Summer training

Y’all, I am SOOOOOO excited today. I spent part of this afternoon on the phone with Doug and Elizabeth Simpson from Tenderfoot Training in Colorado, and when they found out about our dog situation in Tucumcari and what I’m doing to try to fix it, they gave me a huge discount on private lessons so I can come up and spend three days studying with them next month at their place in the mountains outside Boulder.

I’m bringing one of my dogs (probably Marley, but I’m still weighing my options) and will get to work with my own dog and their dogs and then observe some lessons so I can see how they work with clients. When I was still on Instagram, I followed them and really liked their approach: They don’t use aversives, but they don’t use treats, either. Their methods are an outgrowth of the natural horsemanship movement, which I have always appreciated for its efficiency.

The last few years have been immensely stressful — endometriosis, surgery, pandemic, grad school, Long COVID, neurodivergence, office politics at my old school, learning a new age group at my current school, etc., etc., etc. — and I haven’t done a solo road trip since 2019 or something, so I am way overdue for a little me time. My primary goal here is obviously to learn some new training techniques, but I’m hoping this will also be an opportunity to clear my head and decompress a little. If it goes as well as I’m hoping, I might make it an annual tradition. I can think of worse ways to spend my summers than hanging out with dogs and the people who love them.

Assorted updates

What a spring. I wanted to blog more, but I’ve been absolutely swamped for the past month, I’m still trying to get my energy back and clear the brain fog after that bout with the flu and strep in February, and some desperately needed construction on I-40 has my commute eating my lunch even more than usual.

I’m also trying to figure out what’s going on with the Pest, whose anxiety levels have been all over the place lately. I thought we’d gotten a handle on it, but while she was helping me teach an obedience lesson yesterday morning, something startled her, and she instantly spiraled so far into fight-or-flight mode that she couldn’t focus or listen to me AT ALL. If we can’t get a handle on this, I’m going to have to retire her and train Marley and/or the Burrito to take her place.

Now for the good news:

1. The semester ends in three weeks, so I’ll have time to decompress and regroup for a couple of months.
2. A judge has issued an injunction telling the Public Education Department that it can’t enforce its demand for everybody to switch to a five-day week until a lawsuit over the issue makes its way through court. The governor is now running her mouth like a scared Chihuahua in a roomful of pit bulls, which tells me she already knows she’s overstepped and is just trying to bluff in hopes that she won’t be mauled too badly.*
3. Because I trust politicians and bureaucrats about as far as I can throw them, I am planning to spend this summer restructuring my lifestyle around the prospect of a five-day, 60-hour work week that includes 10 hours on the road. That way, I’ll be ready for a worst-case scenario, and if it doesn’t come to pass, I’ll have a few extra hours a week to play with.
4. As part of this effort, I am shifting to a low-FODMAP Mediterranean diet, which is supposed to help with Long COVID, and streamlining or automating as many housekeeping tasks as possible to reduce my stress levels and buy myself a few extra minutes every week.
5. I was already planning to devote a big chunk of my summer to dog training, but Ramona’s meltdown yesterday really brought home the need for that. I’m hoping to reboot my relationship with her by tethering her to my waist and hand-feeding her for a week, walking her 3 to 5 miles a day, and doing some targeted training designed to alleviate anxiety. Because I never work without a Plan B, I am also going to train Pearl and Marley to Canine Good Citizen standards so one of them can take over for Ramona in case she can’t overcome her anxiety enough to keep working, and all three dogs are going to learn nose work in the hope that one of them will be able to alert me to impending migraine attacks.

It’s shaping up to be a busy summer, but I’m directing my efforts inward instead of overpacking my schedule and creating unnecessary stress for myself. Hopefully the end result will be higher energy and lower stress when the fall semester starts.

Emily

*Note to Jessica Velasquez: I train dogs. The fastest way to fix reactivity is for the handler to give the leash a sharp jerk, put the dog in a sit-stay, and step between her and whatever she’s yapping about. If the dog is unusually strong, stubborn, or stupid, you may need to fit her for a good prong collar to get her attention. Herm Sprenger’s entry-level model should be sturdy enough to keep the average politician under control at press conferences and other public events. Don’t forget to mark and reward every time she stops yipping and looks up at you for direction. You’re welcome.

Great day.

Today was a good day. I had 100% attendance for the orientation at my latest group obedience class. Ramona was really good during class, even when a train was going by and the wind was rattling the door to the building, which made her very nervous. The hands-free microphone I bought to make it easier for people to hear me in class worked really well. People took notes during orientation and asked good questions. Everybody seemed to like the prizes I handed out.

I did a couple of things differently this time. The microphone was new, and I made a printed agenda for the session, with a space to take notes, and provided highlighters and pencils so people could do that. I also took a few minutes to throw on some makeup before I left the house, mostly because I had new mascara and lipstick that I’d added to a Target order the other day to hit the minimum for free shipping, but also because wearing makeup gives me a kind of subconscious signal that I’m doing something important and need to bring my A game.

Once I confirmed that the microphone was going to work, I got a little confidence boost from using it, and it was really cool to see people taking notes and listening carefully. That gave me a little confidence boost that I think Ramona picked up on.

I realized last night that this is my 10th class in Tucumcari and my 11th class overall since I started training dogs in 2019. That doesn’t include all the private lessons I’ve given, obviously; I’ve lost count of those, but there have been many.

I’m going up to the city shelter tomorrow to do a behavior assessment on an Anatolian shepherd mix, and then I might have one private lesson. The rest of the day is probably going to involve laundry and prepping stuff for school, because it’s too windy to go anywhere.

PSA for dog owners

I’m cross-posting this from my Tucumcari Dog Training website because it’s important, and I want to get the word out to pet owners who might need this information:

Family Dollar has started selling cheap knockoffs of the popular Kong toys, which is good news for dog owners who like to keep a few stuffed Kongs in the freezer but can’t afford to pay $15 for a chew toy.

Unfortunately, the toys — which cost about $5 — have a serious design flaw that needs to be addressed before dogs can play with them safely.

The problem with these toys is that they have a hole at one end so you can stuff them with treats, kibble, peanut butter, etc., but they don’t have a hole at the other end. This can create a suction effect that can cause the dog’s tongue to get stuck in the hole. Several years ago, another company recalled a similar toy over this problem. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the stories, because the internet is full of people who like to exaggerate for social-media clout, but I’ve heard horror stories about dogs being seriously injured or even killed as a result of getting their tongues stuck in toys. (Actual fatalities seem unlikely, but I suppose a dog whose owner couldn’t afford a trip to the vet would be at risk.)

The good news is that you can address the problem in about two minutes by simply drilling about a 1/4-inch hole in the closed end of the toy to allow air to pass through.

As I note in the video, a frozen Kong full of peanut butter and treats is a good way to manage separation anxiety, and it makes an excellent “instead of” option for compulsive chewers; simply correct the dog when you catch him chewing on an inappropriate item, move him away from the item, and offer him the frozen Kong as a substitute, making sure to mark and reward when he shows interest in the toy.

Wayback Wednesday: Barbara Woodhouse

Back in my day, there was only one celebrity dog trainer, and her name was Barbara Woodhouse.

A lot of Woodhouse’s methods and suggestions seem questionable now, but in 1982, humans collectively knew a lot less about canine behavior than we do today, and in 1982, taking an aggressive or destructive dog to a shelter was basically sentencing it to death, because there was no such thing as a no-kill shelter.

If these were my clients, I’d obviously handle them differently. If Barbara Woodhouse were alive and well and training dogs today, she probably would, too. But given the historical context in which she worked, I don’t see how you can read her as anything but a hero, because she was literally saving dogs’ lives by enabling them to stay in loving homes instead of being sent off to die in shelters.

If you disagree, you probably need to get off my lawn.

Shameless self-promotion

So back in November or something, I set up an Amazon associate account for my dog-training website. In the fine print, it said I had to get three sales in the next 180 days or they’d kick me out of the program, but I did not pay attention to that detail, because of course I didn’t.

I dutifully built a whole page on my website listing products I’d tried and found helpful in training. I thought it would be good to set up a business checking account and link it to my Amazon associate account before I made the page live. I made a mental note to go to the bank sometime during Christmas break. Then I got distracted with approximately 437 other projects during Christmas break and forgot about the bank and my Amazon associate page and everything related to it until about a month ago, when Amazon emailed me to remind me that it had been 90 days, and I hadn’t sold anything for them yet.

I still haven’t sold anything, because I was busy with school and just sat down and made that page live tonight.

I think I’ve got about two months left to get three sales, so if you’re in the market for a leash or a clicker or a crap carrier or a Kong or a doggy backpack or a Lamb Chop plushie, and you were planning to order from Amazon anyway, I’d appreciate it if you could hop over to the recommendations page on my dog-training site and click through to the Amazon links there to buy it. (Please do not buy something you weren’t already planning to get. The fact that I am bad at capitalism is not your problem. But if you are in need of dog training stuff, the items I listed there get good reviews, and most of them are things I own and use all the time with my dogs.)

Emily

Obedience training

It’s that time again! I am offering a group obedience class again this spring in Tucumcari.

Class will meet at 10 a.m. on Saturdays from April 6 through May 11 at the Tucumcari Railroad Museum. The cost is $50 for the entire six-week class, with proceeds split between the museum and Paws and Claws animal rescue. As always, I will waive the course fee for shelter volunteers and for dogs adopted from Paws and Claws or the Tucumcari city animal shelter.

I regard group classes as the gold standard for obedience training, because they provide opportunities for socialization that you just don’t get with private lessons. In a basic obedience class, you will learn:

• Safety tips, including what to do if a loose dog approaches you and your dog.
• Strategies to manage or eliminate common canine behavior issues such as reactivity, jumping, or nuisance barking.
• The “instead of” principle for eliminating undesirable behaviors.
• How and when to scaffold instruction to help your dog master difficult concepts.
• Eight essential commands: heel, sit, stay, wait, mine, place, recall, and kennel.

Depending on the personality and skills of a given class, you also might swap dogs with another student to give your dog practice working with an unfamiliar handler; turn obstacles in the immediate environment into an impromptu agility course; take a field trip to a dog-friendly business; or participate in a “barkcuterie” party to test your dog’s impulse control while rewarding you and your dog for a job well done.

If you live in the Tucumcari area and want to join the class, click here to sign up. Advance registration is required, and I’m capping the class at 10 dog/handler teams to ensure that everybody gets adequate attention. If you can spare 15 minutes a day to practice the skills you learn in class, you’ll be amazed at how quickly your dog learns.

(Cross-posted from tucumcaridogtraining.com.)

Summer plans

I have accomplished next to nothing today, and I have no idea why. I just don’t have any motivation. I’m assuming this is just leftover exhaustion from being sick last week and then pushing myself this week, but it’s still frustrating.

The good news is that I will be two days into my spring break by this time next week. I was planning to spend the whole break training a litter of puppies, but I got word today that they were transferred to a shelter in Albuquerque, so I’ll probably use the time to read the new book I bought on training service dogs.

I’m planning to spend this summer teaching Ramona and Marley to recognize the scent of an incoming migraine and alert me when they smell it. This is more of an educational exercise for me (I sometimes get questions from people who are trying to train their own service dogs, and right now, I don’t know enough about the process to help them), but I do wake up with bloodcurdling migraines once or twice a week, and it would be a wonderful luxury if one of my dogs could cold-nose me into consciousness a few minutes before the pain hits so I could take medicine to head it off at the pass.

I’m going to work with both Ramona and Marley because A.) I’m not sure who will be better at the job, and B.) it will give me a chance to see how the training techniques work for two very different dogs with very different personalities.

If I had to guess, I’d say Marley, who is a very confident little dog, will be better at the socialization component, but Ramona, who is obsessed with her nose, will be better at actually detecting migraines. The Pest has already demonstrated the ability to detect low blood sugar — something we discovered one morning when I forgot to eat breakfast before setting out on a walk with her — but she has a history of anxiety, and I’m not sure how well she’ll be able to override it.

The good news for me is that there is no scenario in which I lose. At worst, I’ll have an excuse to spend more time with my dogs, which is always worthwhile. If one of them excels at both the socialization and the task training, I’ll end the summer with a service dog. If one of them excels at the socialization but not the task training, I’ll end the summer with a Canine Good Citizen. If one of them excels at the task training but not the socialization, I’ll end the summer with a pet who knows she needs to tell me if I start to smell like migraine — which will still be helpful, because at least 90 percent of my headaches hit between 1:30 and 5:30 a.m., when I’m home and in bed. And in every scenario, the dogs will benefit from having some extra attention and training.

That sounds like a recipe for a great summer.

Emily

Resuming normalcy

I got off to a slow start today because I was still really tired (thanks, Insomnia Fairy) and my blood sugar felt a little weird, but a snack and some caffeine got me out the door for an obedience lesson this afternoon. Penicillin and prednisone are helpful, but apparently what I really needed was a little time in the sunshine with a big, smiley pit bull to put me to rights.

Dogs are the best medicine.

Beaker being Beaker

This is Beaker, the dog we took in as a hospice foster in May. He was in pretty rough shape, as he’d been wandering around a vacant lot by himself for several weeks by the time somebody finally called Animal Control to come and pick him up. When he came to the city kennel, he was filthy, malnourished, and sickly, with nails so long they were affecting his balance, and all he could do was tremble.

That’s no way for a little old man to live, so I pulled him from the kennel and brought him home. Nobody really expected him to survive long, but I groomed him, put him on high-quality feed and a glucosamine supplement, and braced for the worst. I figured if he didn’t get any better, at least he’d have someone familiar to hold him while the vet put him to sleep.

Nine months later, Beaker — so named for his habit of squeaking like an agitated Muppet when he’s upset — is still unsteady on his feet, but he’s in much better shape than he was in May. His coat is softer, and his mobility has improved to the point that he can climb into and out of Marley’s toy basket to sleep on her plushie collection; he walks back and forth over the rungs of the cat’s birdwatching stool; and from 5 to 7 p.m. every evening, he goes wandering around the house, squeezing himself into the narrowest spaces he can find and then complaining until we come to rescue him. (I am pretty sure that last bit is a ploy for attention, as he’s figured out that I’ll pick him up and comfort him if he gets himself stuck somewhere.)

He’ll probably break our hearts one of these days, but in the meantime, at least he’s got a pack to protect him, humans to hold him, and plenty of soft places to sleep. In exchange, he entertains us with his antics and reminds us that every day is a gift to be cherished.

Emily