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Bing Blog #7


				"Improvement Through Practice" -- December 11, 2005 Is it for real? Am I really making such great progress with Bing, finally? Yesterday, I had Lisa over so that Bing could play with her Boxer, Nitro. Lisa is pretty dog-savvy and is willing to help me with counterconditioning. After an hour of backyard play, we put Nitro away, took Bing into a room away from my other dogs, and started working. I held Bing, as I might at the vet’s office. She started out by holding her hand near his head but about 6 inches away. We waited for him to give ‘the look,’ which is a still head, looking at her, saying ‘where’s my click?’ She then clicked and treated. The first time she did this, he looked as if he was snapping, but he really was hand targeting, so we had to be careful about how she was holding her hand. After that, she was quickly able to touch his cheek, pet him under the chin, pet him around the neck, each time waiting for him to tell her he’s ready to be rewarded. But he was still worried. His mouth was closed and he was looking up at her with a bit of the whites of his eyes showing. After about 6 or 7 clicks, though, his mouth opened into a relaxed smile and his tail was wagging happily!!! At this point, Lisa was able to pet him on top of the head, feel in around his ears, and run her hand down his back, all while I was holding him with both hands! This has been tough for him, as this position has proven to be associated with negative things for him at the vet. But his familiarity with Lisa has certainly helped him to feel comfortable enough to trust her, and me, enough to accept what was happening. Of course, we ended with tons of praise and many, many treats!

			The session only lasted about 4 minutes. Tonight, Patrice played ‘the stranger’ and the ‘judge.’ At first, I had him on leash, and she approached him from about 2 steps away. He was sitting almost in a corner, which is a really vulnerable position. She walked up to him and stuck her hand out, waited for ‘the signal’, and clicked and treated. I am very careful to have my assistants not have the clicker or treats visible. He knows that we’re ‘playing the game’ but in real life, these items won’t be visible, so they shouldn’t be visible during practice, either. In only 4 or 5 repetitions, Bing’s expression went from ‘worried’ (closed mouth, white of eyes showing) to ‘yay!’ (open mouth, relaxed eyes, wagging tail)!
							Patrice was able to walk up to him from about 10 feet away, reach out and pet him for 4 or 5 seconds. He and I were able to walk, on leash, up to her and have her pet him, all without any worry at all. Since he was so clearly having a great time, we switched from the ‘friendly stranger’ to the ‘judge’ scenario. (These are all situations in which a dog must be able to accept being touched by strangers, so we are practicing all of them to make sure that he not only accepts them, but loves them.) I put him in a stand-stay and Patrice walked up to him from a few feet away, took his head in her hands, ran her thumbs up the bridge of his nose and onto the top of his head, then clicked and treated. He was completely relaxed! She repeated this, and then brought her hands down the sides of his head, felt his chest, then ran her hands down his back! He was nothing but calm and happy! WOOHOO!!

			I realize that in these past two training sessions, we have given him lots of time to ‘warm up’ with the assistants. This is not the same as a ‘cold trial’, so we still have lots of work to do before I am satisfied that Bing has learned that strangers are not all out to inspect his eyes and ears! However, allow me to report what happened 4 days ago. I took Bing to the vet for his second Bordatella vaccine (much as I don’t want to do this, he will be boarded in a month and the kennel requires the vaccine). When he went into the exam room, he gave the vet a kiss on the chin! He was fine with her (I had instructed all staff to ignore him, so he wouldn’t feel pressure). I was very angry with myself that I had forgotten my squeeze cheese and clicker!!! GRRR!!! (my excuse to myself was that this appointment was made on very short notice because I was taking Montana in to have some bloodwork checked…another long and educational story.) All I had were some dry treats, with which I baited him (not all that successfully) and I had to restrain him. He tried to turn around but didn’t snap. But about a minute after the shot, he started screaming. Apparently the vaccine stings. Poor, poor Bing. At the time, I was sad, and expected that subsequent training with him would be more difficult, but it wasn’t! Pete and I have also been doing more handling, such as more frequent brushing with treats, working on taking treats softly, and picking him up and holding him while he is being petted. So far, I’ve had Pete hold Bing (he’s still only 38 pounds) in his arms while I approach him and pet him. Bing has a very hard time with this one, as he has absolutely no control in this position. I hold out my hand a few inches from his head, click and treat when he gives me ‘the signal’. We have progressed a bit on this one; I can pet him on the side of the head for a few strokes. He is not ready for me to hold him while Pete pets him, but I am certain that if we took more time to do this more often, we’d resolve this very quickly. I am SO heartened by what we’ve been doing! I have 4 people helping me (Sue, Patrice, Lisa, and Pete) with this process, and on Tuesday, I hope to have two more trainer friends help us out. These are people he’s never met. We’ll have to start slowly!
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