4th of July

Mommy didn't work on Thursday so I didn't get to go over to Nana's and Nana was a bit upset. Mommy decided that she would drop me off at Nana's while she went with Daddy and Lily to their party.

I got tons of Nana cuddle time and got to play with Emma and Kiba for a bit!

I am a little jealous that Lily got to see my Auntie Lauren but their dog, Max, would have scared me so I think it was for the best!

Lily and I have been playing more and more. She knows how to get me to chase her and I have to admit it's a little bit fun.

Belated Birthday Present and First Day of Relaxation Protocol

Back in October I went to the H.H. Backer pet industry trade show in Chicago, Illinois. I bought Mia a leather "Choke Free" harness with the intention to have my Mom (Mia's Nana) do some decorative beading on it. We both kept putting it off but I finally got off my butt and ordered the beads I wanted a few weeks ago. My Mom finished the harness on Sunday and it turned out beautifully!

In other news, Mia would like me to report that the first day of Dr. Overall's Protocol for Relaxation was spectacularly easy, boring, and tasty! She kept looking at me like I was doing some sort of crazy dance but was happy to be getting lots of treats!

I have to be at work early so that's all for now!

First Private for Reactivity

On Friday morning, Mia and I had our first private with her trainer to work on her reactivity. She is very reactive to other dogs and cats (especially big dogs). It is a problem that I think I have let get away from us for far too long.

The first thing we worked on was counterconditioning Mia to the door opening and closing. Our trainer has a big training building on her property (with air conditioning!!) and Mia has learned that 90% of the time when the door opens a dog is either going to be coming in or going out. We noticed that she starts to react as soon as she hears the door start to creak. The plan was to drop a small handful of food on the ground right before the door creaks. We did several reps of this and then Rachel went and got one of her dogs, Glory.

While we were waiting for her to return, I worked with Mia on laying down on a mat (from now on I'll be bringing her bed to agility and privates to help her relax). We had barriers set up so that Mia could not see her. When Mia was calm we would have Glory appear from behind the barrier (or alternately, I would move the barrier out of the way so Mia could see her). She would get clicked and treated for looking at her. Unfortunately, Mia's threshold at the moment is pretty low so we didn't make a whole lot of headway.

Our homework for the next two weeks or so is to start Dr. Overall's Protocol for Relaxation and to work on more systematic desensitization with other dogs in more random situations (i.e. parked outside of the vet's office, the park, petsmart, etc.). She also reccommended scheduling a consult with a veterinary behaviorist that teaches a reactive dogs class at her facility. So we may do that depending on how things go.

We've got a long road ahead of us but it will be worth it! Tonight we went over to my parents' house for dinner and a movie. Mia is always excited to go over there.

Mia's Monday Adventures

Mia goes over to my parents' house on days that I work to play and hang out with them. When she came home as a puppy I still lived with my parents. After about a year we moved out. My parents are really attached to her and like having her around so she gets to go over there about four days a week. They are retired so they are home with her most of the time and she also gets to run around and play with Emma (a terrier mix) and Kiba (a Corgi/Husky mix).

My younger sister, Mia's Auntie Jill, has been taking a class at a local community college this semester. My mom drives her to class and has been taking Mia with her. We have good family friends that live near the college so my mom usually goes over there to see them while Jillian is in class.

My mom's friend's mom, Hazel, is in the very late stages of Alzheimer's. A few weeks ago she was in a nursing home because she wasn't able to eat or drink anything (she has since come home but gone downhill again). My mom took Mia with her to visit her in the nursing home because they have always had a special bond.

When they arrived, Hazel, was slumped over in her chair. She was not responding to anything anyone was saying to her or anything going on around her. My Mom put Mia in her lap and she sat up, alert, and started petting her. After a while, my Mom picked Mia up and Hazel reached for her. So Mia spent a little while longer in her lap. Mia also got to visit with some other ladies who saw her and wanted to say hi. She did amazingly well with them too! My mom even said that Mia did not seem very nervous, if she was at all!

Needless to say, I was thrilled with how well she did. I have always thought she would make a great therapy dog (if we could just get over this darned reactiveness) and this has kind of given me a kick in the butt to get her into some behavioral privates. Hopefully, sometime in the (near) future she will earn her CGC and we will get certified with a therapy dog organization. I have done a lot of research on therapy dogs for my psychology classes and am so happy that therapy dog work is getting so popular. I am hoping that I can find a way to work dogs into my graduate research work (either in a nursing home or college/dorm setting).

This past Monday, Mia, got to go on her first boat ride! The same family friends live on a lake and have a Pontoon boat! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. I wish my Mom had thought to take some with her cell phone but oh well!

Mia and her Nana.

Kiba (Husky/Corgi mix)

Emma (Terrier mix; she had a skin infection at the time but this is
the best picture I have of her because she is afraid of the camera.)