The Joys of the "Leave it" command

When I first started fostering Kino, our walks in the neighborhood were pretty miserable, for me anyway.  Kino was hyper-reactive to everything we saw when we were out on a walk . . . other dogs, squirrels, cats, etc.  When he saw one of these animals, he would make this horrendous sound, a combination of a high pitched squeal and a scary bark, all while lunging in the direction of the animal. He was so strong that even though I out-weigh him, he could yank me almost off my feet each time we had one of these encounters.

While Kino and I were attending training classes and we learned about the importance of the command "leave it."  The idea is that if you can break the dog's focus off what they are looking at, they won't become fixated and escalate.  When you say "leave it" the dog is supposed to look at you instead of the animal, and when they look at you, you give them a treat.  (and I try to always follow up with a "thank you for listening.")   :-)

Since last fall, we have made good progress when he just SEES an animal but if the other animal (normally a dog) barked at him, then no amount of "leave it" made a difference.  If a dog barked at him, he was determined to bark back AND yank me in the direction of the dog.  In those moments he seemed to become completely deaf to the "leave it" command.  All right, lets be honest, in those moments, he also seemed oblivious to the fact that I was even there.  :-)

I noticed that he reacted less if the dog was inside the house, rather than on the other side of a fence or out on the street, so I began giving him a treat every time a dog barked at him and he didn't bark back, whether we could see the dog or not.

I am happy to say that over time he has made great progress.  Our walks now are much better.  Gone are the days of me being dragged up someones driveway, or having my shoulder nearly come out of it's socket when a squirrel runs up a tree.  We can now pass dogs on the opposite side of the street and Kino can remain calm, as long as I have a pocket full of treats.

I have however noticed recently that Kino will stare at me while we are walking.  He won't be looking at the road ahead, instead he will have his head turned towards me as we walk down the street.  Each time he does it, I find myself asking him, "Did you do something treat worthy?" and laughing. This past week, I focused in even more and what I heard made me giggle . . . I realized that when a dog inside a house barks, he thinks he should get a treat.  I swear, I can hear his goofy little voice saying, "Umm, mom, that dog just barked at me" and he will continue to stare at me until he gets a treat.

This command has become helpful around the house as well.  One day, there was a ball on the floor in front of me and Kino was staring at the ball and then looking up at me, so I thought I'd kick the ball down the hall for him to chase.  Unfortunately, he decided to pick the ball back up at the exact moment I went to kick it . . . which resulted in a puncture wound on the top of my foot.  Fortunately, I learned rather quickly that if I am going to kick a ball in the house, I need to first say "leave it" and then I can safely kick it without getting a tooth in my foot.

When I drop food on the floor, if I say "leave it" he won't touch it and I can pick it up and eat it, if I feel like honoring the three-second rule.  :-) "Leave it" seems to be the command that has resonated with Kino most, because he always listens when I say it.  I must say, I am quite grateful for the command, as it has made life much easier for Kino and I.

And it also saves lives  . . . because one morning, I opened the back door to let Kino out to go potty and within seconds, I heard barking and high pitched squealing emanating from his vocal chords.  When I ran outside to see what was going on, Kino had a squirrel in his mouth.  I was so freaked out that I am sure plenty of other words came out of my mouth first . . . but eventually I managed to scream "leave it" and he promptly dropped the squirrel.  (and much to my relief, the squirrel ran to safety).

I never thought two little words would have such a big impact on Kino's development but clearly, they are two of the best words I ever learned to say.  If you have a reactive dog, that command is a great addition to your tool kit.

Silver Lining

This past week has come with more challenges than I was prepared to deal with.  It started on Monday when I discovered that my home phone was dead.  I thought it was odd that I hadn't received any messages in several days, but I assumed the Universe was telling me to just enjoy the weekend.

I set up an appointment for the following day with AT&T and my first concern was Kino.  He is finally getting comfortable with people I know coming into the house, but letting a stranger into the house wasn't something I was looking forward to, as he still barks and lunges at strangers.

I explained to Kino why we needed someone to help us with the phone and asked him to please allow the phone guy to do his work.  When the technician arrived, much to my surprise, after a minute or two of excited barking, Kino calmed down . . .  and once Kino determined there were no treats or toys in the guy's bag, he pretty much left him alone.  Unfortunately, after over 4 hours, I still didn't have a working phone. The guy was sure I had a short in my wiring and suggested I might have to have all the phone wires replaced. He said there was nothing else he could do and he left.  Needless to say, I didn't go to bed in a very good mood that night.

The next morning when I went out to get the morning paper, I encountered another AT&T guy.  I'm not a morning person and have minimal brain function until I get some coffee in me, so I wasn't able to process most of what he was telling me.  All I remember was that he was sure he'd have it fixed in 20 minutes and I wished I wasn't in my pajamas.

About 25 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I assumed it was the AT&T guy and since he had already seen me in my pajamas, I didn't bother to put on a robe, I just opened the door.  Much to my surprise, it was someone else . . . a San Jose Water employee.  (In retrospect, I should have known it wasn't the AT&T guy because Kino's bark was not an excited bark, it was definitely a warning bark).  I had requested they come out a week or so before, when my water bill suddenly tripled.  I was hoping it was a mis-read of the meter, but unfortunately, after a few minutes he determined it was a leak - in the pipes underground between the meter and my house.  (After my chat with him, I went inside and put clothes on, so no one else would see me in my pajamas).

Well, for the next 3.5 hours, the AT&T guy was in and out of the house, trying to figure out why my phone was dead and whether or not there really was a short in the wiring.  And much to my amazement, Kino did OK with him too.  The first time the guy came into the house, he asked me to put Kino outside but I sensed that Kino was going to be OK with him, since he hadn't been barking at him while he was working outside. I asked him to trust me that Kino would be calm after the initial greeting . . . and sure enough, that's how it went.  Kino did check in with him from time to time to see if he wanted to play :-) but aside from that, he seemed comfortable with the guy in the house.  Fortunately, this guy was able to figure out where the short in the wire was and fixed it.   I was relieved to have one problem solved, but dreaded dealing with the new issue - the water leak.

The next day, the landscaper came out to assess the problem.  Kino never stopped barking the whole time I was outside with the landscaper, although I wasn't totally surprised, since Kino barks at anyone who walks in front of our house and if anyone stands there for more than a minute, his barking escalates even more.  While we were out there, the landscaper dug up the area where the ground was wet and determined the leak wasn't in the sprinkler lines, therefore, it was my problem not his.  :-(  He suggested I call a plumber.

Several hours later, the plumber I called arrived and after a couple of barks to alert the guy to his presence, Kino calmed down and just sat in the front window and watched us as we talked and assessed the situation.  I knew Kino was telling me this guy was OK.

For the next two days, the plumber was back several times . . . to bring me a shovel, to hook me up to my neighbor's water so I could take a shower, to discuss options for addressing the water leak, etc.  Each time, Kino would bark once or twice to let his presence be known and then he would just sit in the window and watch us.

In many ways, this was one of my "worst weeks ever " . . . and yet, if I shift my focus to the positives, I can find quite a few.   Kino has gone from barking and lunging at my friends and family members, to actually allowing strangers in the house.  That is quite a shift!  I know I will feel more comfortable having "new" people in the house now than I have for the last year.

I also know I can trust Kino's evaluation of people.  When my dad strongly suggested that I get several plumbers to come out and bid on the job, I told him I felt very comfortable with the guy I had found and was confident he would be the right person for me to work with.  I knew that Kino's reaction to him was a sign that I could trust the plumber and I feel good about trusting Kino.

Kino and I had a pretty rough start . . . and when I think back to last summer and fall when I was actually afraid of him, it's really a joy to see where we are now . . . developing a partnership and learning that we can trust one another.  In spite of what a challenging week it was, it felt great to be able to find the silver lining to focus on.  Hopefully, nothing else will break around here for a while, but it's nice to know that if something does break, it won't be as stressful for me to have someone come and fix it.