior. Well, except for when he poops in the house but that’s just bound to happen at his age! After all, he is IS a puppy! And puppies will be puppies, and humans will make mistakes when it comes to house training. Even I’m not perfect.

That’s where I got to thinking about the biggest mistake that puppy owners make and how without really realizing it until this evening I have managed to train the perfect puppy thus far. Mid mascara I paused to bend down and give Trooper a pet on the head and a scratch along his collar line (which he LOVES!), and it hit me:

Puppy owners love too much.

Simply put, puppy owners spend more time loving, playing, kissing, baby talking, touching and giving affection to their new best friends then enforcing manners, doing training and teaching puppy etiquette. As I reached down to pet Trooper it occurred to me that I can count the number of times I’ve been affectionate with him on one hand. That’s right, ONE hand! Obviously the number of times I’ve touched him or scratched him as praise isn’t included in this number. I’m talking flat out affection just “because.” Low and behold, I have a 18 week old puppy who is equally as well mannered as my 7, 5.5 and 2yr old dogs. The only difference is he acts silly, is still learning he’s not allowed to chew shoes and slowly but surely is getting better at holding his pee pee until he’s given access to go outside.

As a professional trainer, expectations for him and for any dog in my house for that matter, are high. Very high. So as I leaned down to give him a pet just “because,” it was as if I was looking into his eyes for the first time since he’s lived with us (just a little over a month). They are soft, light brown with almost a hint of grey. He is extreemly affectionate, attentive and hard working. This past month, he has worked very hard to finally earn his pet just “because.” Come to think of it, I’ve hardly talked to him at all if not in reference to training. And now that I think of it, I don’t really talk to any of my dogs conversationally!! I guess I make up for that with the amount of talking I do with humans ;)

Over this next month I fully intend to cuddle and pet Trooper more, and more. To scratch his tummy just because he likes it and to give him kisses on his muzzle simply for his pleasure. Yet, the truth of the matter is — we only have one chance to raise our dogs right from the start. To prevent bad habits, reward good behavior and set lifelong expectations of canine etiquette. So although some may call it cruel and unusual punishment to with hold affection, I call it necessary training and will power for the greater good and human-animal bond! What is a few months of doing it right in the grand scheme of having a forever companion? Just as I don’t intend for him to be crated forever, I don’t intend to strategically withhold affection forever. The truth is, by with holding affection thus preventing the creation of a spoiled dog, I’m guaranteeing a lifelong of happiness and joy without stress by ensuring training came first. He has the next 10-14 years to be hugged on. So until he’s finished learning all his basics, I’m using my love strategically.

Hot not bothered

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After a few hours of no power in my office yesterday I decided that I would give my guys a surprise visit. I often times wonder if, even a year later, they are on their best behavior when they anticipate my visits, or if in fact what I see is who they are each day of the week. To a certain extent one has to know that they do put on their smiling faces and courteous attitudes when I walk into the room. After all, to most of them I am the only visitor they will ever get. As the year came and went, there have been only two inmates in my program who have received a visitor. To Frankenberry’s dismay, Hallie Barry never did visit.

As I was escorted through the compound by a friendly female officer I could see a few dogs and their trainers out in the recreation yard, a few walking along the compound sidewalks at a perfect heel and one playing fetch in the play yard. I smiled thinking about how they had no idea I was watching –and for a moment, it was so nostalgic watching them go about their day unsuspecting of my presence. I entered the dorm through the back laundry door, per the usual, and adverted my eyes like always whenever I hear the showers running. Knowing that there might be inmates showering or in the bathroom –completely exposed — I’ve learned not to be embarrassed because it is what it is. I just walk in, and look the other oppositive direction. Always look the opposite direction!

Rease, Lee and Frankenberry were all inside lounging on their beds reading a newspaper or book. This is where Frankenberry confesses that he subscribes to Oprah magazine and loves it. Their dogs quietly greeted me with a tail wag and those super soft brown eyes. The guys’ faces lit up when they realized it was me and not another guard. My arrival always spreads like wildfire, so within a few minutes everyone had been alerted through the inmate grapevine and was back inside the dorm to say hello. Frankenberry was in one of the most cheerful and silly moods I’ve seen him in in a long time, and Mellor was strangely happy too. I’ve gotten used to Mellor’s unsettling demeanor, as he rarely smiles unless it’s slyly. For the first thirty minutes of my visit we all stood near the back windows where a warm breeze reliably flows through. Even on the hottest days of summer you can find relief standing in this drafty spot as the only inmate occupied building that is A/C is the chapel. We talked and caught up –discussed new articles from the APDT’s Chronicle of the Dog that they received last week. About three weeks ago they started attending group therapy sessions with a professional psychologist — a conflict management course. They reported that class has been going great and that together they are working out a lot of “superficial bullshit.” Maybe the therapy sessions with Dr. Gonzalez are the reason Frankenberry and Mellor were unusually cheerful. Whatever the reason, I hope to see more of it. It breaks my heart to see them sad. About a month ago Keitz had to have a front tooth removed. With cosmetic dentistry completely out of the question he was far from his warm and charismatic self for several weeks. Every week I’d assure him that tooth or no tooth, he was still the same and that his dog Schooner didn’t think any less of him. Maybe Schooner finally had a heart to heart with Keitz because he’s finally back to being himself and isn’t avoiding smiling anymore.

After pow wow time was over I made myself available to  help anyone with specific training needs. I was really excited to have inmates Dennison & Dunn ask me for help! I get a big kick out of being able to do live training of their dogs for them since I am usually very hands off. Part of being the fabulous training instructor I am (haha!) is knowing how critical it is to TEACH and not just show students how to train their dogs. Although I absolutely do take credit for the success of the program, I will never deny my inmate handlers the credit they deserve because THEY trained their dogs 99.9%! I rarely ever touch a dog for more than 60 seconds during a demonstration. I have a very ‘hand you back the leash’ attitude when it comes to teaching my inmates and my students in the free world. But yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I got to do some actual training myself with eager eyes watching. It was truly rewarding for me to prove to my inmates that I don’t just make this stuff up —and that I actually do train dogs! Rainier has been refusing to pick up his dish from the ground, so using the principles of shaping behavior we had him first touching, then nudging, then grabbing, then lifting, then bringing the bowl to us. Zest, on the other hand, would not pick up the bowl on cue! He would only pick up the bowl when he felt like it to play it with it. So, again, using shaping we made it worth his effort to do it on cue for us for some tasty pupperoni –compliments of the Doggie Deeva.

“Well I’ll be damned” Relosky said as both Rainier and Zest were picking up their bowls by the end of our session. “You make it look so easy,” he laughed. Experience my friends, experience!

I received a small round of applause, and lots of wagging tails. I left yesterday feeling fantastic. Like I made a difference. Was definitely the right choice to visit them instead of sitting in my office with no A/C. If I was going to be hot, I might as well not have to be bothered too.

 

 

Nothing but Time

After receiving an inquiry today from a blog subscriber, I decided a blog entry was long past due. My apologies for being so absent. It is not because I have forgotten about you and your support of all that I do. So much has happened I don’t know where to begin now! All I remember is that the last time I sat down to blog I somehow managed to delete the post about Duvall eating the rubber ball and having to have it surgically removed….I was very annoyed at my deletion mishap that at that point I think I temporarily called it quits. But alas, I realize (again and again), that is not the quantity of words written but instead the regularity and quality of the posts. So here’s to me being a good girl and vowing to post EVERY thursday. If you don’t see one from me when I get home from the prison, someone, please, please harass me ;)

I was lucky enough to get to take my camera last week to SFRC. The “puppies” are far from puppies, now all over 60lbs. And the dogs are quickly approaching their 18 month training mark this August. A few months ago Cayenne was pulled from the program and placed with a private puppy raiser in West Palm Beach. In his place we received baby Cheddar who continues to impress us all as the weeks go by. Being our third “round” of service dogs he is absolutely perfect and excelling at a rate that was far beyond our wildest dreams. At just three months he does at least half of the advanced behaviors…obviously not to perfection, nor does he need to this early in the game! Yet, with his wild and sharp attitude he is eager to please and even more eager to eat, hence his affinity for picking up his bowl and carrying it QUICKLY to the yellow food container. Now, if only he was as tall as pride he could just get it himself! A few pictures below for your enjoyment. We new refer to Rainier, our original prodigy puppy as “the original” and Cheddar as “PP 2.0….prodigy puppy 2.o!”

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