Moku Learns To Manage His Energy

Daily CHALLENGE & ACTiViTY Summary

Dog’s name: Moku

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2015

Physical Fitness

I am glad to report that Moku seemed much livelier today than yesterday. We still took it relatively easy in the Physical Fitness department, as our other exercises were quite intense and energy-consuming. That said, Moku ran around and swam at the house where my friend Jackie is pet sitting; and we did the .8 miles walk around my neighborhood. We meandered through Petco as well, but that doesn’t really count as physical exercise.

Cognitive Fitness

Moku and I both worked our minds out hard today. We worked a great deal on repeating the same command chain over and over again, in varying and increasingly-stimulating environments: STOP, SIT, CHECK IN, LET’S GO. The SIT was naturally phased out over the course of the day, as it became an automatic part of Moku’s interpretation and practice of the behavior. In other words, When I said STOP, CHECK-IN, he would stop, sit, and give me eye contact. We worked on NOT ADVANCING FORWARD (in any situation, toward anything which Moku determined or “demanded” we go), until I gave the (release) command, LET’S GO. This is to say that I used – I always use -- walking with Moku as a context within which to communicate with him, ask for his attention and focus, ask that he manage his energy, and then move forward to reinforce his efforts in the right direction.

Social Fitness

Moku met two dogs (I had met several times but) he had not yet met: Sadie and Buck. My friend Jackie pet sits Sadie, and is fostering Buck. Her dog Lucy was also at the house for our “get together”. Moku is learning how to respect other dogs’ boundaries. He has come leaps and bounds in this area. It used to be that a dog would grumble at him, and he would interpret it as play, (or not even notice, because he was blinded by his own exuberance), and continue barreling head first into the other dogs’ personal space. He still does that to some degree, as his excitement kicks in the most intensely at the moment of contact between him and the other dog. However, this is usually only when he is on leash. Once we were in the backyard, and he and the other dogs were off-leash (except Sadie, who isn’t able to manage her excitement sufficiently when playing in the yard; too big a space, too much freedom; in the house she is totally fine), he was perfectly great. He played some with Buck, a gorgeous white shepherd mix that Jackie found roaming the streets a couple of weeks ago; they romped around in this family’s beautiful yard, which is full of thick foliage and water features.

A couple of times, Sadie got anxious about him being in her space, and “told him” as much, and he simply backed off. I noticed that after that interaction with her, he stayed outside the energetic boundary she had drawn around herself. I believe the more Moku learns to respect our (the humans in his lives’) boundaries, the more he also learns to respect everyone’s boundaries, including other dogs’. I’m very proud of how far he’s come in this realm.

Emotional Fitness

The aforementioned exercise with Sadie was a major practice in managing emotional energy. Not only for Moku, but just as much for me! I heard a trainer say (and it makes all the sense in the world) a dog is reactive generally for one of three reasons: excitement, frustration, or fear. Moku is not fearful, obviously. He is excited to see other dogs and wants to meet them and interact. On top of the excitement, he gets FRUSTRATED when he is “so close, yet so far”; he can see that there’s another dog near him, but is unable to get to said dog. SO, we want to teach Moku acceptable ways of getting to interact with other dogs on leash, thereby empowering him to make the choices that will get him where he wants to go! Because using his massive amount of physical size and strength to overpower whomever is holding the leash is NOT acceptable. And when we end up in a tug-of-war with him, trying with all our might to hold on, while he bucks around like a Bronco, the excitement just builds and builds, and we get nowhere except to more (collective) frustration.

Add to the scene MY frustration and excitement. I should clarify: I don’t mean “happy excitement”. When I use that word (which I do a lot), I don’t mean excited in the sense that, “I’m excited to go to Seattle for Christmas”. But rather, I’m talking about pure, heightened energy that gets to a point where it’s so over-powering as to trap one in a state of mind from which one can’t escape in the moment, and therefore can’t practice different behavior).

At any rate, the scene becomes chaotic. Picture it: let’s say I am walking Moku on his leash, and up ahead there is a dog. He sees the dog and goes berserk -- starts whining, pulling, scratching, the whole nine yards. He wants nothing more than to get to that dog. Well, if I move toward the dog while he is in this excited state of mind, and exhibiting all these undesirable behaviors that result from said state of mind, I am essentially telling him that I agree with his behavior, and I’m reinforcing it by giving him what he wants. I am also letting him call the shots, which leaves me powerless. NOT a good place to be, especially when I weigh just a few pounds more than Moku does, and he is strong as an ox!

My frustration kicks in, and my inclination is to pull back on him, trying my hardest to manipulate him with my physical strength, so that he doesn’t drag me to the other dog. My “pure energy” is shoving words out of my mouth, like MOKU, NO! STOP IT! DON’T DO THAT! I am simply adding fuel to the emotional fire, and not helping matters at all. In fact, I am just as much a part of the problem, if not more so, because it is my responsibility to change my own way of doing things, such that I set both me AND Moku up to do and be our best.

Now, picture this. I have high value treats, and I have a plan. I have set up a training exercise in which I am able to control the critical variables – namely that there is another dog, and that she is simply sitting at her handler’s side on leash up ahead, while we approach from what whatever distance we need to away. Truly, we were just on the other end of a huge yard, but it seemed like a city block. Now, I find where Moku’s threshold is, and we work just below it, in the zone where he can still listen, concentrate, and make good choices in behavior. It might be challenging, but he can do it. ONLY when he checks in with me and makes good choices in one zone do we advance closer to what he wants: Sadie. And in the meantime, I am reinforcing his correct responses to commands with yummy beef tendon treats.

* A side note – nay, a tangent -- about treats: I feel that so many trainers are averse to using treats. They somehow think of it as “weak”, or that you’re “bribing” your dog to behave. I used to think this way, until I learned so much more about why and how to use them. Certainly, if used at improper times or for the wrong reasons, (like you want your dog to “like you”), then I agree with the critics; treats can do more harm than good. And they are definitely NOT appropriate in every or any scenario. However, when used correctly, with the precise right timing, and with informed intention, treats (rewards for desirable behavior of any kind, whether food, play, attention or affection), become a valuable TEACHING TOOL.

I use foog to TEACH dogs what I want from them as much as what I don’t want (in which case I withhold the food). I want Moku to LEARN the rules, and be compensated for putting forth the effort to make the right choices. I want him to UNDERSTAND how things are supposed to work, so that he becomes EMPOWERED to make good choices. LEARNING is a scientifically documented process that works essentially the same way in ALL animals. And we ALL have our equivalent of “beef tendons”. Whatever motivates us to do and be good and get better, is a crucial element in our learning and growth process as individuals. I see nothing wrong – in fact I see everything right – with communicating to a dog BOTH of these sentiments, not just the corrective one: “No, that’s not what I want”; AND “Here is an alternative way of behaving that’s acceptable, where your previous behavior was unacceptable. You make the choice, and if you make the right choice, there’s something yummy in it for you”.

You’re going to get the worst out of anyone by expecting and “correcting” the worst; and attempting to control another with the threat of punishment for wrong action. You’ll get the best out of anyone when you have faith in them, and compensate them as part of a mutually respectful and trustworthy relationship. (Tangent over).

Primal Fitness

Pack walking with Clancy and Ginger, and social hour with the other dogs, were Moku’s primal activities for the day.