Reactive Dog Theatre: Act 2- a Date with Rainey
I took Rei and Sage for a walk in some town land that is bisected by utility lines. E-W electric lines, N-S water lines, and if you go far enough down the water line you get to a gas line and down the valley a bit is the RR line. Between and among all these lines is nothing but forests and old paths, frequently used by horses and in the winter, skimobiles. There are a few hundred acres here and since nobody seems to like the woods anymore (mud, bugs, poison ivy, too hot, too cold, spiders, snakes: people are silly.), it is a GREAT place to take my dogs and I have RARELY met anyone in there at all. I used to let them both off leash, but have mended my ways this summer and always keep Sage on a retractable leash, fastened to his Webmaster harness. Reilly is very reliable and I allow her to go leash free.
Today I went to this woods at a time I don't usually go- late morning- and I knew our odds for encountering horses were higher, even though its a weekday. I still thought it would be unlikely, but I chose a loop that was about half out in the open powerline meadow corridor so I could see anyone we might meet well in advance. The powerline corridor is hilly, so from the tops you can see the other tops pretty well, and down into the dips between hilltops. We met a group of three horses and riders coming our way, and as luck would have it we were in the very best place in the whole acreage that we could be to have a successful outcome for Sage.
We had come down a hill and the trail split- left was high and dry and rocky and right went low through some wide mud and puddles. We went up and left and at the top of the path, we spotted the riders cresting the next hill. Since I already had Seiji leashed, I just moved next to him and held the handle on his harness. Rei was near me, so I leashed her on her short leather leash, which I carry when she is offleashing. And we stood there. And in a surprisingly not-panicking voice, I called out to the riders, who had stopped to assess the situation, that I had my dogs leashed and would hold them, but one will bark.
In fact Sage was standing alert ears and tail up and puckering his whiskers already. I didnt fuss him, though. He was going to bark at the horses anyway. I can distract Sage through an encounter with treats, but my hands were full of leash and he doesnt learn anything he really needs to know by being chummed anyway. He will only learn that horses aren't going to harm him if he has the experience of them passing him and discovering for himself that they really, truly dont care about him. Ideally he would have this experience several times in his life and really believe it.
The riders said barking was fine, and that they'd take the lower way. I thanked them. Sage barked at the horses passing below and the bushes partially blocked his view of them at times. He did not lose his mind, he dindt buck, he didnt lunge, he just stood and barked. The horses passed calmly and slowly. I discovered after a moment that Sage had shut up. I told him softly what a good boy he was. He barked a little more, then he was quiet and he SAT. I smiled and praised him. He didnt look at me, but he WAS much less freaked out than I imagined he'd be.
He stood up again and barked a few more times. The horses were passing behind now- the way we had come from. He stood up to better see the last one over the bushes, but the harness held well. (Seven Stars for the Webmaster Harness!) No choking, no escaping. He stood normally again, and we watched the three horses from behind as they went up the next hill - much less scary from behind, he looked at me on his own and I treated him. Reilly too- who I know was perfect. Sage was able now to divide his attention, so I cookied eye contact and told him I was really proud of him. I was also really proud of ME for having established the habit of keeping him leashed and harnessed in the first place by default, because the whole thing would have gone to hell instantly if I had had to be screaming his name as he went hind brain on us all and charged the horses.
He turned away from the departing horses on his own so I went with it and we kept on the way we were going. I released Reilly. I thought about much more poorly that would have gone if we were in the forest on a narrow trail. How much harder it is for Sage to believe the horses are fine if I drag him flailing and barking off trail so the horses can pass. I am content to figure that out later and just enjoy the much better response we got out of Sage today.
We went back to the car and I nuzzled the boy when he loaded up in the back of the Crudmobile. He did great I told him. I kissed the top of his crooked nose and closed the tailgate. I called Rei to hop in the backseat and discovered she had ground some nasty brown paste into her shoulder and ear and cheek when I was loading Sage. So much for my perfect dog! Crudmobile or not, mud and wet are okay but I do not like poop or dead thing smeared on my seats, so I grabbed fistfulls of ferns to clean her off somewhat before loading Rei into the back seat. Back home, Reilly got a nice bath with mango dog shampoo, and Sage got a "Get Out of Bath Free" pass from Community Chest for his efforts.
Today I went to this woods at a time I don't usually go- late morning- and I knew our odds for encountering horses were higher, even though its a weekday. I still thought it would be unlikely, but I chose a loop that was about half out in the open powerline meadow corridor so I could see anyone we might meet well in advance. The powerline corridor is hilly, so from the tops you can see the other tops pretty well, and down into the dips between hilltops. We met a group of three horses and riders coming our way, and as luck would have it we were in the very best place in the whole acreage that we could be to have a successful outcome for Sage.
We had come down a hill and the trail split- left was high and dry and rocky and right went low through some wide mud and puddles. We went up and left and at the top of the path, we spotted the riders cresting the next hill. Since I already had Seiji leashed, I just moved next to him and held the handle on his harness. Rei was near me, so I leashed her on her short leather leash, which I carry when she is offleashing. And we stood there. And in a surprisingly not-panicking voice, I called out to the riders, who had stopped to assess the situation, that I had my dogs leashed and would hold them, but one will bark.
In fact Sage was standing alert ears and tail up and puckering his whiskers already. I didnt fuss him, though. He was going to bark at the horses anyway. I can distract Sage through an encounter with treats, but my hands were full of leash and he doesnt learn anything he really needs to know by being chummed anyway. He will only learn that horses aren't going to harm him if he has the experience of them passing him and discovering for himself that they really, truly dont care about him. Ideally he would have this experience several times in his life and really believe it.
The riders said barking was fine, and that they'd take the lower way. I thanked them. Sage barked at the horses passing below and the bushes partially blocked his view of them at times. He did not lose his mind, he dindt buck, he didnt lunge, he just stood and barked. The horses passed calmly and slowly. I discovered after a moment that Sage had shut up. I told him softly what a good boy he was. He barked a little more, then he was quiet and he SAT. I smiled and praised him. He didnt look at me, but he WAS much less freaked out than I imagined he'd be.
He stood up again and barked a few more times. The horses were passing behind now- the way we had come from. He stood up to better see the last one over the bushes, but the harness held well. (Seven Stars for the Webmaster Harness!) No choking, no escaping. He stood normally again, and we watched the three horses from behind as they went up the next hill - much less scary from behind, he looked at me on his own and I treated him. Reilly too- who I know was perfect. Sage was able now to divide his attention, so I cookied eye contact and told him I was really proud of him. I was also really proud of ME for having established the habit of keeping him leashed and harnessed in the first place by default, because the whole thing would have gone to hell instantly if I had had to be screaming his name as he went hind brain on us all and charged the horses.
He turned away from the departing horses on his own so I went with it and we kept on the way we were going. I released Reilly. I thought about much more poorly that would have gone if we were in the forest on a narrow trail. How much harder it is for Sage to believe the horses are fine if I drag him flailing and barking off trail so the horses can pass. I am content to figure that out later and just enjoy the much better response we got out of Sage today.
We went back to the car and I nuzzled the boy when he loaded up in the back of the Crudmobile. He did great I told him. I kissed the top of his crooked nose and closed the tailgate. I called Rei to hop in the backseat and discovered she had ground some nasty brown paste into her shoulder and ear and cheek when I was loading Sage. So much for my perfect dog! Crudmobile or not, mud and wet are okay but I do not like poop or dead thing smeared on my seats, so I grabbed fistfulls of ferns to clean her off somewhat before loading Rei into the back seat. Back home, Reilly got a nice bath with mango dog shampoo, and Sage got a "Get Out of Bath Free" pass from Community Chest for his efforts.
Comments
Koda would react the same way, I think. Since he has come into his manhood, like 3 weeks ago lol. He has taken to barking at anything that comes our way unexpectedly. The mailman got a piece of his mind yesterday when we walked out the front and there he was at the end of the driveway. It's just the Kai way, and it is completely normal. If Sage wasn't scared or lunging, then I think he did a great job and you can't expect any better than that. You both stayed calm, and had a great walk. I'm so excited for both of you. I need a Ruffwear. That handle would come in handy.
One of our friends has two adult male malamutes, Sage is a huge fanboy of these awesome mals and behaves like a curly kissy puppy when he greets them. He is calm and polite walking with them and has been to their house once a few years ago when we had Dog Friends Lunch. When Jen added a third malamute- a female pup born in late January, came home in March, I hoped Sage would meet her because we walk with the mals sometimes still and I wanted to continue to do so. I knew that Sage is gentle with very young puppies, and I knew the sooner I could get him to meet Rainey the better the odds of them getting along. All year long however, either Jen was walking at another time or when she joined our pack, I only had Reilly with me due to Sage's limited group outing schedule. I observed Rainey greeting the dogs we know and she seemed reserved and calm, not hyper and pushy or puppy annoying, not pushing buttons. I finally arranged for Jen and I to walk our dogs together yesterday, knowing that Jen is the rare person who will not get angry at me, who knows what dog talk can look like, accepts a certain amount of dog language and has known Sage for the whole time I have had him.
It should be noted here that while there are many exercises to help reactive dogs learn to interact with new dogs better, at a certain point you need to have real dogs available to work with- stable bombproof dogs, in control and whose owners understand and don't mind subjecting their dogs to the canine "Tourettes" outburst that we're trying to work through here. So in conclusion, a significant amount of the meat of reactive dog work requires cooperation of people and dogs that are very hard to find, rendering these exercises practically useless to the home dog owner, however well informed and well intended.
I knew I could run this two ways: one is to play it like a normal walk where we know everybody and just let the dogs greet like they always do. I'd have Sage drag a leash so I could grab him quickly. The theory is that this makes less of a big deal out of it and I cannot transmit any tension down the leash to him, or contribute to barrier frustration, or inhibit his natural dog language curves and body language. After much experience, training, consultations and research I have a lot of doubt now that in Sage's case the leash-transmission thing is anything more than a very minor contributor to his reaction/no reaction, although I know in some other cases it is a large piece of the problem.
The second way is to manually control the greeting with both dogs on leash and allowed to approach and sniff and then briskly get them walking, then allow a longer investigation, break it off and continue the walk. However, this is very different from how he typically greets friends for a group walk and looks very much like the typical out for a leash walk bark at the dog scenario. I also felt uncomfortable with the one-one greeting and felt that the group dilutes the intensity of the greetings and Sage would feel much less on the spot if we just played it like a normal group walk. He has met new-to-him dogs that all the others know belong to our group before this way- new second-dog puppies, and one adult female who had spent a year in Hawaii since Sage was a pup, always with good results.
Either way and regardless of how the greeting went, Sage was going to do this walk on leash anyway, or if it went horribly bad, I would bail out and just take him home. I hemmed and hawed and went with Option #1.
The Mals got outside first, then I let mine out. Sage was very happy to see the boys and went right into his greetings and appeasement dance. The male Malamutes were their usual selves, but the excitement level was high and after only a quick lick on her flews from Sage, who was in a subordinate, appeasing low position, Rainey wanted to play with him and got up high on him with her paws on his back. He objected and roared at her, and she roared back, and we caught them immediately. Not even a full "one Mississippi" of snarking went by. Rainey recovered beautifully and didn't seem worried, Sage grumbled and barked at her a few more times, but settled down. We went ahead with the walk, with the dogs off leash except Sage (4 ft leather leash to his harness) and Rainey ( 15 foot retractable)- I told Jen to walk Rainey ahead of us, which allowed Sage to see her and mostly from the less threatening (to him) back end, and it showed him that we were ALL going on a walk.
As we walked I felt stupid for allowing the introduction to go so crappily, when I could have done it the controlled way. "At least Rainey will fight back" Jen said as we walked. I thought- fight back? I guess so, but she was being a teenager idiot to pounce on top of his back like that. Then I felt bad that I had waited so long- Sage being good with young puppies is NOT the same as being good with rude adolescents, which Rainey now was (she is about his size, if not his weight). It should be noted here that Sage was not doing a correction, as Reilly would have- he was telling her to GET THE F*CK OFF ME!!! WHAT THE H3LL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?. That is the difference between Sage's reaction and a normal dog teaching correction, which is quick and matter of fact.
I felt better as we went because Sage seemed normal again, Rainey seemed happy go lucky and was not paying much attention to Sage at all, and Jen did not seem upset that Sage roared at her puppy. We decided to let Rainey off leash, and she ran ahead with the Mals and Reilly. Sage gave me great auto-check ins and did not pull for the other dogs or bark at Rainey or anything. He took a normal walk. We were careful to keep Rainey ahead of Sage, and Jen observed that Sage seemed relaxed and also much larger than she remembered him being. I treated Sage for his auto check ins and anytime Rainey stopped up ahead and looked back at him, he did a great job of looking at her, then at me. He did not at any time laser focus in on her or pucker his lips or lower his head.
At one point the trail forked and the Mals had to catch up behind us. I decided not to stop because stopping= freezing for Sage if I dont do it casually enough and that sets him on high alert. Now Sage was ahead of the mals, and as they came behind him to pass on the trail, Rainey got too close (apparently) and Sage lunged, roared at her and made faces. I held him, he made no contact with her. Jen yelled at him YOU STOP IT!. I cant remember what I told him- probably NO! You are FINE and when he settled, Good Boy! We let the mals go ahead again and kept walking. Jen said back to me, "Havent you done any dominance work with him?" I said no, because we have been doing clicker training and positive reinforcement and while I have used the prong with him in certain limited situations with good effect, I did not have it now. She asked why I had him on the harness, I said because he can;t escape it and I am not choking him. She said, "But he isnt receiving any corrections..."
I had to chew on this, but I countered that I did not want to use fear or force on him, that I did not want to do anything irreparable to him, or to add more fear to an already fearful dog, that we were going to do this with our relationship and that if he could not be 'helped' without force then he would just have to stay home where he is happy and safe and doesnt run into such conflicts. I reiterated how good he is at home and with children and in many situations except with unfamiliar dogs. Jen said as long as I can take him to vets, keeping him home was not a terrible thing, that I shouldn;t say "STUCK at home". I told her that my friend Jessica in RI told me the same thing.
We walked on some more and passed a spaniel on leash (Sage growled and stood on his hind legs to see it better) and a guy on a mt bike (Rei and Sage sat by me and looked to me for treats. Rainey ran away from the bike.) Jen said she was disappointed that Rainey was afraid of the bike- her mals pull a sled in winter and part of Rainey's off season training was supposed to be to pull a bike or off road scooter. I told her I WISHed my dog would run away rather than explode at things that scare him. She said Sage was very lucky to have me, that most other people "He'd be gone." I kindof shuddered to think of that and the extent of her disapproval of him that implied.
In the end, we walked for an hour and a half in the forest, and Sage spent only about 3 seconds of that time "aggressing." I decided to think of it this way instead of being upset that he "aggressed" at all, as I am frequently told I am way too hard on myself about the whole thing. I am trying to take the positive things out of it- that he wasn't hyperventilating, he was relaxed and he could see Rainey down the trail face to face and not get upset unless she was quite close, and that when Rainey would come back to check in with Jen and I asked Sage to wait and we stopped, he did as he has been trained- which is to stop and check in with me, not react. He also did not redirect onto any other dogs when he DID react, which is very good as he has done that to Reilly and to my sis' dog Cody on leash walks a couple of times. He has learned some things in our work together!
After the walk, I thought a lot, and I felt bad mostly for botching the initial intro, but then I decided that it didnt matter and she would have gone high on him anyway on the leash, and the tension of trying to keep them from getting too close too soon would have made Sage react anyway. Noone was hurt (Sage is loud and scary looking and dead serious but he is not a biter in the sense that he has ever caused damage to a dog, just noise and spit). I wondered if I should not have even tried to introduce them, why did I put him through this, why not just leave it alone? And I wanted to find him and apologize, feeling all bad for myself and guilty as reactive dogs can leave you feeling sometimes. He was outside on the porch, looking pleased as punch, tongue hanging out the side with his Let's PLAY! look on. I got out the frisbees and he just lit up all anime-sparkle-eyes and went out into the yard and looked back eagerly. I threw him some discs and he trotted back to me, prey shaking the disc and dropped it. I said I'm sorry I put you thru that, buddy, and I swear he said clear as day to me, "What? YOU didn't do anything. It was HER that was being a jerk putting her paws on me like that! Throw me another one!!"
As far as "Havent you done any dominance work with him?" Good luck using dominance on a Kai. Not going to work at all. All you are going to have on your hands is a scared dog, and it will hurt the bond he has with you.
I wasn't sure if you let them greet on leash or off, but if Sage is anything like Koda off leash is better. On leash, it seems like he has his guard up like I'm trying to protect him from something or that I'm trying to control him. He gets tense and it makes for a very uncomfortable greet. I've also seen other dogs react in a negative way to him like they need to protect themselves because of his body language. So, I go for off leash with Koda when it comes to greeting. I use a harness and stay close just in case I need to grab him. He's very conscious as to not nip with me around. He would never want to hurt me. I'm guessing that Sage would be the same. He wouldn't want to hurt his human.
Two seconds of snippiness is not bad. You were still able to go on your walk. You shouldn't feel bad at all, but I know how it feels. Kai's, more than any dog I've met, can make you feel bad. You want to take care of them, and when the slightest thing goes wrong it can tear you apart. It's something about that special bond with them. I think you and Sage both did great!!
I thought his resilience was terrific. I coudl hear the gears spinning in his head when we were walking, he was thinking about it. That a dog he was uncomfortable with was With Us, but ignoring him mostly. I wonder if this will impact other distant dog appearances. Dogs, even ones who were rude to you, can be 20 feet away and not require a reactive response, yes, its true.
I didnt think Rainey would be so rude based on previous greetings with the other dogs- although I realized later that the group dilution may have been imbalanced because Rainey's "team" (all mals) was bigger than Sage's Team, and in the previous greetings there were more dogs who were NOT her big brothers involved in the greetings, hence she may have been much ballsier in this instance than in the previous interactions I had seen where she was outnumbered by new dogs and far more respectful. Once we got walking, she was respectful and didn't tease him or stare at him, though she was free to do so. So in that respect she was a good trigger dog, non reactive herself.
It tears me up because I want to be so good and am not super tolerant of my own failings, even when they aren't exactly mine nor failings per se. ("What 80-20 rule?") Fortunately Sage feeds me my humble pie and forgives me my trespasses right away. He's a Teacher Dog for sure and we need each other, I think. Something about we get the dogs we deserve....?
The fact that Sage finished the walk successfully, even if his guard was up, is a milestone! Celebrate it. A year ago, you would have had to take him home and feel guilty about his response and how Rei couldn't go out and have fun because of Sage. I say BRAVO to both you and Sage!!!!! Keep up the great work!!!!
You really are doing a great job with Sage, 90% of the 'dogpeople' I know wouldn't even try half as hard to understand, bond, accept, make happy their pup. Everyone has this ideal that all dogs should be Lassie, that all dogs should be everything friendly and always be a 'good' dog. That ideal is too much to expect from any dog, not even then numerous dogs playing Lassie would stand up to that ideal beyond the stage.
Even though I have never met Sage, I know he is a great dog (I got to meet Reilly, and she's great too) with a great person caring for him. Keep up the adventures, even if they consist of fun in the backyard I look forward to hearing more of your pack.