Practicing for Real Life

by lennearbNo Comments
I am going to admit this: I don't really like cleaning, especially vacuuming. Fortunately, there is a lot less vacuuming required by the hardwood floors of my current house than in some of the carpeted apartments I have lived it. Less, but not none. Sirius Black, like many animals, highly dislikes the high-pitched motor of the vacuum. We've worked on desensitization, so he is no longer afraid of it, just uncomfortable around it. Unfortunately, unlike Nefertiti, who also dislikes it, he won't head for the farthest reaches of the house when he sees me pull it out. Instead, he tends to lie down somewhere close where he can watch me. Most often, the spot he chooses is right on the rug or floor I am planning to vacuum. This is where training for real life has it's moment to shine. I have written before about training relaxation and down on a mat. I teach this exercise in all my classes and to most of...
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What’s in a Tail?

What’s in a Tail?

by lennearbNo Comments
I was walking Sirius yesterday, and someone complimented his tail. This happens frequently—it is an amazing tail—and wouldn't be worth mentioning, except for what she said next: "What a great communication tool." I'll admit it. I just stared at her in dumbfounded silence for a moment and then kept walking. Why was I so taken aback? Because Sirius's tail is one of his worst communication tools, at least when it comes to communicating with new dogs, and has, in fact, caused him trouble on multiple occasions. Let's start with a word about body language. Dogs communicate through vocal signals, of course, but they depend much more heavily on body language. (If you want to learn to better understand dogs, you can't do better than to start with body language.) Tails, both in movement and position, are one form of this body language. A very broad brush explanation of tail position follows. Dogs have a neutral or resting position, which is where they characteristically...
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Dress for Success, Part 1: Collars

by lennearbNo Comments
Story 1 We were walking our dog near our house when the dog ran up to greet Sirius Black. We looked around, but saw no one near the dog. When he approached close enough, we were able to catch hold of his collar and read the address, less than a block away. A minute later, we were ringing the doorbell and returning the dog home to his family, who didn't even know he was missing yet. Story 2 We were walking our dog near our house when the dog ran up to greet Sirius Black. We looked around, but saw no one near the dog. When she approached close enough, we were able to catch hold of her collar and read the information. The phone number had been disconnected, and the address turned out to be out of date. It took close to 18 hours to locate the dogs owner, only a few blocks away, and get her home.   Both of these stories are...
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4 Pieces of Advice for Me

by lennearbNo Comments
Sometimes people talk about writing a letter to their younger selves. I haven't found any service that will deliver one of those yet, so I hope you can benefit from my advice. Train Earlier Bailey earner her nickname as the best dog. No matter what you wanted to do, she was happy to do it with you, whether that was a long hike or a lazy day on the couch. Her easy-going nature made it easy to ignore her less appealing traits, like going through the trash, as well as her issues, like stress in the car. When I finally started training with her, when she was 8, she was able to pass the Canine Good Citizen test on the first try. The experience also helped with other issues, like the car stress. I only wish I had tried it sooner. Don't Live Downtown Don't get me wrong: living downtown is the right choice for a lot of people, and it even seems to...
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Here’s to 6 More Years!

Here’s to 6 More Years!

by lennearb2 Comments
Later this week, we'll celebrate the sixth anniversary of Sirius Black's adoption. I find this almost impossible to believe, but it's true. A lot has happened since we first brought him home, and he lay motionless on the floor of our living room, giving his best impression of a dog with no personality. When we first brought him home, I was an animal welfare professional, but far from a behavior professional. My husband—who wasn't even my husband yet—had never had a dog before. All three of us had a lot to learn! We've made some mistakes along the way. In fact, have some useful advice stored up for the future; things like, don't take your noise-phobic dog to a sesquicentennial of a Civil War battle, unless you want to spend the entire day walking at the far end of the battlefield from all the events. But, mostly, I have good memories. We've been through a lot together, including three moves, several job changes,...
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Behavior Suppression

by lennearb1 Comment
"What if he has no personality?" "He has a personality." "How do you know?" We both stared at the dog, who was lying unmoving on the floor of the living room, in the same spot where he had lain down upon entering the room. No personality was in evidence. Six years of experience has proven me right: Sirius Black is full of personality. However, it is equally true that he demonstrated little of this personality during the first days and even weeks in our home. In fact, confident as i was that he had a personality somewhere, i anxiously questioned the trainer about the fact that he wasn't accepting trrats from us and other similar concerns. While not always as extreme as what we observed during our first days with Sirius, it is common to observe a reduced behavior in dogs both in the shelter and in the immediate post-adoption period. This period is sometimes referred to as the "honeymoon" period, because adopters may observe...
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How I Got Here

How I Got Here

by lennearbNo Comments
My parents were visiting this weekend, and that got me thinking about a question I am asked fairly often: How did you become interested in working with multi-pet households? It's a question that I am never sure how to answer because I have never felt that it was something I became interested in, but rather, that I was born into. When I was born, my parents' household consisted of three dogs and a cat. One dog and a cat were my mother's from before their marriage, while one dog was my father's. They had rescued the third dog when they found her running loose in a grocery story parking lot. While these animals were a story of integration themselves, throughout my childhood, the animal composition of our household changed several times. As exciting or painful as each change was in itself, every change also necessitated a process of integration help new and resident animals adjust to new routines. During my childhood, I was...
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Give me space!

Give me space!

by lennearbNo Comments
The room had been set up with round tables, and I was sitting with my back to the presenter. Which was fine, until she walked up behind me and put her hands on my shoulders. My friends around the table could all tell immediately that I wasn't happy, but I don't think the trainer ever noticed. In that way, it was a lot like many dog-human interactions I have observed over the years. It's not that I hate touching under all circumstances. I love hugs with my family. After years of conditioning, including one intense semester in Costa Rica, I have even learned to enjoy social hugs with friends. And, of course, I love cuddling with my animals, especially when I am upset or have had a hard day. I don't like strangers to come up behind me and touch my shoulders. I don't like hugs at business meetings. Many dogs have similar preferences. While there are a few who love all contact...
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Road to the “Peaceable Kingdom”

by lennearbNo Comments
This post tells a personal story. In subsequent posts, I will address some of the details of introducing new pets and dealing with conflicts. A lot of people ask me how long it will take to reconcile their new or newly conflicting pets, especially their cats or their dog and cats. People would really like a timeline, a “drop-dead” date by which they will no longer have to engage in the complicated ballet of managing multiple pets who do not get along, must be kept separated, requiring two separate routines and extensive demands on people’s time. People would also like to know when they can expect to see progress, and how much they can expect to see, what it will look like, and so on. I call this process—the process of moving from managing multiple pets who are in major or minor conflict to one in which everything is running smoothly in an integrated household—the road to the “Peaceable Kingdom” (a phrase...
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THUMP! – A reminder travel safely

by lennearbNo Comments
We had attended two weddings 600 miles apart in less than 24 hours—driving through the night to make it to the second one on time. People said we were crazy, but we didn’t feel we could let down the friends and family that were counting on us. In the end, the trip had been successful, and the car was packed for the trip home. There had been some light rain, but the road conditions were fine, and we expected an uneventful drive. Certainly, we didn’t think anything of having to stop behind several other cars to wait for another vehicle to turn left. That is, until I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the yellow Jeep coming up behind us. It was braking, but not fast enough to stop on the slightly slippery road. Thump! We both jerked forward in our seatbelts, glanced at each other, and pulled to the side of the road. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad,...
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