Texas Brag

There are moments in life where owning a dog is the best thing ever and other moments when you wonder why you like them. 

If you don't have these moments.... Good for you. 

Texas hasn't been the easiest dog to live with. From the moment I took him home seven years ago, it's been a roller coaster ride.

From separation anxiety, reactivate, to actually biting several people (nothing serious). I've run the emotional gamut with this kid. 

I remember about a year into our relationship, realizing Texas would never be the dog I wanted. He wouldn't get to go on car rides, or accompany me through a pet store, we wouldn't travel together or have friends over to my house frequently. Dog parks were definitely out of the picture, as were any dog event. 

We tried that one time…. Bark in the Park at Chimney Rock. It was bad.

There were even moments when I thought I'd never get to walk out my front door with him if there was anyone (person, place or thing) in eyesight range. 

In addition to all this “relazationing” [real word] there were those who felt that I should give him up. After all, when the going gets tough….haters are going to want you to give up… (just… pretend like it makes sense..) 

But I wasn't that easily deterred. Sure, he was a headache. (Bless his heart) But I chose him, not the other way around. 

It was during this time I discovered positive reinforcement training and BAT and began learning about reactivity, aggression and the like. So we started working with a goal in mind, not to make him into the dog *I* wanted him to be, but simply to make his life less stressful for him. 

No dog should have to freak out because someone walked into the yard. 

Not to mention I really don’t have time to deal with that. 

We adjusted the way we lived to best work with him, and to keep him from "practicing" his bad behaviors. When we had people over he didn't get to interact with them unless they were willing to adhere to strict rules. It was stressful at times, not gonna lie. 

But... we started seeing some improvements. 

New doggie guest, who were normally met with snarls, and teeth, were soon being met with sniffs and slight tail wags. (In a stroke of pure genius, I stopped trying to "correct" the bad behavior, and started rewarding him for looking, sniffing, and ignoring. The attitude turn around was astounding) 

He was more tolerant of new people (mostly women). He actually climbed in a strangers lap and sat there. 

I soon realized a lot of his negative behavior was only when I was around and that he was fine without me. So I started letting other people handle him, and keep him while I was away. 

It wasn't until the incident with his skin, and which entailed him being handled by a LOT of different people, and being surrounded by strange dogs, that I realized just how "ok" he'd become. 

Saturday we attended Mardi Growl a huge dog parade and socializing event for dog lovers in Knoxville. Five years ago I wouldn't have attempted it. He would have been barking, growling, and snapping the entire time. It would have been his worst nightmare come to life. 

Today I didn't even give that a second thought. We're still working on his in-car behavior so there were some reactive behaviors upon arrival, (barking and rushing) but after asking him for a "sit" and focusing him on me we were golden. 

He growled a couple of times at some big dogs that got in his space ...

But that's it. 

We walked through the masses of people and dog without any stress signals, he was relaxed, alert but not anxious. In fact the only time he barked was when he felt he deserved a treat and I hasn't produced one yet.

He also quickly realized that a lot of these strange humans had treats and was GOING UP TO THEM ON HIS OWN, tail wagging furiously.  

Huh, maybe I just thought I'd brought Texas and actually had Bubbles instead.. 

On top of all that, if this event had had a category for dog in most need of sympathy he would have definitely won. I can't tell you how many times I had to tell our "tragic" tale of bathing him.  

We even stopped for lunch with the dogs at which he about average. 

Right now he's snoozing beside me as I type this. I'm so proud of him my heart could burst right about now. 

I'm proud of myself as well. 

Hard-work, dedication and love. (And +R!) 

s/o to: Grisha Stewart, Ian Dunbar, Nancy Freedman Smith, Anna Bettina, Sue Ailsby, Karen Pryor, Emily Larham… and on and on…