Halti

(photo taken April 2008)

I have been feeling bad about not walking Emma lately. The weather here has been unpredictable as of late. We've had some really nice days and some really crappy days. Just in the last 2 weeks alone, we've had a couple nearly hot days, a few rainy days and even snow. In addition to the weather, my motivation, or lack thereof, has been an issue too. The days I have most energy, I tend to forget about walking her because I'm catching up on housework, etc. Excuses, perhaps, but I really do feel bad.

As some of you may recall, we were in the midst of training Emma when my husband's cancer returned. ( You can see a little video clip of her training here. ) Emma is a much better walker now than she was a year ago. But part of the reason for this is because I have been using the pinch collar that the trainer gave to us. I really dislike the pinch collar, and because of her shape it is not always effective on Emma. If I make it one link smaller, it is too tight on her, and it is barely effective at the size it is now, or more likely, she has come to tolerate it. Between that, and the fact I do not have the right kind of strength to snap it in an effective way, it does not really work. She still walks better than she did before any training so it's not always bad. But again, I noticed that if I do not use the pinch collar, she tends to revert back to some of her old bad walking habits.

So, I have been considering to use the Halti. I have heard some good things about it, and in fact, I even bought one but have yet to use it. I found this website that talks about how to use a Halti. I am going to try this method I think. I am hoping that by the end of Spring, I'll be back into the habit of walking Emma again every day or every other day at the very least.

Have any of you used the Halti? What have your experiences with it been like? I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to take my doggie for a walk!

Walking With Em

Emma has had 3 in-home lessons so far. We are absolutely amazed by the results of her training. There are only 2 more lessons left, so I am looking forward to seeing how much more we can achieve.

• She rarely barks anymore. Before her barks were very guard-dogish and often unnecessary. Now, she still barks in play, or to let us know she needs to go out potty. Sometimes she will bark once and then stop herself, which means she is thinking, not just acting.
• Emma is learning how to control her energy or put it to use in different ways. For example, instead of running hard around the house, trying to get us to chase her, she will get a bone and chew it.
• Emma finally understands the concept of Fetch!
• She waits at the top (or the bottom) of the stairs until we have gone up or down and give her permission to join us.
• She now waits. And Stays (most of the time).
• She almost always comes when she is called.
• She rarely has to be forced in her kennel.
• She will lay nicely on her mat for longer periods of time.
• Emma is more relaxed and not so hyper
• She is learning how to walk nicely (we just started this)
• She is learning who the Alpha Dogs are in this house, and it's not her!
• She can sit on command (has always been good at this one), go down on command (was decent with this before) and now can sit, down, sit, down in succession.
• Emma has not been jumping up on the couch or bed for the most part. In almost a month, she has only been caught on the couch twice, and on the bed twice. Not bad for a pup who practically lived on the furniture prior to starting the lessons.
• She can catch. (I had already taught her this, but it is improving)
• She is learning to greet people at the door in a less hyper way.

It is still a work in progress. In fact, it will be life-long learning. The trainer said it this way, "her whole life will be training, she will be in training mode for the rest of her life".

I am still a little bit nervous about the pinch collar. It pinches the back of her neck the way a mommy dog would grab her baby if she was doing something wrong. Emma does not seem to be reacting in pain (with exception of one time when she first had it on and tried to run full force ahead of my husband). She generally tries to avoid being pinched, which is really the point of it all anyway.

The trainer was here yesterday and she seemed amazed at how quickly Emma is grasping some of the concepts. One of the things we do is something called Wolf Rollover. It is when we will stop her, roll her over onto her back and hold her down with gentle but firm pressure, to show her that we are bigger than her, stronger than her, we could kill her if we want to, we can manipulate her body. This is to show her we are the Alpha dogs in this house. The very first day the trainer had us do this, Emma succumbed to it almost right away. She told us that some people have to wear hockey equipment because their dogs fight it so much!

On the whole, we are happy with the progress, and I hope this will be a lifelong thing.

Below is a video I took last week when we were practicing "Follow" (walking) in the park that is immediately behind our house. Note: Outside the view of the video, the neighbor's boys were playing in the park and she never even barked at them. She usually, runs at them, eager to join them in play. Their mom was right there and she couldn't believe Emma wasn't barking at the kids!

I'm so proud of Emma!

Bringing Violet Emma Home (and an Update)

We had met a few dogs and did not feel a connection with them. They were all adorable and I wanted to take them all home with me but neither of us felt like any of those dogs belonged to us.

Then the Humane Society Lady tells us there's a pup that we haven't seen yet. She's younger than what we were originally going for, and bigger too. Would we like to see her? Of course we would.

A few minutes later, she comes in carrying this pup with long legs and ears bigger than her head! Once on the floor, the pup begins to dart from one side of the room to the other, under one bench to another. Oh, it made me laugh in a way that I have not laughed since before my daughter died. I had tears in my eyes because I instantly felt a connection with this little hyperactive pup!

I sat on the floor and the pup came up to me, and climbed into my lap. She didn't stay there long, but she seemed to know that I was meant to be her mom.

After about 20 minutes of sitting in the room, my husband and I decided that we wanted to take this little one home with us. We were told that we were the only people who stayed in the room with this pup longer than a few minutes.

She was four months old and had been in the Humane Society most of her short life, since she was found wandering our cold winter streets alone.

She had the misfortune to be named Violet by the Humane Society, and we knew this name did not suit her. We went home that night and started thinking through names.

Upon coming across the name Emma, I immediately liked it. When I saw the meaning of the name - healer of the universe - I knew this name was perfect, for she would be the healer of our little universe.

When we went to pick her up the next day, I looked at her and I asked her if her name was Emma. She seemed to respond in a way that said that it was indeed her name.

We signed all the papers and walked out of there as proud human parents of a pup named Emma.

That was one year ago today.

Happy Anniversary, Emma!

Here are a few photos of her first day with us:




A little update on Emma:

You may recall that we did some puppy obedience classes last fall. They went alright, but Emma was always distracted by the other dogs.

Well, we recently started an in-home private lessons. We had one session last week and the next session will be on July 20th. There are five sessions all together, or maybe six. So far, we have seen a dramatic change in our household.

Session one deals with reverting back to "puppyhood" and acting like Emma is a new puppy in this house. We hand feed her all of her food for the next couple weeks as training with "puppy push ups" "kennel/come" "passive mat" "active mat" and "come back and forth". The Mommy in me worries that Emma is starving. I hope that she is getting enough food, especially when she refuses to eat (even if she's following the training, eg. sitting/laying down on command).

To cure her "guard dog" bark and to keep her from doing things we don't want her to, the trainer suggested we make noise cans. The noise cans are simply cardboard cans from Pringles or juice concentrate, that have been filled with pennies and taped shut. We are to shake them and toss them at her, gently but enough to get her attention,as we say "Ach!" which is to show her there are consequences for her actions.

I worried about this hurting her or scaring her but it has been helping, especially with her "guard dog bark".

We are also supposed to keep her in her kennel for naps and throughout various times of the day. It doesn't really work well for us because she is in there when we are at work. You may remember me previously posting about her eating through the baby gate that kept her in the kitchen when we first got her, and busting her way out of her metal kennel. Now, she is in her other kennel (which we originally were only using for bedtime). So far so good, but the other two were good for about a month each before she decided to break loose. Since the kennel incident we have been leaving her loose while we have been gone and she has done well with that. But the trainer says we should keep her in the kennel because she is not getting enough sleep otherwise. We'll continue to do this throughout the duration of the training and go from there. In her notes, the trainer says that this is how it should be for at least the first 2 years to establish alpha mode.

We are now kenneling her at night. We did this for a while, and it was fine. But we had the kennel in our room, which the trainer says is a big NO NO. So, now it's in the kitchen. However, we were granted an exception to the rule because my husband leaves for work at 3 or 4 in the morning, depending on his shift. When he leaves, he takes her out of the kennel and brings her into the bedroom, so that should there be a fire, Emma can wake me up. I will not hear the fire alarm otherwise.

The next session, I believe, is the start of covering walks. I am looking forward to being able to walk with Emma and not feel like my arm has been ripped off! However, I am a bit skeptical as she uses pinch collars. I do not want my puppy to be hurt! But it was explained to me that these collars only pinch the scruff of the neck where a momma dog would pull on her baby if the baby was doing something naughty or getting away from momma dog.

I will have to see for myself before I make a decision about weither we will continue this part.

Apparently, by the end of this training, we should be able to have Emma off-leash and have her come back to us with no problem.

Watch for updates...