Moku's Day Today

Daily CHALLENGE & ACTiViTY Summary

Dog’s name: Moku

Date: Thursday, September 24, 2015

Physical Fitness

Unfortunately, we spent a big chunk of today in a meeting, so physical exercise was limited to about twenty minutes of pool time, and about the same amount of time at the Mission. The good thing was, Moku was super animated in the pool again today! Like yesterday, he spent much more time moving around and rambunctiously batting at his toys than he did sitting on the steps.

Cognitive Fitness

Moku did GREAT in this arena today! I was so proud of how he handled himself in the meeting! He was a little wiggly at first, but then settled down and took a good nap. At one point, when Zach and Bob got up to go get water in the middle of the meeting, Moku woke up and all of a sudden realized there were a few “trophies” in the room (dead animals). He barked and gave a little growl, unsure of what the heck was going on. He was easily redirected with some commands, which earned him a treat, and then he laid back down and went to sleep again.

The moment I was REALLY PROUD, was when I got up to go to the bathroom. Zach asked if I wanted him to hold Moku’s leash. I said, “No, he’ll stay”. So I asked him for a DOWN, and gave him a firm STAY, verbally and with a hand signal. And there he stayed…watching after me…the whole time. He got a treat – and tons of praise and belly rubs – when I returned to the room.

Social Fitness

I was very proud of Moku in this area today, too! The video really says it better than I can. But while at the Mission, we were working on helping reactive dogs find more appropriate ways of communicating their displeasure than barking or growling defensively, or trying to bolt away as if the Grim Reaper was on their tail. One little dog, named Yuki, has historically been afraid of big dogs, especially Moku, because (he is huge) and has lumbered quickly toward her in play mode a couple of times, frightening her. So this evening, we were doing a controlled exercise where we planned to bring Yuki close to Moku, and then give her the “functional reward” of turning and leaving Moku’s “radius” as soon as she responded to him calmly, as opposed to being all crazed. In other words, moving away from Moku was supposed to be her reward for getting close to him without reacting poorly. Well…I won’t spoil the way the exercise turned out. It was incredibly sweet, and made everyone’s night!

Emotional Fitness

I thought the way Moku handled himself in the meeting tofay showed not only “behavioral restraint”, but a kind of emotional maturity I am just beginning to see in Moku. He was antsy (as was I by the time we were finished), but he was composed, and kept his energy in check.

Primal Fitness

Moku had an epic SNIFF session today while we were killing time waiting for the meeting to begin. As noted in the video, I am typically one who, when I walk with dogs, I WALK, keeping focus on the activity at hand, and only stopping briefly here and there to let the dogs potty, or check out an especially enticing patch of grass as a reward for walking nicely leading up to the spot. But as I was watching Moku go to town today, sniffing to his heart’s content, it struck me that I should be more conscious to make time for these sniff sessions regularly! In and of itself, sniffing is a dog’s way of investigating his world, just as seeing is a humans’ primary way of investigating our own! So anyway, we will make more time for sniffing in the future.