First Class of Dog Training

I’m pretty excited today. Last night was our first night for Stella’s training class. I was a little nervous, but excited. The three of us left, and Stella was completely excited. I did feel bad for leaving Heineken behind though, and it didn't help that she was obviously bummed out.  We get to the class early because the trainer needed to size the pinch collar. There were already 2 dogs there, and Stella was barking and jumping like a crazy animal. We had to wait while the dog in front of us got fitted. It felt like a long time even though it was only a few minutes, because Stella was pulling, barking and jumping. Then it’s our turn. The trainer gets Stella fit and teaches us about the collar (it basically applies pressure evenly around the neck when the leash gets pulled), and then we go find a spot in the yard. Before we got started, all the dogs had to get fit so we were probably standing there for about 15 minutes. Stella barked about 13 minutes of those 15. All the other dogs were sitting there being normal and quiet, but not our Stella. She was definitely proving to be the clown of the class.

Now we were ready to get started. The trainer tells us that we will start with heeling. Basically we will walk back and forth and if the dog gets ahead of us then we do a 180°. He decided to use Stella for his demonstration to both Stella's and my happiness. He’s walking with Stella and as soon as she gets ahead of him (the dog’s nose should be in line with the human’s knees), he turns around. Stella lets out a squeal, but he kept going. He said that it didn’t hurt her (I believe it, Stella is made of steel), but that she was just complaining about turning around. Then as they were walking, Stella started to drag or as the trainer said, “Now she’s trying to plant roots on me.” But he just kept walking and of course she had no choice but to follow. Then it was our turn. At the beginning of our exercise we had to turn around every couple of steps, but after a few minutes Stella was getting the hang of it.

The trainer continued to use Stella as his demonstration dog. She did well too. She seems to be a quick learner so she probably was a good demonstration dog. I was grateful because it was that much more training for Stella and by an expert too! We continued with our exercises. Next was to have the dog sit when we stop walking. Overall I think Stella was receptive to the exercises. She still barked a lot, but she wasn’t barking when we were moving so at least it wasn't 100% of the time.

We end the class with doggie socialization, so the dogs get to run around and be dogs.  Stella is of course done barking at this point - she's off the leash and moving.  The dog that was next to us started barking as soon as socialization started.  At one point he got in Stella's face and was barking at her.  Brian and I felt that was good pay back for Stella!

We will be continuing the training at home this week. The goal being once per day for just 15 minutes or so. I’m anxious to see how Stella takes to the training when she’s on familiar turf as opposed to the class yard, but I’m also excited to keep working with her. Our classes are weekly so hopefully every week we’ll have more progress to share!

Benefits of the dog park

We took Heineken and Stella to the dog park for officially the first time. (We had gone there before, but Brian and I were too much of chickens to let them off their leashes). Stella was obnoxious from the minute we touched the leash at the house until we got her inside the fence. It must be that the excitement just boils out of her. It’s only about 15 minutes away from the house, but Stella whined the entire ride so it felt longer. Then when we got out of the car, she let out her typical high pitched whine/bark to announce to all the other dogs and people that she had arrived. But that dog park is magical. As soon as Stella was close enough to get a different scent she was distracted enough to stop the racket. Thank goodness.

I was in charge of keeping an eye on Heineken, and Brian was responsible for Stella. Heineken is quite boring to keep an eye on actually. I decided that she must be socially awkward or an introvert or something. She was more interested in the smells on the fence and trees than in meeting other dogs. She was concerned about the security of the park, because I saw her do her perimeter walk. This is where she goes right to fence and runs the edge. I think to make sure there’s no squirrels or other creatures that don’t belong. Eventually Heineken did make a friend. She found a dog that would chase her so she had fun running around like a maniac for a few laps. Then she got excited when a small dog showed up. Heineken has always preferred the little dogs.

Stella was far more entertaining to watch. She loved chasing the dogs around. It was almost like there were so many dogs she didn’t know what to do or really which one to go after first. Stella’s preferred play method (at least with Heineken) is to run straight at Heineken and plow into her. I think she’s comfortable doing this with Heineken only though because I didn’t see her doing that to her new friends. At one point, Stella saw Heineken and she took off presumably so that she could plow into her. At the last minute, a new dog ran by. Luckily for Heineken, this new dog distracted Stella from her original plan.

It was a little muddy at the park and there were some puddles. I was thankful that Heineken and Stella are somewhat prissy. They consciously avoid the puddles and the places where it was very muddy. We saw other dogs that would just go lay in the puddles. Heineken takes the relaxed method of walking around the mud, and Stella takes the Stella method of flying over the puddles. Stella found a nice German Shepherd to chase around the park. The German Shepherd was not bothered by the puddles and ran through a big muddy one. Stella was chasing him, so she jumped over the puddle, but she didn’t clear it! She ended up right in the middle of the puddle with an Oh Crap look on her face and a wet belly!

We only spent about a half hour there, but that was enough to completely wear the dogs out. They slept the rest of the day and they were still tired on Sunday. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so well behaved!

Stay tuned for the next post. We start doggie training with Stella tonight which I’m sure will result in stories.

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Too long. I can tell because I have multiple dog stories to tell. But one at a time!

Brian and I went to Florida for Christmas. My parents have a condo there and we spent the week with them. My parents brought their dog, Molly, to the condo for the first time. The condo has a lot of mirrors. One of the main mirrors starts at the top of the stairs and goes back to towards the sitting room. An illusion to make the place look larger. The bedroom closet doors are also full length mirrors.

Molly got to the condo, saw the mirror, herself and went ballistic. She does not handle other dogs well, and this one in the mirror was especially wicked. When Molly showed her teeth, this other dog showed its teeth. It was Molly’s worst nightmare – a dog that won’t back down. We thought for sure that Molly was going to either break the mirror or her teeth. She was getting ferocious with that other dog there. Molly sported the Mohawk all week and had a hard time walking past the mirror without getting snarly. Once it was especially bad when I was sitting in front of the mirror applying makeup. Molly walked by and noticed that this other dog was awfully close to me and she got defensive. I had to walk away before she would calm down.
Here: the picture says it all.  (In case your reality is blurry like Molly's is - Molly is on the right and the other dog is on the left).

Happy (early) Birthday to Stell-Bells, Jerry Jerry Dingle Berry and ME!

As a result of our NM trip, Heineken is now the proud wearer of the halti. Heineken is really good in the halti. I don’t think she really likes it, but when she has it on, she walks right next to me during our walks. There’s actually slack on the leash! She hasn’t tried to wiggle out of it either. Stella by contrast spends 97.5% of the walk trying to get hers off. I think Stella is getting more used to the halti just for the mere reason that she’s back to pulling a lot during the walks. It doesn’t help that I spend a lot of the walk holding the leash up to try to keep Stella’s head off the cement – her preferred method to removing the halti is to rub her nose on the cement – ouch. Once she tried to use Heineken as an accomplice in the halti removal scheme. Stella (as we are walking) puts her head under Heineken, so Stella is trying to rub against Heineken’s belly. Well Heineken perseveres and keeps walking. Stella stays the course though and eventually Heineken’s back legs aren’t even touching the ground, she’s just riding on Stella’s head. So at least Stella is still providing me with some laughs.

Stella has been demoted to the smaller crate again. And Heineken has pooped her way into the box as well. Last Monday Stella had an accident in her box (the large one at the time). I’m pretty sure this was a direct result of Stella eating Heineken’s food Sunday night (they’re on different foods, plus twice as much food equals twice as much poop!). So after Monday, Stella went to the small crate. (The small crate is less comfy because there’s no bed in there, and she’s probably a little cramped). Well in a true tag team effort, Heineken pooped on Tuesday. So now Heineken is inhabiting the larger crate when we leave. Stella definitely knows what she is missing though. The other night I was crating her for bed, but both crates were open. Stella decided she would go in the larger crate. Since Heineken is still a free dog during the night, I just let Stella sleep in there. Stella sleeps better in the larger crate which means that we sleep better.

Stella turns 1 year old on Saturday! This also happens to be Little Jerry Seinfeld’s birthday. AND MINE! Stella’s birthday present will be a trip to the vet to get boarded while Brian and I head to Florida. Definitely not a great present for Stella, but a terrific one for me. I’m looking forward to a week without dealing with the dogs. I’m sure by day #2 I’ll miss them miserably and be ready for their craziness again though.

Thanksgiving Holiday Travels with the Dogs

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Brian and I bravely took Heineken and Stella to Las Cruces with us, a 12-hour drive. Before the trip, I was extremely worried about having the dogs at my mother-in-law’s house. I thought surely they would break something in their frequent outbursts of play.

We left Tuesday morning, and Stella commenced the car ride by whining steadily for about the first hour. This was Stella’s first ride longer than 20 minutes so maybe she wasn’t sure what to expect. Heineken got in the car and laid on her bed like an experienced traveler. After the first stop (about 4 hours into the trip), Stella got back into the car and settled down. I think she even took a nap.

Stella did pretty well until we neared El Paso (with about 2 hours to go in the trip). In this area, the roads had rumble strips in the middle dashed lines. So every time we changed lanes we went over a rumble strip. This scared the living daylight out of Stella and she would try to get in our laps. For the last 2 hours of the trip, we fought with her to stay in the back seat.

Once we got to the house, there was general excitement. Heineken remembered the place and Stella was her usually loud squealing self. Once inside, we kept Stella on the leash, but we let Heineken loose. The first thing Heineken did was go upstairs. Last Christmas, we were in Las Cruces and had Heineken with us. At that time, Brian’s mom had a cat, named Smokey. Heineken apparently remembered Smokey and thus began her weeklong search for him. Heineken even spent one afternoon looking under the bed for Smokey. I think Smokey’s spirit was probably haunting Heineken all week as a form of revenge for last year.

We decided to use the chain in the backyard even though it has a fence. Last Christmas, Heineken jumped over the fence when she saw the neighbor’s dog. Plus Stella is part kangaroo and could jump over the fence easily. Stella really liked Xena, Brian’s mom’s dog. Stella was ready to play and jump all over Xena. Xena is an older dog though and Stella’s friendliness was a little too much for Xena to handle.

We took them hiking with us in an attempt to wear them out. We hiked about 5 miles. Stella was a natural hiker. Heineken did pretty well too, but pulled a lot more. While on this hike, we decided that Heineken has pulled her way into getting a halti. So I’m going to go back to Petco and buy a Halti for Heineken this week. The hike didn’t wear Stella out though. Once we got home, she was still on the go…tormenting Xena, sniffing around, eating plant leaves, storming up and down the stairs.

A couple of times they started playing - they liked to chase each other up and down the stairs – but for the most part we were able to keep them from breaking anything and tearing up the house.

They both did pretty good in the car ride back home as well. For the first 2 hours, we had the rumble strip terror when we changed lanes, but other than that Stella was a good traveler. She figured out Heineken’s spot, which is head on the console, butt on the back seat. I think this made Heineken a little more restless since her spot was taken, but sometimes she squeezed in and tried to share the console with Stella. Overall I would call the week a successful trip!

Stella's exhaustion finally caught up with her on Sunday.  She took advantage of Brian's lap and slept all day!

No more pulling on the leash thanks to the halti

Hopefully I still have some readers even though I have had quite the hiatus from blogging. I will try to get back on track of regular (weekly?) updates.

There’s no better way to start back than a good Stella story. After a recommendation from a co-worker, I decided to try a Halti for Stella. A Halti is a type of restraint that teaches a dog not to pull while on a leash. Usually I am the solo dog walker. When we just had Heineken this wasn’t a big deal, but now with Stella walking the dogs has become a nightmare for me.

Here is a typical experience:

I arrive home and Heineken gets a look in her eyes and a certain wiggle to her tail. I recognize this as Heineken’s way to express that she would really love a walk right now. Despite my better judgment, I concede. Once I grab poop bags from the closet, Stella and Heineken are both cued in. Then I get a leash and chaos breaks out. Usually I get the leash on Heineken first because she is slightly less crazy at this point. In an effort not to be left out, Stella will grab onto Heineken’s leash and they both run around in tandem in utter chaos. Stella had a choke chain collar for walks which was always a hassle to get on her. She sees it coming and she opens her mouth to try to chew on it. Eventually I would get the leashes on and we would be at the door ready to leave. Stella’s level of excitement at this point is so high that all Stella can do is jump up and down and whine. Then I open the door and her excitement triples. Stella starts making this awful high pitch whine/bark and practically drags me and Heineken out of the door. To break her of the pulling, I would try stopping and pulling back on her. This was helping a little, but would make our walks last twice as long as usual, and it didn’t always help, especially if it had been awhile since our previous walk. As we would walk I am vigilantly on the look out for other dogs. Coming across another dog was my biggest fear in walking the dogs. When this happens, both dogs start pulling so much that my arms might fall off. And they both start to make the biggest ruckus ever, where it sounds like they are being tortured. So a successful walk is one where we get out the door without Stella making too much noise and we find no other dogs. Basically the amount of walks that they get is severely low because we have had so many bad experiences that it is hard for me to want to walk them even though I know that they need it and love it.

Then came the halti.

I got home from the store on Friday with the halti. I did not have plans to use it that day, but Heineken got that look in her eyes and that wiggle to her tail. I read the first page of the halti instructions which say how to put on the halti and a warning saying that the halti can be wiggled out of. Yikes. Stella un-tethered is another terrifying thought. I decide to try it though. I get the halti on Stella and tightened without too much effort. So I grab the bags and leash up the dogs. Let me explain how the halti works. There is a main strap that goes around the dog’s neck which is very similar to a traditional collar. Then attached to this is a strap that goes around the dog’s snout. This strap is attached to the leash and is tightened and loosened based on the slackness in the leash. For example, if there is slack in the leash, the strap is loose around the dog’s snout. If the dog starts to pull, the leash tightens and tightens the strap around the snout. This is much more humane than a choke collar and does not hurt the dog.

So Stella is in her halti and out the door we go. Stella is so distracted by the halti that she is no longer making her traditional high pitch bark that accompanies walking. She is trying to get it off though. At this point, two little neighbor dogs come running at us. Heineken is pulling toward them, Stella notices them and is half pulling, half trying to get the halti off and barking. I notice that the halti is over one of Stella’s ears so I get nervous that she is going to get it off and become un-tethered. I grabbed Stella by the collar and drag the dogs back inside. Usually if they become an embarrassment and we haven’t even left the driveway yet, then their walk ends immediately. But overall I was pleased with the halti because it prevented Stella’s usual announcement to the neighborhood that she’s going for a walk.

Attempt 2. The next day I read past page 1 in the halti manual to see that there is a safety latch. A way to connect the halti to the dog collar so that if the dog gets out of the halti, the dog is still connected to the leash. Brilliant. Brian and I decide to walk the dogs and try out the halti again. This time with the safety latch engaged. We walk out the door and Stella is not whining/barking like crazy. She starts to pull and then she gets so distracted by the halti that she stops walking. She paws at the halti so I distract her to get her to keep walking and get her mind off the halti. She walks, pulls, and stops because of the halti. I can tell that she does not like the halti, but when she is walking like a normal dog (slack in the leash), the halti does not bother her. She only gets frustrated and distracted by it when it’s tight on her face. This time the challenge of the walk was to keep Stella moving as opposed to keeping my arm attached to my body. By the end of the walk, she was getting so desperate that she was putting her face on the grass and rolling over. But she never got the halti loose, and she never pulled my arm off. The halti cost about $20, but I think it is the best investment I’ve made. It does all the work, and I am no longer terrified to walk the dogs!

TV Problems

Last night I decided that Brian and I are not meant to be TV watchers, or maybe TV buyers.

Three years ago when we moved to Houston, we went to Circuit City and bought a TV (Samsung, I believe).  We loaded it into the car, difficultly.  When we got home and unpacked it, we noticed that the side of the tv where the speaker was was cracked and bent inwards.  We went back to Circuit City to exchange it and go through the whole ordeal of unloading and getting the TV to our second floor apartment.  (There were no issues with the replacement, however the sound does go out frequently which I am convinced indicates another defective TV).

Fast forward to yesterday.  Our Sony HD tv that was on back order for three weeks finally arrives.   Brian gets it out of the box and notices that the corner of the tv is broken.  The screen wasn't affected, just the plastic covering, but who knows if it's more damaged than it's letting on.  Brian of course immediately called the company (not Circuit City this time) to see what our options are...we are still waiting.  At least in the mean time we can still watch HD TV.  Even if the TV's casing is imperfect the screen is most certainly not!

So we are 0 for 2 as far as TVs go.  I take this as a sign that we shouldn't be TV owners because really what are the chances that two TVs in a row show up defective?