Dogs are amazing creatures, so smart and adaptable, so tuned in to our every thought and action. It's been fascinating to watch Tala settle in - through a combination of training, time and consistency, how she's learned what's expected of her, what we want, how to get along with Cody. And it's been wonderful to see her bond with us strengthen, to feel her trust deepen and grow.
Tala listens really well, but she's also a little devil. She likes to make mischief, knowing full well she's doing something wrong, laughing at me and waiting for me to tell her to stop. I like it.
We had stopped crating her for a while, but then came home to destruction a few times. She doesn't have separation anxiety (thank goodness), but perhaps an evil squirrel was teasing her on her lawn, and the only way she could vent her frustration was by chewing up all the cables behind the VCR, DVD and stereo.
So for our sanity and her own protection, she's crated again when we're not home. But we're never gone for long periods of time, and we have a dogwalker when we're at work on the weekends.
Some months back, I had scheduled a lesson with a professional trainer, to get some pointers on how to move our training forward. Then I quit my job and Tala got sick, and we postponed indefinitely. I recently found the list I had made of "Tala trouble spots," and almost all of them have been resolved.
All but two.
When we walk on-leash, Tala goes wild for passing cars and bicycles. The bigger and louder the vehicle, the crazier she goes. It's clear that if she weren't on the leash, she'd be a car chaser - among the most dangerous habits a dog can have.
If we can anticipate the coming car and put her into a sit-stay, she can hold steady as the car goes past. But how many times on a walk can you do that? And you can't always anticipate the cars.
The other area is her in-car behaviour. In a word: insane. We have her in the hatchback, behind a dog barrier. She barks at every passing car - three times at each car - ruff-ruff-ruff, ruff-ruff-ruff, ruff-ruff-ruff - while running back and forth between the side windows, turning in circles, clawing at the windows...
We can't talk, we can't listen to music, we can't do anything. Telling her "no" or "leave it" doesn't make any difference. We might as well not be in the car.
We tried applying the general principles of positive dog training that we've learned so well over the years. I sat in the back seat with treats, rewarding her for sitting quietly. It worked while sitting on the driveway. Once we drove off, it's like I wasn't there. I'm dangling roast beef - roast beef! - through the barrier and she's ignoring it. Amazing.
When we moved to our new suburban lives, we purposely bought a hatchback, thinking we'd put both dogs in the back seat and still have lots of room for all our gear. Through dozens of rental cars and four other dogs, our dogs have always shared a back seat with no problem. But there's no way quiet, easily annoyed Cody is going to share a back seat with a raving lunatic! And obviously, it wouldn't be safe to have Tala going nuts in the back seat without a barrier. So Tala's in the hatch, Cody's in the back, and goddess knows where our stuff is going to go when we drive to the Kawarthas on Monday.
Speaking of which, Our Wonderful Vet gave us a slight sedative for the trip. It's not a solution: it's a survival technique.
So this week we finally had that lesson with the trainer, for these two ongoing issues.
As I suspected, we were on the right track, but we hadn't broken down the training into small enough units. She gave us a game plan - but she also warned us that this can take a very long time to solve - many months, possibly a full year, and that's only if we really put in the time. I'm a little concerned that we won't be as diligent and consistent as we should be. I'll let you know.
No comments:
Post a Comment