New update on Kikko

(Versão portuguesa abaixo)

I haven’t been here for a long time, as I’ve been incredibly busy at my jobs. However, I’ve had people ask me how Kikko was doing, so I guess it’s really time for an update...

 You know that saying “you only appreciate what you no longer have”? Well, in this case the general idea applies, but in reverse.
Over the last couple of months I haven’t had much time to work the dogs as I’d like to so I haven’t even been able to work well on the desensitization to the car noise. However, the question about how things were going got me thinking, specially about the last couple of weeks. And I realized that more and more often, when I arrive home, I think Kikko has “died” ;) – I am able to park and get home without having a choir of out-of-control barking. I also realized that during this time, he has been a lot more controlled on the leash, when I take him to the yard. Instead of continuing trying to “lift off”, when the leash pulls on the collar, he has been able to control himself and not pull – which my arm really appreciated! And when it is time to get home, he no longer starts to eat grass as if he was in a cow herd and there was no tomorrow!
So, overall, I see Kikko’s having a lot more self-control than before!
(Ok, granted, this weekend we’ve been having some set-backs, but my mom’s over for theEaster, so I’m hoping these are due to kikko’s excitement with her here, instead of one of those “2 steps forwards, 1 step back” situations.)
A little over one week ago, his barking went to an apparently totally out of control phase, it was really hard to get him to shut up (usually I just need to tell him to). However, since them there have been days he doesn’t even bark. So I think (or should I say I hope?) we are starting to head towards extinction of the barking due to anxiety…

A large Dachshund male on the left, a small Drever female on the right

Having breed a Dachshund litter and a Drever litter (breeds with the same overall type and similar function) with a 15-days age difference, it was possible to do some interesting comparisons. I know it is a small sample, but then again there are no Drevers in this side of Europe for a better comparison… but it seems to me that, overall, as puppies Drevers tend to be a much more immature than Dachshunds, taking longer to develop certain habits. They have a big difficulty in exerting self-control, they take a long time to house-break… but on the other hand they are also a lot “softer” than dachshunds, with less problems among them and eternal sweethearts! :)

In my Drever females, I’ve noticed that after their first heat they tend to change a lot, behaviorally – they become more extrovert, less shy, more “lady-like”. Kikko’s last sister is in heat right not, so this may be a sign that he is also starting to mature himself. Finally! ;)

(You have no idea what I'm talking about? No problem, just read the first part of the series,the second part of the series and the third part of the series)

Separation problems - update

(Portuguese version below)

I haven’t updated the blog in a very long time, partially due to an excess of professional work. So, let’s update the situation regarding the separation problems I’ve been dealing with…

Most of Kikko’s problems became quite manageable with time, as he settled into his new life. Most of his anxious bark ended, he now typically only barks with the normal situations – like seeing strange people or tractors passing in front of the house. He is not pulling a lot on the leash, even without the halter, although he will still do it when he’s excited. In his crate, although not totally relaxed during the day, he will stay quiet in the normal situations – like when he is locked up to sleep at night. The main problem remaining is his anxious (and noisy!) bark when he feels me arriving home after I left for a few hours.

About a couple of months ago, I started to realize (and my neighbor confirmed it) that the dogs would start barking and howling when I left home to go to town (something that doesn’t happen every day, one of the perks of working from home most of the time). Personally, it is something I don’t particularly consider a problem (after all, several dogs together tend to bark easily), but to avoid potential hassles with the neighbors, I’d have to do something about it. But, having several dogs, to assess what I should do, I first needed to know who was the noise-starter – howling is a social act, where several dogs join in after one starts, so it is important to know who starts it to know whom and how I have to manage… But the fact that they only make noise when I leave and there is no one at home (if there’s someone there they don’t make any noise) makes it hard to evaluate the situation. The only option – filming the dogs! I don’t have a video camera, but my photo camera allows me to record small videos. Unfortunately, they are limited to a 10 minutes length, but from my feeling and my neighbor’s comments, the dogs would start the noise almost after I left and only do it for a couple of minutes, so that length should be more than enough. So, first I aimed the camera to the most likely suspect – Kikko, who was still adjusting, was the most anxious dog and the least used to being in the crate (all my house dogs are used to being crated when I have to go somewhere for relatively short periods). Well, imagine my surprise when I come back home and saw the video – 10 minutes in which the dog, although not totally relaxed, is quiet and even lies down to sleep near the end of the video! Hmmm… ok, we have another unanticipated (but not totally unexpected) guilty dog… So next time I aim the camera at suspect #2 – Pinhão. Although Pinhão is used to being crated (actually, he often prefers to go sleep and relax in his crate than being with the other dogs), his anxiety level has increased since Kikko came back – probably a conjugation of Kikko’s anxiety with my excess of attention towards him and unintentional lack of attention towards the other dogs, thereby breaking Pinhão’s routines, which are essential for him to have some stability and relax (Pinhão is a very anxious dog, although he has made a huge progress since I have him). So, I started filming Pinhão and voilá, the “guilty” one was found. It was indeed Pinhão who started the whining and howling. Trough several days of filming, I realized I had actually been very “lucky” when I first filmed Kikko, as actually both Pinhão and Kikko would start the whining and howling. And once they started to howl, the rest of the dogs would follow – I realized Drevers love to howl, and Dachshunds are not that far behind, although they are easier to shut up! ;) Interestingly, normally the Barbados da Terceira would not join in the howling.

So…now I knew who was starting the noise when I leave… Now, how to deal with it? First, I thought of getting Kongs for everyone, not just Kikko as up to then. However, this did not work with Pinhão, his problem was not boredom, and he is not especially motivated by food (not even chew bones).

Idea number 2 was to put Pinhão’s and Kikko’s cratesside by side. They have become best friends, so I thought maybe the problem was being anxious for not being together (despite the fact that at night there was no problem). That also did not help, the noise continued…

Letting them out in the yard to do their business before I left also did not help…

So, then I thought of something that, although would not solve the core problem, could make the situation more manageable… My oldest Drever Lupi is the dog that will more easily start howling – when she hears other dogs whining, when she hears sirens on the street, when she hears different and prolonged noises… She usually sleeps in the crate with the house dogs, but when I leave during the day I leave her in the garage with the other dogs. When Pinhão and/or Kikko start whining when I leave, she is the first to start howling. So, if I could stop her from starting to howl, hopefully I would not have the usual “symphony”. So, before I left, I started bringing Lupi home and to her crate, with the rest of the house dogs. Good result! Pinhão and Kikko will still make noise, but as Lupi is with them, she does not begin to howl, so the rest of the dogs also do not howl. Ok, so I don’t have the ultimate cause solved, but the neighbor’s problem is controlled while I look for a better solution!

At the same time, I also began to change my exit routines. Normally I follow a predictable sequence – I lock up the dogs that are out on the yard and close the garage door, I let the house dogs out while I change clothes, I put the laptop in the backpack, I crate the house dogs, I get the keys and I leave. I am now changing that order, for example, change my clothes and go do other stuff, let the dogs out (or not) and continue my usual life without crating them, etc., to try to break the fixed pattern of leaving. In the mean time, a few days ago I had to go without my car for a few days while it was being worked on at the shop. And that allowed me to identify one situation I had not realized before – when I followed my normal routines to leave the house, but by bus instead of by car, the dogs would not make any noise! And when I came back home by bus, Kikko would not bark so quickly and so loud, only when I was about to enter the house. Which means, apparently the main trigger for the dogs’ noise was not me leaving per si, but the noise of the car. Great! So I have finally (I hope!) identified the trigger for Pinhão’s and Kikko’s anxiety when I leave. And if it is indeed the car, I think it will be relatively easy to desensitize them – it should be enough to turn the car on and off at different, without necessarily me leaving, leave and come straight back, etc.

Now, hopefully it is a matter of time to see if the problem really gets controlled this way or not…

(If you have just arrived to this post and have no idea what I'm talking about ;), please read the first part of the series and the second part of the series)

Update on Kikko (or... can a head halter help with separation problems?)

(Versão portuguesa abaixo)

This post is an update on what’s been going on with Kikko since he came back. You can read the initial description here

So… Kikko hás been here for 4 weeks. Some days have been better, some days have been worst, but the good days are becoming more frequent. Specially in this last week there has been a great improvement! We’ll get to that…

His adaptation to the rest of my dogs was awesome! It seems as if he never left! Since day 1 I have been letting him loose with his siblings, his mother, his “cousins”, “uncles” and “grandmother” (i.e. with the other Drevers and Dachshunds) and there has never been any aggressive reaction from anyone, no one kept aside, no one trying to dominate. I’m not surprised about that with the Drevers, my experience with them is that they are not dominating dogs. I was a bit surprised with the Dachshunds, but I suppose the age of all the puppies – 10 months – aids in no one trying to impose themselves or posing a “threat” to the older ones. All my dogs are also used to being with dogs of different sizes and ages, which also helps to build tolerance.

Actually, as far as adaptation goes, Kikko has been doing wonders to Pinhão, a 4 year old Dachshund. Since I’ve had him 2 years ago, he has always been very shy and interacting very little with other dogs. However, for the first time I see him playing like a puppy! It seems he found his soul mate on Kikko! :)

However, Kikko’s coming here had one drawback for Pinhão. He is an extremely sensitive dog, the type that when he feels a bit more stress from people will lie down on the floor, avert gaze and do absolutely nothing. It takes a lot of encouraging and some patience for him to build up enough confidence to come back to me. Well, these days have been quite stressful for me – I’m already naturally stressed, and with Kikko’s problems I’ve been even more stressed, especially with the near constant and persistent barking. It took me a while to realize this situation, so I’ve been doing an even bigger effort for self-control. And the progresses done with the puppy are also helping all of us to be more relaxed!

After a little more than a week, Kikko adjusted to our normal rhythm. He has always been an apartment dog, going out for walks on a leash (and, until very recently, a very thigh leash, because of his arm problems). Here, the dogs spend a good part of the day loose on the yard, in different groups. At first, he would not want to stay there for more than a few minutes at a time before starting to bark anxiously, as when he sees me disappear. But gradually he started to relax on the yard for longer periods, and now he does not bark to get out during all the time the dogs are there. He just does it when I start taking dogs out and I don’t take him, even if the order of the changes is the same every day – after all, both the dogs and myself like our steady routines. But that is changing… we’ll get to that…

In the mean time, as Kikko adjusted to the routines and a steady feeding schedule (before he had food ad libitum), his hygiene at home improved greatly. In the past 2 weeks, give or take, there have been no more accidents at hom. And when he needs to go out, he is starting to ask for it. He is still peeing at home, but now it is possible to find a context – lately he has only been doing it when I leave the house momentarily to take care of the other dogs. In this situation, he either barks or pees in the house. But that is also changing… we’ll get to that… (Are you staring to get the idea many chnges have happened in the past few days? ;) )

There was however a little setback, quickly resolved. After a couple of weeks after getting Kikko back, I had to leave for the weekend. So I asked the girl who sits for my dogs to come. All the other dogs know her well by now – except Kikko. Despite not having any more problemas apart from the usual (barking, peeing), I noticed that in the first days after that Kikko got a little worse, barking more and with a more anxious pitch and peeing more. But towards the end of the week he was back to normal. I guess he realized I was not going to disappear.

Regarding his crate training, there has been some progress. Thanks to sleeping and eating in there every night and using the kong during the day, he already goes happily to this crate!... Even when he does not need it but thinks he may get something by going! ;) However, if I crate him during the day, after a short while or if he thinks I’m leaving, he starts to bark a lot. And the kong is not helping here - even stuffed with treats he really likes, he will play a bit but when he realizes I’m about to leave he’ll start barking. During the night I have no problems, only when it gets close to getting up time. In this case, although he will not bark continuously as during the day, he will whine and bark sporadically until I get up, get ready and let him out; sometimes he will even soil the crate.

Against my expectations, I managed to find a head halter in town. Before I started suing it to attach the leash, to teach Kikko not to pull on the leash, I spent about a week and a half to get him used to using it without signs of discomfort or stress – many sessions of feeding treats through the loop, then with the loop on the muzzle, then attaching and releasing the halter, then having it on for a few minutes, then for several minutes. When I felt him at ease with the halter on, I started taking him out to the yard with it. In the beginning he still tried to fight it when he felt the resistance on the head, but with some treats he quickly realized where he could go without pushing on the leash. I’m also always using the same leash with him, so it is easier for him to learn the limits than if I was using leashes of different length or a retractable leash.

Even after I started taking him out on leash with the halter, I continued putting it on at home in different situations, so there would be no strict association between the halter and going out. And this brought me some unexpected benefits! And now yes, we got to that! ;)

Some days ago, a Facebook friend shared a link about the use of a face wrap to get a dog to stop barking inappropriately. I had heard of body wraps to help control fear and anxiety, but it was the first time I had heard about something similar for the muzzle. Initially, it seemed like a silly idea, the dog could easily take it off, or if he stopped barking it was because o the stress of having that thing around his muzzle.

(But then again, the first time I heard about clicker training, over 10 years ago, it also seemed like an unnecessary concept and after learning how to do it and seeing the behavior change in my own dog I became a total fan! So I will not immediately dismiss something I don’t know)

So… I read the text in the link, made a mental note and didn’t think about it again. Or rather, I probably would not have thought about it again, but something happened which I probably wouldn’t have even noticed if I hadn’t read the piece! And I said above, I was getting Kikko used to the head halter for several days, and could not longer see stress signs when he was wearing it. Back then I was already having him use the halter at home for some stretches of time. And it happened that during one of those periods I went out to switch the dogs I had loose on the yard. And for the first time I left home and he was not barking! Nor peeing! Nor jumping up my legs when I got back, he just came quietly. Hmmm… weird, this is not the Kikko I know! Well… a coincidence, I though… But that situations and the piece I had just read were tumbling in the back of my mind. So, since a week ago, I decided to start putting the halter on each time I had to leave the house for a bit (switching dogs, taking care of the others, etc.). And lo and behold, he did stop barking, when in those situations he would systematically do it. And the peeing in those situations also stopped! Yeah, one problem controlled! And as for barking on the year when I start taking dogs out and not him? Well, let’s give it a try too… I put the halter on when I start to take the dogs out and voilá, he stopped barking on that situations also. One more problem under control!

I was thinking… did he stop barking because he was uncomfortable wearing the halter? I don’t think so. I’ve been noticing that, either at home or outdoors, even with the halter on he still barks on “normal” situations (when he sees strangers, when he plays with other dogs, when he’s disputing a toy), it is just the anxious barking that stopped. Indeed so, I’m actually considering starting to use the halter when he’s on his crate, to see if it also works on that situation.

And after one weeks using the halter on this “secondary” role, I see that even when he’s not wearing it, I can change the dogs on the yard or leave the house for a while and the bark has considerably decreased. And despite that in this situation the peeing has returned (well, it’s fairly ok, I’d rather deal with pee that with the dog with the lungs from hell!), I notice Kikko is less anxious and excited when I get back home.

Kikko, Alfinete and Pinhão

So, in short, I think this week remarkable progress has been made! Kikko’s habituation to the home rhythms, his friendship with the other dogs (specially Pinhão and Alfinete) and, most especially, the major behavioral changes I saw this week with the help of the halter point towards an excellent recovery. Although I am aware it will be a long path!

Righ now, my main question is about if whether or not a full habituation will happen in the sense that the halter will no longer work on his “secondary” role. However, as I see some behavioral changes even when Kikko’s not wearing it, I’m hopping improvement will become more permanent

(P.S. – His serious look on the photo is not because of the halter, it’s because he was not too happy about being on top of a table, but it was the only way I could manage to get a decent photo of him all by myself)

Kikko

(Versão portuguesa abaixo)

Kikko (A Special One de Aradik), 9 month-old Drever puppy, has come back home for a while. He has been having some problems my mom can’t handle at the moment, for several professional and personal reasons.

Kikko’s infancy was different from that of a normal puppy, to say the least, which has contributed to some of his problems. He had osteomyelitis, which lead to one of his arm’s radius and ulna break in several pieces. So, he spent several months with his arm on a splinter, waiting to grow up enough to undergo surgery. After that, he spent some weeks with the pins in the arm and then again with the splinter. So, he spent several months with very controlled and restricted movement, with short walks on a short leash. This is something very complicated on a naturally very active puppy, and unavoidably lead to him having a high stress level. Truth be said, Kikko has been the living example of how dogs have no notion of their limitations and has always been an overwhelmingly happy dog with everything and everyone. However, all his restrictions growing up built up frustrations, and those subtle stress signs (as, for example, the lips too pulled back) were always present. And stress led to even more activity (which is something a Drever puppy usually does not lack!)

Kikko also has separation problems. Not the type leading to home destruction (fortunately), but the type where he barks continuously when there are no people around – and a Drever has a nice set of lungs! Something that probably did not help were the frequent visits to the vet – as my mom’s and the orthopedic surgeon’s work schedules were normally incompatible, he would often spend a good part of the day at the vet’s – barking continuously. This did not make him afraid of the vet office, quite on the contrary, he still happily goes there, but certainly added to his anxiety.

And as only recently I managed to convince my mother to use a crate, to help solve Kikko’s lack of hygiene at home, especially when no one is there for a few hours, he is still in the middle of this learning.

So, at the moment, there are several issues to deal with:

- excessive barking when no people are around (even if his favorite canine playmates are around);

- excessive pulling on the leash, due to excitement (and a Drever has a strength inversely proportional to his size!);

- lack of crate manners (despite him staying quietly at night);

- the somewhat frequent “accidents” at home (which I think are a combination of lack of hygiene and stress-related).

So, what am I doing?

Kikko has only been here for 6 days, but there are already some progresses.

A good part of his frustration was due to his restricted movement during growth. At the moment, his leg treatments are over, so he can finally start having a normal life. Here I can have the dogs loose in the yard a few hours a day, so the increase of free exercise is starting to show some results. Even his bark no longer has that tone of anguish. When he barks for a long time because no person is around, it’s no longer the rapidly succeeding barks, but rather a “normal and frequent” bark (hmm… how to describe it without sound?), intermingled with some (short) breaks.

I got a Kong, a rubber hollow toy, which can be filled inside with food and/or treats; dogs usually love it and can spend a long time (hours even) with it, trying to reach all of the inside. As it was an instant success, I’m using it to get Kikko to willing go and stay in his crate. I’ve started already to close the crate’s door for a few minutes at a time. The plan is to gradually increase the time he can stay in the crate without barking, so I can leave home and leave him quiet and safe, like the rest of the dogs.

I’m also working on his “crate manners”, by only getting out when I tell him to, so he learns to control the anxiety – something he is learning so well a few minutes ago I opened his door and wondered why he was not getting out, only after did I realize he was waiting to be released! ;)

As for the separation anxiety, I’ve been ignoring his barks when I leave the house or the floor and ignoring him when I get home and he jumps over me. I only give him attention when he calms down. As my house has a balcony than runs along half of it and can be accessed by different rooms, as well as a garage at the ground floor, with an internal access to the upper floor. So I am leaving and entering the house from different rooms, so the front door isn’t exclusively associated with me going away. I’ve also putting my coat on and off without necessarily leaving, so as to try to break the associations the dog may have made regarding the different “rituals” people have when they’re preparing to leave home. This will be the most difficult issue to deal with.

Also, moments of petting and cuddling are reserved to when the dog is calm, and interrupted when he gets too excited. The idea is to start creating habits of self-control, decreasing over-excitement.

The next steps will be to get a head halter, which unfortunately I can’t find where I live, so I can start working better on his pulling on the leash. I also plan to star teaching him basic obedience, so I can replace unwanted behaviors (like jumping up on people) by other, incompatible, ones (like sitting down). At the same time, as these are static positions, they may help decrease the excitement level.

As for his hygiene problems, I think they will work themselves out, as Kikko adjusts to our rhythm, to being out loose for quite some time and as the general stress level decreases.

Finally, another thing I’ve been trying to do is… work on my patience! ;)

I have the advantage of working mainly from home, which allows me to be more available to small details I can work with Kikko. Also, at this time of the year, temperatures are a lower, so when I leave home I can take him with me in the car instead of leaving him barking at home (in the car he stays quietly in his crate), at least until I can trust him there. However, I also have the disadvantage of having jobs that require too many hours and having several dogs, so I cannot pay the attention I would like to some details. But we’ll get there with time…

Kikko has only been here for 6 days. I can already see some improvements, such as an overall decrease in anxiety, but some days go better than others. And he is still adjusting to a new environment, which he only knew from the occasional weekend spent here. Only in the next days/weeks will he start feeling at home and showing his true “colors”. Anyway, this will be a lengthy path, but I think as his trust level (on others and himself) increases, and with some guidance, he will end up a well adjusted dog.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions to ease this process, I’d love to hear them!