Poop Shute

Going To The Dogs

I have recently strayed into the world of Dog. (pun intended)

Years ago I tried to rehabilitate a friend's german shepherd, with little success. The main problem was the dog was not given consistency. Everything I taught her was thrown out the window every time she was around any of my roommates at the time, because they allowed her to misbehave without correction. I ended up disheartened and frustrated

More recently my lovely lady's little girly, Sadie, exhibits some serious abandonment anxiety. She's smart enough to know the signs of leaving too. It depends on the day, but sometimes, her tail tucks under when you've only just gotten in the shower, and sometimes it's not until you're putting your shoes one. But nearly every time, she begins to cower and shake, and eats like there will never be food in front of her again.

And then, every time we come in she is a lightning bolt of excitement, running all over and jumping. She's so excited that we returned, because she was probably sure she would never see us again. As fun as this part is for us to see, it's a further symptom of her belief that we weren't coming back, and not a healthy thing for her little heart and mind.

Knowing the little bit that I know about dogs, I decided to try some experiments to ease her fears. I figured that Dogs (just like people) are all about associations. She associates people leaving with fear, because before Lenka got her she was, in fact abandoned and passed around for a bit. So, I thought the best way to show her not to be afraid was to very quickly remind her that we will always be back.

So, our job is to get her to associate leaving with coming back. Day one we left, and walked around the corner, and waited two minutes. Then we came back in and she danced and jumped with excitement. Now, while she is still in this happy state of mind, we immediately leave again for two more minutes. Ideally, we would have done this a dozen times or more, and for days on end. The next day we would leave for five minutes at a time, several times. Then, if all goes well, maybe seven or eight, etc. Unfortunately, that didn't happen that particular time. We really should do it some more, because I could tell that it was helping.

Imagine my surprise when days later I was watching IT'S ME OR THE DOG, and there was a dog with severe abandonment anxiety. Lo and behold, Victoria Stilwell employed the exact same tactics that I came up with on my own! What I did was purely off the top of my head. It was an educated guess, at best, and there it was on the TV show of a famous Dog behavioral expert. I couldn't believe it.

Since then I have delved into many books, and other videos and learned a lot. I've been working more with Sadie, and even had a couple of gigs so far with strangers' dogs. Not only are the rewards for helping people in this way swift, but it's so much fun. You haven't seen happy until you've seen the owner of a "problem" dog watch their troubled pup transform before their eyes.

I LOVE this job.