Candor Creek

We're starting to look like a team here. <3 I am currently in a dose adjustment for one of my mood stabilizers. This makes me oddly groggy and loopy, and sometimes by brain lurches and I drop phones or erase sections I've written - so the current entry likely is not composed to the point I wish it to be. It was a great assessment moment, though, and one I wanted to share. After becoming slightly more concerned by her continually present and fluctuating anxiety outdoors I did some further assessment and found that Summer's fits and starts of anxiousness and the trembling preceeding leaving the apartment are all actually just connected signs of sustained, chronic insecurity and fear and some lack of confidence in the management in the big, scary outdoors (the last bit is not surprising given we've only just hit the four month mark; my home is also very different from and much quieter than her others, and I am but one person in the face of Bad Things). The be...

Walk stress giving way to homecoming relief. Here's a long post for the Summer/canine behavior fan club. I cannot overstate how much I enjoy working a dog like Summer. Unpacking baggage and refolding everything with a dog is such a wonderful process - and it's so much more amazing and enriching when they're your own. Guiding them to their potential is magic. She threw me an interesting curveball this week: as soon as the weather changed a few days ago she became a fearful, trembling, disorganized mess anytime she was outdoors or we were getting ready to go out. We're back to crouching and zigzagging and sudden surges and cutting me off and refusing to go to the bathroom. It's a pretty spectacular reaction, and worrisome for her well-being. She comes from a comparable climate, so that alone should not be an issue. She now seems to be particularly scared of one area along our walk that we only cross into half the time, and the only possible oddity I can thin...

Behold: Summer's video premiere. Initially I was going to just post this without explanation on my Facebook and call it a day (I have not been in a writing or, indeed, communicating mood as of late) but I realized that this was an exquisite teaching moment. The video itself is about 15 seconds long, but it packs a lot of lessons into a tiny space. Below I will briefly discuss guarding behavior and the role of this particular exercise and, finally, how the activity can be used to cultivate trust and enhance bond. WARNING: below I will be discussing, but not coaching, an exercise that could be dangerous in certain situations and result in injury to a person if not properly coached or supervised by a behaviorist. What is written below is NOT personalized advice and should not be taken as such. The video above shows me doing an exercise with Summer (my three-year-old rehome, home for nearly two months now) and her favorite plaything. The reason I am making a point of doing it is...

Chillin'. About a month ago, a week after bringing her home, I tried a plug-in pheromone product for Summer with the aim of relieving at least some of her overall anxiety while I walked her through her new home, surroundings, and schedule. After a few days of use I thought I saw some evidence that it was taking the slightest edge off of it but I couldn't say for sure whether it was due to the product or simple passage of time with continued training and support. I left it plugged in and kept notes. The vial was due for a change on Monday. Over the past few days I thought she was getting a little more hypervigilant but, really, it was just subtle stuff that one would only have a hope of seeing if one spent their days with her. Noises on TV or bangs elsewhere in the apartment building started interrupting her rest again, causing her to lift her head in alarm (but not jump as she had at first). Her movement patterns changed slightly. This morning she seemed just slightly ...

Stressed Summer. Laying flat, body tense/quaking. Head lowered more than usual. Quick pant with slightly pulled lips. Base of tail clamped down. Hyper alert with tendency to avoid gaze. Movements quick. For the new folk: before I got sick I was a dog trainer and, most importantly here, a freelance canine behaviorist (B.S. in psychology, graduate studies in both behavior and cognition) for about 14 years. This means that when people were faced with a behavioral issue in their dog - a fear, a bite, a bark - I'd go into their home, assess the situation, help them understand what was going on, and teach them how to fix the problem. I loved it. The best part was knowing that you'd walk in and most likely be putting a family back together. It's a powerful experience. It has been suggested to me that I start writing some of my dog tips out. This is my first attempt in many years. Today is the Fourth of July, so this first post is some quick and dirty information about help...