I Need More Hands

I think we're making some progress. It's been almost a week now since the last growl/attack on Cannon and I've stopped making Trigger wear a leash around the house. I have one on hand just in case, but he's been responding quite well to vocal cues. I still don't understand what is going on between Cannon and Trigger, but I'm starting to internalize the concept that it doesn't matter what has sparked the behaviour but rather that we need to ensure that we don't get the outcome we don't want.

Ironically I was watching the Dog Whisperer this afternoon and Cesar was hammering that point home to Jillian Michaels (of Biggest Loser fame). Her desire to understand "why" really resonated with me - I ask this all the time. But when she stopped thinking about that why and just started working to provide structure and maintain a calm state for the dog, *boom*. I mean, obviously it's TV and who knows what's going on behind the scenes, but the sentiment was there.

Honestly, I'm beginning to see more and more how problematic Cannon's behaviours are (as opposed to Trigger's). Ivan has said this before as well. Trigger (and before him, Rocket) gets more attention because the behaviour is going after other dogs (or in Rocket's case, people), whereas Cannon is just anxious as all hell. But the more I work with Trigger to get him on track, the more I see how off the rails Cannon is. She's just so anxious all the time and part of me wonders if maybe that sets Trigger off sometimes (but that's going after the why, which remember - doesn't matter!) But really, she:

a) barks excessively at anything that walks by the house
b) can't handle strangers in the house
c) runs away with food
d) sometimes refuses food if I make her come and take it from me
e) goes insane when someone approaches the door

and most recently, has been skittish with Trigger at some points. For example, she will go hide in the corner with her back turned. And it's not even like Trigger is staring her down. Trigger will be drinking water in the kitchen and she'll be down the hall doing this. Or in the basement he's been laying down by the coffee table and she'll go do this by the TV. It's very strange.

To be honest, even contemplating dealing with Cannon right now is an overwhelming prospect. I'm mainly aiming to manage it for the next two weeks while Marlies is away. I consider Trigger to be more of my dog and Cannon to be more hers; not to mention that I figure if I put all this effort (and money) into Trigger, the least that she can do is work with Cannon. I'm hoping that she will do so when she gets back home as we settle into some more regular schedules.

I have to mention that I had an amazing walk with Trigger yesterday. We ended up going for about an hour because I was just so awed by how he was doing. There was no anxiety at all; his body was so loose, and he had the tongue going and just seemed generally so happy to be out with me. He was waggy tailed with every person that walked by (though people don't seem to want to engage with him. Not sure if I just encountered a lot of non-dog people, or if it's the fact that he has more of a pitbull look to people who don't know am.bulls). We walked through a 100m long pathway of fences with barking dogs on either side and he did much better than I expected he might. He had his hackles up a bit and was definitely more alert, but he wasn't barking and did a good job staying with me.

I was actually so happy with this walk that I took the chance and played Frisbee with him in the schoolyard. I had wanted to do this by Marlies' mom's place at the outdoor arena but they have inexplicably and annoyingly bolted the arena door OPEN, so you can't use it as an enclosure. I have a feeling they did this specifically so people couldn't bring off leash dogs in there, which I find both disappointing and ridiculous. Way to take away an excellent place to take a dog to allow them more room to run, but still enclosed. Anyways, there was no one anywhere in the schoolyard, so I gave it a try. I put a long lead on him, which realistically wouldn't do a ton of good if he bolted (beyond giving me something to grab on to and 30 feet more to do it with) but I thought it was better than nothing. I didn't need it at all. He chased with vigor and then brought the Frisbee right back. It was great.