Cappy

"I have a dog for you," she said. I think that's what she said, the staff lady. The same one who directed me toward painfully shy, traumatized Cricket, and ball-obsessive, hyper Annie (Cricket was adopted, Annie recently went to a rescue in Canada). She doesn't regularly request that I work with dogs, and when she does it's dogs that really need the help. I don't recall asking her what Cappy's issues were. I only asked her what kennel. She looked for me while I was signing in. "Kennel 41."

A ~9 month old puppy bounced up at me. His half-white, half-black face looking excited and frantic as his tongue flopped and licked at my fingers. Bouncing, jumping, licking, as the dog in kennel 40 shrieked and barked and then down the entire row of kennels dogs began barking and jumping on their metal kennel doors. I put the Out For A Walk sign on his kennel, got my leash ready, and waited. I waited until he stopped jumping and his feet were all on the floor. I pushed the kennel door open a crack. He jumped on it and it slammed shut, renewing the barrage of barking down the row. Patience. Silence. Relax. Focus. It doesn't do any good to start yelling, "Off!!" and "DOWN!!" as some people do. I wait for him to stop then push the door open again. Again he jumps up. It takes a few times but within 30 seconds he stays down as I swing the door in. Simultaneously I get the leash over his head and push my way inside the kennel. His nails scratch and dig in to my legs and lower back as he jumps on me, but I stay calm and keep turning my back to him. No, jumping does not get attention of any kind! He stops and I secure the leash around his neck- it's a slip lead and it's not strangling him, I keep it loose but tight enough that he couldn't back out or pull it off.
 

Photo from SDDAC

I open the door and speed walk down the kennel row to the exit door. As we go through and the door shuts he jumps up on me, not making contact with my body this time. I do my best to have him walk nicely to the interact yard. If you pull, we stop. He is very responsive and turns back to me when I stop. I take the leash off in the yard. He immediately jumps. And jumps. And jumps! As I walk toward the bench he walks between my legs, he sits and lays on my feet, and jumps again and again. I grab some toys and wiggle them to get his attention. When I toss one he runs a few steps toward it then spins around and flings himself back toward me, crashing into my legs. Goodness, he's so worked up and excited he doesn't know what to do with himself! My hands were kept up at my sternum so he couldn't grab them, out of habit I keep my hands up around excited dogs. Keeps them out of the way of the dog, and close to my body (chest, face) in case I need to protect myself- though Cappy wasn't worrying me at all, he was just super duper excited. All he was doing was running circles around me, jumping on me, and leaning/weaving/sitting/laying on my feet and legs.

Cappy showing how he likes to position himself while I'm standing or walking.

My methods change depending on the dog, often I start by grabbing 2-3 toys and throwing the in succession to let the dog burn some energy before I ask anything at all of the dog, but as Cappy was not interested in toys here's what I did, ending with Nan Arthur's basic "Relax on a Mat" exercise though I had no mat [http://www.wholedogtraining.com/images/stories/Relax_on_a_mat.pdf]:

First I wanted to stop the jumping because it was painful. I got a handful of treats ready and my clicker. As soon as his feet staying down for about a full second I'd click and treat. He took treats nicely, if sloppily due to excitement. Kept at this for many minutes, gradually having him stay down for longer before I'd click and treat. I had been so quiet this entire time. Silent. He was ready now, more focused, I wasn't tempted to give any verbal corrections and he was focused enough that praise wouldn't spin him up even higher so I started telling him good boy. I asked him to sit, the first time actually giving him any kind of direction, and he did!! Though, instead of sitting facing me, he spun around and positioned himself to be plastered against my right leg facing the same direction I was. Any physical touch was too much for him to handle, he'd start bouncing again and would very gently mouth my hand with his cheeks- very slimy! So my hands stayed up except to give treats.

Eventually I started taking small steps backward and clicking & treating when he followed by walking instead of jumping up. One step and stop. One step and stop. Two and stop. One. Two. Three. Two. Three. One. Three. He was starting to understand how to follow face-to-face as I backed up instead of staying glued to the side of my right leg. Good! Now to add sit. One step back, stop, "sit," click & treat, one step back, "sit," click & treat, and so on gradually working up to taking several steps before stopping and asking him to sit. I worked my way around the yard over to the bench. He was doing great, very focused considering where he started just 10 minutes earlier. As I sat I simultaneously clicked and gave a treat then I stood back up immediately while he was eating the treat. No chance to jump up! Did this a few times, it's a good leg workout. Then sat before I clicked and gave a treat, waited for him to finish then click & treat again before he can think about anything else. Repeat several times. Then I sat, asked him "sit," he did, click & treat. Wait for him to swallow then click & treat again. I stayed sitting and clicked & treated him for sitting, or at least standing without climbing on me. Any time paws came up I stood up and turned my back to him, and he did come up a couple times.

Good boy! Cappy showing that he can 1) Not jump, and 2) Not be stuck to my legs.

Then I stayed quiet again, still sitting, waiting for him to choose on his own to make a good choice. Relax On A Mat. He's been heavily rewarded for sitting so he should offer it himself without me saying sit. I look at him as he stands in front of me. No surprise, he sat without me telling him to! Click & treat for sitting, wait a few seconds between each click & treat, then an awesome surprise showing he really was calming down: He laid down on his own! I gave him several treats, and after that no more treats for sitting. He showed me he was relaxed enough to lay down so when he stood up I waited for him to lay down before rewarding. I kept my hands up in my lap, silent, looking calmly and sleepily at him, breathing deeply and even doing a few fake yawns. In doing this, he was soon on his side and then his back, much more calm! His tail was wagging fast still but the rest of him was pretty still except his chest moving quickly with his heavy panting. I was rubbing his belly slowly, trying a TTouch zig-zag move I saw recently. After a while he sat up between my legs, facing forward, and I petted and massaged his chest, face, and back without him jumping, wiggling, or mouthing at all. It was a really awesome transformation! I saw a glimpse of what a calm and relaxed, happy boy he can be and it was fantastic.

The stages of relaxing and enjoying belly rubs:

"Hmm, I dunno about this."

"Hey, what are you..?"

"Oh, that's nice, maybe I should lay down more."

"Oooh, this is great!!"

"I love this!"

When my legs were going to sleep I slowly got back up to sit on the bench. He sat up under my legs.

That was on Tuesday the 7th. Two days later on Thursday it was easy to enter his kennel. I took the leash off and while excited he was jumping up much less frequently. I told him to sit and he spun around and backed against my right leg, looking up at me happily. I didn't see the frantic look on his face as I had on Tuesday. VERY excited still but not frantic. I clicked & treated for the sit, at least it was a sit! We worked hard for about 10 minutes. After that first click & treat I had him sit face-to-face with me, following and sitting, and he was stellar. If he moved against my leg, no reward. Another volunteer was in the yard next to me, observing as I told her what I was doing. He was doing great so I sat on the bench and put my hand on his shoulder. He was very quickly on his side and back getting calm TTouch type petting. I really need to order some TTouch material, everything I've tried has been so helpful for dogs like Cappy! I spent the majority of the time petting him like that.

Thursday I had him out for a long time, about 45 minutes total. He was a different dog overall! There are no quick fixes so yes he was still a little jumpy and Velcro-y but he was so, so much better than a week before. I took a lot of videos and some pictures. This video was one of the first when he was still a little spun up. For the sake of the video I let him misbehave some by mouthing, pawing my hand (easy to stop, all I would have had to do is pull my hand up to my chest), and when I stood up he jumped up. Once I gave him direction and told him to sit, he showed off really well!


Cappy also played with toys, which was the first time I've seen him do so. He chased a few different squeaky balls and had a great time! I practiced having him sit before throwing the ball, which is what I work on with every dog to teach them not to jump up for toys. Impulse control and patience are important skills.

I took Cappy for a walk and he was able to take treats and did very well, some pulling but learned quickly and will not be difficult to train to walk nicely. After I put Cappy away I went to the office to ask about a play group. The staff lady who sent me to Cappy said she thought Cappy and Lars would play great together. Nobody was available but they told me to come back at 2:30. It was about 1:15, and I hadn't planned on staying that long since I'm sick with a cold. I'm exhausted, coughing, sneezing, my goal was to get Cappy out and then a couple new ones then leave early. I'd have to wait. In the mean time:

Ramona, an older female chow chow who is vision impaired.

Photo from SDDAC

 Ramona had a note that said to move slowly, so I did. She looks much better now than in her pic, she's been spayed so has a bald belly but she was also bathed and brushed as she went to an adoption event last weekend. I found out that she is being picked up by a rescue, and is now out of the shelter! She was exceptionally sweet.

Her back is fine, just different colored fur from shedding I think.

Then I sought Frannie, who anther volunteer told me about. Frannie came in very pregnant and was spayed. She is a really little Staffie and is cute as a button!! She has many scars, I'm not if they know what caused them. It looks like her muzzle may have been wired shut at some point, and she has some other scars on her face and the top of her head. In the interact yard I sat on the ground and she wiggled and squirmed and curled up in my lap, and wrapped around behind me, and whenever I stopped touching and petting her she squeaked little noises and cuddled up closer again.

Photo from SDDAC

I must have had another dog or two out but I can't remember which! When it was almost 2:30 I went back into the office. I saw the lady who asked me to work with Cappy and told her all about what I'd been doing and that I was hoping to get him in a playgroup today with Lars. We made sure it was ok with the bosses and then I got Cappy back out and she got Lars. They did great! No photos as we were both busy monitoring their play, but we let them play for close to half an hour.

I left feeling great. Not physically, but emotionally and mentally I felt awesome. Later in the evening after going to the local farmer's market and dog park I was looking on the shelter website and didn't see Cappy listed. I looked over the photos 4 times and I didn't see his picture. There was no indication that he was at risk of being put down so I assumed he was adopted and had to ask. I woke in the morning to an email saying that yes, he had been adopted!! I was beyond thrilled.

Cappy reminded me a lot of Davy, not just because of his color but his personality. His love for life and people. His goofy, silly, happy puppiness. I cried when Davy was euthanized. I cried so hard I couldn't breathe, and even now I'm tearing up thinking of him. Davy could not be saved despite my training and love. It's one of the hardest parts of volunteering at the shelter, knowing that not every dog will find a home (the save rate at this shelter is an incredible 85% for dogs). Cappy did, and I really hope that this is a dream home where he can live happily the rest of his life.

CONGRATULATIONS CAPPY!!!!!