For those of you who are not that interested in dogs, I am afraid to say that I think that the near future will involve a lot of dog talk on the blog, since my life now primarily surrounds rehabilitating Barak. Anyhow, I will try to dilute it with some other subjects too now and then. But not now.
Barak behaved well during his first night in our house. He wandered about a bit a few times, but no peeing or pooing and no eating up non-edible or edible things. Yoram took both dogs for a pee pee ride first thing in the morning and then I got a chance to go out and hang the laundry in peace and quiet before Yoram and the kids left the house.
The first problem we had to start addressing is his extreme excitation when he expects to go out. As soon as we prepare for a walk, put on shoes, grab the collar and leash, he goes bananas and bounces at the door, runs around our legs and tries to push himself out before us. It is not at all nice having a 45 kg baby doing that and correcting him with the same energy only made him escalate. Yoram has less patience than me (and time), so this had to be my thing to fix. I decided to wait him out for the right state of mind.
I had treats available and I started by grabbing the collar from the shelf. When the chain rattled he started gearing up, upon which I just sat down again in the sofa with my computer. After he laid down and relaxed I tried to approach him, but if he rose in energy I went back to the sofa. After a while I could go to him while he was still laying down and play with the chain in my hand while rewarding him for staying calm. After I was able to put the chain on him while he was in a calm state, I did the same with the leash. Every moment of calm took him one step closer to the walk, while every moment of stress took him one step back.
This boy is not stupid and he soon understood the game. After almost two hours we could walk up to the door in a calm state. From that moment and on, I had another 45 minutes of asking him to sit down while I opened the door. If he rose and tried to get out, I closed the door in front of his nose.
The evidence! Barak laying down in front of the open door!
The picture shows him laying down with the door open, somewhat tense, but gizillion times better than before. I was now able to let Goshen out first (she was of course enthusiastically involved in the whole process), then me, and Barak last. He even walked out, and not bursted. This was one victory, but the whole process will most likely have to be repeated several times before he owns it.
The reward for being calm - The Walk!
During the long walk I continuously worked on having him walk nicely by my side and sitting down frequently, and by letting him out on the long training leash, I could train some recall. The recall will be one of the biggest challenges. He does not take much notice of his name since he is not used to any consistency, besides that he suffers from the typical 2-years-old inattentiveness. The walk was followed by some grooming. I applied anti-tick drops on both of them and then I cut Baraks claws. He is totally OK with being touched everywhere - only thing is a slight lack of patience, typical for a young dog. Anyhow, I rapidly finished all the front feet claws, since they are always the longest. The hind feet claws I save until tomorrow.
Barak has realised that in his new home he is not the one in charge and the effect this realisation has on him is enormous. It feels like he is getting calmer and calmer every hour and the sighs he lets out when he stretches out on the floor can be heard all the way to Haifa. When he hears sounds outside he is very attentive, but he looks at me for guidance and when I stay calm he lets it go and relaxes again. He is surrendered and happy, but still there is a long way to go to teach him good social manners.
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