Everyday training

We have managed to organise our life that we and Lisbeth are quite fine...

And I think now it's time to work on her ability to handle stress. The first thing she should learn is to come with us to work.
So we just go there on weekends and evening when it's moreless quiet to slowly learn her to feel comfortable at other places.
Went there yesterday evening and again today in the morning. When we arrive we go for a little walk and then she get's a bone to chew on. A bone is the only thing that works even a frozen kong (she normally loves this) is not interesting enough due to a high stress level. After finishing the bone we immidiatly have go to guarantee a positive end of the training session. And even if it does not look like hard work for Lisbeth it is exhausting. She immediately fell asleep when we returned back home!

Love this crazy girl!!

Overstimulation vs. Understimulation

As I've already told, I was on vaccation last week. Lisbeth had to stay at a doggy hotel for one week. I was a little bit afraid because I know, that this means high stress for Lisbeth. Having dogs around her the whole day means not sleeping at all (except when it is dark outside).
But luckily she did quite good this week back home again. The first two days she slept a lot but all in all she looked okay.
So I was thinking, maybe she is so stressed because she is understimulated.....
So just to find out I decided to go on a short run with her. Was a bad idea.  Lisbeth totally freaked out, haven't seen her like this before... No longer caring about me and the environment she was like living in a tunnel, beeing in hunting mode... Luckily nothing extraordinary happened and we did not meet any other dog, jogger or something else so no chance for her to have an explosion...

I've learned that I should trust my godfeeling and that sometimes less is more!

Some reasons of stress

Before I continue I want to list some reasons of stress:

Actually I have to say that it is not so easy to distinguish the reason for Lisbeth... I'm pretty sure that beeing less alone would help but that's not an option. Coming with us is even worse...

But maybe you find something you haven't thought of that can cause stress!

- health problems, pain
- over stimulation, too much excersise
- rough playing
- no rules in the family
- hunger, freezing, too hot
- understimulation, boredom, tired
- conflicts in the family, beeing overcontrolled
- having no choices
- beeing home alone
- too little social contact
- no privacy, quiet place
and so on...

Everthing we a dog can't cope with causes stress!!!

Mobbing

Not a lot to report because I was on vaccation last week.

Sometimes I wish I haven't dived that deep into the dog world because since then I see dogs suffering every day.

Even though this is not directly related to stress I want to report about bullying.
The last day abroad I watched 2 little dogs "playing". One beeing a strong bully rolling the other one down again and again. Chasing him, mounting, blocking. I really felt sorry about the victim, who had no change to escape. Beeing forced to "play" with this unpolite dog. The two owners were talking not paying any attention to the scene.

I report about this situation not because I want to blame the owners but to start a discussion about this topic. Dogs are not always playing when the interact.
It's not only the bullied dog which touches my heart but the strong impact this situation might have on the owner-dog relationship. Imagine beeing the dog who can not understand why his owner forces him to meet his tormentor on a regular basis. And beeing the owner who only wants to give a little joy to his dog but mentally hurting him instead. It should be the mission of all dog people to teach owners and help dogs.
Always keep an eye on your dog because sometimes he needs your help to escape a situation.

I didn't have the possibility to make a video of the scene but watch this instead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYLikICe9o8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x7k0DBWMDQ

Ups and Downs

The perfect weekend ended at Sunday lunchtime.

Again biting everything, pulling like crazy on the leash, beeing in another world outside, beeing reative and all those signs of stress.
Don't know why??
Maybe the lunchtime walk was too long.
This situation lasted until Monday evening. Very exhaustnig for all of us!
And on Tuesday for the morning walk I recognised a change again. I knew that this day would be better and it was.
So still don't know what causes this intensive stress reactions but I'm still beleaving in my way to deal with it.
There are ups and downs but at the end it will be perfect!

Perfect weekend

It's already Sunday lunch time and it's seems that I have a perfect dog this weekend.

I don't know what happened maybe it's just the way I look on the situations. Lisbeth is laying down, sleeping and resting just by her own drive. She looks satisfied and relaxed.

There are still a lot of things we have to work on and getting out of her routine still distresses her but we are definitely on the right way!

Something I have to mention

In dogschool yesterday I got some imput I forgot to mention.

I'm now differntiating 2 kinds of treats: easy to chew and longer lasting treats. The first for just telling well done go on and the second one well done and calm down. I use them whenever I recognise that stress level rises.

A perfect Saturday goes on.
Had a little bit longer lunch walk today. Started with free shaping when Lisbeth started to search for soemthing to do. And left home for a walk. Short part on leash followed by short part off leash at the grassland. Lisbeth was a little bit distressed because you could hear speakers from the sports arena. So used a lot of my long lasting treats and tossed some treats on the ground for searching. Continued our walk to the main square of my little town. Met some strangers had to use liverpaté to keep Lisbeth beyond her treshold. Hearing other dogs bark followed by one dog on leash next to a bike was too much. She was no longer able to eat anything. Should have returned earlier. but luckily no real arousal. So I sat down on a bench near by tossed some treats and gave her a little chew. Supprisingly she calmed down. A little bit stressed we continued our walk using a lot of treats ans liver paté to avoid distress. Lisbeth was nearly perfect. Met another stranger and she was able to calm her down and search treats on the ground. I was so proud!
Back on the grassland short period of leash again and finished our walk with a bycicle passing by without arousal (but liver paté). Was a lot of stress but a lot to learn for both of us!
Lisbeth is happily sleeping again - so time for me to return to writing!

Perfect Saturday morning!

Today it's Saturday but I have to write for my PhD. So not too much time for my dog.

Got up at 7am had a little peeing round and did some clicker training at home (about 10min). Lisbeth got something to chew. After a while she was finished with chewing but wanted to dig the remaining part of the chew in my sofa. I hate this!!! So I started a new strategy. Got different chewis, more than she can eat at once and hide them in a box. She immidiatly was interested and ate about 2-3 of the chewis but only the ones hat are easier to chew. And then she went off, no digging. Yes!! Point for me! But I have to observe if it is working on a long run!

Then she visited me at the table. Greeted her and gave her little attention. She started chewing the table. I already tried ignoring before which was not very helpful. Also telling her that it is not okay to chew the table but she can chew something else... So I have a new strategy. I already knew that she stops chewing when I leave the room but she is not following. So I decided to leave and ignore her for chewing. Had to repeat this about 5 times but again a win for me she finally layed down on her place. Chewed a little bit on her pillow, which I definitely can ignore and finally fall asleep!

So 2 wins for me and a sleeping dog! Perfect Saturday morning!

Stupid me

A lot to report but missing time to write...

I significantly reduced the lenghts of our walks. I'm not sure if it is the right way but I'll try.
In my opinion the dog does not benefit from walks where he is overexcited and very reactive. So our morning and lunch walks are just litte peeing rounds about 10-15 min. Only the afternoon walk is a little longer but with a lot of breaks inside. But I did not reduce our time together so I changed walking into working which means we are doing some search and retrieve games at home. She is still easily aroused and than reacts more often.

The afternoon/evening walk yesterday was quite good. We startet on leash with just sitting down and having a chew and a short search for treats. Two bicycles arrived without any reacton so this was good.

Chewing with bycicles near by! 

 Then we started the walk without leash. Lisbeth did not look very relaxed and was stressed by the noise of the street. So after having her pee I sit down again for giving her something to chew. It took some minutes until she was able to rest for having her chew.

Then we continued our of leash walk which was quite good. Back in the car I had to make a phone call. Which was too much for her, she started chewing the seat belts and her leash. Went out of the car (with phone) walked around but didn't get better. She reacted to bikes about 60m away. So a good walk had a bad end. Stupid me!!

Satisfied dog

Today we were at the dog school.

We were doing a lot of nothing. I just needed somebody to talk to and of course somebody who critically discusses the way we are going now.

And Lisbeth was just perfect. She sniffed around, she - that was really quite surprising for me- layed down for having a chew! YES!!! Never ever saw this before, except at home!
We did some free shaping and discussed about nose work!
Was a perfect lesson.
Only on our way home Lisbeth started to chew something in the car. Need to put some chewis with me all the time!!!

And you can see it was perfect. This is how a satisfied dog looks like!

First time lying down in the grass

We had a great walk today!

Started our walk with some retrieve games inside and in the garden. Just a view repeats. She did quite good. Started our walk on leash with the first trigger after 1 minute. One of our neighbours was outside cleaning his car. Lisbeth deffinitely want to go there and jump on him... Tried some "tossing treats on the ground" first to calm down her but did not work. Tried to go on slowly praising her for every connection she made with me. It was ok, we passed by without leash biting. Arriving at the greenfield I unleashed her and she just ran a big round to release the pressure and to pee. Walked some meters togehter. Then I returned.
Today was the first day I saw my dog lying down outside. I'm not sure if I should be happy about the situation... I went home Lisbeth was looking into the other direction. Called her. When she saw me leaving you could see that she was hardly thinking about what to do. Her redirected behaviour was laying down. At the end seeing me going away win and she followed. We finished the walk on leash with nothing else happening.

Explosion on the Nordic-Walker

I don't know exactly the reason for the stress today.

Maybe it was a combination...

Today we left home for our morning walk. Lisbeth already excited to have a pee due to her bladder infection. We heard the deer belling which awaked her hunting instinct. An then already beyond her treshold a Nordic-Walker was coming close. That was to much and ended in explosion me just holding the leash knowing that there is nothing else to do for me.....
The rest of the walk was Lisbeth and me going the same way but not togehter. She was overloaded and was not able to search for some treats when I was just tossing them on the ground.
Back at home we had a brake together on the sofa. I gave her a little massage and she calmed down easily... She was almost asleep when I left the house for work...
I'm searching for good litrature about learning your dog to calm down....
I've already read "Chill out FIDO" but I don't like this one...

Stress Opportunity and risk

The word stress has a negative connotation which is not true at all.

One have to distinguish between positive and negative stress.
We all need stress to survive. There need to be a quick response when our brain expects danger. But it's the dose that makes the poison. One need to be able to calm down again and relax.

Running for the ball can be a lot of fun for our dogs but it means stress as well. So make sure that there is enough time for relaxation and that your dog does not get overexcited.

Learning new things causes stress as well. But for a short period of time this is important and learning means improving self esteem. But we should avoid to put too much pressure on our dogs. Watch out for the stress signals your dog is showing and stop training when your dog has enough.

Something to read:
http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/3_1/features/Easing-Your-Dogs-Stress_5031-1.html
http://www.4pawsu.com/fetch.htm
http://3lostdogs.com/do-you-recognize-these-6-signs-of-a-stressed-out-dog/

Signs of stress.... (1)

There are a variety of stress signs in dogs.
I'll try to introduce as much as I can but split this chapter into pieces that my followers are not overwhelmed by the information they get.

(1) scratching and dandruffs
When dogs are stressed their skin gets dry and intchy and they have the need to scratch a lot. Sometimes you can see dandruffs as indicators for dry skin and stress. It's almost the same in humans we also start scratching when we are working hard on some thing.
Rolling on the ground can be a sign of pleasure but it's often caused by stress as well.

(2) Yawning
Sometimes dogs yaw when they are tired but most of the time they do it caused by stress.

(3) biting the leash
Must dog owners shout at their dog's when they are doing so or even worse hitting them with the loose end of the leash. But it's simply a sign of stress. Tossing some treats on the ground your dog has to search for can be an easy solution for this "problem".

First day first post!

It's time to relax my dog!

First day, first post!

I think it's time to introduce myself first!

First of all I'm Austrian so please accept any language mistakes but I'll try to write this blog in english that all of my friends from dog trainer eduacation can follow.

The reason for starting this blog is my special 4-legged friend and so far still my fellow dog Lisbeth!

She is a Serbian street-dog (Belgrad) and came to Austria on the 25th of January this year. She had to left her doggy friends in Serbia because she was in danger to be caught and sent to killing station because she was chasing bikes and joggers and severely barking at them. So, for me it seems that she already had a "stress problem" while living in Serbia.

But for the first post no more details about my dog. To shorten the story: My dog has a problem to cope with stress and I want to help her.
So let's start a journy about stress and finding a way to help our dogs to relax!