Am I rubbing off on Mika?

Comments

• dlroberts

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Hrm. That's an interesting one....
  
  Is it just your shadow she chases? Or does she chase other object's shadows (like a bird or other people)?
  
  Does she chase your shadow while on a walk, or just when you are moving around the house?
  
  I seem to recall reading somewhere that OCD in dogs can be influenced by boredom as well as a temperamental pre-disposition. Perhaps she needs even more stimulation like one or two days a week at daycare?
• MikaAndMe

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Dave, she just mainly chases my shadow, but when I say my shadow I technically mean my wheelchairs. I have noticed that she does mess with other shadows sometimes but she particularly likes mine.
  
  She doesn't chase my shadow in a walk, just while moving around the house. We have all hardwood and the lighting presents fairly dark shadows so maybe she just sees them as different in the house?
  
  I guess I should start looking for doggie daycare. I am home with her 24/7, however, because I don't work. Would you be suggesting daycare because stimulation of other dogs would be helpful or just a new environment every so often would be helpful? Or both? I take her places all the time but I didn't know if that could help the situation or be a factor.
  
  Thanks for the fast response and I hope to get this figured out soon.
• dlroberts

  January 2009 edited November -1

  How long has she been doing this? If she is primarily focusing on your wheelchair's shadow and mostly doing so in the house, it will probably be relatively easy to train her out of the behavior. I would suggest teaching her to walk "in position". You should be able to point to a side of your chair (front, back, left, right, etc.) and have her walk along with you in that position. I would use treats to lure her and a clicker to reinforce the behavior. Your goal should be to get her to focus on you while you are moving, rather than the shadow you cast. You should choose the side of the chair she walks on to limit her access to your shadow.
  
  Taking her places is awesome! Most definitely keep that up. I suggest daycare, however, because the 6-8 hours that Mika spends at daycare with give her both mental and physical stimulation that you can't provide elsewhere. She'll get to be social with other dogs and drain TONS of energy in a controlled environment where dogs have been pre-screened for temperament, so she's unlikely to have a "bad" experience.
• MikaAndMe

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Awesome Dave. Great advice. I really appreciate it. I am going to look for daycares today and I will work on training her to walk in position as stated above. I always use clicker training with her and she responds extremely well so it shouldn't be too hard. She has only been doing this for a few days so hopefully I can remove the behavior before it gets worse. Thanks again Dave!
• Calia

  January 2009 edited November -1

  If your wheel chair has spokes, like on a bike, they make some pretty interesting shadows. I've heard that some dogs are extremely attracted to spoke shadows
• dlroberts

  January 2009 edited November -1

  No problem. I hope it works!
  
  It also occurred to me you could do some place training. Rather than let her follow you around, train her to go to a place and wait for you to return. That will stop the behavior by avoiding the situation where she would have access to the shadows, rather than teaching her to ignore them though. So that would be my second choice if the first didn't work.
• Sangmort

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Wish I could offer some advice, but Dave seems to have that covered. Good luck! ~
• StaticNfuzz

  January 2009 edited January 2009

  Real quick....puppies go through phases as part of development. They notice different things at different times and can be quite focused on the new discovery.
  Dave gave some excellent advice.
  
  You might want to place her on leash to work out the exercises and that way she can not follow behind you or your chair. Or as Dave suggested building contact work like teaching her to go to her "mat" or "bed", opening things, or bringing objects to you. You could also teach her commands through light signals rather than clicker or voice, that way you have control over teaching her what is important and what to ignore as far as flickers and shadows.
  
  Go with the simplest solution first, i.e. busting the boredom through day care. Then work up to the light signals if that is a way you want to train if the compulsion does not diminish after day care or training at a center. Choose your center carefully and make sure they are willing to work with your situation.
  
  Snf
• MikaAndMe

  January 2009 edited November -1

  SnF, thanks as well for you advice. I hope that this is just a developmental stage as you briefly suggested but I don't think I will wait to find out as the training goes. I will let you all know how things come along and if your suggestions work. Thanks again!