blueboyluca

[blueboyluca]

#I love following Shooby #what that boy get up to this time

[blueboyluca]

I get back from Alice Springs this afternoon and this puppy starts her Prozac prescription tonight

they're really weird

#Topaz #borderpap #Marceline #papillon

[blueboyluca]

In the beginning, when I was so scared and desperate about rehabilitating Ben, I shall always remember one incident in Karen Pryor’s clicker training class. I was standing with Ben on a leash in front of the gym’s entry doors, listening to Karen teach. All of a sudden, two women entered the room with their Australian Shepherds. Ben flipped out, lunging and barking at the dogs while I struggled to hold on. Mortified, the women hurriedly left the room, apologizing. I was shaking and trying to get Ben back under control as Karen approached. Holding back tears, I remember her placing her hand on my arm and saying quietly to me: "Emma, it’s OK. It’s only behavior."

— Emma Parsons, The New Click to Calm: Solutions for All Dogs In a Challenging World (2021)

#dog books #Karen Pryor

[blueboyluca]

@wyrddogs tagged me to provide three random facts about myself.

I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie, specifically her character Hercule Poirot (but I enjoy all the stories, not just Poirot). I own a hardback collection of all her books and I periodically rewatch the David Suchet TV series.

I've visited 25 countries (besides Australia) but haven't been overseas since pre COVID.

When I was a teenager I wrote a fantasy novel. (It wasn't very good.)

I tag @as-old-roads @scruffydogposting @beansnpeets @dogtiber @appenzellerlouis

#about me

[blueboyluca]

perfect spring day

#waddle waddle waddle

[blueboyluca]

He has brought shame upon his pedigree. He tried to eat my cake slice right off the table this morning.

[blueboyluca]

Last night I took Topaz to club. We did this sequencing work for five minutes, then the rest of the night I worked on her chilling out. We did some good sitting on the raised bed near the field until the other dogs started running, then she had a freak out. So I moved us very far away and waited for her to offer to get on the raised bed again. Then I worked on 300 peck. We got up to 21 the first try, then she had another freak out when she heard someone's tunnel cue. So I took her away to walk around a bit, then came back.

When she got on the raised bed again, we got up to a 29 count before she jumped off – but no freak out. We then did a lap of the field and she didn't bark at anyone. Then we came back to stand near some other trainers and dogs and she only made some mild frustration sounds, which was because she wanted to get near them to be friendly rather than to be antagonistic. So that was actually nice to see.

I'm trying really hard to frame this more optimistically in my brain. That things can improve if I work at it. But I've had another week of feeling utterly terrible after she was aggressive with my grandfather, starting to worry that maybe I'll never be able to have visitors over and what if in future she bites a judge? Some things we've made good progress in and others we just plateau or go backwards and I have no idea how to move forward again.

Next week I have an appointment with a behaviour vet. I would like to get her on some medication to trial it. If I was to anthropomorphise her behaviour, I would describe her as paranoid. I think that maybe a low dose behaviour medication might be able to bring her baseline down so she's not on edge all the time when around other people and dogs. I can see that she wants to be social and play and sniff and relax, but she doesn't seem able to in many situations. We've only in the last two months managed to see consistent calmness at home.

I'm trying for this dog. I love her. I still feel crippling shame about her. I haven't told her breeder about any of this yet because frankly I don't know how. I don't know how to talk about it without it verging into either blame or shame, neither of which I want. The mean selfish part of me just feels angry that all I want is a dog to do agility with and every dog I get is wrong for it in some way. I don't know why things look effortless for so many others and I feel like I have to fight tooth and nail to just feel like things are OK. But that's not helpful to anyone, so I try to let it go.

#puppy blues #dog agility #Topaz #borderpap #Alexa play What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish

[blueboyluca]

Cooling off

#borderpap #Topaz #papillon #Marceline

[blueboyluca]

I would love to be the person who only ever says my dog is perfect and never have any complaints, but the truth is that is not me, not right now. I can't pretend to be positive all the time when my default demeanour at the moment is pessimist. I have to actively work every day to fight against it. I have to work hard to notice and treasure the good. It doesn't feel authentic to only mention what's going well. My dogs are beautiful and complex and interesting and triumphant all the time, but sometimes their behaviour is also difficult to work with and tiring to manage. I love living with dogs, but also living with dogs can be really hard sometimes.

#truth is I probably shouldn't have added a third #but we're in too deep now #the only way out is through #many things are better #other things are worse #I still want to change my mindset #but I'm also trying to be kind to myself #and not force myself to pretend to be happy if I'm not

[blueboyluca]

Swimming, swimming is the opposite of flying

#Topaz #borderpap

[blueboyluca]

It's been a big long break but we are back at training. Marceline's training night is Thursdays and I am really happy to see her so enthusiastic. I think she is glad to have a night with me to herself.

I am keeping things light and simple to maintain her joy, and I managed to experiment last week with using someone else's food for the second course, which kept her interest high. I want to test this again as it might be a way to keep her engaged later in the evening.

The first two runs were perfect except for the missed contact, but I wasn't bothered given how she was so happy to run it. The second two runs were surprisingly good given she often stops performing at this point. She does find tunnel sends with that level of discrimination very difficult, so that's something to work on. You can see she stops twice to scratch on her last run so that was a clear sign she was done. I should probably only ask for one more run if the changing food option works out, so as not to abuse it.

#dog training #dog agility #papillon #Marceline

[blueboyluca]

More Lottie pictures from the backlog of last year

Prepare for spam over the next upcoming days

#she's so pretty

[blueboyluca]

Frolicking

#papillon #Marceline #borderpap #Topaz

[blueboyluca]

all I think about when I see those videos of people preparing their Kongs/Toppls is how much they cost individually. just saw one where someone stuffed 24 toys. the amount of money 🤯

[blueboyluca]

Somebody got his ruffwear harness in the mail today!

[blueboyluca]

😝

#borderpap #Topaz #papillon #Marceline #schipperke #Luca

[blueboyluca]

These two have suddenly become best friends

#papillon #Marceline #borderpap #Topaz