The Judgemental Idiot Part 2

To say I was freaked out by this idiot, is an understatement. I was panicking. I didn’t like the fact that this guy took pictures of us. It was creepy. I wasn’t worried about Chili in the pictures, I knew she would be wearing her goofball happy face. By the time I got home I was a wreck. I called Brad and told him about what happened. It took a bit for me to get it out between the tears. I’d never experienced anything like this before and I had no idea how this kind of thing went. I didn’t know if the people at the pound were idiots or reasonable people, this might go bad for Chili. People are people and you just never know who you’re dealing with. It was worse because I had no clue as to what the rules and guidelines were for warnings about your dog. Brad felt that the best plan was for me to call the pound and tell them about what happened. We didn’t have anything to hide from. He was right.

So, I called the pound and told them the story. I had a lump in my throat the whole time. They asked if Chili was off leash. No, she wasn’t. They asked if she had done her business and I didn’t pick it up. No. I had to tell them about the day before, and how Chili sometimes lunges at other dogs when she’s on leash. I didn’t want to tell them, but I had to be up front. I told them the guy said he had already phoned them and started the complaint process. The pound guy asked his colleague if it sounded familiar and he said no. To their knowledge nobody had phoned about us. He did comment that it sounded strange that the guy was walking towards us taking pictures and that it must have made me uncomfortable. It did make me uncomfortable. I kept looking over my shoulder the whole way home. I told them that we felt it was better for them to be able to find us right away if they had to, rather than driving around hunting for us. I gave him my name and phone number and left it at that.

Now, I have very mixed feelings about this. You see, I stopped going for the morning walks. Some have said that he had no right to keep me from walking up that road and if it was them, they would continue walking by his house every morning. Yes, they’re right. He doesn’t own the road. Believe me, I would love to march up and down that road a dozen times a day and see what he has to say. However, this isn’t about me. I need to set my pride and ego aside and do what’s best for Chili. If we had kept walking up that road, it would have enraged a person who is already unreasonable and a bully. It might push him to go further, and Chili would be the victim. If he wants to sit on his couch, all puffed up and proud, about how he bullied that girl with the ‘vicious’ dog and pat himself on the back for how he’s such a hero because he saved his neighbourhood from us, then so be it. I can be proud that I made the choice that was right for my dog.

Interesting how people choose to see the world. How is it that this guy decided we were a menace to society, while an elderly man in a scooter with his little dog would stop, say hi, and give Chili treats.

It’s been over 8 months now since this incident and nothing has come from it. This proves that along with many other things, this man is also a liar. He achieved his goal and now I’m pretty sure he feels more powerful for it. No matter. If Karma is real, he’ll face her one day, and I’m quite certain she has no tolerance for 2 legged creatures who threaten 4 legged ones. He’s all yours girl.

The Judgemental Idiot Part 1

As you know, I have no tolerance for judgemental idiots. I thought I’d already run into my share of them, I was soooo wrong. Chili and I had started doing morning walks. We’d walk around the corner and up a road, which is a very steep hill, and then back to the house. I really enjoyed our morning walks. It was quiet, we got a good workout, we would always watch for the neighbourhood deer, we knew all the neighbourhood dogs. Chili was used to the routine and would simply walk by everything with a bit of interest. It was beautiful.

One Sunday, the three of us were walking the regular morning route. As we were approaching the bottom of the hill, I saw a man with his dog. I recognized the dog from our morning walks because it would usually be out in its yard when we would walk by. There was also someone walking behind us with their dog. At that time, we were still having a problem with Chili lunging. She would do it probably 90% of the time. Of course Chili lunged at the dog. Typically I would walk Chili but if she started to lunge, Brad would grab the lead. Not because I couldn’t manage her, but let’s face it, he’s stronger and can manage her with one hand. We got her under control and kept walking. As we were heading up the hill I turned around and saw both men talking to each other. Other than that, we had a great walk.

On Monday morning, Chili and I set out for our morning walk. It was a beautiful and cool morning. We went to the top of the hill, saw the deer and the morning dogs. On our way back down, I saw a man walking out of his driveway towards me. It looked like he wanted to talk to me, then I saw a camera in his hand. I wasn’t really sure what was happening at first, then I could hear the camera clicking....he was taking pictures of us. Out of nowhere, he launched into a speech about how he’d already phoned the pound and they know all about us. That he’s talked to the whole neighbourhood about how Chili is a vicious dog and nobody wants us around. He kept repeating that she’s vicious. Now, if you know anything about Chili, you’d know that she loves people. So as he was telling me how terrible she was, she was pulling forward, trying to go say hello to him. Since I was holding her back, she was rearing up on her back legs. He proceeded to take more pictures and was telling me, “see, see, she’s vicious, see.” I told him that she wasn’t vicious, she loved people, and simply wanted to go over to him and say hello. He told me that she’s so bad, that it takes two people to hold her back and that she wanted to kill his dog. (He was referring to our walk by yesterday)

It took everything I had to stay calm. You can’t reason with a crazy, self-righteous person on a bullying power trip. I told him that she wasn’t vicious, she gets along fine with other dogs, in fact she’s surrounded by them when she’s at daycare, she’s never been in a fight, she’s never bitten another dog, I’m working hard with her, etc, etc. Every word I would say, he would follow it with, “I doubt that”. He said the pound told him to talk to me and take pictures. (This, is talking to me??) He was then going to submit a formal report against Chili. I asked him why he wanted to make trouble for us, why he’s never just talked to me, why he’s making assumptions when he doesn’t know anything. Of course he didn’t have any answers. I told him to do whatever he felt he needed to do, and I walked away.

I kept looking over my shoulder as we walked home. I was afraid he would follow us. If I saw anyone behind me, I would have walked the other way and called Brad to pick us up. My adrenaline was pumping and I could barely think. All I knew was this guy wanted bad things for Chili, and I wasn’t going to allow it. Now what?

The Mysterious Limp Part 3

It was painful for us to watch Chili being so ‘unchililike’. I can only imagine how she felt. We cut back on her food but she still gained weight. How could she not? She couldn’t do anything. I played with her a little bit in the house but was very careful. I didn’t want to aggravate her leg. Here we were almost 2 months into this Mysterious Limp and we still didn’t have the answer. At what point do you just say, ‘stop’. We didn’t know for certain if it was panosteitis and I’d already put her through 2 sets of Xrays. Poor girly got sick from the sedative both times. Now I was considering another option. The vet suggested that she get an ultrasound on her shoulder. What to do, what to do... I didn’t want to put her through being sedated again, but what if this was the test that would give us the answer. What’s the best decision for Chili?

We decided to get the ultrasound done on her shoulder. As they took her in I wanted to grab her and run out, but I didn’t. Here I was doing something I knew would be tough on her. Sorry Chili. To make it worse, they had to shave a patch on each shoulder. Oh brother, what next. To my surprise I was able to go in and watch them doing the ultrasound. Even when she’s under sedation, Chili still manages to be cute. Every now and then her tail would thump, thump, thump on the table and everyone would smile. So, after all that, the verdict was....nothing. There wasn’t much to see. There was a point that maybe he could see something, maybe not, we’re not quite sure. Now I feel even worse. He took a few images of areas around her shoulder and said he would send them to a specialist to review. Yeah, sure, go ahead, I won’t hold my breath. I don’t really blame the vet for not being able to find anything, that’s just the way it was.

As we waited for the specialist report, I thought about how frustrating this whole process had been. It can be tough owning an animal sometimes, especially when they’re not feeling good. They can’t tell you what’s wrong and most animals will do their best to hide what’s hurting. You have to make your decisions hoping that you’re doing the right thing. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to find the answer right away, but most times, it takes a lot of money, worry, and research.

Ok, so the specialist report is finally here. I had to read it a few times just to absorb what I was reading. Blah blah of the blah blah, what? Mild degenerative joint disease and poor conformation of the coronoid may indicate coronoid process disease. What? Elbow CT or arthroscopy recommended. What? No, she’s 3, I don’t think so. I’m done. Forget it. There will be no more poking and prodding. I’m taking this into my own hands. Nothing has worked so far and I’m not putting her through anything else. We will observe her and see what happens. That’s it.

And observe her we did. It probably took another month or so, but she did get over the limp. It left as it came. It just faded away. In the end, after 2 vets, 6 therapeutic laser treatments, 2 sets of X-rays, 1 ultrasound, and 1 specialist consultation, oh yeah, and a lot of $$$$, it just went away. On its own. Admittedly, it could have been a whole lot worse and in the end Chili was OK and that’s all that’s important. When our animal has a problem we’ll spend almost any amount of time and money on the elusive cure. We do it because we love them, we do it because they depend on us, and we do it because we need them.

The Mysterious Limp Part 2

As you can imagine, Chili was not impressed by this whole situation. Staying at home sucks when you’re used to hanging out with your friends five days a week. It sucked for Brad too since he would drive home every day at lunch to let her out and spend time with her. I felt bad for both of them and had to come up with something to make it easier. I was talking about it with Michele from Connective Training and we came up with the idea of a babysitter. I know, don’t laugh. So, in comes Jas, a friend that I met through Michele. Jas has a beautiful pittie named Cali and I knew she wouldn’t let Chili boss her around. Throughout the month of December, Jas would come in at least twice a week to spend a few hours just hanging out and chillin’ with Chili. It made a difference and Chili loved spending time with her.

I wish I could tell you that the therapeutic laser treatments were working, but it didn’t seem like they were. Although, Chili did enjoy them and would just lay there relaxed unless she heard a noise or a person came in. She had to know everything that was going on. There were days that she walked just fine, and then there were days that by the time we walked the 100ft to the end of the driveway, she would be limping so badly, she could barely walk. She would hold up her leg and look at me then walk back to the house using 3 legs. It was heartbreaking. Other than holding up her leg, you wouldn’t know she had a problem. She never winced, or whined, or showed any other signs of pain. This made it even harder to pinpoint the problem. My little trooper.

Of course, it couldn’t just be a simple thing to go for the laser treatments. Victoria isn’t really known for getting snow but on a couple of her appointment evenings, it had snowed and the roads weren’t that great. Not a problem if you live in a place where you get lots of snow and you change over to snow tires in the winter, but when you live in a place where you don’t get much, and you only use all season tires, it can be difficult. Snow wasn’t the only challenge. During one of her appointments, she was lounging and enjoying her treatment when I looked up and said to the technician, “there’s smoke coming from the laser cord”. He looked at me confused; I think he was trying to soak in what I just said, so I repeated it. By this time I was already laughing and he turned around, saw the smoke and pulled the cord out of the machine. Yes, I was laughing. I didn’t see cause for panic, after all, Chili wasn’t smoking, the cord was. The technician apologized again and again. It wasn’t his fault, no problem. That was the end of that treatment. Sorry Chili.

So what was next for us? At the end of the laser treatment, there was no change. We decided not to continue. At this point it was January, I was done work, and could devote my time to Chili. The next step? I asked for another set of X-Rays. I needed to see if there were any changes in her bones and discuss where to go from here. I know he told me that it wasn’t cancer, and he was confident with that statement, but since she seemed to be getting worse I felt that another set of Xrays would show us something.

So, under she goes again for another set of Xrays. I asked him to Xray her whole leg and shoulder, right down to her toes. He didn’t think it was necessary, but I insisted. If she was going to be put under, I wanted to make it worthwhile. The result, there was no real change. Frustrating. Now what?

The Mysterious Limp Part 1

Chili puts everything into her play time. She’s part Boxer and plays like one. With that, she’s come home from time to time with limps and scratches from playing. It’s just Chili. Typically, it takes a day for her to get over it. No worries. However, one day she had a little limp that wouldn’t go away. Actually, it would go away, then come back, then go away, then come back.

The little limp got worse so I decided to take her to the vet. We went to our usual vet and I was asked to walk her once up and down the street in front of the office. She wasn’t limping so the vet felt her leg, couldn’t find anything, then after talking about Chili’s symptoms, recommended that she be put on Cartrofin, or Metacam. I’m familiar with Metacam and refused it right away. My opinion, it’s nasty stuff. I’m also familiar with Cartrofin but wasn’t convinced. I was afraid to walk away without doing anything for Chili, so I agreed to the Cartrofin. She would get one shot now, and return for a series of shots over the next few weeks.

I went home feeling angry at myself. I wasn’t happy about my decision. You’d think I’d know better than to go against my gut, but when it comes to the vet, I sometimes lose my mind. After our whole experience with Ruby, I could never bring myself to completely trust them again. I couldn’t shake the feeling. The next day, I phoned another vet and made an appointment. The moment I put the phone down, I felt light. In the meantime, we decided to take her out of daycare and leave her at home in the hopes that the rest would help. Not a popular decision with Chili. Besides, she wasn’t even limping at daycare. She had better things to do than worry about a sore leg. She couldn’t be trusted roaming the house so she had to be crated. Brad had to come home on his lunch to hang out with her and let her out. I felt so bad for her. A social girl really shouldn’t be crated and alone, but I didn’t have any other options.

The assessment by the next vet was thorough. He had me walk and run her back and forth numerous times in the parking lot. He flexed and felt every part of her leg after every pass. Of course, Chili didn’t limp once and didn’t give any indications of pain. Figures. We opted to bring her back for X-Rays. The X-Rays were digital so I was able to go in right away to look at them. There was Chili, still out, laying on the floor, with her tongue hanging out. I wish I had my camera. As she came around her tail started thumping every time she heard voices. It doesn’t take much to get her excited. We took a look at the X-Rays and could see dark areas on the bones in her leg. I felt weak. I couldn’t even hear the vet talking. My thoughts went to Ruby, and how devastating it was to lose her to cancer. I could barely speak the words, but I had to ask, was it cancer. He assured me it wasn’t.

Although there was no definitive diagnosis, the vet did think that she might have panosteitis. Panosteitis is most common in large breed dogs between the ages of 6 and 18 months old. Chili was already 2 ½. Panosteitis is a bone disease that is often painful and can last anywhere from 2 months to 18 months. It is characterized by lameness that comes and goes and can go from leg to leg, although with Chili, it was just the one leg. Typically it has to run its course, but once it’s gone, it’s gone, and there are usually no other problems.

He did offer us a possible treatment option, Therapeutic Laser Treatments. He was considering purchasing a laser machine but wanted to test it out first to see if it really did provide results. It wouldn’t cost us anything, and wasn’t invasive, so we agreed. I would keep my fingers crossed that this would help. She had the first treatment right then. We would be in ‘monitor mode’, which wasn’t my favourite, until the end of the treatments.

Give Us a Break

Have you ever been walking your dog and just known that a judgement is being made about you? I’ll be completely honest and admit that I’ve made judgements. I’ll admit that when I look back on them, I was naive and lacked the knowledge to make any kind of judgment. I’ve also been on the judged side. Who hasn’t? Most times it’s a silent judgement, and sometimes it’s been not so silent.

I know that not everyone takes responsibility for managing their dog’s behaviour. I also know that not all people who own dogs, love dogs. They only love their dog. Then there are those who just don’t like any dog. These people and many others are out on the trails every day. I see every trail situation as a training opportunity. You have to look at it that way. If I stuck to the shadows and the back trails, we would never have achieved the progress that we’ve made. I’ve felt so thankful for those dog owners out there who have stopped when they’ve seen me struggling with Chili and asked if I would like to practice the ‘walk by’ again. They recognized that I was doing my best to teach her the right way and they took the time to help. Then there have been those who have screamed at me, yes screamed; or told me to ‘control my dog’, which I was doing; or told me that I should get some training for my dog, which I had done and was continuing to do.

My point, give me a break. You have no idea what I have invested in my dog to make positive changes. You have no idea how far she’s come, and she’s come very far. You have no idea how much I’ve had to assess my own actions, and change. Change is hard. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved. I take responsibility for me and my dog. I know the good things she does, and I know the bad things she does. For the past few months, she barely lunges anymore. (I’ll tell you how we achieved that in another post.) When we walk and she’s off leash, I always put her back on when I see another dog approaching, or make her walk by my side when we pass people. In regards to the other dogs, I know that Chili sometimes has an ‘in your face’ way of greeting, we’re working on it, so to avoid a bad ‘hello’, I put her on leash. In regards to the people, Chili loves them. She’d love to run up and say hi and lick everyone. However, I know that not everyone wants to be licked by a dog and some people are afraid, so I keep her at my side.

Today, on our walk, a woman with 2 dogs on leash was walking towards us. She stopped, reigned in her dogs, and asked, “Is your dog friendly?” She was far enough from us that she had to holler the question. I didn’t know what to say, I usually don’t. This wasn’t the first time that this whole scenario has presented itself. Chili was on leash and I was asking her to look at me. There was no fuss and I wasn’t stressed. I certainly wasn’t worried about if her dogs were friendly. When I go out onto the trails I have no control over others and worrying about it doesn’t change that. I know I shouldn’t get annoyed by this, but I do. I should’ve asked her why. Although, if I didn’t like the answer we would’ve ended up in a shouting match that would stress both the dogs and us while going absolutely nowhere. So, our response, “She’s on leash, she’ll be fine, you just manage your dogs.” Not the most elegant response, oh well.

Honestly, me and Chili are the least of your worries. I am responsible for my dog. If you’re having issues, they’re yours, please don’t make them mine. If you’re unsure, face your fears, stop and talk to me, or even better, ask to walk with us. Be open, maybe we can learn something from each other.

The Roles We Play

Chili loves life. She’s always smiling and running around in a blissful state with the belief that the world is her cookie. Well, except for when she’s defending the house against a rabbit, squirrel, cat, or deer that happens to dare to cross into her yard. Even then, she’s happily defending her home and doing her job. Those who know her love her. Seriously, they do. She makes people smile. No matter what she does, she’s committed to having the most fun ever. As we walk and she passes by people, I imagine that if she could talk, she would say ‘hi’, ‘how’s it goin’, ‘hello’, ‘what’s up’, ‘wanna play’, to every person that walked by her. I often wonder how such a happy dog could cause us so much trouble.

We all think we know our dogs. Do we really know them, or do we know the story that we’ve created around them? Although Chili has improved incredibly, I know that she lunges at dogs, and I know that I have to facilitate greetings for her with other dogs. After the initial crazy, she’s ready to play. That’s what I know from my history with her. However, the girls at daycare know a different story. They don’t know one of lunging and problems, they know her as pushy but playful, happy and energetic, a big goofball who will play with almost any dog who will play with her. She doesn’t have any lunging or greeting issues. She’s the perfect dog to welcome new dogs into the daycare. So, which is the real Chili?

I find this whole idea fascinating. I like to think that daycare Chili is the real Chili. She’s allowed to be herself. They don’t worry about her and feel like she needs to be monitored. She’s watched just like the rest of the dogs, and when she acts up, she gets in trouble just like the other dogs. It’s all quite simple. Not like at home. I know I worry about her too much, but really, what am I supposed to do? Our story started when we adopted her and it’s been a difficult story to rewrite. Early on when she started lunging, we didn’t know how to manage it, so it went on and on. With consistency, we became more and more stressed and the story we played out was giving each other the heads up when we saw an oncoming dog, preparing to hold her back and riding out the wave. The story for Chili was that every time a dog passed, mom and dad became nervous and stressed so she would lunge. It happened consistently so it became her routine. It was our routine, our story. After a number of repetitions, we all learned our role in the walk.

The whole time, I always knew it could be different. I believed that Chili had it in her to walk by a dog calmly. I didn’t know how to make it happen, but I knew it would. So, we kept playing our parts. We had some success with the E-collar but it was inconsistent. It was great for the recall, but not so great for breaking her focus. As I look back, I’m quite certain I wasn’t doing my part with the collar and that’s why it wasn’t really working. I had to find a way to get her to stop staring at the oncoming dog. I knew the answer would come, I just hoped it would come soon. I had to find a way to change the story and change our roles. Daycare Chili would prevail.

Obedience Classes

As we stood there waiting for the class to begin, I couldn’t help but feel the energy in the room. Everyone was anxiously waiting for things to begin and doing their best to keep their dogs calm. Some were doing it with little effort, and others were putting their complete focus on their dogs to get the job done. That was me, one of the others. Chili wasn’t lunging or anything like that, she was just excited to be there and wanted to check out and smell everything.

Michele started out the class by talking about the ‘wins’ in our dog’s lives. You know...like when they beg for a treat and we obey, they take out their little book and put a notch in the win column. When they bring their toy and bump us in the butt with it because they want to play and we obey...another notch. Then, when we want something from them, they take out their little book and think, “Hmmm, I don’t think so. See all these notches? That tells me I’m the boss. Now... get me a cookie!” Sound familiar? Everyone laughed because we all knew it was true. Damn book!

Chili wasn’t quite calm yet and was pulling on the leash. Emma, Michele’s assistant, came over and suggested that we try the Illusion Collar. I refused and told her that I’ve tried it but it didn’t work. She suggested a harness, but again I refused. I just wanted to use my own gear. As we started moving around the room and practicing different commands, I was still struggling with Chili. She just wouldn’t focus and kept ignoring me. Then Michele walked over and told me she was going to put the Illusion Collar on Chili. I didn’t want to argue so I let her put it on. To my surprise, it was the change that we needed to help Chili to focus and allow me to settle in. I guess Emma was right in the first place. They saw I was struggling and knew that a change would help in our success. I’m glad they didn’t let me push them away. This is what they do after all.

These classes are great and offer so much more than just learning some commands. Working with your dog in this way helps to build a bond between you, a sense of teamwork. If you look around, you’ll also learn something from watching the other people and their dogs. You’re not the only one with issues. (Yes, I mean your issues, not the dogs.) Other people have them too. A lot of times, they’re the same as yours, so when they surface in the class, you get to watch the trainer coach someone else through it. I won’t pretend it was always easy and fun. I had some tough evenings. They were tough because of my own lack of focus. Life was dealing me some stressful days and I couldn’t always push it aside. Chili, being the little opportunist, could tell when I wasn’t ‘on’ and would do her best to bring on her bratty. Dogs know your state of mind and respond accordingly. Don’t take it personally; it’s just what they do. Recognize it, and take is as a sign that you need to get things in order. If you don’t, well, you remember what Einstein said about the definition of insanity don’t you?

Luckily, the classes were about supporting everyone’s success and no one was left behind. Even when one dog, thankfully not Chili, snapped at another dog, Michele handled it in a calm, matter of fact manner. It wasn’t looked at as being a negative thing, it was life, it happens sometimes, and everyone had the opportunity to experience how to handle this type of situation calmly. It was so calm in fact, that if you didn't see it, or if you weren't right beside it, you would never have know it happened.

I’m not going to go into the specifics of each class, I’ll just say, it was worth it. Chili graduated and I walked away with the feeling that I would really like to take this class again. But first, I needed to get rid of what was causing me stress.

Destination Obedience Class

Like us, dogs have their good days and their bad. They go through periods where they’re extra active, or just plain bratty. It was a ‘just plain bratty’ period, lasting a whole week, that made me decide to take Michele’s advice and sign us up for some dog training classes. How many times can one dog give you the finger to your face before you decide it’s time for change. I figured the additional structure was just what we needed. When I called Michele, her response was, “What took you so long?” I knew we would go at some time, I just needed to find the right time. So that was it, we would be starting in the next adult obedience classes.

For the few weeks before classes started I kept telling Chili we were going back to school, it would be different this time, and she was going to be a very good girl. I wanted to set us up for success. I believe in the power of positive energy and thoughts, and how it can shape and influence a situation. It doesn’t work all the time though. Sometimes there are just things or people out there with a different agenda and a greater influence that steer things in a different direction. In the meantime, in my little world, I was doing my part to positively influence our first class. The nice side effect of doing this is that you change the way you do things to help achieve the desired result. I was being much more disciplined with Chili and she was being much more obedient.

As luck would have it, on the night of our first class there had been a few accidents on the road and the usual half hour commute home took an hour and 45 minutes. That left me rushing around the house with just a half hour to feed Chili, get a quick bite for myself, change, grab some treats for class, and fly out the door. As you can imagine, I’m nowhere near calm, and you know that Chili was feeling my anxious energy. I started doing some deep breathing in the truck as we drove to class and told Chili again that we were heading to class and she was going to be a very good girl. Next thing I know, out of the corner of my eye, I see a big paw come down beside me as she attempts to push her way into the front seat. I take another deep breath and calmly tell her to ‘back’. Amazingly enough she listened and settled herself into the back seat.

As we pulled up in front of Connective Training, there were 2 big dogs making their way into the yard. This could set the tone for the whole class. Usually, when Chili is in the truck and sees a dog, she barks and lunges at the windows like a crazed beast. This time, all she did was make a little whimper, I told her to ‘leave it’ and that was it. I did our usual unloading ritual out of the truck. This means that she has to maintain a sit while I open the back hatch and put the lead on her, and then she jumps out when I give the command. We walk into the yard where there are a few other dogs waiting as another class was just ending. Things were going well. Chili stayed calm as the other dogs walked by us out of their class and then we entered.

As soon as we enter the facility, Chili starts getting rambunctious. I’m not surprised; there are a lot of smells from other dogs, people, and treats. She’s likely also anticipating that something is about to happen, which it was. Although I’m certain she was hoping for playtime instead of work time. So this was it, the beginning of being back in class.

The Freedom Tool

Michele and I met at the park again. Holy hell was I nervous. This would be our first E-collar experience. Michele put the collar on Chili. I walked her and she held the collar remote. She wanted to make sure that I was very clear on how to use the collar before she handed the remote to me. The idea was to snap Chili out of her trance before she got to that hind brain state where she started to lunge. It wasn’t about making her screech, it was about breaking her train of thought. That thought being, she must lunge at the oncoming dog. It was working. As Chili would start to tense up, and stare at a dog, Michele would hit the remote and it would break Chili’s concentration. We would tell her to ‘leave it’ at the same time, then ask her to ‘look ’ at me, to redirect her stare. We were making a connection between the collar and the command.

One of the things that I really noticed was the absence of a dramatic incident. In the past when Chili would lunge, it was very stressful. She would be lunging, I would be telling her ‘No’, and giving her corrections on the choke collar, or the pinch collar. She could care less about the corrections so it would prolong the show. It wasn’t pleasant for anyone. I guess the question here would be what is worse, the couple of minutes of struggle, or the zap that takes a second?

Once the connection was made, and after many outings, I started letting Chili off leash more and more. If she didn’t ‘come’ on command, I would use the E-Collar to remind her that she must obey. I would never have thought that she would be free of the leash, but there she was, running and playing and coming when called. I don’t know if this would have been possible without the E-Collar. Thank you Michele.

You might be aksing, “Why does Chili have to come right away when called?” Am I that controlling? The answer to that depends on who you ask, but in this case the answer is safety, of course. Chili thinks she knows what’s best. She is very stubborn and when she gets an idea in her head, it’s difficult to change. This resulted in her being on leash most times and not experiencing life to its fullest. For example, if Chili saw something of interest on the other side of the road, she would just go. Luckily, I always had her on leash. Now, after training with the E-Collar, if she starts to go, I only need to use a voice command to get her back. Another example; Chili loves people. She thinks that everyone loves her, and they want her to run up to them and give them tons of kisses. She doesn’t understand that although she’s a Boxweiler, she looks very much like a Rottweiler and there is a stigma out the there that Rotti’s are mean. So, when she runs up to say hello, it scares people. Not all, but some. After all, some people gather up their children and their dogs, give us a dirty look, and veer away from us when we’re walking. Oh yes, and this is when she’s on leash and just walking along with a happy face. I need to protect Chili from these people creating an incident out of nothing. So, thanks to the E-Collar, I can walk with her off leash, and when I see people coming towards us, I just tell her to come, and she walks off leash at my side and doesn’t go near the other people.

I take my responsibility for Chili very seriously. Everything I do is with her best interest at heart. I’ve learned that there is no easy way, no magical wand, and no fairytale that will make her that perfect storybook dog. We’ve had to work hard for our successes and that makes them sweeter.

The Controversial Collar

While on one of our pack walks, Michele asked me if I ever considered trying an E-Collar on Chili. My immediate reaction was, “NO!” I mean, really?? Isn’t that cruel? I’ve learned through my experiences with Chili that I have to step outside of my comfort zone sometimes. So far, I liked Michele’s style and she is an experienced trainer, so she must have a reason for suggesting this tool. For me though, on this day, that was the end of the discussion. No.

On the next walk, she asked if I’d thought about her suggestion of testing out the E-Collar. I had thought about it. Thought that it was not for me. Why was I so anti-E-Collar? Was it because of my experience? No, I didn’t have any experience at all with this collar. It was because I had already made up my mind without having any facts. The only fact I had was that it would give my dog an electric jolt and that was cruel. Only cruel people use them. Now, if I wanted to be true to that line of thinking, I was already a cruel person. I had used a choke collar on my dog. That “chokes” the dog. Isn’t that cruel? I had used a pinch collar. The pinch, pinches points around the dogs neck when you give it a correction and can do some damage if the prongs are digging into the wrong spot. Isn’t that cruel? I had made up a story in my head about the E-Collar, and people who use it, that wasn’t based on anything. I was doing to them exactly what people do to me and Chili. I think I need to find out some facts first before I make another judgement. Besides, as we all know, you don’t need a tool to be cruel.

So, why did Michele recommend the E-Collar? From her own experience, the E-Collar was the tool that allowed her to give her dogs a better quality of life. Freedom. Better yet, freedom with safety. The E-Collar gave her the power to keep them out of their hind brain and teach them a new reality. To come to her when they feel afraid and stand by her side. She would protect them. They didn’t need to take on that burden any longer.

When it gets to the point where a dog will harm themselves or their owner with their fight or flight instinct, or, when an owner has tried everything else and their lives are being ruled by anxiety because of their dog’s actions. Or, when you dread the walk and you have to build yourself up for it. It’s time for the next step. Although Chili is a great dog, and I never had a worry that she would bite, she would still lunge and make poor decisions for herself because she is so headstrong. She’s a dog, and doesn’t understand that my commands are protecting her and she must listen. Nothing I had tried so far, was working on these issues. This caused me anxiety and kept her from having freedom. Neither one of us deserved that.

Like any other tool, the E-Collar isn’t for every dog. Out of the approximately 4500 dogs that Michele has trained, she’s recommended its use for about 20. As with every other tool, you should get a professional to give you training with it BEFORE you use it. Every tool has the potential for harm if not used wisely.

It was time. After much consideration, I asked Michele if she would show me how to use the E-Collar.

The Pack Walk

After the home visit with Michele from Connective Training I was really looking forward to joining her for a pack walk. I knew it would be good for Chili and I was eager to learn some new techniques. We met at one of the local parks, me with Chili, and Michele with her pack. I will admit that I was somewhat overwhelmed and a little intimidated. After all, she is a trainer, and her dogs were all running off leash, and there I was holding on tightly to Chili trying to show that I had some type of control, which I did. I had worked hard to gain a solid foundation in her training and now it was time to learn something new. Although we’d already come a long way, the one thing that I couldn’t seem to work out was her lunging at other dogs while on leash.

I felt bad for Chili, having to watch the other dogs run free while she had to be walked on her leash. She had pretty good recall but I couldn’t always guarantee that she would come when called if there was something that really interested her. There was also her generally poor greeting style to consider. The pack was well behaved and I was impressed by the control Michele had while at the same time allowing them their freedom to be dogs. Chili didn’t do too badly either. She did lunge some but I think she was also taking in this new situation of being with a pack of dogs, and having someone practice different techniques with her. Michele has a very calming way of coaching you and the dogs and it works. That doesn’t mean she can be pushed around. She stands her ground without being angry, and I respect that.

As we walked and talked it was very clear that not only was Chili going to benefit from gaining a great trainer, I would also benefit by gaining a great friend. She suggested that we enrol in one of her classes. Although we already knew most of the commands she teaches, we both thought it might be good for Chili to work around other dogs. Also, it never hurts to do some structured training with your dog. It builds teamwork and strengthens their obedience.

This was the first of many pack walks. Chili absolutely loves them. Guess what! She doesn’t even try to be the leader. She quickly slides into the pack as if she’d been there forever. She is completely in her element running and playing and taking her place. She’s happy to just be a follower and do as she’s told. I was surprised myself, but there she was, being put in her place by a little dog that weighs about as much as her dinner. Who knew?

Yes, eventually Chili did get her freedom and was allowed to run free with the pack, but it didn’t come easy. It came after a lot of agonizing on my part. There I was, again, being challenged to move outside of my box and my beliefs to consider a new training tool to help give Chili her freedom. It never ends, the challenges I mean.

Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It was time for change, and working with Michele was the start. After all, I owed it to Chili not to live the definition.