Otter's Journey....

[Beanwood]

A video of the gang out together! I am a bit cautious right now with her off-lead and the gang. She is bit ill-mannered around Benson and luckily he hasn't the heart to moan at her . She had a few mins off lead though today, honestly I had my heart in my mouth! She was happy though engrossed in some wierd game of bouncing on the grass?? I mean why? You can see how tiny she is in the vid. I use my "scatter" cue to gain her attention, when she completely ignores my recall!

The gang...




The vid.....starring Otter, Benson, Bramble and Casper...

 

[Jacqui-S]

Otter is gorgeous.
Does that whip-like tail ever stop wagging?

 

[HAH]

Aren’t they just the most glorious pack?! I love Caspar’s happy barking at your whistle- “I’m here already!” Kipper’s been doing a bit of grass bouncing lately, like a little arctic fox - I wonder if there are a lot of tiny creatures out and about under the tussocks?

 

[Stacia]

Otter is mouse hunting

 

[Cath]

Otter is mouse hunting

Annie does this too

 

[Granca]

That waggy tail is just gorgeous - and so long too!

 

[Lab_adore]

What a gorgeous video and such a lovely spot.

 

[Lisa]

Beautiful doggies....and I’m now in full-blown green grass envy. There will no green to be seen here until April

 

[Stacia]

Beautiful doggies....and I’m now in full-blown green grass envy. There will no green to be seen here until April

I couldn't stand that

 

[MellowYellow]

SO engrossed in her mouse hunting, bless her!

 

[Charlie]

Aww that photo of the gang is superb, one for framing. Charlie does the exact same bouncing in our garden as Otter. I wonder if there is a mouse or frog something scuttling around. Casper is simply gorgeous and looking so well. Love his deep bark xx

 

[Beanwood]

Otters knee Rehab

We are now as from today, allowed 10 mins off lead, after an appropiate time on lead, which is around 15 mins. I then pop her back on lead for another roughly 20 mins, depending on our walk. I don't want her to learn that the on lead is the precursor to off lead, we will be in all sorts of trouble if she learns that! We are still doing just as much prioreceptor training, as as she confident on the exercises, we are able to increase duration, and working very specifcally. I can get her into the positon I want for example, then gently put pressure on her side to put more weight through her affected side. I use an old soft cheese tub with licky treats to reward her for accepting a little pressure, and she lets me know she is OK with it.
Today we had a short session at rehab, with a little chiropractrickery and a massage. Her muscles are developing well. Otter weighs 24. 6kg.

Photo of Otter. She has her front elevated on a carpeted box (thank you @Mr Beanwood !! ) to move weight to her rear. Both her back paws are targeting the toe mats. You can see the leg( on our right) is the affected one, it is still externally rotating, but a huge improvement.




Mood

This is another area where we have made huge inroads. Otter is still on medication, and will be probably for another 4 months. She seems much more able to process new stuff, and indeed work through previous scenarios where she would have had previously displayed quite high anxiety. With me Otter will run to the back of the car, and without any prompting will jump at the back wanting to get in. This is a huge, huge C-change in behavour.

Otter has been out on a few very quiet walks where we have met people and other dogs. These needed to be "oh so carefully" managed because of several reasons, Otter is on a lead, therefore it is hard to express herself and I can't control other people or their dogs. I also have a fear that as she is in rehab, there is a risk of injury, I worry that this anxiety I have may travel down the lead. Otter seems to think people out and about on walks are different, than associations she has previously made about people. Actually at times she seems to quite simply "forgotten" to be anxious. That is OK on the surface of things, then you remember...Otter is actually an adolescent labrador! This improvement has meant that we are able to really think about next steps, in terms of taking her to more public walks and dare we even consider? Training classes.

We have a practice session at the vet tommorrow, it will be really interesting to see how she gets on.

Training

Right now the elephant in the room! I mean, boundaries..what boundaries???? The thing is, Otter is one dizzy, fizzy, bonkers, hyperactive eight month old labrador, who is totally obsessed with the slightest movement of a blade of grass. It is as if Otter has suddenly realised that the big wide world is not a scary place, but WOWZERs would you look at that? She is allowed just 10 minutes off lead, no balls, no running madly and no playing with other dogs. To say training is tough is an understatement!
Training in the home currently is around working with calm behaviours, learning to relax, mat training that sort of thing.

Training outside is about low distraction, and Otter being in the right frame of mind. Loose lead walking is now very exciting! Everything is exciting! Even our boring driveway....The approach I have taken is simple. Working on her being aware of me...zen face, walking backwards then a pivot with her at my side. Success with Otter is about setting it all up in the beginning, she lets me know she is ready for training/games. We are reinforcing "scatter" and "turn" ensuring we have an almost "reflexive" response to these cues. Stoli, bless his socks has been both a trememdous help, and bl@@dy hindrance! He flies out from no-where, racing across the driveway, which of course Otter just loves.... I have taken to hunting him down and shoving him in the downstairs loo, seriously those two together..

I was reading this blog today, and her philosophy of training really resonated with where I am with Otter right now. The video I think is worth a watch

Building Engagement and Problem Solving Skills

 

[Charlie]

Kate I am always so impressed with how your rehab is going with Otter. So much thought, care and knowledge. I love the photo of Otter. I wonder if something like this would help build Hattie's muscle wastage or is this technique specific to Otter's injury? Of course I would need to check with our vet.

Continued good luck with everything, you all deserve it. xx

 

[Charlie]

@Beanwood Kate that video you posted is great. I have just done a 10 minute or so session with Charlie in the garden, which is pretty high distraction and he got it within a couple of minutes. We got up to 'sprinkling' the treats. He was like 'velcro' dog! xx

I don't want to hijack your post so would it be possible to place it in 'training' or wherever you see fit for future reference? Thank you xx

 

[Beanwood]

@Beanwood Kate that video you posted is great. I have just done a 10 minute or so session with Charlie in the garden, which is pretty high distraction and he got it within a couple of minutes. We got up to 'sprinkling' the treats. He was like 'velcro' dog! xx

I don't want to hijack your post so would it be possible to place it in 'training' or wherever you see fit for future reference? Thank you xx

Yes of course, although I just realised I have missed the blog completely from the link!

 

[Beanwood]

Hi @Charlie

I wonder if something like this would help build Hattie's muscle wastage or is this technique specific to Otter's injury?

Whilst those exercises are specifically for Otter, part of the focus is about building strength in her left hind leg to match her right. Now, as she hasn't been able to exercise/use the muscles in her rear legs properly since almost 4 months old, she is behind in her natural development, combined with the fact that some of her muscles she has been using incorrectly to compensate for the defict in her back leg. Really when looking at rehab with a dog, the whole dog has to be examined, from the spine, forelegs and shoulders, weightbearing, gait and even feet and toes need to be considered.

Good general exercises that you could try, with the caveat of getting her thoroughly checked first of course!

• 3 legged stand
• sit to stand (Can Hattie sit neatly without any problems?)
• balance -front legs elevated on a low box - offering a treat slowly - centre then one side, repeat on the other side. This is also good with all 4 fours on the ground as a gentle spine stretch.

I will try and dig out some good resources for you later @Charlie

 

[Beanwood]

The Collared Scholar blog - the one I missed from my earlier post

The importance of Empowerment

and the engagement exercise to start with...

Building Engagement and Problem Solving Skills | The Collared Scholar

 

[Charlie]

Hi @Beanwood Yes Hattie can sit without any problems. I will absolutely get it all checked out with my vet during my next visit. I won't do anything until then.

Thank you Kate xx

 

[snowbunny]

3 legged stand

Ginny has this one NAILED!

Seriously, though, she has super strong core muscles (under her saggy Mum tum).

 

[Beanwood]

Visit to the vet...a practice run

Otter's new vet offers a service whereby you bring your dog who suffers from an anxiety associated with vets, to the surgery for a dedicated session designed to help your dog feel more comfortable at their surgery. The have a philosphopy of offering a fear free and safe place for your dog. We have had a few sessions so far, however today was the day we actually brought Otter through and into a consulting room purely on her terms. We had a plan in place and at any point Otter was struggling we would abort the session.

The plan:

• Bring Otter quietly through the main door. The waiting room would be clear, and the reception staff to ignore her as she comes through to:
• An open and empty clinic room, the behaviourist waiting in reception. Otter's mat in the corner. Some fun toys scattered around
• When Otter had "processed" the room, the nurse to come through, ignore Otter stand "apparently" occupied in the corner.
• Nurse to ignore Otter's barking, we had agreed that because Otter had demonstrated great resilience and recovery, we would ignore her barking to extinction. The reason for this is we are using her skills as a problem solver to "think things through".
• Finish the session with some postive engagement with me, and her enviroment but still "ignoring" the nurse.

It was a really interesting visit. We had over an hour of the nurse's time. Claire she is also a qualifed canine behaviourist and runs the free from fear club. She has amazing observational skills as werll as technicial analysis, just brilliant to work with.

The extinction method is one we decided to use based on the assumption that Otter is likely to "predict" an unpleasant outcome from our visit. In addition, any response to Otter could be construed as "See? I was right..I KNEW that you wanted to DO something with ME". The normal responses, in this context...would be: leaning in...offering treats...arms extended....looking directly at her....all predict SOMETHING EVEN WORSE NEXT.. in her mind. This is also why we decided against treats, they would likely work against us. It is such a shame dogs can't talk, it would make our lives so much easier!

Back at the beginning Otter is doing really well, enters the room nervously, but also curious in in her exploration. She accepts her mat and his happy to munch on her treats. Notably however she is standing, and not relaxed. This is understandabe and Claire is happy to enter the room. She moves to the corner and ignores Otter. Otter responds a bit anxiously to this change, body leans in towards Claire with back legs looking like they are glued to the floor, her whole body is leaning in, rear legs twitching and ready to fly!
Otter gives a few experimental barks at Claire, head cocked to the side, tail not sure what to do at this point! Her body though looks more "square" as apposed to a "leaning forward" stance. Nothing happens. Claire is tappety tap on her computer. There are other noises that Otter reacts too, movement and chatter outside the room. Her body spins round and she focusses on the door. Her body intent, she listens, thinks and then...nice shake-off and a few sniffs of the floor! Brave girl Otter!
Her attention then switches to Claire, after all Otter is keen to understand what she is going to do? Every experience she has ever had, points to YOUWANTTODOSOMETHINGHORRID!!! The barking kicks off. I go quiet, responding only to Otters requests for comfort, and when she decides to intermittendly go to her mat. This is a safe place, where she is used to heavy reinforcement.
We get another more forceful bout of barking, this time Claire also get a nudge. Nope, nada young lady, nothing gonna happen here! A pause, then remarkably Otter changes tactics, picks up the toys and THROWS them at Claire. This is very unusual, and not to be confused with an invitation to play. Nothing from Claire. A little bit more barking, a nice shake-off before Otter starts to demonstrate more "dog like" and normal behaviours. A few glances at Claire, but you can see her body start to relax very slightly. She comes over to her mat, and I start to work with a few simple games, sit, hand touch, and "lets see what I have in my bag!" We decide to end this here on a postive note. Quietly I clip on her lead and we both walk out.

This is just a start, and a big ask of my brave Otter. One thing that is very obvious, she was not shut down, no evidence of learned helplessness. Otter was bright, vibrant, showing great resilience alongside a little conflicted body language and anxiety. Nothing bad happened. We didn't ask her to do anything. She was happy to walk back to the car and not straining on the lead. We have a very relaxed and happy pup at home, enjoying her new Yak chew bar stretched out in front of the fire. We have planned another visit in a couple of weeks, where we will bring along more things from home.