Session 2+

Monday I had another training session with my new coach. She brought a newer method to work on Quinn's issues. B.A.T. --Behavioral Adjustment Training, written about by Grisha Stewart a trainer out of Seattle.

My trainer brought her 13 year old Aussie bitch to use as a 'decoy' dog. Basically, Quinn and I would move closer to her (while she was in a down-stay), when he noticed her, I stopped. As soon as he looked away, I marked the behavior and ran back to the 'starting point'. We did it several times and she moved her Aussie to a couple of new locations, overall I really like how it's progressing.

I've always felt that using food with Quinn added a bit of guarding behavior. I don't know if that's just my fear or if it's reality, but I like this method because you don't start off using food. It makes him work to control himself to earn the ability to move away from the decoy, instead of working for food where he might easily eat the food then explode on the decoy anyway.

Tuesday, I had a friend bring her Corgi and she did a sit-stay and a down-stay with her dog while Quinn and I worked. We've trained in the same ring before, so Quinn's familiar with her dog. He had no reactivity at all.

Tonight, I took him back to the training building and another trainer was there with her Golden. I asked if she'd do a Down-Stay with him, while I worked with Quinn. He did pretty well. He did react once (I moved too close, too fast). I didn't want to inconvenience the other trainer too much, so after several minutes, I put Quinn back into the car. I was pleased that he didn't seem stressed when I took him back to the car.

Petco again!

Yesterday afternoon we once again I tried Petco. I don't know if it's because Quinn has bad associations with the place, but he was really wound up. It wasn't hugely busy, there were maybe two dogs in the whole store. He started barking as soon as we pulled into the lot. He saw a GSD being walked out of the store and lost it.
I just spent time with him in the crate (door open) and used the clicker, clicking for calm behavior and just letting hang out in his crate.I pulled him out of the crate and he was happy calm while he pottied, but as soon as we got into the store he barked at a store clerk, at Alicia with Sage (her puppy, who's currently living at my house while Alicia's pet/house-sitting).
I did get him to calm down a little, but he was on alert the whole time we were in the store. There were a couple of kids with a small white dog running around. He was focused on the boy when he saw him, but only barked at the little girl with the dog. He's never been comfortable around children, so I'm okay with his behavior at this point.
The worst reaction he had was as we left the store. A woman with a large black mix of some sort was getting out of her car as we approached my car. Quinn began barking, I corrected him, but it didn't help he continued to bark. Her dog was on a flat buckle collar and started to drag her over to Quinn. I just grabbed Quinn by the scruff and turned him away, he didn't stop barking, but the woman was able to get the other dog back under control and they went into the store. As soon as the dog was out of sight, Quinn calmed down. At that point I just crated him.Overall better than the last time we went to Petco, not as good as he's done at Petsmart or the club.

Quinn at the club

I took Quinn to the Greater Lincoln Obedience Club building. There was an Agility Fundamentals class and a Good Dog Level 1 class so there were plenty of dogs present.
He was barking when we pulled into the parking lot, but I waited him out and made him stay in the crate (door open) until he calmed down.
We then walked around a bit and let him potty if needed. When another trainer drove in we moved to the street. She had her very calm Border Collie with her and Quinn barked maybe once, but quickly calmed down.
We went into the building and he initially barked a couple of times, I corrected him and started rewarding him for being calm. I moved in to the office door several times and moved so he could see the other dogs in the building and again rewarded for calm behavior and then moved back into the office.
At one point another trainer brought her dogs towards the office. She came up on us quickly and Quinn began getting very upset. I asked her to wait for a minute in the doorway, then I calmed him down and moved him to the back of the office. He did very well, he didn't bark at them as they came close and left the building. He knows her dog, but on-leash in the building is very different from off leash in my backyard.
Overall I think he had a good session. I'm working up to being in the ring next to a beginning class or agility class. I don't think he'll ever be able to handle a Flyball class.

Day 2, Petco

My trainer gave me homework. It was to go to PetsMart and spend 10 minutes just walking around the store. No shopping, focus only on Quinn and interrupt or correct his bad behavior and reward the good. She also suggested I find a smaller class at the obedience club and get him either into the class or take him into the building--I'll work on that later!
Today I decided to take him to Petco, it's the same isn't it?
Apparently not. PetsMart on Friday is very very different from Petco on a Saturday. Quinn was over the top. When we first started in, he was fine. We got just inside the doors and he spotted the rescue booth. It wasn't the two Italian Greyhounds there to be adopted that make him bark, but the little Schipperke that was dancing around while the owners talked to the rescue people.
At that point, correcting him did not work. I just turned and got out of the entry-way. I should have turned around and left.
I worked on rewarding him and trying to stay as far away from the Schipperke and his people as possible. We were there about 5 minutes and had worked our way back to the grooming area. He barked a bit over the dog barking in the grooming room, but soon calmed down. We moved away to the Aquatics dept. He was nervous at first, but calmed quickly. We did a couple of pivots and were admired by a Dad and his daughter buying fish. As we moved back toward the door, I knew we'd have to pass the rescue booth. I moved up to the end of an aisle near the booth and we worked on not growling or barking at the Iggies (that he now decided needed to be barked at). When he calmed down I moved away and back up the next aisle, closer to the door and the booth.
We were almost even with the booth when the Schipperke and his people came down the main aisle, back to show off his new coat to the rescue people. Quinn once again went over the top. We moved back by the ferrets because I couldn't get him to calm down at all. Once the Schipperke was out of sight, he calmed down pretty quickly (he didn't care about the ferrets at all).
As soon as the Shipperke and his people left, we got the heck out of there. I now know, do not go to the store on a Saturday morning!

Quinn's Re-Training

The last time I posted (Wow! Two years ago.) I mentioned Quinn was a little shy in PetsMart and had some issues with over-reacting around unfamiliar dogs. Though we've been in competitions and he earned his BN (Beginning Novice) title, we now have to go back and address his issues.
My goal is to earn his RE title and move on to more obedience (Novice, Open and Utility). So to actually succeed, he needs to learn to calm down around strange dogs.

The first and last time I tried to compete in Rally Excellent, he really went nuts over the Dachshund that was supposed to be working in the ring while he did his honoring. Luckily, we found this out before going into the ring. I pulled Quinn, not only did I not want him to practice the behavior, but I didn't want to mess up the other dogs chances.
The one thing I've learned is 'out of control' dogs push Quinn's buttons. The other thing I've learned is that many of the dogs in Rally are out of control. They don't really know how to heel and if their owners couldn't use fake lures, the dog would be gone. (Yes, I expect some will take exception to this, but I've seen a lot of dogs that shouldn't have qualified, get their titles-- Missy is one of them!)
So, I've decided to work with a trainer. Intellectually I know what to do. I've helped many other people with the same issues. But knowing and doing are two different things when it's my dog that's acting like a fool.
We met yesterday at PetsMart, he wasn't interested in meeting her at all (that's fine). So she and I talked a while, I told her his history and she watched us walk through PetsMart. I don't know if it was lucky or not, it was very quiet, not many dogs or people. After a while she told me what I was doing right and what I needed to work on. Yay!
One of the things I had thought I was doing wrong was corrected him when he went over the top and began barking. She told me to keep doing it. I had been moving back while correcting him, she told me that I shouldn't do that. Keep him in place until he calms down and make moving away a reward for calm behavior. Wow! Such a small thing, but it really makes sense.
She brought her dog in and we worked on getting him to just allow them to move around us. He did really well and as we left the store we walked out together. Quinn and her dog were about 4-6 foot apart, but Quinn was ignoring her dog!
I do have to admit, I put Quinn away, got into the car and cried.