Shelter Journal 4/11/13

Started today with Margo again. I didn't get her out on Tuesday so really wanted to work with her today. I took her to the interact yard instead of the volunteer room. I neglected to visit the yard first to pick up the balls and toys so had a challenge or trying to hang on to her leash and block her while I picked everything up and put stuff in the bench chest. She immediately nudged the seat part up with her nose and tried to dive in to grab a ball. Clever girl. I took the leash off and tossed the Kong ball for her without asking for anything. She hadn't been taken out in a week so needed to burn some energy and do her own thing before I could expect any kind of attention from her. The Kong ball is holding up extremely well and I am impressed by it. She can break a tennis ball with a couple chomps but the ball, after several uses, doesn't have a scratch on it. During the first ~10 minutes of pretty much letting her do her own thing, while she was chewing the ball I'd approach, give her a couple treats on the ground and walk away. The point of that is to help her learn that just because someone comes up when she has the ball it doesn't mean the person is going to take it. It's ok to let go of the ball to get the treats, the ball isn't going anywhere. I then put her leash on, dropped some treats, and picked up the ball which was now all slimy and slobbery. I dropped it so it was just out of her reach, and as expected she lunged and pulled for it. It only took a moment for her to look at me. "Yes! Good girl," I told her, clicking when she looked and giving the treat when she then sat. Click and treat again for holding eye contact. "Ok!" and let her go to the ball, and again let her hang on to it and chew it for a couple minutes. We did this for about 15 minutes, and the last 5 minutes I did what I did to start by just giving her treats on the ground and walking away. She did so great today!

Next I got out a pretty new dog, Soria [no link yet]. She seemed very shy in the kennel, laying low with her ears back. Not tense or overly defensive in her posture; I wasn't worried. Her impound date was the 2nd, which was my first day at the shelter. I remember a black female pitbull was brought in while I was in the lobby area. She'd been found as a stray running along the road and some nice people managed to catch her and bring her in. I didn't ask today, but I'm 99% sure this is the same dog. The dog that was brought in on the 2nd didn't like being on leash, and when I went to leash Soria she was very uncomfortable with my hand tightening the loop around her neck. She had been fine, but as I tightened the leather piece (that prevents the loop from expanding and allowing the dog to slip out) she spun her head back at my hand. She didn't try to bite or even mouth really but it clearly wasn't something she was ok with. She walked very low to the ground and pulled over in some bushes and stopped and lowered herself even more. I thought she'd lain down so was trying to encourage her to get up and walk again. I crouched down, talking softly, and then I realized she was peeing! After she was done she seemed to feel much better. She perked up, walked taller, and had no problem getting to the interact yard though she did weave all around my legs. Again she wasn't very comfortable with me taking the leash off and spun her head back at my hand again. She warmed up pretty quickly, and I discovered she knew how to sit and was also good at laying down with a lure. Very sweet lil doggy.

Then was Sugar, a red and white pitbull. She was jumping all over the place before I even went into her kennel. I managed to get the leash on her quickly and off we went! In the interaction yard again it was all jumping. Jumping, jumping, jumping. She puts all her weight into her jumps and dug her nails into my legs almost every time. I really hate sticking my knee out  to block a jump but she was too worked up to sit, wasn't distracted by treats or toys, and I didn't want to be hurt. She eventually calmed down a bit, but every time anything happened- other dogs going in and out and playing in the other yards- she would revert to running around all crazy and rebounding off me. She eventually bit her own tongue (thank goodness not a result of me blocking a jump but due to her own clumsiness) and since I didn't want blood in the yard or on me I decided to take her back to her kennel. I'll definitely want to be working with her more to find out what works for her.

Photo from SDDAC

And then I got out Riley [Petfinder link] a some kind of terrier mix. He was doing fine, checking out the yard, and then a dog was brought up into the neighboring yard. I've never heard a dog scream in such a way that sounded human. He was completely focused on the other dog going AAAAAAARAAAAAARRAAAAA!! in a high note. I put him back on leash and decided to walk him up and down the fence furthest away from the neighboring yard, with him along the fence and me on the inside. This seemed to really help him. Back and forth, back and forth. He finally calmed down enough to take treats and I started playing LAT with him, hitting my clicker when he looked which caused him to turn toward me for a treat. I was able to walk him in a circle around the yard and he only had a few more outbursts. We ended on a positive note. Other than his reactivity he was a very sweet, cute, and attentive dog- attentive when other dogs aren't around.

Photo from SDDAC

Last dog today was Pickles [Petfinder link]. I've had Pickles out before and know she is VERY strong and pulls very hard on leash. She hadn't been out since I last took her out. She's also a jumper. In the interaction yard she was jumping all over me and, as with Sugar, had no interest in toys or treats. Ok, well, having Riley on leash worked to help him so I thought maybe it would help Pickles. At the very least it should help me control her jumping. It was like I'd done a magic trick. No more jumping! Even better, she wasn't pulling on leash. We walked circles around the yard for a while then when she was relaxed I took the leash off. Tada! No jumping. She'd also calmed down enough to play with toys. Usually when I tried to pet her it would get her very excited and she'd want to jump up so I didn't pet her much, but when she was able to stay calm during petting she looked so happy. I like this girlie.

Photo from SDDAC