Mollie has been having a good time with her friends but one of them, and she shall remain nameless, has been chewing on her ears which is causing mats behind her ears. We've spent time every night combing out the mats because it can be uncomfortable for dogs and, if they are left in too long, they may get to the point where they have to be shaved.
We really don't want to shave mats out. I mean, really, her ears are so cute. But, with all the brushing I have been doing, she started to get to where she would avoid me if she saw me with the grooming tools. That's not the response I want so we set out to change that today.
I'm not going to force her to approach the combs. Instead I'm going to wait her out and see if she will approach on her own.
When she did check them out, I gave her a treat. I want to expose her to these tools when I'm not combing her ears and I'm going to work on changing her association with the tools. Instead of "Oh yuck, the combs are out, time to get my ears brushed," I want to change her association to "Oh yea! The combs are out and I get a treat."
It did not take long before she was happily approaching the combs on her own...with a little help from her nameless friend.
We're working on our leash skills in a variety of locations so she can start to generalize the skills we're working on. Her biggest struggle right now is that she's a little nervous about people she sees when we are out and about. She's been barking at almost everyone she sees. Because this is fear based, I want to make sure I'm not doing anything to add to the fear. I very lightly say, "ah ah" and we move away from the person and start to work on attention. I want her to be in a position where she can still see the person but she's not reacting. Then I can play with her or work on attention or recalls so she can start to change her association with the stranger. Instead of "Uh oh, scary stranger" I want, "Stranger = happy event." It's very similar to what we were doing with the combs.
Once we have worked through that we can get back to the task at hand. Now she's a little more alert so it takes a little bit more time to get her checked in but then all her skills start to fall into place.
When we are walking, I like the dogs to occasionally check in with me. They don't have to do this constantly but, every once in a while, I want her to look to me for further direction and to make sure she's on the right track. Mollie does a great job of periocially checking in with me while we are walking.
Back at my place we can get a little more play in before the day is done.
And one last snuggle at the end of the day.
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