Smart Dog

Helping Veterinarians Make Happy Dogs

I'm at the 147th American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Convention in Atlanta, GA. The AVMA, established in 1863, is a not-for-profit association representing more than 80,000 veterinarians.

Everyone who has a dog visits their veterinarian at least once a year. At those visits, vets are often asked about behavior problems. Some vets are busy with medical problems and don't have the time or resources to offer behavior advice.

Here at AVMA, I'm representing Karen Pryor Academy and I'm here to educate veterinarians about positive reinforcement training. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) recommends positive reinforcement training, but it can often be difficult for veterinarians to find qualified positive reinforcement trainers.

Thousands of veterinarians will converge on Atlanta this weekend to attend the conference. We hope to speak to many of them and let them know how easy it is to find a qualified positive reinforcement trainer through Karen Pryor Academy.

This helps the vets. This helps the trainers. This helps the dog owners. But best of all, this ultimately helps all the dogs. The more dogs who receive positive reinforcement training, the more dogs that will stay out of shelters due to behavior problems. The happier the owners will be. And in the end, that makes me happy. Very happy.

 

Teddy Learns to "Kennel"

Teddy's twelve weeks old and I wanted to show you some of the things he's learning. He's had this behavior [run to his crate] for a couple weeks now, but we're still working on getting it nice and polished. I'll be putting more video of Teddy up here on the blog in the next week or so, documenting his progress.

This video shows our early progress on teaching Teddy to run to his crate when (and only when) he hears "kennel." He's pretty good! The fat Rottweiler you see at the end is Copper, who belongs to my parents. She was hoping to scavenge any morsel of food she could find.

Video from Talos' Turn-In

Talos graduated from puppy-raising into advanced training on July 23. While that means we lost the gentle giant, the good folks at Service Dogs of Virginia have gained a new friend and trainee! By all reports, Talos is fitting in just fine in his new environment.

Here's a little bit of the time I spent with Talos at turn-in. It was crazy-hot and I was trying to convince T to at least wade into the water, or maybe just take a drink. He was having none of it.

Talos Fits In!

There's light at the end of the tunnel! I got an email last night from Peggy about Talos. It was such good news I had a hard time falling asleep:

He is one of the gang now. He met all the puppies today, played with Gryphon [his brother], and went to the lake in the evening. He even took a drink. Big brother Arrow was there and he played with everyone. We took a few pix with an iphone. One is a blur with him in the left corner of the frame. He's a blur because he was playing!

At the training center he spent some down time in Amber's office and she said he was not gassy. He did talk to her quite a bit though. He went out to lunch with me and was a pro- slept on his mat and was perfect. He is doing great, making lots of new friends, 2 footed and 4. He is getting tons of love and attention. He really loves it too. 

I slept much better last night and today's outlook is much sunnier now. Go get 'em T!

The Details: Talos' Turn-In

I knew I'd cry, I knew I'd miss Talos. I was completely unprepared for how much and for how long. For me, turn-in's are never easy, but with Talos, the dream Great Dane, it was unbearable. It all started out fine enough...

We were headed to Chris Greene Lake in Charlottesville, VA, where there's a terrific dog park. In hindsight, I think T knew something was up. Normally, he stands in the Element, watching out the back window. For this trip, he had his head right between the two front seats.

When we got to the dog park we let him go off and explore - which he wasn't so keen on doing. He stuck with us for the most part, wandering off a little now and then.

It was ridiculously hot - triple digits - but Talos wouldn't get into the lake to cool off. I tried my best to show him the water wasn't deep, and it was safe to go in, but he was too keyed up. 

His brother, Gryphon, another service dog in training arrived with some Labradors from Service Dogs of Virginia. 

Talos liked them just fine, but wasn't in the playing kind of mood. He wandered, then he'd hang close. Wander and cling, wander and cling. I don't know what I was hoping for, but it wasn't this. He was quite stressed: panting a lot more than normal (even for the heat), his pupils were huge, and he pooped twice. That's a stressed dog. 

We hung out with Peggy, the Training Director, and the Service Dogs of Virginia dogs until dark. Finally when we couldn't see the lake anymore, we headed for the cars. This was the moment of truth for me.

I vowed not to cry in front of Talos. If he wasn't nervous enough already, that might put him right over the edge. I was pretty pleased with myself thus far - I'd managed to stay tear-free (no small feat, I might add). 

We called Talos and showed him the correct vehicle to get into and he said emphatically: NO WAY. Not going. You can't make me. Which is all true, of course. He's 160 pounds - you can't move him if he doesn't want to move! We tried everything, but it was very clear that the more we tried to convince him, the harder he was fighting it. His stress level was rising - not good for any of us. 

I now had to do the thing I so desperately didn't want to do. I had to take Talos to Peggy's house and leave him there. The best laid plans... It would have been so much better (for me) to put Talos into Peggy's vehicle, wave goodbye, and we'd both go our separate ways. I never -- ever -- want to leave a dog and walk out the door with them on the other side.

But guess what I had to do. And let me tell you how hard it was. I thought I wasn't going to be able to leave. I thought my feet wouldn't carry me out the door. And if I did make it out the door, I was certain I wouldn't make it to the car. Not with Talos on the other side of that door, wondering why on earth we'd forgotten to take him with us.

Before I had to do the unthinkable, though, we were able to spend about 30 minutes at Peggy's house with her, Talos, and the dogs (Gryphon and the two Labradors). Talos was more certain than ever that something was up. He was clingy and still panting despite the cooler temperatures after dark.

It felt like a dream to me. Or more accurately, a nightmare. I was sure I was going to wake up and be so relieved that I'd dreamed the whole thing. I kept waiting for that wake-up. And it never happened.

Obviously, I WAS able to walk out the door and leave him behind. I did do it. I managed to get to the car before the torrent of tears started. I cried the entire trip home. I cried that night. I cried the next night, and the next. 

I have vowed to never raise a Dane again. I don't think my heart can take it. It's too painful when I have to let go. The next Dane will be a keeper. I can't go through the misery. Heck, I'm STILL IN the misery!

But each day is a new one. And Talos is adjusting (after a really rocky first night). He'll get into the groove of things and he'll be a superstar service dog. And I'll forever be attached to him no matter what. The pain is excruciating, but I have no choice but to accept it. It's what I signed up for when I brought him home on my lap 14 months ago. 

Stay tuned, there will be more Talos posts - I've got a great Talos tribute video I'm working on. It's going slowly right now because turn-in is still a little raw for me. But give me a month or so, and everyone (including me) will be smiling when they see the video.

Life Without Talos

There'll be another post later today about turn-in. I got pictures and video of the event. Why I want to remember it is beyond me, but I figure in time (a long time), I might be able to look back on this and smile. A little.

I'm trying to ease myself into this life-without-Talos thing. I tried to blog about turn-in yesterday, but found it impossible. Too many tears, too much heartache. So maybe if I go slowly I'll do better.

Life is much less interesting without Talos here. Even the dogs are different. We sat outside last night, enjoying the cooler weather and all the dogs just laid with us.

When Talos was here, he was the ringleader of all things playful. He'd have Nemo up and running all evening. And when those two were running, Tango was retrieving his tennis ball. And when all three dogs got really going, even laid-back Lily would join the melee - and that's something to see! Lily rarely lets her hair down, but Talos' antics could kick her into high gear.

It's amazing all the little things you miss. At every turn this weekend, I'd notice his absence and memories would pluck at my emotions, my heart. I'd occasionally smile, though, which is a good sign. There are still more tears than smiles, but I'm hoping over the next few months, I can at least equalize them.

Hopefully Talos will have his first day at Service Dogs of Virginia. I say hopefully because at turn-in we couldn't get Talos into the vehicle. I'll tell you all about it in another post, but let's just say it was a less-than-ideal turn-in for me. But here's hoping Talos does get in the vehicle and that he has a good first day at school.

Not Ready for Details

Turn-in day came and went and I'm still alive. Not happy, but alive. I will give you all the details maybe tomorrow. It's still a bit raw for me right now. Lots more tears for lots longer than I expected. Just thinking about him brings them 'round again. I need to stop crying - I have a monster headache from all the sniffing!

Of course, it didn't go as planned. But we got through it. And I managed to keep it together until we were back in the car.

The report from Talos' new keeper was that he had a rough night, too. Lots of pacing, whining, uncertainty. T and I had the same kind of night...

Remind me WHY I do this? It's torture.

Keepin' It Light

In light of the serious posts about Talos' turn in, I thought I'd write a few things I won't miss about the big lug:

• Sleeping in 1/4 of the bed. I'll have an entire half of the bed! I'm not sure I'll know how to sleep with so much room.
• Wet, sloppy floors. Shoes are required in this house because after Talos drinks, he leaves half the water  on the floor. Most of the water comes out of his mouth as he's leaving the water bowl. The rest of it he spills as he's drinking it.
• His punctuality. He sleeps a lot, yes, but oh does his internal clock keep really good time. He bangs on the pantry at 7:00a, 12:00p, and 4:30p to remind me meal time is approaching.
• How to put this delicately? His, um, gas. It's pretty near deadly. And which end usually faces me in bed at night? You got it: the business end. There are some nights I go to bed wondering if I'll wake up the next morning.
• Perpetually nose-marked windows in my car and house. Talos' nose is huge. And he likes to put his nose against any glass surface he can find. 
• Comments like: "Where's his saddle?" "Is that a dog or a horse?" "No horses allowed in here!" "Where'd you get the cow?" "If you get tired, just hop on his back and ride him home."  I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Those were funny the first 1,500 times I heard them.
• Super-sized poops. 'Nuf said, pretty self-explanatory. Actually, I sometimes wonder if he's a horse when I'm cleaning them up!
• Sitting on the floor because Talos takes up the entire couch. I must be fair, however: he only takes the entire couch when he's really in a deep sleep. Otherwise, he curls himself up rather politely and leaves 2/3 of the couch for others.
• Cleaning eye-boogers. He's got giant-sized eye-boogers every morning. And they're gross. But I pick 'em out because they're grosser when they stay in his eye.

In a few short hours, those things will be someone else's problem. I gotta go now, there's a couch and a bed calling my name...

Talos Turn-In

Talos has been part of our family since Memorial Weekend 2009. This weekend he's going back to Service Dogs of Virginia where he'll receive more intensive training, then in a few more months, he'll be matched with a person who will become his permanent family.

When you raise a service dog, you know you have to give the dog back eventually. You know about how long you'll keep your charge, but the actual turn-in date depends on lots of factors.

Turn-in day has always been hard for me. I'm ruled by my heart. And my heart is crazy in love with Talos.

Turn-in will be at a dog park/lake in Virginia. We'll be taking Talos there to play and meet his new (temporary) dog family. We'll hang out with Talos, the training director, and the rest of her charges, while Talos gets to know his new friends. We'll stay the entire time, help get Talos into the vehicle and wave as he rides off into the sunset.

Then I cry. A lot. For a long time.

And I wait by my computer for an email letting me know how big T's adjusting to his new surroundings.

While I find nothing good about turn-in, I like doing it this way because we're not disappearing - Talos will be able to see us as he is driven away. And we're not leaving him. We're just going separate ways. 

I'll get lots of updates on Talos. Hopefully lots of pictures and lots of video. Our paths will cross again at Graduation.

Graduation means more tears. Tears of joy, tears of sadness, but for the most part Graduation is a happy event for me. I get to see Talos again, but even better - I get to see Talos and his new person working happily together.

This is THE toughest part of service dog training for me. I don't mind getting up three or four times a night with a new puppy, I don't mind all the good-manners training, I don't mind all the teething and chewing and biting from a puppy.

It's the turn-in that's rough. But it's a necessary part of puppy raising. It's what has to happen if this big guy's going to go off and do good things with his life.

Go do good things, T. You've got a lot more to give and while I'll grieve your absence, I know you'll be onto the next new adventure, on your way to making someone's life better. 

(Photo by Mary Kate McKenna.)

Glass Half Full

This is a tough week for me. It's the last of the lasts. The last weekend with Talos. The last Sunday, the last Monday, the last Tuesday...you get the picture.

Yesterday was difficult for me. I had just enough free time to think about the implications. I cried a few times.

But today's a new day.

And I hate to be the girl who ruins the remaining time we have together by thinking about how sad I'll be once Talos is at Service Dogs of Virginia.

I'll have plenty of time to be sad. I need to be happy. My T is still here, right now.

I need to be a glass half full girl.

Which I am. Usually. So I gave myself a little lecture this morning and decided that I'd have to just make myself be optimistic. Optimistic's better than pessimistic. It makes me happier to be optimistic.

So here's what I've come up with in my glass-half-full vision:

• Talos will love this new adventure: new dog-friends to meet and play with; new human-friends who will love him silly.
• Lots of new things to learn. His mind will be utilized to the fullest!
• Plenty of outings in public. No one loves being out in public more than Talos!
• Going back means he's one step closer to becoming a service dog - he'll change someone's life!

A couple other pluses:

• No more slobber hanging from the lights or the walls.
• There won't be any banging on the pantry door at 7:00a, 12:00p, and 5:00p -- reminding me that it's feeding time.
• The toilets will always be full - Talos won't use them as water bowls.
• I'll have my entire half of the bed back!

If I keep repeating these things, maybe I can keep that glass half-full... Or not.