[Mike Schoonbrood]

OK so it's 10pm and the disney fireworks are going off super loud tonight, louder than I remember.... so since Cujo gets a lil anxious from the firework noise some days (other days he's oblivious to them, I think it has to do with how tired he is lol, the more energy he has the more energy he can spend worrying about things), I decided to walk Lÿka outside to see her reaction to the loud BANG BANG BANG going off in the distance... it's pretty loud, not just a faded pop in the distance but it's almost like thunder. Well it's dark outside so I couldn't see her very well to gauge a reaction... then I felt this thing tugging on my pant legs n she literally held onto my pant leg the whole way down the street and back to the house with fireworks going off in the background, totally oblivious to the noise. The only reason she let go is because the sprinklers were on in front of the front door n she has issues with walking thru sprinklers n getting wet LOL, but at least she doesn't have noise issues. I'm told that she should be fine with gunfire n everything too, so it's a relief that she didn't show any reaction tonight.

Just had to share my enthusiasm :lol:

 

[Woody Taylor]

Mike, I want the video of you convincing someone in that retirement community to hold a lit roman candle while you heel your dog off-leash in circles around them. I'd pay for it. You are becoming the master of the unconventional stress test.

Seriously, I have one good/very bad thing going for me with my pup and loud noises: we live on the MSP International airport flight path. All those old DC-9s in the Northwest fleet quickly desensitized my dog to loud stuff, it was magic.

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

You are becoming the master of the unconventional stress test.

Yeah, I like working dogs thru their stress, I try to expose them to as many things as possible. Unfortunately my GSD thinks I'm mad at him if I expose him to certain things... like if I smack around a clatter stick he'll lower his head n walk away thinking he's in trouble, but if someone else does it then he's fine... he's just very handler sesnsitive to that kinda stuff.... but since I have a clean slate with a hard headed puppy, I take the opportunity to do as much weird stuff as possible... swimming, sliding down childrens playground slides, climbing up them (with my hand pushing her butt ofcourse), stairs, water, sprinklers, disney fireworks, traffic, heights, slippery floors, tile floors, walking over manhole covers, stepping up onto a sidewalk over a big storm drain opening (Cujo had huge issues with this for a long time, now he doesn't care.... my pup had issues with this for about 20 seconds, now she doesn't care either).... I've also had her climb up big mounds of dirt in a big field so she learns to climb up things with the ground slipping away under her feet, I've also had her run thru a field of dried up bushes so she has to dodge the branches. Everything she does results in success and play, n so far she gets over her hesitation very quickly....

Sliding down a car windshield...

Climbing up a big sand mound...

Potty break alongside a highway...

Discovering heights and climbing up/sliding down kids play area...

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

I do stuff like that with my GSD too, run thru sprinklers, climb up dirt hills, jump onto weird objects, taught him to jump over a car starting from the hood and jumping off the back bumper just the other week, walk over sewer covers that have lotsa holes in em, jump over park benches and over swings, slide down slides, you name it. Once he realizes he can do these things he really enjoys it, the hard part is getting him to start doing it, usually this is done by forcing him, since he loses all his food drive under stress. The best way to relieve his stress is making him sit... when teaching him to climb over a car, he reached the windshield n refused to go on even though he'd done it before, so instead of watching him freak out standing on the hood with bad footing, I told him "sit", let him calm down, then "HUP!" n up the windshield he went.

I've gotta say, Patrick Murray has helped me focus on the idea of working a dog thru stress and using obedience to relieve stress, it's helped alot with Cujo and I see it being a big benefit for Lÿka down the road. I really like seeing what Cujo will do once you work him thru his initial hesitation. It builds overall confidence in the dog BIG TIME, in every aspect of his life, not just his ability to do that one task, but in his mind "wow, I didn't think i could do that... but my daddy said I could, n I did, n now I can do anything!"... you should see how absolutely happy he looks when he's just completed a difficult task, he is just beaming with pride!

Home depot makes a great agility course!

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Helping a dog through scary stuff is VERY satisfying. I have done it with fearful dogs as opposed to training for protection, etc., ........ there isn't much more satisfying than showing the dog s/he can do something s/he was afraid to do or face.

Agility and obstacle courses are wonderful!

Even just showing a dog that she can face the sliding glass door that she ran smack into (thinking it was open) and has been terrified to get near ever since..........same feeling.

Just like the dog on Dog Whisperer (2004) who was petrified of shiny floors! The first time that dog followed Cesar across the linoleum floor that used to have him cowering in terror.....I cried.

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

Even just showing a dog that she can face the sliding glass door that she ran smack into (thinking it was open) and has been terrified to get near ever since..........same feeling.

LOL one of my parents dobermans ran THRU a glass door once... n a guy I used to know with a dobie cracked the car windshield with his head when he was excited to get to the park, n both Cujo and Lÿka have already tried crashing thru the sliding screen door when the sliding glass door was open, it's hilarious to watch, but all these dogs bounced back immediately.

Wasn't the dog scared of tile floors a great dane? I never saw that episode but my friends with the great dane said something about it a while back.

 

[Jose Alberto Reanto]

Here's more pics of dogs/pups at work:

... at the height of a tropical storm.

Enjoy!!!

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

I love it! Thanks for posting Jose.. I wish I had stuff like that around to get my dogs on, my access to anything is very limited, but those are great things to get a dog to do!

 

[Greg Long]

I love it! Thanks for posting Jose.. I wish I had stuff like that around to get my dogs on, my access to anything is very limited, but those are great things to get a dog to do!

You can use anytrhing to do this work.Mainly use your imagination.

One thing,your pup is at the best age for learning.They learn by following the best.Go over some little obstacles or rough terrain and get your pup to follow.Dont pull just let her follow.You will teach more by doing than by trying to teach.

Greg

 

[Jose Alberto Reanto]

Greg's right, Mike. You're only limited by your own imagination. The world is one big obstacle course. You think it, you do it. You will not need food, tug, toys or any props to do this. Instead, you will learn to use voice, body signals and eyes as, Stephanitz says, the chief means of influencing your dog. Improves trust, bond, stability, builds character of the dog and more importantly, your handling skills. Moreover, builds extreme obedience and agility on the dog making it as nimble as a cat, very ideal for SAR work.

Here's pics of pups on agility workouts along with the adults. Unlike humans, dogs are not born helpless....

A pup enjoying the heights...

... up a grand old tree

as well as the other dogs...

Best regards...

 

[Sarah Hall]

Mike,
Did the breeder of Lyka know her purchase purpose?
My pup's breeder and I were shooting guns around the pups as soon as their ears opened. We also did the "SUPERDOG" rituals developed by the US Military once every other day until the pups were 14 days old.
Start shooting ANY gun asap for your girl, so she won't flip out. I can, reliably RIGHT NOW, shoot a gun right over my pup's head and he will barely flick an ear, instead he will focus on his tug/ball/etc. Of course, after I did it today (was really just target shooting), he just looked at me like "OK, I'M NOT SCARED OF IT, BUT YOU'RE GONNA MAKE ME GO DEAF!!" :lol:

 

[Jose Alberto Reanto]

Mike,
Did the breeder of Lyka know her purchase purpose?
My pup's breeder and I were shooting guns around the pups as soon as their ears opened. We also did the "SUPERDOG" rituals developed by the US Military once every other day until the pups were 14 days old.
Start shooting ANY gun asap for your girl, so she won't flip out. I can, reliably RIGHT NOW, shoot a gun right over my pup's head and he will barely flick an ear, instead he will focus on his tug/ball/etc. Of course, after I did it today (was really just target shooting), he just looked at me like "OK, I'M NOT SCARED OF IT, BUT YOU'RE GONNA MAKE ME GO DEAF!!" :lol:

I agree, Sarah. I work dogs/pup in a military reservation (adventure camp) most of the time and pups starting out their first great outdoors at 6 weeks of age are worked in rough terrains right beside a firing range. Some of our members shoot with dogs/pup constantly beside them on a downstay. The dogs/pups are on a strict obedience with fire, smoke and explosions just beside them. It just becomes one of those things.

Great training....

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

Yes they knew what I was buying her for, but I dunno what all they did with the pups before I got her, I know she's been to schools and the IPO club and in the car and around traffic and around stores etc -- but from what I understand about the breed, or maybe just her lines, is that they can appear somewhat cautious and reserved when they're young, but as they get older this just turns into confidence and fearlessness, then at 2-2.5 years old they really come into their own and just get real serious about everything. My pup is already a serious lil girl anytime something new happens, she stands up straight with this intent look on her face taking it all in. I have fireworks and smoke bombs n such, but haven't really had the chance to use them on either of my dogs yet, I might throw down some M80's in the back yard and set off some smoke bombs with her, but it's kinda hard trying to play with your pup while lighting fireworks so I really need someone who can help me out with that stuff. Right now both my dogs are absolutely pooped from having an incredibly busy day so I don't think it'd be wise to overload them with fireworks and smoke bombs tonight lol maybe tomorrow.

What I do know is that she is completely unphased by the clatter stick, even if you bring it down over her or shake it around right above her head, she's unphased by banging on the walls or stomping on floors or dropping pots n pans around her or shaking out plastic bags over her head (something my GSD isn't crazy about LOL).

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

Well I just took her into the back yard to set off some M80's... she was startled n looked around to see where the hell it was coming from, had a 1 or 2 minute episode of "OK I don't wanna tug because I'm still looking around to see where it came from" (tail straight up and ears perked) then resumed tugging on my socks and being her goofy self.... 2nd time, same basic reaction... played for a few minutes then set off a smoke bomb... wouldn't come near the smoke so I picked her up and walked thru the smoke -- initially struggling and freaking out, but within a few seconds she settled down.... I put her down n she wouldn't go into the smoke on her own but she would stand close to it n not seem too worried about its presence. Later she went up to the smoke bomb shell itself after it was burnt out n sniffed at it then resumed tugging on my socks.

I just continued acting the way I was acting before I set anything off the whole time... I threw the M80's over the fence onto some empty property then tried to play tug with her before they went off, but as soon as they went off she lept up in surprise rather than continuing to play tug. I guess with enough exposure she would get over it, I don't see any fearful reaction out of her, more like alertness and curiosity, which is exactly in-line with everything else new that she's encountered since I've had her.

 

[Bob Scott]

Mike, the M80s sound like to much, to fast for me. When I started with my GSD, I played fetch with his kong from about 100 yrds from where my son and his buddies were doing some trap shooting (12ga). I just kept making short throws until I was right behind them when they were shooting. No reaction at all from Thunder. If he would have reacted at all, I was going to back up and continue at whatever distance I was at.
Even a pup with really solid nerves can go into overload with to much early exposure.

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

I'm gonna see if I can get someone on weds night training to do some stuff at a long distance away while I play with her. It's tough to get distance on your own, I'm happy she bounced right back though.

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

Just took her out again during the fireworks... it's amazing how loud they are even from my house... I live near Disney, but not THAT near... still no reaction from the pup, she just continues to tug on my wet socks... unfortunately the sprinklers by the front door are set to go off at the same time as the fireworks going off, n I don't bother getting my shoes on when I take her out for fireworks LOL.

Cujo's doing alot better with fireworks too lately, he reacts, but it's not fearful like it used to be, he'll just kinda pace for 5 seconds then lay down somewhere else in the room... no logic to where he lays down either lol.