Tugging Trouble

One of the tasks Morey does for me that I can't do for myself is to help me take my coat off. Because this is only a task that I need him to do for a few months of the year (especially living down in Texas!) at the start of coat season I have to do a little refresher training on this task. A more practical approach would be to periodically put a coat on at other times of the year and have him tug it off but somehow when it is 100+ degrees putting on a coat even for a moment sounds miserable. So we resort to coat-tugging lessons when it first gets cold.

One morning it was chilly and so I wore a light jacket to work. When we arrived I decided it would be a good opportunity for Morey to start getting this skill back in working order and so I held out my arm and asked him to tug. He eagerly came forward and in his enthusiasm to grab the cuff of my jacket he accidently grabbed some of the tender skin on my wrist. I screamed in surprise and pain and Morey let go and immediately dropped to the floor.

Once I had assessed the damage (he hadn't broken the skin but a small bruise was already forming on the inside of my wrist) and determined that I would survive, I turned my attention to Morey. He is a sensitive dog and I don't ever scream or yell at him so he was quite scared by my unexpected reaction as he was just trying to do what I had asked of him. I didn't want him to associate tugging my coat with being yelled at so I "jollied" him up with some happy talk and then asked him to tug again.

He approached me very cautiously this time, hesitating with each step. To give him a guaranteed success, I pulled my sleeve mostly off and asked him to tug that. He took hold of the very end of my sleeve and did a very gentle and hesitant tug. Once he had tugged it off, we celebrated with lots of praise and then his breakfast.

Thinking back over the situation, I realized that I had made two errors that had led up to this unfortunate incident. One was the timing of my request. When I arrive at work I play ball with Morey outside and then feed him breakfast once we get in my office. Because he knows he will be fed, he is usually more energetic and enthusiastic than usual which is not a good time to brush up on commands. I should have waited for a more settled time before trying to have a training session.

My second error had to do with how I set up the scenario. I really only need help getting off heavy coats that are more tight fitting (big bulky coats are easier to get off but they also get stuck in my wheels when I push so they aren't really practical to wear out and about). This means that Morey has to take a really firm grip on the cuff in order to exert enough force to pull it off. Because sometimes its hard for him to distinguish between the coat and my shirt sleeve, I usually hold out just the coat cuff and give him a target to tug on. The jacket I was wearing was really light fabric and kind of loose so I figured Morey could just grab the cuff without me holding it out to him (given that this was a refresher session I should have realized he might need more help, not less) and so Morey came in expecting to take a good mouthful of it like he usually does. Which he did, but in addition to the jacket he got my skin and thus the whole unfortunate incident occurred.

It's been several weeks since this happened and Morey still expresses hesitation when asked to tug my coat. As it has been unusually cold here lately, this has been a challenge for me because without his help I can't get off my warmest coats. I give Morey a lot of verbal encouragement as he tugs and lots of praise afterward and we are making slow progress at regaining confidence.

This incident made me appreciate the power of Morey's teeth and be thankful for his bite inhibition. His teeth are strong and capable of grabbing, ripping, and tearing yet he has excellent awareness of how much pressure he can and needs to exert with his teeth. It also made me realize how silly it is when people ask me if Morey bites. Of course he bites- he is a living creature with strong powerful teeth that he uses on a daily basis. Because of his training and socialization he doesn't typically bite people but he is an animal equipped with a powerful weapon set and as I experienced, accidents can occasionally happen.

I think Morey and I will both recover from that incident but it was a good lesson and reminder for me. Because Morey is so perfect, it is easy for me to get complacent and not use my dog training skills as much as I should. As is often the case, when a dog misbehaves, it is often the fault of the handler.