Moku's Wednesday!

Daily CHALLENGE & ACTiViTY Summary

Dog’s name: Moku

Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Physical Fitness

Moku enjoyed a good series of physical activities today. I picked him up early so that we could fit in a nice, long walk before entering the Elementary school for our “read-aloud” event at North Rosedale. I didn’t clock it, but we walked for a solid twenty minutes, stopping here and there to practice commands. Once we were inside the school, I had him do several “freezes”, which then became SITS/UPS, (meaning he would sit down, and then have to get back up to get moving again). While this action, in and of itself, is negligible, when about twenty or more of them are combined over the course of an hour, the movement adds up and equates to something at least somewhat significant. When we returned to my house, Moku jogged for a solid mile on the treadmill, at an average pace of 2.7mph. Then he swam for about fifteen minutes. He was already tired by the time he got in the pool, and so tooled around some, but didn’t go after his toys all feverishly, like he’s been doing the last couple of weeks.

Cognitive Fitness

Moku’s brain worked hard today! Our purpose in the Elementary school was originally to read books aloud to the kids. However, I was given a first grade-level book to read and three classrooms to visit, two of which were fourth and fifth graders’. Besides that, the teachers were flexible, and the kids were much more interested in talking about Moku than they were in hearing me read a book. SO, Moku demonstrated all of his commands, including SIT, DOWN, STAY, HERE, COME, SHAKE, CHECK IN, FREEZE, TOUCH, and LEAVE IT! He even took commands from a few lucky kid-volunteers who excitedly raised their hands hoping to participate! He did really great. And is really quite solid on his commands in most scenarios! Now, when we were in the library at the very beginning of the event, and he was faced with our other two volunteers’ dogs (whom Moku has met on several occasions now), it was a different story…I’ll cover it in the Social and Emotional fitness sections.

Social Fitness

Moku met a new dog today before we went into the school. His name was Rusty, and he was there representing the SPCA, to read with the kids. I should say Moku almost met Rusty. We never got close enough for them to actually sniff each other, because Moku was so excited, and I didn’t want to risk him jumping on the elderly woman holding Rusty’s leash, nor on Rusty, who is no spring chicken himself.

That being said, Moku also met about a HUNDRED kids today, and was virtually fool-proof with his social skills there! The only couple of very small things he did that were “socially unacceptable” (and still needs work on) were, when he got excited about the kids coming up to pet him, he got mouthy. I talked to the kids beforehand about how they needed to approach calmly, pet his belly, not squeal, not put their fingers near his mouth and then pull them away quickly, etc. But these are very young kiddos, and they were excited too, so it was a bit of a challenge. But only a very small challenge, and only for a few minutes out of the whole time we were there.

The other thing is that, when he meets other dogs, he still often goes right for their face, rather than their butt. This, in human social terms, is equivalent to someone just barging into another’s personal space. But besides these minor issues, which we will continue working on, he did very well!

Emotional Fitness

Relatively speaking, Moku was completely fantastic at the Elementary school, considering all the distractions he had to contend with. The one and only thing that is still super difficult, is how overly excited he gets when he sees other dogs. As happened last week, I started out with every intention of having him only on the chest harness. But once we approached the school, I had to fashion his leash into the makeshift slip lead for “added protection”, realizing that I literally might not be able to hold onto him should he tug really hard trying to get to the other dogs to say hello. These issues, I maintain, are a sign of his age and maturity level, and will dissipate over time as he gains more self-control over his own energy levels. I think the best thing to do – as in any case of “energy management” – is re-route that crazed energy into commands (like we did with the FREEZE/SITS today, etc.).

Primal Fitness

Moku swam, and retrieved toys in the pool. He and I “migrated” together, both on the treadmill, and through the Elementary school neighborhood. He explored new areas, new smells, new places to pee and poop. It was a good day on all fronts.