When I met Dixie, I thought she loved everyone and everything. She seemed very easy going. She was one of the VERY few dogs at the shelter that wasn’t barking. (I don’t blame them, it’s a stressful environment no matter how wonderful the facilities and volunteers are. One dog barks, others join in.) She didn’t react to any of the people, dogs, or other things we encountered on our walks from the shelter around that neighborhood. In fact, the first time I met her was when a volunteer carried her out and put her into my arms. I saw Dixie make a couple half-hearted “woofs” one time when all the other dogs were barking and I was part of a “walk through” of the shelter. The day I adopted her, she did bark at a woman entering the shelter as we were “checking out”. All in all, though, she seemed pretty relaxed.
The first night (Thursday) I bought her home went well. Dixie was very happy and excited to go for a walk. We saw people, two friendly dogs, an unfriendly dog, a rabbit, and a bicycle. Dixie showed little interest in these things. She had a treat and I had a treat, and all seems good in our little world. She did bark loudly at the neighbor, and the neighbor’s pug through the metal fence. That pug has barked at me for nine years – so I was not surprised it barked at Dixie and me – and not that surprised Dixie barked back.
Friday morning I realized Dixie took her house-guarding duties rather seriously. She would wake and bark ferociously if she heard anything outside. Still, I was unprepared for the Friday afternoon interview with the owner of the dog walking service and our dog walker to go so poorly. Dixie barked ferociously and was terrified. The walker (who is a very calm young guy) was able to get her leash on, so the owner felt we’d be able to work it out… but I was worried. Did I break my dog already? Was I doing something wrong? Or had she “shut down” at the shelter and was just now exhibiting her more natural behavior? Fortunately I have some wonderful and knowledgeable contacts – and I was able to find a trainer that did private sessions and was able to fit us in on Tuesday.
Later on Friday, Dixie and I walked to a nearby pet store. Dixie was clearly overwhelmed by all the people and children and dogs and strollers, and was excited but was not out of control, barking and lunging. Over the weekend, I found Dixie also reacted very negatively to food delivery – both pizza and Thai. She barked ferociously and lunged at the delivery people.
I got lots of great advice. Dixie barked and lunged at the trainer on Tuesday, but she was able to give her treats and Dixie calmed down and even fell asleep, belly up, next to me while we talked. The trainer advised me to ignore undesirable behavior (like barking) and reward good behavior (not barking). We were going to start associating visitors with good things – like treats. She also recommended having different types of treats of different “value” – ordinary treats (even kibble/dry food) and “million dollar treats” that were extra special. It was a great session, and I felt I learned a lot.
It was only a few days later we got to put our new techniques into practice. She barked at things on our walks – but now someone was coming to the house. My friend that is a trainer said this was going to be a perfect training opportunity. The person coming (a plumber) would not leave while she was still barking – and therefore it would not reinforce her feeling that barking makes “scary people” go away.
It was tough – Dixie barked ferociously at the plumber and was VERY upset. However it didn’t last long. A few minutes, and she started being quiet. I started counting. For every few seconds she was quiet, she got a treat. I extended the counting and rewarded for longer and longer periods of silence.
We started basic obedience classes. We worked. We had disappointments and successes.
After one of our basic obedience classes, our trainer allowed us to introduce Dixie to her dog, so see how it would go. It went fine at first… until it didn’t. We’re not sure what the trigger was, perhaps the fact the other dog wandered into the corner where Dixie and I had sat during class and perhaps Dixie thought of that as “our” corner – but what was going fine suddenly was not – and Dixie had lunged at the other dog and probably bit its leg. I still feel bad about it. Our best guess is Dixie is either territorial/protective of very selective about other dogs. She did have a couple of dog friends in play group at the shelter she enjoyed playing rough and tumble with, so it doesn’t seem she just hates other dogs.
The cleaning lady was another hurdle. We used our techniques (ignore barking, reward not-barking) and while the cleaning lady doesn’t speak much English, she is good with animals and talks to Dixie sweetly and gives her treats when she does not bark and by the third visit – things were better. Not great, but better.
Today was a break-through day.
My friend, Kirk, and I made plans to go out for lunch. He had not met Dixie yet. I decided to try something different. Rather than crate Dixie, ignore the barking, then reward once she stopped barking, etc…. I took Dixie out front for a walk back and forth in front of the house. She had one episode of barking at a guy walking two chihuahuas.
My friend arrived and got out of his car down the block and approached us, waving to me. I asked him to stop about ten feet away from us, when Dixie had started pulling on the leash. He did. Dixie barked and pulled (I had my foot on the leash) but I got her attention, and she sat and stopped barking. She got a treat. Friend and I chatted a bit. When she seemed calm, I asked him to take a few steps toward me and stop. Dixie barked. I got her attention. She stopped barking and sat. She got a treat. Repeat. When he was standing next to us and Dixie was calm, we went to the back yard of our house – Dixie and I leading the way. Dixie kept looking back and I kept just asking her to look at me and acknowledging I knew friend was there. Hung out in back yard a bit. Then we went inside. Again, Dixie was a little concerned friend was coming in our house, but not bad. When we were inside and calm, she got a treat. She was put in her crate and Kirk and I left to go out for lunch.
Came home. Dixie was excited I was home. I had Kirk give her a MILLION DOLLAR TREAT – a CHEESE PUFF. Dixie now thought she might really like Kirk. Another cheese puff from Kirk. Then I let her out of her crate, and she got another cheese puff. Everything seemed good! She liked Kirk! Kirk equals CHEESE PUFFS!
We went out in the back yard and played for a while. It was AWESOME. She really liked Kirk. Like, so much that when I’d ask her to “here” (come)… she wasn’t sure she wanted to come to me, she liked Kirk. Like maybe she likes him as much as me. Kirk is used to dogs that necessitate caution… so he never pushed things… he played with us, but he didn’t grab at her or get in her face or anything… he petted her and ran around with her and we had fun.
So, I’m REALLY happy she has another friend. It’s also a huge relief as he is the friend that lives closest in proximity to me, and while he travels a lot, when he’s here he works from home… so if there was an “emergency” and he was in town, he could come over (he has keys) and let her out or feed her or whatever.
Dixie’s first play date!
