Mommy’s beeper went off a few times, scaring the bejeezus out of poor lil Mocha. After hearing it beep, he ran off with his tail between his legs and hid under the couch. It took him a while to muster the courage to come back to the world of the uncouched again.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
Tho… I don’t think Mocha had a very happy one himself.
We dropped him off at a kennel back in September. Since then, he seems to have developed a case of stranger anxiety. At least, that’s my theory.
Before the kennel, he didn’t bark much. After that, he’s been getting increasingly vicious. I don’t think it’s aggression, since his body language hints at fear more than anger. Neighbors, strangers, odd noises at 2AM in the morning, he’ll bark at anything scary.
Then at a camping trip, he lunged at some friends with bared teeth. The growls were a distinctive, “Stay away from me” warning. Lunges are now part of his daily repertoire too.
I watch enough Dog Whisperer to know that us – Mocha’s owners – could be triggering this defensive move with our own anxiety. So we’ve worked hard to maintain a calm & assertive demeanor.
The other problem could be a lack of exercise. However, after alternating days of three-mile runs and dog park romps, he’s still a barking, growling, lunging mess of anxiousness. We might not be exercising him enough though; he might need a marathon to tire his ass out.
Which leads me to why Mocha was in a crate on Thanksgiving. We visited some friends who have young children. Admittedly, we were a little worried about how Mocha would react to them, but remained calm & assertive when introduced him to the others.
We had him on a loose leash while I stood in front of him in a calm, dominant stance. He had on a new PetSafe Bark Control Collar we purchased.
And what did he do?
He barked and lunged at the children. :( He also lunged at an aunt and both parents of the children. His teeth almost bit through their mother’s pants.
This resigned him to an evening in the crate alone, unfortunately.
It was great to see family and friends this Thanksgiving. But for me, the weekend was dampened with concerns for Mocha. What are we doing wrong? What can we do to help this poor guy? Maybe we ought to call up Cesar Milan one day.
We took Mocha to Big Sur this past weekend. His friends Melvin & Cabbie came along too.
During the trip, Mocha was… difficult. Since leaving him at a kennel, he’s been insecure & nervous, which has manifested as barking at strangers – mostly men, but sometimes women & children too.
At home, this means 2AM barks that wake us and neighbors up. At Big Sur, it meant snarls & growls at our friends. Sigh…
We’ve been trying the exercise, discipline & affection technique that Cesar Milan recommends. We’re also still trying to get him comfortable with a clicker, though he still cowers from it. But perhaps we need the help of a professional dog trainer.
So dog trainer hunting I go. Hopefully I can find a good one nearby. Poor little fellah seems to be pretty insecure these days. I hope some good training will help.
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I got me a clicker today! In addition to some Cesar Milan-style exercise, discipline & affection, I’m going to apply some clicker magic on Mocha.
Except… he’s afraid of the clicker. How’s that for irony? Mocha’s a nervous dog who’s barking at people out of fear, so I decide to begin clicker training to restore his confidence – except clicker training scares the heck out of him.
Ah well. Guess I’ll have to try a softer clicker on him, like the clicker on a pen or something. Scaredy dog.
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This is Mocha after a nice three-mile run first thing in the morning. It’s part of my new training regime for Mocha. Exercise, discipline & affection.
Ever since leaving Mocha in a kennel, he’s been a changed pup. He’s more skittish, more nervous, and a lot more barky.
During the day, he’s usually pretty good. Playful, goofy, and pretty chill. But at night, he’ll bark at people walking outside, even if it’s neighbors that he once happily sniffed & licked.
Suddenly, he started barking at every person we encountered on his bathroom breaks. Even the nice neighbor and their kids. That was the last straw.
According to Cesar Milan of The Dog Whisperer, one way to restore order and banish the bark is to assert your dominance. Become the pack leader.
I thought I was doing that already, but perhaps not. Or perhaps the time in the kennel knocked me out of that position.
So starting today, I’m getting Cesar on his ass. It’s going to be all about exercise, discipline, affection, and calm & assertive pack leadership, dammit!
Today at the dog park, Mocha was cowered into submission by a pack of dogs. It was an ugly sight.
As soon as we entered the park, a pit bull gunned right for Mocha. Apparently, the pit bull sensed Mocha’s fear and lunged towards him. This noticeably made Mocha even more frightened, so he ran off. Perhaps his previous encounter with a pit bull didn’t help.
Suddenly, there was a chase. Most of the other dogs joined in. Pretty soon, there was Mocha, tail between his legs, galloping as fast as he could away from a torrent of teeth and barks. In the front of the pack was the pit bull.
The pit bull’s owner jumped in and tore her dog away. As soon as she did that, the pack stopped chasing and Mocha shivered between our legs.
The owner apologized. “My dog sensed your dog’s fear. That’s why he chased him,” she explained.
Okay, great. So if she knew that, why didn’t she hold back her fear-sensing pit bull back until Mocha entered the park and became acclimated? I’ve seen other dog owners do that before with their aggressive dogs. Once a new dog enters the territory and becomes accepted by the pack, then the aggressive dog is let free and able to inspect the new dog him/herself.
While the owner was chasing her pit bull around, I heard other dog owners mutter comments like, “Why did she bring him in there?” “Doesn’t she know there’s a dog park for large dogs around the corner?” “What a vicious dog.” One mother even pulled her daughter back from trying to pet the pit bull.
After the fiasco, we retreated to a faraway corner of the dog park. We played fetch with Mocha, which cheered him up immensely. Then I looked up and noticed that the pit bull and owner had left.
Dog owners need to control their dogs. It’s fine, and perhaps even recommended, to socialize their dogs in a dog park. But a dog with a potentially aggressive temperament may need some Cesar Milan magic before playing with others. In my humble opinion, it’s common courtesy and responsible dog ownership.
After a nice day at the dog beach, we drove back with the convertible’s top down. Mocha freaked out when the convertible top activated and started to close up. But once the top was down and the wind was in his face, he was cool. Cool as a dog in a convertible can be – which is damn cool!
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There was a thunderstorm last week. A loud cackle of thunder sent Mocha racing under the futon. Ever since then, he seems to like hanging out under various pieces of furniture. Like the futon, our chairs, the bed, etc.
Then there was the time I punished him for barking. I read somewhere that using a spray bottle to squirt an uncomfortable mist at his nose is gentle negative reinforcement. Except that Mocha seems to freak out more than other dogs. When I squirted him, he raced under the futon.
I later read that doing this is bad, so I’ve since stopped it. But the damage, sadly, seems to be done. We now have a dog that seems to find safe haven hiding under the furniture. If there are loud sounds outside, or hears something that prompts a bark, he ducks under the futon. Rats.
I’ll admit, it was funny at first, seeing him combat crawl under there. It’s not as funny anymore though. Now we feel kind of bad about it. Guess we’ll need plenty of positive reinforcement to teach him out of this behavior. Fortunately, it isn’t terribly frequent. We just don’t want Mocha to become a scaredy dog.
Mocha took his first step into the pool this afternoon! Joy of joys!
We lured him in with a tennis ball, his favorite of all favorite toys. He tentatively put his front paws into the pool – but just onto the first step. Then he jumped out and ran off, only to return to stared longingly at the ball from the edge of the pool.
Aw well. It’s a first step. One of these days, Mocha will love the water. We just know it.
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Today was Mocha’s first ever visit to the Pacific Ocean. At least, we assumed so, since he was found far inland. Also, he is terrified of the water. Like “ZOMG Whatisthatstuff?? Getmeouttahere!!” terrified. He planted his butt into the sand and would not get any closer than where he was in this photo.
And he’s supposed to be part Labrador Retriever, right? Riiight.
So after today, we are going to devise a plan to slowly introduce him to the water. We love the beach and Labs are supposed to love the beach, so dagnabit, we’re going to make him love the beach too!
Mocha is a playful 1-year old 25 lb mutt we rescued from a local animal shelter. He loves to run, play, and eat. Don't you?
Mike is was the proud owner of this adorable little guy. We miss him terribly every day.
