Cat a Catalyst for Doggie OCD

An interesting case when pet sitting this week.

I was caring for a pair of dogs; Koda, a 3 year old German Shepherd bitch, her older companion Bella and the family cat, Jasper. When introduced to the pets I noted Koda's obsessive behaviour around the cat - following him, licking him, whining and pacing.

Beautiful Koda

My assessment was there was a specific event which had conditioned Koda to act this way as every evening a 'ritual' kicked off. Jasper would announce his arrival and demand to be let in by meowing continuously outside the terrace doors until one of the family got up to let him in. He was very persistent in this so someone would jump up the minute his calling started. The cat would come in and Koda in turn would pant, pace and whine – until the cat went out again.

The trouble is this was not just once a night - it was repeated for the whole evening. Jasper would meow to come in then demand to go out, cry to come back in, then demand to go out again, and on and on the whole night. And just as the family reacted to the cat's meow - so in turn Koda reacted by starting her obsessive behaviour. The family would tell Koda to calm down but that had no effect which meant evenings – or any time the cat was around - were very unsettled.

The family had thought Koda's obsessive behaviour around the cat was because she loved him. In fact it was that Koda had become 'conditioned' by the cat's meow. In her world the meow = her pack moving = she has to move too. But she didn't know why she was moving and so was constantly confused and anxious. This resulted in her obsessing over the cat until it went out once more.

The irony is that it wasn't really Jasper causing Koda's distress – it was the family's reaction to Jasper's demands which made Koda repeatedly go into a hyper state.

The way to solve this is to deal with the root PROBLEM (family's reaction to the cat) rather than SYMPTOM (Koda's distress). Telling Koda to be calm will never work - if calm is wanted then that is what needs to be demonstrated.

Surprisingly it is relatively easy to restore calm starts by letting Jasper know he can no longer dominate the whole household! In future the cat meowing at the door had to be COMPLETELY IGNORED. Not only should no one open the terrace door, but the curtains should be closed (the cat would give up quicker if he could not see anyone inside). Meanwhile Koda had to be encouraged to lie quietly and not be allowed to pace even when the cat cried. And only when Koda was calm should she be touched or praised.

3 habits are being broken here:

1. the cat's 'top dog' habit of getting everyone to wait on him by meowing
2. the family's habit of jumping up to open the door the second the cat cried
3. Koda's habit of pacing and moving on hearing the cat cry because she anticipated family/pack movement

For a night or two the cat might continue to call, but once he fails to get anyone to open the door he will learn if he wants to come in he must use the rear of the house just like the rest of the pack.

Changing behaviour in this simple way will get results otherwise:

'If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you always got'.

SES Rescue dog needs Perfect Pet Sitter to the Rescue!

When I got a last minute request to help with an emergency couple of nights staying with two dogs, it was great for once to be able to say that I could actually help.

The immediate nature of this meant it was not possible to include my usual three familiarisation visits this time. However, I still went to meet the dogs the day before so that they had an intro to me before I arrived to stay on Wednesday. 

I could see they came from a home where they were completely adored and where their welfare is paramount - which was why their owners did not want to leave them anywhere except in their own home.

First morning at Graham Reserve

One of the two dogs – the Boxer - is an SES trained rescue dog. His job is to find people still alive trapped under rubble. I expected to find a 'serious' dog - but not at all. He and his companion Caffeince were friendly, outgoing, well socialised, and very well trained.

Seeing how these two related to each another was really interesting. The SES dog, Wellington, is six but Caffeine is 11 with weak back legs. When we went out Wellington 'looked out' for his pal all the time and if he lost sight of Caffeine he looked worried. It put me in mind of a son being attentive to an older father. I suppose that's anthropomorphism but I make no apology.

The owners told me I needed to be aware that Caffeine could not exercise too hard. In the short time I was there we did four walks, but each time I made sure we took lots of rests. In that way we could safely stay out for an hour (the last walk a couple of hours) without Caffeine overdoing it.

It made a very pleasant change to be taking out dogs like these - mature and already well trained. Whilst I very much enjoy training dogs which is a challenge and rewarding -the dynamic with these dogs was so different.

Pups get distracted all the time and look round at the world - everything but you! They have to learn to focus on their owners. These two, by contrast, constantly looked at me and made sure they stayed by me. I hardly needed to call them but when I did they came at once - which if you think this was the first time they'd met me was pretty impressive.

Well done to the owners for doing such a great job of training their dogs.

Mud, Mud, glorious mud.....

Weds 3 April to Friday 5 April

Gave Bodhi a long walk of 3.55 miles which is around 6 Ks. We did a similar walk once before but this time I recorded it on my Garmin GPS and have sent a print out of that to the owners. We walked to the Wharf side of Manly, along the Fairlight path and right around to Forty Baskets where Bodhi had lots of swims (see pics).

I then walked with him up the hill to Balgowlah but then returned to Forty Baskets as my daughter brought Elly for a walk so it was round 2. The two just love one another and have established a great rapport.

Bodhi at 40 Baskets

Later when Elly came too

 Heaps of exercise on Thursday,  three outings in one day again, but over to today and our walk to Graham Reserve and (out for nearly an hour) if there is an inch of water, Bodhi will find it.....

I know it's here somewhere...

found it!

Wot?  I'm muddy??

Ha de ha ha!!!

Foot Note: Delighted to say Bodhi is responding spectacularly well to my heel work with him. He does like his own way and will ignore you if he's allowed to, but by calmly insisting he is improving in leaps and bounds making it a pleasure to have him on the lead.

Back again with Bodhi the Bear now for the whole of APRIL:-)

Well I knew my stay with Bodhi would be eventful - not even a week into my month with him and so it is proving! 

MY GARMIN GPS DATA, our first walk of day to Graham Reserve

Exercise is vital not just to a dog's physical health but just as much to their mental well-being, plus a well exercised dog is a happy and balanced dog. So having arrived on Good Friday morning, without even unpacking I immediately took Bodhi to Manly Lagoon.  A lovely day and Bodhi playing in the water and with other dogs. Then I began to walk to the far end of the Lagoon but had barely passed the children's play area when a shout went up. I looked left to see two ladies sitting on the grass eating salmon Subs for their lunch. Well one was. Bodhi had swooped on the other lady and fully snatched the Sub right out of the lady's hand and he'd gulped it down in two huge bites!

I apologised to the woman (who took it well) and I paid her so she could buy another sandwich. At one level it was funny, but big Bodhi doing a Ram Raid would not amuse everyone. I'm now extra vigilant when I see anyone eating or food left about on the ground as this dog will not pass it by!

Tues 2/4/13 our 3rd walk (reluctantly on Bodhi's part!)

Tuesday 2 April a glorious day on the Northern Beaches and we took advantage of it with Bodhi having no less that 3 walks in the one day. First one was early and a little after 8am we'd done  2 miles (see print out above). The second one was only short, we had a coffee at Ash's Table and sat looking at the fabulous Manly beach. But the third was funniest. It was the afternoon and I called 'walkies' to Bodhi expecting him to run towards me - only to see him backing away towards his kennel -  hilarious! Reluctant or not I took him to Manly using him being a little less keen as a good time to reinforce 'heel' and to get him to sit each time before we crossed a road. We did another 2 miles with that third walk - so with nearly 5 miles in one day. Being over 8 Ks this should make sure he is that well exercised happy and balanced dog! 

Later that night.........

Crickey - 8 Ks !!

My back itches....

Fallen in love - with a Quokka!

Having taken the opportunity to see my relatives in Perth wanted to visit Rottnest Island. As you probably know, Rottnest is famous for its Quokkas which have no fear of people. There is a decent population of them on the island but sadly on the mainland they are in decline due to Feral Cats and dogs against which they have no chance as they are slow and docile.

My sister-in-law told me to take a container to offer the Quokkas water which is like nectar to these dear little marsupials. Despite forgetting to take a container, this cutest little creature was more than happy drinking from my hand. As you can see it even had its paws on my hand to keep the supply coming. It was very gentle with a delicate tongue which you could just feeling licking away like crazy. Completely and utterly adorable and lovely interaction with a wild animal.

Back to Sydney next week and looking forward to seeing Bodhi (the Bear) again and will be with him all over Easter and right through the whole of April. Am wondering what exploits he has in store for me..... whatever they are they will be active and fun that's for sure!