Mini-Adventure: Eagle River and the Puppy

First off, to whoever was walking their puppy near Eagle River last Monday, I'm sorry.

Shila isn't the best of dogs when she is on leash and out of her element. I have *GOT* to remember to bring the squirt gun with me on all walks outside of the neighborhood. She terrified a puppy, and quite possibly the owner when they approached our truck mere seconds after letting the dogs out. Thankfully I yelled out "She's new and kind of a pain. Not too friendly." so owner man could hide his precious puppy paws away before they were nipped off. Again dude, sorry. I hope we meet in a more civil way later on down the road.

We took a walk down a path following Eagle River and walked over the ice a bit. Sam enjoyed the cool breeze and the watery noises, Shila just wanted to sniff sniff sniff. After continuing on quite a ways we found a good location to let Sam roam free while we worked with Shila on-leash. She doesn't like to put any part of her except her feet on the snow so 'sit' and 'lay down' were out of the question. Instead I propped up a fallen birch on an angle and get her jumping up and over it. I'm not very coordinated yet while working with Shila. Watching me you'd think I had no idea what I'm doing - and I don't. Shila was a hopping away, she only wanted to go under the birch once or twice to chase after Teresa who was teasing her from the other side of the hurdle. Jump up on the hurdle, jump down off the hurdle. Kind of a silly approach but it works, won't win her any speed competitions however. She'd hop over, turn around and prop herself up on the hurdle expecting a treat. I learned I need to be throwing the treat over the hurdle when she just starts to lift off.

Teresa really doesn't want me getting my hopes up about Shila being a flyballer. I agree, and noted she said nothing about agility courses. But it's gonna be about the same there too, Shila needs to be civil and comfortable being around strange dogs.

Is a muzzled trip to the dog park in order? Would that just torment her to no end? Am I just being impatient? I mean really. I haven't had her long enough for her to just know how things are done.

Shilatude

From Shila

Ok, well as I mentioned before. Shila has an bad attitude with other dogs. Last week she had issues at dog training, especially with M.G.D. (Mighty Good Dog) the bruiser of an American Golden Labrador Retriever. Yesterday marked her 3rd session, and she (I) was told to go off-leash to get her socialized with the other dogs.

She loves doing agility work and has a kind of king of the mountain complex going on. Heeling, halting, laying down, and letting me lead in general are issues with her. The treats we use with her, I thought were fine. What I'm finding out is when it comes to training and agility training dogs want a treat thats soft and easy to chew on the move, smells like a dead fish, and when it falls it doesn't roll all over the place. One dude had some Lil' Smokie treats for his dog Max. Shila got one from him and wouldn't leave him alone. The training teacher finally decided to give me a whopping handfull of Yummy Chummies dog treats. These are made in Alaska and are pretty dang popular with the dogs, of course. They contain a hearty amount of stinky salmon guts and meats. Once I had a handfull of this stuff Shila was the most well behaved dog. I could have said "Shila, give me a shave and a haircut" and badaboom - I'm Fabio. But I didn't want to freak out my girlfriend.

The most important component to our dog walks is now the squirt bottle. This little clear purple plastic spray bottle with water in it, which I will soon officially dub "The Enforcer". The Enforcer and I had a great walk the other day. A long series of sprays after she ignores a sturn "NO" when she rushes another dog or person stops her in her tracks. She curls up into this little turtle of a dog and pays good attention to me (or The Enforcer) until she feels courageous enough to try it again. Typically one spray session will set her right for the rest of the walk.

I'm still having problems leading her into commands. Keeping her to stay with me is a challenge. Trainer lady said I need to chose a side, I chose the right - where my gripping hand is - as did Teresa. Keeping her on a single side is supposedly much less confusing than letting them run around you all willy nilly. I can see that I suppose. With a hand full of treats, stretchy ones, you can get Shila to attach to a treat long enough to follow you properly, if only for a few seconds. I'm not sure how dedicated I need to be when she is on a walk.

The outdoors is Shilas enemy. She has to survey it, spy on it, pee on it and whine at it. The dark seems to hold more opportunities for her to get distracted or upset. She's about as much of a chicken in the dark as I am. I can totally sympathize.

We have wolves attacking our neighbourhood (link) (link) (link) (link) (link) and you can't be a real Alaskan without a local neghborhood moose or two. Moose don't really like dogs. There's a lot to concider when your dog stops in the middle of the road, looks up and growls. Sam the red dog typically puts his nose up in the air for a good whiff of whatever's coming up, which is typically the best sign to just turn around.

I don't know if most dog owners do this but I stare at my dogs constantly while walking them. Not just because they can be pains every so often, but just to watch them react to the environment and for my own protection. While hiking I keep a steady eye on Sam since he has the best nose and eyes in the group. Then again should I really trust the intuition of a dog that thinks bags blowing in the wind are evil spirits?