A Sign

     Henry went to the Arboretum today. It is a good place to expose him to other dogs while keeping an eye on his behavior. As usual, we started walking with the leash held inches away from the collar so the collar stays right behind his ears. After he demonstrated good behavior, i.e. passing other dogs without barking, I gave him some slack. But whenever I saw a dog coming I would put him back on a short leash.
     While Henry was enjoying the relative freedom of the entire length of the leash, he spotted a dog before I saw it. His first reaction was to look at me as if he was expecting a treat. So I gave him one. We had not done rewards-based training in a while. A few monthes ago a trainer showed me the method of plying Henry with treats as we approached other dogs. The idea was that when Henry sees another dog he would learn to expect a treat instead of starting to bark. This turned out to be a good method for getting him to stop barking at cars, but it was not very effective where other dogs were concerned. And it was difficult to implement. If the steady stream of treats was interrupted for a moment, he would start barking again. Keeping him on a short leash and controling his head proved to be a more effective way of managing Henry's behavior.
     But the look Henry gave me this time appeared to be a sign. He is ready for more slack. I let him have it. Previously, I needed to offer one treat after another in an unbroken flow to keep him preoccupied if another dog was in the vicinity. Today, each time we walked past another dog I only gave him between two to four treats. He would look at the other dog, I would call him and he came to me for a treat. Even when the other dog was very close. If the other dog was excited, this did not work. When we approached a yapping puppy, Henry got excited from a distance so I used the short leash method again.
     At the end of our time in the Arboretum, we got close enough to a cute beagle mix for the 2 dogs to interact. We spent about three hours there. We did not do anything strenous but Henry seems exhausted right now. The effort of self-control takes more out of him then our morning run did.

Dedham Dog Park

     This morning, Henry visited the dog park in Dedham. As soon as I let him out of the car, he was overexcited. The prong collar was right behind his ears and I walked him around, away from the dog park until he settled down.
     We cautiously approached the 1-acre, fenced in area. Whenever he showed signs of over excitement, I would switch direction, away from the dogs, until he calmed down and then I would head back. I am getting better at recognizing the red flags, like the direction of his ears. Henry approached the fence but we did not enter the park. We walked around it, on the outside. Occasionally, a dog inside the fence would get close to us, Henry would get excited, and I would lead him away, only to return when he had relaxed. After Henry had walked around the park a few times, staying calm, and even calmly passing a few dogs that were also outside the fence, we went inside.
     I continued guiding Henry on a short leash, walking around the perimeter of the park, this time from the inside. We did not approach any dogs but we did not avoid them either. A few dogs approached Henry from behind to sniff his rear. I kept him moving forward, not letting him face them.
    Several times, when a dog approached Henry, the owner would call the dog back. They probably assume that I am holding him on a short leash because I don't want him interacting with other dogs. (Or maybe they don't want their dogs interacting with one that needs to be on a short leash.) In fact, the opposite is true. It is only by exposing Henry to other dogs that he will learn how to interact politely. When a dog approaches Henry while I am controlling him, he can learn what to do (stay relaxed) and what not to do (bark or mount).
     We walked around the perimeter several times and Henry began ignoring or responding calmly to dogs that we passed. So I gave him more leash. He stayed calm for the most part. He would only become excited if a dog nearby was running, barking or mounting. A gentle correction usually returned him to a calm state.
     I gave Henry the full 6 feet of leash and kept walking. When we passed another dog, he would sniff politely and continue to follow me. And when a few dogs started to jump and play with him I stood still and let them play. And he played very nicely. I saw him roll over on his back for another dog for the first time. He might do that at doggie day-care, but I have never seen him play submissive before, not even for Zico.  He also respected other dogs correcting him. When play got a little too rough for a beagle, the beagle barked in his face and Henry backed off.
     He was behaving so well, I put him on a 15 foot retractable lead, attached to a harness so he could run around some more. He was not ready for that. The additional freedom led him to ignore me. He started barking at dogs that were running out of his reach. So I put him back on the prong collar and 6 foot leash. But as we spent more time there, his play became more relaxed and he seem less interested in dogs that were out of reach. I tried the 15 foot lead again and he behaved well.
     After more time had passed, Henry was staying by my side instead of taking advantage of the longer lead. He was being friendly with all the dogs but not rambunctious. Probably, he was getting tired. But he was behaving so well that I let him off-leash. He continued to behave well off-leash. But he started hanging around the double gate. It looked like he was ready to go.
     We spent around 3 hours at the dog park. Later today, I was hoping to encounter some dogs as I walked him in the neighborhood, but we had no luck. I wonder how long he will retain these new social skills. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to take him to the dog park every day. But fortunately, every day shows new signs of progress.
   

Right Behind the Ears

     Henry has cycled through a variety of collars. The standard collar that he arrived with did not seem adequate since he pulled so much. So he was fitted with a front attaching harness. It helped with the pulling but when his behavioral issues cropped up he started wearing a gentle lead to correct his undesirable behavior. The gentle lead was helping, but because of his excessive barking, it wore out too much hair on his muzzle. So he started wearing a prong collar. It was a difficult decision to put something which looks like a medieval torture device on him. But I tried it on myself. It does not hurt and is probably safer for him than a standard collar.

     Just to try something new, I hitched the prong collar up as high as it would go. This is a position some trainers recommend because it gives the handler better control of the head and therefore better control of the dog. I had tried this when I was a dog walker with little success. Whenever a dog would pull, the collar would slide to the base of the neck. But with Henry I kept just enough tension on the leash so that Henry could not drop his head. And I held the leash just an inch or two from where it attaches to the collar. This way the collar stayed right where it is supposed to; right behind the ears. And it does give me more control over Henry. By keeping him close to me, slightly behind me with no freedom to lunge, he is less reactive to other dogs. And when he does become overexcited at the sight of another dog I can turn him around, both literally and figuratively (behaviorally) more easily. With patience, I have gotten him to walk right next to other dogs with no barking. Once there, I can give him some freedom on the leash and he behaves well.

     Henry went to a dog park for the first time. He still is eager to rush up to other dogs but on a short leash with his head under my control he can not. We approached the other dogs circuitously. When he was overexcited I steered him away from them. When he was more calm, I walked him toward them. One by one, he was introduced to the four or five other dogs that were there. Once he got close enough to sniff them, I could relax the leash and he behaved well. Once he had met all the other dogs I let him off the leash. He played nicely with the other dogs for a few minutes. 

     Then a new bunch of dogs arrived. Henry was overexcited, approached the other dogs barking and he even nipped two of them. (He has a habit of nipping dogs that are running away from him on the flank or back.) When I saw that, I wanted to put him back on the leash but there was no reigning him in. He was running around, ignoring me, having a great time. I followed him, walking, hoping that eventually he would come to me and I could leash him. It didn't happen. But after a few minutes of trying to catch him the need had passed. He was just running around, his tongue hanging absurdly far out of his mouth. He has some room to run freely during his play-dates at Northeast Coonhound Rescue, but this space was much larger. And Henry made use of it. It was wonderful to see him enjoying himself, just running for the sake of running.

   Eventually he ran close enough to Janelle for her to get a hand on his collar. I will have to think twice before letting him off-leash in a space like that. His recall is probably better than average for a hound, but still not good enough to let him run free anywhere. It was important milestone for Henry to have a (mostly) successful day at dog park. And it was a pleasure to see him enjoying himself so much.

Zico & Henry in the car after dog park