Moku Reads With the Kiddos!

Daily CHALLENGE & ACTiViTY Summary

Dog’s name: Moku

Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Physical Fitness

Moku, Clancy, Ginger and I took our neighborhood pack walk, with including the extension around Kroll Park; this is a 1.2 mile walk. Moku did his few cold laps around the pool afterward, as usual.

Cognitive Fitness

Moku and I worked commands in a highly distracting environment today – an elementary school! Furthermore, I had planned on walking Moku for a solid twenty minutes beforehand but got sidetracked before picking him up, and so didn’t end up having time to wear him out at all before we joined the kiddos. These were young’uns too, between the ages of 5 and 8. Kids this age are continually wiggling!

The activity consisted of four human-canine teams, Moku and myself included, sitting on the floor in a classroom, while kids were ushered in and out for brief stints (five minutes) reading with the dogs. It was fast-paced, and there was a LOT of movement, so staying still, focusing, and keeping his “puppy sh** together” were all challenges for Moku. I’m being a bit facetious, but as I think you’ll be able to see in the video, it became increasingly difficult for Moku to maintain calm as the hour went on. Actually, it wasn’t so much progressive as it was sporadic (his ability to focus, and specifically, to NOT chew and bite on things, I mean – including his leash, pages and corners of books, my boots, the kids’ shoelaces, my hands, and my jacket (which he bit a little hole in). I typically don’t like to offer dogs chew toys or bones while they are in public working, namely because the whole purpose of public access training is for them to learn to chill and relax in that context. However, I think I will need to carry a Nylabone or something, to give Moku during those times when he really needs something to channel his “extra” energy into.

What I did instead during this particular session was try and communicate to Moku that, while focus was difficult, he would be rewarded for it. I couldn’t so much correct his chewing (like with a firm NO, because I didn’t want to alert the kids to the fact that anything was “wrong”); nor could I really redirect the behavior (as in, by trading inappropriate chewing items with appropriate ones; or by getting up and walking around for a minute to “rest”, because we needed to be sitting in one spot listening to each child read). So it was a great challenge for us both! What I did was (as subtly as possible) ask Moku not to chew on things, and then pop him little treats here and there in the moments he was calm and behaving himself.

This worked relatively well. And I do think Moku did a really good job of keeping himself in check. It was only when he simply couldn’t contain his energy or direct it appropriately, for being over-stimulated and antsy, that he didn’t do it. Had he been able to, and when he was able to, he would have…and did!

Social Fitness

Moku had lots of social interaction today! He met up with his fellow therapy dog buddies – Sophie, Ginger, and Abby – in the classroom at Hort Elementary, and said his excited hellos before the kids came in to read. While he can still be “over the top” in his greetings with other dogs, he has improved in this area, and – for the most part – knows that he should greet butt-first, not face-first (so much the opposite for humans. Haha!).

After our reading activity, we went to Camille’s for a bite to eat, and sat on the patio. He made some young passers-by very happy, by giving them his belly to rub. He’s like a big, furry, chocolaty Buddha! These “kids” were probably in their late teens or early twenties; they at first walked by oogling Moku and saying how adorable he was. I said, “You can pet him if you want!” One guys said, “Oh, that’s okay…” and almost went out the gate. But his friends said, “OKAY!” to me, and “You know you want to pet him!” to their friend. He said, “Of course you’re right, I do!”, and turned around to come pal around with Moku. They were all so happy! Simply taking a moment out of “regular life” to snuggle up with this silly, squishy hunk of puppy love…simply made their whole day. Witnessing this made my day as well.

Emotional Fitness

I am going to defer to the Cognitive category here, as our time spent with the kids at Hort Elementary, truly was as much an exercise in regulating emotional energy/excitement as it was in (cognitive) focus, listening, and following commands.

Primal Fitness

Pack walking, swimming, and being involved in the “pack reading” activity were all “primally-fulfilling” for Moku today.