House Guest

Morey is used to being an "only child". He gets all the attention, all the toys and all the treats. He likes other dogs but he hasn't had much experience sharing "his" things or having another dog in "his" space. Last week I watched a friend's dog while she was out of town and it was interesting to see Morey adapt to having another dog around the house!

Camilla riding in style!

Camilla is a small black terrier mix who is very sweet (I know "terrier" and "sweet" don't always go together!). She and Morey had never met before so we made sure to introduce them in the dog park at my friend's apartment before I put them in the car together to drive home. Camilla wasn't too interested in playing with Morey so after their initial introductory sniffs they both went their own ways in the dog park.

Camilla keeping watch at the window

 After exploring the house and yard, Camilla took her station on my bed, looking out the window. She is very quiet and never barked at any of the people, dogs, bikes, etc. constantly going by. She stayed at home while Morey and I went to work and that is where she seemed to spend more of her time while we were gone.

Morey and Camilla sharing my bed

Camilla and Morey laying "rump to rump" on my bed

Despite their initial disinterest in each other Morey and Camilla did seem to enjoy each other's company- at least when it came to sleeping! Morey wasn't sure he liked sharing his space on the bed but since Camilla is so small she was able to fit into the space left by Morey. I was basically on my own to find a way to sleep in the little space left by the dogs!

 The weather had finally cooled down

and both Morey and Camilla enjoyed spending time outside in the yard. They are both so people-oriented that they want someone outside with them. If I left them outside for a few minutes while I stayed inside both of them would stand outside the door wondering why they weren't being allowed back in!

The fourth day Morey and Camilla were starting to show an interest in playing with each other. I caught a few moments of them playing chase in the backyard. It was funny to see their size difference but Camilla can definitely hold her own! I think Morey was actually a little scared of her intensity since he is used to playing with goofball labs and goldens!

Camilla is also an "only child" so she is not used to having to share anything with other dogs either. She didn't play with toys too much but she did like one of Morey's tug toys- her favorite time to play was right before bed when she would run around like a maniac for a few minutes! Morey wanted to play with her but she would growl and bare her teeth if he came close so he eventually learned that Camilla would not be a good tug of war partner. She also liked one of his interactive feeding toys which is what I use to feed Morey his meals and she would also growl at Morey if he approached that toy when she was near it. Morey respected Camilla's boundaries and would leave a wide space between Camilla when she had a toy.

Feeding time was interesting because Camilla is used to nibbling on her food throughout the day. That becomes challenging when you have two dogs in the house and one is more food oriented than the other! It was easy on weekdays because I would put down Camilla's food when I left for work and she would have all day to eat it. I would then feed Morey at work so there was no conflict. Dinner time was a bit more challenging- I ended up putting Camilla on a leash while Morey ate (which doesn't take long!). Morey is so good once he was told to "leave it" he ignored any leftover food that was down for Camilla!

Camilla with all the toys!

One day I went in my room and found that Camilla had taken Morey's ball (his most favorite thing ever!), a toy and his bone to her bed and was laying next to them. As you can tell by the expression on Morey's face in the next picture, he wasn't too thrilled by this arrangement! Luckily we have plenty of balls, bones and toys to go around so I made sure to get more out for Morey to have all for himself.

Morey is not happy with Camilla taking all the toys

Any time my roommate or I spoke to one of the dogs the other one was sure to appear- not wanting to miss out on any of the attention! It was funny to see Morey realize that my "baby voice" is not reserved exclusively for him! Morey and Camilla were constantly jostling for petting position- while Morey has size to his advantage, Camilla was able to cuddle up close to us in ways that Morey couldn't.
                 We all enjoyed our visit with Camilla and hope she will come to visit again soon!

Behaving Badly

Morey is such a seasoned professional that sometimes I am taken by surprise when he does something "dog like". Usually there is a good reason for it and I'll admit that it is usually my fault for not setting up him for success or ignoring signals he is giving me about the situation. So, just to clarify the title of this post, it is me who is the one behaving badly, not Morey!

The other day I was at Costco and I was trying to get Morey to close the door to the refrigerated section. He was pushing on the wrong side to make it close and I was trying to get him to understand he had to go around and push from the other side. We weren't making much progress and I could tell Morey was getting frustrated but instead of taking a break or giving him something to succeed at we kept at it. I was very surprised when Morey let out a loud bark of frustration, startling everyone in the aisle including me!

The bark jolted me back into dog trainer mode and after ignoring him for a moment (as to not reward the barking) I had him do a few easy cues "sit" "stand" and "touch". We celebrated those successes and moved on (after I closed the refrigerated door!). Next time I want to work on this I will use it as a training moment and come prepared.

Looking back on this situation I realized this was not the first time Morey has barked in frustration- he actually does it a lot when we are training for agility but since we are usually outside and that is his "fun" time I don't usually do anything about it. There are a few lessons I learned from this 1) Don't let Morey get to the point of frustration where he feels the need to bark. Whether we are working on agility or service dog tasks it is my job to make it fun and set him up for success. If Morey isn't getting it and is starting to bark that means I need to change my criteria and training method so he can be more successful. 2) I need to respond to Morey's barking bouts in a way that discourages the behavior. Usually this means simply turning away and disengaging so he learns that barking= end of interaction. He learns quickly so I know it won't take him long to learn other ways to manage his frustration.

Hopefully I will be posting another update soon showing Morey doing this task correctly!

Working Overtime

The start of the semester means the staff in our office participate in various events around campus to promote our office and the services we provide to students. Most of these events involve tabling- setting up shop with our handouts and brochures and talking to students about the work that we do.

I was tabling at an evening event for incoming Latinx students and settled Morey under the table. After setting up my material I went around to the front of the table to see how it looked. I had to laugh when I saw the tip of Morey's nose sticking out from underneath our tablecloth. I guess he found the air under the table a bit stuffy or perhaps he was silently protesting having to work overtime!

Stalked by Vacuums

Morey does not like vacuums. My roommate calls ours "Mr. Hoover" so we always warn Morey when "Mr. Hoover" comes out of the closet to visit. Morey will go off to hide when it comes out but he can't resist keeping it in sight so the vacuum can't sneak up on him.

Our vacuum stopped working recently so we had it sitting out in the living room. Morey would walk around it carefully- not fully trusting it wasn't going to spontaneously turn on and start coming after him. He was dismayed when I got out our Roomba and that began to chase him around the house!

Shortly after that I was shopping at Goodwill and was checking out with Morey standing next to me. All of a sudden Morey started leaning up against me and putting his head in my lap, acting somewhat frantic. This was unusual for Morey so I looked around to see what had scared him. I had to start laughing when I saw the man behind me had not one but two vacuums he had pushed up behind us! Morey's worst nightmare- being stalked by vacuums! The cashier, man with the vacuum and I all had a good laugh as I finished my purchases and we escaped from the vacuums!