Today’s class went well! It started off outside, with practicing walking on lead with distractions. The owners paired off and then practiced walking our dogs towards each other, past each other, etc. The other dogs were all trying to get TO the other dog; Zoe was trying to get AWAY from them. lol But she did surprizingly well, she took it in stride, sat when I stopped, followed along with me. Then the instructor’s assistant came over to work with me and Zoe alone, acting as the distraction: she crouched down and I walked Zoe past her, a little closer each time. Zoe tended to lag behind me when we passed her, trying to scoot around behind my legs to get to my other side. But with verbal encouragement from me she did good at keeping even with me and passing by. We then practiced just walking around the assistant, with Zoe on the inside. She didn’t like that, but again, did well. We ended on a high note.

Inside we practiced our sit-stays and down-stays with distractions. Zoe didn’t mind me hopping up and down much; she did, however, mind the other owners hopping. She was very jumpy and would break her stay if anyone came within several feet of her. She also wouldn’t let me walk around behind her without getting up and turning to face me - I think that was a reassurance thing, she really didn’t want to let me out of sight. So I’m going to have to work more with her on that. The instructor didn’t seem concerned, said it was probably quite scary for her with all the people hopping and walking around the room.

The forklift-hold went well again, though the instructor didn’t try to pet her or anything again today - she wanted to keep it positive and not stress Zoe out, so she just fed her some treats. Zoe really doesn’t mind being held like that; in fact I think she likes it…. unlike a few of the other dogs, who started a full out wrestling match when their owners tried to immobilize them.

After class was over and most of the others had left the building already, one of the other owners stopped at Zoe on his way out and held a treat out for her, which she ate. He then asked her if she’d let him pet her and reached down and gently stroked her head! She didn’t try to evade the hand at all, didn’t back up. That’s the first time she’s let anyone else touch her! I was so proud of her.

So next week is graduation for the dogs! The instructor said it’s always a really fun class and to bring family members to watch/participate. There’ll be lots of games and such. I’ve asked Den to come (and I’ll get him to bring the camera). I don’t know how well Zoe’s going to do, though - it depends how many strange people show up. I’ll be practicing everything this week in the hopes that she doesn’t forget everything under pressure.

I talked to the instructor about intermediate class, she said she hopes I’ll continue on - I sure intend to! Unfortunately with the brother-in-law’s wedding coming up on a saturday soon, and then with me going away to visit my parents for two weeks in June, it wouldn’t be a good time to sign up right now. So we’re pencilled in for any July classes. There is also a trick class that is taught, they said it’s a lot of fun and would be good for Zoe, but right now I think I’d prefer to work on the basics. I did suggest to Den that he consider taking the trick class with Zeeke, though. Zeeke would really enjoy that, I think.

Today Den and I decided to go eat at the Summer House, a restaurant/ice cream parlor in the next town over. They have an indoor dining area, but they also have tons of picnic tables outside. So I decided to load both dogs into the SUV and surprize Den.

Unfortunately it’s been over a year and a half since I’ve ridden in the truck with Zeeke. I’ve forgotten how psychotic he gets. He was doing fine for the first five, ten minutes, but then he started pacing the back, whining and clawing at the windows. Soon as we pulled into the parking lot at Den’s office I ran him into the woods to let his bowels empty, as he has to do after every truck ride. On the way back Den decided he just didn’t want to bring Zeeke with us to eat, he was really panicking (the dog, that is).

I feel bad for Zeeke, but frustrated as well. I really think his truck panic excaberates his bad behavior around strangers, like at training class or wherever we’d take him. On walks starting from the house he is perfectly well mannered. But by the time we get to wherever we’re going in the truck he’s worked himself up into a fit. I don’t really know how manageable this car thing is going to be for him. Obviously it’s not a big enough issue to prevent vet trips or whatever, but it certainly doesn’t make him a great travelling companion. It’s not even purely behavioral, it’s physical as well, and honestly I don’t know which triggers which; he could be getting increasingly panicked because his stomach is upset, or his stomach could be upsetting because he is working himself up. I guess we’re just going to have to aim for small victories right now, and not expect anything big from him. No going to baseball games with Zeeke.

Zoe’s a different matter. I decided to keep her with us after we dropped Zeeke off at the house, as she was doing splendidly and I thought the excursion would be a good step forward. It’s just one outing, but she’s going to need a whole lot of outings in order to help her with this.

In any case, we left her in the truck while we ordered and picked up the food, I didn’t want to force her into a bad situation with people in line or whatnot - plus we had to pick up the food inside. Then I went to get her. She refused to get out of the truck. The place is on the main road through town, which has pretty constant traffic, so that in addition to the people around (and it wasn’t packed, there wasn’t anyone within 30 feet of us at least) made her decide that the truck was much preferable. So I had to pick her up and carry her out of the truck. It was a difficult walk for her to get from the truck to the picnic table, out in the open like that. She didn’t like it at all. We could have chosen a better table, I think, we sat at the closest table to the road (but it was still over 50 feet away) - but on the good side there were only people at tables on the other side of us. Den and I sat down and I wrapped the leash around the table for extra security, then slid my arm through the loop. For the first while she was a bit frantic trying to get back to the truck, pulling at the leash. Den opening our bags of food didn’t help. But while we were eating she slowly settled down. We paid close attention to her: she was panting with her mouth open most of the time, and would lick Den’s hand when he put it down. After a little while she layed down on the grass beside the table. We offered her little pieces of chicken and bacon from my sandwich, but she took them and dropped them on the ground and then forgot about them. Her eyes nearly bugged out when a car pulled up in a spot close to our table, but she survived. No one approached us. I think it did turn out to be a positive experience - she doesn’t agree with me, but it’s another day she survived being in public without being eaten by monsters.

She was, however, entirely happy to get back in the truck, though. I said to Den, “Compared to being out here, the truck is a haven of safety!” And to think she didn’t used to like the truck at all.

Today we had Den’s birthday party here at the house. It was a very busy day. Zeeke and Zoe went in their crates before the first people arrived, and stayed there for the most part. Zeeke spent most of the day barking and whining. He really hates hearing people in the house and not being able to do anything about it.

Zoe was really very funny. Every time I poked my head in the bedroom, expecting to see her flattened at the back of her crate, and she was sitting there at the front of her crate, wagging her tail eagerly. So after a few times of seeing that I laughed at her and let her out of her crate and said to her, “Trust me, you don’t want to come out.” I opened the bedroom door a crack, and she stuck her head out. She looked down the hall and did a very visible double-take, then pulled her head back in, looked at me in shock, and ran back into her crate. It was like she said, “Holy crap! What the hell is that?!” So she happily stayed in her crate!

Two of our guests really wanted to see her - they’d seen a few pictures that I have hanging on the wall, but really wanted to meet Zoe. So I did end up taking them both into the bedroom to see her - though not at the same time. I opened Zoe’s crate and she actually did come out (I didn’t force her to do anything, I just crouched down on the floor and let her come to me). Zoe spent most of the time scooted away down the side of the bed, but she did approach me (staying on the opposite side of me as the strange person), and even approached the guest (though didn’t get close enough to be touched). Then I put her back in her crate (all I did was say, “Zoe, crate,” and she ran in), and we left. And the two visits weren’t one immediately after another, she had time in between to chill.

But then about a half-hour later she started whining loudly. Now I’m positive she would not want to come out with all those people here, so I knew she had to go pee. Problem is, the bedroom is down the hallway, and the front door - the only door out - is across the living room. I’d have to take her through the entire crowd of people to get her out, no two ways about it. I believe that carrying her (and thus making her powerless) would be the worse option, so I clipped her leash on, got my boots on, and walked her through the living room. She slunk rather than walked, but she did come willingly, and she wasn’t shaking. Thank you, obedience lessons!!

When we came back in I sat with her in the hallway, leaving the bedroom door open. She’d circle around behind my back, go in and out of the bedroom. She was very nervous, but she wasn’t hiding in the back of the bedroom either. Now I should have stopped there, but I wanted to give her more time to acclimate. I left the office door open and shut the bedroom door (because it’s a veritable pig sty and my husband didn’t want people looking in!). Unfortunately a few minutes later some guests went down the hallway to get their coats from the office, and Zoe panicked, flattening herself to the floor. I reacted no better to be honest, jumping up to open the bedroom door to let her get out of the hallway. I should have done a better job there. Next time. I hope it won’t set her back. Gah, this training thing is such a learning experience… each of my dogs have had such different personalities, they need to be managed in very different ways!

Now Zeeke… he’s another matter entirely. He frustrates me. One of the guests who came in to see Zoe wanted to see Zeeke too, so I let him out of his crate. His behavior was HORRIBLE. Thankfully he was just very excited-happy, because if he had done his barking/aggressive-posturing bit I would have thrown him back in his crate. However, his behavior was still completely obnoxious. He was whining/whimpering the entire time, circling, licking, pawing, and a couple times he jumped on her. I immediately corrected him for the jumping, but I didn’t have his prong collar on him so it barely made an impact. After the second time I put him back in his crate - there’s just no way he can be allowed to greet guests if he behaves that badly. The ONLY reason I even attempted it was because this particular guest has a great dane and is totally unphased by it, but that is still not acceptable behavior. So, next time we even attempt it he will have his prong and leash on.

So, mistakes were made, yes indeed. Let’s try to learn from them.

Today was another step forward! I took her with me to pick up Den from work, and as soon as I picked up her 6′ leash she started slinking around. Outside was the same, she was desperately hoping to just go back inside. But, alas, I unlocked the truck and opened the door. And you know what my little girl did? She jumped in!

The way it usually goes is this: leaving the house, I have to carry her into the truck; returning to the house, she drags me into the truck. But this time for the first time she went in the truck voluntarily while at the house. Yay Zoe!

She’s doing pretty well at Den’s office. She follows me inside without a problem (no backing up/pulling at the door). She’s skittish in the hallways, especially when another person comes into sight or sound range. But, she stuck right by my feet while I talked to one of Den’s co-workers (who is familiar with Zoe and her personality, so basically just says hi to her and doesn’t approach her, yay for helpful people ), and followed me into Den’s office where I closed the door and sat down. After a few seconds she starts relaxing - the office has become a safe(r) place for her to be, especially with the door closed. Today I had to wait a while for Den to come back from a meeting, so I just let Zoe sniff around and relax. She layed down a few feet away from me and licked her paws… she really seemed to physically relax.

Daddy walking in was a somewhat scary moment. It’s kind of funny in a sad way, because on one hand she knows his voice and wants to say hi to him soooo bad, but on the other hand she’s not POSITIVE it’s him and he looks kind of big and scary. So she paces back and forth… wagging her tail happily, then running back behind me. Oy. But then Den sat down and Zoe crawled over (literally, she still wasn’t sure) to say hi and lick him to death.

It’s just so rewarding to see all these little steps forward, even if they’re tiny. She makes me proud.

Today I took Zoe for a walk around the neighborhood - not the short loop either. (We actually did both loops.) Just getting her out the door was a challenge because as soon as I grabbed the 6′ leash she ran and hid in her crate. Apparently she’s associated the 6′ leash with trips to the vet. That’s going to change. Once we got outside and she saw the truck was gone she was fine, though.

We walked at heel today. The extendable leash has gotten her into bad habits while on walks, and I need to re-train her. Because she’s nervous she tends to scoot back and forth, I tripped on her several times. But she did surprizingly well. I was giving frequent little tugs with the leash to stop her from forging ahead (or falling back), but it was pretty minor given that she was only on a flat collar and this was the first time we’d really worked on heel. (And by heel I mean walking at my left side - I am not doing precision heeling here, just trying to get her to stop pulling or tripping me!)

She is definitely doing better around vehicles. We had I think two cars pass us while we were walking, and I just kept going and tried to project a non-chalant attitude. She still was skittish, but she didn’t try bolting or stopping this time.

When spring comes and Den’s baseball games start up I’m going to be taking her with me to some of the games. I really want her to be around people more often. I also talked to Den about signing her up for beginner’s obedience lessons. I don’t really think she or I need the training for obedience (I do well enough on my own), but she could definitely use the time around other people and dogs in a structured environment like that. We’ll just have to see if we can afford to do that.

Zoe took a car ride with me to pick up Den from work this afternoon. She did really well - in the truck, at least. Of course when we got there she refused to get out of the truck without some major coaxing, and then she didn’t recognize Den and freaked out. But he took the leash and jogged around the parking lot with her to get her to relax a little. Then she wouldn’t/couldn’t jump into the truck either (I think it might be a tad too high for her still, but I’m not sure, she has some pretty good legs on her and there were the running boards for her to use), so Den picked her up and put her in the truck. It was so funny looking, she stuck all four legs straight out and splayed in the air as she wriggled - looked like a child trying to grab the doorframe so she couldn’t go in. Goof. But she’s very good in the truck, she just sits or lays down and looks around. No barking, no whining, no getting sick. Randomly she’ll start shaking, but that’s much more rare now.

It was unfortunate I got there too late to take her inside. I wanted to show her off to Den’s coworkers. Another day, I guess!

Well yesterday was somewhat interesting. Zoe broke her no-accidents streak, and unfortunately it wasn’t with pee. My own fault, not taking her out on time.

But then later on in the evening, she’s all taken care of, the dogs are intermittently chewing on bones and playing with each other, and we’re on our computers. Out of nowhere comes the sound of water running. I stop dead and listen. Something’s leaking? Zoe definitely doesn’t make noise when peeing. I run out to the living room to find Zeeke lifting his leg in the middle of the room. Oh my lord - that was a ton of pee, and with how high up he is, it all just splashed everywhere. Den cleaned that all up, but I think I’m going to have to mop the floor.

Zoe is doing really well outside. On nice days there are people mowing their lawns - likely more for the leaves than the grass. It used to upset her, but now she just listens intently, stares, and then goes about her business. She’s still distracted, but at least she doesn’t freak out. I’m really proud of her.

Unfortunately I fear she’s not getting enough human interaction, and I’m not sure how to do that. With her not being potty-trained yet, I can’t take her to Den’s work and chance having her pee on their floor. We don’t really visit people, and we don’t have guests. Maybe I’ll just have to take her for more walks around the neighborhood, and hope we meet neighbors along the way.

I took her to Petco today, which may or may not have been a good idea. I just wanted to go out with just her, and I needed to go to Petco anyways. Well unfortunately she freaked inside the store. She wouldn’t move. *sigh* She’s a tad too heavy to carry everywhere (well, more just bulky and awkward), so I had to put her in one of the carts. She didn’t enjoy that much, but more than being forced to walk. (Well, she ended up cramming herself onto a shelf and not coming out.) But hopefully the more she gets exposed to that sort of thing the better it’ll go. I know Oreo was always very fearful of everything and it contributed to her being somewhat fear-aggressive. It took her 10 years to get over that. LOL I don’t intend to wait that long again. Thankfully Zoe is fine with people - it’s just noises and big scary objects that freak her out. She must be knee-deep in a fear-stage at this age.