Working and Training

This weekend was an eventful one for the pups. On Saturday, Maizy made her glorious return to therapy dogging by working at the local library again. We had 4 kids signed up to read to her and she was so so so good. I had bought an extra copy of Demo and brought that along to donate to the library in Maizy's name, so hopefully she will be hearing that story soon! On Saturday we heard part of a Goosebumps story about worms, and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back read by siblings. We also heard Hooray for Fly Guy! about a fly who plays football. The last one was read by a grandmother because the child was disabled and could not read. He did like dogs, though, and he REALLY liked football! Maizy was an angel the whole time we were at the library, so I was proud of her. She was especially adorable while resting her head in a little girl's lap and looking up at her as she read. She is a nice dog.

On Sunday, Probert had his first ever day of school! I took him over for a private session with our favorite trainer, Rendy from Anything is Pawsible. Professional training is part of the program laid out to manage Probert's anxiety by his vet and our session was really productive! We worked on desensitizing him to the Halti, staying with distractions, saying hello, and got a lot of great tips about how to manage some of his more difficult behaviors. Probert warmed right up to Rendy, which was adorable. It was interesting to me to notice how when she tried to get him to play with a toy, he would get excited about her excitement, but not know what she expected him to do with a ball or a rope. Sometimes at home he will pick up a toy and carry it for a second, but he always drops it. He doesn't really understand how to play. I get so used to it, but to be reminded of it is so sad. Then again, I have to remember that this is the same dog who used to move as far away as possible and then flatten himself to the ground every time a car drove by while we were on walks and I know that he has come so far. There's still more work to do, but he can definitely do it.

So, we have a lot to work on and so far, the work at home has been going well. Probert is a smart little dog. I also had some good conversation with Rendy about our decision to medicate Probert which reinforces that we did the right thing. Looking at him now as compared to pre-medication, I could not be happier with our decision. The medication has clearly freed up some space in his mind to work on being a dog without the incessent anxiety and fear. And as Rendy said, "You clearly have not turned this dog into a coffee table." :)

Here is a video of one of Probert's favorite "games," and probably the only one he has figured out how to play. I like it because you can hear all of his snuffling to find the treats. This game is called "Find It" and I throw little treats into the rug for Probert and Maizy to find (they do this well together and the competition keeps them working, but I wouldn't do this with a dog who resource guards from other dogs). The rug hides them enough that they use their noses more than their eyes. They didn't get this game at first, so I contained it to one side of the rug, then expanded slowly. Now we can play this game on the big living room rug or I can start to move treats off the rug into other parts of the kitchen (you'll see in the video that one rolls away and Maizy digs it out from under the counter). This method of slow expansion has worked well to make sure that everyone "gets" what the goal is. Let me know if there are other variations that you play with your dog!

Back to the Grind

On Monday night, Maizy finally returned to her (volunteer) gig, hanging out with the residents of a local assisted living facility (aka, the "old folks").

We only stayed for about a half hour (Maizy started to get super playful after this and it was time to go, which is funny because she got home and crashed on the couch from exhaustion) and lots of the residents were happy to see Maizy again, especially the man in the wheelchair who she likes to "clean up" after dinner (he sometimes has crumbs on the front of his shirt). Those two are in LOVE! He will just hold her head and kiss kiss kiss her.

There is another lady, I think her name is Louise, who will come up to me 4 or 5 times while I'm there asking what Maizy "is" (same initial question every time), meaning what kind of dog? I always tell everyone that she is a mutt because a lot of the residents are not all there mentally, so it's too much to start talking about breeds, honestly. I will tell you more about Louise in a minute.

And of course, Maizy's biggest "hater" was there last night! He is a very very very angry man who does not like dogs! He came down for dinner (we hang out in a room very seperate from the dining room, but we come at dinner time because that's when residents are coming and going downstairs so that they can visit with Miss M on their way to/from dinner), saw Maizy, and started yelling about how I needed to get out of there and "there's a dining room here!" and carrying on. The whole time, his wife is giggling and saying "don't listen to him, he's just allergic to dogs" and "I love dogs! She's great!" Maizy was looking very, very, very confused.

It is funny because Maizy WILL bark at a stranger who yells at me or approaches me in a way that she doesn't like. She has done it before when a strange man tried to touch me (and her) in West Philadelphia (during Shakespeare in the park... oops). She does not tolerate that crap. But, I think with old angry man, she just sees that he's not a threat and will sit there looking at him like "huh?"

Anyway, so the man and his wife get to the dining room and I can see them from where I'm sitting and the man is standing up waving his arms for a server (they have sit down dinner service). The server comes over and the man says, "There is a woman with a dog over there! Get her the hell out of here!" (This is normal and I hear this from him EVERY TIME I'm there. He has to deal with the fact that I'm there because the other residents do like Maizy and because I don't let Maizy approach anyone who doesn't want to be approached, etc.)

Louise, who is sitting in the living room area hears him, and gets up and STORMS over as much as a little old lady with a walker can storm and yells, "Someone should get you the hell out of here!!" Now this is funny because then the wife and Louise get into a fight about it, but neither of them can hear very good, so they keep getting closer (slowly) and repeating themselves and the wife says that he was bit by a dog once and that's why he doesn't like them and Louise says he can get the hell out and I am generally "WTH!"-ing. Also, during the argument (which didn't last long, honestly), other people in the dining room are saying "huh?!" to Louise because they think she is talking to them, so she is also clarifying loudly to the confused people exactly WHO can "get the hell out"!

Anyway, several minutes later, Louise comes back over and asks me what Maizy "is" and I tell her again that Maizy is just a mutt. She looks at Maizy and says, "She says you're just a mutt!" (which is one of her usual replies) and then looks at me and says, "That's okay, I love her! And anyone that doesn't like her... Well, I. DON'T. LIKE. THEM."

And here I thought that Louise coudln't remember anything? She certainly remembered that she will stick up for her friend, Miss Maizy!

*PHEW*

Well, we had a few hours of spring here last week, which was apparently too much for Miss Maizy who is out of shape from the winter and from the weeks of crate rest to heal her knee. Who knew that running around in the backyard could be SUCH HARD WORK!?

In good news, Maizy will go back to her therapy dog circut in April. I am going to take some time to brush up her manners and get her ready to start back up. I think she will be happy to get out and see people again. She is clearly tired of looking at me.

Rest

So, Maizy ended her month of rest on Tuesday. Or rather, she was scheduled to end it. The Brown Dog Dad and I have decided that she is walking much better, but that we will continue her rest for another week or two to be sure that she is okay. It would be awful to go through all of that for her to reinjure herself, so we are being careful. I do not think we will go back to the vet if we think she is okay (he told me at our last appointment to evaluate how she was walking after the rest and to bring her back only if she wasn't better). So, this is very good news.

Maizy is clearly full of a lot of pent up energy, so it will make me happy when I can see her run again. I am thinking about taking her on a trip to the dog bakery as a treat tonight. I suspect that we will have to go on a lot of outings before she gets back into her "Therapy Dog" gig, as her excitement at leaving the house might cause her to explode at this point.

Wrigley is doing well. His mealtime treat has graduated from a feet-chewed-off old Cuz toy to a fancy huge-sized black kong. He hasn't quite figured out how to pick it up (and turn in many circles before laying down to eat it) without all of the food falling out, but maybe I will have to add some peanut butter to help that. :)

It has officially been determined that I have never seen Probert walk anywhere of his own free will. His primary methods of transportation are running and leaping, exclusively. I will have to make a video sometime. He is either standing still or he is moving at the speed of light. It can be troublesome!

Anyway, hopefully the warm weather will arrive soon and we can all come out of hibernation. It would sure help as far as having things to write about! Every day feels the same lately, but I guess that is how it always is at the end of winter.

Take care, friends!

Literacy Maizy

On Saturday Maizy and I headed off again to the library so that children could practice their reading with her. Three kids showed up and Maizy heard a variety of books and especially enjoyed the attention of the library staff who fussed over her for several minutes before and after she went to work. It was great. Additionally, she acted like a big sulk when I made her go sit by "her sign" instead of letting people pet her for a minute. She refused to look at me or sit right. This is the best picture that I got. She is a pain in my butt.

Good for me, also, because I left the library with the new addition of a library card! I will go back sometime soon without Maizy so that I can browse. :)

Maizy has a vet appointment tomorrow so that her knees can be checked out. She is having some mobility issues that we are hoping to find a solution for. Maizy's unofficial (since we don't know the real date) 5th birthday is this week: January 15th! She is an ol' lady.

Maizy's Cleaning Service

Last night Maizy and I had a great time visiting seniors. We showed up a little earlier than normal and almost everyone was nice to us and greated us warmly, which is a big change from before. I guess I am glad that I said something to the organizer about some of the staff treating us rudely.

Maizy met a lot of people, one woman who thought Maizy was a wiemeraner, one woman who used to have two dobies and told me all about how they liked car rides and how they only went to the bathroom in one part of the yard (she called picking up after them outside "picking up their dirt"). Another man sat down with Maizy and baby-talked her as she stared up into his face until she couldn't stand it and she kissed him. He just kept right on telling her how beautiful she was and how she was a great dog. He was there for several minutes just loving on her. It was so cute.

The visitor that takes the cake however was a man in his wheelchair who came up to Maizy. She sat between his feet and he was loving on her when I noticed that she was licking his front. At first I didn't know what she was doing and I said, "Maizy, what are you...?" and then I realized that the man had food on himself from dinner and Maizy was kindly cleaning him up. The man said "oh, I might have had some crumbs." I told him that Maizy was giving him the full-service visit and sharpening him up. :) Maizy especially loved that guy.


I took some pictures the other day of Maizy curled up on the couch (her usual spot). She looked so cute with her rope ball (a present from the pups' secret santa) that I couldn't resist bothering her.

Storytime With Maizy

After seeing our picture in the paper on Wednesday, I admit that I was a little nervous about storytime today at the Oak Park Public Library. When we came in and asked the security guard where to go, he said "is that the dog from the pictures" and then I saw pictures of us on 11X17" paper posted all over the children's section of the library. Wow! All went well, however, as no dogs or kids were harmed and everyone had a good time. Maizy and I were sequestered in a back office where we waited while the librarian read books to the kids (a very young crowd) about "good dogs." Maizy fell asleep and let out a mighty "woof woof!" when she was startled awake by the door when the librarian came to get us. I went in and introduced myself and Maizy. I ended up keeping it short because the kids were very small. I talked about how Maizy is a good dog and that pit bulls are good dogs, I talked about how she is a rescue dog, I talked about her training requirements and what she does as a TDI therapy dog, I talked about how she doesn't get paid, I talked about the three things we always have on a therapy dog visit (her tag, her bandana, and her ID card), and most importantly (probably) I talked about the right way to approach and pet a new dog. All of the kids did a really great job with letting Maizy sniff and petting under her jaw and not on top of her head. She probably met about 30 kids and their adults, it was quite a packed house. She was a good dog and hopefully we will be invited back to the library again sometime!

Another Pit Bull in the News

Pupdate

There hasn't been much new going on these days. The dogs are enjoying the snow, Probert is still occasionally escaping his crate, Maizy is therapeutic, and Wrigley is the sweetest guy on four legs.

Tomorrow I have an appointment to take Maizy to our local DIY dog wash facility. I figured that the $15 for an hour of water, shampoo, towels, brushes, etc was better than trying to do it in our own bath tub. Maizy really needs a bath before we start out at the Berwyn Public Library on Saturday where we are doing a program that the library has called "Read to Maizy." I figure if Maizy is going to be snuggled up with children, she could at least smell good. Anyway, I will let you know how it goes.

Wrigley has developed a new talent: catching snowballs. When you toss him a snowball, he will catch and eat it. It's really really cute and I will try to get a video of it one of these days when I'm home while it's still light out.

Puppy Probert will soon be the recipient of a shiny new drop-pin crate. I am hoping that he will not be able to escape this one, and for his part, he's getting an upgrade in crate size to the same size as Wrigley. Faaaan-cy.

Anway, I just wanted to share a short update. I will have pictures next time!

Working Maizy

Maizy's new bandanna!

Things have been going very well with Maizy's therapy dog work. We've now visited at the local assisted living facility a few times, and she has been getting more comfortable and better at making herself accessable to being pet by people with limited mobility. It is true, however, that people who wouldn't bother to move for any other reason, will move to pet a dog. Great physical therapy, even if it isn't in her job description.

This week Maizy made me especially proud when she didn't bat an eye at an older man waving his cane at her threateningly. Puppy Maizy would have had a fit, but with reassurance, she remained calm and did her job.

Here are some pictures of Maizy recovering from work on Monday. Those seniors are exhausting!

On the day after Thanksgiving, Maizy was lucky enough to take a trip with me, my mom, and my stepdad up to Michigan to visit some family members. She was a great dog during the trip. Our first stop was to visit my grandma who has recently moved into an assisted living facility. Maizy was a good dog and visited nicely with all of the residents and didn't get into any trouble.

Our second stop was at my other grandparents' house where Maizy played with kids and met lots of new people. She also ate a lot of snow out of the yard.

Here is a picture of Maizy with my parents.

Maizy and Probert

What an eventful week we've had! On Monday, Maizy and I started out volunteering at a local "assisted living" facility. It is lovely there and we had a good time meeting with residents as they came and went from dinner. I think once people get used to us being there each week, they'll spend more time chatting.

Maizy did make one great friend though. As we were leaving, a group of ladies was sitting at a big table doing crafts. One liked Maizy a lot and so Maizy went over to see what she was doing. Maizy was sitting between two ladies as they stuffed fleece pillows and petted her. Maizy, who couldn't stand it anymore, slooowwwwllly reached her face over into one lady's lap and gently, with just her front teeth, snatched a corner of the pillow, pulling it back towards her. The ladies laughed and told her she couldn't eat that! She tried to steal the other lady's pillow the same way and when she was foiled again the lady said, "That's okay! I don't like doing this stuff either!" So funny. I think we are going to have a good time there.

In other news, I returned home from work last night to find that Probert, the unstoppable juggernaut, had escaped his crate! This time he had to actually snap through a metal clip to escape, so I'm not even sure how that happened. During his time out in the house he:
-pooped 6 times on the floor
-tore up a pillow form
-made a pile of shoes and hats on the living room floor
-got into the second bedroom and tore open a bag of cat food
-brought the following into the bed: four stuffed ducks (mama, daddy, and babies that I've had since I was a baby... only mom survived), a stuffed rat, a comic book, a box of treats, a bag that used to have a rawhide in it, his collar, the top that I practiced yoga in yesterday, my socks, a pair of neatly-folded jeans, and Wrigley's blanket which was extracted from Wrigley's crate without the crate door being open (Wrigley's crate was moved several feet during this process) - the only things destroyed from this list were the ducks, and anything that was paper or plastic

Seriously, that guy is a maniac!

Officious Therapy Maizy

This week we received our information packet from Therapy Dogs International making us (Maizy and I) official members!

Our info packet was very informative and gave me some good ideas about where we might like to volunteer. Now begins the (hopefully not too) difficult process of finding a place that we like and that likes us!

I will start making calls tomorrow and be sure to let you know where we end up!

(I blurred out Maizy's ID number so that no one would steal her pawdentity!)

Every time I talk about Maizy's TDI or CGC certifications, I am reminded of Sammy Davis Jr Jr, the "Officious Seeing-Eye Bitch" in the movie Everything Is Illuminated (which you should see if you haven't)!

Paging Doctor Maizy...

Today was a big day in the brown dog household! Maizy and I had plans to head out today to the Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights. As a part of their big family fun fair, they were also offering testing for Therapy Dog International.

Since Maizy passed her CGC test, I have wanted to get involved in working as an emotional support therapy dog. Basically, she would be able to visit hospitals, retirement communities and spend time getting pet and giving love.

So today we showed up early so that we could go for walk, check out the area, and generally get comfortable with the surroundings. We ended up getting there really early and parked about a half mile away so that we could take a stroll. We met up with the volunteers who were setting up and decided to continue our walk. Since we had some time, I called up my grandma to chat until it was time to take the test.

Maizy's big day!

Test time came and we watched the volunteers get set up and watched one dog run through the test as a trial. Then we signed some papers, paid our money, and it was our turn first! The process of the TDI test is very similar to the CGC test, with a few different elements. The test was being held outside as part of the fair. It was full of distractions, including a mini train full of children going around the perimeter, complete with whistle and yelling kids!


Maizy did great at her test, however, and in the end, she passed! I am the proudest Brown Dog Mom on the planet. We have to go to the vet to get some paperwork signed to send in for her official registration, but then we're all set! We are welcome to come back to visit Lutheran Home or we can establish a relationship with facilities in our area to visit there. I am really looking forward to taking Maizy on these visits. On our way back to the car, we walked through the fair and Maizy was very friendly and well-behaved. She cozied up to people in wheelchairs so they could pet her and let children hug her like a giant teddy bear. I think she is going to be a GREAT therapy dog!

In the car ready to head home!