Queen of The Car

This is Mia at boot camp and her new friend - little puppy Delilah.  I'm not sure who that white dog is, but I think she may be jealous of Mia's car or cuteness.  Jermaine says that she continues to work hard and learn new things every day.

One item worth mentioning is that if your dog has toys, you should keep them all together and out of reach.  A human decides when playtime begins and when playtime ends.  You hand the toy to the dog and then take it back when it's time to stop.  This can prevent/control toy aggression, and this is one item that Mia will be working on while away at camp and also when she comes back home.

First Short Boot Camp Update

We got our first boot camp update this morning from Jermaine.  Mia is doing really well with training, he's finding that she's very responsive to what he's serving to up to her.  He did find that she has an additional issue that we had no idea about.  She has a mild case of toy aggression where she's not willing to share toys with other dogs and lashes out towards them when they try to take one away from her.  We've never actually seen her in a situation where she'd need to share toys.  During play dates there are never any toys laying around, and at daycare we don't see her.  Jermaine thinks that this is a habit that she picked up while at daycare and likely the people working there didn't think it was a big deal and likely never stopped the behavior.  I would agree with that.  I think that the people at her daycare are wonderful people but there are a lot of dogs and they can't watch and correct every single bad behavior.  I think that she probably learned this well before daycare when she was living in her foster home with 13 other dogs -- which is like crazy talk.  Who can care for 13 dogs?  I am sure the woman meant well, but like really?  13 dogs in 1 house?

Jermaine took a video of her walking on a leash to post on his facebook page, I'll post a link when it turns up!  I'm interested in seeing which part of the walk he decides to show.  The first part is not so good but by the end of a walk she's typically great.  I have a feeling he'll show the bad part now, and the good part in 3 weeks... although there should be only good parts by then.

I'm actually not as depressed and sad as I thought that I would be since Mia has been gone... I've been lonely but not so much broken down and upset.  Work has been really busy during the day (it's super busy season) and Abe and I have a million and one projects to do before she comes home - we haven't progressed very far admittedly.  I have been able to find time to play Words with Friends and spend lots of time reading The Game of Thrones (freaking love it) so that's a positive.  I can't wait to see photos and video of my princess!

Off To The Slammer

My little princess got picked up today and taken to a 3 week boot camp full of obedience training and behavioral adjustment.  When I tell that to people they think I'm crazy, but you know what is crazy?  Not having control of your dog, that is crazy.  Jermaine our dog trainer is going to help her cope with her fears and get over being so afraid all the time (she's the biggest wimp ever) and he's going to help her learn how to focus and listen to her handlers.  He's going to do it the right way and there won't be any shock collars or mean things like that.  As much as I love my dog, at the end of the day I'm the dog owner and she is my pet.  It's our responsibility to make sure she's cared for but also that she is controlled so other people aren't ever effected by a giant Mia meltdown.  She's not as bad at many of the dogs that he trains, which is good, but we just don't have the skills to help her the way she needs it.  

It was really hard to watch her be taken out of my house knowing that I wasn't going to have a couch-mate for a long time, or a puppy to kiss on the nose.  She has become such an important part of my life and I already do feel a giant gaping hole without her here.  We will be getting updates and photos sent to us via email/text/phone from Jermaine on an every other day basis with a longer update at the close of each week.  At the end of her sentence in the big house, he'll bring her back home and we'll spend some time with him going over what she has learned and how we can maintain it at home.

My expectations for the completion of this training are that she will be able to:
1. Not bark at or jump up on strangers, or kids
2. Be in public without barking at others or pulling on the leash
3. Go on walks and see other people and dogs without freaking out
4. Be able to sit in the vet's office without having a total meltdown
5. Respond to our commands and execute them even with distractions going on
6. Go in and out of the crate on command without putting up a fight
7. Control her anxiety level

So most of those items are related.  The bottom line is that if she can learn how to control her anxiety: anxiety of strangers, anxiety of big scary men, anxiety of the unknown, separation anxiety, etc. she will then be able to do just about anything else.  She's a really smart dog so her potential is sky high.

I'm not sure how much I'll keep up her blog while she is away, but I'll be sure to post her photos at boot camp and her updates!

A Gallon of Pee

We decided sort of last minute that we wanted to get Mia groomed before sending her off to boot camp.  I had planned on washing her, but she also needed her nails trimmed and that's just not something that I'm comfortable doing.  I called up her vet office and got her a grooming appointment before her actual vet appointment (conjunctivitis - again) only because I didn't know where else to take her and they are pretty nice there.

I think they did a good job on her because A: she was really really stinky, and B: she is really really squirmy.  My only beef with that whole process is how long it takes.  I dropped her off at 11:30am and she stayed there till 4pm.  Do all grooming appointments take that long?  I am pretty sure they washed her, clipped her, dried her off, brushed her, and then put her in a crate for like 3 hours or something.  I got there and she seemed really annoyed, and then we got her into a room to be seen by her vet and she literally pissed a gallon of pee on the floor and then stepped in it.  This is the first time that she's peed indoors in a month and it was pretty obvious that she Had to go, and it wasn't because she was nervous or like scared or something but that makes me mad.  Why wouldn't they let the dogs go to the bathroom outside?  Maybe they did and maybe Mia just wanted to pee in the room, I don't know.  These are the days that I wish she could talk.

Usually going to the vet office is a nightmare.  We're talking like code Red nightmare and it's a 2 person job.  Today, Abe was stuck on a work call so I had to go alone.  The last time we were there she barked for 10 minutes straight before they finally just threw us in a room to shut her up.  This time we got there and she didn't really do anything.  She sniffed around and looked around everywhere but didn't bark at anyone or any of the 7 or so dogs that passed us by... it was So Weird of her to be so calm.  She did have to be held while the vet examined her eyes, but she didn't put up too much of a fight and then on our way out she sort of began to slowly melt down.  She just really wanted to go home... and so she decided to take it out on a little boy -- well a 10 year old boy.  She just started barking at the kid for no reason, and of course she had to pick on this little kid instead of all the other people we saw while there -- omg, mortifying.  The kid looked at me like "your dog is a scary bitch!!"  I know kid, I know.

At the end of the day, our dog is clean and smells nice.  Her bladder is empty and she's getting better at the vet's office.     

Fox Hound

Doesn't this dog's face on the right look like Mia?  And also the body of the dog on the left...
They are yellow fox hounds, and I'd never really heard of a fox hound until some lady at our daycare said that Mia looked Just like her own fox hound.  Amazing.

I think they do resemble each other pretty closely.  I'm not sure how in he world our rescue group decided that our dog was a yellow lab when she very clearly is not.  I am going to go out on the limb and just guess that labradors are a lot more adoptable than most other breeds.  I love our dog just the same though, so we took the bait.

Clicker Training

We have begun to train Mia at home using "clicker training".  What is this you ask?  This little device just makes a clicking sound when you press the button.  The idea is to use the clicker sound to "mark" the correct action.  Many times a dog will sit and then 5 seconds later you say good girl, and she's already running around again, and you've missed the mark.

You command the dog to sit.
The dog stares at you.
Nothing happens.

You command the dog to sit, and this time she lowers her butt to the ground.
When her butt hits the ground, click the device immediately, and then give her a treat.  Don't click and treat at the same time.

The dog will learn commands faster using the clicker because she'll want to perform for the noise and the following treat.  Eventually the dog will be able to execute commands without the clicker, but for a while she will need it in order to learn.  You can use the very small "training treats" and break them in half, so the dog just gets a morsel to minimize the calories.

Without the clicker, Mia can currently sit, lay down (sometimes), come (sometimes), and "up up" which just means to jump into the car or run up the stairs.  She really needs help learning "drop it", "heel", etc.  She can perform most of the tasks without the clicker, but with the clicker it's immediate.  I say: Mia Come and she'll come trotting around the corner, and before it she would sometimes show up... it depends if she had better things to do.  Distraction is also an issue that we're trying to overcome.  So hopefully it continues to go well and can be used as tool in her obedience training.

Disaster

Oh, yesterday with Mia started out so nicely.  She is an expert at fooling us into thinking she's just a little angel...

We had a lot of yard work to get done so we decided that she's been so good lately that we both went outside to do our chores (lawn mowing, twig and branch collection, etc.) and we opened the front door keeping the glass door closed so she could sit and watch.  Previously, she had passed my 45 minute test where I planted bulbs in the front yard and let her sit and watch me and she was perfect.  There was only a little whining but overall it was really an A+ behavior day.  So we did our chores, and only got about 75% done when Abe needed to run back inside to get something.  He came back out and said, "go see what your precious little muffin did to the house."  I was like, "WHATTTTT!!! AHHH!"

Scene:  An entire roll of paper towels chewed up and distributed throughout the office and entryway.  A red solo cup that previously held paint - half eaten, half destroyed, all over the place.  And the worst part.... gray paint paw prints on the office rug.

[Mia inspecting the paint damage after I cleaned up most of the mess.  The bones indicate where the paint is since the photo didn't show it very clearly]

She had somehow weaseled herself into the dining room where we hadn't finished cleaning up from our painting last weekend and brought it all over the place.  I wasn't aware that paint that was dry could become wet again... and this is obviously all our fault 1. for leaving her uncrated alone in the house as a puppy, and 2. not taking every single thing that would be bad out of her reach.  I took things like electronics, mail, magazines, liquids, etc. out of her reach but I never thought that she would be able to get into the dining room - foolishly.  She is pretty much an expert at getting into trouble and now she has paint on her chest, nose and paws... not that she cares.

Now she needs to earn back our trust... which may take months and months.  That innocent mug isn't going to persuade me anymore.

Barks a Lot

Mia and I had a lovely morning this Saturday.  We got up, ate, used the "bathroom" and then hung out on the couch together for a couple hours.  Abe got up and came downstairs and Mia was happy to see him, and then suddenly out of nowhere she went crazy.  She went into the kitchen and started madly barking all around at nothing but she was obviously startled or scared or something.  Normally if she's barking its because there is another dog outside and she's looking out the window, or she can see someone else around.  We tried to figure out if she was barking at her reflection or if she had heard a noise, but she continued to be very upset for another 10 minutes.  Maybe there was a mouse?  I think if there was a mouse she would have tried to catch it or would have been able to target her anger.  Abe looked behind the fridge to see if there was anything there, but of course there was nothing (our fridge is a super tight fit).  This obviously means that we have a ghost right?  A ghost is potentially messing with my dog and I do not appreciate that.  

We were finally able to calm here down and she's happily lounging up against me again.  She's actually done this a couple times before - once with me all by myself at 11pm before we went to bed.  We were in the bedroom and the door was closed and locked (as I like to do when Abe is away) and she suddenly ran up to the door and started barking at it.  Obviously this did not sit well with me, but I'm not stupid enough to go out there and inspect what might have set her off.  Instead I just assumed that all was actually fine and she probably just heard a little creaking noise somewhere... and then we went to sleep.  It's odd because she really makes the worst guard dog ever.  She sleeps through pretty much everything, loud noises don't bother her, and only 5% of strange noises set her off.  Ghosts I tell you.

Ok, maybe not ghosts... but what else?

One of a Kind

Today on our way to work we saw Mia's twin.  For a split second it was like, "OMG THAT WOMAN STOLE OUR DOG!" but it turned out our dog was safe at daycare and we just saw her twin brother or something.  I mean, have you ever seen a dog that looks like this before??  She has so many breeds mixed in with her that its really impossible to say exactly what's going on here.  It got me thinking about what could have happened to her siblings and I know deep down that most of them are probably gone seeing as how she has a bit of a sad past, but like what if we actually saw one of her brothers strolling through the financial district of Boston?!  He was obviously really good looking, just like her:

She's been sleeping in the family room in her crate all week with no problems at all.  This surprises me a great deal but I guess at the same time when she's tired, all she wants to do is go to sleep.  She will completely ignore us if she's in the mood for a nap.  One time we almost took her to the doggie ER because she was knocked out cold and we thought she was dead.  I wish that I was kidding on that one.  We're not overly dramatic at all... we're just new at having a dog in the house and are very attached to her. - she's my little princess.

This morning she also found a way to wiggle out of her pretty purple harness so I think we'll not be using it as much anymore.  Luckily, I was on our gated deck so she didn't try to run away seeing as it was 6:30am and there's no way I'd be able to get her back.  I'd just be running around screaming her name with an empty leash and a poop bag.  I don't even know my neighbors, none of that experience would end well at all.

Tomorrow, we have a new task.  A 20 foot leash came for her, and when we put her in the car, we need to feed the 20 foot leash to the front seat and each time she barks at people or dogs walking down the street we need to man up and give her a little tug to get her attention.  When I say "little tug", I sort of mean a medium tug... one that will get her to snap out of it.  Our dog trainer this is the best way to handle  it and it shouldn't take her too long to learn.  She's gotten better on her own already, so hopefully this will also be pretty quick!

Moving the Crate

Mia's first night sleeping in her crate in the family room went Ok.  We moved her to try and help her separation anxiety per the advice of our dog trainer, and really it's better for us as well.  She preferred sleeping in our bedroom (also in her crate) but she got over it eventually.  I had prepared myself for a night of crying and whining and howling... but it was sort of anticlimactic.  The only thing that even happened is that she pawed her attached water bowl so hard that water spilled everywhere but it didn't break.  It will be going back on tonight when she likely throws another fit of some sort.  I'm pretty sure that I could hear her trying to dig her way out by pawing at the door too, but the crate is stronger than her.  Maybe her separation anxiety isn't as bad as we thought it was.  Although she knew we were in the house and that's a whole different issue than when we would actually be leaving.  I'm pretty sure that if we put a nanny cam on her when we left, we would find her being all kinds of bad and loud - tearing her towels apart, howling, going crazy, etc.  and that's sort of like my dream, I just want to know how bad it really is.

Yes, all she has in her crate is a crate mat and 2 towels.  She has a bed but when she's distressed, she will literally eat it.  She will chew it and chew it and swallow it, and the last thing I want is to find her with some kind of digestive issue... so until she learns to control those reactions, Mia can't have soft things in her crate with her.  I am the meanest mom alive.  Don't feel too badly for her, she's snuggled up on the couch right now with me.  She doesn't chew the couch, so she can have that and she doesn't chew her doggie bed in the family room either so she has nice things - don't worry!

Hopefully tonight goes either the same or better!  I'm going to guess that it will probably go much worse though.

Small Improvements

We'd been having a really hard time with Mia's behavior since we got her Labor Day weekend, but this week it seems like so many things have improved.

• She let Abe mow the lawn last Sunday without running around the house barking at him
• Yesterday, she let me plant bulbs around the yard without running around the house barking at me
• She's had conjunctivitis for almost a week now, which meant me applying ointment to her eyeballs twice a day for the past 6 days... and really who likes that?  But she got over it.
• Yesterday, she also got her very first bath in the house and didn't freak out (too much)
• The past two nights we've let her sleep in her crate with her door open. She actually stays in there all night anyway, which is great.

It's almost like she knew that the dog trainer was coming for a little visit later today.  We do still have a lot to work on, but she is moving in the right direction.  Yeah, dog trainer - coming at 5pm for a little talk about how to best work on her issues.

She's not quite as interested in watching the Chicago Marathon as I am.  She'd rather jump all over me.

Welcome!

Mia was taking over my other blog (which is supposed to be a running blog) so I decided that she was awesome enough that she really deserved to have her own space on the Interwebs.  All I do is talk about my dog these days, because:
1. She's crazy
2. She's the cutest little thing
3. The never ending work that goes into having a dog

I think people are really quick to judge a dog upon first impression which is why we really need to help Mia overcome her fear of strangers.  It's funny because when she first met us... we were strangers and she never had any issue with us at all.  Not even a week later she was barking at everyone else in the world but the two of us.  On walks she barks at other people and other dogs, but she loves people and she loves dogs... so it makes no sense to me.  She has so much fun at doggie daycare playing with the other puppies so I just can't figure out how walking down the street and seeing a dog is any different.

She is wonderful though, she's like my shadow - she follows me all over the house and loves to just be around me and Abe.  She's also weaseled her way on to the couch with me.  I lay down a blanket and then let her jump up and watch tv with me... and I know that is a slippery slope but I'm happy and she's happy so like whatever.  I always said that she wasn't going to be allowed on the furniture, to eat human food, or to sleep in the bed.  Hopefully I'm able to stay strong and not cave to those other things, she can't have every little thing that she wants... can she?

Her favorite things are - treats, sleeping, walks, and Nylabones.
Her least favorite things are - going in her crate, strangers, and when it rains.

Each week we make some good progress with Mia, and this blog will following her development in our family.