Shadow's reactivity log
- Thread starter snowbunny
- Start date
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
Another session yesterday, and it was great again. No Squidge this time. We started off in the same field, Shadow on a long line and, when Katie appeared, throwing the ball as before. Just refreshing everything, and after a couple of throws changed to food. Unfortunately, then a couple of loose dogs appeared at the far end of the field, so we relocated to another field behind the house and started again. After a couple of reps, I popped the muzzle on him and let him off the line.
Here, we had a bit of a blip (humans, not Shadow), as we realised that the idea I'd had to work on me as the resource just wasn't working. It's not that Shadow did anything wrong - he was trying to play the game as normal, but we just couldn't get any sort of clarity, and it felt wholly unnatural. So, we scrapped that idea and changed it up again, back to something closer to what we had before. N put Katie away while I stayed in the field with Shadow, and then she brought out her male Malinois, Jackson. Shadow was still off-lead and muzzled.
In the video, you can barely see Jackson because of the fish-eye lens that the GoPro uses to get as much into the frame as possible; it makes everything seem so much farther away than it really was! But I've measured the field on Google Maps and it's 50mx50m, and we were almost never more than half the distance away, and often much closer. To start with, Jackson appeared on the side of the field where it's level with the track and beyond. Later on, he was on the perpendicular side, which is set down from the field a bit, and he kept jumping up onto our level to appear.
For me, it was really difficult to give Shadow the space to make his own decisions, but he did really, really well. When he's still and staring, I can't tell if he's going to turn back to me or launch for the other dog, so I just had to trust that the training we'd done to date would hold up - and it did! This wasn't easy for him, but he did really well and had absolutely no "whoopsies".
After this, we did a little on approaching down an enclosed path, which was also a real challenge. We would approach (S again off lead) and as soon as he looked at me, I'd turn and we'd run away and have a party. Unfortunately, I ballsed up with the videoing and didn't catch this bit - instead I got 30 minutes of my legs driving home
Once N had put Jackson away, we had a bit of a chat and while we were doing this, Shadow ran up to the fence where Katie (female boxer) and Tazzie (female GSD puppy) were playing the other side. N and I had a bit of a conversation about this - how traditionally, this is where corrections would come in, as the dog understands the rules of the game at this point. I agreed, and countered with how from our philosophy, it is information that we have asked too much. I had stopped focussing on him because we were chatting, and the two of them were doing something that we'd not trained Shadow with at this point. I made the point that, especially with Shadow, the last thing I want to do is make him think that proximity to other dogs is a bad thing - as much as I want other dogs to be a cue to come to me, I want that to be because I am where the game is. In the real world, we are still going to come across other dogs running up to us from time to time and if I start to punish that proximity, I'm not going to do either of us any favours.
It was a good chat, and later on I sent her a message to thank her not just for her help, but also that we could have conversations like that across different philosophies and still remain respectful of each other's viewpoints.
We're almost ready to start taking this on the road. That's when it's going to start getting interesting - and I hope to see the biggest changes.
Here, we had a bit of a blip (humans, not Shadow), as we realised that the idea I'd had to work on me as the resource just wasn't working. It's not that Shadow did anything wrong - he was trying to play the game as normal, but we just couldn't get any sort of clarity, and it felt wholly unnatural. So, we scrapped that idea and changed it up again, back to something closer to what we had before. N put Katie away while I stayed in the field with Shadow, and then she brought out her male Malinois, Jackson. Shadow was still off-lead and muzzled.
In the video, you can barely see Jackson because of the fish-eye lens that the GoPro uses to get as much into the frame as possible; it makes everything seem so much farther away than it really was! But I've measured the field on Google Maps and it's 50mx50m, and we were almost never more than half the distance away, and often much closer. To start with, Jackson appeared on the side of the field where it's level with the track and beyond. Later on, he was on the perpendicular side, which is set down from the field a bit, and he kept jumping up onto our level to appear.
For me, it was really difficult to give Shadow the space to make his own decisions, but he did really, really well. When he's still and staring, I can't tell if he's going to turn back to me or launch for the other dog, so I just had to trust that the training we'd done to date would hold up - and it did! This wasn't easy for him, but he did really well and had absolutely no "whoopsies".
After this, we did a little on approaching down an enclosed path, which was also a real challenge. We would approach (S again off lead) and as soon as he looked at me, I'd turn and we'd run away and have a party. Unfortunately, I ballsed up with the videoing and didn't catch this bit - instead I got 30 minutes of my legs driving home
Once N had put Jackson away, we had a bit of a chat and while we were doing this, Shadow ran up to the fence where Katie (female boxer) and Tazzie (female GSD puppy) were playing the other side. N and I had a bit of a conversation about this - how traditionally, this is where corrections would come in, as the dog understands the rules of the game at this point. I agreed, and countered with how from our philosophy, it is information that we have asked too much. I had stopped focussing on him because we were chatting, and the two of them were doing something that we'd not trained Shadow with at this point. I made the point that, especially with Shadow, the last thing I want to do is make him think that proximity to other dogs is a bad thing - as much as I want other dogs to be a cue to come to me, I want that to be because I am where the game is. In the real world, we are still going to come across other dogs running up to us from time to time and if I start to punish that proximity, I'm not going to do either of us any favours.
It was a good chat, and later on I sent her a message to thank her not just for her help, but also that we could have conversations like that across different philosophies and still remain respectful of each other's viewpoints.
We're almost ready to start taking this on the road. That's when it's going to start getting interesting - and I hope to see the biggest changes.
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
He is such a superstar. I couldn't be prouder of my little man!
- Location
- Herefordshire, UK
Brilliant!! Well done Fiona and Shadow 
- Location
- Vlaardingen, the Netherlands
Wow!!
I played the video and Finn heard your voice. He was very interested and didn’t understand where the voice came from!
I played the video and Finn heard your voice. He was very interested and didn’t understand where the voice came from!
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
We've been doing lots of work with Shadow - two or three sessions a week - and making steady progress.
Today, J came along to help out for the first time, so we could work on one of us interacting with the other dogs, as well as recalls from the other dogs.
He was absolutely brilliant. His body language is totally different these days - no raised hackles, no standing on his toes. He just looks relaxed throughout. Twiggy, the second dog, is more challenging for him, as he hasn't met her, and she can be a bit squeaky. She's also much higher energy than Katie is. Even so, he did really well; only a couple of times he would have approached if it weren't for the line, and even then, he had nicely relaxed body language, so it seems it's more that he's interested than anxious these days. He's making some really good decisions now, so proud of him!
Today, J came along to help out for the first time, so we could work on one of us interacting with the other dogs, as well as recalls from the other dogs.
He was absolutely brilliant. His body language is totally different these days - no raised hackles, no standing on his toes. He just looks relaxed throughout. Twiggy, the second dog, is more challenging for him, as he hasn't met her, and she can be a bit squeaky. She's also much higher energy than Katie is. Even so, he did really well; only a couple of times he would have approached if it weren't for the line, and even then, he had nicely relaxed body language, so it seems it's more that he's interested than anxious these days. He's making some really good decisions now, so proud of him!
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Wow, that's amazing. Love how interested in you he is and happy even when looking at the other dogs and back at you.
Oh that’s brilliant, what a long way he’s come! You must be so proud.
- Location
- Cornwall , UK
Well done young lad , ( and your Mum and Dad too x )
- Location
- East Sussex
Lovely! I'm so pleased that all your hard work is paying off.
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
“Stop” is me shouting to the other owner/handler/dog. It’s pretty universal language-wise, and I’m using a policeman hand. For Shadow, it means “turn and come back to me”, but there’s a bit of conflict there at the moment; firstly because the shout can make him hyper-vigilant (which we’re working on) and also because a raised hand is actually part of his stop cue! So we’re having to contextualise it so he knows that, when paired with a whistle, I want him to stop,but paired with the verbal, he returns to me.Brilliant! Love how relaxed Shadow looks, and that goofy expression...good boy!Is "stop" a new cue just for these sort of scenarios?
This evening, I was out with the Labras and had just put them on lead because there were people working in a field I was going to pass and I wasn’t sure if they had dogs, when a Weim came round the corner and started towards us. I used the “stop”, and the dog stopped approaching. Squidge wanted to go play, Willow was a bit shouty, but Shadow was cool as he knew his job.
Beanwood
Administrator
@snowbunny ahh gotcha! Great idea...
This...just fab! Shadow had another choice and took it...win win!
- Location
- Argyll & Bute, Scotland
Fantastic to see Fiona, really heartwarming to see Shadow so relaxed. Well done both of you, I'm thrilled for you xxx 
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
A session in the rain today, and we had the pleasure of seeing a double rainbow while we were out. There was nothing monumental about the session, just working through the things we’ve already been doing, just changing it up a bit. We were working with a very difficult dog for Shadow; a little Shar Pei mix called Toby who has peculiar body language, as he’s dog friendly but terrified of people, so very conflicted. He squeaked a bit, which was really hard for Shadow... but good because it pushes him on.
The real reason for my post, though, is that after the training, we were standing around chatting: N with Toby and one of her Malinois, and me with Shadow. He was calm, able to look and dismiss while we talked, nothing of any interest at all. And N said how obvious it was that he’s not an aggressive dog in the slightest. He’s just conflicted and - in my words - socially inept. Of course, I don’t think he’s aggressive (without denying he can exhibit aggressive behaviours), but it’s always heart-warming to hear someone who isn’t emotionally attached see the same things you do.
The real reason for my post, though, is that after the training, we were standing around chatting: N with Toby and one of her Malinois, and me with Shadow. He was calm, able to look and dismiss while we talked, nothing of any interest at all. And N said how obvious it was that he’s not an aggressive dog in the slightest. He’s just conflicted and - in my words - socially inept. Of course, I don’t think he’s aggressive (without denying he can exhibit aggressive behaviours), but it’s always heart-warming to hear someone who isn’t emotionally attached see the same things you do.
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
I'm really cross I forgot my GoPro this morning, because Shadow did soooo well!
We worked with Shadow off-leash and muzzled, at first with Katie alone, then Katie and Squidge, with J in the mix too. Those guys approaching each other, and Shadow mooching. He is doing really, really well at turning to me instead of barrelling in, and he's so much more relaxed than he was previously. We then put Squidge away and did some recall between me and J, with Katie in different positions around us. He found that really easy; Katie is pretty much part of the furniture now
So then we moved onto Twiggy. Same thing (although we didn't use Squidge) just at a greater distance because of the added difficulty with Twiggy. She was muzzled as well, just as a precaution, and it changed her body language as she's not comfortable in it, and Shadow was definitely aware of that. We had one screw-up where I wasn't clear enough with J what I wanted and he called Shadow when he was far too close to Twiggy, so Shadow went up to her. I really wish I'd captured this to play it back. He went still as expected, and hackles were up, but Twiggy bowed at him, and he bowed back. It seemed like the "fool around" part of the "fight/flight/fool around" picture, and was very interesting to see. J collected him, and there was nothing concerning, just annoying that it was poor communication that caused it to happen.
After that, we went onto recalls, with Twiggy walking around. He was a total superstar at this. There was one point that she was almost directly in the line between J and I; I just repeated my whistle as he passed and glanced at her, and he continued flying towards me. What a good boy
We called it a day after that, as I felt he had done enough. We were all very pleased with him!
We worked with Shadow off-leash and muzzled, at first with Katie alone, then Katie and Squidge, with J in the mix too. Those guys approaching each other, and Shadow mooching. He is doing really, really well at turning to me instead of barrelling in, and he's so much more relaxed than he was previously. We then put Squidge away and did some recall between me and J, with Katie in different positions around us. He found that really easy; Katie is pretty much part of the furniture now
So then we moved onto Twiggy. Same thing (although we didn't use Squidge) just at a greater distance because of the added difficulty with Twiggy. She was muzzled as well, just as a precaution, and it changed her body language as she's not comfortable in it, and Shadow was definitely aware of that. We had one screw-up where I wasn't clear enough with J what I wanted and he called Shadow when he was far too close to Twiggy, so Shadow went up to her. I really wish I'd captured this to play it back. He went still as expected, and hackles were up, but Twiggy bowed at him, and he bowed back. It seemed like the "fool around" part of the "fight/flight/fool around" picture, and was very interesting to see. J collected him, and there was nothing concerning, just annoying that it was poor communication that caused it to happen.
After that, we went onto recalls, with Twiggy walking around. He was a total superstar at this. There was one point that she was almost directly in the line between J and I; I just repeated my whistle as he passed and glanced at her, and he continued flying towards me. What a good boy
We called it a day after that, as I felt he had done enough. We were all very pleased with him!