Comments for Boogie's blog

Comment on About Boogie by Meron

Meron — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:38:56 +0000

Boogie is absolutely adorable! I just found your blog on pinterest and I love it. I’ve been living with a wonderful rat terrier mix for about a year now, and I have learned so much about myself as I try to understand why he is the way he is. We were actually used as examples in our first obedience class of what the worst case scenario looks like. He’s incredibly reactive towards dogs, trucks and of course those god-awful squirrels 😊 I’ll admit I have and continue to make mistakes in my attempts to help him channel his reactivity…but we’ve made great strides and every little achievement is grandly celebrated. I will definitely use some of the tips in your blog. Thank you so much!

Comment on Hair loss and crusty dry skin… What is it? by sue

sue — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:41:06 +0000

I don’t have a BT but I do have a dachshund who experiences these exact symptoms! I have some medicated shampoo but it hasn’t seemed to help too much. I have him on fish oil, grain-free salmon dog food, and an herbal spray. I have a question, If I spray him with the chlorohexidine spray, will it affect my French bulldog if he were to lick it off him. My frenchie has a tendency of licking my dachshund, and I want to make sure he doesn’t get sick!

Comment on L.A. BAT Seminar, Boogie’s session with Grisha Stewart by Grisha Stewart

Grisha Stewart — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:51:50 +0000

It’s not just being selfish, Lili. If Boogie has more positive experiences with dogs, it can really help his behavior toward other new dogs. But all greetings should be on his own terms, of course, and don’t greet if he doesn’t want it.

Comment on L.A. BAT Seminar, Boogie’s session with Grisha Stewart by lili

lili — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:16:09 +0000

Hi Teresa, thanks for commenting!
Using BAT has been really helpful because I get a better sense of what Boogie wants to do before we get close to the dog… if he wants to greet or move away. And I can respect this.
Ideally (yes I know this is sort of selfish of me) I want Boogie to have MORE positive relationships with dogs; I want more positive socialization experiences for him so my goal is to have him have fun greetings where possible. I am not sure yet how to get to this stage without me holding my breath at the final moment…

Comment on L.A. BAT Seminar, Boogie’s session with Grisha Stewart by teresavet

teresavet — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:28:01 +0000

Hi Lily,
one thing I’ve learned in my classes, is that we all think every dog wants to engage with every other dog. And that’s not true. Our dogs are exposed to hundred other dogs, some they want to meet others, they do not.
In busy enviroments, some dogs they just can’t cope with everything. I try to respect that, and if the dog wants to go away, I don’t care if it is because they can’t cope or if they had enough. He has had enough, and I take it away. I respect his wishes, because if I don’t, it doesn’t matter how soft I work, its not rewarding for the dog that only wants to walk away. So walk away, and soon enough you’ll find another dog.
The purpose of BAT is to get the dog to a)have fun with other dogs, if he wants, or b)learn to ignore them if he doesn’t want to engage. I respect that, and if the dog doesn’t want to get near, I let him ignore it. It’s his choice!
Remember the 5 second rule? I apply it to other dogs, too, up close or in the distance.

Comment on L.A. BAT Seminar, Boogie’s session with Grisha Stewart by lili

lili — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:08:56 +0000

Thank you, Grisha!

Comment on L.A. BAT Seminar, Boogie’s session with Grisha Stewart by lili

lili — Sat, 18 May 2013 04:09:01 +0000

Vicky and Stacy – Sorry! I forgot to make them public. I have changed the setting…. do they work now? (they were working for me, anyway)

Comment on L.A. BAT Seminar, Boogie’s session with Grisha Stewart by Stacy

Stacy — Sat, 18 May 2013 02:23:56 +0000

Lili the videos of Boogie on this post are set to private so we cannot view them.

Comment on L.A. BAT Seminar, Boogie’s session with Grisha Stewart by vicky o'connor

vicky o'connor — Sat, 18 May 2013 01:20:06 +0000

I was unable to open your ‘Boogie’ You Tube videos, as they are set to ‘Private’. If you go to your account, you can change them to ‘Public’.

Comment on L.A. BAT Seminar, Boogie’s session with Grisha Stewart by Grisha Stewart, MA, CPDT-KA

Grisha Stewart, MA, CPDT-KA — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:38:52 +0000

Thanks for the chance to work with Boogie! I’m glad you’re getting the finer points. I like the way you processed things here.

In answer to one of your questions, it’s definitely always good to try to figure out with Boogie if it’s too much too soon or if he’s really got the information he needs. I think after the sniff to Peanut he 1) had determined that Peanut wasn’t going to attack him so he could do something else but also 2) was still worked up from the greeting. Doing more walks together before getting to the greeting stage would make those go better, I’d think. And if you do them on your own, please use a fence in between for safety. You can do parallel walking with a fence in between, too, so scope out some parks with fences that you can walk or drive to for a BAT set-up with your new neutral-dog friends.

He’s got a giant-sized opposition reflex, so definitely do Silky Leash.

For the other techniques, just to be clear, it’s possible to change the dog’s understanding of the trigger, in a more of less permanent way, but the treats or the punishments can be counterproductive, too. Dogs need to really get information about the trigger and if you can use open bar / closed bar classical counterconditioning (CC) or clicker training focus to get close enough to experience the trigger and figure out that it’s safe, rehab is likely to happen. You can even combine tools to allow the dog free choice throughout, but sometimes have food. However, if the dog spends all of her time doing the windshield-washer thing (see man -> get treat, see man -> get treat) then the dog doesn’t have a chance to process the information.

Doing punishment-based ‘obedience’ near the trigger is a common technique with potential for even worse fallout, because the dog is distracted AND the dog can make a negative association with the trigger. At least with food, the dog is having a good time.

Anyway, I’m glad that your take-home message was to allow for more choices and more delicate leash handling.