A couple of WOW's

[Chris]

Thought I'd share a couple of wow moments I've just had.

First was the other day with a dog. Because we spend 8-12 hrs a day 7 days a week at work most of my work with the dogs is done here. Having a reactive dog means I've learnt a lot of management skills to keep other dogs away and Ty safe. Not easy when our so called backyard is open to the operational area so the machines can come and go. The public are not allowed in this area but it's not 100% secure. Anyway one of the workers is having problems at home with his dog so he's bringing it to work and tying it up away from my guys while he's on shift. Old JD who's worked here forever felt sorry for Rocky and decided to take him for a walk, you guessed it, right through our 'open' backyard

I heard Ty bark and rushed out to see JD getting towed by Rocky towards Ty who had rushed to our 'invisible' don't cross line in the yard, he was fully fluffed up, dancing up and down moving toward Rocky doing the 'get away from me' bark. Now for two secs my old ways kicked in as I rushed toward a bad situation, I called 'No' to Ty and turned to yell for Arthur to come help. Then suddenly all I thought was "DON'T ADD ENERGY", I tried turning and running away but he wasn't looking at me, then I saw his ball so I call "BALL" and rushed for it. I heard the deep bark turn to a yap and I just beat him to the ball. I waved for JD to take Rocky away and had 3-4 throws of the ball before I put Ty away in the run.

That was the first time he's ever turned away from a dog situation and for once I had the answer for him, man I was SO rapped

Second WOW was we had a truck deliver some goods yesterday, the dogs barked when it arrived, I asked them to go behind me and as we unloaded the goods I put them on a down stay out of the way. The delivery man said they were the best behaved dogs he had seen

It's been a great week

[BrownieNJoyce]

Good to hear your WOWs. Good inspiration for me right now. Thanks!

[rudy]

That is GREAT news Chris! I am so happy for you!

I know how it feels, since I've got a reactive dog, and the spike of adrenaline you get when you see a trigger coming... and how nice it is to have a plan of action that WORKS and keeps everyone safe.

Did you breathe a massive sigh of relief?

There is hope!

Have you listened to the most recent interview Neil had with Behan? About 3/4 of the way into a call a man called in asking what to do about his dog (a Port. water dog) who is aggresive to people and dogs. Behan said as a side note, almost non-chalantly as if the problem were no more troublesome than a flat tire, "oh this is totally solvable..." I got all teary eyed because having a dog like that FEELS like such a huge insurmoutable problem. It is such a relief to hear him say that, and read your progress, knowing that if I do the work (play!) that I won't be in management/crisis prevention mode for the rest of Lou's life.

Please keep giving the updates!

[Sang]

That is fantastic Chris! Love to hear about your successes!

[Sang]

Originally Posted by rudy

Behan said as a side note, almost non-chalantly as if the problem were no more troublesome than a flat tire, "oh this is totally solvable..." I got all teary eyed because having a dog like that FEELS like such a huge insurmoutable problem.

That's what I love about Kevin. He's seen it all, and knows that if you just do the work, it's all solvable. Knowing how relaxed and non chalant he is about it, really helps put you at ease about everything.

Someone will have to remind me to share the story of when my reactive dog went charging after Kevin's neighbor's dog, and his response. It was pretty funny.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by rudy

That is GREAT news Chris! I am so happy for you!

Did you breathe a massive sigh of relief?

Did I what!! but also just so rapped Ty was able to handle the situation and didn't charge the dog that's was such a big step for us, he stopped himself then turned to me for a solution YES.

Originally Posted by rudy

"oh this is totally solvable..." I got all teary eyed because having a dog like that FEELS like such a huge insurmoutable problem. It is such a relief to hear him say that, and read your progress, knowing that if I do the work (play!) that I won't be in management/crisis prevention mode for the rest of Lou's life.

Yes the interview with different folks questions was so helpful. Kevin's comments give me hope that I will understand it one day and also not be in 'management' mode forever.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Sang

Someone will have to remind me to share the story of when my reactive dog went charging after Kevin's neighbor's dog, and his response. It was pretty funny.

Oh I look forward to hearing that story

[rudy]

Me too Sang! Please tell!

[Sang]

Uh oh, now there's been all this buildup It's not really THAT funny. But I'll go ahead and share it.

So first it's important to tell you about Kevin's neighbor's dog, Cousy. She is a Black Lab, and is super sweet. Her owners let her out to wander around, and everyday, like clockwork, she would come trotting up the road to Kevin's place. If I were a dog, I'd do the same thing since there's always something dog related going on at Kevin's place. There's also always a bunch of food crumbs that get dropped into the grass, which Cousy loves to come and eat. Now, Cousy has that terrific Lab temperament. Doesn't seem to matter what kind of dog she comes across, she'll just keep trying to connect. And for that reason alone, she's such a blessing since she doesn't get fazed by the typically crazy dogs that are out and about. And this is where my reactive dog Roxy comes into the picture.

So we're out there working with Roxy, and she is in a down stay. Cousy comes trotting up the road at her normal time, just like always. She trots on past us and starts sniffing out all the food crumbs in the field. While she's doing this about 50 feet away from us, Kevin is explaining something to me, so we're both lost in the conversation, and not paying attention to Roxy. But of course Roxy is well aware of Cousy's presence, and it wasn't long before she pops up and tears across the field to go after Cousy. We both look up, and there's Roxy on her way to jumping Cousy and attacking her, which is what she's always done with other dogs. In the past, what would my reaction have been? "Oh crap! This is going to be bad." But what was Kevin's reaction? He said "Hmmmm......let's just see what happens". Ha! Let's just see what happens. It was so non chalant and so matter of fact. There wasn't a shred of concern in his voice and tone. It was in that moment that I realized just how much Kevin doesn't judge, and just how much he's seen and experienced. His lack of reaction and total lack of concern was just so funny.

That moment really changed how I saw things and responded to situations. That was when I completely felt the lack of judgement and the liberation of being on Kevin's farm. My dog wasn't being judged for her behavior. And neither was I. Everything she was doing was fine, because she was only responding to her feelings, and in this place, no one was going to hold her feelings and reactions against her. It was awesome to be in this place, where I could take her on a walk in the woods, off leash, and we could just be together without the worry or fear of being judged for her behavior. It was a place where my dogs could all just be dogs, they weren't expected to be anything else.

Once Cousy felt Roxy coming, she looked up and saw this white terrier screaming towards her, and Cousy flipped over on her back right before Roxy got there. I've never seen a dog flip over on their back that fast! She definitely knows how to defuse a situation, just like a possum. Because as soon as she flipped over, Roxy stopped and then just started sniffing her. Then she trotted off to explore other things instead, and Cousy got up and resumed her search for food crumbs. Like I said, Cousy's got a lot of experience dealing with unbalanced dogs. She knows how to handle them After that Roxy didn't react to Cousy anymore. I'd take her out for her last pee break before going to bed, and it would be completely pitch black outside, and Cousy would still be out there, and would sneak up on us. But Roxy never reacted to her, even when she was surprised by her. They figured something out on their own, without our intervention. Thanks in large part to Cousy of course.

Dogs know what to do if we trust them enough to let them show us what has to happen. Sadly, we often interfere without letting things run their course. We're so caught up in trying to prevent and control situations, that even if nothing were going to happen, we still live in a state of fear that something bad WILL happen. And that fear just fuels the fire.

Anyway, probably a bit anti climatic, but I just found Kevin's reaction, or lack of reaction in that moment so funny. My wife and I had a really good laugh about it at dinner, and then we were laughing about it for days later.

So there you go. One of many fun stories about hanging out with Kevin.

[Chris]

Thanks so much for sharing.

It's really made me think long and hard about judging the dog and yes I spend so much time trying to save a situation so Ty and I won't get 'judged' by others. I also still judge myself but working on that.

How great that the lab was so totally cool and able to deal with Roxy's charge the way she did.

Love hearing these sorts of stories they really give food for thought.