DAY TEN (Thursday): The Week In Review

Today was exactly that....a major review of everything!  Wow, we've learned a lot and have come a long way from when we walked into the doors at 4 Paws just ten days ago.  The first part of this morning was spent  on all of the commands we've learned since our first day of training.  It doesn't even seem possible that we've been here ten days and will take our public access test tomorrow.   Time stands still for nothing.                  

Behavior Disruption: "Nuzzle"

After this we went tracking for the last time with the trainers.  I had a bumpy start for the first track.   I know where it went wrong in the beginning, which is good, and once Jeremy backed me up, and I was good to go.  Twinkie was on it and found Zachary without any problem.  Jeremy still ran with me and answered my questions all of which have definitely helped me.   I began the second track more deliberately and slowly which is what I need to do each time.  It was a shorter track since Twinkie was tired and there wasn't much time between both tracks.  Joe and I will each run a track with Zachary tomorrow morning then head off to the mall for the public access test.   Our test is scheduled at 11:30am at Fairfield Commons Mall.   The test takes 30 minutes.  

We went out to lunch with Twinkie at Applebee's again, and she was great!  It was a fast lunch, but we wanted to get one more eating out experience under our belt before we left.  This is the time to practice and get help if you need it.  After lunch, Jeremy gave us a run down on  bringing our dogs home.  He covered flying home with your dog, driving home with your dog, how to manage your dog if they go to school with your child, transitioning from 4 Paws to your home environment, introducing other dogs/pets and tracking.  Everyone had lots of laughs this afternoon.  I think we're all  slap happy at this point!  :)

Behavior Disruption: "Over"

There is just so much for us to learn and do while we're training, and it will continue once we get home.   It has to continue.  Zachary will ultimately get out of this experience what Joe and I have put into it.  And, when we look back at ALL of the time and effort we HAVE put into our 4 Paws experience it wouldn't make sense not to continue working hard once we're home.  As much as we love Twinkie and as adorable as she is, this experience was entirely about Zachary and Twinkie becoming the very best of friends, and we think they're well on their way!!  :)  

DAY NINE: (Wednesday): "YES, it's YOU!"

Today was the day that tracking started to click for me.  I began to figure out how to read Twinkie while she was tracking Zachary.   I couldn't be more relieved about it.  Twinkie is clearly starting to move from thinking, "Zachary, WHO?" to, "YES, it's YOU!".  This all takes time, and the more Twinkie tracks Zachary the faster she'll reach scent memorization specific to Zachary.  FYI:  Scent Memorization can take anywhere from 25 to 50 tracks before this happens!!  (That's a whole lotta running!!! LOL)  My local peeps will surely see us running through our neighborhood many, many, many times over the next few weeks.  You'll also find us in your yards, behind your play sets and possibly on your deck (Colleen).  No need for any of you to come outside; we'll be on our way before you know it.  LOL  Ideally, we're supposed to track everyday for a couple of weeks after we get home.  Ideally, we should be running a track within the first couple of days of returning home (Happy Father's Day,  Joe!).  Ideally, I should be a size 6 and a long distance runner.  The first two ideals are far more likely than the last.  Can't win 'em all....

Anyway....I digress.  Tracking has been a source of confusion and frustration for me this time around, and it's shaken my confidence a bit.... a lot.  For starters, Twinkie tracks much differently than Aubrey ever did, so I've been thrown off each time I've tracked since I've expected Aubrey and was actually following Twinkie.  Since Aubrey was party Hound, she was very intense and her body language and signals were crystal clear.  Hounds find things; it's just what they do.  I never questioned where Aubrey was taking me because I knew it was going to be wherever Zachary was.  Period.  No questions.   As Jeremy put it, "A blind person could've tracked with Aubrey."  She really WAS that good which was certainly helpful on our end.  :)  Hounds were bred for trail scenting, so when Aubrey picked up just a little bit of Zachary's scent she knew it and so did I.  I was pretty much along for the ride.  :)   Even with changing variables such as wind direction and speed, humidity and temperature, Aubrey always looked 100% confident.  

Don't get me wrong, Twinkie is very confident, too.  She knows what she's doing,  but her body language isn't nearly as intense, so my confidence isn't quite where hers is at this point.  I have to think a lot harder about what we're both doing.  She's also gotten confused on a couple of tracks with me.  Since we're all in the same location,  and she's more familiar with the trainer's scents than Zachary's, there were a couple of times that this interrupted Zachary's scent trail, and I got a little jammed up.  Jammed up as in I probably would not have found Zachary if I were on my own.  This is all part of the reason you start learning this skill almost immediately and have one on one instruction as you're running the track.  Jeremy or Jessa run with you, coach you along the way and touch base with you about what they saw or what questions you have just after the track.  To me, the biggest mistake you could make as you learn this skill is not asking questions.  Since I'm not nearly as confident as I was the first time around, I am asking a lot of questions...bless these poor people. LOL They'd much rather you ask questions than not put the amount of work into it that you need to.   I'd much rather be "that" person than not be able to find Zachary.  There's two sides to ever coin.  Tracking is a tough thing to be dropped into.  I'd imagine that most families coming to 4 Paws don't have experience in K-9 Search and Rescue.   It's still pretty amazing to think all of sudden you're given this dog on Day Two and they can find your kid by Day Nine.  

Since dogs will happily run with you endlessly from the get go, the start of the track is the most difficult and, obviously, the most crucial component of tracking.  It's very easy to take off with your dog since they're so excited to run.  The thing is, though, that you cannot do this until you KNOW they've picked up your child's scent.  You need to know your dog and what they're "telling" you before you start sprinting with them.  It's very easy to run way too fast and completely over-run the scent cone from the start.  What you hope for at this point is that your dog calms down just a bit and recognizes that the trail is cold. This makes more work for you and creates a greater distance between you and your child if this were the real deal because now you have to very methodically back track.   This is a very common mistake that we've all made in some way.  

You begin your track at the last point you saw your child, so it's kinda important you get it right the first time!!  This starting point could be a sidewalk, baseball field, parking lot, your front door or school.  It doesn't really matter because at the end of the day you must begin your track correctly or you could be running til the cows come home and never find your child.  Not too much pressure, huh?  Thankfully, the two tracks I ran with Zachary this morning were awesome!!  I needed the boost, that's for sure!!  The first was over the river and into the woods...literally.  For whatever reason, I conjured up more confidence and got it!  Jessa was with me the whole time, but she really took a back seat and let me try to figure it out on my own.  Twinkie did briefly overshoot the scent cone because of the wind, but she very quickly recognized it AND  made it really obvious to me.  Once she lost interest in the area we were in, she started to arch, make head snaps and made a new commitment back up the trail and to the left and found Zachary.  Yea for me!  

The second track I ran independently.  Jessa left with another family to run their track and told me I could wait a minute or two and go find Joe and Zachary if I were comfortable with it.  The mentality of being 100% on my own and 100% reliant on Twinkie was a little unsettling since I haven't done as well starting the track myself, but I did it...and did it quite well if I do say so!  I checked the wind direction by throwing grass in the air.  This told me Zachary's scent cone would be over to the left regardless of where they started, and it was.  This track took me through a gravel parking lot,  running up along the grass/brush line, into a construction area, around gravel piles, between a dumpster and metal things, around and through a small tree line and next to a utility shed and fence to find Zachary.  It happens so fast, and you are so relieved to find your child even though you know it's practice.   

I very much rally under pressure.  I also told myself I wasn't going to over think everything I saw Twinkie do; my therapist would be so proud!  LOL  (just kidding.)   I just happened kind of naturally.  I put trust in Twinkie and in myself.  If Zachary were truly lost, there wouldn't be anybody else for me to trust.  I followed Twinkie's lead once I heard her say, "YES, it's YOU!".  Just like with Aubrey.  It's funny how things come full circle sometimes.  

DAY EIGHT (Tuesday): AP Obedience

Today was another successful day with Twinkie!!!  She's such a smart girl.   Today is also the day I've felt more exhausted than I have since we've gotten here.  I was barely able to keep my eyes open at dinner, but we still had to go out and work Twinkie in a public setting.   Telling Zachary we were going to take Twinkie to Barnes and Noble after dinner sounded like a stellar idea at noon but not so much at 7pm.  On we go. Everybody is starting to feel the effects of being tired....we're all dragging at this point!  The days are long and intense.  If I could've curled up on Twinkie's Mutt Mat for an hour or two, I would've absolutely seized that opportunity!  I think my Facebook status last night was Drooling tired.  That about summed it up.


Well, today we worked on more advanced concepts of sit, down and heel both on and off leash.  Twinkie needs to understand exactly what we're asking her to do wherever and whenever we give her the command.  She also needs to understand that we expect her to follow our command whether or not she's on leash.  With each day of training, she becomes more familiar with our tones of voice, body language and expectations which subsequently creates a more solid working relationship and greater level of respect.  At the end of the day, our working relationship comes down to a mutual level of respect.   The reality of it all, though, is that this is a process which requires practice and takes time.....much more time than the two weeks we're in Ohio.

Despite the fact Twinkie sometimes gives me a run for my money, she knows exactly what do when I give her a command.  Now we need to be sure she can follow these commands when we're at a distance and standing at different positions in relation to her body.   We also need to be sure Twinkie's not 100% dependent on the hand signal and understands and will follow just a voice command.  When we first began training last week, we always used the hand signal together with the verbal command as we stood in front of her.  At this point, we're standing across the room from Twinkie, behind her and to her left or right giving a command and expecting her to maintain that command until she's either "free" or we've given another command.  For example, if Twinkie's in a down and we walk away from her, she should not only hold that command, but she should easily move from down to sit with our command from across the room.   Or, if she's in down, and we verbally prompt her to sit while we're standing behind her, it is expected that she will follow our command even though she can't see us.   It's also expected at this point that the she'll maintain a command for longer periods of time and someone can step over her without her moving while she's down.   Having a stranger at the mall walk over Twinkie as she maintains a down is part of our Public Access Test.  So, I apologize in advance for stalking the unsuspecting patrons of the Fairfield Commons Mall on Friday.  LOL

                  

Another piece of obedience that we worked on was having Twinkie walk in a heel with more distractions, at varying speeds and in tight spaces.  When she's walking at a heel, Twinkie should be walking right next to me and never pull forward.  This is by far the hardest skill to learn as a handler.  She should also pace herself and remain in the correct position regardless of my current pace and changes in speed.  What we wound up doing was start walking at a regular pace, begin running then quickly heeling left around a chair and walking sllloooooowly.  With each change in speed, Twinkie was expected to remain in a heel.   No exceptions.  She did beautifully; we're so proud of our little stinker!  :)  


The only thing I really struggled with was having Twinkie walk in a heel and turning in a tight space.  This is meant to simulate shopping and turning in an aisle or moving around something.  It takes more coordination than you'd think.  I kept nearly tripping over Twinkie, or she was was just confused by my body language and randomly did things like bark, touch and go into a down with the hopes of getting a treat.  :)  Randomly performing unprompted commands is a very common behavior for our dogs when they're confused and confused she was!  By time we were halfway through this exercise Twinkie was practically doing back flips because I just couldn't get it.  Ugh.  It will come all in good time.  


Two other two obedience commands for the morning were "back" and "stand".  "Back" is getting your dog to literally back-up at your prompt.  You may need for them to take a few steps backwards as opposed to turning around in certain situations so it's important they have the coordination to do this.  "Stand" is a command to bring your dog to an upright position from either down or sit.  Some situations may warrant them standing upright and not immediately going into a heel, or it just may be necessary for them to stand so we're able to put on their harness.  


This was just our early morning training session.  Sheesh....we haven't even gone tracking yet. 


Drooling tired.

DAY SEVEN (Monday): Here comes the sun...

The weather in Xenia, OH was nasty a good part of the day.  It was raining and soggy and just down right gross out.  Incidentally, as miserable as the morning was for us, the weather conditions were perfect for the dogs to go tracking in.  Moist weather makes it so much easier for the dogs to pick up the scent they're looking for.  The weather has been so dry up til this point that Jeremy told us our pups have had to track harder this past week then they've really ever had.  The heat also makes it more difficult for them;  they cannot breathe in through their nose to pick up the scent at the same time they are panting.  Interesting stuff.  At any rate, Twinkie ran a perfect track this morning with Joe.  She hit the ground running and nailed it!  

Twinkie was loving life....she was running in the pouring rain, finding her boy, eating hot dogs, getting her orange tenny and smelling like a wet dog.  I don't think it could've gotten any better for Twinkie!  The flip-side to this is that my poor Zachary struggled the entire time we were at the park.  Although a day like today was perfect for Twinkie, it was was a sensory nightmare for Zachary.  He doesn't like the feeling of getting wet from the rain hitting him.  At nine years-old, he still doesn't like washing his hair, so you could imagine how happy he was about walking in the pouring rain.   He also hates the grass....most especially when it's wet.  The combination of the pouring rain hitting us even though I had a big umbrella and having to walk through the wet, sticky, prickly grass was just awful for Zachary.  We had to walk entirely through the grass for 200 yards.  Brutal.  Zachary cried and, literally, begged me to stop walking.  For a kid with Sensory Processing Disorder, ordinary sensory experiences that you and I don't even notice cause significant distress.  Zachary specifically has Sensory Modulation Disorder.  He is both hyper-responsive and hypo-responsive to certain sensory stimuli; he also CRAVES certain types of sensory input.   What this essentially means is that the world as he  processes it can sometimes be a scary, uncertain and painful place to live in.  This is a large part of the reason he struggles with anxiety.  It's not always easy being Zachary.  It's not always easy being Mommy watching Zachary struggle.  What I wouldn't do to make it all go away...

With a lot of deep breaths, constant reassurance and "promises", we finally made it to our destination. Whew!   Midway through, I had to change our track so I could get Zachary onto pavement.  I saw a sidewalk around a utility building not too far away and changed the game plan at that point.  Once I pointed out to Zachary where we were walking to, he saw a little light on the end of the tunnel, but he continued to struggle none-the-less.  To help him out and show him I understood how he was feeling, I took off my flip flops, talked about how much I hated walking in wet grass  and rolled up my leggings.  :)   When I watched Zachary cry and yell out in what looked like real pain, it just broke my heart into a million pieces.   I still cannot being to understand how people in our medical community don't believe that Sensory Processing Disorder is real.  I would welcome any of these MD's or Ph D's to come live with us for a few days and walk 200 yards in the pouring rain across two football fields with me and Zachary.   For more information about Sensory Processing Disorder, you can click on this link:  Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation  


What started out as a cloudy and rainy morning turned into an afternoon full of bright and beautiful sunshine!  We really try to find the bright side of things!  :)  After tracking at the park, we went back to 4 Paws for a little while, ate the Mc Donald's lunch that Zachary was promised and certainly deserved, then we were all off to the the mall.  Zachary LOVES this mall.  There's a million things to look at, elevators, frozen yogurt with sprinkles and a real train that you can ride on around the first floor.  He hits the mother load each time we go!  :)  

We not only worked on public access practice and obedience but indoor tracking at the mall as well.  This is exactly what it sounds like.....Twinkie tracking Zachary in the mall.  We worked in Sears, and Twinkie was once again awesome!!  She nailed it both times. Even though it's a little easier to track inside, I'm still trying to build my self-confidence when it comes to tracking with Twinkie.  Aubrey was such a different dog when it came to tracking.  I'm not always sure what Twinkie is "telling" me.  I know this will all come with time.  Have I mentioned how much Twinkie LOVES being out in the community for as much grief as she gives me about wearing her harness??!!   LOL  Well, if I have not....she LOVES it and is amazing when we're in the community.  Everybody tells her how pretty she is, and a million people both big and small ask if they could pat her.  She eats up every bit of the attention which makes my job that much harder the next day.  :)    Zachary is also lovin that his girl can come with him.  He loves walking with her, and I mean that literally.   Part of Zachary's sensory processing difficulties are related to his vestibular system.  This is what helps him understand where his body physically is in space.   Kids like Zachary are often clumsy, unsteady, "trip over air", don't like sitting on seats without a back and riding a bicycle.  So not only is he lovin Miss Twinkie being able to be with him all of the time, he's lovin the fact that when he's holding on to the one foot lead we have for him, she "grounds" him and gives his body the prompts it needs to recognize where it is in space.  


Twinkie is that bright ray of sunlight in Zachary's sometimes cloudy days.