[nagdu] Changing the rules when you get home

[Raven Tolliver]

I changed a lot more than just the rules.
One of the first things I did was put the choke chain to rest, and
switch to a prong collar. I did not like the chain because frequently,
it got caught in my golden’s fur, and it would turn around and slide
down his neck. I could never keep it in a proper position for a leash
correction. I also did not like the idea of briefly choking my dog for
a leash correction. So for a couple months, I used the prong collar,
and it worked much better for me. Then, I just switched to the
martingale check collar, which is what I use now.
I don’t remember if my school said to heel the dog off of a bus or
not. Regardless, I work him off the bus. I gauge how much of a step
down there is by his behavior. If he steps right off after being cued
to go forward, there’s obviously not much of a step. But if he stops
in the doorway, and does not obey the cue “forward,” I know that there
is a larger step down.
The school did say not to have the dog lay down on the bus. I don’t
think this is practical, especially for longer bus rides. It doesn’t
come naturally for my dog to just sit up while the bus is moving, so
he just lays down, and I slide him back under the seat. If someone
comes on with a wheelchair, stroller, or cart, I briefly grab up his
front paws.
The school taught us to switch the dog over to the right side when
working through doors that opened out to the left. The only time I’ll
maneuver through a doorway by doing a complete 360 is when I am
carrying things in my right hand.
I stopped treating so frequently concerning curbs and stairs. The
school had us treating at every curb, which is just ridiculous,
especially the way they had us stopping at the curb when we reached
the other side of the street. They trained the dog to stop with its
front paws on the curb, but you and the rest of your dog would still
be hanging out in the road. I’m sorry, but I did not like that at all.
Not all roads have bike lanes to just hang out in, and you only have
about 20-30 seconds to get your butts across the road and out of the
road. So I allowed my dog to continue over the curb, and just verbally
praised him for it. It’s just not necessary to stop in the street
after crossing the road.
At stairs, I allowed him to go up stairs without stopping at them.
Usually, he stops at stairs whether they are going up or down, but if
he does not stop, I don’t rework it because I personally can feel
through my harness whether my dog is stepping up or down.
Too, when crossing streets, the school discouraged any kind of
automatic turning after crossing. If we needed to make a turn, we were
instructed to take two or three steps after the curb, cue "wait," then
cue our dogs left or right. Again, not practical, at least, not in my
environment. On campus, there isn't a lawn on the street side of the
sidewalk, so turns after crossing have to be immediate. I have to cue
my dog "to the curb, right. To the curb, right," or else, we will pass
up the turn.
I also changed my dog’s diet. He is now on a fish-based, grain,
gluten, and soy-free dog food. And I started feeding my dog fruit --
cantaloupe, honey-do, and pear. He has never been interested in
vegetables.
When I lived with my parents, I did not let him off leash until his
off-leash recall was reliable. And I did not force him to sleep on his
bed or in his crate. He was restricted to sleeping in my bedroom with
me, but the spot was up to him. He never got up on the bed, since he
considered jumping up on the furniture a sin. Here in my apartment, he
sleeps wherever – in the bathroom, living room, somewhere in the
bedroom. The spot is up to him and he moves around throughout the
night.
He has never had an accident indoors. My puppy-raisers even said that
he never had an accident with them, even when he was sick. But
sometimes, I will take him out if I wake up around two or three in the
morning though.
Oh, and lastly, I got him several squeaky toys. I don’t know why
schools say not to get them. Maybe because dogs will try to chew the
squeakers out and eat them? My golden guy loves his squeaky toys, and
I always monitor him if he’s playing independently with anything but a
Nylobone.


-- 
Raven