Monday, February 28, 2011

New week, new and advanced events..

Tonight... We're babysitting a 18 week old Wheaten puppy. I have just enough time to put everything up high, nail it down or wrap it with bubble wrap. Gawd knows what Beckett and a puppy will be like if he's not on a lead.




It was a great session for Beckett. We went to John's for a Playdate with Lochie and to meet the other "John" the dog trainer. He has been recommended for helping with Beckett's actions of distrust. I'd love to think we can do it all, but perhaps an outside opinion on our methods would help. After looking at this one video, you'd wonder how such a peaceful spirit could still distrust us. He does trust us, but just not 100%. If you're in doubt, just watch him jump into the car with us now! Garin.... you'd not recognize that frightened dog you handed over a month ago. He seems perfectly happy to sit in the back seat, watch things go by, occasionally reach up and lick my neck now (yeah.. that one helps mend my broken heart for all of the growling he does). I was also in for a 'licking' while trying to do a few crunches on the living room floor last evening. It felt weird having my bald spot licked! I didn't stop him since he felt it was safe to approach me in that fashion. LOL He also insists in taking over my seat when I exit the car. He just sits there and doesn't make a sound when people go by.



As you can see, both Beckett and Lochie have decided that I don't influence their play time at all. I can just imagine the poor tenant below me wondering what in the world I was up to. LOL Lucky for me we own the building huh? :P

There has been a rapid change of habit. This one was like turning a light on and off. Beckett now insists on joining me when i head outside. He is the one running to the door, making his funny growling sound, and nervously dancing between the top of the first step and the floor level before settling down and allowing me to clip on to his collar. I'm not sure what caused the transition, but I'll take it as a plus.

For all the moments we've experienced that rip into our hearts and cause us to doubt our influence on this little guy, there are times like this weekend and tonight where we get our Hope Chest filled again... just enough to get us through the next stage. For those of you out there like us, our hearts go out to you and hope you're able to find the silver lining in these fleeting moments of clarity.

Friday, February 25, 2011

yoyo week!

This week is the first week without any Drama taking place with Beckett. No dogs flying in from above, no dogs jumping out of back yards at us (I know.. the week isn't over yet) and no operations. So, why can't our little dog enjoy the calm everyday life he's got? Hmmm?

He did well last weekend with his first 'play date' with Lochie and he has another date for tomorrow. I hope the snow storm turns out to be more rain but we'll deal with whatever hits us. Beckett votes for snow. He's used to climbing up on the snow banks to do his business and where they've removed them he sort of stands there looking at me like I'm the one who stole his potty place!

In the house, Beckett continues to be a pain in the butt! LOL. It doesn't seem to matter how many times you gently spend time petting him and cooing him at the same time, he still launches himself away the first chance he gets. Sigh... feeling the rejection has taken us both down a few times but we just try to focus on his needs... constantly. We do allow ourselves the honest reaction of 'this is an ungrateful dog!' just to allow it to purge from our system. LOL.. then we go on. It's not dissimilar to how I felt with my children as they reached their teens! Only with this guy, I don't have to look forward to University costs.

There continue to be good days followed by bad days but I am seriously looking at 'borrowing' someones trained dog for a week or two just so Beckett can see how he can interrelate with us. Right now, he's not getting it. Not at all! My biggest issue is that this guy has NO idea how to play. He has no natural 'play' left in him for things. He chews, eats and stares... but no play.

He has begun this weird Crow thing too. He will go down stairs through the evenings after we go to bed and will, one-by-one, retrieve our gloves and hats from the foyer and bring them up and set them around his blanket. He doesn't chew them, he just... collects them. I now block him off from going down the stairs because the travel trips keep me awake. This morning I found the remote from the bedroom TV next to his blanket. Now I'll have to put that up too. It's like having a 2 year old baby as well. LOL

There is now an issue with going around the corner of our block where our house is located. He just goes wild as he nears the corner and will end up pulling hard while backing his body away. I did try the normal technique of 'jigging' to show that he's at the end of his leash (and I am at the end of mine) but it only creates a major anxiety attach and he goes into a frenzy and basically almost turns himself inside out and into a ball. It's quite upsetting to not have a remedy for this. I now do NOT go to the corner. Instead I cross the street, walk up past this point then cross over and head back down to the destination. It's avoidance and not healthy because he is conditioning himself to react badly and he'll get away with it. If he persists, I'll check with the vet to see if he needs to be medicated to take this edge off or if he should be medicated. I'm torn on it. I would rather have him advance without that type of influence but if he is hardwired to panic, maybe removing that 'panic' button for a spell will help create new reaction paths... sigh.. I'm ready to try any means of training to help him have a better quality of life. I can not avoid doing things and he does need to progress or everything we have worked to achieve will slide to the side. I believe it has to be a constant. LOL even his potty path is preset. Gawd help you if you deviate.

Today we went to the cottage. It's the first time Beckett was in the cottage and he did fine. Darrin walked him from room to room as I put out more bird feed. Now that we have had him there, I can't wait for May to roll along and we have things set up. The plan is to allow Beckett the house, the screened in patio space and then a run outside the patio as well. There is also a plan for an invisible fence just in case Beckett makes a run for it some day.
We did take photos of Beckett becoming friends with the three dogs at his Darrin's mom's place. It's important that they get along because we visit there quite a bit when we're at the cottage. The two Schitzus, golden lab, and Beckett were all playing. Beckett was even going all out with the lab, Chance. He was bounding off the top of snow piles and on to the top of Chance's back.
Cold as it was, we spent a lot of time outside just to allow Beckett all the time he needed in order to get comfortable.
As I mentioned before, Beckett is great in the car and gets in and out without any issues at all. He actually reached up and licked my neck today, then again tonight while doing some sit-ups on the living room floor.
As I have stated before.. I'll take this for the time that it lasts and try to remember it when it goes off the rails again.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Play date with Lochie 1 month after Gotcha Day

Play Dates and Touch Therapy... let's hope it works.





Just thought I'd end this on a good note. The "work", and believe me it is work that you need to call it, that has gone into Beckett for the last month has been extensive. I'd be lying if I told you this was all fun and games, but it isn't all bad either. If you believe in "paying it forward" or "you get what you invest in" then you'd be set for taking in a dog like Beckett.

This is not the type of thing I'd suggest for anyone who was single or had not had a dog before. You need the support of someone living the experience right along side of you so they can hold you when things don't exactly pan out at any given moment. In retrospect, neither Darrin nor I were ready for what this little guy needed but I would like to say we are giving it our best shot and doing what we think is the best possible thing, along the way.

There are times you think you've broken through, or at least you pray that the actions suggest a breakthrough, but then 5 minutes later he is back to his insecure self again with all of the fear and shaking and growling.... and you rely on your partner for reassurance that you didn't do something stupid to cause the slip. This is not the time to look for unconditional love from the dog. It's the reverse, your unconditional love needs to be given, without expectations, and that is how you all get through the moment.

After the last 4 weeks I can tell you that without my partner Darrin, I'm not sure I could have lasted this long. Gwen, Garin and the on-line support continues to be great but like so many others before me well know, the demand of personal time is more than we had anticipated. I was more prepared for a wildly active dog and going through the training of showing it how to control it's actions. This is actually the opposite of what we have been experiencing. Now more than ever, I hope you understand why I need to see these moments recorded in the videos and photographs. They act as the benchmarks and prove we are making a difference.

Our friend John and his pup Lochie have become what I hope to be a long-term play association for Beckett. We have been discussing a fence for the cottage as well to allow more freedom of play like this. One fence for housing Beckett through the day which extends from the screened in patio out on to an open air fenced in area. This will give him the ability to choose his space but keep him safe from the local wildlife. At least with Beckett in place the puppy we get next fall will be safe from the eagles that are in our area. lol.

Here are a few of the areas we seem to have had success with such as, walking on his lead, having him come in our direction when he is called, recognizing his name is now Beckett, recognizing that there is this thing called a treat and they come in a variety of types but NEVER get put in his dish, and HE decided that his blanket is his bed and his safe area. Outside of that I think basically everything else is in the category of 'under development'!

Tonight Darrin decided to once again give Beckett some close and personal "touch" therapy. This dog is NOT comfortable with being touched. He doesn't think of it as normal or acceptable. I don't doubt that if left to his own choice, he would retain the near but 'no touchy' status for the rest of his life since he gets his needs met for food, security and what he considers attention. Unfortunately we can't live with a dog like that and he needs to be socialized to fit in our family. It's really important that after a suitable amount of time, we do have that dog that sits with us and enjoys touch.
This petting was, to say the least, an exercise in how to bring Beckett to a more familiar level with touch and interaction. It lasted for about 5 minutes and for a spell he did allow his pose to relax the touch but never to the point where you could take your hands off of the 'hold' position. After the 5 minute span ended Beckett exploded out of Darrin's arms as though he'd been hit with a cattle prod. The dissappointment in Darrin's eyes was hard to look at but I knew that he had hoped, as I had, that the touch pushed that magic button that turned Beckett into the 'family pet' everyone desires. Maybe for next month's end I'll be able to report we're more near to that goal.

Not all blogs can be fun all the time. How boring that would be.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Easing back into a routine is important

This week has been somewhat of a mixed bag of events so it's not unusual to expect a mixed bag of reactions from Beckett.

Darrin only disclosed the event from his experience while at a dinner party on Friday evening. It is great that although Beckett did escape, the vet clinic staff were all out in the snowstorm trying to help catch him as well. Some without coats. Even Becketts vet Jamie was out in his 4x4 trying to find him but got off the trail when a snowplow got in the way. The main fear with Darrin was that he needed to stay near Beckett because a light coloured dog in a snowstorm in the a busy intersection only spelled disaster. Beckett did his 'just out of reach' thing but was never able to be touched. It was only when Beckett turned into a large parking lot surrounded by fence that the odds went back to Darrin's favour. Then a guy who was at the vet clinic picking up his dogs joined in and between Darrin and this stranger they more or less corralled Beckett into the corner through deep snow and nabbed him. The guy had his car and drove Beckett and Darrin back to the clinic and Darrin's car. That was just about the time I would have been on top of the plowed up snowbank doing my scan of where he was supposed to be. I'm glad everyone was so great in helping fix the situation.

His escape from Darrin at the vet clinic after his neutering, him having been tackled by a larger dog earlier in the week, and then being stationed to one end of the kitchen via a wire corral all produced a somewhat frazzled boy. Mind you, for all of you who suggested a crate, I accept your suggestions, but in this case, crating Beckett is about the last thing on earth that would calm him down! LOL I have the poo Picasso artwork to prove it! I don't know how he managed to get it up on the kitchen wall but apparently he did. I say apparently because Darrin was the first one home so he cleaned up. I was unexpectedly detained.. yeah.. that's it... unexpectedly detained, just long enough so Darrin got home first. LOL


We have been doing well. Beckett is back on track mostly. He is even getting down stairs and letting us reach back and pet the side of his head before going outside. Then again once we return, close the door, and before we release him from his lead. He isn't pulling back like he used to and expects to be petted. We'll now use the cheese so he won't go up stairs without getting it. Then when we let him free, he dashes all the way up to the third floor. This boy needs to work on his timing. Every few steps he loses track of his step timing and ends up clamoring to get back in rhythm... it sounds awkward on the steps too. LOL


Tonight we have a dinner to attend at it's with John who owns the puppy wheaten. This should be good. It's Beckett's first social but he'll have a playmate. I'll cover up his stitches with a bandage before taking him over. The puppy may scratch him during their play.


Beckett is now, for the first time, in the Wheaten Parade. This means we'll have to have a million photos before next year's so we can show everyone how well he's done.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Operation day....maybe therapy will help remove the memories!

OH... have we got a story about today! We are NOT bored ... but wouldn't mind it for a while. This story is fairly long but hey, it's my blog so just skip over it if you don't have time. :P

Today Beckett started off his day without fan fair and even came soooo near to jumping into the car on his own, but at the last couple of steps backed out. I was impressed that he didn't put the brakes on when I opened the back door of the car! The ride to the vet's was also fairly quiet, as was the entry into the clinic. We got the paperwork in order and he even went with the assistant without any issues. Both Darrin and I were impressed and proud of the change in this little guy from even a week ago when he was last at the vet's. He didn't insist on staying in the open doorway, didn't growl, nor did he soil anywhere... the perfect patient... on the way in.

Then came the afternoon. I'd be lying if I told you that neither Darrin nor I worried about the possibility of something going wrong during the surgery, and I for one was silently celebrating when Darrin told me Beckett was out of the operation and was okay. He was described as being upset to us. Well, I would be too if I awoke and found vital parts missing!

Darrin had kept the car in order to pick Beckett up at the end of the day. In the mean time a storm had developed and due to the high winds and blowing snow, flights were delayed and before Darrin could pick Beckett up, he was asked to pick up his sister at the airport rather than have their parents drive into town during the foul weather. This meant Darrin was 'Mr Taxi Driver' for the afternoon. He managed to get Deb home and then get back into the vet's. Apparently Beckett was awake and was NOT happy. His anguish showed itself as diarrhea and apparently, he show a lot of anguish! I was just fine with him getting it all out at the vet's. LOL I presumed the combination of the medication and the anxiety, plus having not eaten anything for 24 hours, created the perfect storm.

At almost 5 pm I had a call from Darrin saying he was between the Kent Hardware store and the VanKampen's Greenhouse and that I needed to hurry. Seeing that Beckett was probably a hand full by then I rushed to meet Darrin out in front of my office building as he sped by on the way to the apartment. I quickly did my end of day check, kicked the last person out of the office and armed the system before launching myself down the three stories of stairs to the front door. I've been known to keep Darrin waiting out front a few times but figured this time the dog and his diarrhea put the pressure on me to not delay getting out there. I didn't enjoy the thought of clean-up.

I was out front in 4 minutes and waiting for Darrin and thought, "well, I can just walk home and meet them there rather than him swinging by my work" so I called his cell. It was then that I got the message that he was physically located between the two locations stated and he was chasing Beckett through deep snow and had Beckett "cornered". I can't explain how many of my nerve endings fired off at that moment but I did a quick blank look forward, blinked, checked into the reality that was Darrin's and said "I'll run home and get the car and be right there". With that, I ran off the top step of our office building entrance and I don't recall even checking for oncoming traffic before heading up the snow covered street to our home. Seeing that it was storming out and the streets were a combination of slush and snow, my dress boots (without any treads) were just the perfect running equipment for 5 or so blocks to our house. I felt like a deer on ice while sprinting, or trying to sprint, up the streets. After 2 block of a full out run, it became clear that I needed to pace myself or the next call Darrin would get would be from the hospital telling him I'd given myself a heart attack! Later on I forgave myself for not having better lungs by justifying that NOBODY sprints in slush and snow covered streets without gasping for air after two blocks!
I was almost to the apartment, my mouth was dry, my lungs were somewhere near the back of my tongue, and that elusive finish line (being the car) seemed miles away. Then it hit me, there was ice covering on all the cars around me. I was going to have to scrape the damn thing off too! With that reality rush, I did my hyper-thing I do. Car prep had to take place. I managed to get my fingers in the edge of the ice covered car door after using the remote to unlock it. Then using the 1/4 inch of finger grasping ability, I pried open the door and slid inand started the car. The ice encrusted windshield was going to be an issue so grabbed the scrapper and madly went at stabbing the front windshield as if I were some crazed killer. By the way, I'd suck as a crazed killer. I don't think I hit the same spot more than twice and the 'clearness' of the window ended up being a few zones of vision and the rest ice coated. So, off I went up the street to come to the aid of Darrin's stocking Beckett. I think I was praying along the way to make it there alive. I forget that part of it all... mostly a blur.

Being a storm, everyone was driving slow, or so it seemed to me. Along the way I was giving nasty looks and the odd sworn word to people here and there. Didn't they realize my world was crashing in? Where was there compassion! LOL I think I still reached the location in record time considering I had to drive through town in the poor weather.
After reaching the spot where I expected to see Darrin standing out in the field, I couldn't see a thing. The whiteouts were really bad and after driving through them I didn't see Darrin off to the side. With that I parked the car in the hardware store's lot and began running up and over the plowed up snowbanks expecting to see him just on the other side.

To my horror I couldn't find him in any direction and discovered that a plowed up snowbank at a parking lot's edge is a great lookout! Did I mention I was hauling around the wire corral cage with me. Yeah. I grabbed that thinking it would be good to scoop Beckett rather than let him slip through our fingers. That little guy can hope straight up in the air from a dead stop!

So, here I am standing at the top of a snowbank with cars driving by, I'm doing the scouting look off into the distance stance, with my hand up to my forehead while holding a big cage in my other hand. I resorted to digging out my cell at that point and called Darrin. He picked up saying he had caught Beckett and was now back at the clinic. I was so relieved at that point that I went into my relief laugh but then broke out into a full laugh when I realized how I looked to people passing by in their cars. Oddly enough nobody showed up to take me away in one of those coats with the long sleeves before I got out of there. During our brief check-in I agreed to meet Darrin at the apartment to help so off I went.
Beckett and Darrin were both a wreck when I met them parked alongside the apartment building. Darrin had horrible colour and an awful look in his eyes. I didn't know if Beckett had hurt himself in the escape attempt and Darrin wasn't telling me or what. As it turns out, Darrin was just overcome by the experience and, being an introvert, was pushing it all back inside. Me, being an extrovert, just wanted to talk about it! It wasn't the warmest of moments between us while trying to corner Beckett in the back seat and coordinate the capture. A miller dog without a collar is like catching a greased eel with your bare hands. Darrin managed to get him from the side as I spoke to him from the front seat. Once inside the apartment building, Beckett went to the shelter of the third floor apartment where he knew he'd be safe.
Darrin and I followed and set Beckett up as best we could in order to allow him to calm down. LOL It took us a bit longer ourselves to calm down.
Today Beckett is back at it and his new collar is just fine and he's walking very well with it. Only a little pee accident through the night and no signs of blood or large swelling so I think we're on the good road again. Now to somehow remove the drama from our lives! Wish us luck.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Post weekend regression

It WAS a great weekend for Beckett and getting more experiences that a one-on-one exposure just can't address. That would be the socialization aspect to other dogs, locations, and people. Garin, although she was the first recipient of Beckett's defense, wasn't actually picked on because of her gender. She just happened to be the 'next' person after the miller's treatment and by association, just another bad person in Beckett's eyes. This past weekend showed that Beckett has his good days and his bad days. The weekend was two good days in a row, and today was a bad day when I went home to run him at 10:30!


First thing that greeted me was the traditional growling boy in the living room but preceding him was an exploded pee pad, my slipper, a puddle and a very guilty acting dog! Now my Rottie used to have the same expression. She was never beat except for a slap on the butt one time that I regretted for the rest of her life because of the guilt I felt. Beckett will never be slapped but will know when he's done wrong. In this case, he told me he had done wrong.


Unfortunately Beckett telling me that he did wrong doesn't stop him from going into the tremors. He backed sideways into the nearest solid item which happened to be the large ottoman and as i began cleaning up the mess and telling him that I was not happy with the 'gifts', he catches the tone and starts leaving more! I was caught between a rock and a mushy place actually. If droppings were gold, I could have retired for life!


Now on to a more serious note. I just got a call from Darrin and he is furious beyond what I've ever seen him before. Beckett was attacked by a large dog today while walking past an apartment house on Water Street here in Charlottetown! The large boxer type dog leapt over it's patio rail on the first floor level and right down on an unsuspecting Beckett. Of course he was out to the full extent of his lead at the time and Darrin said the dog was on Beckett before he could even get to him. The owner of the other dog leapt over the rail too, gee I wonder if the dog watched the owner do it before, and grabbed his own dog. After take the dog inside the owner came back out to make sure Beckett was okay but by then Darrin was in full attack mode himself and lit into the guy telling him how Beckett was a scared miller dog to begin with and it was irresponsible to have his dog out on the patio where it could have been much worse if Beckett was being walked by a kid or gawd help us, one of the seniors from the complex around the corner.

I have since reported this to the police, although I haven't heard of this dog having done this before, I want to ensure there is a record of it. I'd fully expect the same situation if the tables were turned.

Beckett, as far as we know, did not sustain any physical injury but you can imagine that he is not going to get over this too soon. Tomorrow is Beckett's day for his "operation" so we'll ask the vet to give him the once-over to make sure there isn't some internal issue. We've got him slated for being micro chipped and to have a growth on his back removed for examination beyond the 'operation' plan anyway.

I wonder if there is a way to have a tracking device installed into Beckett's harness? I'll have to check that out because there is going to be a day that he gets away and I'm hoping it is AFTER he has begun to allow us to touch him without being cornered.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Three Huge Weeks have passed

Week Three: A big day for a big boy.

It was a great day for Beckett. This, being the 3rd week anniversary of Beckett coming home with us, marked a significant milestone in this little guy's life. Three weeks ago, we arrive home with a dog that was too scare to pee when taken out of the car on the way home, now he's driving around jumping up into the front seat and looking out the window... and that pee thing, be careful of what you wish for is all I can say!

We started out the big day by heading out of town to my friend Elly to do a favour for her but also, to see how Beckett got along with her small dog. Unfortunately Bentley was 'over-nighting' in town and that would have to wait another day. On the way out of town Beckett was fairly animated with his jumping back and forth and once again, I misunderstood his 'desire to be all over the car' to mean he loved driving with me. In reality, he had to go to the bathroom of which I neglected to provide before placing him in the car. Yup.. cleanup on Isle 2 type of thing. It was the smell that activated my reality check and coupled with Beckett being fine with sitting up front all of a sudden.

Luckily it was the only the one accident for the whole day so I'm thinking we're in the plus zone for how it could have been. Let's face it, this was more of a test of how Beckett was doing with me as his dominant dog and relying on his trust in me to keep him safe.

After Elly's place, which by the way was a couple of hours in the car, we headed to the cottage property. My intent was to get the snowshoes out of the shed but in all honesty, I unlike Beckett, don't like snow up to my .. well , you get the idea.


The lane down to the cottage is long to begin with but in the winter it seems to be it's original length squared in distance! We drove down to the main field above the cottage and got out there rather than risk getting caught on the more steep section of the lane. Had Beckett been a sled dog, I may have risked it with the knowledge that he'd pull me out. LOL

Beckett wasn't too bad to get out of the car. I just had to clip on him, and as I mentioned earlier, no accidents, then just got out and called him. He jumped right out and went into his mad dash routine but slowed down when he had that familiar 'twang' sound and sudden halt that the end of the lead. LOL Once that was over, he got into his exploratory mode like he does elsewhere. Not that long ago Beckett's world was the inside of a building, now he has the space that very few other dogs get to know. If he ever masters the art of coming when he's called, there is ten acres immediately on the property but many more surrounding us with many many things to keep a nosey dog occupied.

After the cottage area, I put Beckett into the car because although he gets near the door he doesn't quite want to jump in, then up the road to Darrin's parent's house to be introduced to the family dog. The visit was discussed earlier this week because we didn't know how "Chance" the family dog would take to a strange dog showing up on his turf and in all honesty, a golden lab can do a bit of damage if it decides to. Luck was once again with us. Darrin, who had ended up at his parent's after visiting with a client in the area, was the 'holder' of Chance for this exercise and I was the Beckett's. I wasn't sure at first how to read Chance and his straining on his lead. Under normal circumstance I would not introduce two dogs on one's turf and I would not put them on leads but I felt I didn't have any choice in this situation. As it ends up, Chance was good with Beckett and after the familiar 'smell me smell you' exercise, Chance really was more interested in getting his hugs and praise from us than he was in the new dog. Beckett on the other hand was very much in the frame of mind that if Chance was getting some, he wanted some of that too... but he wasn't sure how to go about it and more or less just approached but then halted about a foot or so away. The biggie is that he WANTED in on the hugs and praise. That means he will pick up actions by watching other dogs so now we need to get a socially open dog that likes to share his space and show Beckett how to act. I'm seeing play dates with other dogs in closed environments.

Since we were on a roll, I decided that it was an okay day for going the gold and had one more spot to take Beckett. This was to see my friend John who had offered to walk his Wheaten pup with Beckett. His dog is very young and without controls so it was something completely new for Beckett. While Darrin headed home in his car Beckett and I headed over to John's to meet Lochie. It went very well after Lochie finished barking at Beckett. Mind you Beckett was being pounced on by the little guy who wasn't too much smaller in size but by the look of him you'd not align the two as being the same breed of dog. Wow it was a mind blower to actually see what was the 'before' and the 'after' look of these dogs.

Lochie and Beckett quickly became friends and he actually had a spell of 'tail wagging'. Not one or two switches back and forth but an honest to gawd tale wagging time while playing in the snow. It may my heart melt to see this little guy do something that everyone takes as an ordinary part of every dog's life. Don't think that this automatically eliminated the barrier of Beckett's mistrust for within a minute he was back to pulling at the distance on his lead because he was in a path that both John and I were on and he didn't want to go past us so he ran through the snow to go around. Small victories do happen and each one stands on its own for me and for Beckett.



Saturday, February 12, 2011

Saturday morning and a nice crisp frosty morning.


For some reason, I didn't mind hauling my backside out of bed this morning to take Beckett for a walk. It's Saturday morning and it must have something to do with being able to lay around the living room typing away on my laptop rather than getting ready for work. LOL

Today I will be taking Beckett out to the cottage with me I hope. The picture here is from last winter of our stream down below the cottage. We use to take our last dogs for walks along the banks now and then and in the summer it was a great play area for them to haul sticks and old tree limbs out while splashing through. Beckett is going to love it this summer. I hope he's bonded enough by the fall because we have another Wheaten on order for the late fall. I'm sure it will work out.


We do have an arrangement of 'animals' that just so happen to show up at the cottage and it's going to be interesting for the first little while. This little guy got to the 'friendly' stage during the summer and would take peanuts right out of Darrin's mouth if he sat still enough. I know for a fact that the raccoons would have too but I called a halt to their 'friendliness' when they started coming in the house looking for their food... instead of waiting for Darrin to put out the plate full as per usual. LOL













Friday, February 11, 2011

Repairing Damages


Beckett had a scare the other day... okay.. I scared the beegeebers out of Beckett the other day to be exact. Given the same circumstances, I probably would have done the same thing again because the only other option was to let him get grabbed by an oncoming dog, of which I don't doubt Beckett would have been badly hurt. This little guy has zero survival skills as far as territory. He's number one in finding a fox track. Mind you he was so intent on the smell of the fox's tracks that he neglected to see the actually fox about 40 feet away! I think I'll have to start small with a mouse or something so he sees exactly what makes the track.

Last night Darrin sat on the sofa and petted Beckett for a spell. At first Beckett when into his statue pose but after about 5 minutes relaxed and by the end of it was very much in the moment of being handled.

There have been some great letters from the WIN group supporting us and offering suggestions. I'm going to try one this weekend of having a 'pre-leash' just to see if it makes a difference. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Beckett had gone back to using the full extent of his lead right after his scare but now walks more near to me a lot of the time. He still is not doing well in the hallway and that is where I use a lot of paper towel and air freshener sometimes. As you can see in the clip, he loves cheese. Let's just say that the block of cheese at our house isn't lasting as long as it used to. It was the same for when I had the Rottie. She was a cheese monger! As soon as she heard the wrapper she was on me like white on rice! I hope Beckett becomes the same way.

Last night Darrin had a great session with Beckett but as he was going out he thought he'd give Beckett a little TLC goodbye moment and instead Beckett peed on the floor. I'll have to talk to Darrin about body language because although he was talking calmly and in a mild voice, he was walking totally upright (how human of him) and full front on and Beckett was cornered. From my vantage point I could see it unfolding but couldn't do anything... except clean up. LOL I think having the good fortune to volunteer with the rescue horses has helped me more with my body language than anything I had done with dogs in the past. Horses are so sensitive because they are a 'prey' animal and for the moment Beckett is conditioned to be 'prey'... so I'm trying to apply the same approaches to him. Some work.. some don't. You don't have to be a genius to figure out which ones don't. The unsuccessful ones cause a stink.

The WIN Parade is coming up and I need to get great pictures of Beckett to submit because he's the sweetest of all dogs but just doesn't know it yet. No bias here huh?

Tonight I'm going out to the cottage to get my snowshoes for so I'll take Beckett with me. We'll see how he does in REAL snow! On Sunday I hope to have a playdate for him with a friend's dog. I'll take lots of pics. It will either be good or bad.. only time will tell!




Wednesday, February 9, 2011

aaakkkk. damn neighbourhood dog!

I have had such a setback this morning. I'm angry, sad, and realllllly pissed. Pardon my language for those readers I have just offended!


Considering it has taken two weeks to find out where Beckett is 'more secure' and knowing that being outside is his only spot, this morning's outside run may have ruined that fact.


While going through the meticulous steps of cheese rewards to advance Beckett to the outdoors, and having a fair success in removing the fear through cheese, I had a setback while running Beckett up our side street.


We had just finished business in the empty lot and were heading up the snow covered street when a larger dog came bounding toward us in full defense and aggressive mode. Hackles were up and chest puffed. Dog signs are something I've been fully versed in. This dog was defending some location but I didn't know which yard he had escaped from. Anyway, Beckett was between me and this dog so I tried to retrieve Beckett but in doing so he became more scared of me and ignored this dog gaining on him. Beckett's back was fully exposed because he had turned around to face me. I was panicked because Beckett wasn't preparing to defend himself and was wide open to being grabbed on his back or the back of his neck. My next series of moves only created more fear in Beckett. I narrowed the space between Beckett and myself and tried to swoop him in my arms, and of course he dodged me. I ended up putting myself between Beckett and this other dog and went into agressive mode to ward off the other dog. Having owned Rotties, I can tell you there is a trick to this. LOL Anyway the other dog halted but continued to try and circle me to get to Beckett. Of course I had to do the advance and roar at this dog to disarm his advances. All the time Beckett is cowering as though I just put the boots to him. This is where it's great that carrying guns is not something we do around here... twits like me would have blown that dog's head off in the heat of the battle. Not smart but that is what my first reaction was... yes, I expect some comments on this one.


Anyway, while reversing our path and trying to go the other way this damn dog would not give it up and followed us for the entire walk. Needless to say Beckett is NOT doing well and I'm beyond ticked off. I have no idea what this will do but I hope it passes very quickly. I'll take a walk through the area tonight and see if I can find the home that has this dog and lodge a complaint with the owner. Now mind you, had I still owned my rottie the tables would have been turned even though she was a big baby she was okay with agressive dogs that came after her. Poor Beckett!


K... venting done.. now back to work.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

regression, advancement, regression, advancement...

Snow Bunny Beckett

As you can see by the pic, Beckett is finding his love of snow almost instantly. This is the 'other side' to his personality.

Tonight I posted a note on the WIN chat group to see what others may have done in similar instances with their rescued dog.

Beckett is NOT about to go willingly into a crate and in all honesty, until he wants to, he is fine sleeping on his blanket... wherever we may put it.

Beckett's problem is that when he is in the house and we come home to take him for a walk, he gets excessively nervous and it's as if he has never seen us before and he goes through his mode of growling, trying to get away from us and sometimes losing control of his functions before we can get him outside. We do have one of those corral cages and it does have the ability to keep him away from the carpet but I think it's only causing him to be more nervous.

I'll try that reward for going outside thing with the bell but I have already started the 'cheese' trick of giving him the reward as we clip on. It works sometimes and not at others. We just wonder if this is normal for him being 2 1/2 weeks with us? He is asleep on the sofa about 2 feet away from me now but when I get his leash he will go into his evasive and scared mode and may even wet on the sofa (we act quickly to clean up any mess before it goes through the blankets. Although I've been next to him for several hours, he will still act like I've just hurt him. The poor guy... I wish I knew how to work that aspect out more quickly than just letting time take it over.
Right now I understand the bonding process is slow and in some ways he has learned to enjoy us such as when we're on walks. He shows a whole new personality. LOL... if he were a husky we'd let him stay out longer but without a lot of his backside fur, he has limited time before we bring him back in. I don't want him to develop hip issues so I'll keep a watch on him until he builds up his hind end muscle mass. I am sure the lack of exercise over his puppy mill days is the reason since he does love to play. It will happen and over time.
So, if someone has gone through this and has that secret method for a mill dog of about 2 years, i'm all ears!


Sunday, February 6, 2011

Snowstorms are fun

This morning at 6:30 I awoke and thought I'd better just take Beckett out at that time and then plan to go back to sleep for a nice change. Unfortunately, Beckett wasn't following my plan and when we got outside he decide he'd like to play in the deep snow that had landed through the night, plus he like the falling snow on his body.

We ended up doing the full walk around the neighbourhood and in the end, I had to call the shot after he only peed and the backs of my legs were frozen from the wind and snow blowing on them. Beckett on the other hand was playing his "well, I may still have to go" card! I wasn't falling for it. He'd look at me do the little dance to a certain spot, stand for a second, then he'd forget what he was supposed to be doing and he'd bounce through the snow!

Because it was so early and the snow had piled up quite a bit against the doorway I thought I'd shovel to make it easier for the little guy. Once I got him to move, he just bounded over the snowbank and in the door as I was reaching for the shovel. I guess he was giving me a break since I could no longer feel the backs of my legs!

I thought I'd give Darrin a break too and instead of given Beckett a hard dog biscuit, I opted for the soft one to eliminate the impact noise on the floor. When crawling back into bed I wrapped myself in blankets so as to not brush against Darrin with my quasi-frozen body and therefore jolting him into a VERY awake stage. In all honesty, I did contemplate doing it and got a nice little snicker out of the mind picture, but knew that in the end, I wouldn't be able to look innocent of my intent. You gotta laugh at these moments because just freezing has no comedic content!

After getting a couple of more hours sleep, I awoke to the time being 9:30 and realizing two things, I had promised a good friend I'd view a house she was considering and secondly, Beckett still hadn't POOPED! With that I went into "multi-task" mode fueled by the the realization that the dog probably was doing "the dance" IF I was lucky, my friend was soon going to call and I was running behind, and most importantly of all, I didn't have my coffee yet!

My luck was holding, Beckett didn't leave any prize package for me AND he didn't deliver it while I was cornering him with his lead. If I could rush Beckett (yeah right) to do his outside stuff, I could still pull it off. So, as I am gathering up my clothes for outside, Beckett is patiently tagging along through the apartment on his lead, while at the same time I am trying to call my friend on the cell retrieved amid my swooping process. This of course moved to the next stage of heading down the stairs to the landing to put my cloths on and yes, talking to my friend on the phone. Beckett, he's still the picture of patience and I think I saw him starting to smile as if he was enjoying the chaos running through my mind!

We did get outside shortly thereafter and Beckett promply pranced through the snowbanks to the empty lot where he peed. Yup... just peed. With the snow and rain mix blowing in our faces, he seemed to be the only one gathering enjoyment from the experience. He bounced up in over the snow only to do it again and again as if it were the first time he'd seen it. I can attest, he saw it a few hours earlier!

It was about this time that I realized my one error, I didn't "go" myself before putting him on the lead and heading outside! I'm sure others have faced this delima, but here I had a little guy who still hadn't pooped but now, there is a biological urge on my end of things for him to produce. My options were to go back to the apartment, which was not good because the odds were that once inside, he'd go! MY options were to take advantage of being a guy and go outside but with the number windows facing the vacant lot, I'm sure I'd be arrested for indecent exposure.
In the end, it was I who was doing the "dance" as Beckett procrastinated on his end, so to speak! After 15 minutes of walking around the block and without results, my needs became more urgent and we went in the apartment. An hour later, Darrin read Beckett's signs and took him outside. I think the dog was playing me!





Friday, February 4, 2011

Getting our signals aligned....

LOL.. our boy is smarter than we think!
Last night he caught on to 'scratchie scratchie' which is our way of getting him used to being handled for rub-downs, brushing and of course, scratching his tummy, neck and chest. He loves it and is inching more and more toward us but we still have to go to him the last little bit. He comes, somewhat to us when called.

We even put his new harness on him which still holds him but is much easier to remove for brushing. I am taking Gwen's advice and getting a nylon handle holder that hooks around my wrist and clips on to the hand device for walking him. I'm constantly aware of keeping my grip as well as clicking down on the lock when traffic is on the street. He hasn't darted out in front of a vehicle yet but I'm prepared at all times.

This morning we, meaning Darrin and I, were not reading Beckett's signals correctly. As we're having breakfast, Beckett is pacing and doing his wookie talk to us like normal and then he walks over to the stairs and stops to look at us. We, being stoooopid, look and say "aww, he wants to come with us" then about a minute later he starts to poop next to us as if to say "look, I told you in the only way i know how" .. LOL. We instantly recognized he had done well and calmly moved to get him outside. He was bounding through the snow like a 30 lb bunny after that happy as could be.

He also is improving on the return to the apartment. He still halts outside the door about 8 feet away and locks in place until I coax him in the door. Now, instead of shooting up the stairs past me, he goes up three steps, stands sideways in his submissive stance, and awaits for me to ease near him, scratchie scratchie, and then unclip. Once he is unclipped, I say "okay" and he then turns and hurries up the steps to the apartment, but no longer as if he has been kick started. I"m happy with the progress and now wish he's stop with the wookie noise so much!! LOL Some things will take time. This is a very vocal dog so we'll just have to learn to read it like a baby's cry.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Gotta take a head cam with me on walks...

It's now Thursday and although I didn't get any pictures yet, the snowfall is quite substantial considering we were NOT supposed to have a 'storm'. I think the two people I helped push out of snowbanks this morning would beg to differ that it WAS a snow storm indeed!

Beckett, I am presuming, has never played in deep snow before. Last night around 10:30 we went for his walk and as he ran into the empty lot he was bounding like a rabbit and then tried plowing his way through the fluffy snow drifts. I should have had a head cam because at one point he just stopped and laid on his side as if to say "I LIKE THIS". He had a big smile on his face... and huge piles of snowballs clinging to his fur.

Earlier in the evening we did a bit of work on him. He actually let himself be brushed for about a 1/2 hour and have even more of the matted fur be cut away from his back legs. No growling but it took a spell for him to unclench. Toward the end he was enjoying it but just not saying so. LOL

I'll take the camera with me this afternoon and we'll try to get a little of him romping. That would show you his love of the outdoors. Indoors, well, that may take a spell. His growling migrates over to a moan/gargle type sound and is sort of funny when he is getting his cheese because it sounds like he's saying yum yum.

K. just did a doggie run and snapped some video..

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

First trip to the family Vet















First Vet Visit...

Well, the first Vet visit for his pre-operation check-up went very well for our boy. Darrin was great with him once we landed there. Getting him into the car wasn't too bad and to be honest I thought he'd freak since his previous trip was 12 or so hours long in duration. Even I would not have wanted to return to a car after that!

The stairway into the Vet Clinic wasn't too bad but the door took a bit of tugging and pleading to get him through. Major issues there for him so we expect that will be one of the last ghosts of his pass to melt away.

Once inside Beckett was understandably nervous but didn't act up at all. He was curious enough of what was going ont to keep him busy just watching all of the various activity happening with people coming and going. Darrin kept a very watchful eye and a nice soothing voice. I just kept flipping pieces of cheese at him. LOL

Although Beckett doesn't pull too hard, when scared he tends to go to the limits of the lead, and then lean away.. he does this as well on the floor when he is letting you pet him. We are amazed at his ability to counter balance without falling over!
This lady was very nice about keeping her distance after she found out he wasn't just nervous about being at the vet, but rather that he was a puppy mill rescue who was trying to adapt to his new life. We are getting great support from everyone we meet on this. Mind you, being cute as a button gets help in the matter.

Here he is standing in the doorway because he doesn't like being in areas where he doesn't have an escape route. I think he plans these things!
Oh, our boy is 30.5 lbs so he isn't too far down in weight, and his teeth look good which is a big help. His "date" back is the 15th at 8 in the morning so we'll have to be careful with him the
rest of the week until the stitches heal.








Feb 2, 2011 Regression day... we knew it would come


This morning we had a bit of a setback for Beckett. He did have an accident through the night in spite of me taking him out at midnight as we have built the pattern around.




As well, this morning, Darrin met with more fear and anxiety when trying to clip on to Beckett at his normal 'cornering' spot. That being up on the sofa. Beckett did snap at Darrin's hand but didn't bite down, just the fear reaction. This just means I can't let him near any children until I know that aspect of his fear has evaporated. It'd be much better if it were just 'gone' magically some day but as everyone keeps telling me, it will take time. Now is when we have to stay true to the training and hope we're doing things the right way to move it along rather than reinforcing it to stay. This is much like raising children, you realllllly hope you're doing the right things at the right times for the individual's needs and growth. Mind you I was only bit once by one of our children and it was while I was checking for baby teeth coming in. LOL


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Week two

Since I had the good fortune to have had a great dog, as far as training goes, previously, it's taking me a bit more time to adjust to Beckett's lack of core skills. Yes there are times I just look at him and think "OMG... I'm waaaaay over my head on this one" and at other times I recognize I have to step back, inhale, recognize the little victories, and work from there.



This morning, both Darrin and I woke up and asked each other if the other had been up through the night to walk the dog. LOL.. we both slept through the night. The next realization was, oh, I wonder what gifts Beckett has left for us. LOL To our surprise, no gifts! He still when through his stance of needing to be cornered to clip on to him for going out, but that too was without too much growling. My mid-morning break run to the apartment also met without any gifts. I'll cling to this step because I fully expect to slip back and forth on this one. So there you go, a whole paragraph on dog movements! :P



It seems I have landed upon Beckett's 'treat' preference. Its mild cheddar cheese. I prefer it hardened from being exposed to the air, and had tried Beckett on this initially without success. Last night I opened a new package and he did indeed come to me, eventually, to get his treat and then he returned until each little piece consumed the slice I had taken from the block. Ah, now I have something to base training on. Apparently haven eaten my Christmas cactus plants back, as well as the Alberta Maple has given him an appreciation for real treats. Darrin still hasn't replace his glasses and as yet hasn't been able to laugh about it so I don't mention it to him. LOL The earphone are funny topics to bring up though so maybe the glasses will pass soon too.



We have tested Beckett to see if his 'issues' with women were indeed real or if it was a situation where timing and poor luck put poor Garin in with Beckett when it could have been anyone. The end result, Beckett does NOT hate females that we have introduced to him. Darrin took Beckett up to his office last week and Beckett did very well getting up through the stairways to the third floor and then was okay with Deanna one of the Drafting Techs. Then on the weekend Maureen, who was kind enough to do a bit of custom work on Beckett's winter coat, dropped up. No barking, no specific growling at her nor and evasion of the space she was sitting in. Now if only I knew the magic method for getting past the exercise of anxiety and fear of being approached to go out. I feel like it's reinforcing his fears each time we have to corner him to clip on to his harness.



This boy is going to be a celeb if this keeps up. You guys with WIN http://www.wheatenrescue.org/ are fantastic for support in what we are doing and with hints on how to avoid possible pit-falls as we progress with Beckett's rehab into being a mentally healthy dog. I'm grateful that he appears to be physically healthy, except for the low weight and horrible condition of his coat, both of which are easily addressed now. Just a reminder, this boy is being cared for by both my partner and myself. I'm just the guy with the blog. LOL Darrin is the kind hearted person with the fantastic ability to rapidly calm Beckett down where as it takes him a little longer to deflate when I'm tending to him.



Darrin has all of the attributes to be the one that Beckett will crawl up on while he's reading and laying on the sofa. I've prepared myself for that day, with total acceptance that it isn't any indication of of preference, it's just the comfort path I see Beckett following. It also means that Darrin will be putting Beckett's coat on him for walking too because I'm just not as successful with the process as he is. LOL

I'll add pictures to this posting later on. Right now I'm at work and need to get back at it.