Day 3: We're both tired

Day three with Chopper and I think we're both tired.  Not a whole lot of training today, but there is still a report to be made.

When I woke up Chopper was sitting up to greet me, not curled up on his blanket shaking like the morning before.  He ate his entire breakfast without me having to coax him.  And he went to the back door when I said "Outside".  Outside, he wandered around, did his business, and then went to a back corner and sat down, shaking.  He does this most of the time, and I just go up to him pull up on his halter a smidge to give some pressure and he will come with me.  I sometimes have to repeat it when going up the few stairs into the house and through the door.  The good news is he is reassured by my help.  That shows he's gaining some trust.  He has started to lean into my hand when I pet him, and he really likes ear scratches.

Today when I came home from work he was standing up looking for me as I came in the door.  So sweet!  We went outside and I did some clicker training.  Got him to come to me from about a foot away a few times when he'd had enough and went to his corner to sit down and shake. It was the first time I was able to do any clicker training outside with all the sounds and smells distracting. I reassured him back into the house, clicking as he went up the stairs and inside, but he wasn't interested in treats. 

Inside the house we did a little more clicker training, but he sat down pretty quickly.  I'm tired too, I think we were both relieved when it was done LOL.  I did, however, do some testing to see how he'll respond to massages.  From what I understand dogs that are high anxiety hold onto it physically which causes their muscles to tighten.  Especially the muscles on the back legs and hips (all that tail and bum tucking, I imagine).  So I just started to rub and massage his back hip and watched his face for his stress signs of lip licking and yawning.  Nothing, so I kept it up for a few minutes and he let his body rock with the massage and relaxed a bit in his head.

I also made a stop today to my favorite healthy dog food store "Nature's Nibbles." I went there a lot for our previous dog Otto as he was on a special homeopathic/holistic diet to treat his brain tumor.  I have to say, it felt good to go in there for a different purpose--this time I was looking for irresistible treats!  I figured the better the treat, the quicker Chopper will respond. Everyone keeps telling me hot dogs are the way to go, but I just can't make myself do it right now...all that previous work I did with the homeopathic vets really drilled down into me the dangers of things like nitrates with animals.  Maybe I'll get desperate enough to try one day, but for now it's all natural tasty little tidbits of healthy treats.

Here's a picture of Chopper greeting Greg when he came home from work.  He heard Greg come in the front and went to the doorway of the dining room to wait for Greg to come to him. 

Chopper doesn't seem to like doorways much.  I've been able to clicker train him through them only a few times.  Hmm, it might be the next thing I start working on.