Our case with Casey

June 11th brought us out to Jason and Michelle Shulte's home for a "Behavioral HELP for Dog's" (BHD) session to see what we could do to eliminate a habit that their black lab, Casey, has picked up in the last 2 months. Snacking while the family is away.

Up until April of this year this had not been an issue for Casey. It first became problematic when the Schulte's came home to find that Casey had eaten an entire cake, tin pan and all while they were away. The canine was very sick, but ultimately and thankfully fine. This was the most dramatic and disconcerting incident, but there were more misdemeanors to follow.

When Jason told me that Casey sometimes runs away from him and has to be tracked down with leash in hand, my first instincts were that we had a very bored dog on our hands who needed something to do, so why not eat, dig in the trash and rendezveaux with the neighborhood?

The session went well and we followed the usual pattern, starting by helping the Schulte's to focus on the fact that Casey is primarily an animal and a dog. We covered Casey's basic innated make up so that his owners can interact with him as his Pack Leader and not the other way around.

Where we made the most progress was on the Structured Walk. They had never experienced a walk with Casey in which he was at their side and not out in front. Michelle particularly seemed surprised and pleased that that could be done - and in such a short time. She has not been involved with walking Casey as much as Jason. I told her that for a dog, the structured walk is the most closely they will ever be bonded to you. If you miss the stuctured walk with your dog, then your dog is lacking the bonding he needs with you. I encouraged Michelle to walk Casey more often to create such a bond between her and Casey as well as bring more balance to the situation.

In order to assist us with our walking time we used the self confidence of a Pack Leader, and a prong collar which proved to be the most effective of the leashes I tried for this hearty outdoor sports breed.

Casey has a medium size townhouse to occupy, with a very small yard. For a dog of his breed, size and energy, he has to be walked structurally at least twice a day to accomodate for the lack of living space he has. I stressed the importance of a bare minum of 30 minutes 2 times a day in order to drain the nervous energy that is building up and driving him into the unwanted behavior catagory. By and large he is a very sweet dog, and just needs the extra structured exercise in the form of a structured walk.

A benefit for him is that the Schulte's live near a nice field where Casey is also allowed to run and play his favorite game: fetch. He is a good retreiver. I also told them of the importance to work on the obedience commands.

When we went for the walk, Michelle (my assistant) and I rigged Casey up in a dog pack pack and explained that the extra weight will not only be better exercise for him, but will provide a mental draining of energy as well. It will give him something to conentrate on while walking and even provide a job for him, which is important to a dog. Work is a reward for a dog. Dog's need all the jobs we can create for them. Something our domesticated pals often lack. A dog of his size and good health could easily carry 2 16oz bottles of drinking water or more on each side with no problem. It would be wise to build up to this so Casey can acclimate to it slowly.

Ruble of thumb: the Structured Walk, in which your dog is at your side, drains the nervous energy that builds up every day. Play time is great and even necessary for a dog, but it excites, not drains, and will not be the solution to eradicating unwanted behaviors.

When we came back in, I instructed Jason and Michelle on how to make appropriate corrections for inappropriate behaviors, showed them the food event, and discussed the parallels of dog training and child rearing since they have a beautiful and very sweet 3 year old daughter. I noticed that at this point Casey was beautifully tired out and relaxed. Just the goal I want my clients to achieve with their dogs.

By the time the session was complete the Schulte's seemed to grasp the concepts that I had layed out for them one layer at a time. Very often the actual behavior that a dog is exhibiting is not the problem at all. It is simply bad fruit on the tree. If we go to the root of that tree, so to speak, and make the roots good, it is utlimately going to produce good fruit in time. Such is the case with Casey.

~Candiss DelCastillo

Walks & Wags Pet Service

http://www.walksandwags.biz/

A Teddy Bear named Grizzly

On May 27th'10, Michelle and I ventured just a few miles down the road to the home of Scott and Joan Korfhage for a Behavioral HELP for Dogs (BHD) Session with the family and their newly adopted Chow mix, Grizzly. (See "Welcome Grizzly" post). We had become acquainted with the Korfhage's in April when they hired us to come out as Grizzly's walkers for a few days in Joan's absence.


The Korfhage's had purchased Grizzly at a PetCo from Homeward Bound. One thing I want to point out here is that the family chose Grizzly primarily because of his even temperament and calm energy. A very wise thing to do. Energy is everything in making your choice for a new dog. He was not the dog they were initially attracted to, but when they noticed how calm he was amidst the chaos that day, he won hands down.


Grizzly is truly one of those prize catches that you don't find in every Shelter or Rescue. Michelle and I have adored being his walkers and find his pleasant and sweet disposition a real treat.


The Korfhage's displayed excellent dog ownership by caring about how to start Grizzly out right as a new member of their family. They called us in for just such a reason. He was jumping up on them and their guests, taking the children's toys from their rooms, as well as exhibiting some occasional confusion about where to eliminate. They particularly wanted us to help their 6 yr old son, Eric, to understand how to interact with Grizzly, and give them all a good foundation of "dog - speak".
I started out by showing the Korfhages how to use a dog pack pack on Grizzly to give him a job to do by carrying things for them as dogs need jobs. It also aids in draining the nervous energy that builds up in a dog causing them to try to eliminate it by acting out in various neurotic ways.

Our session started from the foundation and worked up. We mainly stressed the importance of interacting with Grizzly as an animal and dog to avoid humanizing him since treating dog's like they are a human baby is the main contributor to bringing out unwanted behavoiral issues. I always show some segments from the dvd "Living with Wolves" by Jim and Jamie Dutcher, to help our clients understand and see first hand how closely linked their dog is to the wolf and how dog owners need to create a family pack and act as the Pack Leader for their dogs. A dog's main need after food is direction.


We spent a fair amount of our session on the structured walk, with everybody taking turns and becoming comfortable with it. I also wanted to try several different slip collars and leashes, so the Korfhages would get the feel of what works best for them. Michelle roller bladed with Grizzly to give him a chance to move faster. Most dogs enjoy as much speed as they can get. Daughter Lauren was eager to engage and was a quick learner. They all did well and we appreciated the cooperation we found with this group.






When we returned to the house, we worked on obedience commands which Grizzly had a pretty good handle on. All except for the 'down' command. He surprised us, though, when I tried it for the first time with a treat in my hand and he followed it right down into a perfect down position. The family eagerly wanted to take a turn at it, and Scott even accomplished putting Griz into the down from a standing position vs a sit.


When we went back into the house I decided that it would be best for Grizzly to be required to stay completely out of the children's rooms since he had developed a ritual of taking their toys and depositing them right in a pile in front of the front door entry area. Bless his heart, he hadn't done damage to most of the toys. He just found pleasure in squirrelling them away there. :-) I showed Eric and Lauren how to create that boundary of no entrance for Griz and instructed them to keep it consistently. In time, he will simply find contentment in sitting outside the bedroom doorway's watching the children play. If he comes to understand that he has no entry to the rooms, it will reduce his temptation to "lift" the toys when no one is there.


We will cover the food event, how to handle vet trips, a day in the life of a dog, kids & canines, helpful books and dvd's that pertain to their situation and avoiding aggressive behavior towards other dogs during our follow-up visit, besides some review.

~Candiss DelCastillo
Walks & Wags Pet Service
http://www.walksandwags.biz/