[nagdu] Doggie spazziness/unfocus?

Wed Feb 18 11:57:25 UTC 2015

Daryl,

My dogs know where the dog park is too.  If we drive, it's west, north and 
west again, if we go anywhere with that pattern of driving,  they start 
whining, shivering and generally going nutters.  I tried all the calming 
techniques and they work somewhat when I have just one dog, but when there 
are two, they egg each other on and I don't have enough hands to attend to 
both of them at once.  My answer was to turn the radio up, way up and sing. 
Not exactly a standard intervention, but interestingly it worked.

If it's not at the dog park but one of them decides to loose their good 
sense, I will typically just wait.  This worked well with Monty when he was 
younger.  Now that he's quite a bit older, mostly I can just talk to him to 
get him back on track.  He's mellowed out considerably with age.

With Jetta, I learned the stand and wait method does not work.  She is very 
single minded and has some seriously intense focus.  If she is distracted by 
something, it can quickly turn into almost an OCD behavior.  With her, I 
need to take immediate and decisive action.  I have to get her moving, break 
the line of sight and possibly correct her.

Julie
Courage to Dare: A Blind Woman's Quest to Train her Own Guide Dog is now 
available! Get the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QXZSMOC
Visit my new website on developing courage and living authentically:
http://www.falling-up.com
-----Original Message----- 
From: Daryl Marie via nagdu
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 10:33 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Doggie spazziness/unfocus?

Danielle and Raven,

Thanks, ladies! This is crazily helpful.  I guess I am on the right track in 
general because I do much of this when we are distracted by other things 
(babies in strollers, other dogs), but we seem to have this power struggle 
when she is pulling this hard.

I think Jenn might respond to a calm voice, or perhaps even a bored one 
("Gee, really?")  My first reaction was to firmly tell her to "pace," which 
she did for about ten feet and then started pulling; I got frustrated after 
about the third time, esp when she just kept on pulling and wouldn't listen 
to directions.  I don't tell her to sit in the winters here, because the 
sidewalks are always covered in snow, ice and/or slush; if she is standing 
calmly at a curb or bus stop, I could care less if she is sitting.  I did 
use the "touch" command, but got no results.  And as for the Halti? 
Yeeeeeah... it normally has a place in my purse, and I didn't bring the 
purse last night... foolish me!

Back to all the lessons I learned a year ago: if she thinks this is a power 
struggle, then she will treat it like one.  Take all the power she thinks 
her spaz will give her, it will go away.

Daryl

----- Original Message -----
From: Danielle Sykora via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 19:59:44 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Doggie spazziness/unfocus?

This is something I can relate to since I have a somewhat impulsive
dog with a ridiculous amount of energy. There are basically two
strategies I have found that work with my dog when he gets overly
excited.
1. Ignore the behavior. I stand in one place, holding the leash, and
essentially pretend my dog doesn't exist. I don't acknowledge him
until he calms down. I find this is most effective out of harness
since he generally doesn't get quite that excited while working.
Sometimes I will modify this by holding his collar if there isn't a
lot of space.
2. I will give my dog a simple task such as "sit" and pet him calmly
under the chin, making small circles with my hand and keeping in
constant contact with his fur. This is something I learned in training
and it really seems to calm and refocus my dog. I usually use this
more when he is working. Ideally, I can get him to turn away from
whatever is distracting/exciting him while I am calming him down;
however, I sometimes will just stand between him and the distraction.

Danielle and Thai

On 2/17/15, Raven Tolliver via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Daryl,
> All of our dogs have moments of weakness, and so do we. Sometimes, our
> dogs act in ways that are totally out of left field, and our reactions
> are not always the most helpful. We have all been there.
> Here are some options for future instances of this particular
> behavior, or something similar where Jenny just seems to be
> overexcited.
> 1. Stay chill. This might seem like common sense, but sometimes, we
> react in a knee-jerk way, rather than in a calm, collected manner.
> What was your first reaction when Jenny got so out of control? Were
> you frustrated? Fretting? Yelling, or even speaking in a frustrated,
> higher pitched voice? Did you address her in a firm voice?
> Obviously, the tone that works with each dog is different. But
> sometimes, it benefits just to have a very relaxed tone of voice. No
> frustration, no excitement, no firmness, just calm.
> 2. Cue her to do something she knows. What different things did you
> try to get her to do? Did you ask her to sit? Use the touch command?
> Asking her to perform a command she is familiar with can remind her to
> behave herself and focus on you.
> 3. Stand your ground. Literally, you just stand there, holding the
> leash, and allow the dog to go nuts and calm down on their own, or
> with calming words/signals from you. I did this too many times to
> count at the animal shelter. This is called negative punishment, where
> you don't react to a dog's nonsense at all. Turn your back on the dog,
> and let them realize that they are not getting anything positive out
> of going berserk. Negative punishment can be used to train a number of
> behaviors, but it seems like it might be a plausible option in your
> particular circumstance. Reacting to a dog's nonsense can encourage
> them and get them more excited, so instead, ignore it and wait for it
> to stop, or give conservative calming signals. Whatever happens, be
> sure to give a reward, physical or verbal praise, or a couple treats
> when she gets herself together.
> And never leave home without your Halti! I've been with the Golden Guy
> for nearly three years, and in some situations with dog distractions,
> it still comes in handy.
> --
> Raven
> You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
> have or what you do.
>
> Naturally-reared guide dogs
> https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs
>
> On 2/17/15, Daryl Marie via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hello!
>>
>> Just looking for input.
>>
>> I take Jenny to an off-leash park regularly.  We have very few problems
>> walking there, but when my husband and I drive there with her, she gets
>> so
>> excited.  She starts happily whining when we're pulling in to the parking
>> lot, and we have had some success working with her on not pulling when we
>> get out of the car.
>>
>> Last night, we went to visit my mother-in-law at a house she moved into a
>> couple of months ago.  We have never taken Jenny there before, and last
>> night she just completely lost her head - pulling, whining, not
>> listening,
>> even in harness.  The first thing out of my husband's mouth when we got
>> out
>> of the car was "She thinks we're at the park," accented by dogs barking
>> from
>> yards in every direction.  I will admit I lost my head, too, and got
>> frustrated with my chowder-headed dog.  It got to the point that nearly
>> wrestling her to the ground didn't even seem to get her focused.  What
>> really sucks is that leaving the house, I thought I should bring her
>> Halti,
>> and decided not to... a decision I regretted upon exiting the car.
>>
>> In the end, she calmed down once we got inside, she sniffed my
>> Mother-in-law's Yorkie, stole a bone, and laid down calmly for two hours;
>> getting back to the car was much better.
>>
>> Any advice on dealing with this?  I admit I need to roll with this
>> better,
>> but Jenn needs to know that this behavior is not acceptable, PERIOD!
>>
>> Daryl and the normally well-behaved Jenny
>>
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>
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