Update: December 2012

Here's today's picture.  He leaves this ball by my feet when I go to sleep.   He does like to play when I shut off the lights at night, sometimes annoying me for as much as a half hour, but I don't think he actually goes on with the football hiking past then.  He's back-slid on his heel.  I don't know why, but I'm not going to train him much until spring.  Right behind him is the carpet runner I leave upside down so he doesn't get out of site and stepped on when I step out of bed  He sleeps in his own beds (he's got four) but likes to hang out here when I least expect it. 

Today my dog became officially mine.  As I look at the footer picture of him here, I see both nervousness and confidence.  He had major fear issues when he came to me, but I wanted to show you a picture of his expanded confidence on this occasion.  He's just being camera shy on this rainy day, so next post I promise to post another picture.  The park where I'd been ranging him, the term for letting him loose, has been fenced off while they repair a washed out road.  He might be protesting,  because he seems to be under less command on the short opportunities to let him loose.  Conversely, he's continuing to become a good heeler.  He's got his really sharp looking moments now.

Setbacks and Bliss

A major obstacle to Magnet's training, besides my health, is the seasonal change his coat goes through from summer to winter.  He's basically non-shedding, but without combing his hair will mat badly.  The twist is that during the winter I could comb him as little as once every three weeks, and during the strongest heat this summer he's needed a combing every two days.  He's super duper about sitting still for the combings, gritting and putting up with the snarls getting pulled out.  Unfortunately, like any member of the animal world, and rightly so, he feels he's entitled the next day and backslides on a lot of his training.

He's extremely controllable when he does a few short barks at someone passing in the hall outside the apartment, but without calling him with "Come" he'll continue a little longer.  My building is set up so all bedrooms are the furthest from the entrance, so I'm tempted to let him have his will, but being a bit cautious I give him the "Come" and then walk to the peep hole and check.  When I'm not home I put a 'small dog spray bark collar' on him.  I have a standard bark collar that my 7 lb. chihuahua was happy with until his last six months of life.  Magnet, however, is obviously uncomfortable with that heavier version.  He's nearly perfect about being quiet on the collar, with only the clear spray.  For those of you lost, the spray collars are just that, usually spraying a mist of water or citronella when the sensor detects a loud noise.  That's all they do, so they're very gentle, and they're also very effective, comprising a scientific breakthrough.

He adores his rawhide twists.  He goes through one a day.  He likes bully sticks too, even more than rawhide, but they stink a bit, and he's almost as happy with the rawhide sticks, so that's what he's been getting.  He did knaw on the hoof I bought him the first week, about a month ago, for about an hour, but he hasn't gone back to it.

I make sure he doesn't go without his rubber ball.  Youtube video coming soon.

Rocks and Memorial Day

I'm very happy to report Magnet's rock collecting days are over!  I kept them, since I had a feeling he was 'establishing' a home, and the collection grew to seven before he suddenly stopped grabbing them along the walk.  A couple of times I tried to take them away from him, a couple of times I successfully got them from him, and a couple of times I just let him happily carry them home, including the last time before he stopped his habit.  The only problem left is I'm afraid to move them from a corner of my kitchen counter, for fear he'll try and re-establish the collection.

He's got a great way of entertaining himself with a rubber ball.  He does a type of 'hike' with his front paws, and then chases the ball.  Usually about once a day he brings the ball to me for a fast game of fetch.

Here he's doing some subtle reverse training, trying to squeeze in another game when I'm trying to recover from a long day.  I gave in, and he was satisfied with just one toss.  He must've figured out I was tired.

He also likes to bury the ball in the blankets on the couch.  On the back of the couch a piece carpet runner can be seen.  When I get up, I just flip the plastic down with the nubs sticking up, and he goes back to playing his floor games.  He doesn't want to walk on them.

A Rock and a Dance

Magnet is still unpredictable with people, randomly taking a like to some, and growling at others, and absolutely berserk when he sees another dog.  The good news is he's sitting on command about eighty percent of the time, so I can get his attention.  The goal is still to have him controllable off-leash in a year or so.

I'm not as worried about him eating rocks.  Every one of them is too big, although he still tries to chew them sometimes.  Here's his first "pet rock" he brought home one day.

He's a champion stander, not really needing too much motivation, but for the camera I used a treat:

Here he is trying to get me to play ball by pointing down the hall.

First Walk Takes Extra TIme

On the fifth day I had the opportunity to test  Magnet in a typical working environment for me.  I study Hebrew on my own full-time, and only take piece-meal work.  This was a call from someone I know loves dogs.  For the first time Magnet didn't poo in a reasonable amount of time, so I was afraid to take him on the bus, figuring he'd get the urge right there and then.  I'd left the house with a lot of extra time on purpose because it was a nice day and I felt like doing extra walking with him, so things seemed to fit since the location wasn't too far. 

We got about a mile down the road, and he began to get over eager.  He's never been a precision "heeler" but I couldn't accept the pulling he was increasing as we got further from the house, never slowing down.  I'd learned proper leash-work techniques and commands as a high schooler, and they are the foundation for my future plans after he's learned my voice.  Hopefully in a year or two I'll have him able to go off-leash and retain complete control for his safety.  The answer I'd learned from those lessons wasn't available to me, namely a different collar.  We'd been practicing "sits" but he hadn't mastered them yet.  Still, I felt the best way to slow him down was to require "sit's" and "stays" every few yards until he realized he wasn't cooperating.

We went about a half mile doing the sits and stays, and all the extra time before my appointment was gone.  I thought of the man waiting for me, and how understanding he was of  Rocky and his refusal to be touched by anyone.  I'd always bring Rocky when I was in this gentleman's office or home after giving notice. I thought hard and  decided this was an extremely important stage that had to be figured out despite any tardiness.  I'm glad because I learned the technique that will work for Magnet forever, without a doubt, and is much preferable to the alternatives. Of course, I didn't remeber the technique until a lot of the walk had passed.   It's a technique I learned when I first volunteered for ARL of Boston called an "Improvised Harness."  This simply involves looping an ordinary leash under the chest and back through any collar.  This is very gentle for most dogs when they've gotten a bit unruly, returning control to the walker.  Magnet demonstrates (I had to wake him from a nap though):

My employer for the day understood completely when we walked in the door twenty two minutes late.  After all, this was a casual Sunday.

I let Magnet lick my friend's hand, and began to work.  Unfortunately, Magnet found a game I wasn't pleased with, making a tug of war game out of my employers jeans.  He went from hand licking to mean tugging in a flash.  I needed to take his action as a compliment.  He was afraid he was being taken away from his new master.

Non-chronological

Magnet did something today at first I thought was cute, but now has worried me.  I'd always planned this blog with the idea that if for some reason adopting Magnet didn't come true for me, at least I'd be able to pass on the training techniques that work best for him.  I'm hoping what he did was just a fad, but it bears watching.  He picked up a rock on the afternoon walk, and became possessed by it like he's typically possessed by toys.  I let him carry it home, but the trouble was he put it down and began to CHEW IT!  It was fifty times worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.  I'd never be able to keep up with dental bills, and he might eat them too, as seen in videos and on the news.

Introduction to the Apartment

I'd done a lot of cleaning up after the passing of my fourteen year old Chihuahua named Rocky.  When I though about my preferences for my next pet, I felt like adopting a cat, just because I hadn't had one in awhile.  My apartment also is restricted to either one dog or one cat, so whichever I chose, I'd be locked in.

Meanwhile, the last of Rocky's foods were piled in the entry, along with big piles of old blankets and rugs, because he was a total burrower.  I'd had hand surgery, so I 'd just piled them one-handed and placed a neatly folded cover over everything.  The room needed to be dog proofed again.   Magnet has a long complicated coat, and a normal odor, so I planned to keep him out of my bedroom.

When I got to my current apartment with Rocky a few years ago I realized I could build an effective sliding dog door for entertaining guests since Rocky was completely unfriendly.  Although he listened to every command I gave, he would bite if touched, so I have two ultra-cheap baby gates around too.  This sliding door came together by pure luck with a found piece of plywood, and moves very smoothly.

I was also scared stiff about the house training status.  Although the shelter workers all said Magnet was good in that regard, there's a big difference between shelter and home behavior sometimes.  Also, he has unexplainable head shyness.  A good way to house-train is a dog crate for nights, but the dog should feel at home first.  I hadn't even asked about his experiences with crates, but I had one disassembled under my bed.  I put that together, and stuck in a dog bed.  He seemed ok with going in for treats and picked it as a place to nap the first evening with the door open.  Happily, he didn't have any accidents that evening, and knew what to do when we went outside.  I decided to risk an accident and give him run of the den for the first night.

Almost three weeks, and he retains his perfect record.

Day One

On Wednesday, February 8th, as I walking out of a classroom at the Animal Resuce League of Boston, I happened to glance at a little dog in the arms of one of the workers, and said softly out-loud, "Is that dog in adoption yet?"  I got another door or two down the hall, past the head of the volunteer department, and she started calling me back.  "I've got a dog for you" she said.  I'd euthanized my dog in October, and wasn't over that yet, but realized I needed to take the opportunity, at least on trial.

I said I wanted to walk him for awhile before I decided for sure.  I'm required to keep a dog under thirty pounds in my apartment building, and many of the small dogs aren't built for the long distances.  I walked around for more than an hour, and he was obviously enjoying that without tiring at all, but every time I went to pat him he pulled away his head in fear.

I decided he was right for me,  but I'd just bought a long overdue headboard for my room, and changed internet providers, blowing my budget for the month, and maybe a few more.  We agreed he could be taken on a foster basis, but I still couldn't touch him without scaring him, so I asked to borrow a crate and have the volunteer familiar with him put him in for the trip home on the T.  Luckily, by the time they found the right crate, and I got the behavior consultation information, he accepted a pat on the head.  I knew I could leash him at that point.

Behavior Consultations are required for "special" adoptions and fosters.  His pronounced head shyness qualified him for "special" status.

I thought he might be shy about being picked up, and panic on the T.  I knew he had confidence while walking, so I was prepared for him to stay on the floor of the bus the whole way.  Unfortunately, things were getting a bit tight on the bus, so I just grabbed him, and he was fine.

I was loaded up with dog food for a month, a couple of toys, some treats the Behavior Consultant insisted I take, anda few cans of wet food.  The trip went well, and he's settling very well.