Travelling Man

Cody is an old hat when it comes to riding in cars. Of course, he does have his little routines in the car....

Step One: Ask for kisses!

Step two: Give kisses back!

Step three: Check the console for possible treats.

Step four: Survey his surroundings

Step five: If the surroundings are clear, then take up a watch position

Rest assured, all of these photos were taken when the car was stopped at a stop light or parked!

Astro

Mr. "Ferocious" giving out free kisses

When Cody came, I expected he'd be a handful. Unable to be touched, reactive to other dogs - an all around long-term project. While I don't wish to diminish the growth Cody is making and the challenges he will continue to conquer, he is growing into quite the easy keeper. Taking it slow and letting Cody choose the pace allows him to spend more time in areas he finds uncomfortable and be rewarded for his bravery.

What I expected was a "demon dog"....

What I got - a sweet, loving guy.

Part of letting Cody choose his pace is controlling his enviroment so that he isn't exposed to too much at once. Sometimes though the enviroment throws something at you that you wouldn't choose yourself. On our walk, this was a neighborhood dog named Astro. Astro is a lab mix, likely around 11-12 years old, obese, and very sweet and gentle. Astro saw Cody and waddled over to us at a normal obese-senior-dog pace that allowed us to quickly move away if we needed. My first instinct was to avoid a meeting, but Cody saw Astro and indicated through a wagging tail and tugging at the leash that he wanted to meet this gentle elder. During the meeting I watched for any sign that Cody was getting uncomfortable and wanted to move away, and I turned my body parrallel to Cody to encourage him to move back into me if he wanted to.

After we moved away we continued our walk, and on our way back we encountered Astro again. Cody again displayed interest and a wagging tail at Astro, so once again I decided to let Cody control his level of interaction. It's a little harder to hear in this one but right before I call his name and encourage him to move away he lets out a low growl at Astro, indicating he's reached his comfort level. My job at that point is break his focus on Astro so he can realize he can move away from this uncomfortable interaction.

For a dog who was labelled as reactive to larger dogs this was a great meet up. We've since seen a few other big dogs at a distance and Cody paused, whines, and wags his stubby tail, indicating he wants to make more friends. At this time I'm only letting Cody meet dogs who I know or who display a certain energy (no wild yearlings, please!) but Cody will have more introductions to larger dogs in his future so he can get even more comfortable!

Exploration

Walking with confidence.

There is a tongue-in-cheek expression that "good dog training is boring to watch." While dog training is fascinating to watch, the expression means that good dog training frequently looks like very little of note is happening even when there is a lot occurring. Positive based dog training doesn't involve big movements, shouting, jerking on leashes, forcing the dog into certain positions or directions, or making dramatic changes at all once. It revolves around letting the dog make choices and setting them up so the choice you desire is the one most appealing to the dog. It's about mild exposure to stimulus and staying below threshold so that the dog doesn't have negative experiences. It's goal is building a confident dog who enjoys making the choices you'd like them to make under your benevolent leadership, and moving with your dog as a partner.

Pulling to get closer to sniff that!

Yesterday Cody and I had a "boring to watch" training session that involved a short 20 minute walk around my neighborhood. I haven't walked Cody before this point, and I wasn't able to until I could put a harness on him to protect his throat. I didn't know how he would do as a dog who has spent so many years in a single small pen at the no-kill shelter. To my delight I saw great body language from Cody!

Eagerly exploring the scents in the grass.

Cody did fantastic and had a great time on his walk. Cody made sure to sniff and mark everything he could and was ready to continue his walk past the point that we turned around. This boy enjoys his walks - good thing he'll be getting more of them!

The Little Things

Dogs move at their own speed, and this is especially true with special needs dogs. I could push Cody to improve at the speed I want him too, but I'd end up with a more traumatized dog and likely a nasty bite for my arrogance. Instead, my role is to provide him with stability, safety, and positive experiences and let him grow at his pace.

Some dogs progress faster than others, and it can be frustrating to see other dogs progressing faster or to see your dog moving slower than you think they should. If we put in the work with them though, they all make positive changes, big and small. Here are some of the little things Cody and I are celebrating these past couple days -

1) Cody allowed me to remove the neon orange plastic collar that he wore on his transport from Fresno, CA to Washington state. You may notice that it says "New Ratt - Corkie." Corky was his previous name, but "Corky" doesn't fit in with this years naming theme of pre-modern cultures so it changed to "Cody" after the Paleo-Indian Cody Complex from 6,000-8,0000 BC.

2) A new martingale. My state coordinator, Janell, put a martingale on him before I picked him up so he could at least have an ID tag if he got lose. However, she is getting a girl even bigger than Cody soon and needs that martingale. I purchased a new one for Cody, and with the help of tasty egg noodles soaked in turkey broth he eagerly shoved it head through the martingale. A few more egg noodles scattered on the ground gave me the time to adjust the martingale down to fit better.

3) Eating a normal meal. Getting Cody to eat has been a challenge. Part of it is that he is chunky monkey, and fat dogs are less motivated to eat if they are feeling stressed. He's very picky about what he eats, and he rejected everything I had offered him besides egg noodles that I used only as a treat.

This morning I mixed a bit of kibble in with some wet lamb food that Mud Bay allowed me to trial for free, and he sucked it down - his first full meal since Tuesday morning. Hopefully this will continue, but for now, I am grateful that he ate a normal meal.

4) He let me put a Wonder Walker harness on him. Cody is very nervous about things touching his body and so I didn't know if he could yet handle a harness. He hasn't yet worn a belly band yet because the touch of it is overwhelming, so the harness was an experiment. It is important that he wear a harness to prevent damage to his trachea from pulling on his collar.

You can see in the picture above that he was a little insecure about it, but once again egg noodles to the rescue. A couple noodles to lure his head through the open section, and then a couple more on the ground while I clipped it under his chest. He even let me unclip it and adjust it a bit. After a few minutes wearing it....

Cody wanders around the sitting room, completely unconcerned!

What little victories are you celebrating today with your dogs?

Gaining confidence!

Hanging out in the living room with everyone.

Cody continues to blossom and gain confidence! Last night he met our housemate and her partner and while they were careful to not pet him, he made himself known to them by vigorously rubbing up against them! He is starting to seek out my husband more often for some loving, and with me he is turning into quite the wiggly, twisting, grinning baby boy.

I continue to manage my touch with him. I can stroke him with my fingertips and even give him scratches, but I keep that touch brief. He enjoys long strokes down his back, under his chin and  chest, and I can easily grab his martingale collar to clip and unclip his leash.

Last night we spent more time together than we had before, but in a very low-key fashion. We spent time sitting on the floor in the living room with three other people in the room, and then he spent about two hours in the kitchen with me behind a baby pen. I had to grind meat to prepare the raw diet for the pack (and the cat) for the month, and the grinding noise didn't phase him at all. He trolled around the kitchen a bit, graciously declined any raw tidbits, but he did get a wonderful surprise when I grabbed something off the top of the fridge and a special toy fell down...

A furry squeaky toy!!

This toy is a refill for the Kyjen Tail Teaser! Cody had a fun time with this toy - he didn't try to destroy it, he just carried it around for a bit and shook it a couple times. Sweet man is starting to come out of his shell and show off his awesome personality!

Controlled Touch

Cody loves touch. He craves it, seeks it out, and even if you sit there and do nothing he will move his body (and your hands!) so that he will get physical contact with you. He will even move away from food to come get love!

Coming in for a neck scratch.

While Cody has kept his love-bug nature despite what humans did to him the first several years of his life, his history has made him very sensitive to touch. Prolonged touch, firm touch, or touch on certain areas of his body can make him very nervous. He will let you know about this by turning his ears back and growling. He faces away while he growls and never stares directly at you. He isn't a boy trying to intimidate and he had no desire to bite - instead he is frozen, unsure how to move away, and growling in hopes that the touch will stop so he can move again.

That's the spot!

As much as I would love to rub Cody all over and even cuddle with him, I deliberately move slow. I even move slower than Cody would like because I want give myself room to work with him under his threshold. He has told me (through growls and a couple warning snaps) what touch he likes and what touch concerns him. Fingertips can be highly stimulating since it is 3-4 small points on the dog, so by using the back of the hand, or the arm, it creates a smoother surface that doesn't create specific points of contact where the touch is more stimulating. I keep the touch brief to ensure that he has time to settle himself between touches rather than getting overwhelmed by the prolonged contact. Finally I keep my touch moving slowly the entire time. Letting my touch linger in one spot can create too strong of a sensation and moving too fast can provoke a fearful reaction. 

Taking a break between touches.

Sometimes I do use my fingertips, linger in one area, or move faster, but those are done far less than the other contacts. Doing so creates a touch that may start to over-stimulate him but the touch is kept short enough that he experiences a slight rise in stimulation without it becoming aversive. Over time this will increase his threshold level and he'll be able to experience and enjoy more stimulating touch without it being a scary or uncomfortable experience.

Another way to take a break - dinner time!

Below is the video from Tuesday night - our first night. You'll see how when I touch him with my fingertips on his hind end he gets nervous and growls.

Here is the video from last night. You'll see how he engages me for touch. I focus on using soft touches with the back of my hands and arms. Occasionally I do touch him with my finger tips either because I forget (bad trainer moment!) or because I am intentially doing that touch to give him slightly more stimulation for a short period.

Watch for the first time he growls. You'll see that right before that growl happens he is facing out of the bathroom. His ears are  turned to the side. I pull my hand back and pause because this is a signal that he is experiencing ambivalence. When his ears stayed the same I decided to do a small experiment and touched him again, which immediately provokes a growl. I withdraw my hand and wait for him to settle back down before engaging him again. Each dog is a little different and some are able to "snap out" of their ambivalence with gentle touch, and some dogs, like Cody, will instead be pushed closer to threshold by the touch. Experiments are the only way to figure out which is which, and Cody is so good at telling me exactly how he feels!

Come back, I want more controlled touch!

In like a lion...

Cody 's life has not been easy. Purchased as a young pup from a breeder, he belonged to a city official down in California. At 7-8 months old his owner abandoned him at a no-kill shelter. The shelter put Cody in with a bonded pair of beagle littermates who attacked him so severely he required emergency care and still carries scars from the attack. Afterwards he was placed by himself in a tiny pen and rarely handled by the staff because he would growl at them. He lived this way for over 3.5 years until the city decided to defund the no-kill shelter and new placements had to be located for the dogs. A wonderful, generous woman took him in as her foster. He stayed in her backyard and learned to love her, her husband, and her kids. He progressed through the trauma of being in the shelter for so long but continued to have some reactivity issues. His foster mom has anywhere from 12-21 dogs at a time, mostly fosters, and so she did her best but had limited time she could train him. After staying with her for 7-8 months he was placed on a transport and sent from Fresno, CA to Federal Way, WA. It is no surprise that he feels he has to growl, snap, and charge anyone who comes near  him.

My state coordinator, Janell, held him for me from Sunday night through Tuesday night. She generously offered to keep him through the weekend, but the best thing for Cody is moving as quickly from her to me rather than him settling into her house and then being yanked away in a week. 

Cody is a nervous guy right now, and gets scared and overwhelmed when he is touched. He responds to this by growling and snapping, but he gives lots of warning signals and as long as his vocalizations are respected there is little risk of a bite. Since he isn't comfortable with being handled, I have him staying in my downstairs bathroom right now. 

He is in the bathroom, with a crate sitting just outside the room and a baby gate on top to prevent him from getting out. I created a buffer zone between Cody and my girls using a play pen. Cody seems to love other dogs his size or smaller, but just to prevent any negative interactions they are being kept apart right now. As you can see above though, Maya and Sappho are very curious about this new visitor!

His set up in the bathroom is sparse. He has food, water, a comfy bolster bed, blanket, and a bully stick. I don't plan on him having to live in the bathroom long, but in the mean time this allows him to live in a small space that is entirely his without intrusion from other dogs, cats, or people (besides me.)

 Stay tuned to see how this beautiful boy settles in and learns that the world has a lot of love and fun to give him. He came in like a lion, but with time he will head to his forever home like a lamb!