Lucky is Home

As I worked to prepare Lucky Latin for adoption I realized what a fantastic boy he is. We only showed him to one applicant. In the course of our visit to her home, a condo in downtown Atlanta, I was very, very impressed with Lucky's behavior as he confidently encountered many firsts including downtown traffic, parking garages, elevators, a narrow balcony, slick tile floors, etc. This adopter decided another Greyhound was more appropriate for her. So a different hound is now living in a fantastic downtown condo. In case you didn't know, the right Grey can make a fabulous companion for apartment and condo living. While we usually fall in love with our foster hounds we also want potential adopters to fall in love with our hounds and take them home. Still, if the potential adopters choose a different hound we are happy for all involved. And sometimes though we may not want to admit it, we are happy to keep our foster for a while longer.

On that night in downtown Atlanta Lucky was not the chosen dog but he still managed to find his forever home. For the first time ever I have failed Fostering 101. Please allow me to introduce KBF Lucky Latin Star. We are calling him Soleil or Sol for short. As is always the case with my dogs, the nicknames have started to accumulate. The most used is Sunny and, of course, we still say Lucky sometimes.

Luna the Deerhound appears happy to have a new playmate. She loves to run with him. Venus has joined them to romp in the pasture a few times which she has never done with other fosters. She is even playing in the house more. Not surprisingly, I am completely in love with the boy, I thank my lucky stars we agreed to foster him & think my Sol hung the moon. In looks, he & my late, most beloved Luke are like day & night but like Luke he has such a sunny disposition. So Sol has earned his name. Perhaps as his training progresses he will become my new pet therapy dog helping to brighten other people's days. He also has a lot of training ahead preparing for another special job helping me.

Soleil is the only dog ever to share a bed with Venus in the 4.5 years I have had her. With any other dog that tried she either warned them away or just gave up the bed to them and went to sleep somewhere else. She does still roll her eyes at him when he joins her and gives me a look that seems to ask, "Can't you do something about this?" Then though she just stays put, sighs & let's him sleep with her. It is beyond cute.
Welcome home, Soliel.

Lucky learns to learn, part two

The first step in Lucky’s Learn to Learn plan was to find something he thought was very rewarding. Most Greyhounds are quite food motivated and Lucky is no exception. Since food rewards are usually very motivating for Greyhounds plus one of the fastest and easiest forms of reward, I use these for training a new command or behavior. Later the food is phased out and replaced with a different reward like praise. Now this may sound strange a few of our foster Greyhounds had to learn to take treats from my hand. It is like they just don't even seem to consider that food can come directly from human hands and Lucky falls into this category of hound. Believe it or not, I had to teach him to take treats from my hand.

In the past my approach to these hounds was to start by puttin the treat on the floor. As the dog starts anticipating that I begin offering the treat from my hand, held an inch off the floor. Slowly we work higher and higher until they take the treat at normal hand level without bending. Well, my back bending days are over. Lucky’s a quick study so he got the time compressed version. I just held the treat out and then dropped the treat on the floor. He quickly made the connection between my outstretched hand and the treat drop. That’s when I started delaying the drop slightly. It seemed to draw him in. I delayed more and more until he decided it was much faster take the treat from my hand rather than wait.

It isn’t uncommon to have a dog who doesn’t take treats in the first training sessions. The reasons vary. Some are too stressed, worried, nervous. Others are overly excited and cannot concentrate. For Lucky curiosity overrode his desire to eat the treat. It wasn't that he *wouldn't* take treats but that he was so distracted by everything new that he frequently could not concentrate long enough to even notice I was offering them. When he noticed he did not seem to remember why one was being offered. Initially when Lucky took the treat it was in an absent minded way. His mouth was eating but his eyes and mind had already wandered off task. Though a bit frustrating, I knew with a little patience it would fall into place. At least, that is what I kept telling myself and trying to internalize.

Now I try to be a good trainer. Good trainers start new lessons with as few distractions as possible. Well, how the heck do you do that when the student finds every single thing in the room to be new and interesting? And Lucky’s curiosity? Oh my, I was really overestimating his ability to concentrate in those first sessions. At our home it doesn't help that my usual training area, the one that normally has the least distractions and is the easiest to block out the other animals, happens to be the kitchen. Hey, I know what you’re thinking. She’s got a curious, food motivated hound and she tries to train in the kitchen? Don’t laugh at me. It usually is the best place for my dogs.

Good trainers make lessons plans. Have I mentioned yet that I am not a good trainer? The first thing I want Lucky is his name. The goal for the first session was quite minimal but through follow up lessons he will learn to turn his head and give me his attention when he hears his name. The idea for the first session was simple. I would say his name, “Lucky”, and deliver a treat. At least that was the plan. That goal proved a bit too lofty with Mr. Curiosity. Though in the interest of fairness, I should point out that there was an extenuating circumstance which cut our lesson short. Wish I had thought to set up the video camera. It would have been good for a laugh.

Laura: Lucky!

[Before I could even get my hand with the treat near him he was gone.]

Lucky: What's that?! [sniff, sniff, sniff]

Laura: That is a floor rug. Lucky!

[I try to put the treat under his nose but he’s still moving too fast.]

Lucky: What's that?! [sniff, sniff, sniff]

Laura: That's a cabinet door. Lucky!

[Almost got him but he jerks his head away before the treat can be delivered.]

Lucky: What's that?! [sniff, sniff, sniff]

Laura: That's just the knob on the cabinet door.

[I quit calling his name and silently pray he will at least turn his head a millimeter in my direction.]

Lucky: What's in there?! [sniff, sniff, sniff]

Laura: Plastic bags, pots and pans. None of them are yours.

[Finally he turns his head towards me. *click* As he walks in my direction I hand him a treat which he grabs on the fly without slowing down. He even forgets to chew as he hurries past me to an amazing new discovery. Note: He had already been in the kitchen before but you would never have known it.]

Lucky: [sniff, sniff, sniff] WOW!! [sniff, sniff, sniff] What's that?! [sniff, sniff, sniff]

Laura: That's a trashcan and...

Lucky: [sniff, sniff, sniff] It smells REALLY good! [sniff, sniff, sniff]

Laura: You will never be allowed to put your head into it so just try to forget about it.

[I made a mental note to remove trash can before next training session.]

Lucky: [Turns away from both the trashcan and me.] What's that?! [sniff, sniff, sniff]

Laura: [sigh] That's the door to the laundry room.

Lucky: I smell food and funny smelling stuff.

Laura: Your food is in there plus lots of non-edibles.

Lucky: [sniff, sniff, sniff] What's that?! [Turns around thus turning his head in my direction.]

Laura: *click* [I hand him a treat.]

 [He takes the treat but then drops it when he hears a noise.]

Lucky: What's that? [He cocks his head. Gads, he is so cute when he does that!]

Laura: I don't know. I don't see anyth...

[Suddenly Lucky and I both see the source of the noise as she prepares to leap down from the counter and into the kitchen.]

Laura: Tasty, no! [I dive forward to push her away from the edge of the counter that adjoins kitchen and dining room.]

Lucky: I know what that is but she's sooo much more interesting up there. Lemme see! Lemme see!

 [Trying to shove Tasty back into the dining room, I simultaneously grab Lucky by the collar to prevent him from jumping on the counter.]

Laura: No way little boy!

Lucky: Who you callin' little!? Hey, where'd the kitty go.

Laura: Don't know but wherever it is it couldn't be far enough away for me.

Laura, again: Scott!! Come get your [insert drunken sailorish expletive] cat!!

Thus ended the first formal training session after a mere two minutes. Good trainers make notes of what they've accomplished in a session. So I did a mental review and thought, "Let's see now. He almost, kinda, sorta looked at me nearly twice. I'll just call that good and work from there." And I made a mental note to use even better treats next time, something really smelly to get his attention better.

See? Training can be fun and easy. And then there’s me and this silly boy named Lucky Latin…

Lucky learns to learn, part one

The title of this post may sound strange. Greyhounds are very smart and like all creatures they are learning all the time. So why would we need to teach them to learn? Well, while racing they only learn what they need to race and live in the kennels. Little is expected of them. Little is asked of them. Greyhounds are used to being lead around; shuttled from one activity or location to another. So there is little opportunity for training as we would think of it. They catch on to the routines, basically training themselves through daily experiences and they do this very, very quickly. That is fantastic and one of the reasons they can transition so quickly to home life after adoption.

Most Greyhounds are gentle and comply when humans direct them but only if they know what those directions mean. The hands on approach of having to take them by the collar to lead them or gently push them in the direction we want them to go appears to be the only human/canine communication system known to the newly retired Greyhounds I have worked with. They just go along on their own chosen path until we give them a nudge to indicate we want them to head elsewhere or they simply follow where their leash leads them. So often it seems they just do not seem to even consider listening to or looking at us for any sort of directions.

Once they retire and are placed as a pet, things are so much easier and indeed safer for everyone if the dog learns to check in with his humans, mastering the ability to follow verbal commands or hand signals. That has been a much better form of communication in our home than the hands on approach, no matter how gentle and caring those hands are. However, until they learn how to learn what we are trying to teach them they cannot master those commands and signals. For that reason I have been working with Lucky to teach him that 1) I am trying to communicate with him, 2) how to interpret what I am attempting to communicate, 3) there is a good reason he may wish to pay attention to me.

Lucky has to learn how to learn what I want to teach him. He is learning this through clicker training. If things go as planned, and depending on how quickly he is adopted, his new family will get a dog who already knows humans will actually try to communicate with him and it benefits a hound to pay attention to them. We are already making good headway but I must admit in the beginning there were a few obstacles to learning.

Lucky learns to nest

Some Greyhounds are nesters. Others are not. Lucky was not a nester. However, it seems nesting can to some extent be a learned behavior. As I was going to be too busy for a while this morning to watch him if he was loose, Lucky got breakfast in his crate via stuffed Kongs to keep him occupied. He has previously shown a preference for using his feet when trying to remove the contents from food dispensing toys and this was indeed the way he approached destuffing a Kong. I think he was a soccer player in a former life. So in the course of using Kongs, Busy Buddy toys, etc. he manages to get quite a physical workout banging, batting, smacking and digging around at the toys. This means his bedding gets a good workout as well. And so it is that the boy has learned to build himself a nest. This happens not only in the confines of a crate but also in an the xpen where he tends to move the toys to the area of his bed and then paw repeatedly at it until he simultaneously empties it and creates a nest. After ensuring the toys are empty he then rearranges his bed until the new nest is to his liking and plops down for a nap. Would this behavior continue if use of food toys ceased? Who the hecks knows.

Note the Greyhound below, peacefully dozing on his self-made nest. Also, note the purple Kong toy in the corner of the crate. This boy is quite the character and looks cute as a button sleeping in his flannel sleep shirt atop his nest. Just imagine how nice it could be to have your home graced by this sweet, silly, entertaining, young man. 

Lucky learns a hobby

Laura: Hey, Lucky. How are yoga classes?
Lucky: Pretty good. I'm the best in class cause I get a lot of practice.
Laura: That's greyt. Maybe one day you'll teach your own class.
Lucky: Naw. Too busy. [pause] This is another interview isn't it?
Laura: Well, yes. Is it that obvious now?
Lucky: Yep. Go write your blog post. [yawn] I'll be in my crate practicing.

Lucky learns about cats

First I must explain that most dogs who are tolerant of other cats can be sorely tested at our house. One cat is very lazy & draws little attention from the dogs. However, when startled he suddenly bolts across the room & even if cornered will rarely use tooth or claw. The other cat is a fireball with no observable survival instincts. She actually taunts the hounds & does her best to get them to chase her. Lucky tested cat tolerant but like several other cat tolerant foster dogs before him, having two cats running around, especially one who likes to sit & stare at the dogs or parade back & forth past the crate or xpen, is proving to be a challenge for him. He is still interested in getting up close & personal with the kitties but it is improving.

He is really getting better at getting his focus off the kitties. The improvement started when he learned that if I see him look away from the kitties he gets treats. It accelerated when he learned that staying calm around the kitties pays off big time, but it is still too hard to stay calm every time that one kitty just sits & stares at him or they run straight past him. The improvement leap frogged when he learned that kitties carry concealed weapons. I confess I let my guard down. A few days ago Tasty Kitty... yes, that's really her name & I'll thank you to stop laughing... anyway, Tasty made the mistake of parading past the xpen when Lucky was loose in the house, muzzled of course. "Ack," blurts Tasty worried she may be only a few feet away from living up to her name. She was under a table all fluffed up with Lucky just out of swatting distance giving her the stare down before I could even get to the scene of the crime.

Now Lucky had learned days before that cats were armed but he must have forgotten himself for a moment. "So running kitties are VERY interesting, are they?" I asked. "Oh, yeah," said Lucky. "Quite riveting actually." Alright, here's the truth. Lucky didn't even respond to me he was so riveted after his meager two yard chase. I had him by the collar but did not pull him back yet since it seemed to be a stand off. Instead I was about to try to again to get his attention with verbal distraction. I was a split second too late. Lucky blinked & Tasty let loose a volley that proved how a cat who earned the name Tasty still manages to stay alive. Lucky jumped back, shaking his head. As Tasty arched, refluffed & readied herself for another assault. I asked, "Well, Lucky, what about hissing kitties, displaying uber pointy teeth & aiming daggers at your face?" "Ruh-roh!" gulps Lucky. Suddenly other things become much more interesting than kitties. "Err... Hey, is that a crumb of food on the floor over there? Better go check it out." I let go of his collar, allowing him to pretend to wander off casually. He's not a good actor though. Smart Lucky knows it is always good to take a quick peek behind you. "Um, just in case the kitty takes off running again or something," Lucky tried to assure me. Hmmm... "Or something?" I ask. 'Um... or..." Lucky shudders, "Or tries following you still looking ready to use those sharp teeth & daggers. I really don't like the daggers." Lucky peeked again & turned away quickly. "Good boy!" I said for his looking away & treats rain down on the floor in front of him. All thoughts of cats were lost then. Lucky says, "Oh boy. It's raining treats for dogs." By George I think he's got it, though we will continue to be cautious for a while longer.

Lucky learns stairs

Lucky had his first encounter with stairs the day he arrived. "Stairs?" he asks, "Um, I don't know how to work these things." Lucky sniffs the porch stairs, watches me walk up a couple steps. He readily puts his front feet on the second step up and looks up at me, "Like this?" "Yea, Lucky. Good boy!" "Er, maybe not," and Lucky steps back. He looks at me and puts his feet back up. He attempts to go up more. "Good boy!" Lucky's rear foot lifts up, then goes down. He looks confused & freezes. Lifts it up again. "Good boy, well done," and I turn him around without asking for more this time. It was his first try afterall. We let him just use the ramp for the first day or two. 

Next try was a different set of stairs going to the same porch. Though of the same construction as the first, these stairs had a bonus feature, a Deerhound named Luna. As Lucky put his front feet on the steps & I asked him to go up more Luna suddently came running up from behind. Ah! I move over a bit & say, "Luna, upstairs." Luna runs up. Lucky looks up. Lucky climbs up. Well, it was more like scrambled up but he did it. He seems willing to give most anything a try as long as you let him check it out & don't try to force him.

A few nights later I go over to the main stairs inside the house. Our fosters don't get to do these very many times. The second floor of the house is cats only, though the cats allow the humans access. So I move the baby gate to open access to the full set of carpeted stairs leading up, up, up.

Laura: "So, Lucky. Do you want to try the big stairs?"
  [Lucky comes over to see what I'm up to. ]
Lucky: "What are those? What are bigstares? Oh, I get it. Look at the cats up there giving me big stares!"
Laura: "No, Lucky. These are the big s-t-a-i-r-s. These are sort of like the ones outside. Wanna try them? ..."
Laura: "Lucky. Lucky? ... Hey, Lucky! What are you doing?"
Lucky: [Transfixed, he whispers] "Giving the cats big stares."
Laura: [Sigh] "Come on lit...
Lucky: "Don't say it."
Laura: "Um... Come on ya speedster. I know you can get up those stairs quick."
Luna: [Deerhound Stellaluna butts in] "I can. I can. I can."
Laura: "OK OK. Show him how it's done."
  [Luna rushes up the stairs & suddenly cats scatter off the landing, disappearing into side rooms.]
Lucky: "Oh no! She spooked them."
Laura: "Well you could go look for them if you followed her."
Lucky: "It's a long way." [sniffing] "And these stairs smell kinda funny."
Laura: "Quit sniffin & start hoofin it up these stairs. I've got treats for each step up you go."
Lucky: "Why the heck didn't you say that to begin with."

Lucky scrambled up the first four or so steps and then settled into a take two steps & stop pattern but he didn't give up. In fact, he bounded up the last couple steps. Problem is that in prep for the arrival of the foster dog we had moved some cat furniture from downstairs to the landing. Between it & the Deerhound there was very little room up there for a bounding hound. Plus a cat suddenly rushed across the landing from one side to the other, zipping past the front of the cat condos just as Lucky made his last bound. He quickly changed his trajectory nearly knocking me & Luna down the stairs as he stuffed his head into the opening of a cat condo. This one is a lightweight nylon on PVC framework affair. Next thing you know, there's Lucky with a cat condo hanging off his head.

Lucky: "Hey, are you telling them that embarrassing story?"
Laura: "Yes, I think prospective adopters should know how silly you are."
Lucky: "Oh man, everyone is gonna know. And I didn't even get to meet the kitty."
Laura: "True but you did later, didn't you."
Lucky: "Uh, yes. Ouch. Who knew they carried weapons. Is that legal?"
Laura: "It's the right to bear arms."
Lucky: "Isn't it a little cool for that? Won't you be cold with bare arms. This isn't Florida. I should know. That's where I'm from."
Laura: "I mean the right to carry weapons."
Lucky: "You all talk funny here. I'll forgive you if you give me a treat."
Laura: "Lucky, you are settling into this pet life pretty well. Almost too well, actually."
Lucky: [Yawn] "Whatever. I'll just be over here on my bed catching some z's."

Yep, that boy is settling in pretty well indeed. Soon after going up the stairs he came back down pretty well too with very little coaxing. That is, he came back down well after I removed the cat condo collar he was wearing.