Perpetual Ruminations

Monday

This is great, it's Monday, just going on noon, and I'm in here writing my journal entry already. I also posted my weekly goal and just finished lunch. What a change from two weeks ago, a very welcome and much needed change.

Normally, Monday would be my last day at work, and a twelve hour or more day. That's the time on site, but if you figure in that I would have been up around three getting ready for work, on site by five, and not home until six or later in the evening, you can see how tiring of a day it was. But, that was the summer schedule and now we have moved on to the fall schedule and I like this much better. I started this schedule last week, but Saturday ended up still being over twelve hours instead of six or seven as scheduled. Also, we were trying to get everything packed up for a camping trip last Monday, and then I took Rhonda to work and ran around town getting the last minute shopping done, fueling up, and finishing getting things ready to head out to the state park when Rhonda got off work.

So, this is kind of my first Monday off, and at home. I spent some time with Rhonda before she left for work, then fixed myself a light lunch, and now I'm in here getting a few things done. Soon, I will be out on the patio enjoying an afternoon cup of coffee and some sunshine, while I work with Hannah.

Hannah is my dog, a Labradinger (Labrador Springer mix) whom we rescued from the pound last December. She is a two year old female that was not quite what the breeder had hoped for in the mix, and unsellable as a hunting dog, so she ended up in the pound as a young puppy.

She was adopted a few times, but she is a very high energy dog of medium size, and needs a lot of attention. Also, she had no training as a young puppy, so she really didn't know how to act in a home setting. Unfortunately that resulted in her being returned to the pound time and again.

We didn't know this history when I first seen her, but she and I seemed to hit it off from the start, and I paid the fees and brought her home. I was informed that she had never been outside of a pen except for one time when she broke out of the pen she was in, and she had never been taught anything. It looked like I would have my hands full.

I also learned her sad history of being returned anytime she got into any trouble. The pound has a short return time, and will refund the fees if the animal is returned withing the time frame. So, she would get adopted, misbehave, and returned right away in order to get the fee refunded.

This resulted in her having a very serious complex. She learns very fast, and tries hard to please, she just did not have any training. So, when we brought her home, she did not know how to interact with us, she did not know how to play with toys or our other dog, and she would actually tremble and shake if she was scolded. Of course, being an animal, there was no way to relate to her the fact that getting scolded or yelled at did not mean she would lose her home, again. In fact, her past history had taught her that very harsh reality, get in trouble and get returned.

This resulted in a difficult situation, but one I tried my best to deal with in a positive manner. I used praise and rewards to teach her as best as I could, and did my best to refrain from scolding and yelling at her. I needed to give her time to relearn how life was. But, there are always those times that scolding needs to be done. At first, she was certain her family was going to vanish and she would be back in the pound, but over time she has come to understand that this is not the case any longer. Now, she finally knows this is her home and iven if she misbehaves, gets yelled at or scolded, she will still be here with her family, and she will still be loved.

This, however, has lead to a new situation. Since her greatest fear was being returned, there was never any reason for any type of discipline, other than scolding her. But, now that she knows scolding will not end the life she has come to love, there is no power in scolding her. Luckily, she is a very smart dog, and she is very eager to please me. Even so, she has started to go outside her yard, not listen when called, and a few other unwanted activities. Nothing real serious, but things that need to be addressed and corrected no before they become serious.

Since I now have more time, and she is no longer terrorized by thoughts of being returned to the pound, the time has come to start working with her on a regular basis. It has become time for her and I to spend more time interaction together, and to train one another for the relationship we both need.

I spent some time this morning organizing some training aids, and have started being less tolerant of her misbehaving. this afternoon, we will spend some time walking together on a leash without my arm getting pulled from it's socket, some basic commands she already knows, and just some behavior modifications. In time we will work on some fun tricks for her to do, and more enjoyable lessons, too.

I still plan on using rewards and praise as much as possible, since I find these to be the greatest training aids available, but I will also have to start administering more discipline and scolding when it's required. She is a fast learner, and so very eager to please, so this should be an enjoyable time for both of us. I, on the other hand, tend to be a bit slower and more difficult to learn and train, so this will also give me the opportunity to try and understand her better, and to work on our intercommunication. As much as she needs to learn to be obedient and well behaved, I need to learn to understand her wants and needs, so that I can fulfill them in return.