Focus & Control; Class 1

Tonight was our first night at the Focus & Control class that Oscar and I have signed up for.  The class will run 8 weeks and going into tonight's class I was a little skeptical about what we would be doing.

Well, much to my delight, our first night was fantastic....we talked about each of the dogs and owners at the beginning and why we were all in class and, well, Oscar decided to make his presence known (i.e. have a barking fest) a couple of times, but he settled down after about 15-20 minutes.

The first night of class was based around a couple of concepts...

1.) Massage / TTouch
2.) Awareness walks
3.) Passive attention exercises (auto check-in)
4.) Default behavior

Oscar was not having it when we tried to do the massage/TTouch.  That was no surprise to this girl...he didn''t want to enjoy "relaxing" when he could be scanning all the ongoings in the classroom.  So, while I tried my best to stay calm, breathe and syncronize - it just wasn't happening.

On to the awareness walks.  Everyone in class took a turn and basically walked their dog down and back in the room and were instructed to stop in their tracks if/when their dogs went off to sniff stuff.  We were told to simply wait until the pups reorientated to us and mark and reward that.  Oscar was pretty dang good at this - we (well at least I) do this all the time on our walks.

For the last two exercises, we each went into our own gated off area.  We were all told to put a handful of treats on the ground while we unclipped the leash, then take one or two steps away.  When our pups reorientated to us, we were to mark and reward, then move another few steps.  Oscar did quite well with the auto check in.  I do this around the yard and in the house quite often (although I'm going to ramp it up now)...so we were very familiar with that exercise.

Last we built on the above by waiting for the dog to not only reorientate, but offer a default behavior (sit or a down) and mark and reward that.  We were then told to release them, then move a couple of steps and mark and reward for the default behavior.  Oscar, again, did quite well with this.  He was being quite silly and kept going and laying down on his leash that I left on the floor.  Silly puppy.

I'm really looking forward to progressing with my classmates.  The instructors were very understanding and told everyone that each individual dog will be progressing at different paces and will be working on different things.   I can't wait for our next class! :)

I'm Doing Too Much (There, I said it!)

They often say that a dog reflects his owner.  Remember the beginning of the movie "101 Dalmations" with the humans walking their dogs (or the dogs walking their humans!).  Everytime I see that part of the movie I always chuckle.  Now, when I look in the mirror, I don't see myself as a short, white-haired, perky earred human with a slightly curled tail.  So, what do I have in common with my dogs? 

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what is driving the anxious behavior Oscar has and I keep coming back to my own behavior.  I'm really starting to see that his is stressed because I am stressed.  I work full-time, from 8am - 5pm, 5 days a week.  Then I come home, play and train Oscar, then cook his food a couple nights a week, do bills, clean-up the house, do laundry, try to tackle the backyard landscaping/gardening (I cannot wait for that to be DONE!), then train dogs on the weekend part-time.  Why am I doing this to myself, my husband and my dogs?  Seriously.  I think I need to stop trying to do so much.

It's very humbling to think that Oscar's behavior is reflecting my own.  He can't stop himself to just sit and be a dog.  So, what can I do to help myself...and ultimately help him (and then help me right back!)? 

Well, I'll tell you what my plan is, as of right now.
- Stop taking agility classes with Oscar (Unfortunately he just cannot handle being in class with the bearded collie, Garfunkel and, honestly, I don't see that dog going anywhere any time soon.  He has gotten so stressed now that he is starting to react when other dogs are running the course and that is not the state of mind he wants to be in.  We have two classes left and then we are done.)
- Put him in a much more quiet, obedience-style class that is geared toward calm behaviors (We're starting that the second week in September)
- Taking him out of doggy day care one of the two days that he goes.  (Although it will mean more exercise provided by my husband and/or I, I'm starting to think that his chronic state of arousal is being effected by day care 2x/week)
- Putting him on some supplements that will hopefully help with anxiety (We started Lactium the second week in August and L-Theanine last week...fingers crossed that we'll see some results).
- Be more realistic and honest with myself.  Oscar is a dog and every moment of the day he is being exactly who he knows how to be...that should be respected and appreciated for what it is...

Other thoughts that are in my noodle that need to get out in this post or it's going to drive me crazy...
- I've been so willing to try different things (animal communicators, energy workers, TTouch, flower essences, herbals, essential oils, phone consults from Trish King and Suzanne Clothier) that I find it hard to settle, stay on track and give these things ample time to prove themselves out. 
- I still need to get a thyroid panel done on Oscar....just to put my own mind to ease that there is nothing going on (or maybe there is!) with his thyroid that is causing him to be so anxious and have a hard time gaining weight.
- I'm not getting another purebred shepherd again.  I owe it to myself to have an "easy" dog after these two boogers.  I love both of them dearly and wouldn't give them up for anything, but Jesus Christ have they caused stress in my life where I didn't need it.

Hoping for a Connection

Oscar and I have agility tonight and I am hoping and praying that we have a good night at class and have a real connection.  At our last class, which was 4 weeks ago (!) because of the hot weather and some travel I had to do for work, we did really well together and had a great first run, but then I could tell Oscar was starting to get stressed.  His paws started to sweat and he was getting barked at by another dog in class as we were doing some start line jumps into the weave poles.  Unfortunately, the dog that was barking at Oscar got out of his owners hands and ran over to us and bark-bark-barked in Oscar's face.  Oscar did OK at first, but I couldn't react fast enough to get inbetween the dogs and Oscar gave the dog a good bark-bark back.  He didn't growl, snap or bite or do anything nasty, but gave the other dog a piece of his mind ("HEY! That was RUDE!"). 

I'll be as vigilant as possible tonight and reward him for making good choices and presenting calm behavior.  Perhaps I'll do some very brief TTouch before class and do some nice, relaxing mat work?  Yeah, that sounds relaxing. 

He's my little man and I've been doing much better the past week really listening to him and letting him show me what he is/is not ready for.

My goal for tonight: guide Oscar through class and show him that I'm not going to let anything "bad" (which is defined by him) happen to him.