A busy week

Lucia at Karrah and Eric's, re-furring their clean clothes. 

 (Note: This post is short on relevant pictures and I apologize. This week has been so hectic I haven't had time, so included are just some fun pictures of Lucia and the pack that don't really relate to the events of the past few days!)    

Last Thursday we had a small setback. As I laid in the grass in the backyard, my husband sat beside me and gave Lucia tummy rubs. Sappho came over to sniff Lucia, and Lucia got frightened and tried to drive her off. Derek and I quickly broke them apart with Derek grabbing Sappho and me grabbing Lucia. We let everyone settle for a couple minutes before I first put Lucia back down with Maya since Lucia and Maya have a more stable relationship, and a minute later I put Sappho back down.

It is important to not have long separations after conflicts if you can avoid it. The top priority is always safety, but the best way to help a dog move through a negative event is to practice positive association (via counter-conditioning) as soon as possible after the event. This can be a tricky thing to do as in this case it meant putting three dogs together, two of whom had just been in a loud conflict with each other.

Sunning on the sofa. Lucia is on the love seat in the front room.

This was a judgement call and it is debatable whether it was the right call. It worked out, but it could have turned into another battle. I made the call based on my knowledge of each dog and their likely behavior, and the fact that Derek and I remained close enough to grab the dogs again if another scuffle occurred. All three dogs have a strong "leave it" command and are highly responsive to body-blocking, which made it so I could cue them to create more space before they got too close to the other dog and went over threshold. Given this, I felt that the value of immediate integration and the psychological benefit of doing so outweighed the risk of another conflict. Early on I wouldn't have made the same decision as Lucia didn't have enough practice removing herself from other dogs when she felt nervous and would repeatedly drive the other dog away when she felt uncomfortable.

After we spent a few more minutes outside, I fed the dogs in the same room before putting Lucia into her room. Her language told me that continued integration that night wouldn't be as beneficial as seperation and letting all the dogs relax, and I was exhausted from the week prior and needed to take a break. We spent that night peacefully separated, which helped all the dogs prepare for the weekend to come. 

Friday Derek's grandparents came into town from Minnesota, and stayed for the weekend. All the dogs did fantastic, Lucia included. She sniffed our guests, moved away to avoid touch when she felt uncomfortable, and gave them plenty of warning through growling when she felt uncomfortable such as when they came into the backyard the first time. I couldn't be more pleased with her behavior as far as making the choice to not engage in situations that made her uncomfortable, yet still showing her natural high-curiosity by sniffing them.

We had almost no time to practice integration this weekend except late at night after our guests had left, but the time we had went very well. By Sunday night Lucia was back to sniffing Maya and trying to invite her to play, which is remarkable progress considering Thursday's events and the fact that we had guests the entire weekend!