Rob Alleyne's Visit - Part Deux

Azz posted a good comment in my earlier entry regarding Rob's recent visit. A comment response wouldn't have really done his post justice, so I thought I'd do my best to clarify a little.

I think there are two things at issue. Firstly, my attempt to condense an entire seven hours of conversation, instruction, and guidance into a few paragraphs. Secondly, my interpretation, or Azz's interpretation of Blondi and her behaviours. Whose interpretation is wrong is actually completely immaterial.

I've sat and thought about this a while and the best analogy I can give is as follows:

Let's say Azz and I are walking towards one another on the same side of the street. It's late, and I'm carrying a cricket bat. Should Azz be worried because he sees me walking towards him, on a street, at night, carrying a heavy wooden bat? What about if I'm wearing cricket whites, would that make a difference? Would he even notice the whites if his focus was upon the bat? What about if someone then approached him and said "Look out Azz, that guy with the bat battered someone ten minutes ago." Azz, then with a more complete cache of facts to draw from can see me walking towards him in a broader context. Why? Because he's now aware of facts he didn't see previously. It was only because someone else did see them and relayed them to him, that he's now able to take whatever action he chooses to take.

The same is true of Blondi's behaviour and my past interpretation of it. I'd seen the big issues that stood out in front of me, and presumably, bothered me the most. What I hadn't seen, sometimes because physically Blondi has done them when my eyes are on a different part of her or not on her at all, other times, when, again, I presume, I've just not even been looking for them.

Rob showed his excellent reading skills, by not only predicting one of Blondi's next actions, but actually predicting a chain of next actions. One example of reading her far better than I was when he and I were talking in a closed room downstairs with Blondi in the room, and Blondi had just been pushed away repeatedly by Rob for climbing up on him. I then said I was going to open the room door, and betted that Blondi would attempt to scarper upstairs to my partner, if for no other reason, than to be nosey, as she "always does".

Rob, at this point, said no she won't. She'll stay here with us. There was no way he could be right in my view. I live with my dog day in and day out, and I've seen her go upstairs to my partner, time after time in similar situations, and, after all, Rob had just "rejected" her, so why should she not go and try her luck upstairs, where she could almost be assured of some attention, even if it was a "****** off" from my partner? The reason was, at least it seems, because there's still some challenge to be had downstairs. "OK, I couldn't climb up Rob, but maybe now if I walk around his chair and whine he'll meet my demands and acknowledge me. And hey, even if he doesn't there's Maz, who I know will stroke me if I go and push myself against him or even just walk past him. Either way, I'm going to get what I want -- attention on my terms", type of thing.

As for the shyness; again a slightly poor interpretation on my part may be at fault here. In fact, almost certainly is. As it turns out, Blondi could take attention all day long, as long as it's strictly on her terms, and strictly when she decides that you are worthy. If she wants to mouth my hand then she'll damn well mouth my hand. If she wants to lift her paw and scratch my face, then that's what she'll do, particularly as I haven't given her sufficient consequence to dissuade her from doing it. I can't and won't smack my dog, so why on earth should I take it from her? I shouldn't. But I have done!

What he's now taught us to do is to just stroke her for very small periods when she's say, perhaps lying down quietly. And only for such a short time so that she doesn't even get time to think about mouthing. It also rewards her for just laying down calmly, which is what we would like to see her do.

I think, if anything, today taught me that you can read a million books and watch a million television programmes, but nothing will come even remotely close to getting a behaviourist in who will look at your dog, and you, interacting in your everyday environment, and spotting the things that you have either misinterpreted, missed completely, ignored, or accepted as compromise from what you really wanted in the first place. Only when someone like Rob, who has no emotional bias to your dog or you, comes along and you have the full picture shown to you, do you see just how much liberty a dog like Blondi takes. That's not her fault. That's what she's programmed to do -- anything and everything she can get away with to help her get through the day. If I don't set parameters on what is available and acceptable, I can then hardly blame the dog for taking liberties.

As it is, she's now going to be getting attention, but not because I want to get her used to getting attention and become "less shy", but because she's laying down, remaining calm, carrying out an instruction successfully, or whatever else. I may now be just sitting down watching TV, the dog laying down beside me, I can just reach over, stroke, and give a "Good Girl" because she's doing something that makes living within our home more practical and more safe, as opposed to jumping on the sofa, pacing up and down, and so forth.

I have read both post and i can honestly say that I think you have made a very fair and brave appraisal of your situation, openly admitting your own faults without prejudice, it was a pleasure to read and I wish you every luck with your training for the future(I'm sure you won't need it).

I second that posted by Mutthouse

Very good blog.
It is funny I have always been the trainer in my house but it is on occasion that it has been Sid that has pointed out things before my very nose that I hadn't noticed Ozzy getting away with!
I guess it is always worth gaining a different perspective, sometimes when you are in the tunnel you cannot see the light.

Good luck with your training for the future and I look forward to the updates.

I agree, it doesn't matter where the wires were crossed or who the misinterpretation was down to (no harm done as nobody was actually advising you in anyway, just listening and following your progress via your blog ). What matters is Blondi has been seen by a professional and you're doing your best to help see her right. Keep us posted!