Scary People, Lost Balls, and a Lazy Eye

You may or may not have noticed in photos that Athena has a slight lazy left eye.  It's often apparent in some photos more than others, but if  you were to interact with Athena in person, you would definitely be able to distinguish her lazy eye from her strong eye.

Not long after adopting Athena, B and I started to notice that the movement in her left eye was a bit slower than her right.  If looking at us in just the right way, Athena's left eye appears to be looking away from us, rather than straight at us.

We brought up the issue with one of our trainers who suggested that Athena's lazy eye might actually be causing her to have some impaired vision problems.  A dog's eyesight is already weak, which means that a vision impairment could cause them to have an even more difficult time seeing and making out objects and figures.  We've always known that sometimes Athena can't see where we throw the ball at the park, but we just assumed that it was because she's not the sharpest tool in the shed.  Then we started to think that some of her fears, especially of people, may even stem from her possible vision problem.

No, we haven't taken Athena to a vet to have her vision checked, because really, her lazy eye does not seem to be severe.  However, we may consider a vision check for the future if any other issues arise that may be connected to Athena's lazy eye.

Has your dog ever experienced a vision impairment?

Is My Dog Normal?: Afraid of People

This post has been on my "To-Write" list for many, many months, but I honestly haven't sat down to write it in hopes that the behavior would somehow disappear and no longer be one of Athena's quirks.

Alas, I am here, seven months after adopting Athena and admitting that she has a MAJOR quirk.  She's afraid of people.

This is no quirk that I would ever wish for my dog to possess, because really, what's worse than admitting that your pit bull is afraid of people, a quality that is in no way inherent to the breed.  Pit bulls are suppose to be people lovers.  However, my pit bull is in no way a people lover.  As much as I would love for her to be the type of dog who flocks to humans to dole out slobbery kisses, she is not and I don't think that she will ever be that kind of outgoing dog.

Honeymoon Period:

Like many newly adopted dogs, Athena went through a honeymoon period.  Many of her quirks were in hiding and didn't come out for at least a month of living with us.  In the beginning, Athena met many new people at our home and while out and about.  She never barked at people who came to the house and welcomed everyone to pet her and give her attention.

Don't Touch Me, I'm Nervous:

After the honeymoon period, we started to see signs of Athena's fear of people.  When we would take her to places like the pet store or out on a walk, many people would ask to pet her and we always said yes because she seemed to enjoy the attention she got from them.  However, there were some people that she would back away from.  To this day, Athena is only accepting of attention from some people that she meets.  If she feels nervous, she will sometimes woof, back away, or cower behind us.  She definitely doesn't like it when people come at her head on with their hand moving towards her face.  This makes her turn her head and body as if she is afraid that they are going to hit her.  Although it is true that many dogs who come from the shelter system were never physically abused, Athena's body language actually suggests that she may very well have been abused at some point in her life.

If I Bark, Will You Go Away?:

If I haven't mentioned it before, Athena is not a barker.  It is a rare occasion that we hear her pitiful woof.  However, she will often bark at new people who enter the home.  If they try to approach her, she will dance around and bark at them.  At this point, she has never growled or snapped at anyone, just barked (not in a "Hi, I'm so excited to meet you!" kind of way, but in the "You are really scary and I don't want you in my house" kind).

Men, Smokers, and Eggplant Shaped Figures:

Since noticing Athena's fear of people, we have tried and tried to determine the type of person that she is fearful of.  At first we thought it was just men because she was extremely shy around them in the beginning.  Then we decided it must also be people who smoke, because she will not approach someone who is smoking a cigarette and is often fearful of people who smell of smoke.  Then we noticed that Athena was extra nervous around people with different body shapes, like a woman who very much resembled an eggplant.  As we continued to try to narrow down the type of person that makes Athena fearful, we realized that as far as we can tell, there's not a single quality that she is fearful of.  To us, her fear of people seems totally random (though to her there may very well be some sort of connection between them all).  The one type of person that she has never been afraid of though is children, thank the heavens.

Don't worry dad, I'm not afraid of you!

You Must Treat the Fearful:

After some deliberation with our trainer, we came up with a plan to tackle Athena's fear of people.  Each and every time a new person comes to our house, we prep them with "The Talk."  They learn that Athena is often fearful of new people and that she needs space.  We then load them up with treats and instruct them to throw them at her toss them in her direction.  It can be very scary for a fearful dog to have to approach an unknown person to take a treat from their hand.  By tossing treats towards Athena, she isn't obligated to have contact with the new person and is able to keep her distance, which is what she wants.  After about a dozen treats have been thrown, Athena is usually ready to approach the new person and start eating treats out of their hands.  She will then get comfortable and settle in for some pets and attention.  We've noticed that the higher the value of treats we load the newcomer with, the quicker Athena falls in love with them.  Anyone with cheese becomes a fast friend and in turn they are named "Cheese Lady" or "Cheese Man."

Quick Recovery:

Although Athena is often fearful of new people, she has a very quick recovery period, just as she does with all new experiences.  New people who enter the house only need a few minutes of "ignore Athena and throw treats at her time" before Athena's ready to snuggle up.  Just ask Emily from Our Waldo Bungie.  She got the nervous bark from Athena when she visited, but after a handful of treats, Athena was ready to snuggle up.  Like most other new experiences that Athena has been exposed to, she is usually fearful only the first or second time, then she has the confidence each time after.  Luckily, Athena is quick to warm up to people.

Living with a Fearful Dog:

Fear aggression is nothing to take lightly and can be different for every single dog.  Our plan of action for helping Athena accept new people works for her, but may not work for another dog who is fearful of people.  Some dogs who are fearful of humans need to be completely ignored for a period of time, not be looked in the eye, or kept behind a baby gate in the house.  We have found that for now, Athena's plan seems to be working for her.  Just last week I was shocked when Athena met two new people at our house with no barking or nervousness, instead she snuggled up with them for an hour and doled out kisses like nobody's business!  Even though Athena may be becoming less fearful of strangers doesn't mean that we aren't always managing the situation and assessing her for signs of discomfort or nervousness.

Athena LOVES everyone (especially her grandma) after meeting them a few times

Have you ever dealt with a fearful dog?  What about a dog who is fearful of people?  What strategies do you use to help your dog overcome these fears?

Is My Dog Normal?: Used Tissue & Dirty Sock Fetish

So, we kind of lied when we told you last week that Athena's favorite thing in the world is her ChuckIt! Ultra Ball.  Her REAL favorite things are used tissues, paper towels and dirty socks.

Who me?!  A used tissue and dirty sock thief?!  You've got the wrong dog!

B and I learned our lesson pretty quickly after adopting Athena that garbage cans in the bathrooms and kitchen must not be left unattended-- or without a lid.  In the first few weeks of having Athena, there were a few instances when Athena came to find us as she was holding a used tissue or dirty sock in her mouth.  She would walk right up to us with her "off limits" item in her mouth and stare at us as if she were saying, "Hey guyssssss!  Look what I found!"  Because I was pretty clueless in the beginning, I would chase Athena around trying to pry the tissue or sock out of her mouth (I seriously thought she was going to eat it and then she might get sick and then we would have to take her to the vet and then and then and then....).  As I chased Athena around the house she would usually go into "crazy horse" mode (which is what we call it when she gets a toy or off-limits object in her mouth and then gallops through the house while whipping her head all around).  Clearly Athena is an evil genius because whenever she would get a sock or used tissue, she would get to play a fun game of keep away with me.  I will admit that I have experienced uncontrollable laughter (while at the same time being very frustrated at this behavior) during a few of these episodes, especially when Athena latches onto a sock and because her head whipping action is so intense, the sock will fly out of her mouth and right into my hand.  At this point she will stop and look at me like, "Awwwwwwww mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!"

Blurry photo="crazy horse" head whipping action is taking place (notice the white streak in the middle)

I realize that I wrote the above in past tense...however this tissue and sock keep away game is something that Athena likes to play about every three days or so.  I just don't know what it is about USED paper products and dirty socks?!  We leave shoes out all over the house and all sorts of "off-limits" items that Athena could care less about touching.  There must just be something about the thrill of sticking her head into a garbage can or into the clothes hamper.

I realized the full extent of Athena's used paper product obsession the other day when my mom and I took her on a walk.  As we were crossing a busy street (at a designated crosswalk where 4 lanes of traffic had to stop for us to cross--which means people were watching us) a used tissue just happened to blow right past Athena's face.  You better believe it that Athena pulled me in the other direction to try and "catch" the tissue!  As this was a very unsafe situation, I used the "leave it" command over and over and pulled Athena back in the direction that we were walking.  Luckily she quickly forgot about the tissue.

So, I googled "my dog likes used tissues" and this is clearly a normal fetish for many dogs.  I saw from this search that many people's dogs actually eat the tissue...we have yet to have Athena ingest any paper products because we usually get them out of her mouth before she can destroy them.  We are pretty sure that she has come to associate getting a used tissue with us "trading" her for a very yummy treat (usually an unhealthy Milkbone-- her absolute favorite).

Next I googled, "my dog likes dirty socks" and this is an equally searched topic ("my dog smells like a dirty sock" was also represented in this search....gross).

I won't let my mom get one unblurry picture because I am just so excited to have this dirty sock in my mouth!

Because Athena is so attached to her humans (she rarely leaves our sight and will follow us all around the house) we can usually tell when she is on the prowl for a used tissue or dirty sock because she will be out of sight for about more than a minute (usually after she has gone for a drink of water).  This is when we usually get up to see what she is snooping around in.  Sometimes we don't catch her in time and therefore must play the tissue/sock keep away game.

As we work to remove all used tissue and dirty sock temptation from our house, we would like to know if your dogs have similar fetishes?  What have you done to get your dog to stop searching for these "off limits" items in your house?

Is My Dog Normal?: Bike Reactivity

Yesterday B showed me a new route to take when walking Athena.  Sometimes we get annoyed walking around the usual neighborhood because there are so many dogs that live outside and like to majorly bark at us through their fences, off leash dogs, and just bajillions of people who do weird things (like the time a PERSON barked at Athena!).

B thinks Athena is saying "save me!"

Our new route takes us along the Springwater Corridor which stretches 40 miles from Portland to Boring (yes there's a place called Boring, OR!).  We are lucky enough to live only a few blocks away from an entrance to the corridor.

Most people who use the corridor are bike riders who like to say things like "one your left," and "on your right" while we are walking and I have to quickly remember which one is my right and left so that we don't get ran over!

Check out that view of Mt. Hood up ahead!

When we first got Athena and began taking her walks in the annoying usual neighborhood, we would encounter quite a few bike riders and people on skateboards.  I don't think Athena had ever seen any of these devices because she was very reactive to them.  As soon as a bike or skateboard zoomed by us she would be pulling to chase after them!  This was a bit frustrating when we were trying so hard to train her how to walk on a loose leash.

A thinks Athena is saying, "weirdo!"

The weird thing is, this bike reactivity only lasted a couple of weeks.  Now that Athena gets out on at least two walks per day, she seems to be more used to the everyday distractions that pass us by.

We got to really test Athena's bike reactivity while walking on the Springwater Corridor because there is always at least one bike in sight.  Athena didn't even bother with ANY of the bikes that we saw on our walk!  Yay!!

Here comes the bike......no reaction!

Since it seems that Athena might not mind bikes too much anymore we have been thinking about how great it would be to start bike riding with Athena.  B bike rides, I don't, so this can be his little project.  A trainer had suggested bike riding with Athena as a way to exercise her to expend her excess energy.  The trainer suggested using a Springer Dog Exerciser to attach to B's bike that would allow Athena to safely run next to him.  We plan to look into this fancy device in the coming months.

Is your dog bike reactive?  Do you bike ride with your pooch?

-A
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Is My Dog Normal?: Leash Biting

The first week that we had Athena she seemed to be a very well mannered dog with little to no behavioral issues.  During her second week of being with us, she began to show her true colors and started to give us a run for our money.  I have read about how dogs often have a honeymoon period after being adopted where they seem like a perfect dog to their owner.  Once the dog feels more comfortable in their new home, behavior issues often arise, especially with an untrained dog.

During Athena's second week of being in her new home, she seemed to be over her honeymoon.  We now had a dog who had accidents in the house, bit her harness and leash every time that we went to put them on her, did crazy biting zoomies every night, and a handful of other unpleasant behaviors.  Despite her annoying challenging behaviors, we decided that it was our job as her new owners to teach her our desired behaviors so that we would have an amazing dog for the next 10-12 years.

One of Athena's super frustrating behaviors that emerged after the honeymoon was harness and leash biting.  Every time that B or I went to put Athena's harness on, she would somehow get it in her mouth and begin a game of tug with us.  When we would put her leash on, Athena would bite and pull.  At random times on our walks Athena would decide that she wanted to play tug with her leash and would begin an embarrassing tug of war with us in the middle of the park.  These behaviors made it very difficult for us to even get her out of the house and on a walk (even though we knew that she needed to release some energy as a way to end this crazy behavior!).

During our second week of beginning obedience training we asked the trainer how to eliminate Athena's harness and leash biting.  Our trainer recommended buying a bottle of Bitter Apple spray to spray on Athena's harness and leash.  When researching leash biting behaviors online, I had read a lot about the many people who said that Bitter Apple worked wonders to eliminate their dog's leash biting tendencies.  B and I decided to give it a try as we were desperate to be able to take Athena on walks again without getting into a game of tug at every corner.

The next time that Athena bit her leash and began to tug with us, we sprayed Bitter Apple in her mouth.  Yes, her mouth.  Our trainer suggested that this be the very first step in introducing Bitter Apple to a dog because spraying it on items alone isn't enough for the dog to fully taste the nastiness of the Bitter Apple.  I was a bit hesitant to spray Athena's mouth with the Bitter Apple because I'm not big into punishment or negative reinforcement, but B and I thought that it was necessary.  Once Athena tasted the spray, she immediately released the leash and got quite the sour pucker on her face.  After a few minutes we praised her and gave her some treats and water.

That night I sprayed doused Athena's leash, harness, and car seatbelt (which she also liked to bite) with Bitter Apple.  The next day Athena went about her normal routine of attempting to bite her harness the second that we put it over her head-- she quickly released the harness with one taste of the Bitter Apple.  Once her harness was on and the leash was attached, Athena tested her luck with biting the leash-- once again she released the leash and made her sour pucker face.

We can happily say that from that point on Athena no longer bites her harness or leash!  There have been only a couple of times that she forgot that it's not ok to bite her leash and attempted her luck.  Each time we gently reminded her that it's not ok by simply holding up the Bitter Apple bottle.  No spraying, just holding the bottle is enough to remind her that she doesn't want to bite her leash.

Our lives are much better now that this behavior has been eliminated and we hope that it stays this way for good!

Do you have a dog that likes to bite their leash?  What do you do to eliminate this behavior?

-A

Is My Dog Normal?: Getting Mouthy

Each week I plan to post about one of Athena's behavior "quirks" that B and I are dealing with or have eliminated.  This week I want to talk about Athena's mouthiness.

When we got Athena home from the shelter we began to notice that she plays rough.  She can be very pushy when she wants someone to play with her.  In the first week, we noticed that if we gave her a toy, she would play with it on her own for a few minutes, but would then push it at us to play with her.  Once we initiated play with the toy (say a ball), she would often get our hands with her mouth when trying to grab the toy.

During our second week of having Athena we began to notice that her mouthiness stretched further than simply wanting to play with toys.  One night Athena got ahold of her harness before going on a walk (more about harness biting to come!).  She ran around the house like a crazy dog, holding the harness in her mouth and whipping it around.  I thought that she was going to break something!  I was finally able to trick her into dropping her harness by trading her for some yummy treats.  But, once she figured out that I now had the harness and she didn't, she began jumping up on me and nipping at my hands and feet.

Since having Athena for almost a month now, we have began to notice more of a pattern.  Athena will get one or two extra bursts of energy each day which makes her turn into crazy dog.  Sometimes she will do zoomies around the house and then get so excited that she jumps up on us and nips our hands and feet.  Sometimes she will just decide that we are boring and she wants to play, so she will jump on us wherever we are sitting and attempt to bite at our clothing or limbs!

It is so annoying.

Because this is a behavior that needs to be eliminated ASAP I have done a lot of research online and we have also talked to two different trainers about it.  When it first started, we would do the high pitch yelp that many people suggest to help Athena's bite inhibition.  That didn't really work.  Then we combined the high pitch yelp with leaving the room for 30+ seconds.  That didn't really work.

Now we are onto saying a firm "UH-UH!" when she bites at us and then we leave the room for 30 seconds.  At first she seemed to get that "UH-UH!" meant that she wasn't suppose to put her mouth on us.  But, I think that she would rather continue trying to get us to play with her than respond to the noise.

Yesterday was our first day of introducing Bitter Apple with Athena's mouthy behavior.  Bitter Apple worked excellent for eliminating her harness/leash biting, so we thought that we would give it a try to get her to stop putting her mouth on us.  When Athena jumped up and put her mouth on me yesterday, I got the bottle of Bitter Apple out and sprayed my arms and legs in front of her.  She seemed to get the hint because she REALLY hates that stuff.  However, later in the day when the spray had rubbed off of my body, Athena attempted her jumping and biting again.  Yesterday was kind of a wacky day because Athena was doing this undesired behavior A LOT and I couldn't seem to get her to stop!

At this point B and I need to stay consistent in whichever action we plan to take to eliminate Athena's mouthiness.  Luckily we have a session with our trainer tomorrow so we can talk to her about Athena's progress since last week and get some more advice.  If Athena continues this behavior despite our attempts to change it, I think that we might have to get a behaviorist involved.

Pleassseeee let us know if you have dealt with a similar unwanted behavior and how you got it to go away so that you could enjoy your well behaved pooch!

-A