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Hi Dolores,
"In retrospect which is usually where we find the 20/20, do you thing she had
begun to bottle up at the point of headlowering?
begun to bottle up at the point of headlowering?
That's a yes on this. The thing that I can't seem to wrap my mind around is that when she offers headlowering, she throws her head down and I feel like I need to reward her. It's not a nice relaxed gesture. I'll try to get video of it because I think there is a lot more there than what I'm seeing (thanks Julie L.). I do have video of when the kids pet Grace and I had asked her to do a few behaviors and she essentially got up and left. Her head down is very abrupt and immediately her head comes up again. We managed to get some duration but it doesn't appear to help to calm her at all. In fact, in retrospect, headdown has never helped to calm her, it is just a behavior that she offers because she gets rewarded for it. I think it physically might help her because of the nice stretch it allows, but she doesn't seem calmed by the behavior.
Tell us more about the CAT event and the headlowering event. During the head
lowering, did you see any tension in any part of her body. And, this may
seem like a silly question. But, was she cheerful? If you think yes,
describe it in physical terms. What did you see.
lowering, did you see any tension in any part of her body. And, this may
seem like a silly question. But, was she cheerful? If you think yes,
describe it in physical terms. What did you see.
The CAT event was really nice. I set up our start point well below threshold and got within 10 feet of her (in small increments) before I saw what I believe to be her threshold. I backed up and worked on proximities of her threshold and got some very nice friendly/curious behaviors. I quit once I observed that she was comfortable within the threshold. She seemed surprised that I didn't pressure her past this threshold. She was quite happy; that is, she was standing with her head in a relaxed position and ears forward, eyes soft. After doing some thinking on this, it was MY idea to try some C/T. I thought she enjoyed C/T. . . so, in all honesty, she didn't really offer headdown until I came out with my clicker and treatbag. She didn't invite me, I invited her and she did then offer HD, but it was with the same abruptness that she usually does and often with teeth clanging although I thought that this time she didn't clang her teeth. Rather like she wasn't sure what we were doing and not what I would call cheerful, just no teeth clanging. At least I have a good indicator of tension before something else erupts that is unless we surpass the warning.
Thanks everyone,
Julie & Grace
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