We've had Miles under our roof for about a month now. When he first arrived he was skittish in general and fearful of strangers, especially strange men. I wrote about this and laid out a plan to address his socialization needs. I'm happy to report that over the last few weeks he's shown marked improvement on both fronts.
I had a chance to talk with noted behavior expert and friend
Dr Debbie Horwitz while attending the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando last week. We discussed Miles and she gave me some interesting advice.
In a previous post on the subject I mentioned how Miles reacted poorly to a visit by my buddy Phil. We were at a loss on how to react to Mile's behavior when Phil came in the door.
Miles would bark and growl while slinking away; a pretty classic fear reaction. I thought about having Phil offer Miles some of our tasty training treats but I rejected the idea for fear that Miles might interpret this as a reward for his behavior. Instead, I took Miles to a bedroom off the kitchen and shut the door.
Dr Horwitz basically told me I was over thinking the problem. She indicated that the proper approach was our initial inclination to have Phil offer Miles a treat. Debbie said that Miles would be more likely to associate strangers with good things if he got a treat from Phil. Since then I've tried that with other visitors with success and while Miles is not totally comfortable with people coming in the door, he no longer slinks away with a low growl. Instead he stands a few feet away wondering it these people are bearing treats.
He's gotten better out in public, too. When he first arrived he was freaked out by all the commotion and unusual activity encountered on a walk downtown. We walk him daily. First we take him for a three mile jaunt off leash up on Boston Hill. He loves that, especially when Phil's dog, Alice, or his best buddy, Riley, goes along.
He's much better when we encounter other hikers now, especially if they have dogs. He's always gotten along well with other dogs. He prefers people that have dogs, too. If he can smell your canine companion on your clothes, you get the immediate seal of approval.
After the walk on Boston Hill, we take him through the heart of town on our way home. He's a little tuckered out by this time and he walks right by strange people without incident. He even lets some people pet him. We take treats with us and if we see a friend coming down the street, Chris gives them a treat to offer up to Miles. He likes that and is beginning to lose his fear of strange humans.
We have an old friend from Montana visiting now and after some minor tenseness on first meeting they have become fast friends. I came up for breakfast the other morning and Miles was nowhere to be found. Turns out my buddy Joe had taken him out for his morning constitutional. Miles was happy as a clam with this turn of events. "Wow, another human to take me for walks," must be his take.
We still have plenty of work to do with Miles. We start a belated
puppy class with him next month. He's still a puppy but I'm sure he'll be the biggest boy in his class. Once we have his basic obedience down, he'll be much better. Working with the distraction of other people and their dogs should be very good for him. He needs exposure to new stimulus in a secure environment and the puppy class should provide that.
All in all we are very encouraged with his development. It would have been much better if he'd been exposed to this learning and experience during the
critical first three to four months, but better late than never. I was worried, at first, if he'd never be good citizen. Now I'm confident that he'll be fine.
The only thing we worry about now is that our daughter might want him back when she graduates this spring. We really love this big galoot. I haven't felt this way about a dog in a long time. He's totally captured my heart and my wife's heart. So much so that I hardly even notice that all our plum colored family room furniture is covered with short white hairs.
