I've been wanting to get a treadmill for Isis for a while...because I can't walk as much as she probably needs to walk. And I can't run at all. My boyfriend has a treadmill, but he doesn't want to share, and we have visions of her running alongside him on her own treadmill.

I bought a used one over the weekend, and I really think she likes it. Except the thing won't run for more than a minute at a time...so we'll be returning it and looking for another.
 

I brought Isis to work on Halloween, and she was surprisingly well-behaved. Since I was to be the only one here today, I brought her again. She sits very dutifully on the floor of my office or looking out the front door of the suite. The problem is, she barks her head off at passersby.

Excellent guard work, although a bit too loud.
 

Isis tore a hole in the bedroom carpet last week, prompting an impromptu remodel, revealing lovely hardwood underneath. At some point, probably during the night Monday, she started in on the computer room carpet. My boyfriend said, "I'm not tearing out the carpet in here too!" (It was a lot of work).

The damage in the computer room was minor, so I sprayed it with "Bitter Yuck." The next night, Isis tore open a stuffed Halloween cat pillow, even though she has a wealth of toys of her own (that she knows are her own) that she can tear apart any time she likes.

So, now we're closing her in the bedroom with us at night. Still crating her when we're at work. With a midday play visit from the grandparents.

I'm realizing that I've gotten lax about the training. We've been using the harness, and I didn't take her to class last week because I just wasn't in the mood to deal with the snarlies. We've been walking, but maybe not as much, and no doubt she's not getting enough stimulation, which is why she's getting into trouble when we're asleep and she's free to roam.
 

We were jumped on our morning walk today. By a shepherdy-looking dog that was not on a leash. I'm not opposed in principle to people breaking the leash law...but when it derails our own training, it's quite frustrating. I wound up crying for the remainder of the walk.

Isis was fine, smiling and prancing along as though nothing happened.

Here's what went down: I had her on her new harness. As we started off on the sidewalk, I was employing the "Easy...Oops" training strategy I learned online. I'm supposed to turn around and walk the other direction if she forges ahead, but there was a lady walking toward us and I didn't want to look silly. So we walked past her and I smiled and Isis lunged for her - in a friendly way. The lady looked scared and I said, "I'm so sorry," and felt fairly guilty.

I quickly grew tired of "Easy...Oops" and let Isis walk a few feet in front of me, because let's face it, that's what she wants to do. Things were going quite well during the wooded portion of our walk and I wondered how and when we were going to test her reaction to other dogs while wearing this new device.

I heard the jingle-jangle of dog tags and saw a person through the trees. The person did not seem to be holding a leash, so I thought perhaps what I heard was her keys. I paused, and then saw the black dog, about Isis' size, bounding toward us. I futilely said, "Sit," to Isis, but the dog was upon us and there was snarling and rearing up on the hind legs and biting of the opposing faces.

I don't even know what my strategy was at that point. Maybe I was trying to get a hold of Isis face to tell her in a low voice, "Out," but how was that going to stop the other dog? I think instead I was shrieking "Out!"

The owner, for her part, ran up to us and shrieked, "Let your dog go!" Which I did, causing her dog to chase Isis off the path and making Isis cry out the high-pitched squeal that means she's very frightened. The woman caught her dog and Isis ran back to me.

The woman said something lame about dogs being aggressive on leash, and was my dog OK, and did I want to check. Isis did not appear to be injured or even upset.

I know how the woman feels, since Isis has plenty of times been the perceived aggressor. I don't really blame the woman or her dog, although if her dog were on a leash, or if her dog were at least walking by her side instead of up ahead of her, or if her dog came back to her when she called instead of attacking my dog, then the worst that would have happened is that we would have had two dogs snarling and lunging at each other from a distance. So yeah, I guess I'd say it was her fault for not having her dog on a leash.

Mostly, I'm upset because the incident has only reinforced for Isis that other dogs are scary and that she needs to snarl at them to protect me (and herself).  

I tried to buy a Canny collar last weekend. Actually drove Isis to Seattle to do so, because you can't just buy a Canny collar anywhere. They're from the U.K.

Why I thought the Canny collar would be better than the Gentle Leader or the Halti, I cannot explain. But when I got to the pet store, the employees talked me out of the Canny collar.

"See, she doesn't like it," the guy said, as Isis batted at the strap over her nose. Well I didn't expect her to like it!

They convinced me that a harness would be better, but they didn't have the right size so I went to a second store and bought the Gentle Leader Easy Walk Harness. And then didn't use it until this morning because I didn't feel like walking in the rain on Sunday and slept too long yesterday.

For the first block, she pulled as usual, and I felt discouraged and thought I'd just order the Canny collar online anyway, because the D-ring on her chest pulls to the side when she forges ahead of me. But, I think overall, she pulled less, and then I remembered the point was to prevent lunging and snarling at other dogs. Which we didn't test today because we didn't see any dogs.

I put her prong collar on her as well (without the leash attached) just in case things didn't go well with the harness. Looking at it as we walked, I felt so foolish. How could I have not understood that by tightening up on the prong collar, I was prompting her to lash out at other dogs?

I'm nervous about how she'll do with other dogs while on the harness. I suppose I should just saunter on past them, rather than anticipate her lunging. And if she does, shrug, smile and apologize like I always do.
 

I want to train Isis to be a therapy dog!

Delusional, right? She can't reliably walk past another dog on a leash. She also might have the tendency to chew on people's hands when they pet her... But assuming we got past those minor problems...

I guess this gives me a reason to keep working at our obedience. The Therapy Dogs International test isn't even as strict as the one at my training facility.

For loose lead: "The dog need not be perfectly aligned with the handler and need not sit when the handler stops."

For extended stay: "The handler may take a reasonable amount of time and use more than one command to make the dog sit and then down. ... The dog must remain in place, but may change positions. "

Pssh. Easy stuff.

 

I'm trying to stay positive about the things Isis does well, rather than get frustrated that she still turns into Lil Miss Snarly pants when on her leash.

So. She stayed in a down-stay for five minutes with me out of sight. Only army-crawled a teeny bit, but stopped when I poked my head out and told her "You stay." That's huge progress.

But.

Leash reactivity. Still.

On our walk yesterday, a jogger came toward us with a dog off lead. I tightened my grip, as usual and told Isis she was being good. She made a break for the other dog, without even barking, which surprised me so much I almost lost my balance and my grip on her leash.

Today in class, after Isis made a move for a boxer, the trainer's daughter told me that I need to keep the lead loose, because the prong collar makes her think she's getting bitten, which makes her lash out at the closest dog. No kidding. I was not aware of this, and this could explain every leash reactive moment in recent weeks. But man, if I hold the lead loose, and she bolts, she could jerk my arm that much harder. That's going to be hard to practice, as I feel embarrassed when she lunges at strange dogs. I need to find someone willing to be a guinea pig.

Also, the trainer's daughter advised me to grab Isis by the face, look her in the eye and say "out" in my lowest, least emotional tone of voice possible, rather than the high-pitched shriek I usually emit, so I'll work on that too.

Isis seemed like a changed dog when I picked her up from the kennel yesterday. Not at first. When we first let her out, she excitedly ran around in circles, but when we got in the car, she sat in the front seat and looked quite forlorn.

She peed on the rug for Rob, but greeted me as usual when I got home from work. Then she spent the rest of the evening plopped down on the floor, snoozing. I had expected that four days of kennel play would wear her out. She puked on the wood laminate some time in the night.

This morning, she was back to her old smiley self and we enjoyed our walk, despite a small amount of pulling.

I'm considering getting a Gentle Leader or a Canny Collar, although neither is endorsed by our trainer. Huh, I wonder what they would say if I tried to use one of those during the on-lead portion of the off-lead test. Wonder how much it would screw up her training to use a Canny Collar on walks, but a prong collar and tab during training.

 

Isis' grandparents have gone out of town. Because they usually stop by to let her out and play with her midday, this means that she'll be spending the whole workday in her crate for the next couple of weeks. (Except the few days we have her at the kennel)

When we first got her, I fantasized that I could bring her to work. Even now, when I'm in my home office (aka guest room), she lies on the bed behind me and sleeps while I'm on the computer. It would be so wonderful if I could bring her with me to work and she could sleep on the floor beside me.

But I think instead, what she'd do is whine to go outside every three seconds, and bark at me while I'm on the phone with important work people. And shed.
 

Isis had a little fling at the dog park a few weeks ago. I forgot that I captured it with my cell phone.

A 6-month-old, very recently neutered Brittany spaniel named Charlie took a liking to her. He chased and chased her all over the park, and my girl can run.

When she'd stop, he'd roll over on his back and she'd lick his head.

It was the first time she spent more than just a few seconds with one dog. Clearly, this was true love. 

Sadly, we haven't seen Charlie since then, although she's goaded other dogs into chasing her. Last week, a couple of them seemed a little snarly and Isis actually bared her teeth. For a little bit, she was running with her tail between her legs.

I grabbed her and asked her if she was still having fun (because she looked scared!) But she said she was fine, and trotted off and played with the growly dogs a while longer.

We've been feeding Isis Natural Choice Chicken, Oatmeal and Rice for dogs with sensitive stomachs. Lately she's been having some digestive difficulty, but I think that's more from the Beggin' Strips I've given her during our training sessions. Better hold back on those.

So, I was at the pet store today and saw a coupla new flavors. One with venison (ick) and one with herring meal. The herring meal one made all of the same claims about being good for a sensitive stomach, so I thought we'd try it out.

I know you're not supposed to switch up foods on dogs too often, but I thought it too risky to buy a full 40-pound bag of the new flavor. I planned to get a 5-pound bag to take with her when we board her for a few days next week. And there was a $2 off coupon with the 5-pound bag of the herring meal food, so I got it along with another 40-pound bag of the chicken.

Hope she takes to the herring. I don't eat chicken, but I do eat fish, so I like the idea of giving her the fish food. Not that she won't still be getting bacon-flavored and beefy treats.

I was really disappointed to see that PetSmart wasn't carrying the peanut butter Better Than Ears anymore. Another location told me they were being discontinued, but I was always able to find them at this one. I thought I should buy all of them, but they always seemed to have several bags, and it seemed silly to buy more than 3 at a time. Shoulda bought them out when I had the chance.
 

Isis does pretty well on the light line when we're in the high school parking lot (after school).

We met a nice dog off lead, lunged at a spaniel on lead, and sort of lunged at a pair of toddlers in a stroller. She caught me off-balance on that one and I was embarrassed by how close her nose got to those kids. The parents were smiling, and so was Isis, actually, but if those toddlers were at all frightened, we've created lifelong dog-phobics.

But last night's off-lead work: fantastic.

This morning's, in the rain, not so much. Quite distracted, but at least she doesn't get too far away from me.

 

I took Isis up to the high school after work on Monday, and worked with her off lead in the parking lot. She did the best she's ever done, although I did have to move her away from small children who thought nothing of kicking a soccer ball within two feet of my dog. That's a little more temptation than Isis should be expected to resist. She didn't snarl or lunge, but I sure wasn't going to take her leash off in that environment. 

Yesterday we walked in the pouring rain. So fun! (When I can get out of bed in time.)

This morning we tried some more off-lead stuff, but she wasn't interested. She didn't "bolt" per se, but nor did she walk right next to me. She did a couple of her little pouncey moves, where she makes like she's going to bolt, and then splays her front paws out in a play stance. With the light line clipped to her collar, it's easy to reel her back in by stepping on it.

At one point, she sort of growled, which I know was a play behavior (something my boyfriend encourages, no doubt), but I didn't like it, so I grabbed her mouth and said, "Don't ever growl at me," which I'm sure she understood perfectly.

The thing is, she never looks like she knows she's been scolded. I imagine that inside her head, she's thinking the doggie equivalent of, "Huh. OK. La la la." She didn't growl again, but did she grasp that I was telling her not to do it, or did I just distract her?

The fall climate seems to have erased all her ability to walk alongside me. She's pulling on her leash like mad. Not so much that it overpowers me, but just enough to bug me, and certainly enough to flunk our off-lead test.

 

 Yesterday, I suited up in matching sky blue rain paints and raincoat to walk Isis.

It was blustery and raining, you see.

You'da thought she'd never been outside the house before, she was so enchanted by all that she saw (and smelled, no doubt). I don't think she walked beside me for two steps the whole time. I took her to the high school where I let her loose on the soccer field. She went berserk.

I went home and read a book intended to cure the leash-reactivity, based on positive reinforcement clicker training, shunning the prong collar altogether. And here I was, wondering if there were something stronger than the prongs. Like, could I sharpen the points?

Despite a coupla lengthy naps on Saturday, and sleeping til noon Sunday, I couldn't get myself out of bed before 8 a.m. this morning. So I took it out on Isis. No walk this morning. I'll be sure to take her on one when I get home, but if I'd taken her on one this morning, then I could feel good about taking her on two walks today.

Even though I let her down today, she's the greatest workout partner. She doesn't want to stay inside when the weather's rough; she's even more excited to get out walking. Only problem is, her excitement = chafing of my leash hand.

I thought Isis was going to weigh 100 pounds when she turned 1. But no, she's just 67 pounds.