Intrepid Tails

A well-earned rest for my boarding dogs after an adrenaline-inducing morning. I've known Siggi and Lulu for 6+ years, and they are among the more remarkable dogs I have ever met. They have impressed me on more than one occasion with their intelligence, and today was one such occasion.

This morning we got "escorted" by a coyote.

For those who don't know what that means, when coyotes are raising their pups, if you come too close, they will turn up and appear to be following you. Really, they just want to make sure you don't get too close to their little ones. All you have to do is leave.

I heard rustling in the brush and turned around, assuming someone's dog was coming to investigate us. I had my personal dog on leash, who is an avid hunter of critters, and whose personal philosophy on unfamiliar dogs is "if I kill them, they can't bother me", and I quickly got her close to me, ready to ask an owner to call their dog.

But it wasn't a dog. We were face to face with a coyote, just a stones throw away. Nickles quickly became inconsolable, the coyote became nervous and agitated, growling at us, but Siggi and Lulu stayed calm. As I turned to leave and drag Nickles away, the situation between her and the coyote became more fraught. To my dismay, Siggi and Lulu began to chase the coyote. But before I could call them, the coyote, who clearly knew it was outmatched, retreated, and they came back all on their own!

The girls stayed close to me, and a loudly screeching, frustrated Nickles, as we left this poor coyote's territory, only ever leaving our side to chase off the coyote when it came too close until we got far enough away that it was no longer worried about us.

There are lots of dogs out there who, even with an extensive training history, I would have needed to put significant effort into keeping safe in that situation. With different dogs, I would have acted differently. But Siggi and Lulu knew what to do instinctually.

Now, this isn't just a "holy crap, how cool are these dogs?!" story. It's also a cautionary tail. When you are in the woods, even woods in a relatively urban area, s**t happens, and it will often take you by surprise. Be ready for it.

Check out the glow up! Well... sorta, since I don't have a before picture. But here's a good example of how working with a reactive dog shouldn't look exciting. The French Bulldog in this picture is my board and train, Louie, who goes home in 3 days. Louie came to this board and train to clean up his recall (done and done, I recalled him off a deer this morning), and work on his on leash reactivity towards other dogs especially in the hallways of his apartment building. When we first started, even looking at another dog halfway down the hallway without lunging and barking was out of the question. For the past 2 and a half weeks we have been working on skills, building Louie's confidence, identifying his needs and preferences and accounting for them in his day to day life, and we have come SO far.

To be clear...
The the setup here was meticulously planned in order to set Louie up for success. Louie is not ready to meet and greet strange dogs on leash in general. We chose the other dog for this session carefully and her handler for this scenario was another experienced dog professional. Progress is not linear and Louie will have setbacks. His reactivity isn't *cured*. Changing feelings is slow and careful work and because you can't control how the rest of the world behaves, s**t will happen. But 2 and a half weeks ago meeting any new dog on leash in this environment would not have been able to happen safely, and today it did. Damn if that ain't some serious PROGRESS this little dude has made! And I'm confident that Louie will be able to keep making progress. I'm just so pleased that I was able to help him get on his way!

[Image description: two dogs stand in a hallway with slack leashes, sniffing each others' faces]

Choosing discomfort even when it means growth is really really hard. Doing a lot of growth very quickly can be overwhelming. So much so, in fact, that one might dissociate and try to microwave ones mug of water in the spice cabinet. Oh dear lord, please let people laugh at this rather than be concerned...

Anyway, changes are coming to Intrepid Tails. You probably haven't noticed, but the bio on this account has changed, and so will the type of stuff I'll be posting. I'm not saying I'm committing to paying consistently or anything, don't get too excited. And there will still be cute dogs! But maybe less of the repetitive content I've been posting for the past several years and hopefully some more fun stuff. Less "Look at this cute dog in the woods. Hey look, here's another cute dog in the woods. Now it's a picture of MULTIPLE cute dogs in the woods!", more substance.

Image description: a hand holds a mug with text on it in front of an open cabinet with spices in it. The edge of a microwave, the door of which is still closed, is next to it.