cornsnakevivarium24

So after dropping my phone I brought him to that toy he was obsessing over. He shows great restraint for both the toy and my glove by voice command alone and sometimes with a slight correction. After putting the camera down, I allowed him to have the toy and worked on him giving it back to me. Often a 2 toy method works great for a tog who doesn't want to give up a toy.. There could be 20 balls in the yard and a dog will always want the one that the other dog has.. So I hide a ball behind my back, when the dog comes back, I show the ball and say DROP!.. dog drops his ball. gets praised and then is made to sit and make eye contact before I throw the other ball.. eventually the command alone will get him to drop the ball, sit and focus on you with out the need for a second ball... but for today in the lobby we used dominant pressure (psychological communication) to get fenway to submit to giving me the toy.

So this was last Monday.. Every morning the very first thing I do is calm every body down. People are entering the building so everyone becomes alert, barks and begins feeling anxious about breakfast and the day ahead. So before I even open the food bin I go up and down the line. The very first dog we see was just like his brother. I disagree with the behavior and then put him in place, calm him with little nudges of my fingertips like a mother would, until he's settled, then I massage him to relax his mind and body. Once he's calm, I say stay, and leave. The instant he attempts to get up or display anxiety he gets a firm no and I turn, open the door like I own the place and put pressure on him. Tell him place, guide him there, repeat nudges with finger tips,... rinse, repeat.... However on this opposite day Monday we find Rocky anticipating what I would be expecting of him and behaving and waiting very nicely.. For some odd reason Sam took over where Rocky left off. Rockies doing great! Sam settles in after a couple days but the weekends get him worked up again as I found this again yesterday. It's pretty common that people reverse train the dogs when I have time off. What happens is people come along to walk him, play with him, give him cookies and basically let him run the show like it's his birthday. Sounds pretty awesome and fun right? So they put him in the kennel, hugs, kisses and butt scratches, Tell him they'll miss him, close the door and say "Bye buddy"!... and How does this leave the dog? A dog who now faces 12 hours in a tin box until the next feeding or contact? It leaves them wanting more. It seems like such a harmless thing to do.. Just saying goodbye, being chipper or emotional can change a dogs state of mind? Though it defies human logic it's also not normal for a dog to suffer from separation anxiety.. It's a basic misfire in communications. Both the dog and the human are reading each other oppositely. So when you understand what a dog is saying and catch the early signals to can communicate with the proper response.. Which is NO, you can't behave that way, you can only behave this way... Back to Sam... As you'll see, when I get to sam he's a mess! I didn't follow the procedure so much because his kennel was disgusting and he had no place to lay. I think I said "oh god" at least 3 times. That was mostly because of the smell. Everything that's not blood is pretty much poo water and urine that had been tracked around all night. I just kind of half heartedly addressed it until I had a chance to clean it out... but later that morning as I passed to let another dog out you see him lying patiently in his bed. If he wants to go outside, that's how he has to be. They all have to be calm to get fed, slide their guillotine, exit their kennel. Anxious or excited dogs do not get to leave the kennel until they give me what I am asking... So instead of a kennel full of dogs barking to get out, going, "pick me! Pick me!", we get a kennel full of dogs competing to be the chosen one by behaving calmly... The way I look at it is, I have knowledge. Knowledge of things they want. Where food is, how to open doors, drive a car, where the park is... I have all the cool toys and games and I teach them things. These are all things they want and I can use that to my advantage by teaching them what I want as payment for access to that knowledge... Mix in a little love, patience and a pressure washer and you have a recipe for success...

New dog unsure of what she's supposed to do

Dixie was a street dog. She was picked up at a shopping plaza Where she had been hanging around for days. When she arrived it was clear she had an interest in toys and objects, but I had no idea how deep it went. On day one Dixie got a hold of a jolly ball that was left out. By the time I was able to get it from her, her mouth was cut up, she had broken a tooth and even redirected on my leg. It was clear how deep Dixie's obsession was at that point. The goal was to get her to become relaxed around toys and objects with out obsessing over them. Any kind of pain only drove her to fight harder, but once we had our break through and our connection was formed, it became obvious that pleasing me is what tickled her and soon she was able to have toys as a reward and be calm with them. Dixie was a challenge and definitely a dog that became close to my heart. She was adopted today :) I will never forget her!