Two Steps Forward

We went to the farmer's market which didn't end up being very great in the people-socialization process, but it was good on the dog front. As soon as we got there some guy on his cell phone randomly reached for Tucker before I could stop him and Tucker growled and darted away. We walked around for a bit and met several dogs including two he met last time he went (an elderly Golden and a Chihuahua). His favorite dog was a 12 year old dog slightly larger than him, my dog likes oldies.

He then played with the Chihuahua and a Pug/Beagle mix for a while but eventually the owner's husband and two kids came back so we had to vacate the area. But we sat on a bench about 10 feet away and I rewarded him for looking at or moving toward the kids or any kids that walked by. A little girl actually squatted 5 feet away stared at and talked to him and Tucker didn't get nervous at all (me shoving turkey into his mouth probably helped).


But the best part of the weekend was yet to come. My friend from college came over for a visit. Tucker had never met her before so I figured it would be a great opportunity to socialize him since I knew she would listen to me. I met her out at her car and gave her my spiel: Don't talk to, stare at, or touch him. He's going to bark like a psycho dog and then might sniff you, this does not mean you can pet him. He might even put his front paws on your leg, this is still not an invitation to touch him. Don't do anything to him at all until I tell you to. She was a bit confused, she thought that if she talked gently to him and let him sniff her hand that he would come around, but I told her that would be a very bad thing to do and she agreed to ignore him.

Tucker barked a lot so I leashed him and took him out of the room for a few seconds, brought him back in and he gave a couple of woofs but was done with that. He sniffed her all over and she ignored him. Then he was fine and sat on the couch and paid her no mind. I was kind of shocked. She could move around and laugh and walk by him and he couldn't have cared less. Usually he is paranoid for hours. But usually people don't listen to me and ALWAYS offer a hand to be sniffed along with a "hi Tucker!" which sets him off. It really consolidated in my mind that he is not a lost cause in this regard and that I DO know what needs to be done but people just need to follow my instructions. After about 20 minutes I let her pet him, he didn't seem pleased so I didn't let her do it for more than a few seconds but he didn't do his telltale barking and he didn't shy away or give obvious calming signals, he just didn't look like he wanted it.

We went out for a few hours and when we came back he only barked a few times before remembering she wasn't evil. She stayed for a few more hours and he eventually came up to her asking for pets. By the time she was ready to leave he was sitting on her lap. I was ecstatic.


THEN on Monday we had a cookout. The only people who came that he didn't really know were my grandparents (nana and papa). They've been over before but he's never been able to get comfortable with them because they don't stay long enough or come when we have TONS of other people. Oh, and Tucker HATES Papa. The first time Papa met Tucker, Tucker was almost going to bark but *just* held himself back (and I rewarded him because he would usually bark). And then Papa barked at my dog. And then Tucker panicked and barked like I'd never heard him bark before. Since then Papa has constantly tried to make friends with Tucker, he keeps trying to touch him or play with him, things strangers should never try to do with Tucker. Papa would just not listen to me and insisted on forcing himself on my dog. So anyway, Tucker was not fond of Papa.

We were outside when they came and he went off with barking. I dragged him away and told them to just ignore him. Nana said okay (She's not an animal person in the first place) but papa came over to me (with the snarling, barking dog who was straining at the end of his leash) and growled at Tucker, said something to him about being "a tough little dog" in a demeaning baby voice because the Chihuahua mix must be harmless. I told papa to ignore him again, which he disregarded so I had to be direct and kind of shouted "don't pet him!". Papa quickly took him hand back and went inside.

Then I was on the deck with Tucker and Nana came out, I told her not to pay any attention to him and she didn't. Within about 10 seconds Tucker had sniffed her legs and was completely fine with her. Tucker went out into the yard on his 50' leash and Papa came out, Tucker didn't notice (or didn't care) and stayed in the yard. Papa sat for a few minutes and then asked where the dog was. I waved over to where he was and Papa started to get up. I asked where he was going and he said he had to go make friends with the dog. I nonchalantly told him to just leave him be. Papa kept moving, I stood up and told him he should really leave Tucker alone. Papa said no, he wanted to make friends with him, and asked if I was sure he should leave him alone. I said yes I was sure. Papa thought on this and then said "no, let me try" and again started moving towards the lawn. At this point I actually stepped right in front of him and said "no, you should leave him alone, he won't like it" and Papa finally said "No? oh, okay" and sat down.

About 15 minutes later Tucker came on the deck, where everyone was seated. He sniffed Papa and put his front paws on his lap, Papa pet him and then they were friends. I have a feeling my jaw hit the ground.


So Tucker is making progress, I'm going to keep protecting him from the evil strangers and see if he gets less paranoid about their intentions. Usually I let adults offer him treats and see if he'll take them but I think now seeing just how well ignoring him works, I'm going to stop letting strangers do any reaching like that. I think if he stops feeling like everyone wants to touch him he might not react so quickly when people talk to or look at him. I might let them toss treats, we'll see.


And because my blog needs pictures, here is Tucker happy that it's finally summer so he can spend time outside

First trip to the park this summer

I've been home from college for two weeks now and the weather is FINALLY nice so I thought we ought to head to the park. His fear of strangers isn't going to get any better by itself so I've decided to really step up the counter conditioning. We had some left over chicken that I cut up for treats and we headed out.

Tucker took an interest in a woman who was watching her kid play on the swings. He came up about 8 feet behind her before I stopped him and he laid down and tried to crawl over hoping I wouldn't notice. Tucker's odd like that, despite being scared of strangers he is SUPER interested in them right up until they become interested in him. It's actually a bit dangerous because he puts himself so close (he'll even put his front paws up on their legs) that when the stranger pays attention to him he is WAY over threshold.

The woman eventually noticed him and he sat up and cocked his head at her (and I started throwing chicken). We got talking about her two terriers and I told her I was working on his fear of strangers. I don't think she believed me because he was straining at the leash to go see her. She sat down and offered a hand which he didn't like so he startled came to me, no barking though which is good. She then just sat on the ground and left him alone as I tossed him treats for looking at the woman or moving towards her. He seemed really relaxed through the whole thing. She'd occasionally look at him so I rewarded for him tolerating that too. Usually any sort of acknowledgement from a stranger sets him off.

Her friend and husband eventually came over and I tossed him treats for looking at them as they walked around him. When her daughter started to come over we left, I don't want him too close to kids yet.

A little girl did want to pet him but didn't want to ask. She kept approaching us and then going somewhere else. Gave me lots of opportunities to reward him for staying calm though. Then we'd retreat so she never got too close for him. Eventually she starting coming too close and I told her he was shy and so she couldn't pet him. I gave him treats while she stood there and I talked to her. The little girl informed me that he liked her and started coming closer so I told her he would start barking if she tried to pet him, and I rewarded him for staying calm and then patted my thigh and told him to come with me as we moved away. He never got nervous through the whole interaction which is big for him, kids usually set him off just by approaching.

So overall a successful day for us, I'm proud of him. I think we will be able to make some good progress with adults. Not sure about kids as I don't want to risk letting him get too close to one. For now I'm not letting them interact with him at all and I'll stick to rewarding him while they ask to pet him and get rejected (yes, I'm a heart breaker).

In other news I'm training Tucker to pick up random things and give them to me. I started with his toy and now he can do keys. I tried to see if he'd do it with a clip (the ones that keep bags of food closed) and he just picked it up and tried to run off with it, so I'll have to try tying his toy to it like I did with the keys. I'm hoping this trick could actually be useful for my parents as they get older. I'm also thinking I can eventually use it to get him to put his toys away or put laundry in the laundry basket.

I'm also working on getting him to stop bothering Willie (cat) so much. There have been some improvements. I let him air snap and jump around like an idiot in front of the cat but stop him if he grabs him with his mouth and tries to slip him over (generally when they DO play Willie rolls onto his back and slaps him from there). Willie actually played with him twice this week and didn't stay on his back the whole time, he got up and chased Tucker a little which was nice to see. Tucker is responding to me when I tell him to stop but he still tries to start back up a few times before giving up. It's a habit that will take a while to break, Willie is his favorite toy.

He also took his first trip to the woods, I kept him on his long line and we practiced lots of the come command, he did really well, if I stopped moving for too long he'd run back to me to see what I was doing. Wouldn't try going in the water yet but it was kind of rainy and cold out so maybe when it's warmer.

So we're making progress, I'm going to bring him to the farmer's market downtown on Saturday and work on counter conditioning some more. I'm going to try to get him to the park at least twice a week, so in addition to the farmer's market every Saturday we should continue seeing him improve.

Meet Tucker

This is Tucker

Tucker came into our lives in August 2010. My mom, suffering from empty nest syndrome, wanted a dog to keep her company. So a petfinder search began. Weeks of searching until finally we saw two little puppies named Chips and Beans, Chihuahua mixes, 8 weeks old.

We put in an application for either of them. The wait was unbearable, it's all we could think about. But what were the chances? Two small breed puppies would be snapped up in an instant. I knew mom would be devastated if we didn't get one of them, she was already picking out names. Then they were taken off of the website. Our hopes slowly started to fade, but then we got the phone call, we were still in the running, but a lot of people had applied for them. Two days later we got the call and knew Beans would be ours.

Tucker's mom and another Chihuahua mix (possibly the father) were found wandering the streets of TN. The mom was pregnant and soon gave birth in a foster home, to Chips and Beans. The rescue we applied for them through is called PAWS New England and they take dogs from the south and transport them up to the new england states when people, like us, apply for them. Two weeks after we were approved, Beans (and Chips too) was put on a truck with many other lucky dogs and sent up to us. We named our little pup Tucker. Not long after Tucker came to us, both his mother and possible father were adopted down in TN.

Tucker had a lot to learn. He'd never been on leash or been away from his brother. But he adjusted quickly.

He loved to play and chew, and BOY did he like to nip. He could jump really high too, and grab onto your shirt and hang there. But he learned that that's no way to play with people, we're far to delicate for that, and learned to take it all out on his toys instead.

I had to go off to college and leave my puppy behind. When I came back for my first visit he sure had grown!

and had learned how to coexist with the feline kind too.

and he learned how to fetch

and roll in things that smell

Then he had his first Christmas

and he had his first snow

and now he's having his first spring.

I love my crazy little dog, even though I don't get to see him as much as I'd like to. With summer approaching I'm going to be able to go home soon, so I want to make this blog as a tribute to his awesomeness and to keep track of all the accomplishments he's gonna have. Tucker has a few issues we need to work on, he's very shy with strangers (but getting better), really likes to chew things up (also getting better), and still has the occasional accident. So I'm hoping to make a lot of progress with those things this summer. I also plan to teach him some fun tricks, and maybe start doing some agility with him. Tucker is active, athletic, fun, loving, smart, and mischievous, just the way a good dog should be. I hope you enjoy reading about my Tuck man, I know he's got some fans out there.