I welcomed the onset of winter in November. Summer time is busy for me, too busy on occasion. Dog trialing and gardening come at the same time of the year in the Midwest, and so those hobbies, along with work and all the rest of life, mean the days are still too short, no matter how long the sun is up. When winter starts I revel in the Danish sense of hygge, or a feeling of cozy comfort brought on by sweaters and candles and moonlight on the snow.
That was then, this is now. Now there’s less comfort, but more desire for green grass and more light and eating on a restaurant’s patio. And going outside without putting on an entire suitcase of clothing. Covid, of course, doesn’t help, and vaccinations around here look to be far in the future.
Thank heavens for dogs, right? We’ve been extra challenged here in the dog department, however, because Skip has been recovering from his unilateral cryptorchid surgery. I’ve barely worked Maggie since his operation, because the first time I did Skip thought it was his turn next, and flipped around coming out of his crate as if competing for a snow boarding championship. (I hereby propose a new Olympic sport: Vertical/horizontal/lateral flip spinning while restrained by a leash.)
And so, besides cooking and taking up cross stitch and watching Netflix every single night (currently on Lupin and Last Tango in Halifax), I’ve been playing with the dogs inside the house. Even better, I’ve been using this an an opportunity to get in some practical conditioning while at the same keeping Skip quiet and inactive. And me from going stir crazy, definitely a bonus.)
I’ve been conditioning Skip to lay quietly while I use a dremel on his nails. I’m using an old Oster dremel for Skip (here is the newer one). It’s a bit loud but the noise doesn’t seem to bother him, and it’s efficient. It probably helps that soon after he came here (almost exactly a year ago!), he badly injured his leg and I had to teach him to lie quietly for long periods of time for ice, heat and laser treatments.
Skip did really well here (his second session), but did withdraw one of his front paws when I held it with the dremel running. I let him take it back, and switched paws. Later I went back to the “problem” paw and reinforced him for letting me hold it with the dremel switched off.
Maggie arrived here as a young adult already terrified of having her nails trimmed, and I didn’t help by quicking her once with a standard clipper. For her I’m using a smaller quieter dremel, because she is much more noise sensitive than Skip. However, it also takes much longer to get anything accomplished, so there is a trade off.
Maggie is so worried about nail care that I have started her at a different place than Skip. She’s also much more sound sensitive and clearly uncomfortable with the louder, corded dremel. Here I’m reinforcing her for voluntarily giving me a paw while the quiet dremel runs. I love that she looks so enthusiastic! At the very end of the video I touch it to her paw and she doesn’t withdraw it. Yay!
Since I’m enamored of using this time to work on behavior I’d like to improve, I’m also going to work on Maggie’s irritating habit of snarfing for food at my feet as I get the dog and cat meals prepared. You can’t blame Maggie for being underfoot–the dogs get a combo on commercial raw and kibble, and on rare occasion some of the kibble falls to the floor. Thus she gets reinforced for being in my way. So today I’m going to teach her a simple trick, which is to go to a mat while I get their meals ready. (Kikopup, the source of lots of great training videos, has a good one on teaching your dog to go to a bed or mat.)
It couldn’t be much easier--toss treats on the mat, feed on the mat, gradually ask your dog to stay on the mat for longer periods of time. Advanced sessions will have Maggie staying on the mat while I make her dinner. (I’ll crate Skip while doing this to keep it simple.)
Maggie would like to get on with training, thank you:
There’s always a gazillion things to work on, but I’m going to continue to focus on those 2–nails and mat work for Maggie. And soon (end of the week, yayayayayayayay!), we’ll be able to work the sheep again beyond just bringing them in for dinner.
How about you? Anything you are working on, or are inspired to work on this winter, that combines a cabin fever reliever with cleaning up a behavior? (All species welcome here.)
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Oooo, oooo, oooo, the sun just came out as I am writing! Haven’t seen it much lately, and it sure is good to see it.
Cloudy or sunny, I’ve been curious about who would take over the flock leadership, and I’m not sure it’s decided yet. I literally laughed out loud the morning after the Ladies of Leisure left, when the remaining flock stood in the barnyard at a time when they would normally walk up the hill. They stood stock still, except for looking around left and right as if waiting for someone to tell them what to do. (Reminiscent of that Gary Larson cartoon of sheep at a party, relieved that the Border Collie showed up to tell them what to do.)
One good indicator could be who comes down the hill first:
But I’m doubtful it’s 384. She was first in line in this case, and she got eclipsed by Swift when they got close to barn. But 384 is older (she really needs a name!), so it’s possible she’ll take over. Definitely need to gather more data! (But thank you Maggie again, for allowing me to avoid a walk up the hill!)
I’m still crazed for color, and the bulbs from White Flower Farm are still a continual joy. Even the fading tulips make me smile:
One of the amaryllis is in full bloom now, another is beginning to fade but the third is just about to bloom. Bless them.
What’s keeping you going through the winter? (Those of you in the Southern Hemisphere who are walking on beaches are welcome to tell us about it. Just don’t be surprised if we begin to cry.)
Tell us if winter is helping you get some indoor behavior cleaned up. (Your dogs, your cats, your ____?) We’re all ears.
lak says
So impressed with Maggie bringing the sheep to you, I have no knowledge or experience with dogs and sheep, but she looked so excited when you gave her the command, what a beautiful exercise to watch!
Kandy says
Haven’t been able to read your posts for awhile, Pat. But here I am, 6am, and enjoying every word and photo. Thanks for sharing your time with us, your loyal readers. It makes life easier during these difficult days, Covid and everything else. I will say my dog and our walks sure helps a lot.
Thanks again. wait for your next post.
Wendy S. Katz says
Oh! Seeing a border collie streaking out of sight over the hilltops and then reappearing behind a gently flowing cluster of sheep always makes my heart melt 🙂
I wish I could get inspired to be more organiz-ey! My winter coping consists in large part of making comfort foods: soups, bread, scones. And thinking up training games for my 11-year-old dog who is no more fond than I of fond of cold rainy day walks.
Amy says
Thinking about a possible name for 384 is perfect ‘wake the brain’ activity this snowy morning. C H D are the letters that correspond. That eventually led me to ch-ar-dee… Charity. With the pandemic, charity is visibly needed in more and bigger ways. I think it works, but will keep pondering this as I shovel drifts off our driveway.
Behavior modifications… we have two rescued rabbits, very different personalities. Both have been with us for 5ish years. I suspect our boy was a maltreated and dumped Easter bunny (grrrr) or maybe he was developing in some major stress hormones in utero. He has always been hypervigilant (yes, even ‘extra’ for a rabbit) and is quick to armor his body, thump warnings for slight things, and dash off to hide like he’s a bullet train. At the beginning of the covid-era stay-home, we thought, ok, this is good. We will be around even more, reassuring him that he is safe, that we are not going to harm him, announcing our every move so nothing is startling at all. Nope. He is exactly the same. Whatever past trauma his neurons lived through is beyond desensitization, I believe. Meanwhile, our girl will bound up to any human in the room – chimney sweep, washing machine repair man, window installer – Hi! You have snacks?! If you are here, and you are a two-legged, you must be here to give us snacks! Hello? These two are our loves and I cannot imagine quarantine without their wonderful, silly, chewy, digging, supervising us antics 🙂
Liz says
Hi
I’m a recent dremel fan too. I was too cautious to use clippers. First, I just got my collies used to the sounds [ever curious] this was easy. Now I just do a little each time I groom [ presently almost daily due to mud ]. Highly recommend them.
My red and white collie was Cryptorchid [both] and required a fairly serious operation to find one of them. I often wonder if this was what made him such a sensitive cautious wee lad. My b&w collie is at the other end of the scale bold, fearless pretty much ‘bomb-proof’.
Susan Wroble says
So enjoyed this post, both the dremel training and the question of who comes down first. We are still at the stage of two people for dremeling (one to provide treats and one to dremel) so this was really helpful. Thanks!
Tails Around the Ranch says
Although it’s snowing right now (thank goodness, we soooo need it), those few extra moments of sunlight are welcome to the daily routine. Continued success with the dremel and feeding station training. Elsa is very patient but 85+ lb. Norman is voracious and drools at my feet waiting for his meals.
Can I just say that last tulip image is incredible! Well done!
Charlotte Kasner says
Last Tango In Halifax! Does that translate?
Teddy says
The post about the Dremel, and the videos, are so great! We use a Dremel, too, but with our current dog, it’s a pretty busy, chaotic, two-person production that we call a “Toe Jam.” On the couch, one person plies the front end of the dog with treats, while the other person does the Dremel as quickly as possible on all the toes. It works, but as a method, it sure could use improvement! So I think I’ll be assigning us the task of learning how to do it the way you are. With a super-food-motivated Lab/BC/Beagle cross, we may have a chance here. THANK YOU! (And I especially love Maggie’s one-ear-up-one-ear-down during part of the video!)
Trisha says
Charlotte: English is synched in. A bit awkward but still a great show.
Trisha says
Thanks Susan. I should have mentioned in the post that I’m working on being able to do it without Jim’s assistance. Takes longer but I’d like to not have to bother Jim every time I want to do the dog’s nails!
Jen Gibson says
What are people’s opinions on Dremel tools vs clippers? Our one dog never minded having her toes trimmed with the clippers. Or I should say, didn’t mind as long as I was reasonably quick about it. The other was terrified of clippers and then when our groomer tried a dremel it must’ve got too hot or something as she tolerated it for a few minutes and then curled her lip.
We have a new dog now who seems okay with foot touching so we will progress to trims soon. Just wondering if getting a dremel makes sense. Thanks!
Judi says
Thank you, great to see herding beautifully
Gayla says
By the end, I think Maggie is focusing on the treat bowl in an effort to get YOU to speed up the dang treat delivery. :>) Not that it’s slow, but for some dogs it can never be quick enough!
Echo has that same frantic energy around food…as if she’s never had any before and may never again.
You’re looking thin. How the heck are you pulling that off?
I need to be doing behavior modification around our covid eating!
LisaW says
I’d name 384 Janet after our new Treasury Secretary. A numbers devotee, a bit older, open to youngsters’ input, a “first” in many arenas, and strikingly elegant.
I loved Lupin. The other dubbed series I like (but not love) is Borgen. Have you seen The Queen’s Gambit? Amazing. My are-you-serious-but-I-love-it show is Queer Eye.
I have been struggling with how we can get Olive’s nails clipped. She will not allow us to get near her nails, no matter how we try to go slow, condition, treat, repeat before we even get within feet of her nail. She will have none of it. The last vet that tried got nipped! There’s a yellow caution sign with exclamation mark on her chart saying “Does NOT like nails clipped.” Her PTSD kicks in, and she goes into a different dimension.
Deborah Mason says
Besides a weekly agility class for Marley, weekly really class for both him & Hickory, we’ve just started a nosework class class with Hickory. At home we’re working on getting them to accept the Gentle Leader.
We’ve been watching the older dog (Marley) develop “coyote cunning” – my husband’s lap is the coveted one. Hickory will block Marley. Marley is developing a repertoire of tricks to get Hickory to abandon the keep so he can claim it. Most recent was going to the kitchen& barking “intruders”, then running back to claim the lap.
BARB STANEK says
Watching Maggie bring the sheep in and looking at all those sweet sheep faces immediately melted my heart. I know that I am not a border collie person. And it’s a good thing that I know that. Otherwise, I might already be starting a plan to get a border collie and a small flock of adorable sheep.
One thing that I’ve found it that I train my dogs better with a friend. I’ve been watching Ken Ramirez’s weekly training discussions, and that’s all it has taken to get me motivated to do SOMETHING with my pups. I’m a fairly mediocre trainer. My training schedule tends to be more of a training op when the spirit moves me.
But even with that, the dogs have enjoyed our sessions. I’m teaching them to go to a place in the living room and stay there. Really, it’s amazing what one can do with even a little time invested. My dogs, of course, are brilliant!
My amarillis is starting the end of it’s blooming time. I have enjoyed it. A promise of spring to come! I enjoyed Last Tango in Halifax. I’m a big Wisconsin Public Television fan, and that’s how I started watching it. I really enjoy the Alan Buttershaw character. He has one foot in the clouds and always a kind word or deed for everyone! I enjoy Celia too — well, I just enjoy the whole series!
Rachel Lachow says
Your dremel method reminds me of Chirag Patel’s bucket game, all the rage now in the fear-free world of cooperative care. When teaching my puppy last year, I had her first learn to love the grooming table by rewarding her with food and kisses whenever she jumped up there. Then I brought out a bucket of treats and dremeled her without a leash or noose as she agreed to stay. If she jumped off, I just waited for her to come up again. The difference with Chirag’s bucket game, as I understand it, is that you don’t advance unless the dog is looking at the bucket. If they look away because of any of your motions, you retreat. I’m going to try it out and see how it compares. I noticed your dog had the best success while looking at the treat bucket. I’m starting a virtual manners class, AKC’s new covid title, and grooming is one of the elements and I’m thinking to lead a class through the bucket game to get consent for grooming. I received my Whole Dog Journal today and Pat Miller has a good article on it called “Care to Cooperate.” The is one of those funny times where the whole universe seems to be pointing me towards one method.
Trisha says
Rachel: I too love the confluence! The universe knows…
Trisha says
Barb: I doubt you’re really a mediocre trainer, but I hear you loud and clear about needing the spirit to move us. And if I ever need inspiration, Ken Ramirez is the perfect place to go!
Trisha says
Gotta love these brilliant,, “coyote-cunning” dogs, right Deborah?
Trisha says
LisaW: Nice correlation with Janet and 384! We liked Borgen too, and loved the Queen’s Gambit. And poor Olive! (and poor you.) Would she be a candidate to teach to file her own nails on a plank with sandpaper? Laura Monaco Torelli is brilliant at it, check out her site, maybe she has a video?
Trisha says
Gayla: Maggie agrees with you that the treat bowl deserves the focus! Note another commenter who mentioned Chiraq Patel’s “bucket game,” in which you never proceed until the dog looks at the bucket of treats!
Trisha says
Jen, as you imply, it depends. I could clip Skip’s nails with no problem, and have. But someday I’m afraid I’ll quick him, and then he’ll get more like Maggie. So I’m going to dremel his nails once a week; nice to be able to do it myself without bothering Jim. Maggie, on the other hand, is terrified of the clippers, and even of the older Oster dremel. She’s much better, as you could see on the video, with the quiet dremel. The trade off is that it’s soooo slow compared to the Oster, but it’s a great way to work our way up.
Trisha says
Teddy: “Toe Jam” it is now, love the title. It’s exactly what Jim and I have done for years until I decided to take advantage of cabin fever to work on doing it myself and the dogs volunteering for their manicures.
Trisha says
Amy, thanks for brightening our day with your rabbit adventures. Count me a fan of both.(but what are their names?)
Trisha says
Wendy S. Here’s to comfort food! No idea what I would do without bread, scones and good soup!
S says
Hmm did I miss the additional info on cross stitch in your post? I am staying busy working with a 2nd dog we added to the family. He came from a lot of structure so I am building that into life here, which is a bit looser than what he needs. It keeps me on my toes but is rewarding to see him respond so positively.
Besides reading, watching some tv (pbs redid James Herriott and I am loving the limited series),and puzzles, I have joined the #52tagshannemade challenge. I have zero talent but it’s fun to see how talented others are!!!
Abby says
I joined an online canine fitness class, I’m still trying to decide who gets more of a workout me or the dog 🙂
Kat says
I’ve been working on teaching D’Artagnan to play with toys. I’d hoped that given time he’d figure it out but his early training is going to have to be undone with intent. He grew up with very young children. I understand the logic behind teaching him that taking toys from humans was a no no and that toys were off limits. The last thing you want is a giant dog and a small person having conflicts over toys. So now we’re playing touch the toy get a treat, mouth the toy get a lot of treats. In time we’ll up the criteria to he has to take the toy and then tug the toy.
For myself, I’ve been learning how to put old skills to new uses by writing a book about Therapy Dog work. I hope when it’s all done it will give others a place to start when deciding they want to become a Therapy Dog team. Meanwhile, I’m learning a lot.
Janet Ewellin would be an awesome name for 384.
Anne Johnson says
Tank always jumps and runs to go feed the horses. So, to keep him from possibly knocking into me, I’ve been throwing bones out to him as I go out to feed. During this snow, it’s been more challenging as the bones do fall into the snow. But, this is great! He has to really use his nose to find the bones! Keeps him busy, and I trudge through the snow to get to the horse stall!
Trisha says
S: Eeeps! Forgot to add a photo of the pillow I’m working on. Will promise for next week. Thanks for keeping me accountable!
Trisha says
Kat: Love the Janet Ewellin idea!Takes a village. And re toys–I had a BC who wouldn’t even follow a toy when you passed it in front of her nose. I ended up stuffing a small Kong with her favorite food, and ended
up teaching her to fetch like a champ. But she never played with toys like my other dogs. I have often wondered if there is a kind of fuzzy critical period for object play in canids. I’ve seen so many dogs from
abusive or neglectful situations who ignored all toys… Curious. Keep us posted on Dr. D’Art. (The Duke of D’Artagnan?)
LisaW says
Janet Ewellin is da bomb! And thanks for the sandpaper board idea. I had forgotten about that, I’ll look into it. Such a great village.
Pat says
Hi Trisha,
Southern hemisphere here but sadly I am far from walking on beaches – we are in a heatwave and it’s too hot for little paws to walk on the pavement so we also cabin-bound (40⁰C or 104⁰F) – sunshine though is not a problem! Luckily for me Kona (toy poodle) loves loves loves water (even though he doesn’t like food). A baby bath on the balcony provides hours of entertainment for him splashing about – and happily the left over water makes it onto the pot plants.
The conditioning we have been doing includes the water as a distraction from barking. Our city has recently introduced electric scooters for hire and just as Kona was beginning to accept hot air balloons, we have a new devil to contend with…. So as a scooter whizzes past a little black head pops out between the rails and tries to bark them away, but I am winning the distraction war with “in your bucket” (an easy adaptation of “on your mat”). It works wonderfully for on the balcony interactions but not so well when we are out walking – the next challenge….
So please do enjoy the cool and the snow from your over-heated readers in Aus.
Rebecca Rice says
Hi!
Reading about Maggie and food-scarfing reminded me strongly of my Pixie! She’s a 9-pound rat terrier, and would bark at me while I was making the dogs food. And then she went to barking and jumping on my legs to try and get me to hurry up with it, which actually made me go slower because well… barking jumping dog! I had been dealing with it by doing the “everything stops when the behavior starts”, but that didn’t really seem to be doing much. So I FINALLY decided to engage the trainer brain, brought one of her beds into the kitchen, and had her go and settle on her bed while I did meal prep. I figured that would fix the jumping bit, and I could work on the barking next. I think it took two days to get her to figure out settling quietly on the bed got dinner done faster! She stopped jumping, and the barking also stopped without me having to do anything about it. Two days, after dealing with the barking and jumping for months! It was excellent reinforcement for me on being proactive about these situations.
Trisha says
Love this story Rebecca. Amazing how long we’ll put up with something before engaging our brain and fixing it. Similar experience here with Maggie, though going to take longer than 2 days, but won’t be long. Skip, by the way, has it down already, even though he was never under foot.
KC Wilson says
Comments: Dremel Tool: Once I taught my dogs to accept it, I wished I’d done it much earlier. I took my time over 2 weeks to ease them into accepting the process. Winter/Covid relievers: I am without a dog for the first time in my adult life. Sadly. But I sew a lot, and I feed the feral bunnies every day at the neighbors. Those are my pets right now. I take walks in the nearby state park or around the neighborhood. Good luck to everyone wanting the vaccine and getting an appointment for one.
Grace says
I just started doing the “bucket game” that Rachel mentioned, from recent issue of WDJ. I had tried to teach chin rest to my 7YO Basenji but it was awkward for me to have him in that position and do any cooperative care. Lewis (my dog) LOVES clicker training, so I bought a cheap purple Valentine’s Day plastic tumbler to serve as my “bucket” & will only use for that purpose & grabbed my clicker & some treats. Lewis is tactile – with mouth and paws – and very enthusiastic (BAM!), so first part of session was him batting my “bucket” around or picking it up & flinging it across the room, then bringing it back to me (bless his heart). I ended up having to watch him like a hawk & pick up the bucket before he could make contact, and to reset him for next trial. Eventually he figured out all I wanted him to do was look at it, so we ended first session with very brief glances that I marked & rewarded BEFORE the paws or mouth engaged!
Other cool thing was a FB post a friend sent about crate training puppies. It made so much sense I took my medium wire crate in to start with some 9-week-old bully mix puppies surrendered to my local shelter. After 45 minutes of going in & out of crate with one door secured open (puppies together [familiar]), I removed puppies, secured crate to a garden cart, put puppies back in, & wheeled the cart to our adjacent resale shop (puppies together [familiar] + location [unfamiliar]) for environmental socialization. Crate = FUN!
Melanie Hawkes says
I thought I was too busy to comment this week but just found out we start 5 days of lockdown at 6pm tonight after a Covid-19 outbreak, our first in 10 months! Now I’m excited that I’ll be able to read, do some online courses I signed up for last year and work on Upton’s diet (he’s had two unexplained episodes of diarrhea this week). He’s been a bit miserable lately. Too many hot days, maybe. But summer is my favourite time of the year 😊 Take care everyone! From Western Australia.
Diane Dixon-Johnson says
I’d like your views on neutering. I have a 2.5 year old male trial border collie; kind and keen. He has showed this unusual growl several times, very gutteral and unprevoked. Would neutering help, what are behavior drawbacks? I look forward to more blogs, thank you.
Shari says
This post arrives with perfect timing for me, as I JUST started a renewed focus on conditioning my guys to stand or lie still for dremmeling! I started early enough with my baby labrador, so now at age two she just sighs and stands there while I trim her nails, then accepts her rewards. My border collie has had seven years of pulling his paws away while I try to hang onto them…I regret not having worked harder to help him be more comfortable with this weekly chore, and am trying hard to make up for it with the kind of conditioning that you demonstrated in this post. Thank goodness for your helpful videos, as well as those by Deb Jones for teaching me all about cooperative care! Other winter and pandemic cabin-fever activities around here have included taking online nosework classes, then submitting videos for judging to the Fenzi TEAM NW folks…that online titling program has done a LOT to teach me proper handling skills and prepare us for a return to in-person trials. Plus a little nosework each day has been a fun way to exercise my dogs’ brains. We also worked our way up to Expert Trick Dog titles through the Do More With Your Dog online program.
Trisha says
Diane, re growling and neutering: Hard to say what effect neutering would have, so very many variables. I would never see it as a magic pill myself. Do all you can to figure out the triggers and see if you can manage them, as well as conditioning him to have a different response. And… and “unusual” growl might be related to something physical; check that out.
Jennifer Dyck says
My backyard opens onto a lovely park. But the tradeoff is that people and dogs are constantly walking by my back fence. I’m working with Chili to call off barking and racing to the window. It’s slow and painful (for me) work, because you never know when an opportunity for training will present itself, so you have to be ready all the time. But he is starting to get better and now will actually initiate coming to me at times.
Robin Ashman-Terrell says
Thanks for the dremel post. My friend and I currently have pawdicure days for our dogs. I have 4, she has 4. One of us holds the dog and feeds (me from a lickimat) while the other dremels. My Aussie will allow me to do his nails by myself. My mini dachshunds, not so much. Nor my friends 4 jacks. So we team up. We have been dremeling for years and I have, what I thought, was the quietest dremel I could find. One of my dachshunds is super sensitive and I have not figured out if it is the sound or the vibration of the dremel. I was so excited to see your “quiet dremel” and ordered one straight away. I will let you know if my sensitive doxie lets me do his rear paws. I have tried a happy hoodie and mutt muffs. Maybe, just maybe, the quiet one will be the answer!
Simbi Djurens Varuhus says
We tacle cabin fever with lots of mental training with toys like Nina ottosson dog games.