Emotional regression perhaps less this year?

[Shamas mom]

Shamas seems to be regressing less this year. He's definitely more jumpy with the onset of fall weather, and we had a lingering incident yesterday. But on the same page, last night he walked to the main road, and past a dog that was laying down next to the sidewalk. Granted, my youngest(fear of dogs) took a long time to work up the nerve to walk past, so Shamas had plenty of time to see the dog was safe.

This morning is the kind of wet, noisy morning that would have in previous years resulted in a no-walk day. Here are some photos from this morning. He's a bit tense at times, but well behaved


See him go tense there? Geese honked. He's normally not bothered by geese but I think the bag bothered him too
Now he wants to go home. Once he gets over to the train tracks, he's in a good mood again, even dropping into a trot a few times



If anyone observes anything that is helpful in getting through the yearly regression, I'm always game.

 

[kateincornwall]

Well done to you both , baby steps are still positive steps , he looks very relaxed x

 

[Shamas mom]

Well done to you both , baby steps are still positive steps , he looks very relaxed x

Yes. other than when the geese honked, he was very good. He still does his protests, trying to stay on his beaten path, but we've been able to walk different ways with him a lot more. William street was completely off the table until recently, so we took a long way around, using William as part of the route home, instead of trying to walk him down it. As a result, the other night when my eldest came home after dark, I was able to grab the dog and meet her at the bus stop at the end of that street without protest.

We walked to the Timmies on the main road a few times now without panic attacks now- huge progress. Last night's walk was one of those times. We've been taking that route in the evenings, when he's bolder, and traffic is lighter...and on a holiday. Once he's comfortable with the route, we'll try it in daytime during normal traffic. Shamas likes night walks, and seems less nervous, more willing to try new things. Night walks are generally twice as long as day walks, as a result.

I'd like to get to the point of being able to cross York..but that street sees a lot of traffic, so it's probably a good 6m-a year off. Crossing Hamilton to get to the other Timmies is in and of itself an achievement. It's a throughfare, but a minor one. 4 lanes. York has 6 lanes of traffic.

We have construction a block from home now, too- one of his big fears, when we got him- so he's had no choice but to acclimate to those sounds. That's been going on for nearly a year now, and he's become capable of walking past the site during daytime hours, since it's off of the street.

 

[Shamas mom]

Well, it's begun


5 degrees, and damp today. Shamas refused to leave the driveway. Nope, not having it. Want to go home. Outside is SCARY! Now he's inside, barking at everything that walks by, because he's not had exercise :/

I can hear a train...and the nearest train tracks are a good 30 minute off in that direction
I can hear construction, which right now is a good 20 minutes away
I can hear one of those ride on chair thingies he hates
And a low obnoxious hum

And that's just my HUMAN ears- I imagine he can hear a lot more

 

[Shamas mom]

So I got him out, but I had to use a front leading harness and collar both for safety, in case he bolted. At one point he tried to get away from me and I had to wait for him to calm down. there were people coming up on both sides from behind him. He's calmer now, after a walk.

I was in the process of trying to swap the lead from the harness to the collar when a dog came out of a house two doors down, and he tried to lunge...so I held him by the shoulder straps and told him to wait....note to self- attach a small lead to the collar and a 4foot to the harness, like at the beginning so as to avoid swapping leads. I ended up sticking with the harness after that, and just looped a finger through the collar when I needed to lead him by the head.

I've noticed, when he's panicky, he needs a hand at his head to lead him...but if he's trying to bolt I prefer the lead on his body to reduce the risk of neck damage. I'd rather prevent a bolt from his shoulders than his neck, so during the bad times I use both a collar and harness

 

[FayRose]

Oh goodness @Shamas mom , I've obviously missed posts in the past about Shamas and his problems. Without having to go through all the things you've explained before, may I just ask if he's always been like this and have you had him since a pup?

 

[Atemas]

So I got him out

Well done

 

[Jacqui-S]

Sounds like a tough day for you and Shamas

 

[Beanwood]

That's tough. Can you look at training inside when he is feeling a little anxious?

 

[Lab_adore]

You are such a good doggie mum @Shamas mom. I'm sorry for these ongoing issues.

 

[Lisa]

That’s so tough. Glad you managed a walk but sorry it was so stressful for you both!

 

[Cath]

Be kind to yourself

 

[Shamas mom]

Oh goodness @Shamas mom , I've obviously missed posts in the past about Shamas and his problems. Without having to go through all the things you've explained before, may I just ask if he's always been like this and have you had him since a pup?

We've had him for three years. We got him Oct 27, 2017. He was 5 then and he was a basket case outside of the house, but the sweetest thing inside. We theorise that he's country-bred and never socialized properly. A trainer that we had has made comments about the possibility of him having been a puppy mill stud-many of his quirks and phobias are consistent with what you see in recovering puppy mill dogs, and he was only "fixed" two days before his adoption, at the pound.

During the first two years, we had what we called "No Walk Days" Those were days when Shamas was just so afraid of the outside world that he wouldn't leave the property.

He graduated from the property, to the train tracks, two properties over last year on no-walk days. We Do have a big yard, so he plays fetch...both indoor and outdoor on his bad days.

What we've been working on lately, is trying to teach him that you can walk places that are not the exact same way you walk every day. During his fearful times, in order to get him to walk, we went a few feet more each time...down a set route. And over three years of walking a set rounte, it became entrenched to him that that is the "safe" way to walk.

So when I took him out yesterday, on a day that very much had the potential to become a "no walk day" we took the "safe way"

Down our street, turn right. cross one road, walk to the next corner. Turn left. Hug the buildings of the industrial/sales plaza and smell their plants. Throw out poop, Back to crosswalk and hug mom's legs whilst we wait for the light to let us get away from the cars. Two streets up, turn left. Go to Tim Hortons. Wait outside, watch mom get her coffee. Yay, mom got me a thing! C'mon, I have to get it home safe! Reverse course and now Shamas is pulling the whole way

 

[Shamas mom]

That's tough. Can you look at training inside when he is feeling a little anxious?

There are things I can do inside, but the problem is...if I can't get him out, he harasses the cats. Or rushes the window to bark at every person that walks by the house.Or throws his big heavy ball at people trying to do homework. Or knocks you around the knees to get your attention because he's got too much energy.. I spent too much time in management mode. And I had a 12-8:30 shift, so I didn't want to leave him home with the teenagers, in a mental state that was going to lead him into trouble every five minutes. He'd be in time out for half my shift if I left him home like that.

 

[Joy]

I realised that you had to deal with reactivity with Shamas but I hadn't understood the extent of the difficulties you face. What a great doggy mum you are!

 

[Cath]

I realised that you had to deal with reactivity with Shamas but I hadn't understood the extent of the difficulties you face. What a great doggy mum you are!

Neither did I. If he feels safe doing the same walk, well thats what I would do. Did the people where you got him from tell you anything @Shamas mom? You are wondrful with him xx

 

[FayRose]

Thank you for the explanation @Shamas mom , I had no idea of his background.

Good for you sticking with him with such challenging problems, seriously tough stuff. It seems then that the change of season sees his problems increase. Good luck, I admire your patience.

 

[Shamas mom]

Neither did I. If he feels safe doing the same walk, well thats what I would do. Did the people where you got him from tell you anything @Shamas mom? You are wondrful with him xx

We know that he was picked up off the side of the highway. The trainer suspects puppy mill backgrounds. We are certain that he's country bred and raised.

He's afraid of...and very specifically...overweight women in their 40-50s with shrill voices, and extremely reactive to small dogs in the company of those people...

On the other side, he loves short haired men in the 30-40s demographic who wear baseball hats and will pull to meet them.

He's reactive to adult dogs walking with owners but loves puppies. We've developed enough personal experiences now that he likes dogs in human places(stores, Tim Horton's, etc)

We got him from a pound, so there's little to no history. We can only go by his reactions.

 

[Cath]

You are doing a great job with him.

 

[Shamas mom]

So we seem to be bouncing back pretty quickly this year. That's good. I DID get him a new harness and saddlebags, complete with a front clip high up on the chest, and both girth and belly straps to hold it in place. Good design, it seems like it was made for him. The placement of the front clip feels more like a low collar clip than a chest clip. This way I can walk him more like the way I'm used to, but without fear of him slipping a collar in a panic. He looks handsome in his new gear.

He's gotten bigger over this year...his other harnesses don't fit him well anymore. One's pinching, and the other, my preferred harness, has been extended to it's farthest reach. He's solid into a Large now. Still steady around 70lbs, so not overweight...but a little thicker in the chest.

This is the design: I dont have a good photo of my boy yet. He's only carrying masks, and poop bags in the packs, which look a bit flimsy to put any actual weight in. But that's fine, I only wanted to carry the basics.