Good morning, Rye!

Yesterday we did some long line work at one of the YMCA soccer fields. There were some trees, park benches, bleachers, and a fence that we were able to explore. Rye was interested in what all the people were doing many yards away, but we did not see any other dogs. Today Rye and I had a lesson with her trainer where we focused on getting my leash work dialed in. We're not seeing the attention and progress from Rye that we'd like (Rye is blowing me off and checking out). We are initiating "Mom Diet", where Rye is restricted from anything of value unless she works with Mom. Hopefully this will increase my value over the month that this is implemented. I will have daily documentation to keep me in check. I need to: Log my interactions with her (including every time I talk to her) Work on my short leash turns at home we can't progress to working on them in another location unless we nail it at home Continue long leash enjoyment Meals are rewards for doing correct beha...

  Yesterday and today Rye and I went to the city dog park ... kinda but not really but close? Yesterday we went to the edge of the Cedar Bark Park parking lot and sat in the car with the windows rolled down. I wanted Rye to have a chance to hear and smell other dogs from far away, but was disappointed that there weren't many there. Today we went back but did our own short and long leash work in the soccer field next to the park. Rye, of course, had a great time. We only saw dogs from very far away and on the other side of the dog park fence. It's still hot out and we didn't stay long. Rye and I still have a long way to go before we can even come close to existing near other dogs without incident, but hopefully we'll get there together.

  Rye and I are continuing to put in the work. She is not as cooperative for nail trimmings as previously reported, but we won't give up. She also has diarrhea again. The night before last she woke us up with whining. When I took her to the backyard, it was clear she really had to go and I'm thankful she was able to hold it until then. It's not fun washing out a crate at 3AM. I put her back to bed, but she woke us up again a couple more times. As much as I didn't want her to learn she can just whine us until we let her out, I also don't want to risk her having to be a mess inside her crate. Thankfully no mess, she was just thrilled to be awake. I've put Rye on a fast to see if that helps her reset. I found a park off old 183 and New Hope that is way back in a neighborhood. It was nice and shaded with several picnic tables but no playground ... just a basketball court seemingly strangely placed in the middle of a huge field. Rye had a great time doing long leash ...

  Rye and I are continuing to work through our difficulties and enjoy our successes. We lucked out on a very nice park off Lakeline Thursday morning. It had a stretch of grass on the outer edge that spanned the backyards of the neighborhood that was empty. We did see dogs walking in the park and along the outside of the park, but this narrow stretch was unused. I've been continuing to work with Rye with her meals, rewarding her with her kibble in the morning and evening as she performs her tasks. Every night I'd ask her to give me her paws and successful passes (without her yanking her arm back) gets rewarded. We eventually escalated to bringing out the smaller nail clippers and having it in my hand, then touching her with it, and the past couple nights I have even been able to clip a nail without her even attempting to snap. She definitely doesn't enjoy  it, but she has been so much more accommodating and trusting. I don't push her too much. For whatever reason she...

 Rye and I have been continuing to try new parks to get some fresh exposure to different scenery and do some long leash work. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Since the last post, we had 2 bad places but yesterday morning we got really lucky.  On Sunday morning, we tried a large neighborhood park that had an open field. On paper it looked fine, but the reality was that the weather was gorgeous and everyone else wanted to walk their dog too. It was 8AM but still there were a lot of people and dogs around and inside the field. I had managed to get Rye out and walk a bit, but there were 360 degrees of distraction for her. We called it quits early. Yesterday we went to a nice park that we once had our daughter's birthday party at. We lucked out, no dog walkers but a couple of joggers. We had a lovely time. Rye got to roll around in fresh cut grass. We looked at the nearby stream. She was pretty interested in the people walking by. I realized she's not actually inter...

  We hit up another retention pond / baseball practice field for our long leash work yesterday. This time, my husband came along for a more challenging distraction. On our drive there, he noted how quiet she was in the car! Rye has certainly come a long way and I'm glad he noticed.  Hubby was pretty distracting for Rye. While I was waiting to get her out of her crate, he was pacing back and forth nearby. Even though Rye knew who he was, seeing someone walk by was very exciting. We had a nice time in this field. It butts up behind the city's league fields and isn't far from our house but takes a while to get around to the back road. There was a narrow entrance due to the surrounding houses and at the back of the field looked like a path that leads elsewhere through some trees. Hubby was good to forge ahead and make sure no one was coming. He got to see how I work her with the long and short leash. We found some baseballs and some interesting limestone rocks (which he took ho...

Over the long Labor Day weekend, Rye stayed with her trainer while I was out of town. Rye was dropped of Friday morning and on Tuesday morning we had another private lesson and went home. Rye had a busy last few days, packed with more challenging situations. Some surprising things to learn was that Rye seemed to submit to a male trainer faster. Cynthia had sent me a small video of Rye with her trainer friend and I was shocked to see how relaxed Rye was with him getting out of a vehicle and standing in the front yard. Shocked and a little bitter, but whatever <eye roll>. Rye even got to meet another dog she didn't want to kill! Progress? Rye still did have GI issues and had an accident in her crate overnight. Yesterday and today her stool is still soft, but I wouldn't call it diarrhea. I'm continuing to add probiotics with her meal. Rye seemed to really enjoy the Jolly ball. We worked on a slower paced leash handling without the ecollar. I need to be very strict with R...