Pleasantly Tired Pups

Willow and Kali have worn themselves out playing.

Kali In Class

Kali is an eager student - she really enjoys working and learning new tasks. She's graduated from the basic obedience class at this point and moved on to the advanced class. This week's focus: "stay", "come" and polite leash walking.

At class on Monday we ran through the first 5 tasks for the Canine Good Citizen certificate. Each week, we'll practice what she's already learned and add some additional tasks.

While I started taking her to classes to help her comfort level in new environments, it turns out she loves learning new things!

Cherry (Tomato) Picking

Kali is great about helping pick the tomatoes, and doesn't even complain if the one she gets as  a reward has a blemish in the skin.

First Place!

Kali won a contest in her training class tonight. The challenge was to see how many times your dog would sit on command in 1 minute, and Kali sat 16 times!!

In addition, she started to learn "mine" - in the sense that "this food is mine and you shouldn't even think about looking at it, much less eating it". She was a rockstar, only stealing one of the treats that was "mine" in about 20 minutes of work. I like training dogs for this because I don't want a dog that helps herself to my food, even if I leave it on a low table when I'm out of the room. I don't think she's quite there yet, but for a first try, she did great!

Kali's Training Successes

1. solid "sit" on command
2. lure to a "down"
3. "load up" for getting in her crate
4. "wait", although not quite solid
5. made 3 new human friends in the last week (and one new dog friend)
6. can differentiate "ok" from other words

current focus:
- "come"
- improving "wait", "down" and leash walking
- continued desensitization to new people and people pulling her by the collar

Tonight she starts the "advanced" class with Tina at Sit Happens. (The basic class continues for a few more weeks so she'll continue with that as well.)

Where's Kali?

Today's training outing was an early lunch at Barberitos (downtown). Kali wore her new headcollar - while she's not yet a fan of it, she's very tolerant, just rubbing her face with her front paws occasionally.

BBQ

Yesterday Kali and I did a training session at White Tiger. She did great! She was curious about the many people present but not intrusive and, while I think she would have preferred BBQ as reward for her sits and downs, she was polite and didn't help herself to any from the nearby tables.

Field Trip

Kali enjoyed hiking from Sandy Creek Park to Sandy Creek Nature Center yesterday. It was quite an outing - 4 dogs and 3 people - but everyone did great. The older dogs got tired out, but Kali seemed to be unfazed by the 2-hour hike (and the very full car ride!).

This Weekend

Kali will be spending this weekend at Pawtropolis, so she'll be available to watch on their "Fiesty Fidos" camera until Tuesday afternoon. (She'll also be available to meet in person at Pawtropolis - drop by if you've been considering making her acquaintance!)

Kali's Metamorphosis

 These were Kali's shelter photos. I took them the second day I met her, and she was very stressed. She was sweet, but wary. She's changed a lot since these photos - her chest has broadened quite a bit and she's far more muscular. As a result, she looks far more terrier than she did originally. Her coat is also sleeker and softer and she no longer has talons for front nails.

Breed Guessing

Kali's breed is a mystery. She's clearly a mix, but of what?

Last night her trainer suggested Kali might be a Decker strain giant rat terrier mix. I'd never heard of the breed, but apparently they're rat terriers that were bred to be larger than 25 pounds. After looking at some photos and reading descriptions on line, there might be something to this. I've thought she has some hunting dog in her, both because she's very stimulated by quick movement and because she constantly "tracks" what's happened on the ground, just like my hound mix. While rat terrier ears usually stand upright, in some cases they flop over. In fact, I think she looks a lot like a brindle version of these giant rat terriers.

Wikipedia's description of the typical rat terrier personality also fits Kali - smart, socially sensitive, has an "off switch", easily trainable, and very easy to live with. Unfortunately I don't think she got the exposure to new things that's recommended at an early age, but she's a total experience sponge - the first time she encounters something new she's uncomfortable, but the second time she experiences it, she's a pro.

Contradictions

Kali is interesting to me, because she is simultaneously very curious about the outside world, yet frightened to engage with some parts of it.

From working with other initially-scared dogs, I expected Kali to be distrustful of anything new or different. But that isn't the case! She isn't scared by loud noises (trains or car horns) or bad weather and she loves going on walks. While initially the car was scary, she now seems to actively enjoy both the ride, and the promise of new destinations. She's curious about what goes on outside my fence and is the first dog in my pack to approach when it's something new. She likes other dogs and is confident about meeting them - as she settles in, she's increasingly dominant with dogs (but not inappropriate).

Yet she is also wary of new people - I suspect she wasn't treated well in her prior home and so any approach by a new person that seems threatening (eye contact, direct approach, hand over her head) puts her on high alert. She isn't aggressive, but she does give a lot of warnings to stay back (bristling, growling, barking), until she's sure you're a friend. Usually this takes until the second or third meeting, but people who understand scared dogs and don't challenge her often never activate her distrust.

I'm working to desensitize her to new people, which involves outings around people who will ignore her, and rewards for curiosity and non-fearful behavior. That she considers new experiences a reward in themselves is very helpful in this process, and she's become a star of her training class as a result!