Adventures in Dogwalking: Mimi (Again!)

Usually when I arrive at the SPCA, there's a coordinator there to assign a dog to you to walk. Well, when I got there, no one was waiting outside the kennels, there was no list of which dogs to walk, and since I saw other people out walking dogs already, I decided to take one out on my own. Of course, I checked to see if my favorite dog Bruno was still waiting to go out, but alas, someone had beat me to him. My next favorite, Mimi, was still waiting anxiously in her kennel, so I opted to take her out. (Later, it turns out the coordinator was in a panic because I didn't tell her I had taken Mimi; she thought she might've escaped or *gasp!* been dognapped).

As expected, when I approached her kennel with the leash in my hand, she got really excited and started bouncing up and down and off the walls. I was determined to give her some kind of structure, so I said, "Sit, Mimi!" in my bestest authority voice. More bouncing. It took a few tries, but finally she sat her butt down and looked up at me with her long tongue hanging out. At this point I entered her kennel, but she started jumping up again so I had to make her sit again before I clipped on her leash.

Out the door we went, with Mimi doing what she does best; pulling me towards the trail. I tried to work on her pulling a little; one tip I read about is if a dog pulls forward on their leash, you can redirect their energy by changing directions constantly so the dog has no choice but to follow you. As soon as they pick up that they have to go with you, you're supposed to praise them immediately so they associate following you= praise and reward. Well, this worked as long as I was constantly changing direction, but as soon as I started going towards the trail again, Mimi would bolt ahead of me again and it'd be the same thing all over again.

The other thing I read is if a dog keeps pulling, you're supposed to just stop in place and "become a statue," i.e stand still and ignore the dog. Once they realize they aren't going anywhere, they'll usually come back towards you, slacking the leash. Once again, as soon as they do this, you praise, and start walking again. Soon they'll associate pulling= no walking, loose leash= walks. This actually elicited a more successful response with Mimi; everytime she pulled and I stopped, looking around everywhere else but her, she immediately came back and stood by my side. With this method you have to be really consistent, meaning everytime they pull you should stop so they get the idea. Unfortunately, the two hours each day the dogs have to go out are their only time for exercise, so the SPCA doesn't want you to just stand there the whole time trying to correct the dog, otherwise they'll be even more underexcercised. Underexercised dogs= frustrated, destructive, bored dogs. So even though Mimi responded the way I wanted, I couldn't do it often enough so she got it into her head not to pull on her leash.

Aside from her leash pulling problems, Mimi seemed to be escalating in her dog aggression. I don't know if it's a fear thing or a dominance thing; it mostly happens when we're in the pens together, and when a dog passes by on the other side, Mimi immediately growls and barks at them, chasing them up and down the fence. Today, while we were walking on her leash, she lunged at one dog, and just walking by another dog made her stop and bare her teeth. The only dog she wasn't aggressive to was Ace, the beautiful husky that she was kenneled with briefly. Perhaps it was because they had spent some time together already, but when Ace came along and she started to get fiesty, he barked sharply and she shut up right away. The next time she tried to challenge Ace, she growled at him through the fence when he was passing by, and I saw her get into position to start a frienzied barking scene when Ace lifted his leg and peed on a fern in front of her, nearly getting her in the face. After that, she didn't even squeak when he walked by!

Mimi is also a very smart dog. The smarter they are, the more firm you have to be because they will challenge your authority, which is exactly what Mimi did from time to time. There was an episode on the trail that had me standing there for ten minutes, telling Mimi over and over to drop the stick she had randomly picked up before we could move on with our walk. When it was time to put her back into her kennel, Mimi magically stuck by my side like glue, not trying to pull forward. But I wasn't fooled; even though she wasn't pulling forward, I figured out that what she was trying to do was literally herd me away from the kennels. By staying by my side, she was subtly trying to block the way so I would have to go in the opposite direction. Well, as soon as she figured out it wasn't working, she went back to her old standby: crazily pulling in the direction that she wanted to go instead.

After I was done walking Mimi, I went home feeling a lot of pity for her. She's an unbalanced dog; when we're alone in the pens together she's such a sweetie, she likes to play fetch, likes to be petted, and is mostly obedient when you ask her to sit, go down, etc. But when we're out on her leash or there are other dogs around, she's so out of control. She has a lot of potential to be a really great dog, but when I see her she doesn't really seem to be improving, which means her chances for finding a good home are not that high.

And that makes me kind of sad.

(After I wrote this note, I found out that Mimi has been sent into foster, a doggie training home. The woman who owns the home is a dog trainer, and only works on two dogs at a time. Mimi is there with another dog that was a problem case, and reports note they are playing together fabulously. Hopefully, Mimi gets the attention and training she needs there. Godspeed, Mimi).