Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Independent and confused!

Not really related to the rest of this post, I put West out in the yard to pee ALONE. It occured to me he'd only been out with Archie. I'm going to make an effort to get him spending 5-10 minutes on his own out there and be comfortable with it. Wish him luck! :)


Anyway, today was certainly less boring than yesterday. I had to leave first thing, so I peed the boys then tucked West into his crate with a kong stuffed with RAW CHICKEN SKIN (we skin our meat before we eat it, and he's thin, so..) and went to town. When I returned, we had a good play around noon outside. We then came in and I put archie up so West and I could just chill.

He did some toy play, and some OMG I CANT TAKE THIS PANT PANT PACE PACE, but eventually, he did some nice relaxed downs and some 'lets play that fun clicker game' asking. I explained a bit about not putting muddy feet on the bed without permission, and overall, it was really nice. He also didn't destroy anything and stopped chewing the table when I asked him nicely. It was nice.

I see some dramatic change in him the last couple days, and while I can't directly credit the DAP collar, the timeline fits. So maybe that's working!

Back in the crate while I took Archie to CLASS OMG he hasn't been to class in MONTHS AND HAD TO PEE ON EVERYTHING OMG OMG OMG!.. he was insane, but it was good for him.
Just got home, and plan to spend another hour or so just chilling with West and letting him play and hang out. :)

2 comments:

  1. So glad to hear you're noticing positive changes in West in the last week! It really sounds like he's responding to your strategies, being in a quieter household and getting your (almost) undivided attention. Has there been any evidence at all that he may bite?

    I wonder, Courtenay, if you might be able to give more information about the DAP collar. Do you know of any studies that prove its effectiveness or any situations where its been used that you might know about personally? For example, is it simply a distraction or is there something inherently calming about the scent? Is it a dog pheromone or does it come from another source?
    Learning a lot,
    Ailsa

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  2. As for the biting, sorry, I missed that.
    He certainly is way too dependent/fearful to bite ME (aside from today, of course) though as he gets more confident, I could see him coming in for 'cow nips'. I do think he would certainly bite strangers though. I just ensure he's not exposed to them, and when introducing people (ie: Vikki), he's on leash and I keep him back till he's showing no overt signs of aggression.

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