Prescott Daze 2010 Grand Parade

Last Sunday, Sept 12th, we enjoyed the great town get together that closes Prescott Daze here in Prescott, WI where I live. The Grand Parade.

This year we did it a little different. First of all we had our new van with us (1 yr old now!) and covered it sides and back with our Walks & Wags banners.

We walked 4 dogs in the parade, an increase by 2 from last time. Max, our ever faithful Golden Retriever friend; Jazz, our mild mannered golden lab mix dog walking client; Oreo, a new walking friend black lab mix who belongs to the owner of the HAIRitage hair & tan in town; and Dusty, a Jack Russell Terrier who is a very new Behavioral HELP for Dogs client.

Michelle walked Jazz and Max together as they are the most dependable in a crowd to safely relish in all of the adoration and petting poured upon them by the onlookers when Michelle brought them up close to the people.

Eilleen Petaja, Dusty's owner, walked him herself. When she asked me 2 weeks before the parade if she could bring him out and work on walking with my dogs, I couldn't think of a better way to get him acclimated than to be in the parade with us! We all met an hour early, and let the dogs get acquainted by walking them side by side as a pack. Eilleen was absolutely amazed that her once dog agressive, Dusty, was amicably moving along with dogs 3x's his size. He did absolutely great and we were so happy to have him. He only showed some mild agression twice which Eileen, now trained herself, knew how to manage in short order. She is diligently becoming a wonderful Pack Leader to Dusty and we are very proud of her. (See blog entry titled, "Polishing up Dusty").

I walked Oreo, whom I have come to love since her Behavioral HELP for Dogs session in March (see blog entry titled, "A winning ticket!") At first her owner, Cyndi Cashman, and her husband were reasonably concerned that the noise of the parade would be too much for Oreo to handle, but Cyndi saw it as an oportunity to help Oreo overcome any fears she may have had of noisy places and things. Cyndi's instincts proved to be true. All of the walking that I have done with Oreo in the past 7 months and the 'noise practice' session I had with her 3 days before the parade, paid off. She never flinched one time during the parade procession regardless of a fire truck that blew its horn fairly close by. Fortunately we were located in a fairly quiet part of the line up which I'm sure helped. She was quite the celebrity as her markings made her recognizable to the town's people who know her. I didn't allow her too much petting, but what she did have she seemed to enjoy. She has definately come a long way since we met her. She is a gentle delight to walk (and be friends with).

Our only disappointment was that we forgot to bring Michelle's camera. We have rarely done that since Walks & Wags opened.

Having all of the dogs well drained of their nervous energy before we set out was an intentional move on my part so they would be calmly at their best during the parade.

When we reached the end of the line and loaded up the precious cargo in the van, Max and Jazz, who were also filming buddies in our last cable TV production, collapsed in a heap rump to rump like a couple of sphinxes. Oreo sat with me in the middle and remained her pristine self all the way home. Dusty seemed quite pleased with the adventure he had just experienced that day. Suffice it to say that all of the dogs were very relaxed and no doubt slept well that night!

~Candiss DelCastillo

Walks & Wags Pet Service

http://www.walksandwags.biz/

Zoey and a bicycle built built for 3

Had the pleasure of working with a beautiful, 1+ year old, black, Shnauzer named Zoey last Friday, 9.3.10. Michelle, my ever trusty assistant was back at home with a ripe cold, so I don't have the photos for this blog that you usually notice in my posts.

Owners Pete & Pam Huppert of Ellsworth, WI are Zoey's proud owners, and together we set out to help her get on the right track. A good dog by and large, some of the challenges she was having were barking when people would come to the door, infringing impolitely on their space and jumping up on them. These were easily nipped in the bud when we got done with the walk and a long session of obedience command training. All the Hupperts needed was the right information and they quickly slipped into their role as Pack Leaders to this little canine.

When I first arrived I ignored Zoey, gently knocked her off me with my knee and created a boundary for myself by keeping her out of my bags with my hand in a bite shape tapping her firmly on the neck whenever she would come and sniff them. When she remained persistent, I stood up in front of my things, thus claiming them and the space around them. This helped, but she was still too invasive for my liking, so I put her in a dominance ritual on the floor for several minutes while I talked with the Hupperts about the necessity of doing it. It was then that she surrendered to me and gave me a curtious amount of space.

When we were exiting the house for the walk, we spent a lot of time at the door with Zoey to deter her from dashing out in front of us, which had been her usual way up until then. It took some time reconditioning her, but she was clearly looking to us for direction and just wanted to know what it was she was supposed to do. She did very well.

I was impressed with her quick learning ability and in no time we had her doing fairly well in the Sit, Stay, Down, Stay commands. She is very treat motivated and that came in handy, although, I instructed the Hupperts to wean her off of the treats once the commands are established. Treats should be observed as a means to an end, with rare exceptions.

We switched Zoey into a prong collar when I could see that she would be doing alot of pulling on her nylon slip leash. She responded well to it, and both Pete and Pam had a very good walk with her once she settled down.

The highlight of the session was when we returned and I asked Pete to bring out one of their bikes so we could get them to ride with Zoey on leash safely at their side. We started with Pam. She rode her bike, I ran along side of her and when I felt the time was right, I switched the leash to Pam's hand. It went off without a hitch! We were all so excited. Lot's of cheering and thumb's up. Zoey pranced proudly next to the bike, loving the increased speed. Pete's ride went just as well and when we were done there were High 5's all around.

I will be back for our follow up in 4 weeks with Michelle in tow next time. I have a very strong peace inside about this family and their ability to take over their roles quite naturally as the Calm-Assertive Pack Leaders they were meant to be. Zoey won't disappoint them as she naturally gravitates to her innate dog instincts and responds in kind.

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