Friday 30 November 2018

Sir Galahad

What a lovely boy he is.  Sir G can be very uncertain about new things so we work very slowly, at his pace.
A while back he visited this area for the first time.  He was a little uncertain, to begin with, so we did lots of Sprinkles sessions.  He soon relaxed and enjoyed his time there.

Sir Galahad is with Terrier SOS rescue. It is always lovely working with rescues that understand some dogs need time and space and not to make their world too big, to begin with.  Terrier SOS work very hard with all their dogs to ensure they are ready for foster/rehoming and allow them to go at their own pace. It is a privilege working with rescues like Terrier SOS.



Sir G gives lots of little stress signals that could easily be missed. It is so important to recognise these so we set him up to succeed.
Thanks to the dedication of the local rescue worker, Sir G now happily jumps into a car.  We decided to try him inside a home, to see how he would adjust.
I think that face above says it all!

Sir G happily jumped into the car and we took him into the garden area when we first arrived.  Lots of sniffing and his famous rolling and plenty of pee messaging.


By taking him somewhere familiar first, Sir G was set up to succeed.
Also, the room had been set up prior to his arrival with a snuffle mat (which he loves), an interactive food toy, dog bed and lots of hidden treats around the room.
Sir G can be sensitive to new things including noises and the interactive food toy can be quite noisy.  After some careful sniffing around it, Sir G decided it was safe to investigate and thoroughly enjoyed clearing it several times.


Sir Galahad was wary of going into the kitchen area as the floor surface was different.  He tentatively put his front paws in and leaned forward. It is so important to allow dogs to explore at their own pace and not try to speed up the process. You can see Sir G having a look into the kitchen here when he first arrived.


He did investigate several times and had a drink from the water bowl just inside.  After a great deal of exploration and sniffing, this is him below.


One tired boy!  He slept all the way back to the kennels. Amazing how tiring sniffing can be (and relaxing too) which is why we promote it so much.
Sir Galahad is looking for a calm foster home somewhere in the area.





Wednesday 21 November 2018

More work with Sienna 21/11/18

We did some more work with Sienna today, trying to ensure she has all the necessary skills to make a new home work.  It is important to set dogs up to succeed so we try to cover every possibility.

Harness and lead were quickly put on and Sienna was keen to get outside for a walk again. Each walk we go a little further, slowly building up her confidence.
Often, when dogs panic or are overwhelmed, their fight or flight kicks in and they will often try to bolt so it is important to go at their pace.

You can see from the following video just how far we went today. The key to working with nervous dogs is small steps, at their pace.
Sienna did really well with two passing cars. I encouraged her onto the grass verge and fed a stream of treats until the first car had passed.  When the second car approached, she moved onto the verge and looked expectantly for treats.  Such a quick learner.


You will see in this video clip she is now keen to get back to the safe zone of the kennels.  Rather than lure her with treats, I reward her with a treat for coming back to me or with praise.  We also do a couple of treat searches on the way back.

At some point, Sienna will need to go into a car - whether that is to the Vets or a new home. She has limited experience of car travel other than being brought to the kennels so we did a little training to desensitise and counter condition her to cars, ensuring it is a positive experience.


Sienna loves using a snuffle mat so we use this to pair good things with the car. This is her second time jumping into my car but this time I close the door while she is in there and move to the front of the car.

Sienna then went back to her kennel for some rest time.  It is important to avoid doing too much at once.  Dogs need to rest and digest their learning.

The kennels have created an enrichment room and it is designed to be similar to a lounge. This gives dogs a fabulous opportunity to explore and build confidence, have fun and relaxation and gives us an opportunity to see how they would be inside a home.

Sienna's coat is quite matted in places as we have avoided in-depth grooming until now.  She will allow people to groom her gently but is not keen when there are some tangled areas. For this next step, we use a snuffle mat again.


We begin by using the softer side of the brush and then once she is comfortable about what is happening we switch to the wire side.
You can see her lift her head when I reach one of the tangles but she quickly goes back to the snuffle mat. At the end of the video, she moves away, signalling she has had enough brushing for this session. It is so important to listen to what a dog is telling us.

A number of treats have been hidden around the enrichment room and Sienna begins to explore.  When she first arrived in rescue she was too nervous to investigate or be curious.  
She finds the treats in the toy box and works really hard to get to them.  A number of the toys make noises and this would have made her jump - look at how confident she is now.


Next a little game of consent. Today, one of the lovely kennel ladies is standing nearby and we are chatting - mimicking what might happen at a Vets. Sienna is a little distracted at times (she does like to know what is going on)!  She soon gets into the game and I can check her ears, eyes and teeth!



We then did an impromptu vet check!  Chloe took over the chin game while I mimicked the actions of a Vet.  Sienne did so well.



At the end of the session, which was kept brief to avoid overtiring her, Sienna chose to lie down.









Friday 16 November 2018

The importance of the four C's


Sienna's training is coming along quickly now.  Her confidence is growing by the day and we are starting to really see her beautiful personality. She is incredibly gentle and once she trusts you, she loves receiving affection (and food)!

Another big day for her today.  Putting her harness and lead on is no longer an issue.  We still pair it with a little food, dropping a couple of treats down on the floor while we clip the harness together.  Sienna can still be a little jumpy about the noise. Once on, she is keen to go outside and explore.

With time and patience, we have worked on Calm.  Calm when receiving affection, calm when being groomed, calm when playing the chin targeting game, calm when having her harness and lead put on and so on.  Whilst Sienna has never been an excitable dog, she did startle at many things and was anything but calm when she was scared.

Next came Connection. Working on the connection between handler and dog is so important.  We do not use cues to get this, such as Look at me or Watch me. We do not want a dog that is forced to look at us all the time.       
We simply reinforce any connection towards us. When a dog chooses to look at us (and gets paid ðŸ˜Š) it feels so much better than when asked or commanded to do so. Choices build Confidence.




Just look at this girl today! We went out to the area just outside the front of the kennels where we had been previously and did a short sprinkles session.





Then time for a real walk!


She did incredibly well and happily ate food treats.  We encountered a passing car at one point, so we moved onto the grass verge and she took a constant stream of treats as it went passed.
We do this to desensitise and counter conditioning.  When the scary stimulus appears – treats follow. When repeated over time, she starts to look for the food as soon as she sees the scary stimulus.
It is important to remember that the scary stimulus is seen before the treats come.

Scary monster = wonderful food

Towards the end of the video, she stops after hearing a strimmer. She turns back and can see a person and another dog in the distance.  She stands for a while to assess the danger.  It is vital that we do not call her or her prompt her at this point. She needs to assess things out calmly and is not over threshold.  Once she has done so she happily turns her back and walks on with me.
We don’t go too far today – this is the first proper walk she has ever experienced so we do not want to overdo things.  As we return to the kennels, the strimmer starts up again.  She happily walks towards the source of the noise and as we pass the strimmer she pauses to look.  She quickly realises it is the kennel manager who she knows and trusts.  She immediately goes over to see him once he has put the strimmer down.  We stand and chat for a while and Sienna chooses to do the following




You can see the strimmer behind her. We would never ask a dog to sit in the presence of a scary stimulus but Sienna chooses this behaviour.

Before long a very noisy tractor starts heading down the road towards us.  Sienna remains by my side when she hears it but does not panic. I try to move us back a little so that we are not too close but the tractor comes up quicker than anticipated.  Again, we use food to pair the presence of the “scary monster” with food.  Although Sienna does move back, she does not panic and continues to take food.  The food stops as soon as the tractor has gone from view.


Soon after, another tractor is headed our way.  This time she remains sitting (her choice) by my side and receives a constant stream of treats as it passes.


You can just about see the tractor headlights in the distance to the left of my head. As soon as she hears it, Sienna immediately looks to me to see if food is on its way!

We then did some work getting her in and out of my car. After a couple of minutes, she happily jumped in with no prompting.
Next came grooming.  Sadly my camera stopped working so no videos of this.  We used the quiet enrichment room set up at the kennels, with a sofa, platform and lots of toys, including a snuffle mat.  Sienna happily worked the snuffle mat while I groomer her all over.
I was also able to wipe her paws with a towel and some more chin targeting. Today I was able to touch first her ears to inspect, then her eyes and then her mouth – all in one go.

By working through the four C’s, at her pace, Sienna is growing more and more confident so 

that new things are not as scary as they were.



  

Friday 2 November 2018

Update on Sienna’s lead and harness training


Following on from the wonderful breakthrough with Sienna and several sessions of her walking beautifully on a harness and lead in the paddock we decided she was ready to move forward again.
We still use treats when putting the harness on, allowing her to choose to put her head through rather than luring her or just quickly putting it on.

Choices = confidence

Putting her harness on is a much quicker process than it used to be, through careful management and ensuring it is always a positive process.
Instead of going in the paddocks this time, we took her out of the reception door into the front lawn area.  Initially, I walk with her as this is what she is used to.  Lot’s of sniffing and curiosity, which is how a dog’s walk should be.


It is really important to keep the lead loose so that she does not feel pressure and we reinforce every time she comes alongside.



She did so well we swapped handlers! Look at this lovely video clip as she walks beautifully with Tony, the kennel owner. Tony is calm, confident and relaxed which builds confidence in Sienna as she trusts him. Careful handling is needed with the lead – watch how well Tony handles her.

Some lovely sniffing and investigatory behaviour in the car park with so many new smells. She is a little uncertain at first about going forward but simply follows Tony and sniffs some more!

As we begin to move away from the kennel car park she becomes a little more uncertain and checks on me walking behind her.  We decide to do a Sprinkles session on the grass verge. You can see a little tension in her hind quarters as she sniffs through the grass, but this soon disappears as she becomes engaged in the sprinkles.


We are keeping Sienna’s world small at the moment as we do not want to overload or flood her with too many potentially scary stimuli.  We finish the session with an extended Sprinkles session on the grass area.

You can still see some tension in her hindquarters and she looks up several times on hearing a sound from further up the road.  Her movement is quite clumsy at times and she is rapidly searching for the treats. While Sienna does love her food, this is mainly due to some underlying stress about being in a new area.
This is a lovely video as you can see her begin to relax and after glancing up several times to check noises out, she immediately returns to her sprinkles.


We will do several more sessions like this, before introducing other people while out walking. With progress like this, it is always tempting to push forward but if we do not go at her speed we could cause her to panic.
Such a privilege working with this gorgeous girl.