Wow. It’s been three years since I or any of the dogs posted anything. Charlie and Skye are still back in the back yard in Evergreen, where they will forever patrol the fence perimeter (albeit as dust particles stuck to someone else’s paw) and Kayla is now a beach dog in Costa Rica. We go for walks on the beach nearly every day. Trouble is, she hates walking, but loves her air conditioned spot in the car. Here she is, ready to roll.
This is Kayla. She is a smallish and kind of thin Leonberger (or at least is mostly a Leonberger. She may be part gazelle or cheetah, long, tall, and fast). She can put her paws on my shoulders when she is up on her hind legs. She reminds me of a short-haired Afghan when she runs. Of course, she looks nothing like an Afghan, really. I was minding my own business last month when the Leo Rescue folks forced me to take her home. Not really. It was love at first sight. Like Charlie and Skye, she was born in July 2011. The “breeder” who originally sold her has a bad reputation and it is a little unclear to us whether she is really a full bred Leo. She has short hair, which will be really easy to care for, but that is not really very Leo-like. Don’t care. She is mostly a good fit for our little pack, although she is not crazy about Big (the cat). Like our other Missouri puppy mill product, Skye, Kayla has a few emotional problems and a bit of separation anxiety. No PTSD, and definitely no fear of doorways like Skye , but Kayla is definitely a little anxious. She likes to be around people, and will ignore what the canines are doing if there is a human in sight.
Did we really need a third big dog? Of course! Everyone needs three teenaged puppies over a hundred pounds. At least she doesn’t drool. Or bark. But she loves cat-litter treats, just like Olin used to, and nothing can keep her from checking for those sweet little morsels when she is even briefly unsupervised. Oh, did I mention she also has worms? All three of these dogs, two from Missouri and one from upstate New York, had bad cases of whipworms when they arrived. The heat east of here must have been great for worm growing this year.
Kayla is very grateful to the Leonberger Rescue folks, and especially to Marsha Petry of the reknowned Nuthatch Kennel, who fostered her before we brought her into our family. Marsha and Janet love their dogs and were kind enough to share themselves and Leos Ripple and Skimmer with this little pup for a while.
Pets May Help Children With Autism Develop Prosocial Behavior – Medical Daily.
Just last month, experts revealed introducing infants to pets can help reduce their chance of respiratory illness symptoms, new research now shows that pets can also have a positive effect on autistic children’s behavior.
Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the child’s first three years of life. Autism affects the brain’s development of social and communication skills. Both children and adults living with autism experience difficulty interacting with others as well as nonverbal communication. It is difficult for one with autism to distinguish, comprehend and express feelings and intentions.
Read more at http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20120801/11230/pets-behavior-prosocial-autism.htm#17XFcYGxeKxUJmwm.99
Skye at home in the mountains
Charlie is a year old already, and Skye is only a few weeks behind him. He currently weighs 150 pounds, and I expect him to hit and level out at about 155. He is a tank, and although he can “sneak” through the garden without stepping on any plants, and can walk through the house without crushing any cats, he can’t seem to stop his forward motion when rushing to give a newf drool kiss or coming over to say hello when I walk outside. Skye, meanwhile, is also happy to see her humans and loves to be close. She is a far cry from the dog she was when we adopted her four months ago, and is still improving with every day. She barks a little too much sometimes (how DARE those people walk up her road!) and she has a little trouble with doors, still, but the changes in her since we got her are pretty amazing. I attribute a lot of her improvement to Charlie; who knew he’d be a dog therapist instead of a therapist dog?!
Troy, who was kind enough to foster Skye for a while before she found her way to Colorado and into my back yard, wrote me yesterday to share some advice he had received from a trainer:
Hi Gary,
I saw your blog on Skye and wanted to offer a few pointers. I think she acted pretty similar when she was here with us. Just takes some patience, she had a pretty rough first 7 months to her life. Her only human contact was somebody that probably fed them and didn’t see a lot of affection.
She is really similar to our older Saint who came from a mill by way of a couple of other stops. She probable took 3-4 months before she really started coming around and now can’t get enough attention and affection. I’m copying some advice I got from a friend who does rescue work and is a professional retriever trainer. It was when I had the same type of questions about our Saint. Let me know if you have any questions.
#1 is to ignore her, which sounds awful!!! But people generally err on trying to “force”, albeit nicely, the dog to be more confident. By talking to it a lot, touching it a lot, etc. Biggest thing is to give her space to evaluate things on her own, at her own pace and decide when she’s ready to approach things she has otherwise been fearful of. Make sure that your interations with her aren’t sugary sweet coddling, but calm confidence instead. If something happens that scares her, YOU act confident and “business-like” as if nothing ever happened. Don’t feed into the fear by reassuring her – dogs don’t understand that and they take what we perceive as “reassurance” as fearfulness in you – which reinforces her fearfulness. So if something scares her and you talk in syrupy, sweet quiet voices, then TO HER, it’s like “oh, yeah, they’re scared too. I definitely need to continue being afraid of that”… So that’s rule #1, let her do things at her own pace and keep YOUR demeanor with her very calm, confident and non-pushy.
Another thing to do is to relate scary situations with something she likes, and this can be tough sometimes. Some dogs, rescue or not, do not have anything that’s their “passion”… 85% of the time, dogs love food, right? And you can use that to make otherwise scary situations be positive – by giving her special treats, food (even human – steak, chicken, etc. that is GOOD quality) to relate what she likes with the scary thing.
Crate her if you aren’t already doing that – this gives her a few hours or overnight to feel safe and secure. A place where she can relax.
One thing we almost always do with particularly fearful dogs is just let them hang out with us when we’re going to be doing something relaxing for a few hours – watching a movie, working in the office, etc. Just let the dog hang out and you go about your business. Even if you go in and out of the room, just leave the dog be. IF and when she approaches you or something fearful, then reward her with calm, confident, but definitely excited praise. No gooey talk. More like a “cheerleader” – give her a nice big “gooood girl!!!” and pat her on the CHEST (not the head or anywhere else – for whatever reason chest is most relaxing in this situation).
Ok, there are a few things for now. I have to run, but pls keep me posted and let me know if you have any questions. Let me know some specific situations you’re concerned about and I’ll try to help. THANKS!!!
April 15, 2012
Skye continues to challenge us with her sometimes very odd or inconsistent behaviors. She is starting to trust us, and she often approaches me and acts completely normal in certain situations (e.g., when we are outside). She sometimes seems to forget about the trust she has built and it feels as if we are starting all over again when she turns and runs. My interest in disturbed attachment and anxiety in Skye is leading to some interesting reading. In the article, Relationship between dog owner behaviour and dog attachment security in the strange situation, the authors concluded that their “results suggest that a strong dog/owner bond results from gentle, humane handling and that frightening or aversive interactions are more likely to produce dog avoidance and non-compliance as well as compromised welfare.” Our approach to Skye has been to allow her to determine the pace of her socialization and development of trust, but this can be very difficult and frustrating. It feels almost punitive when I need to lead her by the collar to the door or into the car, because she loses all confidence when she feels a tug on the collar. I realize though, that I need to be a little less frightening to her when I am trying to, for example, chase her out of the house (or into it) more quickly than she is willing to go. She is conquering her fear of humans, and is discovering the joys of being petted and paid attention to, but I worry she is establishing a dominant pattern over us because we always respond positively to her when she approaches. She is acting more normal, but it is still disturbing for me to have her suddenly decide she needs to escape to the other side of the room after a play or petting session. It is as if she forgets she just had a positive experience. Her behavior is often in an approach-avoidance pattern, steppiing forward and wanting the love, but being afraid of what will happen if she gets too close. She just spent an hour or so under my desk with my feet rubbing her stomach, then jumped up and ran to the other side of the room, from which she inched closer to me again. Charlie, meanwhile is as normal a newf as we have ever had. Rambunctious and loving, there is no avoiding his approaches because he is too big to ignore (or stop).At nine months of age, these dogs are completely different except in their desire to be touched and loved (which, for Skye is starting to win out over the need to avoid perceived or anticipated harm). Charlie never gets annoyed and rarely is frustrated. If he doesn’t get his way, he moves on to the next thing. Skye is teaching him to moderate his behavior, and there have been no chasing the cats since Skye moved in. He does enjoy licking them, however. Skye, meanwhile, has a bitchy side when she doesn’t get her way. She always ends up with all the bones, which I find interesting in a dog I thought would never dominate or assert anything when I first met her. She is genuinely happy to see me (check out the wagging tail in the photograph taken moments ago), and the two of them together provide the best welcome home I have ever had from our dogs (Olin often would decide we were not worth the trouble of getting up when we got home).
I am open to suggestions for training Skye. I don’t have the heart to put a leash on her very often, but I haven’t bought a harness yet because I am unsure if that will help. The next step, now that she is feeling more comfortable, is learning to sit, lie down, etc. “Come” is being facilitated by Charlie, who almost always comes running when called. She is not really treat-motivated when she is feeling skitzy, so I have to do this very slowly and patiently…
NewfDawgBlawg 