If you want to enter our house in relative peace, it’s best to come bearing gifts.

Specifically, dog food treats are most welcome. But if you’ve forgotten yours at home, no worries. I’ve attached a container of kibble right at garage door knob level. You can’t miss it coming in.

Think of it akin to entering church, where you bless yourself with holy water before entering. Kinda like ensuring good luck–

Only, here, the good luck is that if you throw the kibble for Graidy before you enter, instead of being greeted with non-stop barking and rushing, you’ll be greeted with licks and wags.

If you have a guarding or sentry dog, this is one easy step you can take to help condition your wary dog to more easily accept letting your friends into your home.

Once your friend has thrown the kibble, then you just need to remind her to stand sideways, not speak in high-pitched squeaky voices, avert her gaze, and not try to pet your dog, until your dog is calm and approaches your guest on his own. Easy Peazy.

I was recently asked by an interviewer what I’ve learned from my dogs. Since he was referring to Dogs of Dreamtime, he was specifically asking about Kiera, Magic, and Molly.

To put into context some of what I’ve learned from my animals, it helps to know that, left to my own devices, I gravitate toward intense herding breeds. Kiera is an Australian Shepherd. Graidy is a Border Collie mix. Magic was an English Shepherd mix, who died from Lyme Disease. Molly was my deaf Australian Shepherd. They all came when they were just a few months old.

I mention this because while all dogs (really all animals) offer us lessons in unconditional love, and the joys and responsibilities of companionship, herding breeds have added a whole other layer for me. Since herding dogs thrive best when they get to live as working partners, that requires a level of commitment, training, observation, and communication skills that can take us into uncharted territory if we let it. And while herding breeds aren’t for everyone, they continue to provide me with one of the most thrilling and challenging adventures I’ve ever embarked on.

Put most simply, what I’ve learned from my dogs, interestingly enough, is how to be more fully human. Which has helped me, in turn, learn how to let my dogs be more fully dogs.

What a difference a week makes in Wink’s remedial training.  Not even Finn can deter him. See for yourself.

Wink is at the farthest end of the outside field. Keep your eye on the top middle of the video to find him.

Have you ever seen such a forlorn face? Wink wants to go run in the fenced field but he has lost privileges.

You see, he’s recently gone deaf. No, not completely. Only upon hearing the word “Come.” Then he’s stone deaf!

That’s because he’s found something he considers way more interesting than me. Namely, a place where the wild ducks are able to squeeze under the fence.

As soon as that gate is opened, he flies to that spot and furiously digs, trying to get to them. Thankfully, he doesn’t have the ability to compress himself to fit under such a small opening and I’ve place a stone there so he can’t dig out. But when it’s time for him to come inside, he completely doesn’t hear me. Truly. That’s because when a dog is so intensely focused on a high adrenaline activity (in this case, hunting ducks — spaniels are bird dogs don’t forget) he literally stops hearing.

So I realize it’s fruitless to try to call him under these circumstances. In the off chance one or two of my calls do reach his ears, he’d still ignore them. And I sure don’t want to teach him that the word “Come” means “Fuggedaboutit!” Hence, the leash I now keep on the fence post for easy access.

Now when I want him to come, I go to him, put the leash on, wait a few moments to allow him to go back to digging. And then I call him while gently pulling on the leash so that he HAS NO CHOICE but to come to me.Then he gets a big reward of Finn’s smelly (but high quality) cat kibble. I swear he’d leap tall buildings for Finn’s kibble, that’s how much he loves it.

Then we rinse and repeat several times, ending on a happy kibble party all the way back to the house.

It’ll be another week or so before I have him completely back on track, but eventually he’ll remember that I’m way more cool than any silly ducks, and he’ll resume breaking the land speed record to get back to me.

The key to keeping your dog well-trained is to stay on of top of any digressions and deal with them immediately, before they have a chance to set it.  And when you do, it’s as easy as pie to keep that positive relationship with your dog. All it takes is a few simple tweaks every now and again.

Graidy is my Border Collie mix. I brought him home from Rescue going on 9 years ago. If you were to watch him run and play, you’d swear he was still a puppy–he’s showing no signs of slowing down. Yep, we’re talking high energy, perpetual motion machine!

On Duty

Given his breed and his native sensitivity–he’s more highly tuned than the most finely calibrated motion detector–he’s constantly on Red Alert! Nothing escapes his vigilant gaze. And I do mean NOTHING.

Whether it’s a vole half an acre away or a bird flying half a mile up in the sky or a person walking half a mile down the road, this dog feels compelled to announce his findings. Persistently. Until someone notices. Preferably Kiera. And then he’ll bark in her face until he forces her to join in. (Actually, she barks at him to tell him he can stand down, she’s got it covered. As the Alpha dog, she’s the commander-in-chief.)

Wha.. What was that?! Did you hear that?! I heard that. Over there!

And that makes for a very barky dog. At all hours of the day and night. God bless my neighbors–they don’t complain. So when I’m home, I spend a lot of my time redirecting his alerting behavior and giving him better options. It’s a full time job, often including through the wee hours of the morning–he’s a very light sleeper. Good thing I love him. : )

But when he started rolling back his waking time from 5:30 am to 5:00 am to 4:30 am to… It was time to take stronger measures.

You see, Graidy is a Sentry dog. And if you’re familiar with pack behavior, you know that this is a very important role in the pack. The Sentry dog’s job is to sound the alarm. To alert the pack to any changes in the surrounding environment. And he takes his job very seriously, performing it with slavish dedication.

One of the interesting physiological characteristics of Sentry dogs is that they do actually spend less time in the deeper phases of sleep. And when they are in that deeper sleep, they go through that cycle hard and fast.

Knowing that part of Graidy’s problem with night-time waking is that he’s hard-wired to be super-easily aroused, I decided to try giving him a 25 mg Benedryl (which acts as a mild sedative) at bedtime in the hope that would help him sleep more soundly.

And, Hallelujah! He’s sleeping through until 6:30 am!

As for the barking? That’ll be a life-long project. :)