Miracle of miracles

As I type this Sunshine is laying in my living room on the rug, near Blossom. Yesterday was his first foray into this room on his own initiative. I was cautious since sometimes he doesn't repeat things. But today after breakfast he came down on his own and lay down after asking for some head pats. He is such a good boy!

We have had no success with 'sit' on the main floor but I'm happy with his progress upstairs. We'll get there on the main floor.

I've also gotten pretty good at getting him to come in the house. He seems to realize that it is OK to come in since he will get to go back out when he wants. What seems to be working is that I observe through the window he has stopped exploring the yard and is laying down looking at the back door, the windows or the back deck. The other dogs have to have already come in. I then go out, locking the other dogs in the house behind me and sit quietly. Sunshine will usually start to come toward me but stop before he gets anywhere close. I then change position and sit again, usually on my retaining wall so I am low like him. Sometimes he will come up but more often he will sit down and lean back which is his signal that he will let me come grab the leash. I haven't done this with him not trailing two leashes hooked together. Last time I took the leashes off he became impossible to catch. So until it is warmer and nicer out I don't want to risk it.

Sunshine woke me up at 4 a.m. to go potty. I was so pleased that he did. I took him out on the leash, he went and we all went back to bed. What a good boy! Usually he sleeps right through the night but I was pleased that when he did go he got me up to take him out.

Huge Progress!!!

Today Sunshine came across the downstairs floor and took bacon from my hand. It was at least a 6 ft. span. This is the first time he has done this. I was so pleased! It is a big step for him. Previously he would take food if I approached him but would not approach me no matter how good it was.

So emboldened by this I took cheese cubes and chicken up to the bedroom where I gave everyone a round of snacks. Mr. Sunshine's eyes were shining. I then went into the hall, coaxed him forward, had Blossom do a sit and tried to motion him into one with the lure over the head. It was a no go (the luring has never worked for me). So I very gently positioned him and gave him a snack while fussing over him. After that he pretty much had it from the hand motion. After I ran out of snacks he followed my out to the stairs and did a nice pretty sit hoping for more. Yeah!!!

How can it be?

One thing that I don't yet get is that every day we put Sunshine's harness on and attach the leash to let him out in the yard at least 4 times. You would think at some point he would get used to it and maybe he will but so far that hasn't happened.

Barking

Little Sunshine has turned into quite a little barker. When folks would come by our back fence (we back to a walking path) Sunshine originally would run and hide. Then as he got more confident he stood back and barked at them. Now he runs close to the fence and barks his little head off. He barks at cars arriving at the neighbors houses. He barks at the neighbors in their back yard. He barks at their dogs in their backyard. He barks at anything on the bike path. He barks at people, not on the bike path or in the field behind our house but on the street beyond the field behind our house. If I'm visiting with the neighbors at the joining fences he barks almost non-stop at them. I think you get the picture. We have a problem barker on our hands. But what to do about it? We can't give him treats to associate these big scary things with good things because he doesn't take food from us unless in a very safe environment like our upstairs. I wish he would take his cue from Blossom on this. She does not bark at any of these things and neither does Princess.

1st car trip, hike and McDonalds

Sunshine had his first car trip today. I needed to go to the nearby McDonalds to get some burgers for my oldest dog who has cancer and is not eating. We've tried everything else and I figured it couldn't hurt to try McDonalds. The one near us is across the street from open space with trails so I loaded Blossom and Sunshine into the car. Sunshine was easy to get in and out of the car and tolerated the ride very well. The short hike also went really well. Sunshine was a bit scared at first but loosened up quickly. However he did go into overload terror at any signs we saw and the underpass to the road. He does well in the natural environment. Since nothing hurt him hopefully he will handle it better next time. I've noticed his fear of signs in our neighborhood. Any real estate sign, trail sign etc. causes him great concern. Thankfully in most things he takes his cues from Blossom and looks to see if she is concerned but so far not when it comes to signs.

An interesting development

The saga of ways to get Sunshine to come into the house continues. I recently found that if I sit down and lean back a bit he will meander around a while and then sit down, allowing me to approach and leash him. I have to lock my other dogs in the house for this to work and he has to have been out for quite some time such that he is maybe bored or cold. Also I can't sit in the same place as it worked before. He seems to like a bit of variety. Usually I put him on the long leash but occasionally (rarely) he will follow Blossom out the dog door so I miss the opportunity.

This morning he ate his poop again before I could get to him to stop him. How he has room to do this I don't know. I am feeding him 2.5 raw patties plus extras per day. 2 patties is the recommended amount for a 60 lb dog and Sunshine is only 35 lbs. In addition my other two dogs typically ate 1.75 for my 10 yr old 50 lb dog and 2.25 for my 5 yr old 50 lb dog. So far he doesn't seem to be gaining weight but his muscle tone is improving.

Hopefully he is old enough to not damage his joints by jumping. Sunshine loves to go sailing off my retaining wall. When he zooms around the yard he routinely sails off the wall to the snow/mulch below. He is getting a big kick out of this as he does it over and over. It reminds me of young boys who like to jump off things. We got a bit of a scare when he went over the edge in an area where the wall is about a foot higher (4 ft vs. 3 ft) and the landing is on a brick courtyard. He landed with a thump and a grunt. Poor boy didn't realize it is different heights in different places. I checked him over and he did not appear to be hurt.

Progress!!!

Sunshine absolutely adores the walks around our neighborhood. He can go the whole way feeling very happy.

But if I drop a leash then it is panic time. Yesterday I dropped Princess's. Neither of my other dogs will run off if their leash is dropped so this is not a problem. The problem is that Sunshine will bolt when he hears anyone's leash hit the ground and I lost my grip on him. He took off at a dead run.

Fortunately this time I knew he was likely to stick to the trail (thank goodness we were not on a new route) so I just followed behind him as quick as I could. Eventually I could see him in the distance. Thankfully we were on the snowy side of the trail and he is black. I talked my happy talk to him and he slowed down. Then miracle of miracles he started coming back. As we got closer he switched directions and headed away from me again. Princess, my oldest dog, who recently was diagnosed with cancer had to rest so I said "hold up" just like I usually do when we are all together and she pauses. Another miracle happened and he turned around and came right back to me where I could step on the leash and regain hold of him. Phew!

Unfortunately we don't have progress in all areas as I caught him munching on some poop today. Yuck!

A disruption in the routine

Poor Sunshine has had a hard week. The routine we had set up for him was destroyed by multiple long days at the dog hospital for our oldest dog. As a result he decided he didn't trust me to bring him in the house. We have a dog door that Sunshine has yet to use to come in so he wasn't able to bring himself in. The end result is that he is back on a long lead which I have to monitor for him since it gets tangled in the bushes.

My shy dog books have come but they are back-burnered while I research how to treat a dog with cancer.

1st Professional Massage

Sunshine had his first professional dog massage today. He tolerated it very well. Meg Wittenmyer from Peaceful Paws Canine Acupressure Massage was visiting us to work on my oldest dog who appears to have cancer. She is seeing an oncologist tomorrow and I wanted her to feel as good as possible since she has been in alot of pain recently. I decided since Meg is dog savvy to have her massage him also since he needs to be socialized with more people. She did a nice job massaging Blossom (which Sunshine watched) and then had a nice slow approach to Sunshine. She also used essential oils to keep him calm. He tolerated it well. I couldn't tell if he enjoyed it but maybe if we do it again he will be able to relax more.

Up till midnight

We've had a nice run of warmer weather. Sunshine decided last night that he did not want to come in. Going in the house and/or using the dog door is one of the areas were not really making progress. I stopped using the leashes attached to his harness since he quickly figure out how to keep them out of my reach. I tried a long rope attached to his harness which got tangled in the bushes and he promptly chewed it off. So basically when I catch him, it is because he is letting me. And he wasn't going to let me last night. However at 11:30 p.m. I eventually got him in the house and we all went to bed. This is Sunshine in his typical, evade mom mode.

Floppy paws

Sunshine loves to flop his paws at me in greeting. I started doing it back to him almost immediately and he seemed to like it. It relaxed him. I have taught my husband to flop his paws at Sunshine also. This has helped him feel my husband is his friend. Then I read in on of my Patricia McConnell books that we are doing one of her recommended dog greetings. By flopping our paws at Sunshine and smiling at him we are exhibiting a slight back and fort movement of the body and smiling at him alot along with the paw flopping. It may be why he responds so well to this.

Sunshine is really cuddly with me. He likes to do a very snuggly greeting where he sniffs under my chin and around my neck and hair.

Hero worship or the big scary monster?

I've noticed the Sunshine takes his cues from Blossom.

Bunny runs across the path. What to do? Run and hide? Nope, Blossom is excited by bunny and tries to chase him so now Sunshine tentatively does also. He's not quite sure what to think when I tell her to come behind me and do a Down. Sunshine will even come behind me when he accidentally tugs on the leash, just from watching Blossom do it.

Scary German Shepards on the walk? What to do? Blossom wants to attack them but she knows its not allowed so she comes behind me and does a Sit when told to. Poor little Sunshine found himself all alone out at the end of the leash with two very elderly but very loud German Shepards (safely behind a fence) trying to warn him off. He is confused about that to and comes back to be near me. But you should have seen the look of confusion when he found himself all alone out there. He thought Blossom was with him but she knows I will call her back so is sort of going through the motions.

So last night Sunshine decided I was the big scary beast. But why I asked myself? Usually he is so happy to see me. It could be because I have to catch him and leash him to get him to come in the house. However it may have been because I had to body block Blossom to keep her away from Princess's food dish. (Princess has something wrong with her that is causing her pain and putting her off her food so has been leaving extra for Blossom to get to. Were going to the vet today.) Blossom dejectedly went to her bed with ears and tail down. Then when she made a move to try to get back to the dish I gave her a "look" and she slunk off. Sunshine saw all this.

Just a side note. We don't use the word "no" in our training regimen. I think it is too easy to over use and frankly I don't think it really conveys much to the dog. We use body blocking, the eyes and hand signals.

Thankfully today Sunshine was back to normal after not being snuggly last night.

New books to help me out

I'm just about done reading "The Other End of the Leash" by Patricia McConnell.

I've ordered a few more books to help me out. While I'm enjoying the Patricia McConnell books they aren't providing me with much guidance to help Sunshine.

Here is what I ordered:
"Help for Your Shy Dog: Turning Your Terrified Dog into a Terrific Pet"
by Deborah Wood.
"Help for Your Fearful Dog: A Step-by-Step Guide to Helping Your Dog Conquer His Fears"
by Nicole Wilde.

The Deborah Wood book is supposed to be inspirational. The Nicole Wilde book is supposed to have practical ideas. Let's hope so.

Bach Rescue Remedy seems to be working!

We have noticed Sunshine being bolder! Yeah! He still isn't going out and in on his own. But when the girls run for the dog door he runs too. He stops short of going through until I open it a bit for him but he runs to get there. This is in contrast to his previous very tenuous slow steps. He is also a bit bolder about exploring the back yard. We are encouraged.

Yucky!

Ok, I'm not sure if I should report this but I guess you have to take the bad with the good. Poor little Sunshine has developed a nasty habit. He eats his own poo. I caught him going and eating in the yard within seconds. I thought I saw him do this once before but I wasn't sure. This time I was sure. Yuck! I've got to figure out how to break this habit. Of course on walks it is easy to prevent. But not so easy in the back yard.