Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A calm night

Finally, a good night's sleep. The last week has been a trying one. Zorro's reaction to fireworks is different from his response to thunderstorms: instead of cowering in the bathtub, he runs around the house, barking, whenever an explosion occurs. And there have been a lot of explosions: our neighbors in WV set up fireworks past midnight on July 4, and on Sunday, someone was lighting up M-80s in the park near our house. People still had some fireworks to blow up on Monday, and there was a lovesick fox in the park, so that was another sleepless night.
Zorro's trainer, Erica, says these responses are actually two sides of the same coin: in both instances, he's highly agitated and unable to focus on us. So our homework assignment until our next training session is a behavioral technique called the Protocol for Relaxation, which was developed by an animal behaviorist. Basically, you put the dog in "sit" or "lie down" position for five seconds, then ten seconds, etc. Over a 15-day period, you go through an exhaustive list of different activities: walking around the dog, clapping, jogging in place, etc. After every activity, he gets a treat for staying in sit or lie-down position.
It's a long, complicated list and I bet a lot of people don't stick with it. But Erica says it's effective way to teach a dog to relax so he can focus on you, not the sky or the moon or another dog. So we will give it a try. Just when Zorro is at his most exasperating, he does something that endears him to us. After walking him yesterday morning, I collapsed on the upstairs bed, desperately trying to grab a little more sleep before work. He hopped up next to me (this was unusual; he usually gets on the beds when we're not in them), laid down and snuggled against my chest. Irresistable.

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