As you can tell from my posts, we spend a lot of time doing outside adventures. Viva is a busy gal on these outside adventures and she keeps me on my toes. However, in the house she's beyond easy. Viva does want to be around you so when we are in the kitchen she is hanging out on her mat.
Waiting patiently while foster dad is making dinner
If I'm sitting at the dinning room table, you will find Viva on her dog bed
If we're in the living room, she's hanging out on her "spot". I only want Viva on the couch - not our loveseat. D'light and Catty hang out on the loveseat and making sure that everyone has their "spot" is a good plan.
Here's Viva and foster dad watching TV
Viva's "spot"
Viva watching D'light and wondering what he's up to.
D'light on the loveseat watching out the window
He's hoping to spot a critter
It's a lot of work doing all that watching!
"I have to rest my eyes"
While D'light is resting his eyes, Viva finds a crumb of something that foster dad has left behind!
Back to watching and resting. As you can see, Viva is a mellow gal inside the house.
A video of her just hanging out. This is very typical behavior for her.
Of course I think New Rattitude is a great rescue. A big reason why I foster for New Rattitude is the support that is offered to foster parents. One of the many supports is that New Rattitude provides an annual training subsidy to help cover the cost of training classes for foster parents enrolling their dogs (either foster or personal dogs) in training classes using positive methods to modify behavior, develop manners, increases responsiveness and/or build confidence.
Last year I used the training subsidy with foster dog Seven and that class really turned things around for us and helped me to help Seven be an even more amazing dog!
Everyone knows I a huge fan of Nose Work and I figured this would be an great class for Viva. Why is it great? First off, every dog works alone and there are no other dogs in the area. For a reactive dog like Viva this is perfect. Another reason is that Nose Work is a huge confidence boost for dogs. They get to hunt for food and when first starting Nose Work, the fact that the human isn't asking them to do anything is amazing. Nose Work also provides the opportunity for dogs to have controlled exposure to things in the environment. Best of all, if you have a good Nose Work instructor they will do everything they can to set your dog up for success.
All of this is exactly why I wanted to take a Nose Work class with Viva. The next step was locating a setting where Viva would be successful and that worked with my busy schedule. I'm very, very lucky to have some great Nose Work instructors in my area. Catty and I train with Erica Wells and I adore Erica but, the class locations and times weren't optimal for us. So, I contacted Kathy Weaver another Nose Work instructor who I think is great!
When I contacted Kathy I let her know that Viva is environmentally sensitive, dog reactive and can be people reactive. If you have a fearful dog, it's very important that you advocate for you dog by explaining what your dog needs to be successful. It's also imperative to find an instructor/trainer who will listen to you. Also you want to find someone who has at the very least a basic understanding of fearful behavior in dogs.
Kathy was on board with us and off to class we went. There are 4 dogs in our class and Kathy did a great job of preparing the environment for Viva. There were sheets placed over the walls to create visual barriers and we were working over in a corner of the facility. Kathy asked the other students to stand way back so Viva didn't have to see them.
The building has lots of dogs coming in and out (not when we were there) so that's a lot of dog smells. Viva is one to amp up when she smells that a dog has been in the area so, she was on alert just coming into the facility. She then did what I expected, she searched the working area making sure she was safe, not interested in eating the food that was out in the containers. Viva tends to get lock into her brain when this is securing her environment and she forgets what's around her. She forgot I was in the area with her and as she was making sure all was safe, my presence startled her and she started growling at me. I said "Viva it's me" and that redirected her attention and she went to searching. Her growling is a behavior that she gives when she's emotionally uncomfortable. The growling is not about her being dominant. She was pretty jazzed once she secured her environment and found the food in the open containers!
Here's Viva on her second search. She's doing great for a newbee!
We did a total of 4 searches and on the third search Kathy and I were in the search area - a change in the environment. Viva saw Kathy when we came in and then Viva did her searching around and Kathy's presence startled Viva. Viva charged towards Kathy, growling and barking. Viva stopped about 5 feet in front of Kathy and Kathy was not making eye contact with Viva and Viva then moved on. Again, a good reason why it's important to be clear and honest about your dog's current behaviors AND find someone who understands dog behavior. You also want someone who does not believe in using aversives with dogs and doesn't endorse or subscribe to the whole wrong alpha/dominance talk. Many thanks to Kathy for her understanding Viva's behavior and saying she did great because she really did when you look at the whole picture.
Here was Viva during another search and you can see the sheet over the wall for a visual barrier.
"Finding these treats is awesome!"
It was a great class and I'm looking forward to the future classes as I'm sure Viva is going to really enjoy this game once she feels safe in the environment.
After class we found a park to explore!
"Lots of leaves on the ground"
Pretty Viva!
You don't need to go to a class to learn how to do Nose Work at home with your dog. Here's some past posts fosters doing Nose Work in our house. It's very simple, a lot of fun for the dog and a really, really good enrichment game. Perfect for the fall and winter indoor days!
The rain has arrived and Viva could care less. This is really great since we've had many dogs who think the rain will melt them.
With the rain upon us, we don't see too many dogs when we are out so another bonus!
Viva says "Are there critters at this park?!"
Viva is excited to check everything out.
Off she goes on the 50 ft long line.
Viva enjoying scoping out the hillside
Critter!
While Viva sniffing this section, I'm setting up a find it game.
"Oh my how did this treat get up here?"
"More over here - this place is amazing!"
Viva find the treats quickly, smart little girl!
Off she goes. I love using the 50ft long line with her. Give her lots of choice of where she wants to go and I still have a connection to her if I need to manage the environment.
Viva is very smart, she's had success with finding "treats" up on things so she check out elevated items like this. No treats here, just stuff to sniff.
Despite the rain we there were some joggers. Viva did great with seeing them & then looking to me. Viva as always is reinforced with food for making great choices.
There a lower section to this park so we start to head down. Viva still on critter alert.
There are a number of sports fields on one side
Then this large open space. The top of that wall is where we were playing find it.
Viva isn't interested in running in the open space! She had critter brain and no care about getting wet in the bushes.
"I will pose for you in the rain if we can get moving"
Back up the path we go...
Really raining now!
I say "let's go Viva"
Viva says "Just give me a minute to check for critters!"
Shaking off the rain
And back the car we go!
Looks like it's time to break out the water proof camera.
It's hard to believe it's been a full three years since we adopted D'light. So to kick off his gotcha month I made him a Simple bison "pie" bake and it's super easy to make.
Here's the ingredients and since D'light has a number of protein allergies, I used bison and Honest Kitchen Turkey.
Once every thing is mixed and in the baking dishes I offer the bowl to D'light. He took one lick and walked off. Hopefully he will be more interested once it's cooked.
I offer the bowl to Viva...
"YUM!!"
"That was delicious!"
"Is there more?"
Totally adorable, you can see the sweet potato on Viva's lower lip.
Ready to go in the oven.
I left one half of the "pie" sweet potato free in case D'light isn't into the sweet potato.
All baked, cooled and ready to eat
Portioned out and toped with goat yogurt!
D'light has two choice: just the bison bake and/or bison bake with sweet potato & yogurt
D'light things the plain bison bake is yummers!
Time for Catty to give it a taste test!
"This is delicious!"
Viva gives paws up!
And lucky Viva, she gets to lick the pie plate!
After Viva is finished, I give Catty her dinner in the pie plate. Notice that Viva didn't completely clean the pie plate.
Catty ALWAYS leaves a clean happy plate!
D''light back for more as I clean up. He thought this was pretty yummy!
Happy gotcha month D'light your mom and dad love you to the moon and back!
