Filed under: Uncategorized
Despite our drive being an hour instead of 30 minutes (I got about a block from the Mexican border… so clearly I had passed the elementary school) Mackenzie and I made it to the Elementary 15 mins later than we said we would, but still 15 mins earlier than the classes were going to be getting there. So things worked out perfectly.
She behaved better than I ever thought she could. After whining and bouncing around the car for the hour it took to get there I figured she was going to act like the crazy hyper dog she normally is. Well she did, for a while right when we got there and I was signing in and showing them our Delta badges and she became fascinated with the water fountain. After a few minutes though she realized we were ‘working’ and she started to behave much better. She knows exactly what I need out of her and exactly when I need it.
She was calm and quiet (besides a few little whines because no one was paying attention to her) when the Teachers were talking to the kids and she was totally ON when we were asked to do tricks (for 3 classes in a row). Every class first asked to see her do a back flip. Then they would want to see classics like roll-over, play dead, jump was a favorite, dance, shake hands, they LOVED ‘wave’, and they got spin, limp, spin/twirl, bark (by accident), sneeze, and ‘cover your eyes’ a few times. She was so totally awesome that in the middle class she did the entire trick routine with no treats (thank you delayed reinforcement training) until she was done. Everyone was real impressed with that. She loved when all the kids would come up to her and pet her and talk to her. And she really loves the trick “give her/him five” where the kids put their hands out and she runs up to them and gives them a paw.
One kid was really sweet. Like I mentioned yesterday the whole reason we were there was as an incentive for the kids to read more over the summer. Well in addition to that, what they were doing today was offering the kids a little “store” in which they could use the points they’ve earned from reading throughout the year to buy stickers, notebooks, dinosaurs, etc. Most kids had around 30-60 points with some having as few as 15 and some as many as 180. So once they bought their little goodies they would come back and play with Mackenzie and/or Tinker (the other dachshund in WAGS- she’s a b/t). So anyway, this one kid used his points on a little Spiderman foam ball. He and his friends sat in a little circle to play with Mackenzie and he asked me if she would play with the ball. Of course she would!
Actually, she was NUTZ for the ball. She was catching it in the air, kicking it with her paws, growling, chasing, and shaking it all over. Everyone had a great time throwing it in the air for her and watching her chase after it. Finally I told the boy that he better take it back because she might rip it or mess it up. He took it back in his hands for a little while and thought about it and handed it back to me and said “I want her to keep it. She can have it.” It was so sweet, I told the supervisor and she told his teacher and they all said it was a really nice thing for him to do. Especially since he used his only points for that ball. He walked out of the library grinning from ear to ear watching Mackenzie with her little ball.
As we were leaving the woman in charge of the whole thing told me “Wow, she’s a star. Ya’ll wanna come back in the afternoon too?” I said we had been planning a big party for our other dog’s birthday and we couldn’t.
But yes, Mackenzie is a star. She’s got that special something that you don’t see everyday.
She is an incredible dog and when you meet her, you just know she’s a star.
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The other day at work Mackenzie and I were walking around talking to people and I looked down and saw something shiny on the floor. It looked almost like a silver paw but as I picked it up and inspected it further it appears to be a silver “brass knuckles” pendant. I put it in my pocket and continued talking to my friend. I pointed out to her that the bully sticks that her dogs adore are actually made of bull penises.
To which she replied, “Oh My God. I’m gonna yell, can I yell? I’m gonna yell! OH MY GOD, I’m yelling.” It was great fun. After she left (after yelling about bull penises for a while) I went to the bathroom and added the brass knuckles pendant to my silver chain. On the necklace are the three most important things to me. A peace sign, music notes, a “dog lover” charm, and now… brass knuckles.
It seems that after I found the brass knuckles Mackenzie was more “on” than she’s been in a while. I worked her heel, figure 8s, stand/stay, recall, and she was doing quite well. Of course that’s got very little to do with finding the brass knuckles but I’ll probably keep wearing it on my chain for a while.
Tomorrow morning at 7:15AM Mackenzie and I will be venturing out to Sam Houston Elementary, the southernmost school in the McAllen School District. Obviously being that far south, it is in a very low socioeconomic area (very close to the Mexican Border/Reynosa).
Once there we will participating in an incentive program for the kids to read more. They are offering the top readers at Houston Elementary an opportunity to read to a WAGS team (for example Mackenzie and I) at the beginning of next year as well as receive a “pawtographed” book from all of the teams. They are hoping this will motivate the students to read more over the summer. It should be fun. We’ll be there hopefully from 8:00AM – a little before 10AM since Clementine the Therapy Bunny is getting there at 10AM.
And Mackenzie the Therapy Dog meeting Clementine the Therapy Bunny is NOT something that small children should witness, EVER.
At 4:00PM we will be meeting several clients/friends of mine at our nearby park to have a birthday party for Spencer’s 3rd birthday. I bought Pooch Pops for the dogs, and Ice Pops (you remember from when we were kids) for the humans. We also bought party hats, I made goodie bags for the pups, we’re going to have frisbees and various toys for the dogs to play with as their “party games” and of course I will try and take lots of pictures. I’m totally giddy about it.
Filed under: work
Or Dog-proofing your Child?
I was explaining to some people today that their male un-neutered Pit Bull was most likely escaping their enclosed kennel in the back yard because he was interested in mating with the dog next door (their female Pit is thankfully spayed). As I was talking I, of course, had Mackenzie with me. Normally when I am talking to people it involves talking about training so she had her eyes fixed on me and was in a sit position. So I go on talking to this couple and I notice their little girl is very interested in Mackenzie.
A few seconds later I see that she has taken Mackenzie by the neck with both hands and is restraining/attempting to choke her. I saw her out of the corner of my eye and was about to yell at her when she stopped. I thought maybe it was an accident (Mackenzie was surprisingly calm about it so I figured the little girl hadn’t been applying enough pressure to actually bother her). I continue talking to her parents and AGAIN the little girl does it. This time however she moves from just grasping Mackenzie’s neck to actually holding her muzzle closed with one hand while sticking her face in Mackenzie’s face.
Thank goodness Mackenzie is pretty child-proof, (she’s been accidentally kicked, dragged, poked, pulled, stepped on, choked, etc. by kids yet she still loves most of them). When I caught the little girl with her hand around Mackenzie’s mouth I said “Hey! What are you doing?” and the father also got mad at her later for doing that.
I can’t imagine it would make for a good headline if that little girl did something like that one too many times to either one of their pit bulls…
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In unrelated news I’m currently planning Spencer’s 3rd birthday party…
Every week on one of my days off we go to this elementary school park (which becomes a public city park after school hours) and let the dogs run around off-leash (which is probably illegal but there is usually NO ONE there at that time anyway). I was thinking that since most of his birthday presents would relate to going to the park including but no limited to:
some new Chuck-it balls:
a new supercool Orka frisbee (no picture online since it’s a fairly new product I believe)
a Kong on a rope thingy:
that why shouldn’t we celebrate AT the park. Usually we just meet one of my clients and her Aussie Matilda, but I was thinking we could invite a few more people and their dogs and let them all run around and play and have doggie birthday cake and take pictures. Wow, I just got giddy thinking about it.
Filed under: dogs
If you’ve never been to a Pet First Aid class, you need to go. If only for the amusement of the CPR dummy dogs and cats (well that and for the countless other tips and tricks you should know when living with dogs/cats). When you breath into their noses, their little chests (complete with “lungs”) move up and down as though you are actually bringing them back to life.
Anyway, I must get dressed for work, but I just wanted to say that I am now certified by the American Red Cross in Pet First Aid for both Dogs and Cats!
And after the class I rode around the parking lot on a TRIKKE.
I got my hair cut this afternoon and I must say it looks pretty fierce. And you know I don’t use the word ‘fierce’ that often, so it must be true. After my haircut I went to get some pictures developed at HEB. Then I came home and did some scrapbooking. Is that a verb? Scrapbooking? Whatever, it’s awesome. I can feel myself start to get totally obsessed with it. I try not to shop in the “scrapbooking” section at Hobby Lobby because I feel this urge to spend hundreds of dollars on scrapbooking accessories. God, I love it. It is incredibly fun to do and if I can’t imagine how bad I would be if I were actually a stay-at-home Mom… Thankfully I am not, and instead I scrapbook pictures of my clients and their dogs.
At around 5:30PM I began briefing Mom on what she needed to know to play Judge for Mackenzie and I. And let me tell you, it was quite a challenge. My mom, an extremely intelligent and successful woman, could not for the life of her figure out how to do a logical Heel sequence. Her favorite thing to call out was “Forward…Fast…Slow…STOP!” right before she ran us into the street.
After a few tries however, she gave us some pretty good ones. The “Fast…Halt” was actually pretty good practice even though it can’t be called out in the ring. We managed to get a few good sequences both on and off-leash. We then did a few Stand For Exams which Mackenzie did beautifully for the first (and only) time in her life. And this is my Mom, so imagine how she’ll do with a stranger if she can hardly stand still for my Mom. She’s never understood that even though I gave her a command she is still allowed to be petted. When we are at work and I’m working with her and someone comes up to pet her and let’s say she’s in a sit/stay, she will actually scoot away from the person who is trying to pet her. Either that or she will actually get up, walk a few steps away and then sit down again. Like she simply can not be bothered with petting when she is in a stay. Obviously we need to work on this.
We did Figure 8s with little cones as the posts which she did very well with. And then we did a couple of Heel Off leash sequences. Mom of course was terribly nervous that Mackenzie was off leash in the front yard (no fence) during 5-6PM traffic. Much to her surprise, Mackenzie is actually MORE attentive to me when she is off leash.
By this point I was sweating so much that my hair was about to start getting frizzies so we came inside. I talked to Dad for a little bit about how I was now officially promoting Mom to Head Coach and demoting him to Assistant Coach because she was learning so quickly. As we were talking Mackenzie decided to attack Beethoven (our 16yo Lhasa Apso). Although we’ve made great progress in lessening her food aggression, there are just some times when she can’t help herself (like Spaghetti Mondays obviously). She’s been crated for the past half hour (while we ate dinner) and we will probably work on training some more in a little bit once she calms down.
Tomorrow I’m going to a Pet First Aid class in Harlingen with a few of my clients and people from our therapy dog group.
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Just thought I would do a fun little post about some of Mackenzie’s favorite toys:
1. Hide-A-Squirrel Junior (JUST the squirrel):
She’s never actually played with the whole thing. But she is absolutely infatuated with her little squirrel whom I intelligently named Chip (as in Chipmunk, duh). He stays in the car permanently and every time she hops in the car to go to work or the park or wherever, she viciously attacks him. If we are driving and I am not interacting with her she will put her two front paws on my leg and drop Chip onto my lap. If that doesn’t work she will wedge her head in between my body and the steering wheel and make sure to drop chip to the floor near the gas pedal so that I will have to fish him out of there while driving and play with her. This is by far her favorite toy of all time. We are currently on Chip #2 (the original Chip was the bigger one and he is still around, he’s just in retirement). For the record, Chip #2 is in near-perfect health (besides minor surgeries to fix holes and re-attachments of his tail). He has also been de-squeaked by Dr. Mackenzie.
2. Wing-A-Ball (are we seeing a trend here with the names of her favorite toys?):
It’s a ball on a rope. Seriously, how exciting could it possibly be? I bought this toy for Mackenzie in the hopes that she would at least take a slight liking to it so that possibly we could use it as her training reward tug. Little did I know she would LOVE it to death. It is now nearing retirement since she has decided to rip it to shreds. Mackenzie is the type of dog that if you are not interacting with her while she’s got a toy, she will proceed to rip it up and most likely ingest the materials. So clearly it is better to play with her… all the time.
3. Nylon frisbee:
Now this one is a total surprise. I got the large size (as show in the picture) for Spencer. On a whim I decided to get an additional one in the smaller size joking to myself that perhaps one day Mackenzie would enjoy frisbee. Sadly, Mackenzie is not going to be my next disc dog in training, but she has very much enjoyed this toy. She has enjoyed every inch of this toy. Again, Mackenzie will take a toy that she likes, make a HUGE deal of it, and if you don’t join in on the fun she will show you why you should have played with her by destroying the toy. So this frisbee is pretty much ripped in every seam possible and the plastic circle is almost totally chewed up.
Did I mention that Mackenzie is the least destructive of our dogs? These toys that I’m describing to you are her absolute favorites of all time. I could do another list of 100s of toys that she has NEVER even popped a seam or de-squeaked. So don’t be thinking that Mackenzie rips and destroys every toy she gets, quite the contrary. These three are at the Top of their game. The cream of the crop. Mackenzie only destroys the very best of her toys.
(Mackenzie and Mr. Wing-A-Ball at the beginning of their love/hate relationship.)
I think if Mackenzie were a real person she would be some kind of life counselor or a psychiatrist. She has this incredible ability to get through to not only people but she is simply amazing with other dogs.
As some of you may know, a few months ago Mackenzie was showing some real signs of dog aggression. Her label would be “dog-reactive” or “leash-reactive” but to the average dog owner she would be considered “aggressive”. In other words, she was (still is sometimes) a BITCH.
A “happy and playful” (in dog trainer terms: a RUDE, BADLY-TRAINED) puppy would run up “just to say HI” and Mackenzie would react. We got to the point that she was growling/snapping at nearly every dog who approached her unless they were well-trained and calm. So obviously, since my job is as a dog trainer, the majority of dogs she would meet were not well-trained (yet).
I knew something had to be done so I did all kinds of research, asked other trainers, bought books, and got my ass in gear. Today, almost a year after the peak of her aggression (she drew blood from the nose of a Golden puppy) she helped me with a dog/leash-reactive Lab. I let her in the training area (off-leash), she sniffed around, stretched and yawned several times (calming signals) and kept her eyes on me the whole time. The Lab didn’t react at all. In fact, both of them acted, for the most part, like the other dog wasn’t there. Mackenzie was amazing as was the Lab, who also seems to only react when the other dog approaching him is rude and ill-trained.
We’re at the point now that Group sits and stays in the Novice ring are a real possibility. A year ago I might have said her dog show career was impossible. A year ago she stopped coming to work with me and I was thinking that maybe it was hopeless to even try to work with her around other dogs. I was wrong. We’ve worked through it and we continue to work on her reactivity every single day. She has made tremendous progress and now greets other dogs with enthusiasm. She really is incredible to watch.
