The One With Day 16
Muggsy's Training Diary, Day 16
May 30, 2005
I can't figure this guy out. Every day, I put the muzzle on him, lined with liver paste. Every day, he puts his face in the liver paste muzzle and stays in there for a few minutes. Then, I take it off. Nothing bad happens to him. I don't torture him or do anything but pet and love him. Yet, he's getting more and more nervous to put the muzzle on. Today, it took forever to get him to put it on. He tried everything to get out of it -- doing sits and downs, trying to shake my hand, trying to knock the muzzle out of my hand and trying to lick the paste out of the muzzle without sticking his nose in. I'm not sure why he's so scared. I try to be as cheerful and encouraging as possible. Today, once he got it on, he backed in the corner with his face to the wall and wouldn't move. That ended up being good because I brought the door toward him a lot and handled his back leg, which is what's going to happen at the vet. But I'm not sure how long it will take me after the vet to get a muzzle back on him. He seems to forget all the good experiences and latch onto the bad ones. I guess that's because of his poor coping skills. I feel sorry for the guy.
He did very well at Door! because I went back to using liver treats. He didn't try to escape, even though he seemed uncomfortable and he took treats the whole time. I guess that's because after the muzzle training, everything else is cake. I just don't know what's going through his head.
I had to stick with my boss' advice, though, and not let him out of the training. No matter how long it takes, I have to stick with it until I get that damn muzzle on his face. But maybe I'm pushing a little too hard. I'll try doing shorter sessions and see if I can't get him back to wanting to put his face in the muzzle. Maybe that will never be possible. I guess as long as he doesn't try to bite, things are going well.
The good news is that it's been more than a week since he's blown up at Robby and it's been two or three weeks since he's attacked Chubbs. That's good progress. However, now it's summer and we have to keep the window open, so he's constantly barking at things he hears outside. Short of quarentining him to the bedroom, I'm not sure how I can solve that problem. It's a rough life he has.
May 30, 2005
I can't figure this guy out. Every day, I put the muzzle on him, lined with liver paste. Every day, he puts his face in the liver paste muzzle and stays in there for a few minutes. Then, I take it off. Nothing bad happens to him. I don't torture him or do anything but pet and love him. Yet, he's getting more and more nervous to put the muzzle on. Today, it took forever to get him to put it on. He tried everything to get out of it -- doing sits and downs, trying to shake my hand, trying to knock the muzzle out of my hand and trying to lick the paste out of the muzzle without sticking his nose in. I'm not sure why he's so scared. I try to be as cheerful and encouraging as possible. Today, once he got it on, he backed in the corner with his face to the wall and wouldn't move. That ended up being good because I brought the door toward him a lot and handled his back leg, which is what's going to happen at the vet. But I'm not sure how long it will take me after the vet to get a muzzle back on him. He seems to forget all the good experiences and latch onto the bad ones. I guess that's because of his poor coping skills. I feel sorry for the guy.
He did very well at Door! because I went back to using liver treats. He didn't try to escape, even though he seemed uncomfortable and he took treats the whole time. I guess that's because after the muzzle training, everything else is cake. I just don't know what's going through his head.
I had to stick with my boss' advice, though, and not let him out of the training. No matter how long it takes, I have to stick with it until I get that damn muzzle on his face. But maybe I'm pushing a little too hard. I'll try doing shorter sessions and see if I can't get him back to wanting to put his face in the muzzle. Maybe that will never be possible. I guess as long as he doesn't try to bite, things are going well.
The good news is that it's been more than a week since he's blown up at Robby and it's been two or three weeks since he's attacked Chubbs. That's good progress. However, now it's summer and we have to keep the window open, so he's constantly barking at things he hears outside. Short of quarentining him to the bedroom, I'm not sure how I can solve that problem. It's a rough life he has.
posted by Anonymous at
9:27 PM
1 Comments:
I think it would be a good idea to try shorter sessions. If he was a child, you could say, "Okay, in ten minutes,we're going to do this" and then you could just go off and do something else and let him prepare for it. Then in ten minutes firmly but cheerfully go ahead and do it. Sometimes it helps "difficult" kids if you give them time to prepare for something difficult, as long as in ten minutes you carry through. I don't know if you can somehow give Mugsy the time to prepare for putting on the muzzle. Doing it everyday will definitely help though. Keep trying, he's making progress.
By
Diana, at 3:20 AM
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