Training begins now

Boone saw the behaviorist yesterday and he's been diagnosed with fear aggression, separation anxiety and stereotypic behavior. So here's the plan that's been made up.

Boone gets very nervous when people come into the house, anyone besides me or my father sends him hiding and pissing himself. Which is a step above growling and trying to bite them but I'd rather have non of it. So the follow plan has been put into place:

- Install a tether (leash) on the couch as discussed (make sure it is secure)

- Before answering the door tether Boone

- Answer the door

- Once the guest enters ask them to stand approx 10 ft away from Boone and toss him small meat and/or cheese treats for 3 minutes straight

- After the treat tossing keep Boone tethered

- Ask visitors to toss Boone treats whenever they get up and walk around

- Other than tossing treats make sure all visitors completely ignore Boone (like bad art), and keep at least 5 ft away from him at all times (this will require 100% supervision of your guest)

- If certain guests are unlikely to follow your rules best to have Boone safely put away elsewhere

Once there is constant positive reaction from him when visitors first come into the house, meaning he doesn't go off into hiding but instead gets excited at their arrival we move to him not having to be tied to the couch and instead allowed to move around the room freely but with a muzzle on to avoid any costly back tracks.

His recent issue with other dogs had me worried. Drifter was some what dog aggressive and I'd rather Boone not be and he wasn't up until Drifter was put to sleep. The behaviorist has said that it is due to loosing Drifter. Drifter and I were a security blanket to Boone. He gained confidence from both of us, especially Drifter when out and about, with Drifter gone Boone has lost this security blanket and though he still sees me as a source of comfort and safety he has lost on half of that and he's showing that by his sudden aggression with other dogs. The plan for this:

- While Boone is on leash keep other dogs at least 10 ft away from other dogs at all times

- Try using a basket muzzle at the park

With the obsessive circling which is the sterotypic behavior, he believes Boone has done it so much that it now is creating endorphins in his brain when he does it. He said there had been a video being passed around between behaviorist of a Rottie who was doing the same thing and had not only worn down the grass to bare dirt in the yard but had actually worn down the dirt so that there was a well defined groove where he circled. When interrupted the Rottie would become aggressive he thinks Boone isn't far from this and was very intrigued by it as I believe it was the first dog he's seen other then in that video who did it. So the plan for ending this obsessive behavior:

- Discuss the temporary use of an anti anxiety medication (i.e. clomicalm) with your vet

- Whenever Boone is outside he should be kept from circling either: i) by engaging him in play or ii) by providing him a distraction (stuffed frozen kong, drilled stuffed nylabones…)

The last issue was with the boyfriend. Boone and boyfriend really have no interest in each other. Boone is fearful/nervous of him and avoids being in the same room as him if I'm not there and boyfriend ignores and generally wants nothing to do with him as he's been bit by Boone a few times now. So the plan to get these two liking each other a little more and living together nicely:

- Boyfriend avoid all touch with Boone

- Keep treats on him at all times

- Toss treats to Boone frequently

- Play fetch daily in the following manner: boyfriend tosses the ball, Boone retrieves it to me, I toss the ball to boyfriend – repeat for 20 minutes

I've got my hopes up in this. It'd be great for Boone to be mentally well and happy with life. I'm sure right now he's not happy in life, not with his constant fear and nervousness and its upsetting, another dog I'm sure would help him but we just aren't set up for a second dog at this point as well as boyfriend and I's relationship is kinda rocky right now.

So wish me and Boone luck! I know this can take months to see positive results but its still exciting to have a plan now and be able to set it in motion for Booney.

All Summer Long

Finally the real summer weather has arrived! It's been so rainy and drag here for most of the summer, didn't feel like summer at all for the longest time but now its beautiful and me and Boone have been unstoppable. We've been down to the Mississauga lakefront, down to the river several times and then yesterday I looked up a few trails near the house that we might try and happened upon Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. It was only 40 minutes or so away so I got ready and we hit the road.

The drive was beautiful, windows down, sunroof open and the radio blaring some driving music. I love driving through the country side, just a few short minutes and all of a sudden all the buildings and the look of a city is gone, just fields of corn, farms, wild fields, open spaces of nothing, old farmhouses boarded up and abandoned. Some of the roads were almost vacant of cars so it was beautiful. Boone had his head hanging out the window for most of the drive down the empty country roads, something he normally doesn't do unless the car is stopped or going very, very slow. So he obviously enjoyed all the smells.

Had to pay to park, that was a bit of a downer for me but luckily I had change and off we went. We spent an hour and a half wondering around the trails, came upon several other groups of people who most had to stop and say hello to Boone and comment on how he seemed to be enjoying himself. Boone was just a goof out there, playing in the pond, chasing dragonflies, butterflies, frogs, minnows, birds and rolling in something I suspected was poop as I couldn't actually see it due to the tall grass on either side of the cut trail. Even came across what looked like the remains of a house. Boone had to stay on leash as per the rules of the park and the fact that they were patrolling the trails in little golf cart type things, of course you heard them before seeing them so when there wasn't anyone around I did let go of his leash. Hey the leash was on it just wasn't in my hand... the rules stated nothing about that just that all dogs had to be leash and under control which he was. I could have spent the whole day out there, but the bugs were nasty and I had only paid for 2 hours of parking. So we headed back home, Boone had a quickie swim in the pond, and then hopped into the car muddy and wet. I had placed towels on the back seat for such an occasion but he decided this wouldn't do and shoved them all to one side so he could get the back seat good and dirty.