Dog Owner FAIL

Otis has been having a few issues with other dogs lately (and by lately, I mean since about October).

We took him to obedience class last fall, which helped, but he still has a tendency to lunge at other dogs while he’s on walks. I’m not sure how he’d do off-leash, and I’m afraid to take him to a dog park based on the aggression he’s shown on leash.

I signed him up for a leash aggression class, because that sounded like a good solution to his problems. Well, maybe not the solution, but something to help us deal better.

We had a private training session (required) before class, and it was extremely helpful. The trainer (Lynn) gave me some great tips to help Otis on walks. She emphasized keeping him calm, keeping me in control, and applying some counter-conditioning. We really couldn’t do the last one until we mastered the first two. To calm him, we gave him treats when other dogs passed by to show him that dogs were a positive thing. She also told me to watch his ear posture. They should normally be back and relaxed. When they start to move forward and his forehead starts to wrinkle, it means he’s starting to get excited and we need to bring him back down by stroking his head from front to back, including his ears. She said to use the high, happy voice and to stay calm myself (easier said than done).

Lynn also showed me how to walk Otis so he’d know I was in control. There was an imaginary line at my knees, and he couldn’t cross it. If he did, I corrected him with a quick tug on the leash and a vocal command (not “no,” but “ah, ah”). If he was really forward (literally), I needed to place my hand on his chest and stand in front of him to let him know he’s not going anywhere until I say so. Then I returned to standing parallel, said “let’s walk,” and off we went.

Another thing Lynn suggested was a new collar. Otis hated his Gentle Leader anyway, so he was happy to bid it good riddance. We’re now using a harness, with the leash clipped in the front (if you clip it in the back, it makes them want to lunge even more). We’d tried a harness with Abby, so the dogs had a sniff fest when we brought it out.

Working with Lynn was great– I can’t say enough good things about her. She has bully breeds of her own, so she knows how stubborn they can be.

I walked Otis around the neighborhood the night after the session, and he was an angel. We walked by a dog chained in a yard, and he was just fine, no reaction whatsoever. The next night, of course, he went bananas– shaking his head violently and gnawing on the leash. The key, I think, is keeping him calm and not letting him go to that crazy place. Once he’s there, it’s hard to turn Dr. Jekyll back into Mr. Hyde. I might not have been using the high, happy voice so much that time.

So I was really excited for class on Saturday, to reinforce what we’d learned and to get him back on track. We were going to meet near one of Minnesota’s many lakes. The weather was perfect– mid-80s and sunny. I carefully mapped the address using Google, but when I got to the lake itself, I had no idea where to go. I’d arrived early in case I got lost, and I spent the next 45 minutes pacing up and down the lake, looking for groups of dogs. The trainer was a different person than the trainer for the private session, so I wasn’t sure who to look for. I couldn’t call Tim and have him look up the details on the internet, because he was out fishing, and of course I didn’t think of calling anyone else with internet access until I got home. And of course, in my hurry to leave early, I didn’t bring the trainer’s cell number with me. Surprisingly, Otis behaved like a perfect gentleman, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Still, I feel like a complete and total failure as his owner. I’m mad at myself for not writing down the directions more clearly (when I got home, I realized exactly where it was– we went one way instead of the other), and mad that I’ve deprived Otis of something he needed so much. I worry that the next three Saturdays will be filled with rain and they’ll have to postpone class to a date when I’m on vacation, or that Otis will go completely crazy between now and then and it’s something I could have prevented with something I would have learned in class. I know I’m being ridiculous, but I’m just so disappointed in myself for not doing everything in my power to make sure he got to class. I feel like I let him down.

I just got a call from the trainer, and she made me feel better. She said that the dogs get so familiar with each other throughout the class that it’s okay to miss a session, and there was one other person who will be starting anew next week, so we’re not alone. I apologized profusely about missing the class and told her I hoped she didn’t wait long.

In the meantime, I’ll keep practicing, hoping that he continues to make progress. Maybe this will motivate me to work with him even more, to make up for the time he lost today.

Tags: dogs, obedience, otis