Working With A Greyhound Statue

[Guest grey_dreams]

Now it's my turn to ask for advice in the Training forum

 

Both Zuki and Zaviel lacked an understanding of loose-leash walking when they came home, so I have experience working with that. They were shy (Zuki) and traumatized (Zaviel) when they first came home. They also did the statuing and freezing thing, and we worked through it. I know it takes time. We get so many comments from people when we are walking, about how well they walk with me. So I know it can be done and have an understanding of how to achieve it.

 

Enter Zhivaya. He is a very shy/spooky dog. Inside, he was relaxed within a day, exploring within a couple of days, snuggling and happy within a couple of days. It only took about four days until he owned the house, and claimed it as his home. It took about 1.5 weeks to become acclimated to the sounds of other people living next to and above me. We live in an apartment without a fenced yard, so have to walk. He's been home for three weeks now.

 

Zhivaya was absolutely unwalkable when he first came home. He takes statuing to a whole new level of awesome. Outside terrified him. He was noise phobic about trucks and cars that he could hear in the distance, and if he even heard a car or truck he went into full-blown panic, spinning and pulling my arms out of their sockets. We've worked through that during the last three weeks. Now he accepts cars moving and the sound of distant trucks (as long as there are no sudden loud bangs). He will accept a moving truck as long as we are far enough away. He is still phobic of the sound of the train that passes some distance from my house.

 

We've made considerable progress (I have to remind myself of this when the walk isn't going so well). We've gotten to the point where half of the walk is good, the half when we turn around and head back for home (or toward the car when we go out to walk around the lake). For that part of the walk, he is walking really beautifully now, without the pulling and bumping and circling (he used to just run circles around me and try to head me back toward the house, like a herding dog) that characterized the beginning. We are still having a lot of difficulty on the walk out though. He doesn't want to leave the immediate area of our house, and just plants himself facing the house and becomes one with the Earth. I'm doing the circling technique, but we may go through about 10 circles to get him forward just a little. When we are walking in the quiet forest, there are considerable stretches of time when we achieve loose-leash walking even on the walk out. But walking away from the car is as difficult as walking away from the house. I feel that maybe part of it may also be that he has fear of leaving the place that he accepts as home. He's been transferred around quite a bit in his life.

 

What I would like to know is this. For those of you who had a greyhound statue when they first came home, how long did it take before they started to relax more so that they could walk and enjoy it? Hoping to see some light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

Edited February 7, 2013 by grey_dreams

[Finnsliz]

I had one of those. All I can say is patience, treats and time. It took a good 3 months, but for Finn it finally clicked that kids on bikes, bus' air brakes and loud cars weren't really scary after all. I hope he progresses quickly, you know he'll get there

[Brandiandwe]

My statue didn't relax until we added Paige to the mix. Another, apparently confident, dog did the trick.

[Batmom]

To what extent does he *need* to leave the immediate area of the house (at this time, not talking forever)? Will he potty nearby?

[Guest grey_dreams]

Thanks Finnsliz for reminding me that it will get better

 

Thanks Brandiandwe, but Zaviel is confident and it doesn't help Zhivaya. I had to stop trying to walk them together, and now walk them separately until Zhivaya gets a bit better onleash.

 

Thanks Jey. Usually he will potty just outside our house, but not always. In the beginning I was just letting him be and only going just outside the door, but then there were accidents. So when I know that he needs to potty, and it doesn't happen just outside, then we have to walk a bit. He has two other favorite spots for eliminating, and those are the spots we head for and then back home.

Edited February 8, 2013 by grey_dreams

[Batmom]

Makes sense . I wouldn't make him stay out / walk longer than necessary right now, but it sounds like that is already your approach.

 

When angel Zema first came home, we spent a lot of time standing around watching things (buses, trucks, balloons tied to mailboxes, crowds of children at the bus stop ....) from a safe distance. Weather permitting, of course. That helped her but might not be a big help to a dog who knows where home is and just wants to go straight back.

[Guest Vers]

Oh, I know how this is a test of patience, but you will get there. Stella was very shy and fearful when she came home (she is mostly blind). It did help that she was with confident Simba, but what also helped her a lot was teaching her to focus on me. I taught "touch" (her nose to my hand) inside the house and transferred it to outside and it really seems to have helped her confidence. Loud garbage truck? Touch. And walk. Roofers hammering next door? Touch. And walk.

 

If home is what Zhivaya cares most for but he is always with you and not at home, he's going to transfer home to meaning you soon. Your walks are going to get easier once that happens; once he starts to relax a bit, it might be good to try to widen his exposure. You are his constant; the place he's walking in isn't. I know that person=home can bring its own problems, but imho, better than having a dog that's fearful of new places.

 

Touch does bring confidence, is a good starting point, and can be worked on in the house.

 

Wishing you happy walks ahead. Happy to share anything else I can.

[Guest grey_dreams]

UPDATE:

The way I trained Zhivaya not to pull forward (which he only ever did when we were returning home) was that everytime he pulled, I stopped dead in my tracks. The only way we ever moved forward to return home was if he returned to my side and walked with me. He learned that within a couple of days. Then I modified it to stop dead if he got in front of me, and didn't let him pull the leash anymore. If he goes out so that I stop more than twice in a row, we take a penalty and move into the other direction that we came from. He learned that within a couple of days too. He still walks forward, but it's getting less and less, and he returns very quickly when I stop.

 

Then I got an idea to use this kind of technique for when he statues facing the house. When he statues, I statue. The only way to move anywhere is if he returns to me and walks in the direction away from the house. The first few times we stood there for a long time and when he came to me, expecting me to start walking in his direction toward the house, and instead found that we were walking in my direction away from the house, he immediately statued again. That first walk took a long time just to make a circle around a couple of the houses. Now we've done this with three walks, and it seems to be getting better, less time spent as a statue, and less reluctance to move in the direction away from the house. Today we even went a little distance away. Wish us luck for continuing improvement!