THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

Oh my my my. Life has a way of being so interesting. Last night Willie boy reminded me of the joys of a well-trained dog. I am still full of relief and pride that he was such a good boy.

Here’s what happened: Willie and Hope and I were outside right before dark, enjoying the perfect evening (most appreciated after a week of  hatefully hot and humid weather). We tend to stay behind or beside the house, because of the road that runs by the farm in the front of the yard. We are situated at the bottom of a steep, curvy hill in one direction, and a blind curve coming the other way. There aren’t a lot of cars on the road, but when they go by, they go by very, very fast, and most of them couldn’t stop if they wanted to.

Needless to say, if I’m going to have dogs loose outside in the yard they need to be 110% reliable on 1) stopping on cue, no matter what and 2) never, ever going anywhere near the road. (I never walk the dogs down the road, even though it would be a lovely way to get exercise. I strongly suggest that if you live near a road and can manage it–many people can’t, I know–do all you can to avoid walking on the road itself). I work on it obsessively, and can tell Will to lie down and stay and I can walk across the road for any reason and trust that he’ll stay in place on the other side. However, I don’t do it often, and if I do, I never take my eyes off of him. Why risk it, right?

While the 3 of us were outside basking in the glow of evening, I saw a disturbance in the brush across the road. I was worried the pup might see it and take off after it, even though it was a good 75 yards away, so I ran him inside, and told Will to “Lie Down and Stay” on the front lawn while I went to investigate.

Short Story: While leaning over the brush to get a better peak, I ended up in a free fall of about 3 feet, landing on my knee on a sharp rock in a drainage ditch. Full disclosure: I am a five-year old when it comes to injuries. I would love to tell you that I’m a hardy, strong warrior woman, but the fact is that I scream like a victim in a horror movie when I’m hurt. There are a few things I’m pretty good at, but being stoic is not one of them. So I’m lying in this muddy, deep ditch, shrieking like a banshee for heaven only knows how long. I eventually hauled myself out, crying like the total baby-wuss that I am, crawled across the road and looked up to find . . .Will, big-eyed, mouth closed, and in the exact same position I had put him.

Be still my heart, Willie boy, I am SO proud.  I’d had already started the pup on “puppy pauses’ beforehand–what a great reminder of the importance of a great stay. I’ll bet some of you have your own stories of “The World’s Greatest Stay.” I’d love to hear them. I’m hoping to get a video of how I’m working with the pup soon, just in case you are interested.

Meanwhile, back on the farm: (Well, I guess we didn’t leave it.). First and most important: Will and Hope have ups and downs, but things are definitely going in the right direction. Yeah! ….. when it’s good it’s SO great to watch. Will was getting very relaxed until last night, now he’s all worried and doesn’t want to play (because of me… he can’t bear loud noises.. and this time I was the one making them). Their play styles are very different, but they’ve been doing some mouth fencing/wrestle play in the house that makes me smile big time.

Jim has his new brace on after surgery.. turns out it’s worse than the hard cast. Poor guy, he looks like something out of Iron Man, it’s a huge black thing that is heavy and unwieldy.  Six weeks of that and then he’s free! My knee will be fine, nothing to worry about I’m sure.

Here’s Will and Hope running together in the yard:

And here’s the trail behind the hill last evening…. ummmmmmm. (But the gorgeous flowers are an alien, invasive species, so I am slowly trying to get rid of them, but they are sooooo pretty now, hey? (Having a little trouble with photo sizing with updated version of the blog… sorry! will get fixed soon).

I love tail wags: they are such an interesting expression of internal affect and indicator of a dog’s emotional state. And I know the professional trainers who read this blog know how often they can be mis-interpreted by the general public. “But he was wagging his tail…!!!!” is a phrase heard painfully often, by people who have been bitten, or whose dog just snapped, nipped or bit.

Ah, but a tail wag is like a smile: often an indicator of happiness, but not always. For example, we all know what a “phoney” smile looks like. The lips part and the corners of the mouth rise but the eyes never change. I’m remembering one person who smiled at me in a way that caused me to think I was in danger.  There was nothing friendly about this guy’s face, because his eyes were cold and hard, and the muscles around his eyes, the orbicularis oculi muscles, were not contracted. Makes me shiver just to think about ti. In contrast, in a ‘real’ smile, (called a Duchenne smile) the muscles contract and the eyes look squinty and partially closed.

There’s an equivalent of a “phoney” smile in a dog’s tail wag. The more the wag spreads to the body, the happier I assume the dog to be. I call it a “Full  Body Wag,” in which the tail, the hindquarters and sometimes even the chest of the dog swings back and forth. In this case, the body is relaxed, the tail is sweeping back and forth, and if the eyes are squinting too.. well, then I’m as happy as the dog is.

However, if a dog stands still, stiff bodied and immobile except for a tail wagging slowly back and forth, red flags start waving in front of my face and tell me to stop what I’m doing. Tail wags that only involve the tail are often the canine equivalent of smiles that only engage the mouth: They are NOT honest indicators of a happy dog, and are often a sign of potential danger.

But here’s one for you: What about “Circle Wag?” I made that term up, so don’t go looking for it anywhere. But in the best tradition of ethology, “Circle Wag” is descriptive, because the tail literally goes around in a circle. Here’s my belief about it’s ‘meaning’ (and that’s all it is, a belief). Circle wags appear to be done by dogs who are extremely happy. I see it on dogs who just adore adore adore a particular person, and I’ve seen on Luke and Will when we finished up a great session of herding and we both were equally proud of ourselves. I can not remember ever seeing it on a dog who appeared to be anxious or potentially aggressive, either defensive or offensively. Many dogs never circle wag, and I have no idea how many dogs actually do it. Ten percent? Twenty?

What about you? Does your dog circle wag? And if so, in what context? I’ll spend some time this week researching the issue (is it described in wolves, in other ethograms, for ex?). I do know that Fox and Bekoff (1975) wrote “The only tail wagging behavior that seems to reliably predict friendliness is a relaxed tail waving in a circular motion.” I would love to hear your own thoughts and observations about what I call “circle wag”.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: The pup’s name is Hope. I love it. It’s short, it’s fun to say, it’s a traditional Border Collie name (for both males and females, but more boys than girls) and it allows me to say “He’s named Hope because for a gazillion reasons I hope to hell everything goes smoothly from here.”

Here’s the good news: Will circled wagged when he came down the stairs for the first two days after Hope came home. (Thus the topic above.) They appeared to adore each other, they even slept together. I was happier than I can convey, I simply don’t have the words to express how good it all felt. Picture all of us glowing with happiness.

Here’s the bad news; On day three, Hope got his second vaccination, and in 30 minutes he was growling and lunging at Will over a stupid stick on the grass, leaping onto him and growling like a grizzly at other times. He then proceeded to play with me, but frenetically, not in a happy-puppy-kind-of-way. No circles wags were seen. Will became afraid of him, and tongue-flicked when he looked at him. Behavioral changes, especially related to aggression, have been reported after rabies vaccinations, but less often after the regular Distemper-Parvo series. However, the change in the pup was dramatic to say the least: from super sweet grovely-squinty boy to a very different dog, and the only event that one could link it to was the vaccination. I expect I do not have to spell out to you how it all felt to me. I’ve leave it that stress often inhibits one’s appetite, and I did need to lose a few pounds.

Long, long story, short short version: Will avoided the pup all weekend, the pup is now on Chinese meds designed to ameliorate reactions to vaccines, and I’ve been researching vaccine reactions (more on that later). In a day’s time, Hope calmed and became normal with me, but the relationship between Will and the pup was completely changed. Will asked to go upstairs when the pup was downstairs. Hope was no longer submissive and sweet to Will, not aggressive but somewhat aloof. On Tuesday night Hope went to a friend’s so I could concentrate on Jim and his surgery, and came back last Saturday after being a totally lovely puppy with her two dogs (more on that later too).

Sunday morning Will and I came down the stairs and Will completely ignored Hope in his crate. He was clearly nervous around him all day, but there were a few times they each attempted to initiate play. This morning we came downstairs and Will went up to the crate and sniffed Hope’s nose, and later initiated play for a second outside. Their play styles are very different now, but there are indications that Will is starting to relax around him. It goes up and down, mostly they ignore each other. Hope is a lovely, lovely pup, I adore him…. he’s responsive and fun and a total joy to work with. He’s played with other dogs and puppies very appropriately. He’s a bit softer (shyer) than the first pup, but gets over his fears very fast.  I have high hopes that as the weeks go on that Will and Hope will become buddies again . . . Crossing all paws.

I’m about to take a week’s vacation and wallow in puppy breath, flowers, and friends. Jim’s surgery next week isn’t quite what we planned, but at least we didn’t have anything else scheduled besides enjoying spring and being together. I’m going to take a blog/email break and concentrate on my Jim, Will and Pup for the entire week, but I wanted to close out the chapter on the puppy tests, at least for now.

As you may know, I do the puppy tests, but am never sure how much to make of them. So far, I am impressed with their predictive value (but it is VERY early in the game, so this question needs to be revisited in 12, 24 and 36 months). The standard tests that I did ask how a pup relates to an unfamiliar person and the environment. Mick was only 1 of 2 pups who followed me, unafraid of loud noise and happy to leave the litter to follow an unfamiliar person. “New pup” ran back to the litter, clearly frightened. Mick brought the paper back immediately, New pup followed it, didn’t bring it back the first time but did the second. Mick startled and investigated when I threw something, seemingly quite bold, while New pup seemed so soft and easily frightened that I didn’t do the test. (I didn’t skip it as one reader asked because of his looks, in spite of my rude comments about his face!, I didn’t do it on the soft female either.) Overall, the tests suggested that Mick was super affiliative with people and relatively bold overall. Great dog to train as a performance dog. New pup tested as being a tad soft, sound sensitive and a bit more independent.

The ‘standard’ tests don’t tell you anything about how a dog will react to other dogs, which is why I asked for an adult dog to be let out to greet the pups. I remember thinking I’d give anything to have Luke, Lassie or Pippy Tay with me, I would trust their reaction totally. But Will’s reaction could have been based on so many things–being nervous around barking dogs, seeing puppies for the first time, so I left him home. You may recall that all the pups ran to the fence, but as soon as the adult began to race around, Mick ran as far away as he could, and looked extremely stressed. He eventually went and found a place to hide while the other pups were still trying to get to the adult dog. As I mentioned in my first post, it was a big red flag for me, and a big worry. I told Jim and the breeder that I was truly concerned about it, and thought for a long time, trying to figure out what it meant. Afraid of unfamiliar dogs? Afraid of lots of motion and commotion, nothing to do with other dogs? I decided that there was only one way to find out: take him home.

Both pups have been consistent so far, New pup more fearful of new things, more sound sensitive and a tad bit more independent. If I was choosing just for myself, Mick would be the better choice. But it took Mick a long time to warm up to Will, and his very grown up adult male dog behavior seemed like it might be a problem. New pup was all over Will immediately, thrilled to meet him and ear-flat submissive.

I promise you that there is simply no way to know who this little pup will be when he gets older. Some dogs who look super submissive seem to be alpha-wanna-be’s in disguise. I have always told people that if you can’t afford to take a risk, don’t get a puppy. Older dogs obtained from shelters, breeders or rescues are often less of a question mark, and although you may not know what you got until you get them home, you’ll know a lot sooner than waiting for 3 years for a pup to grow up! Speaking of pups . . .

Time for me to help my new pup grow up, give the poor thing a name, and spend a week with my boys. Your comments will be posted regularly, and I probably won’t be able to resist checking in, but no promises of comments back until I return.

Meanwhile, back on the farm: the poppies are blooming:

And Pup’s ears are standing up like blossoms reaching for the sun. Comical and adorable all at the same time:

The PATRICIA McCONNELL RETURNS A PUPPY! brou-ha-ha (It’s almost been worth it just having an excuse to use that word: brou-ha-ha. Say it over and over and try not to laugh!) has brought up one of the most important questions in dog training. What “problem behaviors” can be ameliorated by training and/or management, and what can’t? Ah, the answer is a book unto itself (and yup, it’s going to be a topic of the book I’m about to start writing), so I can’t answer as fully as I’d like here. But here are some thoughts, that relate to my recent experience and to our relationship with dogs in general.

First, as many wise readers have noted, there is such a thing as temperament in dogs, just as there is in people.  Temperament is defined as a set of behavioral predispositions that are seen very early in life (within days of birth in infants), believed to be strongly influenced by genetics, and are relatively stable over time. (Personality, on the other hand, is the combination of an individual’s innate temperament and their experience–the interplay of ‘nature-nurture.’) In most mammalian species, there are some tendencies that are so strongly innate that they can be shaped but never completed turned around. Just as no one expects a blood hound to work a flock of sheep, no one expects a fearless, bold puppy to become a shrinking violet unless it was subjected to a major trauma.

Will is a great example of the tenacity of temperament: As a young pup he was pathologically afraid of unfamiliar dogs, the worst I’ve seen in over 20 years. He has come so far it makes my heart swell—he has lots of dog buddies, makes wonderful choices to keep himself out of trouble, and does extremely well in a variety of contexts. But he’ll never be a dog park dog and I’d never let 5 big male dogs run into the house and surprise him. He would be terrified. He was also one of the most sound-sensitive dogs I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t take him out and about because he didn’t habituate to environmental noises, he sensitized to them and became worse. (I know, I know, some of you are asking now: Why didn’t you take him back!!! The answer is complicated, but here’s the quick answer: he was so bad I truly believed he’d have to be euthanized if I didn’t do everything I could to turn him around. His name is “Will” because I asked “Will he or won’t he make it through his first year?” More on that in later blogs and the book to come.)

So, there are some innate traits that can be shaped and changed, but not eliminated. Many of them cause no problems at all in some contexts, but not in others. I’ll talk about context in a minute, but here are some (just some) of the behavioral predispositions that can be influenced, but rarely eliminated:

Dogs who want control: Call it “dominance” or “status seeking” or whatever you want, but some dogs seem to come out of the chute wanting to control objects, space and their own bodies. Just as some babies are cheerful and smiley, and others are inhibited and fearful (and continue to be as adults in their 20′s), some dogs seem hard-wired to want to control their environment. That’s often just not a problem, it can be dealt with easily enough with the right (positive) training methods and in the right context, but it can’t always be eliminated. (Ah, there’s that probability statement again!). And the contexts in which that predisposition most often leads to serious trouble are: 1) Two same sex dogs who are both controlling and 2) controlling/dominant/high status dogs in a home with very young children.

Dogs who are sound sensitive: This is again something that can be shaped and conditioned; but if it is moderate to severe, can rarely be eliminated.  Will is so very, very much better than he was, bu this is not a dog to volunteer for military duty. He just never will be a dog who is literally “bomb proof.” Will stills reacts strongly to some sounds, and gets nervous in noisy environments, but we cope with it without much trouble because of where we live and how I manage him. However, if a bunch o’ football fans wanted to come to the house and scream bloody murder over a game on TV, I’d put Will in his crate and shut the door (or go on a long walk!) Will could never make it in a noisy day care for example, so how ‘fixable’ this issue is depends on the context. The new pup is also quite sound sensitive, but he recovers quickly and isn’t anything like Will was when he was young. I’d score Will, when he was a pup, as an 11 (out of 10, no kidding), new pup as a 5, first pup as a 2. Both pups will be just fine, but new pup will take a bit more work. It will be easy to handle at this level of intensity, but is something to be aware of.

Dogs who are fearful: Fear can come in many different contexts, from fear of other dogs, to fear of unfamiliar people, to fear of environmental change or loud noises. Will showed no sign of fear of people until he was an adolescent (classic “juvenile onset shyness”), which was easily overcome by classical conditioning for about 6 months. However, he is easily overstimulated and frightened, and he’s just never going to turn into a dog who comfortable at a shooting range.

Dogs who live through their nose: Some scent hounds seem to put their noses down a few hours after birth and don’t pick it up unless you are rubbing their ears and there is nothing else going on. Of course, this is exactly what they are bred for, so it is surprising sometimes when people complain that their Bloodhound doesn’t listen in the woods.Can you train around that if you are a skilled trainer? You bet, but is this the dog who would be the best choice for a novice owner who wants a dog to stick around during long walks in the country? Maybe not. Context again makes this a cost or a benefit.

There are many other behaviors we can add to this list: I’d love to hear your input on it. But whatever the issue, here’s what is critical to understand: just as in medicine, some problems can be prevented if you can see them coming, some are easily treated or managed, some can be treated and managed with difficulty, and some are simply deal breakers in a particular context. And as one astute reader mentioned, many ‘problems’ aren’t problems at all… at least not in a particular context. I have seen so many dogs who were in big trouble until they ended up where they needed to be all along…

Ah… such a big issue! We’ll continue this conversation off and on in the future, because I think it is so important.

Meanwhile, back on the farm: Here’s New pup/Nick/Riddle/Chance/Flip/Bug-in-the-Rug with big brother Will. Pup is absolutely smitten by Willie, and Will is doing great with him. Who knows what will happen in the months and years to come, but right now, I’m going to soak up what’s happening right now.

There are two great new books out, one I have mentioned before that I drank up like a cup of hot chocolate on a warm day: Scent of the Missing, by Susannah Charleson is out, and I just loved it. I liked it so much I contacted her PR rep with the publisher and said “Please bring her to do a signing in Madison!” Here’s what I wrote about it: ” A brilliantly written book that should be on every dog lover’s bed stand. Charleson’s use of language is so rich I’m not sure I want to read her book or eat  it.” Micheal Perry, who wrote the gorgeous book Truck, and a first great book, Population 485–(wonderful wonderful books) wrote “… With lean, lovely prose she takes us on a clear-eye, compassionate journey into a mysterious world in which every story begins as a ghost story.”

Scent of the Missing is about Susannah’s journey into Search and Rescue, and the joys and challenges of taking a tiny, full-of-herself pup through the rigorous training required of an  S & R dog. Susannah is bravely honest about the ups and downs of her experience, and is simply a scrumptious writer. She is coming to do a signing at  Borders West in Madison, Wisconsin next Wednesday, May 19th. I hope anyone in the area can come out to support her.

Another great book is Chase! by Clarissa von Reinhardt. I met Clarissa when she brought me over to Germany to participate in a conference, (which was great by the way, lots of super speakers) and she has written a wonderful book for people who want to walk dogs off leash out in the country. As I said in my blurb, just the idea of a “sausage tree” is worth the price of the book. I think this a great, practical book for anyone who has a dog who is a tad challenging to walk off leash, and for any trainer who wants to add to their tool box.

There is one section I don’t agree with, and I’m curious what you think. Clarissa advises against “frequently throwing balls, sticks or other objects for your dog to chase and/or retrieve” if you have a dogs who loves to chase things. Interesting, I tend to do the opposite: use that desire to chase objects as a reinforcement for coming when called, and stopping on cue. Your thoughts? However, that caveat said, this book is full of some great ideas. Have you read it yet?

Meanwhile, back on the farm: It’s cold and rainy and I am enmeshed in the ‘return the pup’ controversy and house and crate training a new puppy and finalizing grades for 150 students and making arrangements for Jim’s surgery next week and the need for farm help for the next year. I’ll just leave it that it’s seems to be pouring rain in many ways, in many contexts. Good news is that the pup is thriving, worships Will and I absolutely adore him. Although I’m feeling a bit like a swimmer in raging river, I am 100 % sure I make the right decision. I’ll write soon (hopefully tomorrow) about the good questions of 1) what behavior is ‘fixable’ and what isn’t and 2) if I could do the process all over again, would I do it differently…. Stay tuned, and thanks for hanging in there.

Here’s a photo from a friend, of the Trillium in his yard. It’s a native species and is all over the woods right now… so beautiful, even in the pouring rain!

I took him back. It was one of the  hardest decisions I’ve ever made, because I adored so much about him (see last post). Mick, as I named him, is extremely responsive (came EVERY time I called and clapped), very happy to investigate new things, is not sound sensitive, was already fetching, and was starting to play with Will. He is going to be a great dog for some lucky person.

[FYI, I changed the title to this post. It was originally "One Pup, Next Pup", and on reflection it sounds a bit cavalier, and believe me, this decision was anything but that!]

But the primary reason I got a puppy was for Will. He needs a playmate, and he needs to not have exclusive access to everything in the house, me and Jim included, for too much longer. I need a dog who is going to get along beautifully with Willie, and who, unlike Will, is totally comfortable around unfamiliar dogs. I want a dog who is bomb proof with people and children, a dog who loves other dogs and will be a great friend to Will. Will’s best friends have been small, submissive males, and I wanted either a small, sweet female or small male who loves other dogs and would never bully Will. I also don’t want to get stuck without a good working dog, and my absolute favorite activity with a dog (besides cuddling on the living room floor) is herding sheep. Needless to say, I know that I am asking a lot: a solid disposition, a working dog with great instincts and sheep sense who is strong enough to face down a defensive ewe but biddable enough to listen to me without a battle. Throw in physically sound, great with people and dogs, and oh yeah, Santa Claus, could you also make him cute as can be?

What worried me, nagged me relentlessly, about Mick was that 1) rather than running right up to Will when I brought him home he ran away, looking frightened. In some ways it was good, because he wasn’t all over Willie and didn’t overwhelm him, but the puppies I’ve seen who inherently love other dogs run right up to dogs with a “Oh oh oh! You’re a dog! I’m a dog too!  Hewwwwwwwwwoooooo, can we be friends?” That in itself wouldn’t have been a deal breaker, but add in Mick’s vigorous scratching after defecating and adult-like mounting of Will, and the flags began to fly. I think nothing of puppies mounting each other at this age, it seems relatively common, but this guy looked like an adult stud dog breeding a bitch. He did a complete foreleg clasp (I had to pry his legs off of Will), eyes shut, hard thrusting, tongue flicking. Honestly, at one point I actually thought “Good grief, did he ejaculate?” And this was just  hours after coming to a new place, and to an adult 50 pound male dog.

So what did that portend, really? Oh heck, no one can say for sure, but it raised the odds that this might not be a dog who is totally mellow and bomb-proof around other dogs. And, most importantly, who wouldn’t bully Will when he gets older. Miserably indecisive, I reached out to dear friends–how lucky I am to have some  who are brilliant behaviorists and trainers, and asked what they thought. The responses were consistent: “Well, might be fine, but seeing such adult-like behavior in a 9 week old pup is a bit of a red flag in a dog that young. If you want the odds on your side, you might want to consider taking him back.” (That’s an average of the responses… they varied from BAIL NOW! to “Can’t you wait a week and see?” But most people had the same concerns I did given what I wanted.)

After a lousy night, I bit the bullet, (heart sick, cuz I LOVED so much about this puppy), and asked a dear friend to drive up with me to return him, with the idea that I’d consider another male who also tested well. I was prepared to take that one back or drive back with no puppy at all. This time I took Will with me (the first time I picked out a pup I thought I wouldn’t be able to tell much from Will’s reaction. He’s had so little experience with puppies and I wanted to ease him into it).  I let out the other male of interest, and this time let him meet Willie.  Will did a full piloerection, hair straight up half way down his back. No growl, but tense body. The pup however, looked very comfortable, which I loved. I was primarily focused on the pup, less on Will because I assumed Will would be a bit nervous, so I was happy with that response on the part of the pup. Then I brought out a sweet little female who I had discounted because she was a bit shy. Same response to me this time, too fearful to even come over to me, so I put her right back. I think she’ll be just fine, but not the best pick for someone whose dogs go everywhere. There was one other male there who I had quickly discounted when I did the first tests because 1) He was quite soft, so much so that I didn’t do the startle response test because I thought it would be too much for him. He was very sweet, settled instantly when I rolled him over, brought back the paper the 2nd time I threw it, but clearly much more cautious about the world than Mick. And oh yeah, okay, full disclosure: he just didn’t catch my eye. Okay, that’s not honest enough. I just thought he was sort of plain looking. Okay, still fudging the truth here. I said to Jim “That puppy is just too darn ugly to take home.” May I someday be forgiven.

You know what is coming next. After deciding to leave without a pup, I walked by the puppy pen one more time and the cautious little male just happened to catch my eye. His ears have started to go up, and his face looked plain but super sweet, so I picked him up and introduced him to Will. The pup ran straight to Will, Will play bowed, and they began to race around the yard together. My heart did that thing in which it seems to double in size in your chest, my eyes got extra wet, and I picked up the pup and drove him home. Decision made.

Thanks Will, I needed that. Nothing like a dog to know about another one, hey? Here he is, getting cuter to me by the minute. He is indeed a bit cautious of the world, more sound sensitive than I like, but he adores people, runs right up to them, recovers well from his fears. So far (all 15 hours worth of time!) he seems like a pup who could come out just wonderfully with the right start.  I’ll write more next time about the correlation between the tests and the pup’s behavior at home, but the pup (no name yet) is sleeping now, and I’ve got to grab the time to get other work done! And I’ll also add in the same caution that I tell all puppy buyers: You simply CAN NOT know what you have until they are much much older…. so we’ll see what we’ve got when he’s a year or so. I am clear that this dog is literally auditioning for a job. (Are you listening, the emotional center of Trisha’s brain? Your frontal cortex is talking!)

But for now, here he is, my new, sweet-sweet little boy. Pretty is and as pretty does, and I’ve decided he is slam-dunk adorable.

My UW students just took their last exam, and along with grading all 150 of them, I’m off with Jim to pick up the pup tomorrow. He’ll be nine weeks, a male Border collie of excellent herding lines who are also carefully bred for health and temperament. I’ve known his dad for years, always considered him a “bomb proof” dog–so much so that he was the first dog that Will was allowed to be in physical contact with after a year of classical and operant conditioning to turn his dog-dog aggression around.) Some background:

Two days after Lassie died I was online looking at rescue sites and shelters. I’ve never done that before, always needing a long time to let the other dog go.  I’m not sure why I did it after Lassie died. Her death was profoundly difficult for me; the loss of her was hard enough, but a decision I made at the end turned out to be the wrong one, and she died on her own, and not well. I should’ve put her down the night before, but I didn’t, so she suffered at the end and I had promised her I wouldn’t let that happen. I felt physically ill about it for days and no doubt my internet search was in part about finding something to ease the pain. Three days after she died I found a little, sorrel and white fluff-ball dog, the kind I call an “oxytocin pump” on my local shelter’s website. We went the next day to donate unused medications, and I told Jim if we were lucky the dog would already be adopted. I knew it probably would be, dogs like that leave shelters within hours if not days, and it was indeed already reserved for a new home. “Whew” I said to Jim, dodged a bullet there–probably not too wise to get a dog 3 days after Lassie died. And I would’ve taken it if it had been there, no question about it.

Since then, I’ve been looking on-line for months, waiting for just the right dog to appear, the plan being to end up with a total of 2 Border collies and a small, fluff ball dog as the canine residents of Redstart Farm. I wasn’t planning on a puppy, but heard about a litter from two solid dogs with great temperaments and super herding skills, met the parents, had long talks with owners of 3 year old dogs of the same breeding.. and here we are, about to bring a new little life into our home.

I had 5 pups to choose from, 2 females and 3 males. Overall, a female would have a lower probability of getting into competitive interactions with Will, but his best friends have been smaller, submissive males, so I decided I’d take either sex if I found a pup I really liked. I thought you’d be interested in how I chose. As many readers know, there are many “temperament tests’ out there (tho’ really they are “behavioral assessments” or “personality tests,”) and I used a combination of standards tests and measures that I’ve used for decades. My own opinion is that although no tests of a young pup are as predictive as we’d all like them to be, they are better than throwing your hands up in the air and choosing based on coat color or a pretty face. It helps that I’ve done hundreds of these in a similar way, and my belief is that doing it so many times to so many different kinds of dogs surely must provide some wisdom… at least, one can always hope.

Here’s what I did: The pups were in an EX pen in a grassy area.

ONE: I took one pup out at a time, and put them down about 20 feet away from the pen, and then clapped and moved away from the pen. I hadn’t planned this to be a test of “bold/shy” but it was windy and noisy and we had to pass barking dogs in a kennels, and it turned out to be a great way to compare the pup’s responses.  My pup (we called him Tri Male) was only one of 2 who stayed with me. He actually did baby outruns around my feet and tried to stop my forward motion, all open mouth and happy. Three pups ran back to the pen, ears flat, one other pup stayed with me, seemingly oblivious to everything but staying with me. (Good sign of boldness and interest in being with me? Maybe! (Maybe not!) Good sign of herding potential from Tri Male? (NO… I know of absolutely no way to test herding interest or ability in a young pup! The behavior often doesn’t show up until 7-9 months, so I would never make any guesses about herding ability at 8 weeks.)

TWO: We moved to a quiet area, I let the pups sniff a bit, did some petting, and then tossed a crumpled up piece of paper about 2 feet away. Tri Male followed it, picked it up and brought it back 2 times in a row. One other pup did the same, 2 tracked it and touched it with their noses but didn’t retrieve, one paid no attention at all. (Retrieving a good sign of willingness to work as a team? Maybe, maybe not. Good sign of interest in objects and potential for lots of object play… maybe…)

THREE:  I gently rolled the pup over onto its back, and held it down with my hand on its chest. I scored intensity of struggles as 1 to 5, 5 being most vigorous, 1 being none. Tri Male struggled “3″ for 3 seconds, then stopped, went quiet, relaxed and looked at my face. He was only one of two who stopped struggling, but he had no signs of fear or appeasement on his face when he did so, he just looked relaxed. (Good sign of frustration tolerance? Maybe… )

FOUR:  Teach sit with food lure. All pups behaved the same. They loved the food and were all sitting easily within seconds. No differences here, great responses.

FIVE: Gently restrain and open mouth 3 x in a row. Most pups squiggled so much that I couldn’t divide my attempts into “first, second and third” (and had to struggle myself not to just lie down and laugh). Tri Male was the only pup who I could record 3 different actual “mouth opens” and we recorded him as “No struggle lst attempt, 2 out of 5 for the 2nd attempt, 4/5 3rd.”

SIX: Let explore on their own for 2 minutes, then called come (“pup pup pup” + hand claps) without moving:
4 pups ignored me completely (including Tri Male), one pup (a sweet, slightly shy female) responded and came over. All pups had moved under a large tree (in the shade, we were in the sun) and seemed obsessed with a scent in the leaves.) Tri M totally ignored me until I came closer.. no way to know if he was ‘not forgiving’ me for the mouth handling, or wanted to stay in shade and distracted by the scents.

SEVEN: Got pup’s attention by going closer, then called to come by clapping, calling and running away. Ran back and forth 4 times, about 6-8 feet each time. All pups followed perfectly. (Sign of all being Border collies? … I think I can say a definitive yes here.)

EIGHT: Startle response: threw bait bag down beside them, about 2 feet away from pup’s head. Noise loud, but was on grass so not as loud as if on hard surface. I did not do this with the slightly softer female, seemed too much for her, but did with the other 4 pups. Tri Male startled briefly without flattening, then approached and sniffed. (Good response and recovery to potentially frightening event? Maybe….)

NINE: All back in EX pen, adult dog let out who ran to pen. All pups approached, one female with tail up and over, almost touching her back, all others with tail horizontal, including Tri Male. Adult dog began to run fast, vigorous circles around pen. Four pups followed, running in circles inside the pen, except Tri Male, who moved to the center of the pen, with big eyes and flat ears. He eventually lay down in a crate and went to sleep while the others were still up and active.  (Sign of being easily stressed by .. what? Other dogs? Rapid movement? Hummmm…..)

And so, after a half hour of talking, Jim and I decided on Tri Male. Overall, it looked like a lovely litter.  One male and one female were super sweet and affiliative, and one female is going to be a pistol, the kind of dog who pushes your buttons but you still love like life itself. They all seemed like good, good dogs, but Tri Male had the best overall score of the bunch, doing great on 7 out of 9 tests. The only possible red flag was his last response to the circling dog, which I won’t pretend didn’t worry me. However, based on the fact that 1) his other responses were excellent, 2) he comes from solid stock (although every dog is different, so I didn’t want to make too much of that), and 3) okay, I love his face (another post will come someday about how much looks should matter.. if at all), I decided to take him. That last response could indicate huge trouble (easily stressed by a commotion and inability to recover quickly?) or nothing at all. How much do we make of one incident, either positive or negative? There’s only one way to find out, and you know what that is. . .  (FYI, Tri Male ran in circles with the other puppies when the same scenario occurred a few days ago. Yeah!)

Meanwhile, back on the farm: Crates are ready, puppy food is on the counter . . . and it turns out that Jim will need surgery, ASAP, on his arm. Ah life, never a dull moment, hey? No more photos of the pup yet, but we’ll take tons over the weekend. But here’s a photo I took a few days ago on the road to the farm, a perfect image of what it looks like here now. Yup, it really is that pretty out here.

Well, I just hate it when I mess up. And I did… instead of clarifying something I confused it. Sigh. Let me see if I can do a better job this time:

In my last post I talked about saying “Ready” before I lifted Will’s paws to clean them, and how valuable I felt it was to communicate to a dog what you are about to do. Readers responded (so beautifully I might add) with their own examples of the value of communicating one’s intention rather than always just giving a “cue” asking the dog to perform an action. All good so far, and if you haven’t read the comments yet, I’d advise you do so, because there are so many good ideas about how to help your dog prepare for what is about to happen. (I liked them so much I printed them out.)

At the end of the post I labeled this as “meta-communication,” which is defined as “communication about communication.” The example I gave, correctly, was a play bow in canine communication, which is taken to mean: “Don’t take these growls and bites seriously . . . I”m just playing.” A verbal equivalent in our own species is “Hey, I’m just joking!” or “Pay no attention to what I say in the meeting: I don’t necessarily believe it but I’m saying it for a reason.”

Meta-communication is an interesting aspect of communication, and there well may be some good examples of it in our communication with dogs, but the one I used was not one of them.  Several discerning readers were right on when they questioned how I was using the concept. “Ready” doesn’t really say anything about how to interpret my next actions or words. Rather, it clues the dog into something that is about to happen. Such a signal is, I believe, incredibly valuable, but it is not an example of communication about communication, it is an example of communicating what is about to happen. Very different things. So, here’s a question for you: Can you think of an example that really IS meta-communication from you to your dog? Here’s one of mine that might be: On occasion I’ll actually say in a very quiet voice: “Will, pay attention now, this is important.” (Does he have a clue what I am saying? Doubtful to say the least, but I suspect that my tone and demeanor suggest to him that my next words need to be taken more seriously than usual.)

Meanwhile, back on the farm: It’s been quite a week. I admit to be a tad distracted by the wonder of spring and a number of other activities, troubles and joys.  My sister’s brief visit was exquisitely wonderful, the silo came down with only moderate angst and minor problems (a large wooden feeder got smished, it took 4 loads of gravel and dirt to fill the hold, even after all the cement staves were pushed into it) . . .

. . . waves of avian migrants appeared (from Rufous-sided Towhees to Blue-winged Warblers), the electric fences were successfully moved and tested, buckets and buckets of weeds were rudely jerked out of my flower gardens, time was spent constructing the last exam for my UW course, poor Jim ripped the bulk of his bicep into two pieces, and oh yeah, no surprise to discerning readers, I bought a puppy. Coming home Saturday. Oh my.