I think my dog, Finnian, is trying to tell me something. And apparently I haven’t been listening.
It has been only recently that I heard the term “appeasement tail wagging”. I wasn’t sure what that was. Then I learned that it was a tail wag the dog did not to show her happiness about whatever activity the two you are engaged in, but, rather, her discomfort with it. It will seem a bit odd in context. In Finnian’s case, he was wagging his tail while lying flat on the Klimb platform to have his nails Dremeled. Only after I heard the term did I realize that that is what he was doing – appeasement tail wagging, not happy tail wagging.
That meant I was running past his stop signs! Bad me! Now what? Stop continuing on, give him a reinforcer, and quit altogether for that session.
What happened when I ran that stop sign? He sometimes lifted a paw to let me know he didn’t want the touch – kickstand legs.. I could work on the legs on the bottom sometimes. But with the back legs, he might rise up and mouth my hand. I even ran past those stop signs. He still let me Dremel his nails, but he clearly wasn’t that comfortable with the process. Well, clearly to me NOW.
In the following video, you’ll see the tail wag, raised “kickstand” legs, whale eye, the head coming up, and pulling his leg away. I did this video just to show what his signals are. I no longer run his stop signs!
Oops. Back to beginning baby steps. Or maybe lower. Right now he’ll eagerly jump up on the Klimb and lie down and go “flat”. Then the tail starts wagging. Okay, then, we’re done. Give some goodies and leave.
He’s a bit this way with brushing as well. But if I go slowly and only brush a couple of strokes, click, and reinforce, he’ll stay and he doesn’t wag his tail. If he does, I’ll quit for the day and give him some goodies.
We’re currently trying to achieve our Cooperative Care Certificate Level 3 Basic. This includes drops of water on the head in preparation for eye drops. He’s not a fan. This Golden Retriever does not like water. He doesn’t even like rain. He won’t go out to potty if it’s raining!
I’ve done several things to prepare for eye drops – a little bit of counter conditioning, lots of chin rests on a pillow on a stool or in my lap, and in my hand. I think he’d rather not do a chin rest. Instead, I’m letting him tell me if he ready for another rep of by nosing the syringe. If he signals me by nosing the syringe, I raise it up and touch the bridge of his nose He’ll usually do three reps of this and then quits. this time he did more. That latency of not signaling for another is another stop sign. I quit when he signals to me to stop by not nosing the syringe and looking away. Notice the pauses.
Even though I do all this quitting early and making the sessions very short, he demands my attention to train! So we do several short sessions each day and quit after a couple of reps. Or even no reps.
I hope this will lead to his being more comfortable with brushing, nail grinding, and eye drops.
Haste makes waste. Go slow to go fast.
Wish me luck and slow training!
Clicker Chronicles 