Blaze and Boxer's progress

Come out kitty, kitty!

For today's post we are going to flip you over to our cat blog, 36 Claws of Attitude, for the awesome progress going on with Boxer and Blaze.

Blaze having a high prey drive with Boxer her long term target, something we've been working on changing for some time.  Wait until you see what is happening!

You can click HERE to read all about their progress together.

STEP 1 of INTEGRATING THE TWO PACKS-Diffuse the Tension!

Please forgive my silence as I have been grieving again.  Two years ago in the spring we saw the first signs of Brut's tumor on his spleen.  Now that can only be seen in retrospect and I am remembering my dear boy and Silver.   I miss them so much.  Some days are harder than others.

With that said, their spirits haven't left me and Silver in particular guided me through this next experience.  The beginning of the integration of our two packs starts with:

  

Diffusing the tension!

Two packs of dogs, each with their own side of the house and a door that separates them. The boys, Zappa and Chance only fight/talk with each other, while the girls, Fiona and Blaze keep to each other as well. Most of the time Zappa is the instigator, but Chance has gotten many digs in as well. 

This door is the focal point for the two packs.  Most of the time they "talk" to each other, but there are other times when there are "fights."  Growling, snarling and just being nasty to each other at the door.   And mealtime was the worst!  I used to have their dinners prepared so there was no time but to bark and be happy about food.  As they've aged I've added to their menus, which takes more time which in turn has grown into an all out riot while preparing their food!

I have never known how to stop this behavior.   I could never figure out how to be on both sides of the door.  

The light bulb.... I put Chance and Blaze in their room and Zappa and Fiona in theirs and then I got their food ready.  Cutting the tension in half, theirs and mine.  They ate a little slower and I notice a huge differences in their demeanor.  All that pent up anxiety, fear and anger was diffused.  Finally!

I finally had made a breakthrough.

It was a step in the right direction.

I hadn't realize until that first time of putting them in their rooms, just how much tension there really was and the impact it was having them.  This is a sort a new thing with the food since Brut and Silver died, with each death it increased.  It's not like I am oblivious to the strain and tension between them, their behavior at the door has been going on since Chance and Blaze first moved back with us, I just hadn't found a solution.  It's not in any book I know of, so we just keep plugging along until the next light bulb goes off.

I'll tell you more about the next step of diffusing the situation in my next post and I will try to have some video too!  

Miracle on 24 Paw Lane

Brut and I had a miracle happen on our walk the other evening.  After eight years of being confronted by loose dogs on our walks with my dog aggressive Brut, a dog came barreling towards us and when Brut growled, the dog turned and ran away.  That my friends was a miracle.

Let me tell you why:


I can not tell you the countless times we have run into loose dogs that either would confront Brut or worse, would want to be friendly.  I have been lucky with theses confrontations never to have a dog fight on a walk, but the ones who were completely oblivious to Brut's warnings were the ones who scare me the most. They just insisted on getting closer and closer to Brut while Brut will lunge and growl at them.  I could never understand this behavior and it was pointed out to me that these dogs are under socialized in the comments of a post I wrote HERE.  Never once has Brut hurt or even come close to touching these dogs, but there is a lot of effort on my part to make sure that didn't happen.

But something different happened this time while Brut and I were out that night.  And I can't even begin to tell you the amount of awesome it was.

I took Brut through a part of the neighborhood that he's never been before ever and he was doing really good.  We were coming up on a house that I knew had a loose dog and just as we made it to the driveway, the dog come barreling at us with the owner yelling.  I was pulling Brut away from the dog before the dog actually reached us, when suddenly the dog stopped and crouched down. It was obvious this dog was of a submissive natural.  Brut was under complete control, he growled just once and the dog turned and ran back home.  It was that simple. Brut finally got someone to listen to him.  All he asked is that the dog go away and this one did.  It was awesome.  We wasn't being rude or mean, he just warned the dog to stay away and the dog did.  That has never happened before!  And just like that Brut and I carried on our way easy as pie!  I still can't believe it happened.  Simple dog language that they both spoke and it was wonderful.

If that wasn't enough awesome, we ran into a small group of teenagers after that and Brut didn't flinch an inch.  Which was completely incredible!  He had quite a night and I couldn't have been more proud of him!

 

Blaze and the kitty-kitty Update

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

HERE I told you about my experiment with Blaze getting to know the cats.  Her high prey drive and previous owners have made it quite a challenge.

I've been sitting with Blaze in front of the cat's door, while she lies down and feeds on cheese pieces.  Then I will open the door and see if the cats are out and about.

This is really a good time to try, because the cats hibernate from the dogs during the winter months which makes for good practice to have the door open.  Although most of the time we just saw this:

An empty cat room, as the cats were snug in their bed.









Once Boxer was in front of the door with his back turned to us and stayed that way for a few minutes before leaving.

Come here, doggy, doggy, doggy!!

And the other time Boxer was on the desk looking down at Blaze who was doing a very good job of being calm and in control of herself.

I try to do it at least once a day, but I've been lacking these past couple of weeks.  No problem, we'll just try again.

I've been very impressed with my little girl.  She has stayed lying down, which is HUGE, and she's been staying calm and in control.  HUGE!!

So while it may not seem like much, Blaze is making great headway so far.

We will keep you up to date!

Dog Socializing Catch Ups

We've had some great socializing going on around the 24 Paws of Love and I thought I'd catch you up on it.

So proud of this guy!!

First up is Brut.  The bad boy of them all let my friend walk Silver while I walked him and it went great.  We walked a couple of miles and when we went into the garage for treats and undressing their harnesses, Brut was friendly to my friend walking right between her and Silver.  Mr. Territorial didn't pay any attention to the fact that she was on his property, in his garage, he was just ready to go out in the backyard like after every walk!!  It was so awesome!!

And if that wasn't enough, we walked all the dogs that night, my friend walking one while I had the other, in their respective pairs.  So Zappa and Blaze were walked by my friend and did great!  Blaze was a little worried at first, but she got right down the sniffing and didn't look back!

I don't want to be nice!!

Then last night my friend and I walked Silver with her dog Callie.  Silver was pretty ruffled about it for about half of the walk, but eventually started to settle down.  When Silver was able to turn and look at Callie without making a bee line towards her, we were doing good.  

Callie girl

And if it wasn't for my good friend and her nonchalant dog Callie, we'd have never made it this far.  Dogs can sense the difference between a real dog lover and a dog owner and this friend is definitely a dog lover.  It is obvious by the way all the dogs have instantly took to her.  And I want to let her know how valuable her friendship has been to the dogs and I.  She'll never know what a chance she took on that first walk with Fiona, her dog Callie and me.  It's like having a live version of all of you dog lovers out there who have been there for me when I didn't have any dog loving friends and I thank you for that.

Zappa Socializes Again!!

I have had a hard time putting this post into words.  I have tried and failed many times on paper and in my head.  This whole experience blew my head away!

Let me back up.  For those who don't know our dogs aren't very sociable with other dogs and my brave friend and her courageous dog Callie has decided to take us on.  Our first walk was HERE, when Zappa went out of his way to get a reaction out of Callie with no luck what so ever.  He was so confused because no dog has ever acted that way with him.  They've always been ready for a fight.  Yet Zappa has a softer spirit when given the chance, it is how Blaze and him became fast friends.  So right now he's getting most of the practice with socializing.

Now here's the low down on how it all happened:

This is Callie!  Isn't she a cutie??

 Zappa and I headed out to the corner where we met with my friend L only to find that she not only has her dog Callie, but her mom's dog Tippy as well.  For a second I wasn't sure about taking on two dogs, when I realize Zappa hasn't barked, jumped, lunged or reacted in any way.  He was walking calmly and relaxed and I think he enjoyed getting out of 'pack mode' for a while.

So L and I are walking and talking, when a van pulls up and it is somebody she knows.  She chats with the older couple who also have two small dogs in their laps who are making a bit of a fuss.  Still no reaction from Zappa.  Not paying one bit of attention to the dogs.  My jaw is almost touching the ground. I can not believe this.  Is this even my dog?  Mr. Mouth Zappa who has to say something about everything?

So we carry on to the corner, where the 'invisible fence' dogs come flying around the house to their stop line.  I don't even think Zappa lifted his head as he continued to mosey down the past them.

THIS IS UNREAL!!!  I'M SO IMPRESSED AND IN SHOCK AND AWE!!  VERY, VERY COOL!!

And that's not the end of it!  As we made our way to the end of the road, there was a BIG black lab and a smaller scruffy dog hanging out with their owners who kept the dogs by their side.  Again Zappa calmly passes by, TWICE as we turn around and head for home.

THIS WAS ALMOST GETTING TO BE TOO MUCH!  BUT I WAS LOVING IT!!

Oooo, me like Callie!!

On our return route Zappa was starting to get curious about these two dogs who weren't reacting to him or that he had to react to and began venturing into the middle of the road.  Did I mention this whole walk L and I are walking on opposite sides of the road?  And Zappa was weaving back and forth towards Callie and Tippy.

Being that I am 'Brut programmed' and have learned to take everything with caution and baby steps.  I am not ready for their to be any contact yet.  This is all brand new for me and I don't trust it 100% yet.  I've just been through too many dog fights and feel the need to protect not only Callie, but Zappa too.  Though it is obvious Zappa has adjusted faster than I have to the whole process, I'm still going to take my time.  This was a huge step and some major progress for both Zappa and me.  And there is nothing I want more than to have it be as positive as possible.

Man, it was nice to run into dogs and not have a crazy dog on my hands!

Tell me has anyone else experienced this socializing their dogs??  This is so cool!!

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Answer to yesterday's post:  Name that car!

This is my husband, Mark who got to sit in a 2004 Porsche Boxster and looking cool as hell! 

The car crew from White Dog Army was the only one who had it right!