Ziggy on walk today was good. Very short time with Black Dog - they said hello, peed, and she was ready to keep walking away (he looked wistfully at us as we walked away - usually she wants to hang out longer).
A block from home, a car was coming so I told her to stop and I treated her. As the car approached, the man rolled down the window to shout: "That's a good dog!"
Lots of people have shouted from moving cars that she's a beautiful dog, a pretty dog, a happy dog. But I can't think of any stranger who has ever told us that she's a good dog. Strangers have tried to tell me how to train her and I just hold up my hand and thank them and walk away. Anyone who wants to tell me to use "dominance" or some stupid wrong pack leader bullshit - no. Just, no. I have no doubt that had I leaned hard on Ziggy, with any kind of physical punishment, that she would have turned aggressive. No doubt at all. My vast patience with her shenanigans are what took us from awful to awesome. So now, I want us even more awesome.
***
I emailed the vet and trainer to ask about the response-substitution. Basically, when she barks out the window, I'm supposed to call her to me, have her do something else, and then give her a treat. So, her barking has gotten way worse since I started because Ziggy understands that if she barks, she gets a treat. She sees the relationship through the other steps. Smart dog? Probably. Just now she barked into the night and then turned to look at me to see if she was going to get a treat and when I decided to just ignore her, she sighed and gave up.
What a little delight she is, this pup. The better we learn to communicate with each other, the better life is.
I had class tonight and a guy brought his dog to class (a quiet bulldog type of thing who just sat in his lap the whole class) and man I missed my dog. Of course, she would not sit quietly on my lap - she would be rushing around terrorizing the class. One of her dearest people is in the class - a person who probably saved Ziggy's life (was willing to dogsit when I was trying to give her up, when I first got her).
A block from home, a car was coming so I told her to stop and I treated her. As the car approached, the man rolled down the window to shout: "That's a good dog!"
Lots of people have shouted from moving cars that she's a beautiful dog, a pretty dog, a happy dog. But I can't think of any stranger who has ever told us that she's a good dog. Strangers have tried to tell me how to train her and I just hold up my hand and thank them and walk away. Anyone who wants to tell me to use "dominance" or some stupid wrong pack leader bullshit - no. Just, no. I have no doubt that had I leaned hard on Ziggy, with any kind of physical punishment, that she would have turned aggressive. No doubt at all. My vast patience with her shenanigans are what took us from awful to awesome. So now, I want us even more awesome.
***
I emailed the vet and trainer to ask about the response-substitution. Basically, when she barks out the window, I'm supposed to call her to me, have her do something else, and then give her a treat. So, her barking has gotten way worse since I started because Ziggy understands that if she barks, she gets a treat. She sees the relationship through the other steps. Smart dog? Probably. Just now she barked into the night and then turned to look at me to see if she was going to get a treat and when I decided to just ignore her, she sighed and gave up.
What a little delight she is, this pup. The better we learn to communicate with each other, the better life is.
I had class tonight and a guy brought his dog to class (a quiet bulldog type of thing who just sat in his lap the whole class) and man I missed my dog. Of course, she would not sit quietly on my lap - she would be rushing around terrorizing the class. One of her dearest people is in the class - a person who probably saved Ziggy's life (was willing to dogsit when I was trying to give her up, when I first got her).
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