smg01 | yes, it's all dog all the time

Take heart dear flist of mine. Eventually Tom will stop being a puppy and I'll find other things to post about. In the meantime...

Yesterday I read through Patricia McConnell's little pamphlet on how to be a pack leader. I think it was all stuff that I'd heard or read in other places before, still it was very helpful. I think there are some visual cues/body language that I can work on that can help smooth things out a little. One thing that she talks a lot about is occupying space. That's something that I think I can do a much better job with and I'm already making a start. I also started in on her book The Other End of the Leash which deals with behavior and communication--especially with regard to the human half of the equation. I've only gotten a few pages in, but so far I think she's good and interesting writer. I'm really looking forward to reading more.

Small Victories:

Motorcycles are the bane of Tom's existence. (And by extension, mine.) When they go by, he barks and lunges and generally wants to go after them. He also frequently has that reaction to buses, trucks, and vehicles that are loud (or have that "motorcycle" sound). Well, some of the homework that we're working on for class is "quick sits." This is when the dog sits as soon as the human comes to a stop. Tom's doing quite well with this one. I've also been using it as a tool against provoking vehicles. If I see a motorcycle or vehicle that I think might be trouble on the horizon, I've been having Tom do a sit. Then I have "watch" me (well, the treat actually) or otherwise occupy him until the vehicle passes. It's been working pretty well--as long as I go into action quickly enough.

Today at noon when we went for our walk, as we turned down the street a motorcycle was approaching while we happened to be at a stop. (I was letting Tom do some sniffing.) Tom looked up and saw the motorcyle, looked up at me, and then he sat down. On his own. And stayed seated while it went by. Without me even asking him to. He got a treat and lots of praise for that one! Later he made sudden/unexpected lunge at a pickup truck that drove by. I restrained him (of course) and gave a sharp "no!" and then he turned back to me at sat down! I didn't treat him because he did lunge, but I praised him for the sit. :)

I think it helps that he's still feeling a little mellow from his day at day care yesterday. He's so much more manageable for the 18 or so hours after his day out. A tired dog is a good dog. Still, I was really, really pleased with his behavior for 99% of our walk. It's moments like that that let me think, "okay, maybe I can do this after all."