This morning Ziggy was very subdued, very calm and seemingly worried. I felt bad because I had promised her a walk to see her friend Black Dog, but I overslept again.
Today I picked up fluoxetine for the pup. Apparently this is not unusual, and it really is possible to negotiate down drug prices at pharmacies (that is nuts to me but it's true - we went from $29 to $11 for 100 fluoxetine capsules - tablets would be much more, like $1/pill I've been told).
When I got home, Ziggy was on a craze - in part because she heard me unload my truck with about six loads up to the porch before I opened the door. Then I let her out on leash to hook to the porch rail while I brought everything inside, and she was a champ. She whined once at something but then shook it off.
Inside I opened the blinds and discovered that she has already figured out my response substitution game - she will bark riotously, then when I get up and call her to come to distract her, she's all about that and she runs to the kitchen for chicken or to her mat for a treat. How do I know that I'm not teaching her to bark obnoxiously because she knows she'll get treats for what comes next? I know that they say that dogs are responding to the last input, but Ziggy is smart enough to chain things together.
But the good news on that is that I am able to distract her away and only once did I gently pull on the leash that I'd kept on her to guide her away. Soon she was lying on the floor with her back to the window, happily chewing on a new toy I'd got her.
Then we went for a walk and she only melted down twice, at the same house each time. Apparently people have moved in with a dog that we've not ever seen before and it freaked Ziggy out to see that dog out and about. She cried and prance/lunged and all that, and I tried to distract her with treats and chicken and cheese, which is hard to do when she's tantruming and I'm trying to hold onto her and perhaps keep moving. She was over threshold but she calmed down pretty quickly.
When we passed a house with a dog outside in the yard and it barked at us, she hardly paid it any mind. Same with people on porches talking. Very easily distracted with treats and we'd just keep on.
Lagniappe: I can distract her from garbage. I never thought the day would come for that!
Today I picked up fluoxetine for the pup. Apparently this is not unusual, and it really is possible to negotiate down drug prices at pharmacies (that is nuts to me but it's true - we went from $29 to $11 for 100 fluoxetine capsules - tablets would be much more, like $1/pill I've been told).
When I got home, Ziggy was on a craze - in part because she heard me unload my truck with about six loads up to the porch before I opened the door. Then I let her out on leash to hook to the porch rail while I brought everything inside, and she was a champ. She whined once at something but then shook it off.
Inside I opened the blinds and discovered that she has already figured out my response substitution game - she will bark riotously, then when I get up and call her to come to distract her, she's all about that and she runs to the kitchen for chicken or to her mat for a treat. How do I know that I'm not teaching her to bark obnoxiously because she knows she'll get treats for what comes next? I know that they say that dogs are responding to the last input, but Ziggy is smart enough to chain things together.
But the good news on that is that I am able to distract her away and only once did I gently pull on the leash that I'd kept on her to guide her away. Soon she was lying on the floor with her back to the window, happily chewing on a new toy I'd got her.
Then we went for a walk and she only melted down twice, at the same house each time. Apparently people have moved in with a dog that we've not ever seen before and it freaked Ziggy out to see that dog out and about. She cried and prance/lunged and all that, and I tried to distract her with treats and chicken and cheese, which is hard to do when she's tantruming and I'm trying to hold onto her and perhaps keep moving. She was over threshold but she calmed down pretty quickly.
When we passed a house with a dog outside in the yard and it barked at us, she hardly paid it any mind. Same with people on porches talking. Very easily distracted with treats and we'd just keep on.
Lagniappe: I can distract her from garbage. I never thought the day would come for that!
No comments:
Post a Comment