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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Safety

As we are getting prepared for a major cross country trip for us and the dogs, I started thinking about safety.  Last year, we had several high profile dog sports folk lose one of their beloved family members post auto accident and then the 2011 study came out  showing (graphically with dog crash test dummies) how all of the (at the time) commercially available dog seat belts performed in a 35mph crash test.
http://centerforpetsafety.org/research/

I also had a little personal incident where a slightly more aggressive tap on the breaks sent my own dog crashing into the dashboard.  Yipe.   What's a dog owner to do?

Note:  There is no advertising on my page so everything I show that I own, I bought.  Nobody is paying me to advertise their stuff.

The good thing about the above test is that it was only a matter of time before someone did create a seatbelt that was crash tested.   The one we own is the Sleepypod Clickit, a three point harness that attaches to your LATCH system like a child safety seat.  I have to say, the customer service at Sleepy pod is also awesome.

  













Correctly fitting Sleepy Pod harnesses



                                                                                                             Not so correctly fitting harness

Eventually, Rogue will fit into that harness, but until she does, it's not safe for her to use.

Pre-harness, we used and still do use crates.  Our smallest car actually perfectly fits one of our two soft sided crates.  It fits so snugly, that there's no way that thing is going to move even if we have an accident.   We can fit two crates in our larger car.

Which crates to use?  I admit, I use the soft sided crates.  They're easy to put up and take down and easy to carry.  Other options are the metal or hard plastic ones.  

 Our three crates by (left to right) Nature's Miracle, Top Paw and Noz2Noz

I couldn't find any type of research to support one type of crate over another as far as dog safety in the car.  The only one I know of that has been tested and is designed specifically for dog safety in the car is the Variocage.   I'd have one if they weren't so expensive Don't get me wrong, if I was a hard core dog sport player who spent more weekends than not with my dog in the car traveling hundreds of miles, I think I'd probably invest in one.



 How do I want thee?  Let me count the dogs.

But how is Rogue doing?  Her UTI is pretty much gone (pending test results) and the number of accidents in the house has plummeted.  A future blog is going to bemoan the fact that she's tall enough to get her paws on things and how we're handling it.

And she's still growing.  These two pictures are ten weeks apart. Where is my puppy going?



 















I can't believe she was ever this small?                                                            No, I don't love this puppy at all.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Big brother is watching

I have to say I don't know what I'd do without him.  Our 3 and a half year old male Aussie, Steel has been the marvelous big brother a puppy could want and when that puppy is deaf, he's priceless to the humans in the equation.

Steel:  He really is all that.

Now, getting a second dog will make more work for you, not less, no matter what anyone tries to tell you, however, having an adult dog when you are getting a puppy can actually help.  It's still more work than just one dog, but a well socialized adult dog can teach your puppy things faster than you can.  Now, when that dog is a smart herding breed, not only can he teach her things (some of which you didn't want her learning),  but he can also provide some crowd control as well.

For example, we Rogue is not allowed off leash anywhere other than our fully fenced back yard and the house.  Her recall just isn't good enough and she's really fond of the come chase me game.  Our other three will happily go from house to car and car to house pretty directly but we have to let them out in a specific order or Ruby will get in the car first and then prevent anyone else from getting in.  So, I let Steel out first and zoom, out goes Rogue with him.  Panicking, I run into the house to grab a really good treat and start to hear Steel barking.  I look out the door and he's darting back and forth in front of the garage, preventing Rogue from leaving it.

Of course, as soon as he saw me heading toward them, he decided that it must be all right and let her go.  Thankfully, she adores her big brother and with only a brief thought about seeing if I would play the chase game, she followed him into the car.  (whew!)

Even a puppy who can hear can be a problem when they don't have solid recall, but often, if your adults recall, the puppy will follow.  I don't recommend you depend on this but in an emergency, it can be a literal life saver.

Best... big brother... ever.
 I mentioned Rogue's current fondness for the chase me game.  This is especially fun when she has something she knows she shouldn't.  Unlike a hearing dog, you can't giver her a verbal correction and we don't quite have drop it down with her yet so what do you do?  Unless it's something dangerous to the puppy, don't chase them, even if you're sure you can corner them and get them.  Why?  Because then they know they can get you to play the game with them and they love that game. 
 
So what do you do?   I have two methods that I switch between depending on the situation.  If Steel is around, I call Steel.  Rogue will see him heading for something fun and usually trot along behind him to see what's fun thing is going on.  Steel's recall is damn near perfect so this works really well when he's around.  If he's not around, I run, if possible, and walk if not AWAY from the puppy.

I know, this goes against every must-keep-the-puppy safe instinct.  Go away from the puppy who is running away from you?  Go further instead of closer?  It's INSANE!!!.  The puppy wants to play, so you play, but you play chase the human.  With herding dogs, this is particularly useful because they like to control the situation and they need to know where you are.  They're perfectly willing to play the chase game if you're the the one being chased.   I can't tell you how many times this totally non instinctive reaction to one of my dogs running from me has brought them running back.

These are not things to rely on though.  These are for that emergency when the puppy gets out or slips her collar.  A good, solid recall is the single best safety precaution for your dog.  If they come to you before they get to the street, they won't get hit by a car... and neither will you.

With a deaf puppy, they have to have a solid recall and a solid check in.  If they aren't looking at you, you can't tell them what to do.  So rewarding your deaf dog/puppy when they look at you is important.  They need to want to look at you for direction.  

But teaching check in and recall in a high distraction environment isn't easy and how do you know when you can trust that puppy off leash?  That is where big brother gets to help me again.   My hubby has started teaching Steel to 'Fetch the baby".  Steel loves to fetch so he started with a small tug toy.  Then he tied the tug toy to the handle of a leash and had him fetch that for awhile.  The final stage, of course, is to put the leash on the puppy and have Steel fetch the leash and bring him the puppy.

Excuse the condition of the basement in the video, but I DO have a puppy.  :)
As for the rest of us, Rogue had her first rabies shot on Thursday and had a mild adverse reaction to it.   The vet is aware and we'll see what we can do next year to prevent it.   This is why she never gets more than one shot in a visit.  Had she gotten them all at the same time, we wouldn't know which one caused her to react.  Thankfully, she enjoys the vet and had fun 'riding' the examination table up and down.  Of course, we'd spent our time waiting for the vet in training go to your mat while the table was in the down position.  
Come on, one more time?  Please?
She's getting so big.  She's over 20lbs now and today is her four month birthday.  It seems like such a short time ago that she was 8 pounds of cuteness I could pick up and snuggle at will.  Now, she's a heavy hellion and I'm going to put my back out picking her up these days. 


 
 Thankfully, Rogue has her big brother when she can't get the humans to play with her.


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Why yes, all that practice does help

So, accidents in the house have plummeted since we taught Rogue to ring the bell to go out.  She picked it up in a day.  Now, she will ring the bell if she just wants to go out and play in addition to when she has to potty, but that's okay. 

And really, who wouldn't want to go play?

She and our adult Aussies are enjoying each other's company and Steel will even go out of his way to get her to play with him.  
 
One of the problems with teaching your dog shaping is that your smart dogs will figure out pretty quickly  that they have some control over their environment and you can get a kind of terrible twos stage as they decide that no, they don't want to do that, thank you very much.  This is your puppy trying to figure out what they can do to get you to do what they want.  All dogs do this, but it varies how early and how well.   
 
Currently, Curt is working on getting her to walk beside him on leash and we're both working hard at solving the jumping problem.  She doesn't jump on us because we don't allow it but she's so cute that anywhere we take her, people love on her when she jumps on them and she's now big enough to knock small children down.  And she loves kids.
 
Kids are actually easier to teach this to as they are so thrilled at the idea that they can make the dog sit, they aren't petting her while they're giving her the hand signal.  Adults, usually reply, "Oh, I don't mind."  Well maybe, but I do.  She has learned now that some people won't allow her to jump on them so she will try it a couple of times to make sure they're not going to pet her until she sits and then sit.  

We did finally teach her a negative marker.  No, I don't mean any type of punishment but a sign for no.   We had to in order to deal with her being in hell puppy mode which is the only time she still tries to grab out pants and such.  Redirecting helps, but at some point, we had to reinforce that certain things just aren't acceptable.

Now, I managed to stop the licking the dishes in the dishwasher behavior without resorting to no.   I just reinforced something I'd started with Steel and Ruby which was laying down in a certain area of the kitchen while I'm cooking and added Rogue to the mix.   She will stay in that spot reliably for 5 and ten minutes at a time with regular food reinforcement right now as long as one or both of the other dogs is there with her.   If she's alone, I am still reinforcing every 15 seconds or so to get her to resist temptation.  

The go to your mat command is so very versatile.  I might need a bigger mat.
 
When Ruby isn't shaking that small rug to vent her anxiety, I can pretty much put it down anywhere in the house and have all three dogs sit or lay on it.    I am going to try to use this the next time we take her to another house to see if that will make her relax.   She's fine in her crate in the car.  She still protests a little crated at night but she will howl like she's being murdered if we crate her anywhere else unless she's sharing the crate with Steel.
 
She has two doggie friends that she sees semi regularly.  There's Evie who's an adult terrier mix.  Every time we go over there, they romp and play, but the hard part is getting them to settle down.  Rogue has a really hard time if there's ANYTHING going on because she's so visually distractable and since she refuses to be quiet in the crate....  It's something we can work on but when hanging out with friends, how long do you really want to let the puppy scream in the crate?  It's a work in progress as we try different things to get her to calm down and sleep because an overtired puppy is just as bad if not worse than an overtired toddler.

Rogue's other friend is Staley an Australian Cattle Dog puppy who is 2 weeks older than she is.  Watching the two of them play is like watching professional wrestling.  They launch each other off furniture, jump on each other form above and dive under chairs and tables.  I'm getting video the next playdate because it's hysterical.  And not only that...  tired puppy.

Staley, after Rogue has been over to visit.
 
I can't stress enough the value of a tired puppy.  I get all kinds of things done when she's worn out and just wants to chill and nap and maybe snuggle a bit.   I will not miss her hell puppy days one bit.
 
And it's another reason why early socialization is so important.  Steel and Ruby taught Rogue that different dogs have different play styles so she alters her play to match her playmate.  But it's also important to  know when they're getting overtired so the happy playmate doesn't become the evil worst enemy because someone looked at someone wrong and they were both tired and the fight started in earnest.   We watch the puppies carefully because as intense as their play gets, it can get over intense and we need to stop it before it goes too far.  

Right now, we really need to work recall.  We've been spending too much time picking Rogue up to do things she doesn't want (like go into her crate) and so she is avoiding us partly for that reason and partly because she really likes the chase game and thinks it's fun to make us chase her even though we don't.  We know better.   But we need to work recall a lot more than we are.  Until her recall is solid, we won't dare to try anything off leash without a fence, even with Steel and Ruby to play puppy goalies.   

And now, she's in puppy snuggle mode so I'm going to go and snuggle my puppy.