Latest / Sometimes There's Side Eye / STSE #88: Pattern Recognition
Transcript
- 0:12Welcome to Sometimes There's Side Eye, a podcast about two
- 0:16friends having real and unfiltered conversations about
- 0:19dogs and people listen as we talk about our lives with dogs,
- 0:23training, behavior, share some laughs and a whole lot of
- 0:27banter. I'm Heather.
- 0:30And I'm Christy, what exciting topic do we have this week,
- 0:35Heather? This week we are going to talk
- 0:37about patterns and how they can be helpful in dog training and
- 0:42understanding. Behavior patterns like clad or
- 0:46stripes. You're just being ridiculous.
- 0:49Patterns, Christy. Patterns in behavior.
- 0:53OK Patterns in dog behavior. Would you like an example?
- 0:58I would love an example. What made me start thinking
- 1:02about this was me breaking down things that bother Trin and make
- 1:10her feel uncomfortable, and then how I can make sure that they
- 1:16don't happen. Basically, how I can manage her
- 1:20interactions so that she can feel comfortable and not feel
- 1:24the need to lash out. So an example of a pattern that
- 1:29I realized is that when Trin is out with the boys, so I go into
- 1:36the dog room in the morning, I let all the dogs out, all three
- 1:39of them, and they go outside. Everything's fine, everybody's
- 1:43good. Now.
- 1:44If I would put the boys away and take Trin somewhere, do an
- 1:49activity or separate them for some reason, and then come back
- 1:53and try to just let the boys out and Trin is already loose.
- 1:57She gets very defensive. She doesn't like that.
- 2:01So I've been experimenting with if I put Trin back in her crate,
- 2:07then everybody's crated and I release them at the same time
- 2:12like I normally do in the morning.
- 2:13Does that make her feel more comfortable?
- 2:15And in some scenarios it does. And so it got me to thinking
- 2:20about patterns and how if we recognize patterns and behavior,
- 2:26we can use that information to train something different, to
- 2:31manage in a different way, to make our dogs feel more
- 2:34comfortable, whatever. And so that was where I came up
- 2:38with this this idea and it made me start thinking about other
- 2:41patterns and how we can use them and how we can observe them to
- 2:44make our dogs lives better. Yeah, I like that because, well,
- 2:48I think both of us love watching our dogs.
- 2:51Yes, and their. Behaviors and how they interact
- 2:56with the world and with us. And so then putting that
- 3:00knowledge to use, yeah, through recognizing, oh, like this is
- 3:05now a pattern. If X happens, XY and Z happens,
- 3:10then that ends up equaling AB and C.
- 3:15Yes, yes. And I think that sometimes just
- 3:21observing like I don't actually know there.
- 3:25I have theories on the route of why she is bothered when
- 3:30everybody like when there's separation and then she's put
- 3:33back together in the wild. But I don't actually know the
- 3:37reason. And so, but I don't think it
- 3:40matters because I don't think my, my theory is that it's like
- 3:46a defense mechanism that she lashes out because the dogs are
- 3:50then coming at her in a certain certain type of way instead of
- 3:54everybody being released to like move in tandem.
- 3:58And so that's not something that I am really interested in
- 4:03exploring to fix because I don't, I don't necessarily think
- 4:07it can be fixed or what it would take to fix it.
- 4:10I don't think is reasonable in my life.
- 4:12So then figuring out the pattern gives me a way to manage it so
- 4:17that it doesn't manifest or I can keep it from manifesting as
- 4:21much as possible. So it makes it especially in
- 4:25like a multi dog household too. It can make figuring out how to
- 4:30keep your dogs on an even keel and not have problems a lot
- 4:35easier when you're paying attention to those little things
- 4:39and sort of trying to figure them out and then how you manage
- 4:42them to keep them from happening.
- 4:44Yeah. And I what I like about what you
- 4:47just said is 1 if, if there's a pattern happening, you don't
- 4:52necessarily need to know the why behind it.
- 4:56You can just know this consistently happens and here's
- 5:00how I can deal with it or explore are these ways to deal
- 5:06with it. Like this is consistently
- 5:08happening and taking each piece of that that pattern and
- 5:13breaking it down a little bit to to see it.
- 5:16Like if I take out this section of the pattern, how does that
- 5:19affect the whole pattern? And then if you don't want to
- 5:24dive into the why behind a behavior, that's OK.
- 5:28You can still correct the behavior or modify behavior.
- 5:34But also, I think it gives you a lot of insight to say, I'm
- 5:38curious about that behavior. So if you're recognizing it's
- 5:42the dogs coming at her and then it would be, then it kind of
- 5:47makes you aware of, oh, at this dog sporting event, the dogs
- 5:52came at her, she had this reaction.
- 5:55Oh, when we enter a home, the dogs come at her, she has this
- 6:00reaction. And so you can start seeing
- 6:02those patterns in other situations and not that we know
- 6:06for sure, oh, her feelings are this or that, but we now know,
- 6:11OK, we can avoid dogs coming at her in a threatening what she
- 6:17perceives to be a threatening manner and and then break that.
- 6:21Down. Yeah, I think that it gives me
- 6:23insight to how to mitigate problems for her, basically is
- 6:28what you're saying. And I agree, I am much more
- 6:34cognizant of dogs coming in her face in different situations
- 6:40than I was before because I have recognized that this does seem
- 6:45to be something that bothers her.
- 6:47And look, if the reason that it bothers her is simply because
- 6:50she's smaller in stature, I can't fix that anyway.
- 6:54So the why behind it is honestly irrelevant to me.
- 6:58There's times where the why really matters because you might
- 7:02be able to turn everything around, but for me, the why
- 7:06doesn't matter. But if I if it helps me mitigate
- 7:09situations where she consistently practices the
- 7:15inappropriate behavior, then that is also a total win.
- 7:19I was having conversation with Marissa, who we had on the
- 7:23podcast before. We were talking about how one of
- 7:27her dogs doesn't like, you know, sharing space at certain times.
- 7:31And I was kind of talking to her about Trin and she was saying,
- 7:36you know, I just know the times where they're going to feel
- 7:40uncomfortable. So I just make sure that I
- 7:43manage those times and put things on cues so that that
- 7:46doesn't happen. And I thought that that was such
- 7:50solid advice that I have been starting to do that in other
- 7:54ways with Trent as well. For example, if she is in my lap
- 7:59and she's all curled up and comfortable and the boys come
- 8:03over and like kind of tower over her, I, that feels
- 8:08confrontational to her. And so I now, if I see that
- 8:15she's sort of nestled and uncomfortable, I can give the
- 8:19boys cues that are to tell them what to do, right.
- 8:23It doesn't always have to be what trend has to do.
- 8:26It can be what they what they can do.
- 8:28And so sometimes I will tell the boys go around or back up or
- 8:34stay back, you know, whatever cue is relevant.
- 8:37And then if it's a situation where she's awake, but I think
- 8:41she might feel a little bit uncomfortable, I will tell her
- 8:46off and then out, which means for her to go to another area
- 8:51that she likes to lay so that she just is removed right from
- 8:55the situation. It just gives me it gives me
- 8:58information to be able to better manage keeping her feeling
- 9:02comfortable, which then in turn does not allow for damage to be
- 9:07done to their relationship. Right.
- 9:10Yeah. Because I don't want that
- 9:12behavior practiced. Right.
- 9:14And you're very good. In fact, just this weekend we
- 9:18had Jackson and her crated in the same car.
- 9:22And when he he was very excited to see her and you said, hey,
- 9:28she might not be kind to Jackson.
- 9:31And he got away from me and went.
- 9:34Right up to. And she was OK.
- 9:35But she was fine. And she was fine.
- 9:37But that's a pattern that you've recognized, and it's something
- 9:41that we don't want that to continue being practiced.
- 9:45Like you said, even if I know Jackson is not going to hold a
- 9:50grudge, that's a pattern I've seen.
- 9:52He doesn't hold a grudge for the most part, just one dog.
- 9:56He felt the grudge again. 1 certain dog.
- 10:00One specific dog, but he's not going to hold a grudge if his
- 10:05friend is grumpy with him. But I'm still not going to be
- 10:09like, oh, let's try it out and see if if she explodes every.
- 10:13Time I would, I would so like in that situation too, I feel like
- 10:19she's in a crate. She has nowhere to go and then
- 10:22there's a barrier, right? So you have two, two situations
- 10:25that will make her a little bit more on edge.
- 10:27And I have noticed the pattern. And so in my mind, I'm also
- 10:31like, I want to advocate for my dog.
- 10:34I don't ever want her and Jackson to have any kind of
- 10:38kerfuffle because they have a beautiful relationship and I
- 10:41don't want it to be damaged. And so I covet that very much.
- 10:45Maybe over the top, but I don't give a shit because I would
- 10:48rather be over the top and not have a problem.
- 10:51And so I am protecting her in a situation where I have seen her
- 10:58be uncomfortable before and notice that pattern.
- 11:02And I would rather be over the top about it so that when it
- 11:06accidentally happens here and there, she has no reaction
- 11:09versus it happens over and over again because I'm like, oh, what
- 11:13the fuck ever. Like, take care of yourself.
- 11:16And then it becomes a real pattern.
- 11:19Yeah, Yeah, exactly. She's gonna have more resilience
- 11:23about it if it doesn't, if it doesn't occur over and over and
- 11:26over again. So that is the.
- 11:29So it really started making me think about how we can recognize
- 11:35patterns in our dogs and use those to our benefit, right.
- 11:40And so I did think of a scenario of a dog that I had here for
- 11:45training who is having an adult dog having a lot of issues with
- 11:49potty training. And this dog just, you could
- 11:54tell that he understood that he was supposed to go outside, but
- 11:59it was almost like he would get distracted or whatever.
- 12:04And so when he came to me for a couple weeks, I noticed that he
- 12:10was chasing light. And I saw the pattern of he
- 12:14would go outside and he would get distracted and start chasing
- 12:19sunlight, chasing different light sources.
- 12:22Any reflection? Any.
- 12:23Reflection and was not focusing on going potty and then would
- 12:28come in the house and have an accident.
- 12:30So when I was thinking about the trend thing, I'm like, well,
- 12:32gosh, there are patterns all over the place.
- 12:35If we pay attention that we can assist our dogs in living a
- 12:43better life and that might mean training something, managing
- 12:48something, taking something away.
- 12:51One of the things I had recommended for that dog was in
- 12:55his kennel run putting up a shade sail so that there was it
- 12:59was all completely shaded so that he didn't have the
- 13:02opportunity to have some, you know, a reflection in that area.
- 13:06So weird little things that you can do to try to manage or not
- 13:13even have some something occur when it comes to patterns that
- 13:16you notice that are causing problems for your dogs and you.
- 13:20Yeah, absolutely. I was thinking about Jackson and
- 13:25something also when you can recognize a pattern, sometimes,
- 13:29like we said before, you can take that pattern and expand it
- 13:33and be like, oh, it's also over here.
- 13:36So I was thinking about Jackson and he he lived with a child
- 13:41before I got him. And so of course the rescue said
- 13:45he's good with children. And I said he is not good with
- 13:49children. I don't think he's safe with
- 13:52children. And they were very surprised by
- 13:54that. I was like, you know, I live by
- 13:56a park. There's a lot or an elementary
- 13:59school. There's a lot of kids that are
- 14:00running around. He's always goofing at them.
- 14:03If they run up to the gate and say like, oh, we love your dog.
- 14:07He barks at them. He doesn't allow children to
- 14:10come up to him on walks, things like that.
- 14:12Well, what I realized was he doesn't like children when they
- 14:17come at him. Like Trin.
- 14:20She doesn't like. Yeah, he doesn't like it when
- 14:24they come directly at him. However, if they are just
- 14:28sitting and ignoring him and he's given the opportunity to
- 14:32explore them and make sure they're safe first, he likes
- 14:35them. He thinks they're great.
- 14:37He thinks he wants to be their friend, best friend.
- 14:41But then I thought, you know what?
- 14:43That's what he does with people who don't have dogs as well.
- 14:48So his pattern is if you have a dog, you're safe.
- 14:51That's fine. But other people too, if a
- 14:55stranger comes up to him, he's like, uh, uh, stop.
- 15:00I don't know you, but if they just ignore him and he has an
- 15:03opportunity to go up and sniff them and just in his own at his
- 15:07own speed, then he's totally fine with them.
- 15:11And I would venture like, don't you think that the majority of
- 15:14the kids he comes across don't have dogs?
- 15:17Oh like don't have a dog with them.
- 15:19Yeah. So like, wouldn't that also be
- 15:21a? Pattern possibly, yeah.
- 15:23That they're even more distrustful because they don't
- 15:27have a dog. It that seems to not matter as
- 15:31much also. Kids move weirdly.
- 15:33I mean, the the kids thing is valid, you know?
- 15:35Yeah. Because I know a couple times
- 15:38kids have come with dogs and he's like, you're still not
- 15:42don't come up to me. Yeah, OK.
- 15:44I was just curious. But then it also transferred
- 15:47Once I realized that I was like, oh, it makes sense.
- 15:50When a new person comes in my door for the first time, they're
- 15:56coming in, they're coming at them.
- 15:59And so that, and that's a forward movement towards him.
- 16:02And so, you know, we worked on protocol for OK, what, what can
- 16:06we do to make you feel more comfortable?
- 16:10And what did? You do.
- 16:11So there's a lot of treats and a lot of treats being thrown away
- 16:15from the people. So the people who whoever my
- 16:19friend is coming in for the first time, I give them treats
- 16:22outside the door. They come in, they throw it away
- 16:25from themselves. So he has, he's creating more
- 16:29and more space. And then he's like, actually,
- 16:32this is the game my mom plays with me.
- 16:34And he also has the opportunity to hide behind me.
- 16:38And then I, I also encourage, I pet, I tell him he's OK, which
- 16:43is so funny because in the, in the old days we were like, Oh,
- 16:47you're rewarding that behavior. And we know that, that, you
- 16:51know, a suspicion, but I'm like, he needed support.
- 16:55He needs, he needs his mom to be like, hey, we're OK in this,
- 16:58You're fine. You can hide behind me, I'll pet
- 17:01you, whatever. And then, yeah.
- 17:04And then once they're in and they've trusted a few treats.
- 17:07He's like, oh, OK. Can I just have it from your
- 17:09hand? Can we just snuggle now?
- 17:11Can we just be best friends? And that is every single time
- 17:16that you are having him practice in a way that makes him feel
- 17:22comfortable, you're putting money in the bank, right?
- 17:25And so that it it is easier for him to say, oh, new person.
- 17:31Oh, I know what we do. We do all these fun things and I
- 17:33get free food and mom supports me if I need it.
- 17:36So it becomes more just like I was saying about not approaching
- 17:41Trinity Crate. I don't want to practice it, you
- 17:44know, I don't want to let it happen because then at least
- 17:46when there's a Boo Boo, you know, she's more resilient, more
- 17:50willing to accept it and just move along.
- 17:52So it's the same kind of theory, you know, us building that
- 17:56resilience to be like, hey, this is not a big deal.
- 17:59We're we're not going to ask it of you all the time.
- 18:01But like, if we do have to here and there, can you, can you roll
- 18:05with it? You know, so I was also
- 18:09thinking, well, I don't know how.
- 18:11If you don't know what I'm talking about, go Google Les
- 18:15Leslie Mcdevitt and Pattern games and I'll put a little link
- 18:18in our notes. But Leslie Mcdevitt is a dog
- 18:22trainer who kind of created this idea of doing pattern games to
- 18:25use for dogs with reactivity, big feelings and different
- 18:30approaches of dog training. And I was thinking about with
- 18:34patterns, how trend, you know, I think we talked about it on the
- 18:39podcast that in a dog, what she deems a dog environment, she is
- 18:47friendly, social people, doesn't bark to everything's totally
- 18:52copacetic. And she determines that this is
- 18:56all good. Then if I take her right, if I
- 19:00take her on a walk in my neighborhood and she sees a dog,
- 19:05she will blow her top, she starts barking.
- 19:08She's a like a rabid beast. And I swear that it is like poof
- 19:16out of nowhere this thing that she doesn't expect pops up.
- 19:19Whereas in dog sport environments, she expects dogs
- 19:23to be there and she just doesn't.
- 19:25She doesn't understand the like differentiation of the
- 19:28environments. And I have no doubt I absolutely
- 19:32own from a socialization perspective, I put so much
- 19:37weight on her socialization and being ready for dog sports as a
- 19:42puppy. I did not pay nearly enough
- 19:44attention to just regular life. OK fine.
- 19:48So I was thinking I was reading or saw like something on social
- 19:53media about somebody saying that they teach a pattern game for
- 19:57dogs with big feelings on walks and it's literally just.
- 20:02Verbally saying 1 handing a treat, 2 handing a treat, 3
- 20:07handing a treat, starting over. So the the verbal cues are the
- 20:11numbers 1, two and three. And those 12 and 3 equal 1
- 20:14cookie and how they're using that pattern game to essentially
- 20:21give the dog something to expect and something that they
- 20:25understand. And so you basically have to
- 20:28bring it to fluency outside of the scenario that is hard for
- 20:32them and then to work it into scenarios that are a little bit
- 20:38hard, a little bit more hard and up in the ante.
- 20:41And I was thinking to myself, well, isn't it interesting?
- 20:45I'm watching patterns to help her and then I want to use a
- 20:49pattern to help her. Like it's patterns all over the
- 20:53place because I want to. I've been teaching her that game
- 20:57123 in our house and I want to start using that.
- 21:02I'm going to take it into the wild and for her that means
- 21:06using it in dog sport scenarios where she's very comfortable.
- 21:10So 123, we put it right and then expanding on it in different
- 21:16places so that I can start using it on walks.
- 21:19So when I see a dog person, whatever coming that would
- 21:25potentially spark her, I can start using the 123.
- 21:29I was like, oh, it's kind of cool.
- 21:30I'm watching for patterns in her behavior and then I'm going to
- 21:33use a pattern to change her. Behavior.
- 21:36Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, I thought it was
- 21:40really cool. I think sometimes people don't
- 21:44even realize that they've recognized a pattern too.
- 21:49So like my Co worker last week mentioned, he said yeah I tried
- 21:54to cut my dog's nails and like it's a whole big episode.
- 22:01Every time. He said.
- 22:03You know, we can get through two or three and then it's just
- 22:08everything falls apart. And I suggested, well, if you
- 22:12know, you can get through two or three, why don't you just do 2
- 22:17and throw a tree and be done for the day?
- 22:21And he said, wait, you can, you can do that.
- 22:23I said, yeah, you can do that. And he goes, right, why wouldn't
- 22:27we be able to do that? Of course.
- 22:29And I said, yeah, I would give her treats while she's getting
- 22:32her nails done too, and then throw a treat when you're done
- 22:35to signify, oh, we're all done with this now.
- 22:38Yeah. And he goes, he sent me a
- 22:40message today and said, thank you for the nail advice.
- 22:44We've been doing 2 nails a day and everyone's so much happier.
- 22:51Like it makes my heart sing. Wow, that's so good.
- 22:57Yeah. Because think about it, the
- 23:01stress that they were going through to try the dog and the
- 23:05people to try to get all the feats done, when in reality you
- 23:12could have zero stress, take 2 minutes a day, do 2 nails and
- 23:18start over again. And you know what?
- 23:20If they are consistent with that pattern, I bet you that they
- 23:24will get to a point that all of a sudden they're doing 3 nails
- 23:27every day and, and it just goes from there and the dog knows
- 23:31exactly what to expect. It becomes a very, very easy
- 23:36controlled set of circumstances for them and they get rewarded.
- 23:41Bam, magic. That right there is some
- 23:44excellent advice. Thanks.
- 23:46Yeah, Yeah. Sometimes I was like, he doesn't
- 23:48even know. He he recognized the pattern for
- 23:51me and I could just tell him like, hey, this is the pattern.
- 23:55Yeah. And here's what we can do with
- 23:57it. Yeah, it's so cool.
- 23:59I think that working with puppies so much is has made me
- 24:04like trained to look for patterns because so much about
- 24:08puppy training, especially potty training, is looking for
- 24:12patterns. Where do you see similarities?
- 24:15Where do you see the thing that the dog does over and over again
- 24:18to look for ways to stop it, have it not happen before?
- 24:22And so I think that has really changed the way I try to look at
- 24:26things. But it is also really hard
- 24:30sometimes to recognize things in your own home, in your own life.
- 24:36And so it's very cool that you can speak out loud and someone
- 24:41just say, well, what about this? And it makes this match.
- 24:44It's like this magic thing happens, you know?
- 24:47Oh yeah. You've done that for me so many
- 24:49times, like, well, why not this? And I'm like, I don't know,
- 24:52because I never even thought of that.
- 24:54And it's so obvious. Sometimes we because I think
- 24:58sometimes we overcomplicate. Yeah.
- 25:01I mean, we're human, absolutely our job to overcomplicate and
- 25:06sometimes it is good just to sort of speak a problem out loud
- 25:12to someone that you trust that isn't gonna call you an idiot.
- 25:16And thank God I have that around me.
- 25:19And and just like say, oh gosh, this is like really not working.
- 25:24And then be able to get the feedback of, well, what if you
- 25:27flipped it on its head and painted it purple and you're
- 25:30like, oh gosh, that would totally work.
- 25:33Yeah. It's.
- 25:35Sometimes the pattern isn't isn't even about your dog like,
- 25:40well, that's necessarily like it's.
- 25:42A great point. So there's been dogs that for
- 25:47whatever reason, every other dog reacts to in a negative way.
- 25:52And then like that dog's not reactive.
- 25:54That dog's not somebody that we would say is initiating the
- 25:58problem, but there's clearly a pattern of other dogs not liking
- 26:04the dog. And so then it says to me, well,
- 26:08there's something happening. Is it a health issue or is it a
- 26:13behavior issue or a you know, what is this dog putting out
- 26:18there? That's.
- 26:19Creating a problem for other dogs to to interact with them
- 26:25normally. Yes, I totally agree.
- 26:27And sometimes it's like just recognizing, like you said, that
- 26:31there's something similar, similar energy coming from
- 26:35multiple dogs is enough to make you look closer and then
- 26:40recognize something really, really small, right?
- 26:42Because that big, those big feelings can come from the dog,
- 26:48the dog, you know, the common denominator, doing an ear flick
- 26:53or doing a little whale eye, that's really hard to see if
- 26:57you're not at the right angle. And so working backwards and
- 27:01saying, we're getting this reaction from multiple different
- 27:04dogs and this is the common denominator.
- 27:07OK, let's work backwards and say, now let's look very closely
- 27:11at what this dog is putting out and, and kind of pick it all
- 27:16apart. And like you said, sometimes it
- 27:19could be something like a medical issue.
- 27:21I mean, I have had my own personal dogs react differently
- 27:27to actually, you know what that reminds me of an actual
- 27:31situation with our personal dogs.
- 27:34We had at the time, we would have had five dogs.
- 27:38And so we had Lucy, our Singleton, we had Daisy, Remy,
- 27:44Layla and Cash and SO3 pit bulls, 1 Rottweiler, Cash being
- 27:49the Rottweiler. Layla was like 1314 years old.
- 27:52So we're thinking, oh, she's getting up there, you know.
- 27:57And we noticed some changes in behavior in the foursome, the
- 28:02quad squad as we called them. And we assumed that at first it
- 28:10was because Layla was age aging and some dynamics were changing.
- 28:15In reality, it was our youngest dog at the time, Cash, who was
- 28:20having a medical issue that we couldn't physically see.
- 28:23And ultimately it completely changed his behavior.
- 28:28And so we made the assumption that the oldest dog in the group
- 28:33was why things were shifting when of course.
- 28:36That's a natural reaction. When in reality, it was the
- 28:39youngest dog and looking at the behavior changes and everything,
- 28:44maybe it's wrong to say that we noticed a pattern, but we
- 28:47noticed something. And then in the end,
- 28:50unfortunately, it was that Cash had a potential brain tumor and
- 28:55his behavior really was changing.
- 28:57And so it was him that they were reacting to, not the other way
- 28:59around. Yeah, yeah.
- 29:02Gosh, dog behavior is so. I just love it so much.
- 29:09Yeah. So interesting.
- 29:12It is so interesting. It's also sometimes sometimes
- 29:18just makes you go what the hell is happening here?
- 29:21Right. Yeah, yeah.
- 29:25Like why? Why is this happening?
- 29:28And yeah, yeah, what is happening?
- 29:30But I do think that like those are the cases where you do try
- 29:33to look for even the smallest pattern and to try to to get a
- 29:38clue, see if it can give you some ideas of what might
- 29:43actually be happening. Are there similarities somewhere
- 29:46in an interaction, In a response, in anything that can
- 29:52give you a clue to try and figure out and peel back the
- 29:54layers? Yeah, yeah.
- 29:57And I have to say, like one pattern I saw in Lucy was that
- 30:01she had so many dog friends who could not have any other dog
- 30:06friends. Yes.
- 30:08And there was something about her that she put out that was
- 30:12very, very clear. Don't cross a boundary with me.
- 30:17Do not cross a boundary with me because it will it will be bad.
- 30:23But also if you don't cross the boundary, it's all good.
- 30:26Like we're we can be best friends.
- 30:29Lucy was such an amazing neutral dog.
- 30:33She was very cut and dry. She was very clear.
- 30:37She was very right. She was ride or die.
- 30:40She was cut and dry, but also so incredibly neutral because if
- 30:45you didn't mess with her, she was not going to mess with you.
- 30:48Yeah, absolutely. It's.
- 30:49So gosh, it's so amazing the way that that can can allow other
- 30:56dogs to exist around her and be comfortable.
- 30:59But she also held a grudge, so if you did cross her, you would
- 31:02never get back in good graces with her.
- 31:06She'd go and cut a bitch. Whereas Jackson's like, oh, no
- 31:11hard feelings, like you probably had a bad day.
- 31:14Lucy's like, oh, hunt down your family and then you'll really
- 31:17have a bad day. I'll hide you in an oil drum,
- 31:21Don't even worry about it. No.
- 31:23No one's gonna ask about you. I would have loved to see how
- 31:31Lucy would have handled Trin. Yeah, I think she would have had
- 31:38a similar relationship that Jackson has with her in that
- 31:44because we would have started young.
- 31:46Yeah. I and I feel like dogs who
- 31:50started young with her, even if they challenged other dogs, she
- 31:54was so appropriate as they aged. Yeah, she just progressed with
- 31:59them. Yeah.
- 32:00So she was like, oh, now you're six months old.
- 32:03So then the the warnings change in in strength and, you know,
- 32:12however you want to say it, like, you know, yeah, she was
- 32:17more stern and she was very clear, like this is not
- 32:20acceptable, but you're still a baby.
- 32:22So these things I'll still put up with.
- 32:25And then she's like, now you're nine months old, now you're now
- 32:28you're a year old. Get your act together buddy.
- 32:32Yeah, I do feel like a lot of dogs who were raised with her as
- 32:36puppies really reacted to her almost more like a mom dog, even
- 32:41as adults. I think her neutrality would
- 32:44have been in our favor for sure, because I do think a lot of
- 32:49times we're a trend gets big feelings about things.
- 32:52It is defensive. And so I I do think that that
- 32:56neutrality would have gone a long way between them.
- 32:59Yeah, it's just me, I know. She does wiggle around like a
- 33:03lab so. Yeah, and she's bigger, so I
- 33:07don't know we we have a theory about trend that she does not
- 33:11like certain body type structures and movement.
- 33:14Christy and I found a pattern that we think that she is
- 33:22uncomfortable with dogs that are larger that move in a lumbering
- 33:26way because she does not care for labs and not a not a lab
- 33:32friend has she made. And.
- 33:36And I have worked with reducing her reactivity to labs because
- 33:41there are a lot of labs at barn hunt and she's making progress,
- 33:45I will say. But it is that lumbering sort of
- 33:49movement that seems to make her in a larger dog as well very
- 33:55uncomfortable. And and so that's that's our
- 34:00working theory right now, right 'cause she'll, she'll, she will
- 34:05cut it up with Staffords like she is down.
- 34:08And her and pilot have great communication.
- 34:11A male Stafford that our friend owns female Stafford totally
- 34:15fine. Her and Jackson are excellent.
- 34:17They're more similar in size. She grew up with Tiago and
- 34:20Tater, but Tater of the my two dogs who moves in a very
- 34:25lumbering way sometimes makes her feel uncomfortable.
- 34:29And Tiago advancing in a very excited way makes her feel
- 34:33uncomfortable. So it's, it's, she's a really
- 34:36interesting little test subject for us to look for.
- 34:39Patterns in yeah. Yeah.
- 34:44So I would say look for patterns in your personal dogs if you are
- 34:52having something that you're not sure how to deal with and or if
- 34:56you're just looking to understand your dogs.
- 34:58Better look for. Patterns and see if there's
- 35:01something you could tweak in management or teach a different
- 35:06cue to move to the left instead of the right.
- 35:09I don't know, but if you can find something that makes it
- 35:13easier for you to live together, seek that out.
- 35:17And I'm going to spin it a little bit, yeah.
- 35:20If I may also look for patterns that your dog enjoys.
- 35:24I love that. I know now in our park that we
- 35:29frequent every day, I know which where Jackson's going to go,
- 35:34what he likes to sniff, which bushes he really wants to sniff.
- 35:38So I allow him to do that. But I also, there's certain
- 35:44patterns, like I know he wants to check for cats in all the
- 35:50sewers and OK, you know, I'm going to probably check. 1st to
- 35:55make sure it's not there. But then I'm going to let him
- 35:58because it brings him so much joy to check those things.
- 36:01So if it's safe, I'm going to say, OK, you know, this is a
- 36:04pattern. You've shown me.
- 36:06You love to chase treats in the grass, so we're going to do that
- 36:11during our walk. You've shown me that you like to
- 36:13check the sewer for cats. Well, we'll do that.
- 36:15You know, today I have time for it.
- 36:17So understanding those patterns as well so that you can allow
- 36:22your dog to live the most enriched life that they can, is
- 36:26another way to use patterns to your advantage.
- 36:29Yeah, and all of that builds resilience and confidence,
- 36:32whether you're using a pattern to make sure something negative
- 36:36doesn't happen or you're using a pattern to make sure something
- 36:39positive does happen. All of that is building
- 36:42resilience and confidence and building that trust and
- 36:47relationship between you and your dog.
- 36:49That is all great stuff and all things that we want to practice
- 36:52as much as we can. Absolutely.
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- 37:07Thanks for listening everybody. Talk to you next time.
- 37:10Bye bye.