success smells sweet- by Nessa

Today we went on our usual walk. It kind of felt like a video game, because "challenges" kept popping up for Olive to deal with. 

The object of the game: successfully walk around the neighbourhood on a loose leash and do not bark or growl at anything. Also, do not attempt to chase anything.

Bonuses: clicks and kibbles or chicken flavoured soft treats.

Challenge 1: man mowing lawn.

Challenge 2: lady walking down the street towards us with bags (extra scary).

Challenge 3: people getting into car ahead of us.

Challenge 4: various people walking past us.

Challenge 5: lady standing still at bus stop (very scary).

Challenge 6: motorcycle, heavy traffic and public bus passing near us.

Challenge 7: people coming in and out of local bakery while we walk by.

Challenge 8: two kittens springing out of the bush at us while we walked by (tempting).

Challenge 9: kitten #1 stalking us down the street (very tempting).

Challenge 10: man walking parallel to us across the street.

I am happy to report complete success on our walk today! 

This past weekend, Olive and I spent time our friends Debby and Ginny (the German shepherd). Ginny is weak on obedience skills but very friendly with humans. Whereas, Olive is good at obedience but has weak people skills. I think they help each other out a lot. On our big walk together, we faced packs of runners, bicycles, other dogs and walkers. Only a few barks or growls were elicited from Olive, despite the extreme challenge conditions. I think this is because, when she saw that Ginny wasn't concerned about the strangers, she became less concerned, too.

Introducing Olive

Hey,
my name is Nessa and I have wonderful dog named Olive. Olive is a marvelous mutt whom I adopted from a local animal rescue organization.

Olive is highly intelligent and a bit goofy. She loves frisbee, treats and cuddles (in that order) and is very loyal to her family. She knows loads of tricks and is very well behaved for the most part.

 However, she is quite shy and is fearful of strangers. She will growl and act aggressive towards them when she is frightened.
 I am teaching Olive to be non-aggressive towards all people, using the clicker training method outlined by Karen Pryor (an amazing animal behaviourist and ethologist), This is an ongoing process, which takes up a lot of my time.

 It is worth it for me, because I love my dog and I see her amazing potential. My goal is to help her feel secure, so that she can reach that potential.. I have learned so much about dog behaviour and body language, since "saving" this little mutt, and she is still teaching me more every day.