Finders, Keepers

I have been trying to get a good picture of Tibby laying on my lap.  She does this all the time, but it's hard to get a picture of it.  She has to have a pillow to support her head.  If it's not perfect and she isn't comfortable or properly supported then she jumps off.  However, if everything is perfect then she lets me rub her belly!

Tibby wearing her superhero walking costume :P

I had Tibby wear her Thundershirt on our walk today and we had a lot of success.  It's not a miracle cure or anything - I still used the cheese and did our little focus game when there was a potential reaction trigger.  My goal is to keep Tibby from reacting.  I don't want her to rehearse that behavior ( any more than she has already).  Our walk was 100% successful!!

At one point I was basically luring her past some triggers, but it's Ok with me.  If that's what I have to do at this point....that's what I have to do.

The luring part we were walking by - man walking alone (biggest trigger), man mowing lawn, woman standing in yard with arms folded watching us and an off leash dog barking and moving toward us (another big trigger).

Yes I had to lure her past them, BUT she was able to actually eat the cheese and be lured.  It hasn't always been that way.  I almost lost her when the barking dog started to move toward us, but then she came back to me :)  Good thing I crossed the street when I saw the off leash dog up ahead.  She isn't ready for a moving dog right next to her yet.

We also met a nice older couple that wanted to pet Tibby.  I'm not sure when Tibby went from the outgoing/crazy/jumping on every stranger puppy to the shy/timid/ducking an outstretched hand dog.

But she didn't bark at them!  Yay....

Finally, a public notice.  If you lose your balls in front of my house....I will keep them.  Yes, I'm the mean neighbor that keeps the neighborhood kids' toys.  I give them the overnight test.  You have one day, one night and one day to claim your balls.  If they are still there the next night - then they are mine!  We aren't really interested in any other toys....and they only ever seem to lose balls....hmmm?

These are the latest lost toys - a spiky ball and a super heavy purple ball.  The purple one is really heavy - I've never seen a ball like it before.  Yay!  Free toys!

Cheesy

Day one of walking reactive retraining went pretty well.  I think Tibby will figure out this game quickly.  It will also help our focus issues in other areas.  Basically I'm asking her to focus on me and ignore the rest of the world.

We went for our walk as it was getting dark.  I was hoping there wouldn't be too many people out walking.  It was such a gorgeous day that I'm sure the 7 parks (yes 7 huge park, too bad Tibby isn't reliable off leash or she could enjoy them) ,that I live next too, were full of people walking the trails. 

So we saw 2 boys on skateboards and 2 people walking.

I saw the boys coming toward us and I stepped off the trail and had Tibby sit facing me and I gave her lots of cheese.  She saw the boys and was biting me fairly hard, when she took the treats.  When they were about 20 feet away she barked once at them and then whipped back around and took some more cheese.  That was pretty good for her.  No lunging and the leash was loose, because she was sitting.  One bark, instead of a screaming fit.

The people walking she did bark a few times at them.  I couldn't stop and have her sit in that situation, because of the way the trails meet in the park.  The people would have eventually been following us - which she does NOT like.  I was able to keep her moving and give her cheese.  She heeled all the way home, hoping to get more cheese.  That's a first.  Hmmm, I just have to carry a cheese stick in one hand.  Magic!

Work in progress. 

Life project.