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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Ambassadog vs Reactive Dog: Can McGee be both?

Ever since I fell in love with pit bull type dogs, I have dreamt of being the proud owner of an "Ambassadog". In my daydreams, my Ambassadog and I would flit from social event to event. We would run pet friendly 5ks together, she would calmly sip from a bowls of water while I read novels at outdoor cafes, and my stocky little breed ambassador would elicit adoration from all her onlookers by, you know, kissing babies and stuff.

Flash forward to reality. While my blockheaded McGee and I both enjoy kissing some babies, we've got a long row to hoe before we're frolicking light-heartedly in a road race or sipping anything other than a stiff drink. But Dog Dad and I are realistic human beings with reasonable expectations for what our pup can accomplish, right? We try to be.

The McGee is currently enrolled in Reactive Dog class. Our goal for the class is simple: help McGee learn to ignore other dogs. That's it. Not live with other dogs, not play with other dogs, not sniff other dog booties. Just ignore other dogs. Notice a dog, look at a human, get a most excellent treat, carry on with life. Piece of cake, right?

Not so much. Asking The McGee to ignore other dogs is like asking our 5 year old niece to ignore her bag of Halloween candy on November 1st. MUST EAT ALL OF THEM RIGHT NOW...

Last night was our 4th class in a series of 8. The trainers we are working with have been so compassionate and are constantly brainstorming with us to try and figure out what is going on in our little dog's brain. At this stage of the game, our McGee is still working behind her barricade while the other dogs happily munch their treat and watch their owners in full view of the other doggies. It can be challenging to keep your chin up under such circumstances and I often wonder whose confidence it is that we are really trying to build.

We did decide to do some pre-class work with our girl to see what would happen if we dropped the leash and let her approach the fake dog on her own. My heart dropped past my stomach and all the way to my toes as I watched her confusedly pin the fake pooch to the ground. It didn't take her long to walk away, but I could see the adrenaline pumping in her little body and feel hot tears welling up in my eyes.

The fake dog interaction over, we decided to bring a non-reactive, playful dog into her presence and see how she would manage it. Don't worry, our capable trainers took all the appropriate safety steps: two points of leash attachment, 3 experienced dog handlers, lots of space to move around, oodles of super yummy treats, and a muzzle for McGee (insert more tears here). Two different dogs each took a turn, one male and one female. As expected, another dog in her space elicited some of the most deafening sound effects yet produced. The trainer handling McGee spent several minutes working to turn her away from the other dog and help her come into a more relaxed state of mind. McGee couldn't get there and we had to call it quits for the day.

What was the point of all this drama? Well, it was important for us to see what would happen if she ever had the chance to approach another dog on her own. The fake dog gave us that opportunity without putting any other dog in danger. And bringing another dog into her space so that she could see it fully gave our trainers some insight because now they know what we deal with on a daily basis.

Ambassdog? Well, maybe not in the same way that Johnny Justice or Handsome Dan or Wallace the Pitbull have made great strides for pit bull type dogs, but I still believe that all our hard work is cultivating an ambassador for the breed.

Interested in reading more about different levels of dog tolerance? Check out this invaluable resource from the dog savvy folks over at BAD RAP: Undertanding Different Dog Tolerance Levels.

1 comment:

  1. I think you can - I think McGee can be an Ambassadog in the way that shows how resilient a dog can be. How any shelter dog, no matter how broken, can learn to trust their human and make progress. Our Ed will never be a dog-park dog and we are totally OK with that, as long as we can get him to pass the CGC test and take uneventful walks -- someday.

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