21. The Charlie Diaries; 10/30/22

The Charlie Diaries: 10/30/22

Charlie’s progress continues. In the last couple days, I’ve been able to walk him past strangers without moving him off the path and having him sit. I still need to dial in eye contact and reward him, but this is a big step, nevertheless. This has led to today’s decision of trading in his 7 foot industrial strength nylon leash with the maximum security buckle for Suki’s old 5 foot cotton lead. It’s both a practical and symbolic gesture; a sign that Charlie is no longer going berserko as frequently or intensely, and a sign that he doesn’t need the extra leash length to feel unthreatened. (Dogs who are “leash reactive” can feel trapped on a short leash.)

There is also a subtle but important change in his car behavior. He still needs to be tethered in the back seat, which he hates, but he has quit resisting this process. Till recently, after I’d attach his tether, however gently I latched the car door, he’d bark and lunge. Then, when I climbed into the front seat, more barking and lungeing, and muzzle punching me in the back as I sat down. I had initially reacted to this by immediately climbing back out of the car and walking away. It solved the problem, but was time-consuming. A few days ago, I started attaching the tether, then tossing a treat behind him. By the time he found and ate it. The door was shut, so no theatrics. Likewise, before I’d get in the car, I’d cue him to sit. Then I’d slowly climb in and give him a treat. Now, there are virtually no theatrics. He lets me attach his tether with no squirming. (I still toss the treat afterwards.) Then, as I prepare to climb in, he sits without being asked. (I still issue the cue, even though he’s already sitting, and still reward him with one high value treat.) Again, no theatrics.

While we’re driving, the counter-conditioning continues, but less treats are required. Mostly it’s only when trucks pass us going in the opposite direction that he tends to lunge, and giving him a treat as the truck passes has cut down substantially on his reactivity.

In other news, I took him to an unfamiliar park area and we walked for an hour yesterday. Unlike past encounters with new places, his loose leash manners were pretty darn good. I still need to maneuver him to avoid other dogs, squirrels, and deer, but these are all gradual but positive changes. Oh, and his weight has dropped slightly below 65 pounds, so he’s lost about 7 pounds. And the beat goes on.

20. The Charlie Diaries: 10/28/22

My Aussie dogs have all been incredible athletes. Max, my first Kelpie, could run like the wind. When he’d be chasing a ball on the Penn campus in West Philly, strangers would exclaim, “Wow! Is that dog fast?!” Other dog owners would say, “no dog can catch my dog!”, as Max ran their dog to ground in no time flat.

Likewise the other Kelpies. Django and Keli, the last Kelpie generation, can be seen here in full flight! Django was like a lithe tight end, streaking across the field and zigging and zagging to catch his frisbee or out run Keli, who was no slouch herself.

Into the current Cattle Dog era, Suki was able to hold her own against Django, no small feat. 

I’ve compared Charlie to Larry Csonka, the Miami Dolphins fullback of yore. Csonka was a broadly built lumbering runner. Maybe not the fastest, but there was a Rhinoceros-like grace in the way he ate up the yards and plowed through would be tacklers, and Charlie has that kind of grace.

When Charlie first arrived, I ordered a floppy disc for him. They’re easier on a dog’s mouth than a hard frisbee, but otherwise serve the same purpose. When I first threw it for Charlie, he ran after it, picked it up, and tried to tear it apart, so it got put aside…till today.

After holding the disc out and repeatedly rewarding Charlie for leaping and grabbing it, I tried throwing it a few times. Charlie would chase it down, but he wasn’t fast enough to catch it in mid-air. His “leave it” cue is improving, so I was able to keep him from trying to tear it apart, although he did shake the thing hard enough while bringing it back; if floppy discs had necks, he would have broken its neck several times over.

Next, I put him in a “sit”, backed away about 30 feet, and then threw the disc just off to his left immediately after issuing his “okay” cue, which frees him from the sit. It took several tries, but he finally started catching the disc and bringing it back. Every time he caught it, he got a “jackpot”, several liver treats in succession to make the behavior more attractive to him. We did this for awhile, and then called it quits after a couple successful catches in a row. It was more like “playing catch” than running out and catching a disc. I’m not sure if he’ll ever be a running, leaping disc catcher like Django was.

And I can’t seem to remember how good of a pass receiver Larry Csonka was…

19. The “Suki” era has ended. The “Charlie” era begins!

Suki the Cattle Dog crossed the rainbow bridge in April 2021. After a year and a half of being a “Guy withOUT a dog”, I adopted Charlie The Cattle Dog in September 2022. Those of you who follow me on Facebook (all my posts are public, so you don’t need to “friend” me…just go to https://www.facebook.com/rollybrown ), may have followed “The Charlie Diaries”, occasional posts about Charlie’s progress. If you’ll remember, Suki was a dog with a lot of “issues”, and, in helping to turn her into a good little citizen, I studied behavioral dog training fairly intensely, leading to the creation of this blog. Charlie, also, as it happens, has a lot of issues, albeit different ones from Suki. The Charlie Diaries are making an anecdotal record of his progress, as I reach back into my rusty old bag of training techniques, review new material, and try to patiently mend another little doggie soul which was damaged by the circumstances of his former life.

Suki! fondly remembered.

Once I had covered the basics, I didn’t feel the need to continue posting “new stuff” during the Suki era, so the blog has more or less lain fallow till now. With the advent of Charlie, it seems silly to publish his diaries on facebook without sharing them to my “dog blog”, so I’ll be re-organizing the pages here soon. There will be one page that lists the first 18 blogposts in order, so you can start at the beginning and read through the basics. Another new page will be an archive of the Charlie Diaries to date. New blog posts will be new “diary” postings. Stay tuned, and welcome to the “Charlie” era!

Charlie! the new era begins!